/lit/ - Literature

first for sandarson a hack

second for sanderson a hack

Asked in the previous thread already:
Can someone recommend me some really comfy books on space travel? Maybe some generation ship stuff? I just want to get comfy reading about space.
Also, I was thinking about some mysterious space stuff. Like xenoarcheology about long dead space race or something like that.

>>10350382
>Also, I was thinking about some mysterious space stuff. Like xenoarcheology about long dead space race or something like that.

Jack McDevitt. He's got two series' that are mostly about that:

The Academy Series is about Priscilla Hutchins, a xeno-archaeologist and starship pilot, set as humanity is just starting to get out into space and discover strange new planets.

The Alex Benedict/Chase Kolpath series is set in the very, very distant future where humanity and other alien races have spread throughout the galaxy. The series is about a antiques dealer and a former cop turned private eye and starship pilot investigating artifacts from long-dead civilizations and missing starships.

I'm reading Burning Chrome at the moment. The Belonging Kind was really good. Seems like something Cronenberg could've adapted in the '80s.

I finished reading pic related about ten minutes ago. My eyes are still watery, and I still feel this mixture of an ache in my chest and a kind of joy.

I don't know why, but this book... really affected me. I feel lost in a fog.

What a fucking trip!

Reposting

>>10348386
How is Moth & Cobweb? It's low on my priories of stuff to read by Wright, since it seems like a YA series.

I've finished this book.
Man, this is awesome!

>>10350555
Good shit.
None of Noon's other work is as good, don't get your hopes up.

11th for webnovels are novels too

man it's been like a decade since i've read neuromancer. should maybe read it again soon...

Is there any scifi mixed with demons and hell stuff? Kind of like doom. I know that W40K is like that but I don't like warhammer.

>>10350567
That's okay. I didn't expect what I got when I read this one, either. Just thought it would be a fun ride.

In what order should I read the other Vurt books? Publication, or prequel stuff then sequel?

Any similar authors you can recommend?

>>10350627

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/277897.Working_for_the_Devil

Here you go.

>>10350382
Somebody help me here. Maybe some kind of soviet like comfy space scifi?
I know, you anons have hidden comfy gems. Share them.

>>10350637
This is not what I was thinking about. I thought about something like deep horizon or doom but with less shooting.

>>10350629
I've read three or four of his other works and I wouldn't recommend reading them at all. Whatever gold he hit on with Vurt, he failed to reproduce in his other works. It's a bit sad.

>>10350674
>soviet
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

>>10350683
I've heard Falling Out of Cars comes close. Have you read it?

>>10350697
It is dystopia and not a fucking comfy space travel book. Come on, dude.

>>10350697

wuz?

>>10349723
>Sazed has secrets of creation in his copperminds
>up to and including radio
>implication that there's still way more tech he's holding back
You should have pointed out that South Scadrians evolved post-Lord Ruler.

>>10350571

>>10350382
Have Space Suit Will Travel. Way Station. Cordwainer Smith's shorts.

Is there a term for the exposition scene immediately after a person's traumatic first encounter with the supernatural where a guide or protector explains to the person that magic is real and why they were just attacked?

I need to figure out how to write that kind of scene because the version I'm writing now is coming out unbelievably terrible

>>10350715
>recommended a good soviet sf book
HOW DARE HE GIVE ME RECS! I NEED MOAR SPACE COMFIENESS REEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

>>10350679

Sorry, gay young adult stuff by someone named Raven is what you get.

Anyone know any good Magic novels.
No sword and magic though, mostly magic.
none of the recs fit the bill

>>10350873
>was asked about a comfy space travel (maybe soviet) scifi
>read one word out of request
>got mad that nobody gave a shit about his completely unrelated "advice"
Out of all soviet scifi you offered the one that is probably the furthest from the thing requested
Did you just want to pretend that you know soviet scifi?

Am I stupid for getting blown up by the reveal in Oathbringer that humans came to Roshar?

"There is Ashyn, the burning planet, which suffered a cataclysm long ago. People here live in very small pockets of survivability, including the famous floating cities."

Sheeeeeit, Ashyn is the planet destroyed by the dawnshards.

>>10350715
>>10350967
>It is dystopia and not a fucking comfy space travel book. Come on, dude.
Looks like you got mad first tho.

>>10350967
>asked about soviet scifi
>furthest from the thing requested
k

>>10350955
sorcerrers quest is decent its pretty much vanilla magic fiction though.
waldo rabbit is fun its not done yet. its about a dark mage who cant use dark magic only light magic. its pretty hilarious actually. it features a masochistic sub ogre and a chaste dogooder succubus.

Should I read burning chrome before reading neuromancer?

can someone post the piracy flowchart for ebooks and audiobooks.

>>10351181
Neuromancer first.

>>10351140
>sorcerrers quest
is it a one shot or part of a series?

most magic only books are girl books and it always reads like the same char in all of them. Too many pop culture refs and its always a romance. Typical YA crap.

>>10351367
its a series. i think 3 books so far or 4 i havent kept up i tend to wait until a series is complete since i cant stand waiting for the next book and rather read all in one go.

>not ritualistically reading The Book of The New Sun in its entirety every December

I seriously hope you guys don't do this

>>10350319
Neuromancer was great until the third act when it sort of fizzled out. What do you all think about the rest of the trilogy?

>>10350674
Wolfhound Century by Peter Higgins

>>10350778
There's trope names for it but they elude me at the moment.

Your best bet is to read personal accounts of cancer diagnosis.

So, aside from Vurt and the Magicians trilogy, what are some good literary SFF books with whole casts of flawed but mostly well-intentioned characters who often inadvertently (and, rarely, intentionally) hurt one another?

I want something like BoJack Horseman as speculative fiction.

Post more wild Cosmere theories. I am way out of the loop.

>can't sleep
>can't concentrate enough to read even on a shitty pulp
help

>>10350778
"Yer a wizard harry"

>>10351563
Can you not concentrate because you're tired because you can't sleep?

>>10351210
1. use irc ebooks or bookz
2. google book name and epub/rar/mobi

If that fails it isn't out there

>>10351568
Nah I'm like wide awake but after like one chapter I've had enough

Might try Donaldson's new book instead since if it's bad Donaldson the dryness will make me sleepy

>>10351579
Read short stories? Watch a movie? Go for a walk?

>Who is the most dangerous of Kaladin, Shallan, and Dalinar?
Hmm… haw… Depends on which era of their lives… Probably Dalinar is the most dangerous. But that's a really tough question! After Dalinar probably Shallan
>:(

>>10351210

>got recommended this book here
>its complete garbage with no overarching plot
>main character is a complete psychopath, not a single thing makes him likeable

Got memed into reading shit yet again. Should have knew that anything with below 4,0 rating on good reads is not worth any attention, when even on imdb of books it cant reach a high rating.
I fucking hate this place, every time i read something based of recommendation its a piece of shit so bad it makes me regret i read fiction at all.

Also made up words, Ayyy.

>>10351181
neuromancer is the lynchpin of the sprawl series. and you will get much more out Burning Chrome from reading it first. A lot of Burning Chrome is historical backstory and world building for Neuromancer.
>>10351433
I loved them, they gave me a reason to live, so I could be a cranky as fuck mean old man like The Finn or Jules, once the world went to shit, and I could get neuraljack plugs in my head, and Nikon-Zeiss eyes.

I kind of wish he would revisit the sprawl after the end of mona lisa overdrive, like decades after. I would like a Turing police book though. those guys were fucking legit.

Molly was a fucking raw ass SAVAGE.

>>10351680
Is there anything handy like this for textbooks?

>Jasnah is back, this loved one/teacher we thought was dead is back to life

no one seems to give a shit

>you say kaladin killed my brother!!!

shallan quickly doesn't give shit after few seconds of shock.

>I have a baby brother!!

Kaladin doesn't give a shit

>we're the voidbringers?!!

Our main cast doesn't give a shit.

>you killed Sadeas!!!

Adolin: yeah, i don't care
Rest of the cast: doesn't give a shit

>Szeth is now on our side, the same guy who killed my brother/father

Jasnah nor dalinar seem to give much of shit
>>10351662
why sad? sad that you feel kaladin and his abilities are getting shit on in some way or that the bitch with multiple personalty disorder, a chronic liar, and who killed her parents is a danger to something?

the bitch is crazy brah and doesn't have an honor spren's Jesus virtues guiding her.

>>10351710
>2017
>still buying into the college meme

>>10350263
>How is Moth & Cobweb? It's low on my priories of stuff to read by Wright, since it seems like a YA series.

I've only read the first three books but it was actually a very good story about a paladin heavily informed by Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as well as a few more Ye Olden Thymes sources (it's Wright, so for-real stuff like The Faerie Queene and Le Mort d'Arthur) translated into a modern context.

It is YA, but if it eases your guilt think about it more like e.g. Heinlein's juveniles or The Chronicles of Prydain.

>>10350382
The Book of the Long Sun

(The modern cover already spoils it, though)

>>10351825
>>10350557
Also, while it's "modern" the stories I read mostly take place either in the middle of nowhere or in Faerie. I understand that most recent Moth & Cobweb books are more "urban fantasy".

>>10351801
>Um… you’re supposed to watch out for Cryptics.”
>Pattern hummed happily. “Yes. We are very famous.”

>>10351806
A while back Toyota wanted to open a factory in the US but built it in Canada instead, despite the US offering better subsidies, because US workers are too illiterate to assemble prefabricated parts.

Are there any good supernatural series stories about ghosts/hauntings type of stuff? No Jim Butcher pls.

>>10352004
Felix Castor books are good

>>10350329
>>10350335
friend recommended the way of kings and i might start it soon, is it really that bad?

>>10351415
why december? i have it but havent read it yet, but i planned on closing the year out by reading it.

>>10352063
Nah, it's pretty anime ish but other than Shallan's scenes (One of the protagonists) it's not bad. It's just popular to bash on him rn because he's mainstream. It's nothing deep or special but it's a fun read. Nice ideas and world building and the side characters have depth to them as do the main ones as annoying some may be.

>>10352040
Thanks anon, this looks very promising. Tysm!

Looking through the contents of the Escahaton books, I noticed there are two Part Fives. "The World Beneath the World" in Judge of Ages, and "The Armada of the Hyades" in The Architect of Aeons. Is this on purpose, or is it a big typo?

Neuromancer is garbage. The only good cyberpunk is Book of the Long Sun.

>>10351997
http://www.wral.com/report-nc-a-finalist-for-toyota-mazda-car-plant/17114082/

>>10352512
But...America was founded by people from Europe?

>>10352512
Nah this was a few years back and was in Arkansas or Mississippi IIRC.

>>10352419

>>10352570
>$1.6B plant to be built in either #36 or #44 of 'which states graduate the most high schoolers'
>13 asian auto assembly plants in the U.S.
>3 krautfag plants
Yeah, I dunno if you thought the Sanderson guys were the only ones awake or what but you're done here.

Looking at demon cycle, should I read it?

>>10352635
Read and post feedback in this thread.

>>10352512
join the wolfe discord asshole

>Expected Moash to mirror Kaladins whole Bridge 4 thing with the parshmen
>Just goes fucking nuclear instead
Got to say didn't see it coming

>>10352849
I haven't seen a link to it in months. Besides, everyone knows CASbro's excerpts and Catfag's dino reviews are the only content worth a damn on /lit/.

>>10352873
That's because Kalladin will have to kill him in the next book, right as he dings level 4

>>10352131
It's probably a typo, Eschaton was originally supposed to be only four books long, and there are quite a few publisher mistakes related to it. The advertising copy and dust jacket on Architect both say it's the final book in the series, IIRC.

>>10351415
I read it last February, and I'm planning to reread it this February after reading Urth during the holidays.

>>10351710
You use the exact same guide with a greater focus on libgen and Bibliotik and the library of whatever institute you are attending. Academic access will usually give you access to e-copies of the book which can either be deDRM'd with Apprentice Alf's tools (especially proquest) or have all the chapters ripped out of it by printing to pdf.

The library cards obtained from bib + google preview ripper run by super nice members from that site can also be used to grab books or parts of books. Don't undervalue the usefulness of a scanner-- put on an audiobook while scanning a borrowed textbook although this can take hours.

Different institutes have different e-access to sites like proquest. Use worldcat to determine which libraries have it and if other libraries do it might be worth putting in a request for buffer on bib or RED.

Most of the time you'll just get it straight away from libgen and bibliotik and a quick google unless you are a humanities student.

>>10352588
>children of turin?
>outer /lit/

How the fuck do I handle similes in fantasy literature?

Trying to write a scene where a guy flings a squid like beast onto the shore except there are no squids in his world and I've already described them physically before that.

Dido for serpentine movements in a world where the mc has never seen nor heard of snakes?

>>10353094
Particularly with the latter example, you just need to think carefully about who the narrator is and how they know what's going on. Perhaps he lives near a beach for instance, well he might not have seen snakes but he might have seen sea anemones or jellyfish, or shifting patterns in beach sand caused by waves and tides.

The lazy/easy/default assumption is that you, the author, a shitposting white male in the Current Year, are describing events to the reader in your own words. If that's true, who fucking cares unless it's ridiculously jarring (like analogizing something to a train or a drill press).

Regarding the "serpentine" example if you want to get autistic about etymology you need to be very careful not to get drawn into a silly rabbit hole unless that's what you're going for. Probably your character doesn't "really" speak English at all so

(For "serpentine" just substitute "sinuous", for the first example read the Watcher in the Water sequence in LOTR).

>>10353137
Danke anon.

>>10351415
i actually do this with the silmarillion.

I'm about to start book 15 of WoT. I've also started an audio re-read of the series for when I'm home doing other things. The first audio book is 28h long.
Am I normal?

>>10353214
>audio re-read
You're wasting your time on a average series that's only really worth reading once if you're a fan of the epic sub-genre. And you also seem to think this is some kind of accomplishment.

>>10353217
i think i've read the entire series twice and i'm on my latest re-read

why do i do this?

and i'm not >>10353214

>>10353240
>why do I do this?
Nostalgia and a somewhat reasonable attachment to characters you've read about more than ten thousand pages?

>>10352142
Cyberpunk exists for the sole purpose of providing an aesthetic for visual media, its roots in written letter are shallow and limp.

>>10351806
t. permanently unemployed with 0 chance of employment

>>10352004
There are plenty if you aren't that woman author hating anon.

>>10353346
I read Prince of Thorns: it's utter shit. So's The Strain.

>>10353297
College is a scam. If my dick made male and female orgasm for 10 minutes straight I could fuck all my professors in college and pass. Then fuck the dean and be valedictorian. Go to a trade school. Shit that actually makes money.

>>10353217
>And you also seem to think this is some kind of accomplishment.
Not at all, I just like to re-read or re-watch things to check for consistency and see how far ahead the writer had planned. I particularly like the references to things that happen later in the series and that you can't understand on your first read.

>>10353351

>>10353346
no mercy thompson, and Larry Correias books?
Larry writes some good shit.
>>10353351
they sucked ass, as did the anita blake books besides Obsidian Butterfly which was Edward the death fucking up people who took HIS WIFES SON.

>>10350319
Neuromancer is very dated, and reading it as a contemporary man who has a smart phone and knows some basic programming, it seems very dull and simple.
All of the books, comics and movies copying it turned out better than the original itself.

>>10353548

That's sort of like saying that the rest of the house is more comfortable than sleeping on the foundation.

>>10353553
It is though.

>>10353346
>literally worst chart ever posted in this thread

>>>10353384
>literally second worst chart ever posted in this thread

>>10353346
Why is /lit/ so garbage at charts


Like what the fuck is that Y axis

>>10353559

Yeah of course. That's almost always the case. Most high fantasy is way more readable than Tolkein. And certainly the magic systems etc are more coherent and less retarded in most cases.

We appreciate them as a core work that inspired what comes after. You don't sit down and read a 30 year old novel that started one of the most popular sub genres to get a cutting edge novel. Especially since cyberpunk was basically "near future" in the first place.

How do I write sorcerers in a society where sorcery is not very well understood but actually lauded instead of the way it's typically witchhunted?

>>10353582

Nervous awe. Impressed but distant.

>>10353582
Cocky and vapid, like the children of billionaires or justin bieber.

>>10353582
Like beauty is treated in the real world.

>>10353575
>magic system
brainlet spotted

>>10353582
Take inspiration from a moderately sized christian cult. Pick on the crazy axis according to taste.

>>10353582
like blacksmiths in early medieval times

>>10353351
>I read Prince of Thorns: it's utter shit. So's The Strain.
So true.
I feel im just too old for Prince of Thorns, and by that i mean that im older than 12.
Its like a book written for young teens, but for some bizarre reason its full of violence and scenes straight out a horror book, like an even worse version of Eragon.
The adventures of a mass murdering psychopath and his band of happy rapist and serial killers as they rape and murder children and men alike dosnt exactly mesh well with the redemption story and teen story of a 12yo boy being such a fucking bad ass that he defeats grown trained soldiers in single combat as he fights for his rightful place as a king or something.
It somehow both menages to make the child protagonist the biggest Mary Sue you can find with abilities of a 50 year old hunter and soldier, while at the same time making him the most evil and most unlikable character one can think of.

The tonal disconnect is probably the biggest i have yet seen in any book, it lacks any semblance of self awareness, sells itself as this gritty realistic story while failing straight on its face in any attempt at trying to write logical characters and story in a story that has actual consequences.

Strain is just shit all around. Its about what you expect from your below average marvel/dc comic book from one of their worse writers. Incoherent idiotic plot and genre cliches up the ass and back.

Sometimes i think those charts are just made to troll people.

>>10353716
>Its about what you expect from your below average marvel/dc comic book from one of their worse writers.
What's the non-comic SFF equivalent of what you expect from Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman, or Warren Ellis (that isn't the actual novels written by them)?

>>10353575
>Tolkien is outdated and difficult to read because it doesn't have a video game-based "magic system"

>>10353760
>>Tolkien is outdated and difficult to read because it doesn't have a video game-based "magic system"
Thats a good argument actually.
If theres something i really like about modern fantasy is how some writers like Brandon Sanderson dont use the magic in their world as deus ex machina solve it all plot crutch, but instead as a fully fleshed out things with rules and limitations.

While his Rithmatist series is aimed at kids, other writers should read it and see how you write a proper magic system, its amazing what he did there.You never feel like the magic is pulled out of the writers ass on spot every time, but the entire book teaches you how it works and it all comes together at the end so that the plot is driven by those rules, not that the world has to bend to the plot like Tolkien did.

Tolkien did some great things in world building, in lore and the fantasy language development, but he sure as hell didnt put much attention into the superatural powers of his world.

Is it me, or did the prose in the 4th Legend of the Galactic Heroes took a turn for the worse?
It it because I read it side by side with War and Peace?

>>10353575
>implying LotR and modern epic fantasy have anything in common aside from a secondary world and medieval techlevel
Neuromancer still sucks though.

>>10353582
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cunning_folk

>>10353794
He treated magic like divine miracles beacuse he jerked off to the bible.

>>10353590
>>10353594
>>10353597
>>10353623
>>10353709
>>10353808


thanks guys

>>10353794
>use the magic in their world as deus ex machina solve it all plot crutch
Sounds like you need to hit the books before you try Tolkien again.

>>10353809
That's no excuse.

>>10353815
>he wants autistic video game shit instead of Biblical inspirations
Boo

>>10353794
>autists who want magic to be alternative physics instead of imagination made real
Just call it psi or Hamon or nanotech or power points or something, don't use the word "magic" unless you know what it means.

>>10353813
dude I killed balrog lmao

>>10353737
>Morrison
Jerusalem by Alan Moore

>>10353794
Right and wrong. A to closely defined magic system, i.e Sanderson, remove all magic from magic. Fucking Harry Potter does it better, there's still a sense of wonder and amazement in magic. However there's nothing wrong with fleshing it out slightly more than Tolkien did.

>>10353794
>"magic"
>system
shiggy diggy, muh wiggy

>book has nothing going for it but a mystery
>forcing myself through it just so I know what it is

I'm such a fast reader until I don't like something, then it's agony

>>10353575
>>10353794
Neuromancer has aged poorly because it's superficial. While Gibson's perceiving certain trends or possibilities in the early 1980s was impressive, he only ultimately only engaged with his predictions and their implications on a rather superficial level, and shoehorned them into a conventional plot. Politicians are corrupt, corporations have too much power, the criminal underworld is slightly larger (than in the present, than in the developed world). Women on the lower end of society are subject to sleazy sexual exploitation and their male counterparts are rootless itinerants. We get only hints of radical alteration from the likes of Wintermute/Neuromancer, and that only near the end, and tangential to the main narrative. That's also why visual media supplanted Neuromancer as the definitive vision of cyberpunk: style counts for much more in visual arts.

The Lord of the Rings (whose influence on "high fantasy" is often overstated but which is certainly foundational) is "difficult to read" because attention spans have decreased. Both the quantity and quality of work Tolkien put into the linguistic, mythical/historical, and cosmological aspects of Arda far exceed what Sanderson has done with the Cosmere magic system, no matter how many hundreds of hours of anime the latter watched.

"Magic" in LOTR is "pulled out of the writers ass" because the author of the Red Book of Westmarch didn't understand it. More prosaically, it's because Tolkien was more interested in the linguistic, mythical, theological and even aesthetic aspects of Middle Earth than on exoteric simplifications of alchemical concepts based on pulp conventions for explaining fantasy martial arts tropes to pubescent boys.

Neuromancer is cool and you're all just boring

>>10353892
I learned a new word today. Thanks.

>>10353815
It's not an excuse, it's the reason.

Magic was supposed to be inexplicable and miraculous, not spammed infinitely from a mana pool.

That said, I enjoy litrpg.

>magic can only be one way in fantasy

I can't shiggy harder.

>>10353569
What about this one then?

>>10353912
I don't see any words you should be learning from his post. They all look like basic vocabulary.

>>10353922
>Magic was supposed to be inexplicable and miraculous, not spammed infinitely from a mana pool.
And it's not supposed to be pulled out of the authors ass when they write themselves into a corner.

Like Anita blake talking to god through a computer monitor and finding the missing person and talking to them.. from a camera that isn't on any network.. nor does it have speakers or microphones..

TURNED MYSELF INTO A WORM, DUNCAN
I'M GOD EMPEROR LEEEETO

>>10353346
What the fuck is the point of the chart if half of the books aren't even sorted?

Magic peaked with Vance don't @ me

>>10353960
My spellchecker underlined "exoteric". There it goes again.

>This is why people can't read LOTR nowadays RRREEEEEEEEEEE

>>10353974
That's why in a lot of early fantasy, the heroes had little or no access to magic, and it almost always came at a cost.

>>10353997
Who are you quoting?

>>10351556
Kelsier created the 17th shard organization in order to reforge Adonalsium and become it's vessel.
Hoid is trying to do the same thing.

>>10353997
...they're spelling esoteric wrong lad

>>10353960
I didn't realize that esoteric had the counterpart exoteric. Comes from not thinking about the roots enough. I know exo-, but not eso-. It's either not used as often or I just haven't recognized it.

>>10353346
Demon cycle seriously fucking sucked, what a waste of time.

>>10353866
Just read the Cliff Notes, friend.

>>10354025
She's using it correctly anon.

>>10354045
*S(he)

>>10354053
Sure, whatever.

>>10354053
*S(((he)))

>>10354059
I don't think you understand, anon.

>>10354067
I don't understand a lot of things.

>>10354067
I think she does

>>10354080
I think they don't. I think you think they do, but they really don't.

Any recommendations for contemporary science fiction and new weird short story anthologies? Also is new weird dead? Havent been in loop for some years now..

Does anybody else besides Jeff Noon mix weird fiction with the frenetic style and anti-authoritarianism, and sex/drugs/rock-and-roll attitude of cyberpunk?

If that's what I'm going for, how will I feel about M. John Harrison's Kefahuchi Tract trilogy?

I need a book that'll make me cry, make me laugh, get my heart-pounding, and basically give me the feeling of listening to a Melt-Banana album or something. I want the textual equivalent of something between a mosh pit and a sonnet. I want to turn to the next page while muttering "holy shit holy shit holy shit..."

Something, please. I need a book that practically screams at you and you're grateful for it.

>>10349203
anyone got the ebook?
i cant find it for the life of me anywhere.

>>10354169
>>>/r/

>>10354153
Pic not related?

>>10354171
as if anyone would ever reply to a thread on /r/ that isnt porn.

>>10354171
>>10354176
>>>/wsr/

HAHAHAHAHA
fuck you

>>10354175
nope, not related

>>10354192
fuck i didnt even know a worksafe version was added. was that at the same time when they split /gif/ into /gif/ and /wsg/?

>>10354199
Then why post and waste precious vertical space?

>>10354198
you read too fast

>>10354233
what do you mean?

>>10354256
It's a meme, you dip.

>>10354256
>>10354262
No i literally mean just that.
I can see his progress from the posts he makes about hating Egwene, and he's gonna get ahead of me on WoT soon.

>>10353892
>"Magic" in LOTR is "pulled out of the writers ass" because the author of the Red Book of Westmarch didn't understand it. More prosaically, it's because Tolkien was more interested in the linguistic, mythical, theological and even aesthetic aspects of Middle Earth than on exoteric simplifications of alchemical concepts based on pulp conventions for explaining fantasy martial arts tropes to pubescent boys.
>its shit on purpose LMAO
Amazing argument there mate, original as well.

>>10354263
Thassa mighty small list, pard.

>>10353979
Kek

>>10354307
everything else is crap by comparison

>>10354284
oh
i use all my time reading wot
i dont think there's a month since i started reading, usually a i read for 6-7 hours a day

>>10354212
Are you on mobile or something? Newsflash, 4chan is an imageboard! Are you gonna post something useful or just bitch and moan? We have a board for that, its called >>>/r9k

Are advanced sff flowcharts around? You know, the ones omitting the classic and recommending something new

>pic unrelated

>>10354342
It's amazing how you can critique on something like that and then immediately fail to make a proper quotelink.

Hey, can someone give me a recommendation? Pic not related.

>Can someone point me towards the best science fiction book?
>pic unrelated

Post a book cover or something you autist!

>>10354364
Ledger of the Old Sol by Eugenio Fox

>Is there even the babiest tiniest little bitty babiest chance of Syl and Kaladin ever being able to be together?
That would take a lot.
>But itty bitty babiest chance?
Itty bitty babiest chance? Sure.

>>10354405
Kaladin deserves the waifu of his choice.

>>10354358
hey dude...
there is any good book with feminine traps? ala astolfo?

>>10354405
He also said it would be very hard and take a lot to res a shar blade's spren, but it's pretty obviously going to happen at this point.

Also, it's pretty obvious that Kal/Syl are reaching level 5, at which point their souls pretty much become one, and which is indeed a very hard thing to do for any radiant. I know that's not exactly what the question was about tho.

>>10354458
>first spoiler
Yeah I saw something like that too. Thank fucking Honor that wob.coppermind is a thing, only took them years to make it. All the shit about Nightblood is neat too.
I am excited for Kaladin's final form as well.

>>10354433
I also want an answer to this question. Especially if the answer includes delicious brown-skinned trap shotas.

I think the best thing (I've came across so far) is that worldhoppers will sometimes use the wrong word for something, and I am glad there are likely genuine autists sifting through all the books in search of more potential worldhopper candidates now.
Also I didn't piece together that Mraize has an Aviar from First of the Sun, and Iyatil previously being a member of 17th Shard was neat to know.

>>10350319
>tfw no Phorenice gf

It came today!

>>10354465
I read Warbezaker yersteday and Nightblood was easily the best part. Vivenna is my cosmerefu.

>tfw TekWar was ghostwritten by Ron Goulart
I actually like Goulart. Is TekWar funny, or did he write it with a serious tone?

>>10354596
>Nightblood was easily the best part
Literally the worst part of the book, like what is the point of giving the sword the mind of a child? Would have been way better if it did not talk but simply acted.

>>10354619
Nightblood didn't really act like a child, he acted more like something alien to some concepts, like time.

>>10354627
He's immature and as you say have a hard time understanding basic concepts, call it what you want. Also, he literally cannot develop as a character since he is not able to learn.

>>10354646
From Sanderson himself

>Nightblood was interesting to write in this book as he makes a very nice contrast to Vasher. Vasher doesn't want to say anything about his past; he's so tight-lipped about it that he rarely even spends any time thinking about it. Nightblood, however, dwells quite heavily on the past. Though in some ways his mind is very capable, he has the quirk of being an Awakened object. The first hours of his life—during which time he met Shashara, Denth, and Vasher—imprinted heavily on him. It's like . . . a part of his mind is hard forged in that moment with read-only memory that cannot be changed. Much of him can learn and grow, despite what Vasher says, but he cannot overwrite those initial concepts, states, and understandings that were burned into him during his birth. Shashara was alive then, so he will always think of her as alive, even if thousands of years have passed. Denth will always be pleased with him. Vasher will always be friends with the other two. Those things were some of Nightblood's first impressions.

>>10354659
Well, I guess I trusted Vasher to much. Still, while I guess this open up for interesting development for Sanderson fans in the future I stand by my statement that Nightblood is the worst part in Warbreaker.

How good is Altered Carbon?

>>10354726
it's aight but it's basically an airport thriller but in the future

>>10354596
>Warbezaker

>How many of your epiphanies happened at the gym?
Quite a number, actually. At the gym or in the shower, you put things together, for whatever reason.

Why aren't you lifting, /sffg/?

Are we allowed to talk about original ideas here?
I wanna do a sci-fi that involves an intra-galactic war with medieval ground-warfare.

>>10354807
you mean star wars

>>10354825
No I mean like realistic medieval warfare. Like, no energy swords or energy shields, or bullshit "energy" shit at all except for an enigmatic power source.
They use steel armor and weapons, troops go into battle with pikes and blunt-force weapons cause swords are useless in a pitched-battle.
Forts and alien cavalry, siege weapons, arrow volleys, but at the same time units with power armor, mechs, rudimentary space-travel, etc.

>>10354842
Why?

>>10354849
Because it seems fucking awesome.
The constant contrast between new and old.
I've been working on it for around a decade now.

Anyone got any recommendations for more obscure space opera/action heavy scifi?

I've read most recently published and most stuff that gets brought up in these threads.

>>10354852
Armada wars

>>10354851
No, I mean, logically, why would that happen?

>>10354882
Fuck if I know. I'm just here to make something cool.
I understand it completely disrespects logic in many sense.
Perhaps each civilization discovered an energy source so easily gathered and plentiful, the need for technological advancement in weapons, medicine, etc, is way behind that of their space-travel tech?
The Road Not Taken?

>>10354316
no
>>10354263
add pic related you fucking turbonigger

>>10353892

Lord of the Rings is tedious in many places. Straight up. Yes give me 15 pages about grass. I love it. Jam it in there T-dawg

I'm not anti Tolkein, he had a very imaginative world that's had massive influence on basically everything I enjoy. But that doesn't put it above criticism.

My point wasn't that it needs to be "like a video game" but that the writer should have a sense of how it works and some consistency to it. A good example is Thomas Covenant. The magic in those novels was limited in a bunch of specific ways. The very important point about Wild Magic is that it didn't follow the rules. It was sort of an ass pull but it was planned to be one from page 1.

Limitations drive creativity. Example 2: The Belgariad. Will and the Word. The entire magic system summed up in one statement, but, it contains rules, and limitations by its very nature. That means that halfway on you can't just suddenly make it do something else. You can't write yourself out of a corner with "a wizard did it". It makes a more interesting and coherent story when things follow conventions and internal consistency. It can still be highly imaginative, wonderous, and mysterious. But without limitations of some kind, every challenge the characters overcome is an arbitrary one because Merlin wasn't around to sort it out for them. Or just decided not to.

>Patji is a Shard
Fucking what

>>10354263
It's about fucking time somebody said it

Memes aside, Blindopraxia is probably the best contemporary hard sci-fi there is, so don't meme it too hard and bring back
>wow...

>>10354924
Where did you even got this from.

>>10353974
Yes it is, that's what makes it a miracle.

When all hope is lost, otherwise they wouldn't use something as precious as magic.

>>10354896
you're an idiot but here you go
>interstellar travel much harsher than we imagine, ie more rads, more dust, Dark Forest etc etc
>only mass able to be sent to planets is minute, size of bacterial spores
>only way to propagate other planets with life is panspermia and wait for life to evolve (can be a lot more rapid than you expect by sending microscopic eukaryotes and determinant genetics)
>only way to influence other planets is to beam radiowaves at them
>general method of expansion is to send bugs, then wait for them to evolve sentience and develop receiving equipment, after which they'll begin to decode the messages sent millennia ago just catching up with them
>occurs twice on one planet and two races wage war with each other on command of their "Gods"

I actually lost track of where I was going with this and need to go pickup my daughter so idk have fun with it

>>10354959
Lurk the thread, ESL-kun.

>>10354975
>ctrl+F "Patji"
>1 result

I've done all I could.

It's stupid anyway because Sanderson confirmd that there's no Shard here.

>Did Hoid think of the Shattering as necessary?
Kind of.

>Is Urithiru a spaceship?
It is not, no, good question. I've never been asked that before. It's very Sim City, though.
>It's a new theory, they're thinking, is it one of the floating cities from Ashyn?
From Ashyn, yeah. Boy, that would be hard, it is so big. But, I suppose, magic, you know. But no, it is not.

>Yes, or no. With all of the cosmere books that have been put out, do we have enough information to deduce the Ghostbloods' motives?
I would say yes, but it's not like you are a fool if you haven't gotten it. [...]

>tfw too much of a brainlet to deduce the Ghostbloods' motives

oh my
min best gil

>>10355229
>hollow of her waist
T-the vagin#?

>>10354931
>hard scifi
lol

wot if vampires in space???

An author being turgid as fuckdoesn't turn them into a hard sf writer

>>10355246
watt's isn't tough to read, just very scientifically minded (in his writing style and content).
the vampires aren't enough the daftest part of the bloody book, and he spends enough time explaining them as is

also worth mentioning he start writing blindsight before the mass twilight-inspired vampire craze, and without them it would have a lot more badass and macabre

>>10355229
Its too bad Min gets progressively worse later on
>I WANT TO COME I CAN HELP
>OH SHIT I COULDNT HELP

>>10355296
turgid means tedious, not difficult

who is stronger, rand with callandor and the fat-sword artefact or thirteen linked aes sedai?

Anyone got a Deadhouse Landing download? Dont see it on any of the usual places

Anyone got a gaddis 'recognitions' audio book?

>>10355240
No, literally the hollow of the waist. The area above the hip bone and the lower back.

>>10355393
MyAnonamouse has it.

>>10355426
if you say so
hehe

>>10355363
Callandor is ridiculously powerful, if I remember correctly it's said to increase Rands power hundredfold. A circle of 13 women is magical in the way that no matter their power in the One Power they can shield anyone. However, in the last book when Mordin pull the True Power trough Callandor it multiply the flow to a degree that the Dark One himself can't cut it of so I don't think that'd matter.

>>10355516
Retard.

Hey guys, can anyone give me some good reading for Christmas? Something comfy would be appreciated

>>10355363
>>10355516
But honestly, the powerlevels of angreal and sa'angreal is somewhat of a inconsistency in the books. For example, Vora's angreal is used to heal Mat and Nynaeve comment something about the whole circle holding a couple of times the power she's capable of and then later the same sa'angeral is shown to be equal or only slightly weaker than the Sakarnen which is stronger than Callandor. And the Choedan Kal are at the same time powerful enough to turn Shadar Logoth into a hole in the ground or to possibly break the pattern and remake the universe (according to Lanfear) and not strong enough to stop the armies of darkness during the age of legends.

>>10355544
I've got you dude. For Christmas start with the Hogfather.

>>10354904
I respect your opinion but I disagree, What are your opinions on the works of Alastair Reynolds?

>>10353795
Maybe they got different translators or they were rushed or something.

>>10354162 here.

Anybody?

>>10354923
Yeah remember how Frodo didn't have to overcome any challenges because a 12-year-old couldn't have explained why Gandalf didn't just cast Disintegrate on Sauron's ring based on a single read-through of LOTR.

>>10350715
pussy

>>10354931
And Anathem is the best contemporary fantasy there is.

>>10354851
Have you read The High Crusade?

>>10355720

Right but Gandalf had to clear the hell out for like..... all of Frodo's journey is me' point.

Every major conflict/thing experienced by the characters happens when Gandalf is away for a reason. Helm's Deep is a struggle until Gandalf shows up with the riders and clears those motherfuckers out.

Mines of moria, Gandalf saves everyone then Frodo is the fuck on his own.

Etc.

Also it's not really about "power" perse but perception. It's not about whether Gandalf could have kicked the shit out of everybody or not. It's about whether the magic in the book is consistent enough that the reader can sort of understand how it behaves and why. I'm not saying of course "nothing should ever be a surprise" but part of coming to understand the world through the eyes of the character is learning about the forces he comes in contact with. If at the end of the book you're like eh magic bruh as much as at the beginning... I dunno.

>>10355836
>Every major conflict/thing experienced by the characters happens when Gandalf is away for a reason.
Then Gandalf gets his heinie kicked by the Witch King and it's up to Worst Hobbit and some Rohan chick to save him. It's called dramatic irony.

>mfw Eshonai is a spren now
>mfw there was an entire order of Radiants that bonded with the souls of Honor-worshiping Parsh

>>10355850
>Eshonai is a spren
wew lad that's a big incorrect assumption

>>10355667
>>10354162
i haven't found anyone that matches jeff noon. i do think he peaked with nymphomation but the vurt trilogy + pixel juice + cobralingus are some of my favorite books.

i enjoyed the first kefahuchi book and will definitely read the second but Light was mostly standard sci-fi just very well done.

>>10355861
>implying Timbre hanging around Eshonai's corpse and knowing the old rhythms is a red herring
>implying the constant parallels between Timbre and voidspren, or reincarnated evil Odium-worshiping Parsh from long ago, were red herrings

>>10355880
I would normally think the same thing but in the Cosmere, you can only be revived if you could be 1) revived if you could be revived through CPR, or 2) if you have a shitload of Investiture put inside of you.

>>10355890
Which is why it's just Eshonai and not all the other Parshendi.

>>10355903
Eshonai is dead, Jim.

>>10355910
where are those images from?

>>10355939
Reverse image search it, newfriend. :-)

>>10355954
not turning up with shit

*ruins your book*

>>10355958
First link.
https://caballerodelarbolsonriente.blogspot.com/2017/11/el-arte-de-oathbringer.html

Dude sure likes drawing anuses.

>>10350674
>> soviet era
Anything by Lem or the Strugatskys. Yefremov's Andromeda is considered god-tier. I especially liked Return From The Stars. (Lem.)

>> comfy
Can't get comfier than Clifford D. Simak. Way Station, City, All Flesh Is Grass, anything.

>>10355958
Works on my machine. You should actually reverse image search them, newfag trash :-)

>>10355968
Second for Way Station being comfy.

>>10355963
Where's my red-haired jungle Asian Shallan art?

>>10355868
Thanks. I'll certainly check out some of Noon's other stuff. Vurt changed the way I think about fiction, and about the way that action and things like love, sadness, etc., can work together in a book. It's a collection of moments, right? But all together, they form a life.

Rest in peace, Beetle.

I just finished reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep today. Could anyone recommend books that deal with similar themes of the novel and Blade Runner films? Androids, A.I., questioning identity and reality etc.

Except from Necromancy In Naat, of an unfortunate prince and the necromancer's grisly hospitality - with a happy ending, of sorts.
---

Yadar, prince of a nomad people in the half-desert region known as Zyra, had followed throughout many kingdoms a clue that was often more elusive than broken gossamer. For thirteen moons he had sought Dalili, his betrothed, whom the slave traders of Sha-Rag, swift and cunning as desert falcons, had reft from the tribal encampment with nine other maidens while Yadar and his men were hunting the black gazelles of Zyra. Fierce was the grief of Yadar, and fiercer still his wrath, when he came back at eve to the ravaged tents. He had sworn then a great oath to find Dalili, whether in a slave-mart or brothel or harem, whether dead or living, whether tomorrow or after the lapse of gray years.

Disguised as a rug merchant, with four of his men in like attire, and guided only by the gossip of bazaars, he had gone from capital to capital of the continent Zothique. One by one his followers had died of strange fevers or the hardships of the route. After much random wandering and pursuit of vain rumors, he had come alone to Oroth, a western seaport of the land of Xylac.

There he heard a rumor that might concern Dalili; for the people of Oroth were still gossiping about the departure of a rich galley bearing a lovely outland girl, answering to her description, who had been bought by the emperor of Xylac and sent to the ruler of the far southern kingdom of Yoros as a gift concluding a treaty between these realms.

Yadar, now hopeful of finding his beloved, took passage on a ship that was about to sail for Yoros. The ship was a small merchant galley, laden with grain and wine, that was wont to coast up and down, hugging closely the winding western shores of Zothique and venturing never beyond eyesight of land. On a clear blue summer day it departed from Oroth with all auguries for a safe and tranquil voyage. But on the third morn after leaving port, a tremendous wind blew suddenly from the low-lying shore they were then skirting; and with it, blotting the heavens and sea, there came a blackness as of night thickened with clouds; and the vessel was swept far out, going blindly with the blind tempest.

After two days the wind fell from its ravening fury and was soon no more than a vague whisper; and the skies cleared, leaving a bright azure vault from horizon to horizon. But nowhere was there any land visible, only a waste of waters that still roared and tossed turbulently without wind, pouring ever westward in a tide too swift and strong for the galley to stem. And the galley was borne on irresistibly by that strange current, even as by the hurricane.

Yadar, who was the sole passenger, marveled much at this thing; and he was struck by the pale terror on the faces of the captain and crew. And, looking again at the sea, he remarked a singular darkening of its waters, which assumed from moment to moment a hue as of old blood...

So this is a real story?

>>10356072
>questioning identity and reality etc
everything else Philip K Dick wrote (e.g. Flow My Tears, Ubik, Time Out of Joint, &c.)

>>10355085
Where are you getting a direct link to Sanderson to ask our meme questions?

>>10356281
>everything is a meme
I'd tell you to lurk more like I told ESL-kun but you should kill yourself instead, newfag garbage

>>10355836
Yeah but that's like your preference and shit brah, lotr magic was situational and based on divine miracles, once off shit that did more to inspire the hearts of men.

Lobbing fireballs like they are mads produced daggers is just a different take on magic, which some feel is just technology by another name at that point.

>>10356411

Aight you're not getting my point and misunderstanding it in a way that conveniently lets you be dismissive about it so. Not gonna put more time into it.

>>10356486
Your point is
>It's about whether the magic in the book is consistent enough that the reader can sort of understand how it behaves and why.
The reader can't understand how magic behaves or why. That's the entire point. That's what magic is. How does a rain dance work? Ask the tribe, nobody knows, they just do it.

If you don't like it, that's fine, but if you criticize Tolkien for giving his work a medieval mindset that just shows that you don't get his work at all. Sure, you like it for the superficial things, but again that shows more that you aren't getting it than that it's bad.

>>10353376
I'm going to trade school right now and automation is going to make most unskilled and semi-skilled jobs obsolete within the next few decades. Sure some of them will get retrained to operate the equipment, but a company running entirely on CNC only needs so many draftsmen and most workers won't retrain because of that goddamn "I MADE BUGGY WHIPS FOR 30 YEARS AND SHOULD BE MAKING THEM FOR ANOTHER 30!" attitude.

alright /sffg/. what should i read first?
>book of the new sun
>way of kings
>grace of kings
>the cleric quintet

>>10356554
jv

>>10356554
Book of the new sun or the cleric quintet.
Not a big fan of stormlight and grace of kings desu.

>>10356554
Grace of Kings is not good. It's basically a bog-standard low fantasy political intrigue story presented in "historical fiction" style with a "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" veneer applied to it.

The sequel was hardly better despite claims to the contrary from reviewers, the first part is basically about the emperor's wife ruining everything and starting a civil war because ??? and the second part is about a invasion of evil Nitzschean mongols who also have aircraft carriers.

Good suggestions for a fantasy character entering the real world?

Any comfy reads that make me feel as if I have friends? Like Harry Potter but gud

>>10356633
>the second part is about a invasion of evil Nitzschean mongols who also have aircraft carriers.

>>10355565
Wyrd Sisters, Sourcery and Guards*2 are the best DW books tebehe.

>>10356673
One of the hundreds of times japan has done it

>>10356081
...what? Do you think there was an ancient soldier that got Memento'd at Plateea by the Greeks and he started seeing gods and shiet?

>>10356554
BotNS and you shouldn't even be asking.

>>10353905
This.

>>10353905
Really activates my cyberimplants.

>>10355836
>Gandalf shows up with the riders
>>10355844
>Gandalf gets his heinie kicked by the Witch King
Please restrict conversation about movies to >>>/tv/.

>>10356759

Yeah it's been years since I read LOTR so the details are kinda fuzzy.

>>10356701
1st half of Hataraku Maou-sama > Yuushibu as a whole > 2nd half of Hataraku Maou-sama

>>10356353
>newfag
>sffg since 2014
o-okay
It's just that someone dropped the spaceship theory to you in the general, and lo and behold you have an answer to the theory. Cosmerefag chill your pol ass down. Stop getting drunk you fucking cuck.

>>10350319
Where do I start with Terry Pratchett?

>>10356081
Latro, no. A Persian invasion of Greece being repelled by a combined military of Sparta + Athens + other allies, yes. It also contains various easter eggs related to Herodotus' Histories, such as the Neurian.

Reminder that shallan willingly hurts people by knowingly putting them in danger so she could feel better about herself.

>>10357117
She is retarded, and got a child killed because of it.

>>10357088
Color of magic, duh

>>10357114
Don't explain to him what Tower Hill, Rope, Thought, Peace, The Great King or Cowland are. Let him fucking suffer

>>10350778
Scene/sequel format covers that loosely.

>>10356683
It's not as interesting as it sounds, they've just got a big boat with some dragons on it and are just the usual shallow pop-culture Nitzscheans

Also one of the few interesting characters ends up getting fridged via political marriage at the end of the book.

To >10348447 . No NTR, but some mild netori.

>Tfw just finished the demon princes
The fug else am I supposed to do now

>>10357484
Review it for anons.

You know, I'm starting to wonder if I should even bother trying to publish my book.

It's almost certainly going to disappoint, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to regret making the effort

>>10356683
It's sort of like AtlA to be honest, in that same borderline-steampunk sense, only mixed in with real asian history and a strong focus on science and clever military tactics over spirituality.

>>10357540
Honestly you never know who might really just love it.

>>10357540
Most authors spend ten years writing their first failure.
Experience is just that, a lesson you can't learn any other way

>>10357088
Wherever you feel like it, one of the more stand-alone-ish novels or at one of the starter novels. See the chart above. Guards Guards is good.

>>10356673
Not quite, but Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell has some wizards in the real world, in Regency / Napoleonic times.

>>10356554
BotNS is amazing but can be hard to get through. WoK and Grace of Kings are both average and way to long. I have not read the Cleric Quintet.

>>10354198
Yeah, Egwene was pretty bad until now but shit's about to get real.

>>10354263
...wow

I need a fantasy set in the Iran-Iraq war, even though I'm positive such a thing does not exist.

>>10354787
But I The Press™ 160lb, Anon.

>>10354807
Write something in a setup similar to Foundation.
>Decaying remnants of a galactic colonial force
>Can't hold to its territories
>Jealously guards whatever technology it still has
>Can't produce any new light-saber or plasma-gun level stuff
>Barely manages to maintain cargo spaceships
>Sends troops on other planets to try to keep them in line
>Swords and armors, a few guns for the most elite troops

>>10355298
It's only a phase. She's trying hard to be useful to the person she loves. She later finds a better way.

>>10356072
Blindsight.

>>10357860
muh vampires in space

>>10357864
It's actually about self-awareness and brittle stars

>>10354263
>>10357864

And if you don't get it you need to read a lot more nonfiction

Are there any books like the movie Ex Machina?

>tfw no cute AI waifu

>>10357435
Thanks anon

>>10357199
http://ultan.org.uk/place-names-in-gene-wolfes-soldier-of-the-mist/
I was planning on reading this once I'd finished the first volume

>>10357484
"Night Lamp" and Trullion of the three Alastor Cluster novels are revenge plots. The Tschai quadrilogy is great if you want another long read; it's a quest-driven plot set on a single world with four species of aliens.

Someone make a new thread already.

its a nynaeve chapter scan the dialogue and thats about it

How far can a fantasy author move away from real world before his readers are put off?
>ditch metric system
>ditch modern speech patterns
>ditch human species
>ditch modern mores

>>10358094
>ditch Latin script (or any other in use today)

>>10358098
>oral tradition only

>>10358092
Weirdly enough she becomes second best girl, so don't scan too fast either. Although it happens pretty far into the books.

just finished lord of chaos, i hope rand continues being badass instead of becoming a retard again, finally putting these bitches in the place they deserve

New thread
>>10358169
>>10358169
>>10358169