Recommended reading charts. (Look here before asking for vague recs)https://mega.nz/folder/kj5hWI6J#0cyw0-ZdvZKOJW3fPI6RfQ/folder/4rAmSZxb>Archive:https://warosu.org/lit/?task=search2&search_subject=sffg>Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1029811-sffg>Previous:>>24720851>Thread Question:Do protagonists that rely on cunning and cleverness make for more interesting stories than ones with innate abilities or powers?
first for greg egan!
If I exclusively read books that won either a Hugo or Nebula award, would I miss anything good?
of course you would - christ man you will NOT get a (You) for me!!!!
Elderly White Woman Praises Dungeon Crawler Carlhttps://youtu.be/Ms_yfD8hbT8
>>24729046You will always miss out on the good no matter how hard you try.
Victra best girl.
Historical fiction is just lazy fantasy
>>24729043Why is fiction, especially fantasy, filled with female protagonists hating their father?
>you should read hyperion/blindsight/the expanseGood lord do people not know more than those
>>24729106Based and true. Victra best girl. What say you, Goodman Horsefag?>TQNeither one is inherently more interesting. It's all in the execution. A good writer will pick out the nuances even in a supernaturally gifted character.
>>24729297Victra - muh friendsDarrow - muh peopleCassius - muh honorVirginia - muh greater goodRoque - muh societySevro - muh found familiaAdrius - muh power >Only one is the correct answer.
>>24729314Lysander - muh personality disorder
>>24729184>what are daddy issues
>>24729193We do but you should still start from those instead of acting like a pseud bitch.
>>24729297I think in general a clever character gives the writer more opportunities to show interesting problem solving rather than just having the character steamroll every opponent with his amazing abilities. But you're right that it all comes down to execution in the end.
>>24729044I enjoyed permutation city with only a bachelor's in finance, while semi-regularly having sex. Your chart is shit. >>24729046If they were published in the last 15 years, you'd be assured to only read garbage.
>>24729181What a bad take.
>>24729433Yes but why always use that same trope?
>>24729743It's the easiest thing to use if you want ~deep~ and ~conflicted~ female characters.
>>24729737great book. I've found a bunch of his sons books (that either are written before and after the battle of Gettysburg) but haven't started them yet. hey what's more dorky - reading science fiction or enjoying US Civil War history, which includes but is not limited to - watching documentaries, reading fiction & non-fiction books on the subject, going to battle sites, and most importantly playing hex & counter wargames
>>24729753Why not a loving doting daddy's girl? They're women authors no way all of them hate their dad
>>24729807Probably because publishers think such stories wouldn't sell. And I guess a lot of these are YA, so they're aimed at upset teens anyway.
>>24729756I've read about a dozen of his son's books, though it was nearly two decades ago now. They're not as good, but still better than most historical fiction (which as an aside is super hard to find now, since that's a genre taken over by romance).My favorites of Jeff's were Gods & Generals and Gone for Soldiers. I didn't care for the WW2 ones, and wasn't impressed with the first western theater ACW book, which was the last I read.The Old Lion looks really interesting, of the stuff he's released more recently. But then I, like most Americans, fucking love Teddy Roosevelt.
>>24729853nice, I will throw Gods & Generals further up in my reading queue. I love going to Gettysburg in the fall. talk about cozy
>>24729737This book was the inspiration for Firefly
>>24729297>Goodman Horsefag?Love muh virginia. Love muh Victra. Simple as.
Tor or Del Rey?
Is there anything similar to His master's voice?
>>24729737>Need zero imagination for setting names battle tactics weaponry outcome or even the ending Yea lazy fantasy
any series that contains both aliens and dragons?
Is this good?
Im new on /lit, what is the opinion on Brandon Sanderson here?Ive read Mistborn era 1, Warbreaker and now reading Stormlight Archive. He is hands down the best author i have ever read
>>24730144You’re gonna get guaranteed replies as it feels like bait. That said, he’s an enjoyable enough author and writes books that are generally consistently enjoyable.
>>24729743Because it's easier to write what you know.
>>24730011Instead you have to do painstaking research into the historical era which is actually much harder than just making up whatever you like. There are no fact checkers or academic experts who can gainsay how your imaginary setting works. Even if you make it resemble some real world culture or place you can simply say your imaginary version works differently because reasons and nobody can say anything. But if you actually set your story in, say, 15th century Britain, you will be criticized if you can't portray a convincing version of 15th century Britain. It's so much easier to just write an extremely lazy pastiche of medieval Europe but with the names changed a little, with stuff that vaguely resembles medieval institutions if you squint and know nothing about history. Basically the way Joe Abercrombie writes fantasy.
>>24730333GGK also writes fantasy in this way.
>>24730198That post is obvious bait.
>>24730144Good attempt at bait, but it doesn't work because of >he is hands down the best author i have ever readwhich makes it too obvious. If you'd kept your praise lighter this might've worked. It's a delicate balance to strike. Keep trying though
>>24730144Agreed. Anon. Stated
>>24730121Absolutely hilarious how much Applegate is trying to distance herself from Animorphs.Still, though, Animorphs slaps, and if she endorses a book I'm gonna give it a shot.That being said, kid's books are hit-and-miss.
>>24730333>>24730337and both are far more renown than Bernard Cornwell
>>24730370>Bernard CornwellBest Historical Fantasy story I have ever read.
>>24730366>Absolutely hilarious how much Applegate is trying to distance herself from Animorphs.Why though? What kind of sense does that make for an author to disavow their most popular series which is a nostalgic touchstone for an entire generation?
>>24729106ive got to say ive been away from here for a few weeks and its nice to see the VictraCHADS still run this general
It’s out! And I fixed the typo!https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FR3299RSI can also share the epub if anyone would like to read it
>>24729043i search fantasy book but very light on the leftism
>>24730458the preview reads pretty well.
>>24730458Blurb is clunky. And doesn't really tell me what to expect, except "angsty antihero who works with the dead".At $10 for paperback you can't make more than, what, $0.50/copy?Regardless, I've added it to my wishlist, I'll toss a dollar your way at some point. Can't promise I won't DNF it if it's not gripping.
I'm finally reading Hour of the Dragon and it's cool
>>24730489I’m not really doing this to make money, writing is just a hobby for me. But I wanted a physical copy of my work, and Amazon was the easiest way I found (also as the author I can buy copies for $5)Thanks for being willing to check it out! I am working on a sequel book, hope to have it out in about a year
>>24730458Added it to my list on Amazon. I’ve got a backlog of shit I need to read first but I’ll support one of my /sffg/gots
>>24730556>>24730484Appreciate it :)
This has been very entertaining. It doesn't matter which male character (warrior or assassin) you self insert into, he gets NTR'd by the main girl.
>>24730144You'll fit in well with the children in here
>>24729737>ktheiller angelsWhat an odd title
>>24730502you should add rape and guro
>>24730144magic system
everywhere i go i carry a mass market paperback of a scifi novel in the lower pocket of my cargo shortsalways good to be prepared
>>24730654What compels someone to buy this?
Kindle says I have ~2 more hours before I finish Marrow, so maybe I'll be able to knock it out tonight>>24730900I've been wearing cargo pants for years and haven't once thought to do this. I've failed at autism.
>>24730900I am very sad that mass market paperbacks are going out of style for SFF books. Ebooks have eaten most of the MMPB readership, so a lot of publishers won't even do MMPB anymore, only trades and hardbacks. It actually costs them basically nothing to make a hardback book compared to a paperback, costing 3x is pure markup.
>>24730502You should add grapes and euros
>>24730458Please share the epub, ill rate you on goodreads when I finish so the uneducated mases can feast.
>>24730458gimme an epub and i'll read it this weekend and leave a review
>>24730458How have you marketed your book? I've got one myself, about 50% through line editing, and feeling pretty bad about my odds to get any readers.
>>24731044it can't be as bad as that one anon who tried shilling on here. no one even downloaded his book
Red Rising bros if you care the livestream about whatever the fuck the prequel project is starts in 38 minutes.
>>24731049live where?
>>24731047This anon, or knights of valora one?I downloaded both, but haven't yet read either...
>>24731047I think he means the one who had the terrible book cover. The one with the trenchcoat guy screaming over a washedout monocolor grey background + some lightening up and to the side.
>>24731094It was the one with a white flower. That one was just poorly written >>24731066Some anon read it and gave it a good review, so not him.
>>24731064Litescalates on twitch
>>24731108ended up figuring it out myself but thank you anyway
>>24731108These people are unwatchable. I will look it up tomorrow instead
>>24731026>>24731033Here, hope a MEGA works https://mega.nz/file/t1h0XAqD#9xhqwWREsNwW5-e6nnRob8XDAtJAErBpbQ1UIipGGSs>>24731044I put my book up on Royal Road (even though it isn’t really a webnovel), and just by publishing chapter by chapter over about a year I got close to 400 followers. Out of those followers, my stats say that the final chapter has had 160 viewers– assuming at worst fifty of those views are webcrawlers, that means at around 100 people or so might have finished my story (or at least clicked on the latest chapter to see what was going on). I know at least a handful have read it through, as I get some people who comment on my chapters as they’re released and others who left reviews when I asked for them after the epilogue.So just by publishing online with a very loose upload schedule, I got more viewers than I imagined I would get.Of course, maybe one person in a hundred will choose to buy a product when they can just read it for free, so I doubt I’ll get any sales from that.However RR allows people to buy ads to be shown on the website, and it only allows ads to Amazon or to RR pages. I did an ad on RR once out of curiosity, and it got a decent amount of views and click-throughs. So if I were to try and get some Amazon sales, that would definitely be where I’d go to advertise. Aside from RR, I have a few IRL friends interested in reading it. Because I can buy copies for cheap as shit as the author, I was even considering just trying to sell a couple to local bookstores or even dropping one or two off in those public bookshelves I see around my city. TLDR I don't really have a plan, but the few readers I've already got make me very happy.
>>24730458Does it have a hard set magic system?
>>24731222Did you stub it on RR when you put it on Kindle Unlimited? If not you should, Amazon is ruthless about that and will pull your book.
>>24731222Thanx anon. I'll reciprocate your kindness with a link to mine after I'm done. Im working on my own novel, only like 45 pages in (4 chapters) and I write like one page a day but its honest work and im enjoying the ride.
>>24731222i dont know who the fuck you are and i only come here for spooky future sci fi book recs but i think its really cool you published your own book and it sounds interesting and the cover art made me think it was a conan book so thats coolbest of luck with the book anon
>>24730144That guy last thread who thought Sanderson wrote deeper characters than Dinniman and got real upset about it was funny.>>24730947I hope you enjoyed Marrow, anon! The Well of Stars, its sequel, is one of my absolute top favorite sci-fi books.
I just finished Nova by Samuel R. Delany (1968). It was really enjoyable. The writing was great and the story interesting. I enjoyed the detailed but not overdone info dumps about the economics between industry and two main sectors of space, the Pleaides and Draco. The Pleaides are outer rim civilizations taken to by smaller less wealthy organizations, mining outposts, and freighter transit lines, where as Draco is closer to Sol (our Sun). Old money and old space tech corp 'Red Shift' family, led by the heir and son, is involved in a generational economic/technological cat and mouse battle revolving around the universes most prized and expensive material, Irrylium. Used to power jump ships light travel/transportation. Typically mined from reserves left on asteroids or moons orbiting post-nova systems, the material originates from a sun going Nova... and the underdog corp 'Von Ray Enterprises' ambitious son, Lord Von, thinks he's found a way to harvest it... Directly from a sun as it goes Nova.Highly recommend giving it a read. You can crank it out in like 6-12 hours. It's something like 300ish pages.
>>24731325I did not, and honestly not sure I even want to since RR is where all interaction comes from. Hopefully if Amazon acts, they’ll just nuke the e-book version. Thanks for the warning, I’ll have to look into this>>24731341I lurk these threads often enough, I’ll keep an eye anon, good luck!>>24731420Thanks, appreciate it. I love swords and sorcery art
>>24730144I just started reading Way of Kings, around page 90 or so. I find it infinitely funny that the book is so /autism/ coded, and the guy had such low expectations for his special-needs reader base that fucking "emotion sprites" (get it? sprites, like in your vidya xd) spawn and dance around characters where they are afraid / in pain like its some sort of fucking MOBA debuff.Also, the chapter about Shalla(?) arriving at the bell city read almost EXACTLY like the chapter about the protag of Heresy arriving at the trade city, this comparison has probably never been formulated since no one even rememvers the Heresy books these days, buts its completely outrateous how much Sandy boy has stolen from it, even down to the fact that:1) Both are Prince and Princess of their respective houses2) Their character's motivations are setting a sort of trade agreement to save their houses.3) We are told this city is very much protected from the raging storms, (in Heresy the world is besieged by a constant storm)4) Our pov is mildly devout to the "baseline" faith and recalls times when it provided them with comfort.Also, we are told over and over again the sister of the queen she is looking for is a heretic, which admittedly only made it funnier.I fully believe he took "inspiration" from it since Audley is rather obscure and in his lectures he behemently supports "stealing" (hes words, not mine). I find it hilarious because Heresy was a good YA book back in 2009 or so (I was 14 or so when I read it) but I can only wonder if it was ahead of its time, since looking at it now, it's poorly voted and people lambast it by saying it was "too wordy", at an absurd... wait for it... 350 pages, lmao.
>>24731318There are two magic styles completely separate from each other, one hard and one soft. I explain the magic in the epigraphs of the chapters, but the quick rundown is that the common, hard magic system involves animals and DNA– turning into animals, creating hybrid monsters, forming bonds, and seeing through the eyes of animals, so on and so forth. It runs off caloric energy, so although the potential is through the roof, and this type of magic is commonplace, it’s limited by food and expenses. Picrel is a hybrid of a turkey vulture and an alligator, along with a few other scraps of animal DNA thrown into the mix, to increase mass and intelligence The soft magic system is elemental. There isn't a set limit as to what can be done with the different elements, and no clear source of where power is drawn from. It sort of just is, and few understand why
>>24730387Did you read the second or the third book in the series? So are they worth reading and how do they compare and quality to the first?
>>24731475I don't read things by pedophiles degenerates
>>24731538I don't know a single thing about an author or entertainer's personal life and even if I did it wouldn't stop me from enjoying their art. I'm not a gossiping woman so I suppose that factors into my adversion from faggotry and female tendencies. I appreciate your non-response, nonetheless. Have a great evening
>>24731574Read Hogg by the same author then get back to me>eveningIn real countries it's 2:09pm
After Time Machine and War what else do I read from Wells?
I don't give a FUCK about spinoffs until Red God is finished. The fuck is Pierce Brown doing?
I'm going to write a contemporary fantasy where clan McDonald's after defeating Wendy's, Burger King, and hack in the box, now must do battle against the rise of clan Shake Shack, in and out, whataburger, and farmers.Their old empire slowly crumbles until the upstart Wagie, with his magic in keeping McDonald's fries hot for 10 minutes allows the old empire to flourish once again.
>>24731602He's hustlinBut seriously it seems like you can't succeed without doing a bunch of gimmicky promo shit. Selfpub spinoffs, special editions, etc. No wonder Bakker vanished, he's too little of a self promoter to survive in the industry now.
>>24731574Tough luck, 90% of these threads are made up of gossiping "women".
>>24731789So you haven't read his other book Hogg
>>24731574You and me brother, I'll go further and say that with few exeptions, I'll forget the name of the author in a month tops (everyone in my family is like this).
Red Rising bros... what the FUCK is this?https://shit-escalates.com/
>>24729734>I enjoyed permutation city with only a bachelor's in finance, while semi-regularly having sex. No contradiction. I also enjoyed some of Egan's works while having a plenty of sex, yet still we should not have read him.
Is Tau Zero any good?
I listened to the first WoT book at work. I liked itthat's all
I just finished City of Stairs and found it really enjoyable. It's an interesting setting in fantasy. A post colonial world where the oppressed killed the oppressors gods and now rule instead ina city that is a character as much as anything else.I love lore dumps in my books and this kept me going with a lengthy set up which paid off in an interesting way. It's equal parts fantasy and political thriller with bits of horror too. Solid book and I'd recommend it. 4/5. Will check out the sequels next.
>>24732052No.
>>24732135Wyt ppl dont sesun they stairs frfr
>>24731222>chapter 1>mc is about to go an adventure with some femaleIs this some gooner lit? Romantasy? Surely mc is capable enough to adventure on his own and does need a women holding his hand all the time
I almost put it down towards the beginning where they praised black over whites and calling them humble and shit. Lmao these mfs never lived near them.
>>24732228>why isn't this book from 1967 consistent with how niggers behave on tiktok in 2025???>it's not like anything of substance changed since then
>>24732228>reeee this schizophrenic author isn’t racist like the funny schizophrenic programmer i pretended to care about ten years ago!!!
>>24732222Are you 12?
>>24732222It isn't romance, nor goonlit
>>24732343I am 35 years old.
>>24730387Lol, really enjoyed the 1st book.>>24731527So, I might be autistic. After reading the first one, I decided to pick up the the second and third, but the 3/4s into the second one, I got so tilted by the direction a certain character was going, that I had to take a 'break' from it. It's been years, and every time I come back, I just get upset. It's honestly been like 5 years now, and I probably read 5 pages a year. It's going to take me 50 years to get through these books. But if you want something comfy, I'd read them.
>>24732570Grim>>24732594can you read the first one standalone without getting cliffhangered?
>>2473257034 here. for me it's Reynolds and Egan and Dick and le Guin and Wolfe and Banks
ITS OUThttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpJOwUD1oTo
>>24732905>11 hoursDamn.
>>24732905Kys
Red Rising is just Code Geass in space
>>24732765Based (except for le Guin)
>>24732250Niggers have not changed in the last 10k years lol
>>24733167jews brought cavemen into modern world. Not compatible with the west and we are seeing the consequences.
I remember enjoying these when I was in high school 15+ years ago but trying to reread(listen) to them now they're boring me to tears and the dialogue is extremely cringy.
>>24733339Butcher should try his hand at webnovels/litrpg/xianxia
>>24733339>stormfrontUH BASED KEKISTANI KNOWER
>>24730427Horse.
>>24730955Why does the dungeon crawler carl paperback cost more than the hardcover. With all due respect, that doesn't really seem like a hardcover kinda book.
Are there any good examples of science fiction and fantasy combined?
