/lit/ - Literature

first for sanderson not a hack

second for sanderson a hacker

Second for the only decent Fantasy author still living

>>10778827
hahaha faggot

Sanderson-sama a best

>>10778828
U wanna go m8?

>far future setting
>people are still (for some unknown reason) called "he" and "she"

Gender fluid sci fi is not only preferable, it's sensical

>near future first space colony setting
>every character says wizard
Wizard

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/210180755

>>10778924
>goodreads

>>10778690
any one read this? is it really as good, as reviews say it is?

Any litrpg where a guy becomes a sexy girl and hates it? Asking for a friend.

>>10778970
yes

>>10778946
>he doesn't use goodreads

>>10778947
I've heard of people who read it and didn't enjoy it much, but most people come out of it loving it. It's very, very weird and incredibly Chinese-y but it's worth it for the beefy excellent Liu puts out. This guy is a nutjob he grabs any bit of science by the balls and wrings the fuck out of it until it's literal anime but still somehow believable. Also I think it's worth saying that 3Body is a a bit of a slower start but my god Dark Forest blows your socks off (plus DF and the final book are much better translated IMO).

>>10778981
May I see it?

>>10779012
>and incredibly Chinese-y
What does this mean?

>>10779025
I'm not being racist lol
It's just very Sino-centric, most of the main cast are Chinese and seems to follow a general Chinese viewpoint. Doesn't subtract form it's excellence.

>>10779017
yes

>>10779126
Where is it?

Now with new fresh info in the image!

Downloads: http://b-ok.org/s/?q=Childhood%27s+End

>>10779130
What will you give me in return

>>10779278
My eternal gratitude and as many (you)s as I can spare.

>buy a really nice, large edition of first book in series
>they never made the rest in the same format

>>10779288
What else?

>>10779305
Name it.

>>10779318
Forgive me for lying about knowing about any litrpg where a guy becomes a sexy girl and hates it?

>>10779325
Deal.

A book-recommendation?

>>10779354
yes

>>10779340
Project Alpha

>>10779403
The summary is nothing special. What sets it apart?

Why does Sword & Sorcery trigger the soyboys so much?

>>10778970
>>10778981
>>10779017
>>10779126
>>10779130
>>10779278
>>10779288
>>10779305
>>10779318
>>10779325
>>10779340
>>10779400
>>10779435
If you have nothing of value to post, simply don't post.

>>10779453
You too fampai

>>10779453
bump

>>10779435
Why do the so-named soyboys trigger the self proclaimed defenders of all that is true and wholesome so much?

>>10779435
Every Sword & Sorcery I've read recently has a female warrior, and that triggers me.

>>10779494
the Red Sonja archetype is a staple of pulp fantasy.

>>10779210
this is a bit long isn't it? this is the Midwitch Cuckoos rip off yes?

>>10779529
And I'm not too fond of it

What's the next big thing so I can write it and get a movie deal?

>>>10774960
>Is all that you've read of sci-fi Blindsight? jeez.

This was an excellent post

>>10779494
It's a FANTASY. Get over it. It's like complaining about FTL in sci-fi, or humans on fantasy land that somehow evolved to be just like us in a world that is completely different.

>>10779435
Rothfuss triggered me and destroyed all of suspension of disbelief in his second book when mercenary character uses his sword to
cut food for his dinner while having knives.
casting spells and dragons are more believable than a swordsman using sword to cut potatoes

>>10779551
are you gay?

>>10779556
Translate Blindsight into a watchable script

>>10779537
>this is a bit long isn't it?
Yeah, highest page count yet. But ~225 pages is not that long desu.

>this is the Midwitch Cuckoos rip off yes?
Childhood's End was published 4 years earlier, so would not think so.

>>10779570
No.
>>10779574
No.

>>10779579
Then you must be a woman, because there's no other reason you wouldn't like heaving bosoms in bikini armor.

>all this bitching
Tell me what you're currently reading instead! Is it good? Would you recommend it to /sffg/?

>>10779587
Because it's a dumb as a woman using a sword effectively is dumb.

>>10779614
Dumb yet sexy, and justifiable with magic. Sword and Sorcery is a dumb subgenre, and frequently revels in it. Why does this one aspect bother you so much?

>>10779302
what book tho?

>>10779622
>Why does this one aspect bother you so much?
I donno. It's a curse I'd enjoy a lot more stories if I jut let it slide.

I don't think I've ever heard anyone talk about the Inda series before in my life, but I see it on the flowchart. Does it have good characters and dialogue?

>>10779566
Thanks m7. Nice dubs too!

>>10779657

Fire Upon the Deep

>>10779603
This. Yes. Sure.

>>10779603
Touble And Her Friends, some lesbian cyberpunk. It's ok, kinda dull. Wouldn't recommend because you all hate women.

Is there a better ship in all of sci-fi?

>>10779792
Not a nautical ship at least.

>>10779210
>finish date 30 march
cant wait to start reading this on the 29th

>>10779792
>soon became clear that the proposition of attacking enemy ships in harbors was not a practical one. Because of this, torpedo rams were never particularly popular, and the design was largely abandoned by the end of the 19th century as other, more practical, classes of torpedo-carrying warships emerged. Only a handful were built. The best remembered examples of the type were the aforementioned Polyphemus and the United States Navy's USS Intrepid. Neither saw a great deal of active service and they were mostly used for torpedo trials, although Polyphemus did demonstrate the potential damage she could inflict when she was used to demolish a harbor defense boom via ramming.
>While never popular with the naval services that created them, the torpedo ram can be said to have caught public attention in a manner which far exceeded its utility as a concept for a fighting ship. The heroic HMS Thunder Child in H. G. Wells's science-fiction classic The War of the Worlds was a torpedo ram,[6] and she destroyed two Martian Tripods. It has been suggested by some[who?] that, in view of the limited military value the torpedo ram demonstrated, Wells's immortalization of the type in what would become a literary classic was the torpedo ram's greatest achievement.

>>10778087
Scanners Live in Vain is his best story, although not the only good one. Worth getting into. Plus, I'm almost certain he introduced catgirls into Western culture.

>All-American Glurge
wtf are you talking about

How does one write a novel?

>>10779844
FUCK OFF.

>>10779820
Torpedo Rams would have been far more highly valued if Martians actually invaded.

>>10779844
With words

>>10779844
Tell yourself a story and write it down while you do.

Then edit.

Why are white women so delicious?

>>10779917

eating people is illegal in most countries, you should be careful about saying things like this

>>10779931
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x69VpqoAj1w

>>10779917
To mask their poison

>>10778827
That's not Brandon.

>>10780191
who?

>>10780191
who?

>>10780191
whom?

>>10780191
who dis be?

Just finished thr Hyperion Cantos.

Which should I start next, A Fire Upon the Deep or Gateway?

>>10780568
A Fire Upon the Deep.

>>10778924
>Indeed, every positive review I've read mentions that though the book has many flaws, its redeeming strengths are the 'depth of worldbuilding' and the 'meticulously designed magic system', two red flags which seem to be the fantasy book equivalent of saying that a blind date has a 'nice personality':

>"Well, the author isn't very good with character, plot, dialogue, structure, tone, or prose, but I was very impressed by the way his novel resembled a CIA Worldbook for yet another pseudo-medieval kingdom, occasionally interspersed with a list of house rules for Magic: The Gathering."

I'm like 15% of the way through Ship of Magic and god damn, nothing is happening.

I thought this was going to involve fighting sea monsters or pirate curses but instead everyone's just fighting depression

>>10780823
such is life

>>10780823

I assumed the people recommending Robin Hobb were joking, do people actually like her? I've never made it more than 20% into the first book of any of her series, all the characters read like self-interested teenagers. They're so trite and ridiculous.

>>10779603
Finishing the third book on the Altered Carbon trilogy. The main character being stalked by a younger copy of himself is a blast, especially when the two banter. Im gonna miss the word of digital human freight, but I'm also ok with it not overstaying it's welcome.

>Make it personal

>>10780250
Whom, and your goddamn father

>>10780215
>>10780250
>>10780269
>>10780423

Blandman Sandybuns

>>10779820
How loose do you think his boipucci is?

>>10780885
Robin Hobb mainly writes misery porn from what I've heard.

Like I saw some people talking about the game Owlboy elsewhere and basically the plot has the character getting bullied and abused by everybody else, with no good ending, and somebody qupped "wow didn't know Robin Hobb was making games now."

Is there still a market for fun and fast paced space adventures?

>>10781399
Yes, they just have to actually be fast paced and include some sexually confusing fuck alien.

>>10781399
Yes; it's called the pulp revolution.

>>10781399

yep

>>10779537
Wow what a retard. How can one post fuck up this bad?

>>10778827
Can confirm - he's great!

Writing about the printing press being invented in the stone age is still scifi, right?

>>10779817
Like anon said, it's on the longer side.You might not make it if you start the last day!

>>10779748

Hey dawg, I heard you didn't want to be killed by the Blight, so I killed you with the Slowness.

>>10781273
>>10780885
Leave Robin Hobb alone

Vietnam fucking shits

>>10778947
>>10779012
I found it dull and meandering. Some of the biggest plot devices seemed over elaborate and ultimately unnecessary.

Enjoyed the bits set in Chines history, and some of the characters.

Gave up on the series after reading Three Body - but will now read Dark Forrest on the recommendation.

Is this the most tedious and uneventful trilogy of the recent times?

Anything remotely fun were those semi-sentient bugs in the swamp.

>>10781799
>recent times
>first published 1988
That's quite old for fantasy senpai

>>10779012
>This guy is a nutjob he grabs any bit of science by the balls and wrings the fuck out of it until it's literal anime but still somehow believable
Finally someone is able to put into words my feelings for this book. Liu is clearly a closet weeaboo, I'm sure he'd be as happy as me with an anime adaptation of the Three Body novels.

Does anyone know why The Killing Star has never been reprinted or released in a digital format? It's a damn fine novel and it's a shame it's not more well known, but it's pretty expensive to get physically (the only way except for the audiobook).

I read a while ago Pellegrino had some legal issues because he apparenly faked having a PhD and exaggerated some stuff in a nonfiction book about Hiroshima that simply wasn't factual, but I don't know if this could be related to his work having fallen into obscurity likeit has.

>>10778690
>South American shit?
I can't recommend El Eternauta enough. It's one of the best alien invasion stories I've read, and it was truly ahead of its time.

There's also a very decent Mexican anthology called Periphereal Visions, but I don't think it's been translated and it's even hard to find in the original language. I had to basically steal it off my old middle school library.

>>10781852

t-thanks for reminding me that I'm old ;_;

>>10778947
Yes. Read The Dark Forest right after. Then pretend the series ends there, only read Death's End if you want to suffer.

>>10781799
> Is this the most tedious and uneventful trilogy of the recent times?
Nah. It would be WoT.

>>10782272
>trilogy
>16 books

>>10782278

>>10782310
>trilogy
>2 books

>>10781273
I wouldn't mind making some porn with her, if you catch my drift.

>>10782320

>>10781652
Michael J Sullivan plz

>>10782338
This seem like an acceptable candidate. I have not read them but I'll take your word for it.

>>10781684
The real questions are:
>did teenage earth girls receive the knot?
>did alien slut puppies get dicked?

>>10781867
>download audiobook
>get speech to text program
>tedious week of work
>convert rtf to mobi/epub
>upload to sites
>??????
>profit

>>10781874
>Mexican anthology called Periphereal Visions
>I had to basically steal it off my old middle school library
so it was you that took that book ese... librarian kept telling me it was there but it wasn't...

What's your favorite love subplot in a book you've read?

I'm ready for a Wuxia novel.

>>10782338
FUCK
ADARE
THE BITCH
W
H
O
R
E

>>10782336
Fucking people's mothers are the best!

>>10781896
I liked Death's End. It was my favorite of the series. Did you not think the whole universe fighting with dimension-collapsing weaponry to the point we live in lower and lower dimensional space kinda a neat thing to baste your brain with?

or that nice horrifying moment when that old abbo calls the bitch and tells her to look at the sky and the Tri-Sol system is 'sploded

or the fairy tales? Damn, I love that book.

>>10782412
wtf, the system completely removed my second set of spoilers?

>>10781799
every tad williams book will bore ypu to death

>>10781896
I liked Death's End. It was my favorite of the series. Did you not think the whole universe fighting with dimension-collapsing weaponry to the point we live in lower and lower dimensional space kinda a neat thing to baste your brain with?

Or that nice horrifying moment when that old abbo calls the bitch and tells her to look at the sky and the Tri-Sol system is 'sploded

or the fairy tales? Damn, I love that book.

>>10782429
yeah I agree Death's End rocked, I thought the absolute ending was a little daft but then it really captured that golden-age feel of just ludicrous scale. and yeah toe fairly tales were incredible, some of the most innovative scifi I've ever read
>book starts with siege of constantinople
THIS is when you know you're in for a wild ride

>>10782384
very funny post

>>10781581
very bad post

>>10781652
Hmmm?

>>10782859
>3 author's name on the cover
>this means it's quality

It's Kellhus.

>>10783059

>>10783059
>>10783065
Does the GRI translate well?

>>10783180
Not really.

>>10781399
Yes but they generally tend to be samey and generic. Derivative even.

For example, recently I read The Wrong Stars by Tim Pratt. Felt like The Expanse with a bunch of Whedon characters.

>>10782426
>every tad williams book will bore ypu to death
I found the Otherland series quite good. The Shadowmarch series on the other hand, holy shit ... I have never had to fight so much and for so long to get through a series. With me it's a sort of a point of pride to finish any book I have started. All those fucking gods, and every single one of them has a different name in three or four languages, and then the shit turned out to be important too when I had been totally dismissing and skipping it.

>>10782387
>What's your favorite love subplot in a book you've read?
Sorweel and Serwa was actually quite sweet in Aspect Emperor. Was a nice break from all the rape, necrophilia, and cannibalism.

>>10783059
Well, still better than the US covers.

>>10783242
Did they censor it like they did they German version?

>>10783480
Nah. It's just was so awful with fifth book that they now started new translate from scratch. We still don't have 5,6,7 with russian translation.

Unrelated but, what bookmarks do you guys use? I just memorize the page number but I'd like to use a bookmark to get to it faster. Any cool sff designs?

>>10783782
whatever bookmark the used bookstore gave me

>>10783782
I can usually only manage to get through 3 or so books before losing one, so I don't bother most of the time.

>>10783782
I very rarely read on paper, so I just use whatever's on hand.

>>10783782
pokemon cards

>>10783782
business cards

Peter Watts "Starfish"

>Terry Goodkind

>Turin fucks up badly and keeps a dwarf hostage thus in turn results in having it's son succumb to an arrow wound and dying

Being Mim is suffering, fuck incompetent humans.

>>10784299
What book

>>10783782
I fold the top corner of the page

>>10784349

Tolkien

>>10781799
It's not that bad.

>>10778690

Foreign fantasy is mostly magical realism and everyone already knows about the South American shit.

>Chinese shit
Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en
Cat Country by Lao She
Life and Death are Wearing Me Out by Mo Yan
Frog by Mo Yan
Bejing Coma by Ma Jian
The Dark Road by Ma Jian

>African shit
The Palm-Wine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola
Xala by Ousmane Sembene
The Famished Road by Ben Okri
Wizard of the Crow by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

>>10778947
just read it, it's kind of hard to describe cause it's pretty chinese and it comes through the translation

>>10784352

>>10784424

Didn't mean it's a bad trilogy. It's written competently and characters are mostly realistic (for the setting) but so many parts of the books are bloated. It's supposedly for the sake of worldbuilding but all of the kingdoms are as cliche as they come.

>>10782426
>>10783454

That's a shame if all of his books are tedious. I heard good things about The War of the Flowers.

>>10783782
Funeral memory bookmarks, receipts, folded sticky notes, a bookmark with laminated fall leaves my mother made for me when I moved away to the soggy west coast.

I miss you mum

>>10784072
Is that what happens in that novel? Some mutated angler fish attacks divers?

>>10784849
you shouldn't post that image here, will probably trigger some people.

>>10784849
sorry about your mom btw

What do you do when you have two very similar ideas that you can't seem to marry, but can't decide which way to go?

Are there any good sci-fi books were aliens invade earth, and the best thing the Humans can offer against them is regiments of redcoats?

>>10778690
I started reading Ubik yesterday, I love it

>>10785704
just wanted to say, is there any other middle size brain books like Ubik?

>>10785776
Bell curve

Webnovels are novels too

>>10783782

Bookdepository, I have 63 so far.

>>10784239

More like Terry Badkind you know what I'm sayin

Does anyone know any fantasy in an ancient Greek like world.

>>10783059
>>10783065

>>10785954
oh, uhm, hmm, i dunno, maybe the fucking Odyssey?

>>10783772
Front covers like that with just an image are so much better

>>10784849

>>10785954
Latro books... fantasy in Ancient Greece but some characters can interact with the Greek Gods

>>10784904
Answer you wattshills. If I had to put up with your incessant shilling for months, the least you can do is answer me.

>>10785954
Lost Books of the Odyssey. It's literally Odyssey fanfic.

>>10786055
Yeah and then the divers tear them apart because there's no protein at the bottom of the ocean and science and shit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjIu6ZoyUwg

Does this music capture Malazan? I haven't read Malazan but have been listening to this while reading the Prince of Nothing.

What are you folks listening to while reading fantasy?

>After all the years of doorstopping tomes writing by white literary fiction males (many of whom I love) and all the years of terrified readers being cornered in coffeeshops by wild-eyed young men (and occasionally, um, me) who needed to explain David Foster Wallace’s masterwork, Chandler Klang Smith has unleashed her own slipstream, genrefluid monster of a book—that also happens to be fun, visceral, heartbreaking, and genuinely funny.

Are you gong to read her book, /sffg/?

>>10786150
>slipstream, genrefluid
All xhe had to do was tack on another "magical realism" tack onto the genres (though the book is probably like that anyway) and she'd be ready to go.

>>10786069
Why wouldn't you just listen to Summoning instead?

How is the The Prefect sequel by Reynolds?

>>10782429
Oh don't get me wrong. Death's End is a great book but it broke my heart so many fucking times. I mean, Luo Ji lives to see his life's work go to shit and it's even implied he outlived his waifu.

>>10785630
The Massacre of Mankind comes close, it's the official sequel to War of the Worlds so WW1 against the martians.

>>10786207
man I love Summoning, new album is wonderful. Silvertine is the best track.

Caladan Brood does offer something special, though[\spoiler]

Any advice on how to write quaint, pastoral fiction?

I'm imagining something like a story about a wizard that doesn't go on big, crazy adventures, but instead keeps a garden, attends town committee meetings, and makes a mean pork roast.

Realistically, I'm wanting to write a story about a mage that starts his own delivery service on a small island.

How does one write such a story?

Too Like Lightning is so comfy. Two days in and I'm halfway done. Is the rest of the series equally good?

Also, more like TLL/BOTNS/Anathem (i.e.; speculative future history)?

>>10786451
>Caladan Brood
Is he the most wasted character in the series?

>>10785621
Beat your head on the wall until the ideas mix.

>>10784904
the fish are sentient too

>>10786597
I used to read fiction like that with lots of morals back when I was a kid. but it was always with a realistic setting. Sadly I can't remember a single title.
This information might not be useful to you, but the nips took those concepts and call such works iyashikei, or "healing" anime/manga
>Works of this kind often involve alternative realities with little to no conflict, emphasizing nature and the little delights in life.
You may want to read or watch stuff with that style for inspiration. My recs: Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou. Aria. Barakamon. Bartender. Haibane Renmei. Mushishi.

>>10786624
He didn't really have much of a part to play in the events of Malazan.

>>10786696
>(Cont'd)
The only actual literature I read which emphasizes nature to that degree, along with "small delights" is mostly Japanese. Haiku in general. The Pillow book, Grass for my Pillow (Soseki, which is more of a haiku novel in prose).
I probably read stuff like that in Western lit, but the only titles I can think of is Sketches from a Hunter's Album (Turgenev). Maybe Whitman.

>>10781799
it's slow paced but didn't get tedious for me, except some of the most boring parts who focused in characters that i didn't find interesting, like the guy with no hand and at times the main character, simon.

but overall i liked the series, i still remember some scenes which caused big impression on me, even though i haven't read it in so long

>Authors who do things like go on vacations or take breaks or start new series when you are waiting for the next book in the series

fuck em

>>10783782
calibre remembers where you last read each book

>>10778690
>anyone read any good Chinese shit apart from 3Body?
The Wandering Earth and Invisible Planets are some great Chinese SF short story collections

>>10786615
Seven Surrenders is better, moves a lot faster

>>10782476
>>10782429
One thing I loved about the ending to Death's End was it turned the entire philosophy of the rest of the book on its head. The book keeps beating you over the head with how Cheng Xin's compassion is a mistake, instead stone cold motherfuckers like Luo Ji, Thomas Wade, Zhang Beihai or the crew of Blue Space are needed to protect humanity's survival in a dog-eat-dog universe and every time Cheng Xin is allowed to make a decision she fucks it up.

On the other hand however at the very end they make the consequences of everybody being selfish and survivalist clear, the entire universe is collapsing because of escalating wars. The only hope for the universe to see another Big Crunch/Big Bang cycle instead of suffering endless expansion and heat death is for enough people, without knowing how the others will decide, to be selfless and compassionate enough to give up their chance of surviving to see a potential universal rebirth and instead return in the hopes that others will do the same and not waste your sacrifice. I thought it was a great way to tie up the theme of individualism versus collectivism that went all the way back to the first book.

I'm coming off a Foundation series and Mass Effect 1 replay high. The OP recommendations list doesn't have any categories for space opera, what are some great modern space opera stories to get lost in? I've already put the Culture series and the Hyperion Cantos on the list.

>>10786866
Xeelee Sequence is phenomenal.

>>10785954
Second Apocalypse

>>10786055
It’s just spooky fuckers on the seabed being spooky
Great book.

>>10786847
Think I’ve read your assessment of the book here on /sff/ and it made as much sense as it did then as it does now, excellent summary of an excellent ending.

I need some writing advice.

I'm working on a setting a few decades in the future. There was a world war and things are kinda shitty. the United States has changed governments and the internet is restricted to the rich and corporations. Medical tech is pretty advanced but limited to those who can afford it yada yada yada.

My question is how do I justify a world war without nukes fucking everything up for everyone? I mean, I figure at the very least a few cities are wiped off the face of the earth but is it realistic to assume everyone didn't start flying all nukes at once?

The war itself isn't really a focus of the story but it does affect the current state of things. It's mostly a character heavy story but without some decent world building it'd feel cheap. I'm autistic about these things.

>>10787379
The no nukes thing is more believable than the no internet thing tbqh.

>>10787437
The internet is there it's just highly restricted and regulated. Everything very classist (Even more so anyway.) and certain groups can't use it for whatever reason. I'm still hashing it out. It might be like you need a license to do it or some shit.

Of course people still do it illegally. I'm going with a sort of cyberpunk-ish setting but almost like low tech? I don't know how to describe it. Certain things are more advanced than others.

This is the planning stage so anything goes really. I'm seeing what feels right. It's a fish out of water story. The main characters are poor as dirt so it's about them struggling to make it in a shitty city and maybe do some highly illegal shit along the way.

>>10787475
Unless infrastructure got nuked it would be very difficult to effectively restrict the internet in that way.

>>10787491
Everyone got fucked over hard. There was warfare all over the place, people dying in the streets. A lot of digital information was lost.

The idea is that the world isn't necessarily post apocalyptic but it came close and it's recovering from some serious wounds. Cities were wiped out, the weather in some places is fucked, a lot of people just starved to death decades prior to the main story.

This entire story was inspired as an excuse for a really stupid premise but the more I tried to justify it the more adamant I became to make it solid. If i'm going to do this I want to do it right.

>>10786866
Isaac Asimov Foundation or Dune

>>10786866

we are legion we are bob
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32109569-we-are-legion-we-are-bob

it is good and fun book to read it is about how guy turned into AI in von neuman deep space exploration ship

dune
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/234225.Dune

or read whole Asimov

>>10786069
I listen to get the fuck out cunt >>>/mu/tant

What are some good sword and sorcery type books? Prefferably something shorter, 300 pages or so. I'm tired of tolkienesque epic fantasy.

>>10782351
I don't understand this meme, but I laugh every time I see it.

>>10786801
So you're talking about every author except the Japanese (who literally work themselves to death)???

>>10786069
I can't do two things at the same time.

>>10788125
>anything that is not s&s is a tolkeinesque derivative
Kys. Also your (you)

>>10788164
As long as he doesn't escape his cage.

>>10788125
Why not read some Conan? Otherwise, slightly based on your image: Jirel of Joiry.

Sad

A fire upon the deep is a good book, I was neutral after I finished it but after thinking on it more it really is a gem. It's very tragic in its own way but it's written in such an optimist style. So many fascinating ideas crammed into one book, even though the ending was kind of deus ex it felt earned and built on the sacrifice of many like a good ending should.

Are there any scifi series about a large, galactic egalitarian civilization? I don't care about military or anything like that, I just want a story about people living in harmony

>>10787513
Pull a page from Stephen King's "The Stand", just technology instead of biological.
>Highly experimental nanotechnology is transferred out of a secure lab by accident
>it loves copper, aluminum and gold as snacks
>self replicates
>spreads
>fast forward
>power out, phone towers down
>riots, looting, killing
>problem is finally fixed (somewhat)
>everything is fucked
>can't go in certain areas because mutated nanos now feed on iron and attack human's blood system
>fast forward
>some infrastructure is rebuilt using items that nanos don't eat
>everything expensive as fuck
>??????
>profit
If you can't use anything i gave your hungry artist's ass, then you don't deserve to write.
Now fuck off. like the other aspiring authors, I know you will use my idea just like they did, without thanking me

>>10788164
You should read the book, it's self explanatory.

>>10788208
YOU FUCKER
I DOWNLOADED AND ADDED THAT BOOK TO MY TO READ LIST BECAUSE YOU POSTED IT A FEW MONTHS BACK... YOU BETTER DIDN'T WASTE MY TIME

>>10783782
A chewed up beer coaster.

>>10788262
Not that anon but that's a fantastic idea.

Can you guys recommend some dark/unsettling sci-fi? Like Surface Detail or I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream?

>>10788262
>It's another secret science fucks up the world episode
This why SF sucks.

>>10788262
what's wrong with young aspiring authors posting their ideas here, wordart anon? they'd get made fun of anywhere else on /lit/. did one of them hurt you?

>>10788392
Hull zero three

>>10788405
With scifi you can only do so much. I was thinking of giving him an alien route, but if we encountered an alien race capable of travelling through space, chances are they would wipe us out / enslave us, or use our biological composition as fuel for some life sustaining device on their ship. They would then strip mind earth and the other planets, then leave like locusts.
Be conquered, or destroyed, our only choices.

>>10788426
They would eventually take over our general, tg might start coming here too. We have to stop them in their tracks.
We discuss published works here, that others can enjoy. Not someone's daydream that only he can discuss.

>>10788509
i forgot that /tg/ had writefag threads. that would probably work better for them, if it's such a problem.

>ereader & computer aren't playing nice
what am i reading?

>>10779435

Swords and wands/wizards' staffs are phallic symbols, thus "Sword and Sorcery" is, by definition, a type of literary rape

>>10784352

I unironically used to do this when I was a kid, every now and then I turn up an old book that still has a corner folded over and I have to try and smooth it out autistically

>>10786150
>genrefluid

>>10788125
REH's Conan of course. His Solomon Kane as well. Karl Edward Wagner's Kane (start with the short stories). Moorcock's Elric if an emo version of Conan in a more nihilistic setting interests you.

>>10788236
>I don't care about military or anything like that, I just want a story about people living in harmony
If they're all living in harmony then where would the conflict come from to make a compelling and interesting story?

>>10788392
Soul Cycle series.

>>10788926
You don't need conflict to tell a compelling or interesting story

>>10788936
Yes you do. It doesn't need to be a violent conflict; it can be a conflict of ideologies for example. But that still doesn't answer my question. How could a story be interesting or compelling if everyone is living in perfect harmony?

>>10788960
You should read Yotsuba

>>10788971
>slice of life comedy manga
That's not sci-fi nor fantasy.

>>10789115
but it is a compelling story without conflict

>>10786866
Have you tried the Vorkosigan series yet? Very good series, basically LMMB turns the whole "star hero" stereotype on it's head by making the main character a cripple (he got exposed to a deadly toxin while he was in the womb) who has to win through smarts and luck instead of his fists. And the author is great at balancing humor with serious stuff.

Joel Shepherd's Spiral Wars series is good. Basically the crew of a space battleship has their beloved captain killed by a conspiracy so they go on the run from the conspiracy, while running they discover a ancient berserker AI and a even bigger conspiracy. (While it's commonly pidgeonholed as "military SF" it's more a adventure series where everybody is in the military.)

Ninefox Gambit is great, best space opera in recent years IMO, very Warhammer-esque, but you probably won't like it if you don't like stories where the author doesn't tell you stuff because it's assumed you can figure it out on your own.

Ancillary Justice was popular when it came out but I wouldn't suggest reading the sequels, the entire tone of the series changes as if the author hadn't actually planned on writing the books.

>>10787717
>we are legion we are bob

The first book is okay but I dislike the sequels. It just turns into a guy narrating a Lets Play of his ideal space 4X strategy game.

>>10788125
Conan and Solomon Kane, REH's stuff holds up much better than most of Lovecraft's works IMO, and many of them are short stories.

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.

Black God's Kiss by C. L. Moore. I think all the stories were recently republished in a omnibus edition.

The Silverglass Quartet is OOP and obscure but IMO it's pretty good. Sorceress hires a warrior woman to escort her to someplace, they face various peril and so on.

>>10789133
But it's not a compelling story without conflict about a perfectly harmonious society in a sci-fi setting.

>>10789140
I know, that's why I asked for one

>>10789140
not the anon you were responding to but yotsubato is basically required reading for anyone on 4chan.
its a great story that will make you cry tears of happiness when you read it.
seriously go read it.
https://bato.to/series/53939

>>10789168
And I asked how could such a story exist that would be compelling and interesting. Unless you want this perfectly harmonious society to actually deal with some type of conflict at some point like Star Trek.

>>10789179
Well I provided a non-genre-fiction example. All you need to do is put it on a spaceship

>>10789134
>The first book is okay but I dislike the sequels. It just turns into a guy narrating a Lets Play of his ideal space 4X strategy game.

second book was ok, but third one I also disliked. I want to read about wonder of space exploration and combat not love triangle

>>10789236
>I want to read about wonder of space exploration and combat not love triangle
That's why you have to read pulp novels like Undying Mercenaries. Love triangles are stock and trade for novels these days. It's the only way they know to attract female teenagers (and teenage twinks)

>>10788914
Is that supposed to be N. K. Jemisin?

What is your favorite hard science fiction novel?

>>10789174
hey that's the old 4chan girl :D

>>10789761
>the old 4chan girl
Shut your whore mouth.

>>10789566
>so young he never saw star trek

>>10789849
I noticed the uniform later and realized it was probably Worf, but then wondered, why did I think of Jemisin?

Has a love triangle ever been done well in anything?

My work-in-progress:

Humanity oversees a race of primitives via a space station, guiding them towards civilisation and ultimately joining the galactic community. There are two humans on board, who take turns coming out of cryo-sleep to check up on the primciv. They're responsible for handing over updates to each other so spend a day together before another 100+ year sleep. During these narrow windows, they fall in love. The relationship goes sour and things go to shit planet-side due to their problems. I'm either going for an uplifting ending where they save the race or one of them goes crazy and engineers a nuclear war.

What do you guys think

>>10790029
Combine them into one bad end where the uplifted race kills both of them when they realize what's going on.

>>10790034

I like it. "Our gods are actually a bitter pair of assholes. Let's kill them."

>>10790025
I found it pretty tolerable in the Night Angel Trilogy.

Although one of the girls gets blatantly cukcolded and has to feel everything the guy feels when he gets to onwith his childhood love,cuz, y'know. Magic and fetishes and stuff.

So what's the deal with the Dresden Files?

>>10790025
Love triangles are inherently cringe so it's a matter of your own personal taste if you'd consider one done well. That being said I thought the love triangle in Waylander 2 was decent enough.

>>10790128
alright but nothing special.
author takes way too long to write.

>>10789361
>love trianges are for teen girls
>he doesn't read brorotica such as the /sffg/ darling the Sexcraft Chronicles

>>10790128
It's great if you like a certain thing I don't know the word for -- serial drama? Soap opera? Wheel of Time except it seems to move forward? The latest ones have so many storylines getting updated that some segment was a twist in the broader story and not just a happening in the book. I liked it for a long time, now it's mostly that thing and I've kind of lost interest.

If he had stayed a detective and was a little less moral then I'd have loved it, but it went in a different direction.

>>10790512
*that I don't realize some segment...

>>10790440
I don't think you can call it the /sffg/ darling if you're the only one who's read it.

>>10783782
i just pull a dollar out of my wallet and put it in the book

>>10778947
read the series, it is meh at best. perhaps I didn't mesh with the authors style or things were lost in translation. Some cool ideas but I can't recommend it.

I'm not a huge fan of the Dragons of a New Age trilogy but I've both within a week and they kinda feel sloggish. I don't know. I feel like each Dragonlance book either has slow pacing or has a fuckton of stuff going on at any given time, plus the insane (good thing) amount of characterization as well. This trilogy is just a bit too dark for my liking, bad events for the sake of bad events.

Can someone recommend a few good short stories? I'd like to get into writing my own, but I haven't read all that many short stories.

>>10790440
i wonder how much money they make off this shit. seems like you could crank one of these out every couple of months, at least.

>>10791090
Thune's Vision

>>10791159
From what I can find apparently Kindle Unlimited authors make approximately 1/2 a penny (0.005 USD) per page and get paid by the number of pages read per month, so potentially somebody who writes a 200-300 page book makes a buck or two for everybody who finishes it.

Additionally I see that Sarah Hawke makes around $300/mo on her Patreon. E. William Brown (the Fimbulwinter guy) is making just under $2k right now. As a benchmark, N. K. Jemisin is making $5.6k a month, and 2k is around what popular furry artists like Slugbox make.

So let's call it enough to make some decent pocket change but not enough to quit your day job.

>>10791221
yeah, that would be a decent side hustle. if you're willing to debase yourself, that is.

>>10791268
Well that's pulp for you. You hammer out 100-200 pages of sexy sex or thrilling adventure for KU every month or two and it helps pay the bills.

I've seen similar sentiments from traditionally published authors who do a yearly-release series alongside their more "serious" stuff.

>>10791221
>all those buzzwords in that post
Are you the anon who recommended the yiff party website?

>>10791342
No I haven't recommended it here, it's been broken for like two months. And I only use patreon for a couple non-porn things.

>>10791090
I have no mouth and I must scream
Johnny Mnemonic
The Belonging Kind
The Last Answer

>>10791090
For a Breath I Tarry

>>10791090
The Last Question by IsaacAsimov
Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C Clarke
A Pail of Air by Fritz Leiber
Yellow Card Man by Paolo Bacigalupi

>>10791474

The best

Yo I'm sick of everything being grimdark and horrible. I'm okay with bad things happening, but I'd like at least a little bit of hope and a happy ending. Excluding mega-popular stuff like The Hobbit and LOTR, can anyone recommend a SFF book like that?

>>10792505
Wheel of Time. Sword of Truth.

>brother's best friend's girlfriend forcefully loans me her copy of Ready Player One and tells me I have a week to read it
This isn't funny anymore, guys.

>>10792640
>and tells me I have a week to read it
Or what?

>>10792640
she wants you to forcefully give her the D

>>10792640

wild waste 3 when

Friendly reminder that every page released from TWOW so far, has been material cut from ADWD, and there is no evidence that GRRM (writer), wrote a single page since 2011

>>10778947
It, like all foreign literature, is shit and just praised by shitlibs wanting to sound cosmopolitan

Whites are best for a reason;

>>10793360
What about the "Asha fragment"?

Which edition of the Atlas of Middle Earth should I be looking to get?

>>10783463
yeah, but there was the whole cuck thing going on with moenghus jr and it was so hard to separate this from the rest of the gay cannibal holocaust. also the complete letdown of any real resolution at the end

>>10786624
i feel like this may have been a character that was supposed to be ICE's to play with instead of SE, but ICE being a bit of a poor writer until halfway through his contracted novels never managed to work him in. maybe we'll see more later from either author, but i doubt it :(

What are some buks where super duper end game civilizations wage war? Think time travellers, dimension hoppers, etc.

What are some books on capeshit?

>>10792505
the ranger's apprentice

>>10794013
worm i think. its a webnovel though

>>10793860
Have you read "Timegod's World?"

Any recent horror books you folks can recommend? I know you don't really include horror here but its better to ask here then anywhere else since you guys are great arbiters of quality when it comes to genre fiction.

Is this all there is to offer in March?

What's everyone reading?

>>10794712
Some older local sci-fi in my native language. It's honestly quite a weird experience, since I'm used to reading sci-fi in English.

>>10794712
Ficciones by Borges. When finished I'll probably go back to sff, I'm planning to read some PKD.

>>10794712
Roadside Picnic

It's really good

>>10794573
>new releases

>>10794712
Celeb bio

New Thread
Use When Ready
>>10794874
>>10794874
>>10794874

>>10783782
Whatever I have handy. Most usually a piece of notebook paper folded up, but I also use old bus/train tickets, complementary bookmarks that sometimes get sent with my book orders, shopping receipts, and in one case an old stick of RAM from a desktop PC I dismantled for scrap a few years ago, but I can't remember which book I last used it in.