ye olde: >>25323801>Recommended reading charts (look here before asking for vague recommendations):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
Basically been a week
I've been reading some HG Wells and I'm really impressed. I'm ashamed to say that I was expecting his work to be of mostly genre historical value, but as it turns out everyone was quite right and he's very good.
>>25339486Fuck off spamtranny. Stay away from us you fucking WACKO
>>25339501You should also love Olaf Stapledon.
>>25339524why this guy so mad? starting to think some of you just want me here to release some unrepentant anger that you dont get to in your daily life
Reposting here: looking for books similar to There Is No Antimemetics Division's main idea? The writing itself is what it is, but I genuinely loved the idea behind it, and I have yet to find something similar. Mainly referring to sort of meta entity like SCP-3125, or beings or concepts that are hard to interact with because they fuck up with your memory/perception. Entities that interact and are defined in a crazy way works too, like weeping angels from doctor who as discussed in the previous thread
>>25339554You might enjoy Raw Shark Texts
>>25339553No, I want you gone. The thread was actually peaceful and full of decent posts for once. I never want to see your faggot-assed fart sniffing posts ever again.Fuck you. Go away.
>>25339486Nope, hasn't been an entire seven days.
>>25339486You don't get to post until 5 PM on Monday, sorry.
>>25339592no. whatever retarded timezone you live in isnt mine.
>>25339608I don't care, COCKSUCKER. By your own "rules" YOU DON'T POST UNTIL MONDAY. Now FUCK OFF.
>>25339614How are you getting Monday?If we look at his post>>25326117we see that it's currently roughly 3 hours away from being 7 days.
>>25339380My state
>>25339646Cleveland Cavaliers deserved to get blown out in the Easter Conference finals for trading Darius Garland
>>25339638He just wants me gone so he doesn't care about the time
>>25339657>He just wants me goneWho doesn't?
>>25339657We all do to be desu
>>25339380Any other protagonists like Sax Russell?Starts off as a somewhat typical scientist character, bad with people and hyperfocused on his work but still interesting and lovable in his own way. Gradually grows into a more social person aware of his emotions and the beauty of life.I will take any lovable scientist or sci-fi books with strong arcs for likable characters.
>last book you read>current book you are reading>next book you plan to read
>>25339962The Stone of FarewellTo Green Angel Tower The Darkness That Comes Before
>>25339962>Last bookSpace Viking by H. Beam Piper and Magic and Bullets by Larry Correia>Current bookFirst Lensman by E. E. "Doc" Smith. Thank you to the anon who brought this series to my attention. I'm also in the middle of Blood Music by Greg Bear, but I can't read it while I eat.>Next book you plan to readI can't decide. I have a ton of sci-fi/fantasy novels. Give me a vague idea of what kind of book to read next and I'll pick one out.
>>25339380The Miocene Arrow, Greatwinter #2 - Sean McMullen (2000)Roughly 10 years have passed and the setting has shifted to Mounthaven, a callhaven in what was known in ancient times as the United States. The Call, which lures mammals to their death, is far stronger and more pervasive here. As in the first book with Australica, Mounthaven's technology is very uneven due to the ancient military satellites, but they don't have the former's religious restrictions. Their relatively sparse population and meager resources led to a neo-feudalistic sort of social structure where wars are settled by duels between wardens. Rather than horses they have elaborate and ritualized aerial duels with gunwings, small aircraft with diesel engines. Anyone with power must follow the rules of chivalry or be destroyed. They see no other possible way to ensure their survival. That's how it had been for centuries untold, until the arrival of foreign agents with their promise of dominion over all others. Those who accepted who would have to forsake tradition, honor, dignity, ethics, and all else cherished. The cost in blood and gold would be immense. In the end naught but ruin may remain, but even so, they would be its ruler. For that, no price was too steep.The Miocene Arrow chronicles the war of 3960-3961. Every chapter title is the day in which the chapter began. I loved that. This makes it read like a historical account. There are several viewpoint characters and while they're important, the focus isn't so much on them as it is about their role in what happens. Reality doesn't warp itself around a protagonist as it usually does. Each character and their affiliations have their own goals. The interplay is magnificent. Sometimes it becomes ridiculous, in the the way real life too often is, to where I had to wonder if parts were based on actual events. Overall though it's a masterful display of complex interests.The only serious complaint I have, aside from the continuing issue with what causes the Call, is the obsessive love of two characters, which isn't with each other. The book is marred with two truly melodramatic romances. By which I mean there's betrayal, emotional and physical abuse, dubious consent, mindbreak, suicide, and several murders. I felt that it reduced the characters involved to a single trait, though that is what happens with someone completely obsessed. I know that for others that can be something they'd read a book for though.That wasn't nearly enough to derail my enjoyment. This series is still on track to be one of my all-time favorites. Every twist and turn was utterly delightful. There was a wonderful balance of the characters succeeding and failing. Each triumph and disaster felt earned. The characters fully expressed their will, for better and worse. Realpolitik reigned, much to the dismay and regret of almost everyone. I expect the third and final book to cement its status as one of the most enjoyable series I've read.Rating: 5/5
>>25340057yawn
>>25336204I do feel like the first story of Simak's City had interesting things to say about how increasing efficiencies in our society can lead to anti-social setups. How cities can, in a way, serve a similar function as a school where you are forced to interact with people, and this can lead to more positive social development than everyone hiding away in their 40 acres.It is also about how increased efficiencies in society can leave people behind in such a way, that they either have to reinvent themselves as people (which is dehumanizing) or get out of the way and die.Every system, must create winners and losers... we are just OK with it when we are the winners. I have been in a lot of family and friend group dynamics, where the removal of a single person can change how everyone else is interacting with each other. New winners and losers. None of these ideas are fresh, but they are pondered upon in a semi-interesting manner.I will also say the story devolved into a 'Foundation' tier situation where our wise protagonist is able to see everything for the way it is, and he smack talks all of the other fools for being delusional about the state of things. The people opposed to our protagnoist are 'VERY SILLY' TM. They even have the two dimensional villain 'Gulp' repeatedly when he has been beaten.You can see Simak's skill in this first story, but you can tell he still had a ways to go in maturing as a writer.
>>25340057Almost sold me on whatever book series this is. But the neo fuedalistic thing makes no sense. Wars even during feudalism weren't between wardens. Governments wage wars, not economics, they just give up all their resources to the gov to protect the territory and land that lets them be rich.It doesn't seem sufficiently explained why a new feudalistic system would be any unique
>>25340126>The Miocene Arrow, Greatwinter #2 - Sean McMullen (2000)>whatever book series this isTitle, Series - Author (Year)>neo fuedalistic thing makes no senseThe purpose is minimal loss of people, resources, and infrastructure. >would be any uniqueWhat?
Any stories where the MC is slowly corrupted?
>>25340254Anakin Skywalker Books
>>25340254>The poster's barely disguised moral degeneration fetish
>>25340290>barely disguisedI take offense at this allegation.I am openly horny about the struggle against loss of morality and even form and shape.
>>25340254There are no such stories known to exist anywhere on this earth, sorry.
>>25340254LOTR
>>25340057>>25340158your """reviews""" are SHITFUCK OFF
I tried asking this a month ago, but does anyone know where I can find some bakker wojak memes posted in 2021?I am looking for the 'flavortown' meme and politcal compass meme that depicted the standing of all the characters.
>>25340572No. Fuck off.
>>25339912What is ti about Mars trilogy that makes some people hate it? People I otherwise know have decent taste in SF.
What a stupid piece of crap. Terrible writing, unlikeable self insert MC. I usually never agree with feminist takes in reviews, but this one book made me agree with them, the women here are just completely useless and made to fuck the MC somehow.There were some interesting scenes and the general plot is not so bad, but I can't understand how this won a Hugo and a Nebula.
>>25340678>but I can't understand how this won a Hugo and a Nebula.You say that like those awards ever had any prestige.
>>25340572I could swear I had it somewhere, but no luck.
>>25340678Foid or faggot detected. Ringworld is based and comfy as fuck.
>>25340678>NOOOOOO, MUH HECCIN' FEMALE CHARACTERS, REEEEEEE!!!Why do you even use this website?
>>25339650I wouldn't know anything about that i don't watch sports aside from auto racing and skateboard competitions.
Who is the smartest sf/f protagonist? I want to get into the head of a genius.
>>25340710>>25340712Read the book first
>>25340752I've read the entire series at least six times. Suck my dick, luckless Teela.
>>25340678Try some Scalzi, he might be more your speed
>>25340825Jesus Christ..
>>25340689>pic
>>25340254Sun Eater series
Are there any scifi stories where the evil megacorp is actually smart and good at business?
What is /sffg/s thought on audio dramatizations? Ran out of podcasts to listen to at work so began listening to the Dark Age dramatization and it was pretty damn immersive. Some of the voices for characters wasn't what I imagined then to be and some of the sfx were kinda corny but overall I enjoyed it.
>>25340820Maybe the following books are better, but Ringworld reads like romantasy slop for men.
>>25340885It really doesn't. Are you on the rag? Take some Midol for your bleeding pussy crunches and calm down.
>>25340572Just browse the /lit/ archives on warosu and try to find them yourself.
is red rising worth reading or is it in the same vein as sanderson and other slop like that? it was suggested by a coworker which raised a red flag right away but I've been meaning to get into a new scifi series. last one I truly enjoyed was TBotNS
>>25340938Sanderson is better than Red Rising. Take that as you will.
>>25340938It's a sprawling YA series popular with Sanderson fans
>>25340938I recommend it. Stick to it, it gets good after the 6th book
>>25340963>it gets good after the 6th book
>>25340938Sanderson pads the shit out of his writing an extra 1000 pages and has awful pacing for his le ebin sanderlanche. Brown has great pacing throughout his books and they're quick reads, but I'm only on Book 3 right now. I'm really enjoying it. Just know that Book 1 is a little more YA. I liked Red Rising but I loved Golden Son. Damned near perfect book.
>>25340942Sanderson can't even write a character with the complexity of Lysander.
>>25340977>has awful pacing for his le ebin sanderlancheI find it so funny that Sanderson's climaxes got a special name when they're not unique to him at all. The pacing is just fine it's the bland prose and shitty attempts to force mental health awareness into escapist fantasy that get me.
>>25340984>when they're not unique to him at allWait, what other authors intentionally make literally nothing happen for 1000 pages so they can have their rube goldberg machine go off in the last 400 pages?The more damning thing is the fact that he proved he can write stories with decent pacing and with little padding with his secret projects. He does it with Mistborn/Stormlight on purpose.
>>25340980brandos characters are plenty complex. shallow as fuck though.
>>25340994I haven't read Stormlight but Mistborn had plenty of things happen before the sanderlanche. Maybe it gets worse in later entries but the first book has a lot of action.
Zane Venture is probably the worst character Sanderson has ever written
>>25341008God is telling him to kill you right now.
>>25340593Blue Mars was shit. It left the previous storylines unfinished. Obviously the author didn't know how to end the trilogy so he just wrote anything to take it off his back.
>>25340019>Give me a vague idea of what kind of book to read next and I'll pick one out.Something good.
>>25339962Rocannon's WorldPlanet of ExileCity of Illusions
>>25340069>he still had a ways to go in maturing as a writerI only read "The Thing in the Stone" and man, this writer included elements and characters just because. I hope Way Station doesn't make these mistakes.
>>25340678Conservatives hate women, especially their mothers.
This general is really only getting worse, so many anons asking questions getting no response, or talking about a book and getting "maybe this selective contemporary sounding writing is more up your speed! successful deflection from the criticism by me to appeal to a bias against a different type of writing!" Just too many worthless retards in this world.
>>25341045And yet it's better than usual.
>>25341045Hopefully that encourages you to leave, pagespammer.
Threadly reminder to report and ignore newfag spammers like >>25340482 who purposely makes off-topic inflammatory posts in bad faith and has done so for four years running.>>21323327>>25341045These generals are molded and formed exactly for the predominant normalfags who use it.
bakkerfag/pagespammer having a melty
baynefag seethinghe hates bakkerfag and reviewhater for spamming yet sees no problem in spamming some shit self pub amazon slop for 5+ years straight like the newfag esl he is
>>25341127...but in the end, all roads lead to Yev, the original sin of /sffg/
>>25341127>seething>newfagze expert has arrived!
Does anybody remember a short story in either Analog or Asimov's that was basically "My Husband The Car?" Late 80's- early 90's. Set in a future where the minds of the dead are allowed to live on as AI in exchange for performing useful tasks. May or may not be by the same guy who did the Soul Box stories. I'm dreading having to go back through my collection looking for the name.
>>25341194That's probably not it, but it reminds me of Alastair Reynolds' "On the Oodnadatta" from 98.
>>25340968That guy doesn't actually like the series. Book 1 is scifi hunger games, but after that it gets good. Just don't let the first chapter of book 2 trick you into thinking it'll be more of the same.
>>25340678admits to reading feminist reviews troon detected
>>25341366what actualky changes from the first book on that makes it not hunger games? im sort of starting to think the people that use hunger games as an insult havent actually read it, else theyd know that actually not every book is about a death game between kids on a death island fighting eachother, hunger games is just the most popular "resisting an evil fictional oppressive government, that seperates people into distinct classes, and personally fucks over the protagonist in unique ways" because it did it in a very unique way, so even though its worldbuilding doesnt make sense, it makes enough sense in that anime way (anime viewers like when things are dilineated very clearly, its why theres rarely any crossover in class/power, theres always a "specific" type of power, or specific type of powerful person. Its a way to not only make characters seem unique and distinctive to stand out better in memory, but also to make power easy to understand and therefore easy for the retarded viewer/reader to oppose. Hence you get like a swimming colony and a farm colony or whatever in Hunger games, and in some generic anime you get somebody who has the special power to control all ice or something, or is the intelligent character etc etc. This is how anime so easily forms archetypes, because its never writing a person, its writing a character to appeal to somebody, and its easier to understand and attach oneself to a character that has one simple defining feature that does all the work for defining, them, its also why anime loves flashbacks, you can fabricate information about a character that retroactively informs actions that already happened to make a character seem deeper, even though nothing about the characters dialogue and actions itself earned that depth
>>25340678Women are useless and exist to be fucked in real life, bonehead.
anyone ever read Eon by Greg Bear?just picked up a hardback copy for like 2 bucks at a sale. Worth reading soon it just filling it to the backlog?
>>25341466Pagespammer, please save yourself from further disillusionment, disappointment, and despair by giving up and going away.
>>25341488>by giving up and going away.go where?
What are the edgiest space operas?
>>25340938It's a thinly veiled sci-fi retelling of the Chinese Civil War wrapped in a Dune/40k tech coating but makes most of the cast genetically enhanced white gigachads instead of Chinks.
>>25341586It really isn't, at least not according to the author.
>>25341493Doesn't matter where. Anywhere but here. You don't have to go elsewhere. You just have to stop coming here.
>>25341466>what actually changesBook one is kids killing eachother. Book two chapter one looks like it will be more of the same but isn't. That's all I meant by that comment
>>25340739The mutant in Asimov’s Foundation series
>>25341611It never stops being kids killing eachother over an oppresive government.
>>25341008>who are you?>I'm an enemy>but why did you save me?>because... I am also insane
>>25341682kek
>>25341480Yes. It's good. The synopsis had me worried it was going to be cold war in space shit at first but it gets reasonable outre' in good season.Just picked up the first sequel in fact. (hopefully not for the second time. Really need to make a list of what I need/want vs. what I have.)
>>25341473Especially your mother.
What’s so bad about the Hyperion sequels? Just finished the first book.
>>25341856Most still like the 2nd book. 3rd and 4th are more negative. Have you tried reading anything written about them by those in this thread?
>>25341856They simply aren't the first book and don't have its strengths.
>>25341856The 4th book is the only one that I out right hate because of the retcons and bad forced romance. The 2nd book is a decent ending point and the 3rd is okay but there's no point without the last book.
>>25341871Do the first book characters appear in 3 and 4?
>>25341893Yes, but I would say it's part of what holds them back.
>>25341898Do you mean it in a “their arcs were done in book 2 and weren’t needed anymore”?
>>25341913To clarify only a few make cameos. The reason some of them showing up is an issue is that they introduce retcons that actively make cool shit in the previous books worse.
>>25341502Deathstalker is pretty edgy.
Is it okay to stop reading a book if you think it’s shit?
>>25341981If it's something generally well-regarded, give it 100 pages minus your age. If it's not a well-loved classic, read for as long as you feel like until you get tired of it. If it's not a well-loved classic and it uses first-person-perspective, throw it in the trash the moment you lay your eyes upon the first "I."
>>25341981Depends on why you're reading it. If you need to read it for some reason, then you should read it whether you like it or not. If you're reading for pleasure, then you can drop it.
>>25341981Yes.
>>25341981How do you know it’s shit if you do t finish it? Plenty of books get much better as they go along.
>>25342144You don't know, but you can be reasonably confident.
Its pretty obvious Hanuman constructed all of this.Ill be done with this book soon. And will lay out my thoughts on it by the end. Not as bad as what I've read before, but not as good either. Its about close to what my impression of ASOFAI would be after reading the Daeny essay.
Important to note when I conclude
>>25342185Only a natural like you could be this awful. Someone trying to be terrible as you are would have to among the best.
Another important page that I will return to when done
>>25342217Terrible at what? about what?
>>25340593>What is ti about Mars trilogy that makes some people hate it?For me it's the cardboard characters and retarded take on economyIn other news I just finished the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy. Three-body was alright, Dark Forest was a fucking slog and stupid as hell, but the final instalment was pretty amazing, only held back by some silly bits like the Australia part complete with the ninja Sophon
>>25342279Are you going to read the Remembrance of Earth's Past official fanfiction novel, The Redemption of Time?
>>25342310No. Explaining everything would ruin the ending
I'm basically almost done so I want to talk about this. Hanuman just might be the most super anime villain I've come across yet. Hes even more than Kraye was I think, because he has that feature that villains like Pain from Naruto do, where they appeal to some big abstract idea like "suffering" to seem like they have more depth to their crazy, absurd and out their actions than they do. This is the type of villain, that a retarded 15 year old with zero critical thinking is fooled into thinking is deep, because even though the idea is not sensibly connected to the action beyond the circular appeal to the idea itself (think of the type of villain thats like "heh i suffered so everybody else will too!" this doesnt actually make any sense whatsoever on its face, but there are people who will allow it to make sense because it validates the very thing implied by the claim: suffering is "true" because suffering is framed as a necessary condition for suffering, and in this narrow framing there is nothing else, so its easy to accept and understand because it refers to itself. It doesnt actually make sense when you think of the fact that there must have been a time where suffering didnt exist, similar to pain what does it mean to experience pain without relief? how would you even distinguish the experience?)(not the reason or justification for the idea's value)the point of explaining all this is to say Hanuman doesn't really make sense, but he appeals broadly to that generic villain idea that people who have never thought about anything, but despite that "intuitively" know (aka they never cared about truth or reason in the first place because theyre appealing to a self "evidential" feeling fact as reference for understanding the claim) that theyre right because "Life is pain...we must seek out a world without pain..."And despite that, all the significant acts Hanuman does throughout the book is just reaffirm and impose pain on other people...so that he can prove...the thing he already knows...that pain exists.I sooort of get doing it to Danlo if hes trying to convince Danlo of his worldview, but that would make sense if he only "hurt" Danlo, he infects some Lord of the Order and some random dude the Lord has sex with with a memory erasing virus just to fuck with another Lord. And I'm not accepting the "losing your memory isnt suffering!" retort, because I just don't care to argue semantics when the book hasn't engaged with any complex notion of suffering, just referring to it in the abstract that can be filled with anything.
This >>25342236 calls to mind another problem. Which In good faith I assume is addressed somehow in the next book. But Danlo just does whatever the story wants him to do. Danlo has a superhuman ability to resist suffering, pain, conflict, and just general "bad shit that could negatively affect him significantly mentally or physically" and he legit just does so...because the story will just tell you that he chose to.Now, I dont like Hanuman, so I'm actually completely fine with this because I think Hanuman's ideas are so shallow and base that Danlo succumbing to them easily would be worse actually than Danlo inexplicably resisting him.What I hate even more than protags with plot armous, are villains with evil armour where their "suffering is bad and the world is unfair, so ill be unfair and bad because thats how the world is...le cycle of violence this is so deep and intuitive to retards i bet, its so easy and cheap to affirm the made up unfairness of life, as if such a concept is not merely a direct creation of the mind applied post hoc to the world" with my mini rant over.This doesnt mean that this is good writing though. This actually occurs all throughout the story, but the book leans waaaay too much on just telling you than Danlo felt some way that seemed right, or just succeeded at something because he did, or that some other character was simple and shallow and nothing else because we were told so (Surya) or that another character is vain, but actually thats a good thing because that character is also, smart and beautiful and special because we were again told so. Which leads to the next post...
The romance between Danlo and Tamara is kind of just shit, because of this. They love eachother because they just do, they instantly hit it off, instantly have sex, instantly fall in love, and while we are told all of this explicitly. It wouldnt actually be any better if it was simply "shown" even if some superficial chemistry was expressed. Because the fundamental problem is that Danlo and Tamara are not enough of "people" for their love to be understood. Tamara is beautiful (and we're told smart) so Danlo instantly loves her because he is shown to swoon over her, and Tamara loves him back because hes beautiful and loves her very openly and honestly.Nothing about Danlo tells us what about Tamara he actually loves, and vice versa. I guess you could assume that for Tamara its that "wild" factor the book keeps coming back to, that he just openly accepts and embraces everything about the world and just does whatever he wants and feels because he can, but not in a domineering kind of way, but in a free and unconcerned kind of way (all his priveleges allow this so its not even interesting to think about) and basically she likes him because "hes not like other boys" which doesnt actually tell us much about Tamara. There are a lot of different type of people that could be enamored with somebody for being different.
Does pagespammer really have to relate everything he reads to Naruto?
Ill admit though, this got me, similar to how Esmenet realizing that Achamian loves her because she allows him to feel better about his nightmares or whatever.It also shows a different side to Danlo that he wouldnt want to admit that the pearl necklace was given by him. That theres no point, and that he should just let her choose to keep it for herself, without his love for her that she now doesnt remember, making that choice seem forced, in either direction, forced rejection because its connected to somebody she doesnt love and therefore has no value, or forced acceptance because its connected to somebody she thinks shes supposed to love. Shed more likely have picked the former option if he owned that he got her the necklace to be fair
>>25342408He's simple it's like the boss baby meme
>>25341758ok cool i will read it next
1 guy ruined an already dead thread and made it even deader by spamming pages of a book nobody else read and not just that every page came with essay spam
>>25340572
Been watching a ton of Farscape recently and miss the feeling of comfy space opera. What are some books that capture this feel? Only one image in the OP has a section for space operas
>>25342680If these threads are so easily derailed then maybe they weren’t worthwhile to begin with. /wg/ was like that.
>>25341847MUMMA!
>>25342767this is the real answer unfortunately its worse that nobody engages with the posts and its idea at all, even when the posts arent present than necessarily the existence or non existence of the posts
>>25342741I'm not aware of anything that captures the zany(but not too zany) tone, exotic atmosphere, and found family dynamic all in one package the way Farscape did.
>>25342791>perfect sense of adventure>fun and interesting alien designs >unique world and techMass Effect got the closest to me. However I don't know of any books that are similar to that either.
>>25342767You spend your entire day spamming walls of text that nobody wants or reads to kill a niche general on 4chan, you are desperately mentally ill
Chapter Title Book Title Reference
>>25341473You're no different than women who read minotaur porn
It really is a Naruto Sasuke type of thing.
wow. i don't know what to say. this sort of happenstance is too deliberate to be contrived, what does it mean? did he will hanuman to death without even killing him with his own hands? did somebody else some other god will him to death?hanuman is such an odd character. too odd to he human, even less so than danlo, maybe thats the point, unfortunately I dont think what he represents was interesting or explored enough to make up for not acting like a real person.
I dont agree. But this claim is almost unfalsifiable so it almost doesn't matter to challenge. The warrior poet would have came for Hanuman regardless. Hanuman would have entered the order regardless, likely would have killed the bully regardless. All Danlo did was save Hanumans life multiple times, if that, and being himself was enough to send Hanuman this way, then it doesn't really mean anything to say you created him, as it does mean something for a random girl to reject a guy, and him kill himself because that was the last chance he promised himself
So I guess the point can only be, as literal as is meant? In never letting Hanuman die, he carries the burden of "creating" an anime super villain by saving Hanuman's life not just twice, but now a third time.
Its done.
I never really liked Neil Gaiman, but looking back at the writers he ripped off, all of them fucking ruled.
>>25342767
>>25342680Atleast he’s posting something geg, it’s better than literally nothing at all
>>25342963Who did he rip off?
>>25343353>ignore people who post other commentary>ignore all posts about books that are not megapopular>"at least I posted something!!"Kill yourself, spamming nigger.
Dont know whether to continue with Requiem or start with something else. I told myself I'd still finish Howling Dark, but I'm really not in the mood to stomach poor character writing
>>25343470Don't read at all. Do something else for a while.
>>25343478I already took a break to do other things, its why it took me so long to get through Broken God, because I was tired of forcing myself through books. Broken God wasn't nearly as bad as what I read before it in the end, but it's ability to maintain interest lasted very shortly. Interest enough to want to continue, but not interest enough to look forward to continuing.
>>25343470Start with something else but actually good.
>>25339380Orion's Arm is painfully underrated
>>25343493Accept your insufficent interest and cut your losses.
>>25342714Holy shit I did not think anyone had it. You wouldn't happen to have the one of the aspect-emperor as Guy Fieri? there was a few of them including the flavortown one.
>>25340909I will probably have to take on this herculean task since they seem to be lost media now. That and uttering 'Bakker' or mentioning any of his books gives some users ptsd of those times.
>>25340584>>25340689>>25340909>>25342714All right, I found it after searching the archives like an autist. It is not as HQ as i remember, I could have sworn the image was originally larger, but atleast I can finally rest my mind after thinking about this meme and the other for half a decade.Sorry for reminding everyone of the bakkerposting era.
>>25342951Was it any good? Haven't read any of his books but Neverness is in my to-read list.
>>25343667Did you just ignore all the posts preceding that one? All the relevant posts were posted yesterday. I basically summarize my thoughts loosely on the main dynamic presented.Also the philosophy it does outside of the conversations with The Old Father are barely philosophy. Its either positing an idea with no further elaboration or justification (Hanuman and Danlo but I barely blame Danlo for this, he clearly doesn't do this as seriously and strongly as Hanuman) or asking a question in response to somebody who thinks something simple (usually Danlo) like "What is truth...? Can we really know identity?"I'm thinking the sequels probably actually get into the philosophy part, not the idea part, which is the exploration and justification. But I'm suspicious. Hanuman genuinely fundamentally does not make sense as a person OR a set of ideas. But because he has the most generic base simplistic retarded idea and notion intuitive to human beings "The world is suffering and unfair, a perfect world where everything I like and desire is fulfilled sure would be good" (basically heaven) is such a strong appeal to preconceptions that its almost necessarily "right" no matter what, because the framework of understanding the world, suffering, fairness, and pain doesn't allow for any other conclusion, when the range of what can be "real" can extend beyond reality. So Hanuman gets to be "right" by accident even though hes incoherent and has no actual thought chain, because the reality is that whether people admit it or not (The prominence of the concept of Heaven already proves it anyway) if there was a world of experience that could be as real as the world already lived in, where pain was non existent, and everything you wanted was a given. There isn't anybody that would thing that a bad thing. Its also why Danlo ends up seeming stupid the same way Naruto sometimes will. Naruto will come across a stupid villain yes, who has legitimate grievances, and will just say "Believe it!" and somehow every grievance is now erased and every past problem no5 meaningful because 1 dude actually talked to and challenged the villain's ideas. Do you know how weak and superficial an experience and idea has to be for that to work? To discount experiences that are more direct than words when Human beings are not only illogical, but Naruto isnt even making rational appeals, just normative appeals to what he has been conditioned to believe by his own experiences (making it arbitrary and preferential).Theres a way around this. Its a classic and cheap way: Just make the perfect world, not actually perfect. Its cheap for reasons I dont have time to get into, I've honestly been typing too long. Its not as if this conceot cant be done well, it just has the problems I laid out.
>>25343784I'm not reading that. Is it good? Reply with Yes or No.
>>25343667Pagespammer doesn't even read the books he screenshots.
>>25342408>>25342895>>25343784
It always the most insufferable autists who think they need to include every thought they have. Even moderately functioning aspies learn some level of self editing.
>>25342185I enjoyed reading your essay. I don't get why everyone else is whining.
>>25343841>samefag
>>25343784Right but I don't care about the characters' outlooks or the author's philosophy at this point. I just want to know if it's any good, like as a book.
>In our lives, as we know, Eden takes the past tense. It is only afterwards, in any case, that we call it Eden. In the midst of life, while we remain active and full of the biologically predetermined sense of uniqueness which guarantees the species-specific orthodoxy of our every act, we give the driving force within us all sorts of names, but I will call it Word. During the years of our vigour, we do not seek to separate ourselves from the Word which comprises the wiring diagram of the soul, the perceptual matrix which ties the ego to the raw things of the world and charges the raw things of the world to obey the patterns that make us whole. It is, of course, a high and terrible charge we lay upon the raw things of the world. "Oh bless the continuous stutter," says Leonard Cohen in "The Window," from Recent Songs (1979),"Of the Word being made into flesh," the fool. Because that stutter is the sound of Progress, a chewing sound.Good old literary criticism.
>>25343859What? The hell does it mean for a book to be good if the writing doesn't matter? I have no idea why you'd need anybody elses input to know that then, you can just look at the cover, and read a synopsis, or read a sample of prose if you're one of those weirdos, and just go off of vibes then
>>25343974You're still avoiding the question. It's a simple question. Is the book good?
>>25343982I don't often reduce things to good or bad, and I also don't know what you care about specifically in a book, so if you didnt want and analysis of what the book is trying to say then I can't give you an answer.
>>25343988Does that mean that enjoyment and dislike also doesn't play a role? That's basically good and bad. You only analyze the arguments of the book and everything else doesn't matter?
>>25343993Well, you might not realize this, but some people find enjoyment in things that make sense, and cannot find (sustaining) enjoyment otherwise. I can't trick myself into thinking something that is stupid, silly, poorly established, and arbitrary, is actually interesting and enjoyable
>>25344008dattebayo!
An author explains why sometimes an author is simply seem unable to release the next book in a series from personal experience. https://www.sethdickinson.com/2026/06/13/update-on-baru-4/
>>25343581nice picture of Jake the Dog
Why does it feel like there is no good sci fi horror? Like I look it up & hyperion is mentioned & it wouldn't call that a true horror story
>>25344289There's a lot of sf horror. Whether you'd consider it good is a different matter. Horror is a broad genre. Hyperion does have horror, but it isn't a horror novel, or even sf horror to me either.
>>25344289I gotchu bro:>The Interplanetary stories, Clark Ashton Smith >The Space Vampires, Colin Wilson>Blood Music, Greg Bear>Hull Zero Three, Greg Bear>The Tartarus Incident, William Greenleaf>The Legacy of Heorot, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle>Voyager in Night, C.J. Cherryh (1984) >Nightflyers, George R.R. Martin (1985) >Sphere, Michael Crichton (1987) >Stinger, Robert Mccammon>The Night's Dawn trilogy, Peter F Hamilton>Slimer, Harry Adam Knight>The Vang, Christopher Rowley >Ship of Fools, Richard Paul Russo>Starfish, Peter Watts>Blindsight, Peter Watts
>>25341042I feel that Way Station is more mature and thoughtful, although there is an excess here or there.
>>25344415A lot of slop there.>>25344313The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch is one of the best combinations of SF and horror ever.
All fantasy and science fiction is fucking "slop" you disingenuous little cocksuck.
In a weird atypical mood where I wanna read but don't know what to read. I don't want to stack up series' that I'm taking a break from
>>25344738Blood Music. Nice little standalone for ya.
>>25344415NTA but thanks for posting that list, Anon. grabbed the books I did not already have on there to read.
>>25344753You're welcome
Have any of you blokes read this? Any recs for sailing/age of discovery/pirate fantasy?
anons, I think I might be too stupid to read Gene Wolfe. I can follow the general plot and pick up some nuances, but I don't have a notebook with me where I track exact things said and what they could potentially mean... Just about to finish the 9th book (exodus of the long sun) and I still feel like i'm only getting 10% of what i'm reading...
So whats the deal with The Golden Oecumene trilogy? Good or Ass?
What are the best Dying Earth type books, not written by Vance?
>>25344917Nifft the Lean by Michael Shea.The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe.
Weird phenomenon I just experienced. Went back to try and read Howling Dark, and while I couldnt identify any specific problem anymore with the string of words I read. It kind of evoked a sense that the writing itself is like fundamentally not good. Like the dialogue is trash, because the characters are trash and simple, and there is never enough meat behind their actions because the characters are nothing. They just exist as nothing but obstacles or affirmations of Hadrian and his thoughts, feelings and goals. Which is bad because Hadrians thoughts feelings and goals are just as bad as other characters. Infact theres a literal page where the story goes "I dont know why I am acting the way I am, but I guess it must be the fact that I have unique talents" he obviously implicitly acknowledges how this isnt an explanation due to the very fact that he considers other actual deeper reasons why those talents being realized would matter. Just because somebody is 6 foot 4 doesn't mean they want to play in the NBA. Just because somebody is intelligent doesn't mean they want to be a doctor, and in contrast just because somebody likes to help people, doesnt mean they want to become a Doctor...let alone that they can.This is a problem I alluded to with Hadrian long ago, and its kind of comforting for the story itself to literally acknowledge this fact, even if its lampshading. Then nobody can lie to me and pretend im just not reading properly what the story itself acknowledges.I have a feeling though that the story is acknowledging this, for the sake of establishing something down the line like divine fate. Contrivance naturalized. Unseen unknowable forces simply pushing things to be a certain way simply...because? The explanation or lack thereof to that determines whether its justified, but on its face, its just purely bad writing, to not establish enough basis for why characters behave certain ways, because then, they are not people. Merely plot devices.
Forgot the stupid fucking page, stupid fucking website.
>>25344941>always posts the unix timestamp as the filename
I also forgot to say that, that very admittance of the fact that Hadrian does things essentially for no reason. Is what is keeping me reading. Its being framed as something to be answered. Will it answer? I really do wish so much time wasnt spent on relationships with characters who are truly hollow of any substance. It would be easier to tolerate a Hadrian story of simplicity forced complex.I won't read on if I'm not given some strong enough answer by the end of the book. Assuming I even survive that far
>>25344914Only read the first book but it was p good
Anyone a fan of Richard Matheson, Charles Beumont, or Ray Bradbury? I've always found there stories hard to classify. Is it science-fiction? fantasy? horror?
