/lit/ - Literature

>>22644957
The Unholy Consult.
Bakker is KING.
Truth shines!

>>22312420

>>21824079
Truth shines, friend.

>>21806611
>T. Has not read it but fell for the "transhomolit" slur dreamed up by competing fan boys.

There are certainly legitimate criticisms of the series, particularly the opening which is slow and not helped by the time leap and the ridiculous spellings, but this is not one.

>>21766064
His sci-fi book was good too. Someone needs to break into his innawoods compound and convince him to write again.

>>21702427
When the rape aliens and demon gods get into the mix, which is only at the fringes of the first three books, sort of like the Golden Age Arc.

>>21676317
Just read the King

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70d7Cu5sUE0

The Darkness That Comes Before. Just become a Kellhus.

Or realize that an intelligent entity totally bereft of emotions is an abomination that is somehow worse than rape aliens or even actual demons, IDK, that might have been the point of the story.

Bakker.

>7 books
>first trilogy had a good ending
>the four other books are clearly leading to a climax
>climax sections are riveting, lots of neat reveals that have been teased before, my favorite genre fiction is wrapping together tons of complex threads and explaining things
>j/k it's over without the big questions being explained; mother of all cliff hanger endings, very unclear what it means and what happened
>it's ok I guess, the author is working on a follow up 2-3 books that will explain it all, just wait for the No-God
>Author apparently pissed with published, burnt out.
>Oh well, I can wait.
>July 2017
>Half a decade passed
>Author, who had big online presence and was promoting sequel now pressured dead by many fans, totally gone.
>His brother feels the need to tell fans he isn't dead but isn't writing, in isolation on his farm.

It's a damn shame if it's over a fight with his publisher, although part of me thinks it's just writers block and not knowing how to end the story. Although, part of me fears the extreme ambiguity and lack of clear meaning in the ending was intentional the entire time and meant to leave the reader grasping and unsatisfied.

>>21427405

>>21391828
You have finished with the one of the princes of fantasy. Now you must read the King, the Emperor, Abu Bakker, pbuh.

>>21202162
This. This is why, no matter how much lib bullshit he spews to try to uncancel himself, Bakker will remain King.

Say we feed GPT-4 all of Bakker's work, all ancient Western philosophy, and some medieval philosophy and Absolute Idealism. Would there be a way to make it recognize Bakker's work as history, and get it to focus specifically on writing the Earwa philosophy books for us?

I need to produce copies of these for my training. I've realized that Bakker can only write as Dunyain by being as a Dunyain.

As a Bakkerite, I am sworn to defend and champion our warrior prophet. However, while I am cursed with the genetics of a world born man, I can still do my best to become properly educated, to become a tool for my prophet.

But does GPT just spit shit out, or can you train it with instructions?

Bakker, you say?
Hello Newfag, welcome to /lit/ and /sffg/.

Chances are that you‘ve seen the name Bakker thrown around this place quite a lot. Fear not, this is what you need to know:

First off, I would generally advise against reading him early on, especially if you're new to reading and just migrated from /v/ looking for a Dark Souls type of book. Read other, lighter, stuff first. There is plenty, just don‘t fall into the web-novel meme. Those are atrocious, especially Reverend Insanity, Cradle and the Wandering Inn. You should also know that a lot of people here suffer from PBS(Post Bakker Syndrome). Meaning that once you've read him, it will be hard to find other authors in fantasy as good as he is. Which is why Bakker memes are so prolific here.

Having that said, he is quite literally the most beloved writer in this general, and has been for over a decade, regardless of what filtered (Yes, some people here are unable to truly understand his prose) anons might tell you. And he is, in my humble opinion, the greatest living writer in fantasy right now.

If you enjoy dark fantasy series with intense battles, pitch black lore, highly intellectual themes that dovetail into real world philosophy, poignant character psychology, and just a hint of Lovecraftian horror, then R. Scott Bakker is the author for you. When the time comes, start with The Darkness that Comes Before from the Prince of Nothing trilogy.

>>20750352
He's also an innawoods recluse now hiding on his farm and won't finish the books. Although he at least ended the last series with a good ending point unlike some other fantasy writers...

>>20706614

“Thousands of years ago, when the Dûnyain first found—”

“After the ancient wars?” Kellhus eagerly interrupted. “When we were still refugees?”

The Pragma struck him, fiercely enough to send him rolling across the hard stone. Kellhus scrambled back to position and wiped the blood from his nose. But he felt little fear and even less regret. The blow was a lesson, nothing more. Among the Dûnyain, everything was a lesson.

The Pragma regarded him with utter dispassion. “Interruption is weakness, young Kellhus. It arises from the passions and not from the intellect. From the darkness that comes before.”

“I understand, Pragma.”

The cold eyes peered through him and saw this was true. “When the Dûnyain first found Ishuäl in these mountains, they knew only one principle of the Logos. What was that principle, young Kellhus?”

“That which comes before determines that which comes after.”

The Pragma nodded. “Two thousand years have passed, young Kellhus, and we still hold that principle true. Does that mean the principle of before and after, of cause and effect, has grown old?”

“No, Pragma.”

“And why is that? Do men not grow old and die? Do not even mountains age and crumble with time?”

“Yes, Pragma.”

“Then how can this principle not be old?”

“Because,” Kellhus answered, struggling to snuff a flare of pride, “the principle of before and after is nowhere to be found within the circuit of before and after. It is
the ground of what is ‘young’ and what is ‘old,’ and so cannot itself be young or old.”

“Yes. The Logos is without beginning or end. And yet Man, young Kellhus, does possess a beginning and end—like all beasts. Why is Man distinct from other beasts?”

“Because like beasts, Man stands within the circuit of before and after, and yet he apprehends the Logos. He possesses intellect.”

“Indeed. And why, Kellhus, do the Dûnyain breed for intellect? Why do we so assiduously train young children such as you in the ways of thought, limb, and face?”

“Because of the Quandary of Man.”

“And what is the Quandary of Man?”

A bee had droned into the shrine, and now it etched drowsy, random circles beneath the vaults.

“That he is a beast, that his appetites arise from the darkness of his soul, that his world assails him with arbitrary circumstance, and yet he apprehends the Logos.”

“Precisely. And what is the solution to the Quandary of Man?”

“To be utterly free of bestial appetite. To utterly command the unfolding of circumstance. To be the perfect instrument of Logos and so attain the Absolute.”

“Yes, young Kellhus. And are you a perfect instrument of Logos?”

“No, Pragma.”

“And why is that?”

“Because I am afflicted by passions. I am my thoughts, but the sources of my thoughts exceed me. I do not own myself, because the darkness comes before me.”

There is already a Bakker thread up.

>>20690203

I feel like I've finally come to understand the ending and am less anxious about a sequel.

I get that being the center of a fandom is probably exhausting, especially when you're sort of a nerd yourself and are prone to getting into ethical debates and blog shit fights with other authors, but I wish he hadn't gone full silence mode. The short stories he put out were good and I'm sure he has more since Atrocity Tales seems like it was planned as a release.

Would be neat for that to get dropped to tide us over.

>>20691780
*The second series focuses way more on the Consult not the council.

The Consult story and Gods get fleshed out significantly more, as well as the role of the non-men.

>>20689363
It's the Darkness That Comes Before, the peak of genre fiction.

>>20189125
Based

>>19887943
>Judging a book by it's cover
NGMI

>I mean is there anything truly original that doesn’t rely on common tropes?
Yes, R. Scott. Bakker.

>>19664516
Become a Bakkerchad anon.

Threadly reminder to read The Second Apocalypse by R. Scott Bakker. Start with the Darkness that Comes Before.