/lit/ - Literature

rec me some scifi with weird spiritual shit

Second for Bakker

Meh.

>>10852256
>praise the Logos
but Kellhus has abandoned the Logos. It's the Consult that still holds value in it.

Anything with medieval feudal politics?

Is this accurate?

>>10852269
No, no one has ever written fantasy focusing on that.

>>10852284
Are you sure

>>10852310
Positive. Now's your chance Anon. I bet there's a huge untapped market for this.

>>10852240
>love fantasy
>haven’t even attempted sc-fi because all technology baffles me
Am I missing out?

>>10852324
yes, sci fi that is actually technical is a minority anyway

>>10852269
like, actual well-researched medieval politics or something that kind of resembles it?
if the former, there aren't really any aside from like asoiaf, and even that isn't too accurate. go read the Accursed Kings or something.
if the latter, go to the fantasy section at B&N and pick something at random, chances are that it has what you're looking for. especially if you look in YA fantasy.

>>10852318
I'm still not convinced

>>10852330
Really! Good to know

>>10852362
have you read any of the sci fi fantasy shit? you would probably really enjoy that too and it seems like a good starting point

Alright, I heard the Trysmoon Saga was some cuck GRI shit with a solid milfu. Is this true? Goodreads and amazon rate it highly so I'm on alert for it not having the true GRI GRInd.

>>10852432
>GRI
>milf
If it's not mother-son incest someone dropped the ball.

>>10852432
I'm new to this, the fuck is GRI?

>>10852368
Probably haven’t, any recommendations?

>>10852485
Gay, Rape, and Incest.

>>10852492
I'm okay with all of those things in a story, but why are they grouped together? Is it because they'll all unnecessarily distract from the story with sex?

>>10852520
>unnecessarily

>>10852520
Any scifi or fantasy story that has all three is mysteriously guaranteed to be good. Any one of them in isolation is meaningless.

>>10852432
>Is this true?
Yes, milf pussy is the only good thing about it, by the way. It's not a complete disaster, the characters are well developed and the writing isn't bad, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone sane. You seem to like cuck fetish though, so you might like it.

>>10852536
What a strange arcane combonation

>>10852561
No one has figured out why this holds true, but it's a universal constant.

>>10852561


Strange, but sometimes the greatest truths are.

>there are no nice looking heinlein books in print

Re posting my question from the last thread, sorry if you frown upon that sort of thing.

Do any of you fine fellows know of any authors that have a character that is present or at least makes cameos or appearances in all of their books?
A la Hoid or Randall Flagg.
>>>10852219
Who's Walter? Flagg? I haven't actually read too much King. I enjoyed The Stand and read that Flagg had made at least another appearance in The Dark Tower.
He was one of the better examples I could think of, I haven't really encountered this trope too often.

>>10852594
Walter is Flagg's real name. He only appears in the Stand, the Dark Tower, and Eyes of the Dragon. Even then, identity between his various incarnations is weird to say the least. His memories are pretty wonky and his abilities vary a lot depending on how ruined the world he's in is, and how much drugs King had done at the time.

>>10852580
Is The Fifth Season good?
>female protag
>n k jemisin
>hugo 2016
These are all red flags, but maybe...?

By the way, Good Intentions is shit, don't bother.

>>10852601
Oh that's interesting, should I stick to what I know of him in The Stand or read his other appearances? Any idea why his name is Walter?

>>10852613
He's good when he first shows up in the Dark Tower but he goes to shit as the series does. Eyes of the Dragon is alright.

>Any idea why his name is Walter?
Presumably because his parents named him that. hard as it is to believe, he was actually born a regular guy at one point, a very very long time ago. Although even measuring time in relation to his weird multiversal nonlinear existence is rough.

Why is there such limited literary fantasy? And I don't mean magical realism. I'm talking high fantasy shit that's written like a real fucking prose writer.

>>10852622
Same reason most of any fiction has mediocre prose. Good prose is hard and most can't do it.

>>10852622
What the guy above said along with the obvious "Fantasy is for children, you should write a REAL grounded story."

>>10852330
And honestly it works far better in the form of short stories. Most people with the technical skill to write "realistic scifi" don't have the writing chops to pull off the narrative framework for anything longer.

Example, I read a novel a while back, recommended by the hard SF writing site Atomic Rocket, about "space pirates" hijacking remote shipments of Helium 3 from the moon. The best summary I could give it would be a shoddy knockoff of Neal Stephanson's Reamde written by a less eloquent nerd

>>10852609
>By the way, Good Intentions is shit, don't bother.

the succubus harem erotica wasn't good?! who could have guessed at this shocking turn of events!

>>10852619
Perhaps I'll pick up Eyes of The Dragon. Not too sure about The Dark Tower though, it might be worth a read once I've read everything else I want.
And I guess asking why his name is Walter was kind of a stupid question, it never occurred to me that he would have had a human upbringing. In The Stand he felt more like a force than an actual person, like a personification of the bad shit that's happening.

>>10852640
Honestly, even though it's not a complete story, i recommend reading the Gunslinger and just ignoring the rest of the Dark Tower. It's a very good short story with a unique atmosphere. It's totally unlike anything else Stephen King has ever written.

>it never occurred to me that he would have had a human upbringing. In The Stand he felt more like a force than an actual person, like a personification of the bad shit that's happening.
Well he is like that, now. So I can see why you wouldn't think of him as having ever being born and growing up. Especially when he himself doesn't really remember it.

>>10852622
tl;dr because it's mainly written by and for fans who are predisposed to like anything with dragons or space ships in it.

See also: the furor that results when video games are actually subjected to literary criticism and found lacking.

There needs to be more gunslinger protags in Heroic Fantasy.

>>10852650
>See also: the furor that results when video games are actually subjected to literary criticism and found lacking.
Only soy boy fake nerds actually get pissed off at that. Actual nerds that aren't obsessed with being part of "nerd culture" recognize that almost every video game writing is pure shit by any standards outside the game industry. Even the big exemplars of vidya story telling have only ever risen too is okay to pretty good by the standards of other media, and we all know it.

>>10852650
>tl;dr because it's mainly written by and for fans who are predisposed to like anything with dragons or space ships in it.
Is this really true? I love fantasy but hate most fantasy books. I drop almost everything I've tried a few chapters in because of the utter lack of creativity and lifeless writing. I maybe complete 1 in 10 of the fantasy books I start, and that's being generous.

Any fantasy novels where the protagonist is a healer/doctor of some sort? Not necessarily an occupation.

>>10852609

I liked it, but I had a major nitpick with what I call YA Proper Noun Syndrome. The Guardians, The Fulcrum, The...

>>10852657
>pretty good by the standards of other media
Shadow of the Colossus wants a word with you.

>>10852658
>Is this really true?
No. The quality of prose dropped off with the rise of "realistic" fantasy (aka nihilistic fantasy). I guess the writers figured, "well if I'm writing dreary crap my prose should be dreary crap as well."

>>10852647
I was actually hoping you'd say something like that, can't stand committing to a series if I know the ending will be bad.

>>10852675
Basically they all tried to emulate GRRM, who has very average prose, but they lacked the strengths that make up for it in his writing.

>>10852670
A perfect example of what I'm talking about. Shadow of the Colossus is some of the absolute peak of presentation in vidya. And it's just an unusually well done Hollywood monster blockbuster that actually had a scrap of pathos.

>>10852683
it's not just the ending. The last three books of Dark Tower are mostly bad, and pretty much none of the series resembles the first book even when it's decent. Ironically the only good part of the final book that feels like it fits with the first story is the coda, which King explicitly instructs you not to read.

>>10852638
>the succubus harem erotica wasn't good?! who could have guessed at this shocking turn of events!
To a hipster movie critic, every comic book looks like juvenile shit.

>>10852705
Thanks for all of the advice anon, I really appreciate it!

>>10852609
>>10852638
Compared to other harem erotica the Good Intentions series is probably the best of the lot. The writing is decent, it actually has a plot and characters, and the sex isn't the same scenes repeated over & over again. It's also funny as hell.

>>10852657
>WHADAYA MEAN CALL OF DUTY MODERN WARFARE 2 ISN'T ART?!?!

>>10852675
>I guess the writers figured, "well if I'm writing dreary crap my prose should be dreary crap as well."
it's not that, it's just the newer generation of fantasy writers are fucking awful and should not have been allowed to be published (but they were because their books sold well after the popularity of GRRM)

>>10852742
It literally is art, retard. The quality is irrelevant to that.

>>10852790
This. Art is no measure of value. There's tons and tons of shitty worthless art. Like almost every videogame.

>>10852662
I guess the main guy in the stormlight archive? He was a doctors son and knows most things about medicine.

Webnovels are novels too

>>10852878
worm is pretty dope

Anything can be art, /sffg/, thats why one day even your novel will get published!

>>10852885
I just read "I’m Sorry For Being Born In This World!"
It was pretty good, I'd recommend it.

>>10850973
The cogweaver trilogy

For someone ready to jump into the world of Tolkien how important is it to read The Silmarillion and The Children of Húrin?

>>10852662
Library at al-rassan

I'm wondering, is there fantasy set in a WW1 type era?

>>10852956
Not at all important. Read the Hobbit or LOTR first, always. Only read the Silmarillion and similar materials if you end up really loving it and wanting to immerse yourself in the mythology.

Feanor did nothing wrong.

This is impossible to read. I was excited for the annotations, but there's one every 3 words.

Recommend me some sci-fi akin to the kino opening of Man of Steel.

>>10853019
This. The Teleri had it coming.

So, I know it just started but any theories on who the biggest bad of Warden is going to be?

at the moment, the options look like
>Teacher
>Amy
>Marquise
>Tattletale
>Valkyre
>Nilbolg
>Whoever's in charge of Earth Dalet

Teacher and Dalet look like the largest in terms of scope but Amy and Valkyre are the most dangerous individually

Given that Valkyre kind of had a redemption arc while Amy's more unstable, my money's on the latter

>>10852878

not good ones though

>>10853148
There are good ones.
Most novels aren't good novels either.

Which Discworld should I read next?

>>10853165
Mort, and then the rest of the Death novels. Then the remaining Witches novels or The Amazing Maurice.
After those there's two novels missing from your chart, but I'd read the Tiffany Aching books before those.

Or you can just stare at Nanny Ogg's great big tits:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Was4vsxLEng

>>10853019
>when you fuck up so bad your sons literally kill themselves recovering your precious gems and you doom your entire race to millennia of suffering and endless war as a result of your wrath
But hey, the 4 living Noldor at the end of the 3rd age can finally rest easy knowing the last of Morgoth's minions had finally been defeated.

>>10852956
The Silmarillion isn't really a novel, it's a compendium of elf lore written in the style reminiscent of the Eddas or even the Bible, a collection of myths, legends, and histories. As an introduction to Tolkien it is very obtuse, I wouldn't recommend it unless you have already read the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, it's very much a work for people enamored of Middle Earth's lore and a hunger for more.

Children of Hurin has more of an actual narrative to it by comparison, but being one of those stories from the Silmarillion it's told in the style of an old epic and not in the style of a modern novel so much, so while it's very good it's probably not the best introduction to Tolkien.

>tfw they found asbestos and I get to spend tomorrow shifting an entire store worth of books

>>10852269
The Warlord Chronicles comes to mind, but honestly you might be better off reading more medieval historical fiction than fantasy.

>>10852271
Yes it's alright, but I would add some of his earlier work like Red Planet and Citizen of the Galaxy which are both standalone books.

>>10853035
If you really want an annotated edition then go with Norton Critical m8.

>>10852732
Strongly disagree.
The main character is incredibly annoying with his "nicest person in the world" act. The girls aren't super interesting. And to top it off, it's urban fantasy.

>>10852585
>BAEN

Are there any SF books like this album art?

>>10853426

thanks anon

>>10852269
It's not fantasy but you should check out Umberto Eco's novels, especially The Name of the Rose and Baudalino.

>>10853130
teacher would be incredibly lame as ward's main antagonist

>>10853617
How about the short story "Out Around Rigel"?
https://archive.org/details/outaroundrigel20553gut

>>10852589
Old school Heinlein had kino book covers

>>10853586
Is it one of the ones where the guy is a virgin but for some reason is good at sex ala Kvothe?

>>10853679

I like it.

Do you listen to music while you read scifi?

'What in Heaven's name are you?' asked Shannow, rising to his feet and keeping the gun trained on the man.
'I am a man.'
'But you are black. Are you of the Devil?'

>>10853775
I don't think it's the same, i mean he IS "good at sex despite being a virgin" but it's a supernatural excuse instead of "he's just that good"

>new Undying Mercenaries
Fuck yea, faggots.

>>10852248
The scariest book I ever read is Ubik, moreso than Barker, Lovecraft, Ligotti or any other straight up horror writer. There's just this existential hammer coming down on everyone, in a kind of slow godlike motion, that will not miss because missing is not an option. It's fucking terrifying. It's also quite funny.

>>10852675
I can't name you one genuinely great fantasy book. I'm not saying it can't be done, it just hasn't. I believe this is because fantasy writers rarely concern themselves with anything other than worldbuilding, making the characters, ideas, motifs and themes take the back seat. Also, the sex is not nearly weird enough, or it's weird in all the wrong ways.

>inb4 LotR
It suffers from the exact problems as the ones stated above, but makes up in beautiful prose and still looms large over the genre. The mythweaving and folklore never drew me in tebehe, but I get why people like them. I for one would rather read Beowulf or Kalevala.

Maybe if you took all the original Howard Conan stories and compiled them into one book, similar to The Foundation, you could call that The Magnum Opus of fantasy. Other than that, you're left with Dracula, Arthur Gordon Pym and other things I can't even be bothered to try and remember. Scifi writers trying their hand at fantasy always turn up lower quality work than their usual. That goes for gurm too.

>>10854157
Add Latro in the Mist to the "great fantasy novels" list. Probably the only series worth reading up to the end(Discworld became hit and miss later on).

>>10854157
>>10854166
cancer

>>10853316
It was the Valar's fuck up really.

>>10853605
If I took that sticker off, would the publisher die?

>>10854288
It would be extremely sticky.

>>10852609
>Is The Fifth Season good?
Yes it is good. The Obelisk Gate is GOAT. But the third book is average

>>10854242
Fuck you too you metastatic cocksucker.

>>10852589

>>10854157
> I can't name you one genuinely great fantasy book

>>10854625
What is this?

>>10854633
This is high fantasy done right.

>110 replies late
wew

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

With light novels getting more popular in the west we're going to see a bunch of shitty American light novels, aren't we?

>Being a hero is harder than it looks!

>Alexander S. Ryker dreams of becoming a hero, but dreams are hard to achieve when you’ve caused several million credits worth of property damage. Being expelled from the Mars Police Academy isn’t helping his case. Crushed, Alex encounters a girl named Gabrielle Angelise in a meeting that will change his life forever.

>Gabrielle is an alien! She’s also on the run. Alex wonders if this is the chance that he’s been waiting for, the chance to finally become a hero. Opportunities like this don’t come often, or ever, and so Alex steps up to protect Gabrielle and make his dream a reality. He will become a hero—if the strain from living with an alien bombshell doesn’t kill him first!

What separates high fantasy from other types?

>>10854655
If you go on royalroadl.com, there are already a bunch.
My personal favourite is The Adventures of a Black Genderbending Vampire

>>10854733
High fantasy is based in a different world/universe with its own rules, mythos etc, e.g. Tolkien.

Low fantasy takes place in our world but with a few changes/exceptions to how we know things to work so the fantastical happens in a setting that's recognisably ours, e.g. Gaiman's Neverwhere and Rowling's Harry Potter.

Is Malazan the intellectual's choice of fantasy? No troll replies please.

>>10854802
no, the only fantasy write intellectuals like is Jorge Luis Borges

>>10854802
You're thinking of Gormenghast.

>>10854802
The intellectual's choice of fantasy is Borges.

The Patrician's Choice is Wolfe (Latro since BotNS is sci fi), Tolkien and a few others. It is not Memezan.

>>10854814
actually the true patrician fantasy writers are Vance, Bellairs, Beagle, Peake, Gemmell and of course, Bramah

>>10854838
Yeah fair enough. I can accept those as Patrician as long as there's mutual recognition of my choices as equally Patrician.

Iron Gold is a good book

>>10854814
And what makes Malazan non-patrician? It has quite good writing.

>>10854861
>It has quite good writing.
lol nah man

>>10854861
The fact that they're shit.

>>10854655
This can't be real

>>10854861
Once you become a patrician you'll understand. Am I right, fellow patricians?

>>10854866
The only bad writing is in Gardens of The Moon, and it improves exponentially as the series unfolds.

>>10854872
It's real. 3 volumes out, but the author has already written up to volume 14. I remember seeing a tweet where he was bragging about finishing it in like a week.

>>10854655
>>10854895
I seek death

What is the General Consensus for Prologues?

>>10852485
>>10852520
>>10852561

>>10854922
hate them

>>10852536
>>10852561
>>10852580
Wait a second. All You Zombies had I, and arguably G, but no R. Why is it there?

>>10854922
Depends on the book really

>>10854029
I just read blood world last month.

Shit, didn't know this thread exists. Would still love answers >>10855009

>>10852240
I may get crucified for this, but which Warhammer 40k novels DON'T suck literal shit?

>>10855289
I'm going to jump on this question and expand it; Are there any video game novels that aren't bad? Any of the Mass Effect books or the Bioshock book etc etc.

>>10855364
A select few of Warhammer 40k materials.

>>10855364
There's a pretty good Bioshock book. Can't remember what it's called.

>>10854655
Anything is better than more litRPG IMO.

Though I really hope some western authors will start stealing from Wuxia/Xianxia instead and we'll get stories about elves who do wire-fu.

>>10854733
>>10854788
Low Fantasy doesn't have to take place in "our world", versus high fantasy it's more about the lives of average people (ie, Croaker, the Black Company's medic, Rincewind,a shitty wizzard) than chosen ones going on quests to stop a ancient sword.

I'd argue it's basically just medieval fantasy that may or may not be in a fantastical land.

>>10855289
Ciaphis Cain, Eisenhorn, Ravenor, Eisenhorn vs. Ravenor: Ballistic, and Gaunt's Ghosts are generally the ones that get recommended.

>>10855364
Somebody on here was saying the Wing Commander books are decent.

David Drake wrote a novelization for Tera Nova Strike Force (old FPS by the Thief/System Shock devs) that I recall was pretty good.

>>10855289
For a one-shot I recommend Helsreach.

Very well written in my opinion, very good story. Does a great job showing the space marines being people with truly interesting personalities, and how they interact with humans. Good action is always a plus as well.

If you want a free taste of it, go to youtube and search for Helsreach and find an animated movie someone's making using the audiobook.

>>10853586
Couldn't agree more. Even when compared to other urban fantasy erotica it's lacking. Its lore is completely tasteless, bland. Valens' legacy has better characters and girls. Even the Warlock Trilogy, despite its atrocious writing (my god, how can that dude write that bad? someone give him an award for it!), was more fun.

>>10854922
They're stupid if you can retitle your prologue Chapter 1 and no one would notice the difference. Otherwise why not.

>>10855289

Ciaphas Cain is pretty great, but it's not all about the huge conflicts. They are fun, though.

Gaunt's Ghosts is more serious.

>>10855480
>Anything is better than more litRPG IMO
Immediately proceed to the nearest low hanging limb and neck yourself

Library at Mount Char

Why does OP insist in greentexting the links? It's fucking annoying senpai.

>>10855841
if you dont use 4chanx you are doing it wrong.

>>10855147
>>10855182
>>10855619
Does the length of the prologue factor in?

>>10855981
longer ones are worse

Prologues are almost always used as backstory info dumps, I find them awkward and boring but hey it means less info dumping in the rest of the story so it's okay I guess

>>10855480
>Anything is better than more litRPG IMO.
You're wrong.

Is this the thread to chat about the fantasy stuff we're writing? I don't spend much time on /lit/ but I've been working on some stuff.

>>10856301
no.
we get people daily pitching their thing.
it gets rather old.
start a general for aspiring writers or something.

>>10856301
No. There is usually a critique thread somewhere. If there isn't one make it.

Can any anons recommend some good reality based Fiction about the exigencies of living in and exploring space in the long or short term?

>>10854872
I have this comic.
It's comparable to the "capt. america defeats drugs" shit in terms of the sheer idiotic glee it inspires in me.
The best part is a panel where the whole crack operation is run by a white guy in a white suit sitting on a throne of stolen teevees and teasing that "One hit WILL hook, may kill."
>bitch I smoked enough crack in 98 and Im fine

...And punisher kills the bad guys by suffocating him in a mountain of yayo. Not a bad way to go, IMHO.

>>10856282
>longer ones are worse

Shame I was planning on Writing a prologue (3000-4000 word length) for some subtle infodump utilizing some throwaway p.o.v. through their actions will have long-lasting consequences in the novels

>>10853642
True, but so was Jack. He feels like more of a catalyst. I mean, imagine if valkyre claimed him and in doing so seized control of all his students, or if amy modified him the same way she did skitter and he became Prometheus/Thoth/Legion/Mephistophelese

My mom just gave me the Inheritance Cycle. Dare I read them?

>>10856513
what's the worst that could happen?

>>10855713
>>10856293
found the people who prefer reading D&D character sheets instead of stories about cute foxgirls.

>>10856598
No, I've read too many of both.

>>10856610

>>10856440
go for it man, you can always remove or change it later on, do whatever you have inspiration for

>>10856647
NO BULLIES ALLOWED
TIS A BULLY FREE ZONE
REMOVE THYSELF KNAVE

>>10856440
do whatever you want man, it doesn't actually matter that much. don't let random dudes online tell you how to write unless they actually know their stuff

>>10856735
Next you'll tell him its okay to start with Dialogue

>>10856747
he's most likely still a novice so it doesn't matter if he does or doesn't start with a prologue or dialogue, it's still going to be bad, most likely. the most important thing is getting words on paper, not worrying whether or not to do a prologue.
neither one of those is an automatic dealbreaker anyway if done for a good reason, don't spout arbitrary writing rules without knowing why they work or when it's okay to break them.

>>10855289

Anything with Dan Abnett's name on the cover.

>>10856833

>>10855480
>I really hope some western authors will start stealing from Wuxia/Xianxia instead

Please no. Reading that trash has ruined enough of my life.

>>10856912
But the good ones are really addicting.
I'm still in withdrawal since I caught up with Reverend Insanity the other day.
Also World of Cultivation ended and the ending wasn't that satisfying.

>>10856870
Are those wings coming out of her butt?

>>10856833

>>10856958
no clue, ask the guy who posted it earlier in the thread >>10854655

>>10854838
>Gemmell
Mah nigga. King of Heroic Fantasy and knew how to write dark and gritty without being nihilistic crap.

>>10856923
I've read a good amount of them, and to be honest the only one I actually liked was pic related. It was a wild ride with a satisfying ending. But even still it suffered from the same problem a lot of others do and just dragged on way past than it should have.

>>10856958
Well you basically have two joint areas to attach the wings, the shoulders or the hips, unless you're going for BAT PEOPLE.

Attaching the wings to the shoulders like your average angel would result in hummingbird-like flight characteristics, which is great for hovering around singing the praises of the lord and telling a bunch of Jewish shepherds to stop screaming in terror but has relatively poor forward flight characteristics, while a hip/lower back placement looks sillier but allows our angel to assume a Superman pose for low-drag forward flight and has the mechanical advantages of tying the wings into the stronger thigh bones and muscles.

>>10857004
Gremmell was fucking great I loved Quest For Lost Heroes in particular. I don't know why his name never became more well known. I feel like modern fantasy authors try way too hard to be grim dark and edgy.

>>10852240
Anyone read any good Fantasy with Celtic mythology in honor of Saint Patrick's Day?

>>10857058
Hi Brandon, when's your next book coming out? I really liked foxgirls #7

Anyone read Robert Jackson Bennetts Divine cities series? Looking for a new sci-fi/fantasy trilogy.

>>10857073
I'm currently re-reading The Jerusalem Man trilogy. It's like Gemmell read The Dark Tower and said to himself he could do better (and he did). And grimderp writers are retarded because they focus exclusively on the grimderpness; not realizing that sorta stuff is something for the protags to overcome.

>>10857004
>without being nihilistic crap.
Oh fuck off. I'm fed up of you faggots crying.
Why should fantasy continue being shit endings with happily ever after. The Grim Brothers didn't do that, why should modern fantasy?
I want fantasy with emotions, not some fake shit with "m'lady" and pleasant smiles.

>>10857303
I'm not him nor have I ever read the books, I'm just a engineering sperg.

Also our presumed angel would need to have about a 20 foot wingspan, assuming normal human weights.

>>10857343
It's great, easily some of the best fantasy I've read in years.

>>10857509
If you want fantasy with emotions why are annoyed about people calling nihilism crap? Nihilistic fantasy wouldn't be very emotional.

>>10857448
>I. The supreme sayer of everything will decide what everyone has to overcome.
>my tastes are better than the other 7billion + persons in this world
>what I want must be a reality
Commit Sudoku.

>>10857184
>dat buttom pic
Can anyone explain why thor's hammer has Celtic runes and markings on it?

>>10857509
>Why should fantasy continue being shit endings with happily ever after
Literally nobody said that though you fucking retard. And who gives a fuck what the Grim Brothers did?If you like edgy fantasy that's fine, but the point was modern fantasy writers can't write grim dark fantasy without it coming off as forced.

>>10857520
>I'm just a engineering sperg
Have you read Daniel Black as yet?

>>10857522
Emotions as in rage, someone does you wrong and you want to get even.
Not the shit cuck you like.

>>10857528
You seem to be getting awfully assblasted about other people's personal taste. There are dozens upon dozens of books that suit people with certain tastes. Want a dark edgy fantasy? It's there, Want a light hearted fantasy with a happily ever after ending? There's that too. Hell there's even dark fantasy with a happy ending. Stop acting like a child throwing a tantrum over what people like.

>>10857549
>someone does you wrong and you want to get even

You still wouldn't want nihilism then. Do you even know what nihilism is?

>>10857509
>>10857528
Never go full soy.

>>10857554
You should read, and put your words into practice before you give others advice (those who live in glass houses and all that).

Modern writers are writing for an audience. Stop acting like a child because you don't like what they're writing.

>>10857562
Didn't pol come back on?
What are you still doing here? You don't even read.

>>10857571
>>10857573
>Y-YOU GUYZ JUST DON'T R-READ11!!!!

>>10857555
>Do you even know what nihilism is?
I think we are on different pages. Some anons list Night Angel Trilogy as nihilistic and "grimderp". Can you list what you consider nihilistic?

Modern grimdark fantasy is the bottom of the barrel. Of course the current generation of idiots who fellate hacks like GRR Martin would like that garbage.

>>1085758
I see you want (you)s. I will then reply to you, without giving you the satisfaction.

>>10857601
Yeah we are.

>Rejection of all religious and moral principles

I guess you're talking about epistemological nihilism? The whole sex, drugs, and rock and roll deal? I'm fine with that.

>>10857609
>the last unicorn and gomerghast are great books guys
>of course the older generation of idiots fellate such shit

>>10857626
>Rejection of all religious and moral principles
So stranger in a strange land?

>>10855364
Metro 2033 is a legitimately good book that I would recommend to anybody.

>>10857646
Never read it.

>>10857021
I searched up Fang Shen Ji and I'm only finding a manhua.
The manhua are usually worse than the novel, if the novel was adapted into the manhua. But you are right that most novels have extremely bad pacing issues.

I'd recommend you check out Reverend Insanity https://zelskytranslations.com/novels/reverend-insanity/index/

>>10856389
Poseidon's Children Trilogy.

>>10857184
Library at mount char

Just finished A Fire Upon the Deep.

Not impressed. Maybe books like Lord of Light and Dune have spoiled me, but this just seemed so basic.

>>10855480
>I really hope some western authors will start stealing from Wuxia/Xianxia
I really hope you're hit by a bus. LitRPG is way better than that chink shit.

>>10852662
From Hell

>>10855245
In my opinion, the only worthwhile use of FTL in a book is if you intend to use relative time as a plot point.

>>10857858
Fuck you.

>>10853403
> you might be better off reading more medieval historical fiction than fantasy.
I have, but at this point I know the Wars of the Roses, Hundred Year war and the Anarchy off the back of my hand. There doesn't seem to be much set in a different time.
>>10852345
Something like Asoiaf or even the Witcher yeah.

>>10857999
Read the Hussite stuff by Sapkowski. You are fluent in Polish, right?

>>10857542
No. That's not my kind of scene.

>>10857654
You have it the other way round newfag.
Metro 2033 was a book before the game.
Same as roadside picnic was a novel before stalker.

>>10857858
Teen knots and puppy sluts

>>10854802
Yes

>>10855364
Didn't Peter Watts write some Far Cry novel or something?

>>10852812
>>10852971
>>10857877
Thanks.

>>10857184
Morgan Llywelyn sounds more like a Welsh name than Irish m8

>>10857631
those are actually great books

from the GRRM imitators only Bakker and Abercrombie are tolerable

>>10858558
She's American-Irish.

>>10858567
then why does she have a Welsh surname? I'm sorry man but you americans are all larpers you just lie about what ethnicities you find fashionable

>>10858562
Bakker isn't really anything like GRRM.

Another instant of jack vance's obvious influence on grrm

>>10857858
Yeah it's very bland.

>>10858578
Cuz Murcia

This series was not good

>Man against Nature
>Man against Man
>Man against Self
>Man against Society

I am looking for good fantasy story examples of these basic type of conflicts. Is there any of those which you think is underused?

>>10858578
>t. yuromohammed

>>10858834
>girl writers
No shit.

>>10858987
>Man against Nature
Can't think of any with this one.

>Man against Man
ASOIAF

>Man against Self
Prince of Nothing/Aspect Emperor

>Man against Society
The Witcher

I am the cancer killing your general, /sffg/. Try to stop me.

>>10858987
>>Man against Society
Robert E. Howard's Conan stories. Howard was a big fan of 'freedom' in the non-political sense and had a romantic infatuation with the freedom he believed barbarism represented through Conan.

>>10858987
>Man against Nature
Library at mount char
>Man against Man
Library at mount char
>Man against Self
Library at mount char
>Man against Society
Library at mount char

>>10855289
Space Marine, by Ian Watson. Be warned it has a fuckton of outdated and retconned lore, but it's still pretty damn good.

Dead Men Walking by Iforgot Hisname. Death Korps of Krieg vs Necrons, extremely grim but still satisfying.

Inquisition War trilogy.

>>10857858
The central concept was just fucking absurd, even if some parts of the novel itself were interesting.

>>10858999
>girl writers
Did you disappoint your parents when you slithered out of the abortion bucket?

Do more women than men read fantasy and YA or is it that betas on goodreads upvote their reviews to the top so they appear to be disproportionately overrepresented?

In either case, why do women like this stuff anyway? Aren't these two genres geared more generally toward young males? Do they find romantic wish fulfillment in there? If so, why don't they just stick to werewolves and vampires or whatever, just like they always did?

>>10859671
The only books women should be reading are cooking books.

>>10859641
Good one

>>10857184
Evangeline Waltons The Mabinogion is good
Mythago Wood is pretty mind bending

What did /lit/ think?

>>10859671
>In either case, why do women like this stuff anyway?

Because they are less intelligent than men

>>10859703
But men read fantasy too

>>10859715

the guy was talking about YA you dumb bitch learn to fuckin read

>>10859727
But men read ya too

>>10859671
>Aren't these two genres geared more generally toward young males?
No, women read more than men. (On average)
Women disproportionally like YA Fantasy. The market is catered to women.

> Do they find romantic wish fulfillment in there?
Yes, and also yes to the men reading those books.

>Aren't these two genres geared more generally toward young males?
Historically but not any longer.
Other media has replaced fantasy books for men while women eat that shit up.

>why don't they just stick to werewolves and vampires or whatever, just like they always did?
Just trends and authors mimicking the latest success stories.

>is it that betas on goodreads upvote their reviews to the top so they appear to be disproportionately overrepresented?

Maybe, but there are more women than men on goodreads either way.

The modern fantasy scene is very different from the one in the past. The YA market has more than doubled from 2002 to 2012. Women have become the primary audience of fiction novels.
Men are bigger consumers of non-fiction.

>>10857691
thanks!

>>10859790
Sources for any of these claims?

>>10859817
Probably overall perceptions of the industry.

It is undeniable that women and romance make up a very large part of the sales section from amazon, as well as two generations of men disenfranchised from intellectual pursuits.

Although YA was never all that big with men and boys anyway, certainly I went from lord of the rings to the greeks. With some eddings along the way.

Anyone read brandon Sanderson's books? I just finished the mistborn series after reading all the stormlight archive, these books are awesome.

What are some themes rarely explored in fantasy?

>>10859940
Genocide, racial superiority, etc

Everything has been done by now, although terry goodkind taught us that even a slight tweak can inspire an entire sub genre.

>>10859817
Women reading more is easy to look up yourself, this is so well known that you can just type it in google and get 100s or articles.

About women buying more, this has been true since at least the mid 90s. (below is from an article from 1997)

"Exact statistics about the sex of book buyers are hard to come by in publishing, which is notorious for the paucity of its market research. A Gallup survey for the American Booksellers Association in 1994 found that for fiction, women made up 59 percent of book buyers, and men 41 percent. For nonfiction, the breakdown was 53 percent women and 47 percent men.

Many industry people say the gender gap may be widening."

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/17/business/women-buy-fiction-in-bulk-and-publishers-take-notice.html

Women buy more so the market gets catered towards them, this has been true for a while now.

My statement about men being bigger consumers of fiction was vague but meant it relative to men reading fiction.

>>10859887
Yes, of course.

>>10859940
Good writing

Can A Princess of Mars be read on it's own? It's been on my to read list for a while, but I'm not really interested in reading a series right now.

>>10859954
What slight tweak are you meaning?

>>10859985
He took the standard heroes journey farm boy and made him a libertarian with father issues.

>>10859962
this is quite interesting anon. Still, i wish we could understand the psychology behind women's infatuation with fantasy and YA, because it still strikes me as odd; you only have so much time, and you would think that the average women would devote that time to something less violent and more in line with her natural inclination, such as romances.
I guess it has to do with the idea of empowerment. I think the politically correct and blatantly left wing themes of modern fantasy and YA resonate strongly with female collegians.

>>10859990
I've only read the sword of truth by Goodkind. Is this the book you refer to, or is it a theme across his works?

>>10860012
Everything you said is fucking stupid.

>>10860012
>to something less violent and more in line with her natural inclination, such as romances.
But those books tend to have both, both strengthening each other.
Also saying violence is not a natural inclination for women is a big leap of faith.

>>10859963
What do you think is his best book so far

>>10859984
Yeah.

>>10860022
It's the theme across his works.

There's one book where the kingdom bans fire because someone burned down their house which is played as a clear parallel to fire arm ownership.

Actually his works are enjoyable if you can take them at face value.

>>10859687
Was memed into it a few years ago.
Want to find that anon....

>>10859887

I don't read females authors and actively avoid them. Anybody else do the same?

>>10860106
I am not thrilled to read them, but if the book has themes I enjoy I might give it a try. Now, if it's a female author and MC, it's out of question.

>>10860112
>>10860106
You're both faggots.

>>10860114
At least I am not a nigger like you.

>>10860106
>>10860112
I enjoyed tamora pierce as a child and her female mcs.

Right now I avoid any literature that can't describe itself with anything better than "a vagina wrote it."

I compare it to michael B jordan in fantastic four as black J.storm vs his role in black panther.

Is there any decent 21st century "Southern Gothic" fiction besides Cormac McCarthy?

>>10860159
Galveston, although it's not exactly Gothic

>>10860085
So you don't like his books?

Recently finished the Coldfire Trilogy, liked it quite a bit.
Are any of this guys other works worth checking out?
Or anything in a similar vein?
Really liked the hero/anti-hero reluctant team-up stuff

>>10860106
The only female authors worth reading are all dead.

>>10860159
Some Dark Holler

What books do you think would be cool as movies or point and click RPGs like Planescape?

>>10860027
Stormlight. I think it is his most ambitious work yet. Overall I like his Cosmere books. I'm a bit too old for his YA stuff, of which I read the Reckoners, didn't like that much.

>>10860387
Revelation Space books, and I guess Malazan because it is based on a campaign.
And I recently read The City and the City and I am looking forward to the BBC TV series adaptation due out this year.

>>10859232
what's the conflict caroline has against herself?

>>10855364
The crysis 2 novelisation

>>10860303
It's generally the same when it comes to men desu. For either gender there are a couple of exceptions to the rule, Susanna Clarke and Ada Palmer are two women that come to mind when I'm thinking about authors in SFF that are both alive and worth reading.

>>10853617
fucking awesome album

>>10855364
I liked Dragon Age: Last Flight.

>>10860431
That's only because it had the finest scifi writer alive behind it

What does /sffg/ think of the Witcher?

Three Body Problem series worth a read?

>>10854851
No it isn't

>>10861030
yes

>>10860936
I hear it's a neat setting but unfortunately I'm too much of a casual to get past its really obtuse combat controls and generally clunky gameplay experience, which I understand is half of the reason the game is praised.

>>10860936
Ciri is one of the most annoying characters I've ever seen.

>>10854838
>Bramah

You're the first person I've seen in these threads to mention Bramah. Great taste.
You forgot Lafferty though.

>>10861092
So you would be a perfect candidate to read the book, what the anon was actually referring to

>the absolute lack of any sort of plot, characters, character development, or otherwise anything that could be described as "story" was bad, but the worldbuilding was excellent! 5/5 stars!

>absolute genre shit addict
>consume fantasy novels like no tomorrow
>occassionally read something considered to have quality to make sure I have a somewhat well rounded reference
As both a westerner and someone who reads a lot of modern fantasy Journey To The West was a lot of fun. Something about the way they just put you into the world as if you were an inhabitant who already knew the rules is so gripping. Sure there was some exposition but overall had a lack of hand holding
It's so exhausting to go through the song and dance of "This is a fantasy world and here are the rules"

Just finished A Scanner Darkly, and now I'm reading through a PKD short story collection. I finished Wub and Roog and now I'm reading Paycheck.
I didn't really like what they did to the 2nd half of the Scanner movie. I liked the visuals and appreciated Donna being the other scramble suit agent, but I felt like they rushed Fred's drug withdrawal and ruined the 3rd act as a result.
/blog

>>10856440
>3000-4000 word length
>subtle
At this point shouldn't this be considered more of a prequel? Especially if its a mostly disconnected plot

Are there any post apocalyptic fantasy books?

it;s tearing me apart bros. Need more epic/tragic fantasy

>>10859887
Vin will come back in Stormlight archive

>>10861453
Asoiaf

I want to talk about a certain topic but I want to wait until we reach the bump limit and have to make a new thread. So here's a wasted post to contribute to the count.

>>10861622
How is that post apoc

>>10861482
Nah, don't think so.

Anybody else a fan of the Vorkosigan saga? I started reading it this year and just finished Memory and i'm really enjoying it overall. Cetaganda was the only book I didn't enjoy, felt too meandering.

>>10861714
just wait. not now but like book 9 or 10 she will come to face the final boss

>>10861781
She's dead. Not even a god could bring her back.[/spoiler] Let her go. Now Kelsier on the other hand...

>>10852269
Hard To Be A God

>>10855289
Dead men walking really stands out in my opinion.

>>10861701
Pay attention

>>10861453
The "Post-Apoc fantasy" genre was more popular in the 80s back when people had to cope with the impending threat of nuclear annihilation at the hands of a literal dark empire.

Some notables I can think of:

Viriconium by M. John Harrison, a bit less well known than Jack Vance's dying earth stuff.

A lot of Dave Gemmell's stuff has a similar tone to it, the Drenai stories for example are generally separated by decades or centuries so you have a background of empires rising and falling.

C.S. Friedman's Coldfire trilogy. Space colonists get fucked up by magic and lose most of their technological knowledge.

Darwath by Barbara Hambly, a wizard abducts a medieval historian from Earth:
>Since the Dark Ones returned, the world has been laid to waste. The land’s wizards have been slaughtered, its cities destroyed, and its people scattered in terror, and few have witnessed more of the destruction than Rudy and Gil—two ordinary Californians who found their way across the Void, and took up arms in defense of a strange and magical world.

Make a new thread gaylords

New Thread
>>10862403
>>10862403
>>10862403

>>10862404
I didn't make it because you asked. Just so we are clear. I was doing it before you posted.

>>10862419
whatever you say. you're pretty much my bitch now, huh

>>10862445
You're not me

>>10862463
Stop trying to impersonate me, faggot

>>10860012
>women aren't into violence
u wot

>>10860936
It's pretty good depending on the translation. Starts fantastic, has a good but hit or miss middle, but just trails off at the end because Sapkowski got angry and drunk like he always does.

>>10861148
You haven't read very much have you.

>>10861092
Now this is how you bait.

I bought this at my local Barnes & Noble on a particularly bad day in an effort to get my mind off of things and boy, what a waste of fucking money.