/lit/ - Literature

Not having shit art is the main part of having a good cover.

Relevant to the discussion about covers is this post by Charles Stross about how book covers are actually selected and how authors generally have little control over them:
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/03/cmap-6-why-did-you-pick-such-a.html

>>11683254
First for litrpg

FUCK VIDEO GAMES

>>11683294
Fine, but post a good cover of one, eh?

This is a bad cover

>>11683254

>>11683321
huh meant this

Is the mote in God's eye good

>>11683331
I liked it.

Let's be honest. Rothfuss has written himself into a tiny, deep dark corner, and every day the legion of fanboys and fangirls expecting him to deliver on everything grows bigger and more frustrated that he hasn't delivered yet.

He has created a massive tangle of loose ends and theres no way he will ever please everyone with the way he ties them, and at this point he's got to be thinking he might as well just not try to please anyone.

The series is surely the LOST of modern YA fantasy, no matter what he does in book 3, it's going to fall flat and reek of disappointment.

>>11683370
Lmao wtf

>>11683348
Who even cares about this series after book two? It was so fucking bad already.

5 books and the only character I gave a shit about was less cuntish cersei lannister and proto Dalinar Kholin.


any other books or series where the setting seems to take priorty over the characters?

>>11683348
book 2 was already a giant turd so people who are still "fans" will probably accept anything

>>11683254

>>11683428
>so people who are still "fans" will probably accept anything

but enough about genre fiction readers in general.

Lady, Soulcatcher and all of the other witches are terrible.

>>11683413
hahaha

>>11683254

>>11683370
from a goodreads review
>Lucky for the suffering citizens of planet ZOG, the "avenging angels" are here to stand between them and all-powerful future-commies. The Warriors are like a Nazi brotherhood of truth-speaking swordwielding beefcakes, their society seems to be sort of like an Evolan "neo-traditionalist" brotherhood or a Germanic sworn warrior guard. This sort of misogynistic "warrior brothers" ethos is something that echoes through the fascist worldview as well as the underworld of the old-school gay imagination: finally, a world without women, where petty female minds can be swept aside so that men can get to the business of GLORY.

>>11683463
I got into Michael More Cock because of Cirith Ungol
https://youtu.be/BZDP-SLrcEM

>>11683444
I will take Soulcatcher over some brown fag.

God fucking damn it Sci-fi is such fucking dogshit. I like Blindsight, Hyperion, permutation city, and Rainbow's end (the world not the plot). I can't find anything good, just tried Golden Age recently, what a pile of dogshit.

>"Let me throw out as much worthless fucking jargon as possible"
Suck my fucking dick John C. Wright. You're a fucking HACK

>>11683577
Never go full soi

>>11683626
>Never go full soi
What does that even mean?

>>11683533
fuck. am i gonna have to read this now?

>>11683692
it's some stupid bullshit about beans making people into liberals and women because alex jones fanboys are idiots and don't understand how chemistry works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8dfiDeJeDU

>>11683782
Never go full soi

>>11683782
Oh that's what I thought, is sci-fi all onions? Are the books I liked onions? Should I just stop caring?

This was a surprising and surprisingly fun read.

Characters were kind of 'OC'-ish, but once you get past that, it was pleasent. And I actually remember quite a bit about each character, which doesn't happen often when I'm reading fiction. I usually just kind of eat through it because it's a fun read, then move onto the next one.

>>11683832
I liked American Gods except for the ending, very anti-climactic. Tried listening to Norse Mythology but I couldn't keep up with the names, it's easier when you read it.

>>11683842
Honestly haven't read anything else by that author, that was just one of my random picks from the library.

If I don't randomly pick like 5 books and go, I end up standing there for three hours trying to decide on ONE. So now I just go:

>Catches my eye
>Interesting title
>First page or two doesn't turn me off

And then I grab about 5 and skim through them once I'm home.

>>11682831
>HC, PB, or pirate
I’ve been in poverty for years and pirating or librarying books. I feel like shit about it because I know I’m literally starving writers and disincentivizing them to continue writing.

My new job is starting next month tho so I should have enough money to start buying ebooks and paperbacks, and the occasional hardback for the writers who I love.

>>11683434
>>11683254
The Nine Princes cover is easily my favorite. After that is The Book of Three

>>11683910
>starving writers
You mean boomers that can't start a fucking patreon

We're finished!
>How did you like the book?
>How would you rate this style of "first encounter" compared to other examples we've read? (Childhood's End for example)
>Do you think that the Sphere actually granted wishes? Why/why not?

>>11684102
Also, since we're going pure monthly and there's a couple of days left of August we'll take nominations in the next thread.

>>11684102
Fucking loved it
Pretty good first encounter story, I love that unknowable shit, it's why I liked Annihilation so much
The Sphere did grant wishes and after the end the world became a fully automated luxury gay space communist society

>>11683348
I was convinced to read The Name Of The Wind, as I was looking for something very easy to read this summer. It's God awful, Kvothe is one of the most insufferable characters ever written and it makes me wonder how can people eat this crap?

Ok, I might be too old for fantasy but come on.

Anon, what scifi would you rank as Peter Watts tier in terms of being hard and good?

>>11684210
It's all downhill from here famalam

>>11684210
Kim Stanley Robinson
Children of Time

I'm so far down the Malazan rabbithole that I have to finish it for the sake of finishing it despite it not being very good at this point.

>>11684218
>ksr
sigh... just give me a hit of that chrome then

>>11684219
>Children of Time
sounds cool, thank you

>>11684102
I was a bit dissapointed considering how this is one of those 'classic' titles. The timeskips really didn't work for me, It would have been better if you could really feel Red breaking down leading up to that last bit of the last chapter rather than a rather sudden break.
The Zone is cool though, I can totally see how the game/movie might be more popular.

>>11684102
>Do you think that the Sphere actually granted wishes? Why/why not?
Nah. A magic wish granting machine would have been a total break in the otherwise depressing themes.

I love how "russian" the feeling of the book is. The descriptions of living in a depressing commie block with your nagging wife, furry daughter and reanimated father was livid.

>>11684102
i loved it. its probably one of my favorite books. i dont know what it is, but the whole concept blew my mind when they eventually present their theory on what happened. and then you realize the title.
>do you think the sphere granted wishes
no fucking way. i think supposed to be a thinly veiled jab at the soviet union and how "everyone gets what they want" and "we're all equals living in a paradise".
i was reading the extra stuff at the back of the book of my edition and apparently getting this book published was a nightmare in the soviet union. as with any book i guess

How important are the illustrations in Sanderson's "The Way Of Kings"?
I'm thinking about going the audiobook-route but I'm worried that the world-building is leaning on the illustrations so heavily that I'll fail to properly immerse myself without them.

>>11684369
All you ever need is pure text. Illustrations are a distraction. Audiobooks are for children.

>>11683327
Someone needs to update that cover for the modern age by making the esteemed gentlemen slightly fatter, shorter and wearing fingerless gloves.

So what is he even doing all day?

>>11684468
Eating, masturbating, and doing Morgoth's taxes.

Who recommend me Red Rising here? I read the book and it was shit, I couldn't get halfway through

>>11684468

>>11684518
>filename
Very nice.

>>11684520
What kind of man goes both with his wife and with his whore?

>>11684524
Sibel seems too fond of Mr. Martin

Probably wants to usurp his wife's place

>>11684533
Probably. She was a porn actress interestingly.

>>11684535
>She was a porn actress interestingly.
No shit.

>>11683577
yeah the older stuff is always a bit weaker IMO, especially if (like me) you started out reading very contemporary stuff.

Try some Phillip K. Dick (Ubiq, Three Stigmata, VALIS) if you want some classics which habe really held up.

For more like Blindsight and Permutation City, try BS's sequel Echopraxia or maybe Diaspora also by Greg Egan. Or just stop pissing around and read the Three Body Problem trilogy (picks up after book one).

More like Hyperion is tough to find (Man Hyperion is fucking awesome), but if you want more /authorwank/ sci-fi then The Thing Itself by Adam Roberts or Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer are good recommendations.

>>11684535
she was a porn actress in the show lmao

>>11683254
What is it about Baen Book covers that make them so uniquely bad?

>mfw I read that reverend insanity has 1800 raw chapters

Hows the webnovel reading going, anons?

>>11683254
Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with beautiful, evocative covers that tell a lot of the book? Why do you need to take something like the left image here, and then completely fuck it up with a boring ugly picture of some item on a dark background? Why does this sort of a thing keep happening all the fucking time? Who gains from doing it?

It's a travesty.

>>11684535
Now we know what keeps him goin

>>11684602
If only it kept him writin too

>>11684468
fine then ill post it

>>11684590
yeah, this insipid minimalist look most modern fiction has. there's a place for it but a bit overdone.

>>11683867
sandman is still his best work
>>11683842
dropped it because I couldn't stand Gaiman's narration style.

Give me some books that would've been better had the writers been born on an asian island.

>>11684762
>some
Pretty much all of them, really. Can you imagine Sanderson's works as an actual anime?

>>11684768
Sanderson stands out because he's the most anime writer in fantasy. Making his shit actual anime would be more boring than the middle of a Stormlight book.

>>11683254
>>11684590
kinda sad to do this because Pratchett books had the best of covers. fucking Josh Kirby man.
1-26 are Kirby, then he died and they had to change the cover artist. huge dip in quality.

AAARGH FUCKING CAPTCHA! FUCK THIS RIP OFF! NO I WILL NOT BUY YOUR FUCKING 4CHAN PASS!
Captcha itself told me 6x in a row now that it was solved but 4chan didn't accept it

>>11684794
better quality for the Kirby stuff

>>11684590
how is that even close to what is happening in nights watch ? What bullshit.

don't know what the board culture is like here, but i'm in a bit of a pickle
looking for the three body problem and i can't find any pirate download. are any of you lads willing to help me out or is asking for pirated shit a faux pas on this board?

>>11684762
The jap bias. For a regular score you'd give any other writer, add 1.5 points to it and that's what they'd get if they were born in the rising sun.

>>11684840
ufile dot io/4mfgt

>>11684851
thanks lad

Any book with low Goodread reviews that consists solely of complaining about sexism and all that other nonsense instead of talking about what they dislike about the narrative, characters and world is a pick up for me.

>>11683810
I think onions are some kind of vegetable. It's not at all related to science fiction, unless you are talking about some synthesized onion or something.

>>11684917
Do Amazon reviews count?

>>11683348
I read it a very long time ago and forgot all about it. What are the lose ends? I know about the evil beings that slaughter everyone but are completely forgotten in the books and seems no one cares about them anymore, but what else?

>>11684249
It's okayish. I got mad at the end. Enjoy the ride, though.

>>11684917
Any good sexist books where women are treated as objects and there's none of that "gurl power" bullshit that's prevent these days in all forms of media?

>>11684945
Gor.

>>11684917
Vox Day is your guy then. Go read his book's pages on good reads. The books themselves are completely politically exempt.

>>11684945
the first lost fleet book

>>11683434
>"Author of Trumps of Doom"

How the fuck did he know what was going to hit the White House?!?

Any good fantasy pirate stories?

>>11684923
what book, don't blue ball us

>>11685011
You some kind of a furfag, anon?

>>11684997
on stranger tides

there's also this which won SPFBO last year but not around to it yet.

>>11683434
Soulcatcher a waifu, but also
Dara a waifu.

>>11685019
ahhhh fuck....no

tfw no lady waifu to force you to write a detailed biography of her who racks your brain with prostate orgasms every night

What's with the rise of Black Company discussion in these threads? Is it because of the new book that's coming out?

>>11685076
Maybe, only reason why I post about it is because other waifufag started his autism two or so months ago. Didn't know that new book is about to get released. I doubt it will be interesting, unless they add my waifu back in a satisfying way.

>>11685076
people need their fix of crazy waifus
there seriously need to be more of them

Aside from Black Company are there any other books where the protagonist and some evil bitch fall in love? Bonus points if they actually get a relatively happy ending.

>>11685113
I'm sort of looking to go down that route, but it's a long game and only one book is out now.

Also they're bunnies.

>>11685113
i've spent hours looking for something like that and didn't find anything

>>11685126
Same. Guess it's time to start writing.

>>11684917
You are setting yourself up to be manipulated by opportunists.

>>11685113
Yes, looking for that too. I think drow woman would work for this well, though any bat shit crazy girl would fit.

Btw, do we know anything about the plot of the new BC book? Besides that it's set between first and second books.

Book club anon, where aaaaare youuuuuuu?

>>11685019
maybe

Is Pelevin /sffg/?

>>11683782
this video is pure s o y though

what do you think Jasnah's pussy taste like?

>>11685225
Why wonder? She wouldn't let you have a taste anyway.

>>11684917
GOR
O
R

>>11685184
Here >>11684102

>>11683931
>Patreon
>Making money
Topkek

>>11685230
>Pure
>No need for relationships
>Only cares about acquiring knowledge and stopping the apocalypse from coming

I love Sanderson now...

>>11685235
how did I miss it? lol

>>11685246
>>Pure


not for long, i'm sure she'll be dropping those dusty, musty panties for kaladin soon.

good contempory Russian stuff other than Metro 2033?

>>11684102
I liked it, but there was not enough of...something.
I guess. I know that this is another one of those books that have a pessimistic view of humanity's ability to ever understand the universe, but it feels like I've read plenty of those stories already and mysteries that are set up but never solved because "that's the point dude" give me blue balls.
I really liked the whole stalker culture and legal/black market interactions around the Zone. My favorite was probably the religious fanatic guy who went back to the Zone to leave the demonic shit back where it belonged.
Most of the creatures/artifacts were pretty boring, though; the dangerous ones just kill you while the beneficial ones work in very straightforward ways (with a few exceptions, of course).
I know that the book has some sequels written by different Russian authors (pic related is an example). I haven't read them but I imagine most of them are probably trashy fanfics; still, I really grok the desire to want to know more about this world.

I liked Childhood's End more but that's mostly because I like utopias; also it had twists and mysteries that were actually satisfactorily resolved.
Also I wish to once again thank whoever was shilling Gateway by Pohl in these threads about a year ago - I consider that a better entry in the "humans scavenge through alien trash" genre.

The Sphere granting wishes is plausible, given that the "curse of the Zone" that made people who interacted with Zone emigrants accident prone is a thing - that already crosses the line hard into "indistinguishable from magic" territory.
What's important is that the characters believed it did. Which is kind of my problem with the ending - if it's possible to make Arthur's wish about "happiness for everyone" come true, then why not do it? What's there to lose? Seems like a no-brainer to me and I don't understand why Red was so conflicted about it. Was he so jaded that he wanted some people to suffer for the sake of it? Makes sense given his life experience, but I can't relate.

>>11684319
>I love how "russian" the feeling of the book is.
As someone who actually lives in the former USSR, I kind of don't. Not so much the commieblock stuff as the fact that Red is portrayed as this morally grey character whose crimes are redeemed by "muh family".
I felt like I was supposed to cheer when he threatened his "asshole" neighbor because he did it for the sake of his sweet baby girl. It's that kind of parochial culture (ironically the opposite of the "work for the common good" idea in socialist propaganda) that made the USSR such an unbearable place - everyone stole, embezzled, conspired, but they were doing it for their families, you see, so it's not selfish after all.
Not that main characters all have to be likeable, of course, but I felt like this one was supposed to be. I didn't really like him, though.

>>11685260
I really hope Sanderson goes that route. That will slightly redeem him. Also he could kill that annoying love triangle shit with Shallan too at the same time. For once in your life don't be a hack Sanderson, just do it.

>>11685260
was there anything to suggest that might happen?

>>11685449
Just wishful thinking from shippers. I think the only thing it has to anchor it is her argument with him in oathbringer was one the few times she's smiled in the entire series.

>>11685113
Not that I'd really rec the series because it went so spectacularly off the rails but Inevera in the demon cycle was a decent tier crazy bitch.

>>11684319
>>11684348
>>11685382
But of course the sphere doesn't give you what you ask of it, it gives you your deepest desires. Red couldn't "decide" whether to enact Arthur's wish, it was more subconscious than that. Why did Red take him anyway, as some kind of revenge against Buzzard?

same guy

Why are there no urban fantasy stories that take place in an urban environment that isn't on our world? Or would that be deviating into another genre entirely?

>>11685850
Probably because when you think of fantasy, you also think of past, times long gone. When you think of urban, you think of present day and our own world. With "urban fantasy", the former word takes precedence.

>>11685850
Does stuff like City of Saints and Madmen count as urban fantasy?

>>11685850
It gets lumped in new weird for every other too fringe for the masses fantasy/scifi book.

>>11683444
>Talking shit about my cute psychotic waifu
I’ll fight you for that.

>>11684369
Not that important. They’re nice to have and flesh the writing out a bit more, but you can get by without them.

>>11685850
there isnt? i find that hard to believe

>>11685850
because urban fantasy is about the fantastical encroaching on the mundane everyday world. Fantasy worlds are already fantastical.

>>11685893
Soulcatcher's armor shouldn't be so obviously feminine considering nobody realizes she's a woman until she takes her helmet off.

>>11685893
Lets say - in a completely hypothetical situation - a woman gives you this look, is she wanting cock or genuinely bemused by your autism? Hypothetically.

>>11685928
though I've wondered why nobody writes hypothetical pre-modern settings completely straight without any kind of magic or without it being alt-history. Worlds with diverging development paths due to geography/climate or whatever.

>>11685421
>Also he could kill that annoying love triangle shit with Shallan too at the same time
To be fair, he killed that at the end of the last book. That being said I put my money on Kaladin somehow ending up with Cortan- I mean Syl.

>>11685950
Looks like latter.

>>11685935
They suspected, though voices added to the confusion. You never know what might lurk behind the mask when talking about demi god tier mages. Also, I think company didn't really give a shit about what gender Soulcatcher was though.

>>11685956
Yea, you're probably right. Sure glad this was only a hypothetical situation haha.

>>11685950

>>11684997
The second trilogy in Robin Hobbs set is about pirate type things. You'll have to read a ton, but it's worth

Anybody else read Promise of Blood, I just finished it up. It was decent, the writing was probably the weakest part, but the setting and plot itself make up for it- even if powder mages make no sense. I’d put it just under the Thousand Names, but better than some of the following books from that series.

>>11685950
The latter of the two anon.

>>11685981
Liveship Traders? Should I read Farseer Trilogy first?

>>11685950
>>11685972
I used to not like this art, it's not official anyway. But maybe it's fitting.

>>11685959
Nah he’s right, Croaker says earlier in the first book that she has just a hint of what could be breasts and possible hips. Meaning her armor should be more ambiguous. You are right in that he did say the company didn’t really care and wasn’t interested in finding out.

Yea, agreed the writing is a bit lackluster but it was overall reasonably well put together. The 2nd trilogy has actually been a bit of a step-up.

>>11685850
Three Parts Dead is taking place in a world that is implied to have once been this world but might as well be another one
it kinda sucks, wouldn't recommend it that much desu

>>11685811
>it gives you your deepest desires
What does that even mean? You can't get what you want because you don't "really" want it?

>as some kind of revenge against Buzzard?
Kind of, although I think it's mostly that since he had to sacrifice some sucker, he thought it might as well be Burbridge's son. Probably wouldn't do it if he could get to the sphere without anyone dying.

>>11685760
Everything about Demon cycle is terrible. Especially the waifus.

>>11685835
>men can't make goofy faces in photos anymore because of the s*y meme

>>11685835
There is absolutely nothing wrong with Tom Hank's face. I'm not gay.

>>11685835
Uncle John's Bathroom Reader is top tier stuff lad

>>11686051
it sucks guys cant throw on a dress anymore to stick it to drumpf

>>11686082
yes, thats why im pissed

Is a book that's focused on the story of the characters and mostly confines the science (even if it's hard and verified) to the background and not as the prime mover still science-fiction?

Asking because that seems to be the state of my novel. I consider it hard sci-fi, but I've had people disagreeing with me.

>>11686098
Yes

>>11685992
I mean it could be worse, a lot worse. On that note, what series has the best fan art?

>>11686108
Sanderson's stuff, ironically enough.

>>11686108
Wheel of time or game of thrones. The thing with the most fans probably.

>>11686108
lucky guy

>>11686118
This. Though there's plenty of horrible art for Sanderson's stuff too, but the good ones stand out in particular.

>>11686122
Having a big movie or TV series feels a bit like cheating because the fan base is just so much bigger. Harry Potter probably has some of the best just because of the sheer volume.

>>11686159
That’s surprisingly good. Also does Sanderson do his own art for the illustrations in the books or does have somebody do that for him?

>>11686228
Someone else does it.

Can we get a list of things there aren't enough books/stories about? Most obviously,

>necromancers

>>11686255
Evil waifus.

>>11686277
An evil waifu, pledged as the servant and bride to a demonic entity before she was even born, vile and arrogant and wishing for the world to be washed away in Chaos, yet gradually finding herself more and more infatuated with the protagonist - up until she's ready to, if not forsake evil altogether, then at least tell her demonic master to go fuck itself.

>>11686284
Listen I just want a series where some evil cunt falls in love with the protagonist AND they get a happy ending. Such a simple concept yet so rare. usually villain/hero romances are either one sided or end in tragedy. I'd write it myself but I'm a garbage writer.

>>11686290
>but I'm a garbage writer
Strength before weakness.

>>11686290
Yeah man, I know the feeling. I'm writing something like that myself, happy ending and everything, but it may yet be a while.

So far only book one is out, and they're still pretty cold at one another. Can't rush these things.

>>11686299
>Pictured - Saint Brandon the Holy Virgin addressing his flock, c. 2006 BW (before webnovels)

>>11686299
he's such a shitty writer but his lectures are so COMFY

>>11686098
Science fiction predicts the traffic jam, not the car. People and their lives in reaction to changes in science are what scifi is really about, even though there's autists out there like me who love hard scifi and it's ridiculous details.

What I would say is this; don't become "a crime thriller with a scifi twist", or a "romance novel with a scifi setting". If any another genre is obviously taking centre stage, then you've become lost (if you're writing a scifi novel, which you don't have to!).

>>11686299
His lectures are surprisingly helpful. I know he gets a lot of shit on here, but he seems like a cool dude. I have nothing against him personally, but I just don't like his books. Especially the way he handles humor.

>>11683254
I really like this one. Penguin's sci fi classics had amazing covers.

Also like this one.

>>11686418
I don't have a problem with Sanderson either. The guy even admits his books are the equivalent of a popcorn flick. Don't know why /sffg/ hates him so much compared to other mediocre/shitty writers.

>>11683254
>catfag didn't mess up the OP
Happy to be a generalfag with you, catfag.

>>11686491
it doesn't really, oathbringer dominated discussion way more than any other release in the last while when it came out. I think most have a handle on what he is.

>>11686491
we dont hate him we just hate the books

>>11684218
>just a little more crack

Sanderson and Cuckfuss are small-time. Let's talk about some REALLY bad fantasy books.

Is there anything worse out there than Eye of Argon?

>>11686509
The books could certainly be better- I’m looking at you interludes, shallan’s humor, and Kaladin’s constant self pity. But I wouldn’t say they’re bad books. It’s nothing ground breaking, but the writing, setting, and story are all solid.

>>11686542
Haven’t read it, but that cover art is god awful to start with.

>>11686556
Grignr slipped his right hand to his thigh, concealing a small opague object beneath the folds of the g-string wrapped about his waist. Brine wells swelled in Grignr's cold , jade squinting eyes, which grown accustomed to the gloom of the stygian pools of ebony engulfing him, were bedazzled and blinded by flickerering radiance cast forth by the second soldiers's resin torch.

>>11686563
The thought of two dudes banging is the least offensive thing about that whole passage.

>>11685113
This is actually why I got into The Black Company. The big evil bad girl falls in love with a literal who.
>>11685159
>Drow
Patrician taste. I'd read the shit out of it.

>>11686563
Had the writer been a "scholar", born a few centuries ago, and didn't write fantasy he'd be considered a master of his craft.

>>11686613
>The big evil bad girl falls in love with a literal who.
Too bad he got together with the wrong evil girl.
>Patrician taste
thanks

>>11686290
Write it anyway.

>>11686563
>bedazzled
Might actually be the worst word in the entire English language.

>>11686710
Sounds good fro my non anglo ears.

>>11686351
My story is about the rise and fall of a colonist turned autocrat on Mars through the eyes of several people close to him.

I think in that sense he is a symptom and driver of the 'traffic jam', as his power is a result of his ability to tap into the collective unconscious of prospective colonists on a socioeconomically ossified Earth and import them en masse and change Mars from a technocratic place populated by scientists and engineers to a rugged and meritocratic frontier.

>>11684233
thought it was just me. i'm on midnight tides and i'm tired of the jumping around. gonna finish it idc fucking erikson.

>>11685113

Sword of rhiannon

>>11686255
>necromancers
Seconding this. I understand it's not easy to do one that is both powerful and relatable, since raising the dead means there are dead people about and he either killed them or he meets death a lot, plus, raising the dead is just bad, even more if you are raising your dead allies. But it can be done.

Are there any books about space trucking?

>>11686633
This. It's not like you will make something so bad it will stain the trope for everyone else afterwards.

>>11686491
>Don't know why /sffg/ hates him so much compared to other mediocre/shitty writers.
He made me read about Shalan/Veil.

>>11686710
Moist squelch

>Lift is Sanderson's favorite character in Stormlight
>Manages to be more hated than Shallan
ouch

>>11686887
His attempts to write 'quirky" and/or "strong" females always backfires horribly. Both Lift and Shallan are prime examples of this.

>>11685123
>only one book is out now
motherfucker

You better finish that shit now that I've started reading it.
>start reading book
>it's a first in a series that will never get finished
>just kill me now

>>11685068
?

>>11686923
Ah, don't worry. I've got about four others on the way: I'm pretty fast.

Next one should be out sometime around winter.

>>11686491
Well, he get way more exposure compared to other mediocre/shitty writers so it's not that strange that he also get more shit.

>>11685113
>that artwork
oh god my eyes

>>11686768
Sounds fucking based

>>11686255
You should read the Overlord novels. It’s an isekai type jap webcomic expanded by the author into actual novels. MC starts out still clinging to his human past, but overtime begins to fill the role of an undead lich trying to conquer the new world.

>>11686867
Foundation Trilogy has a bit of this.

>>11687031
>You should read [...] an isekai type jap [...] novels
Anon, I...

>>11687031
Overlord fuckin' sucks ass.

>>11687252
That's what happens when you kill off over the top psycho sadistic wankbait too early via bearhug.

Thanks to the anon who recommended Nightlord. I can't put it down. There isn't any of the autistic sanderson magic systems here.

>>11685984
Now admittedly I haven't read the most recent novel in the sequel series but McClellan's problem seems to be he's got great ideas but whiffs on the execution. The first Powder Mage book was great, but the sequels felt like he hadn't really planned things out and was scrambling to one-up himself.

(It is somewhat unsurprising that somebody named McClellan has issues with fully committing to something!)

>>11687298
Nightlord a shit, m8. Stop now and thank me later. Seriously. I too thought it was great at the beginning, but it gets progressively worse as the book goes on. Eventually I started skimming, then skipping pages altogether, and then I jumped to the end of the book and was thankful for not wasting any more time in it.

>>11687279
Nah it's just shit.

>>11685984
The author was one of Sanderson's students. So make of that what you will.

Seriously, I read it up until the bitch turned out to be some thousand year old ancient evil or something and just lost interest. It bored me despite the setting.

>>11687279
No, it's just a boring power fantasy. There's no stakes because the protagonist and his crew are so far above the rest of the world it's not even funny. It stopped being entertaining after the first volume. I never understood the hype for it as it's just Japanese Isekai Light Novel #23552.

>>11687333
>>11687351
but clementine was in it

Who's your favourite fantasy antagonist? I'm looking for book with good villains.

>>11687407
Approaching full century and you still can't beat Smaug. Self-satisfied catlike little shit, cunning and amusing and sticking to mind forever.

>>11687319
you a shit
low attention span? can't read long books? was it too complicated for you?

>>11687514
Nah, the author has low attention span. He keeps going off the track and introducing new stuff without exploring and finishing the older things he already introduced. He kills good characters offhand before exploring them, important characters, and introducing worse ones. It's just a mess.

I was seriously pissed off when he killed that first vampire girl off screen, but kept on reading. Then he introduces another girl that's made just for suffering, and kills her as well at the end of the book like it's a big fucking deal. The guy didn't even care about her, he completely forgot about her when he went adventuring as a knight, and suddenly it's a big deal.

Seriously, the book starts as a vampire urban fantasy, then progress to middle ages court wizard fantasy, then some knighting adventure, and it completely misses the main plot. I just didn't care about it anymore.

>>11687600
I enjoyed it enough to shill it. It was like a breath of fresh air.
You also suppose to have seen first girl coming I originally thought it was the friend that lured him from the house so they could attack.

>>11687615
>I enjoyed it enough to shill it.
You and a lot other people. It's fact it's shit, though, just not the particular flavor of shit I happen to like.

Like, how am I supposed to care about a guy that gets his best friend half beaten to death, and the love of his past and current life killed (she lived hundreds of years just fine before finding him, but he had to get curious and send samples to labs and get himself hunted) and just brushes it off so he can go horse riding or some shit? Dude, you'll live forever (as long as you stop being stupid), do you _need_ to do everything all at once? Go get your revenge, then deal with the bandits and stuff. But noo-- you have to do everything at once, only half assedly and never finish anything.

As I said, just not the particular brand of shit I like. I prefer mine with waifus that happen to keep living, you know, if I'm gonna read shit anyway, might as well pick one I enjoy.

>>11687659
So basically, you like anime?

>>11687672
You mean isekai vampire-sorcerer-knight is not anime enough for you?

Somebody should have told meto stop at Red Mars, or at least Green Mars. Blue Mars kind of tied up some loose ends, but damn was it anticlimactic. Dammit Robinson.
>>11687407
Ineluki from Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn is pretty compelling. Not enough about him and his lackeys actually, which I guess is a good thing since familiarity breeds contempt.

>>11685225
salty bags of milky sand

>>11687819
>Not enough about him and his lackeys actually
The sequel series Tad Williams is writing to it focuses heavily on the Norns. If you enjoyed Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn I highly recommend it.

>>11687971
Well thanks Anon, I didn't know about that, I'll take a look at it. Anybody know any sci-fi or fantasy in more unique settings, though? Something at least as different as Dune or, say, Morrowind. I've gotten so into sci-fi lately because fantasy is all the same rehashed old Tolkeinistic shit.

>>11685984
I thought Promise of Blood was okay, but I feel like the author tipped his hand too early in the first book because I have no motivation to read the rest of the series. The characters didn't really grab me so all that kept me reading was the central mysteries to the setting, and once those were revealed I didn't really have any reason to read the other books except to pursue mediocre political intrigue.

Lady gf...

What do you guys think of the red rising books?

>>11688075
Shitty YA garbage

>>11687407
[spoilers]I liked mistborn’s Lord Ruler. Even though we don’t actually see him all that much, the sheer presence he has, and the revelations we learn about him made him pretty great to me[\spoiler]

>>11688131
Highlight the text and hit ctrl + s.

>>11688150
I’m a phoneposter :^)

There's a lack of fantasy books in post-industrial settings. Time to hit the niche before it becomes hot.

>>11688176
nobody tell him about urban fantasy

>>11688159
Then highlight the text and die in a fire.

>>11688196
post-industrial settings that aren't our world.

>>11688176
So there's industrial, there's digital, there's post-apocalyptic...what would you consider post-industrial? Something set in Ohio?

>>11688200
Okay let me take every Dresdon files book and do a find and replace on location names to made up fantasy ones.

name a more moving and tragic fantasy story than the Elric Sagas, i dare you. please, there's an empty spot in my heart after I finished them

>>11688217
Considering how many fantasy settings are just Europe with switched names, you probably could.

>>11683782
t. SEETHING soi boi

>>11688229
To date I've only read one fantasy series that was just a name swapped Europe, and I've read dozens of fantasy series. A lot of them are based on Europe, but only loosely. The looser the better, since many fantasy authors only end up exposing their ignorance when they try to closely mirror history.

>>11688241
>A lot of them are based on Europe, but only loosely.

Correction: A lot of them are based on Arthurian legend or Tolkien, fantasy authors almost never bother venturing outside of a island that was a cultural backwater populated by pirates and sheep farmers.

>>11684551
>Echopraxia
is this worth reading? i usually really dislike sidequels for some autistic reason. i assume it doesn't deal with any events post blindsight's ending or the vampire uprising itself.
or does it? if it does, i think i'd be more likely to read it.

>>11688222
I can't give you a recc for tragic fantasy but I did read Moorcock's Hawkmoon and Corum series after Elric. They aren't as good ofc but I still enjoyed them and they are incarnations of The Eternal Champion like Elric.

>>11688216
Not him but Star Trek is post-industrial. There's no scarcity due to technology.

>>11688548
But that's almost the norm in sci-fi, usually called post-scarcity.

>>11688539
Ah, I may check them out. Elric was such a wonderful story about destiny. The ending was the most perfect bittersweet thing I've ever read.

>>11687996
There's Vurt which is set in post-magical-apoc Manchester. It reads like cyberpunk but it's fantasy with a unique magical system. You could call it urban fantasy but there's no fae, vampires, werewoofs, etc.

>>11686255
>Takeshi Kovacs
I keep re-reading the trilogy, but I need more ex-Envoy shenanigans, anons

How many humanoid races should my fantasy series have?

It'll have two for sure, there's already enough history here for those to be locked in. I'm entertaining the idea of a third, because of how I could play around with it in relation to the religions humans follow. I have some faint ideas for two more beyond that, which would bring it up to four non-human races. I have four in mind specifically because that number appears a lot in this world (or at least how Man perceives it), and I want to explore the significance of that.

>>11684852
>flopoona

>>11688075
Pretty good YA garbage. I don't know why science fantasy is so rare when it's way more entertaining than hard sci-fi, It's like everyone's afraid of being called a star wars copycat but making six trillion harry potter clones is a-ok.

>>11684716
kekky

>“The Ancient Ming Race turned to ashes after the Immortal Slaying War because the Azure Dragon Legion and the wise sages of the nine worlds surrounded and slaughtered the Dragon Ming Dynasty. During that period, the Ancient Ming had many supports so Azure Dragon took the vanguard to stop their waves of reinforcement with blood. This particular battle lasted for forty-nine days. The earth was covered by a bloody paste and in the end, Azure Dragon with sheer determination protected the last defensive line to stop any reinforcement. Finally, Immortal Emperor Long Ming was crucified on a peak. The screams of an emperor echoed across the nine worlds. That might be the most terrifying thing in all the ages. The emperor of that arrogant race was actually killed during their own era…”
those chinese authors sure know how to write fantasy

>>11688741
Altered Carbon was a great trashy violent sex romp, I loved it. Broken Angels was alright and I was looking forward to finding out more about the martians. Woken Furies was so unbelievably bad that it retroactively ruined my enjoyment of the series. I couldn't even finish it it was so awful. Morgan's such a fucking retard for turning the Quillcrest shit into an actual character. Would have been much better as just a mysterious background influence in Kovacs philosophy and thinking. And the whole revolutionary shit he was pushing in Woken Furies was just antifa-tier cringe. I'm honestly embarrassed to have read it as far as I did.

Has there been any interesting stuff recently dealing with AI/robotic life?

I've read the Spiral Wars series which has a berserker AI as a character (which isn't evil, amazingly) but it's really more of a adventure series with a fair amount of alien politics rather than something dealing with robotics/AI as a central part.

I got 3 audible credits. What should I spend them on? Long series please, there are bundles and trilogies that go for one credit a piece. Any recs?

>>11688440
Tad Williams' work often has real world inspirations that are rather obvious. Osten Ard in Memory Sorrow and Thorn is very transparently a fantasy Europe on a different map. In Shadowmarch he took more of the Robert Jordan approach and did a more original world, but the cultural inspirations are still very apparent, just a bit more blended in a way that reminds me of Robert Jordan's approach in Wheel of Time, but not as extreme.

And Raymond E. Feist, while shamelessly ripping off Tolkien for fantasy elements, seems to have grounded his world more directly on real-world cultures than Tolkien inspired ones.

Then you have Glen Cook who whenever he isn't writing gritty could-be-europe is writing gritty alternate history fantasy set in Europe. Like, straight up Europe, just with different names for anything. Instrumentality of the Night has no map in the book but if you have even a passing knowledge of the Crusades you can quickly figure out that it's earth with different names and trace the entire path of the characters throughout the story on a real world map of Europe.

And then there's Trudi Canavan, Django Wexler, Brandon Sanderson Joe Abercrombie, Tim Lebbon, Brian McClellan, Steve Erickson, and GRRM of course. A lot of these authors have no real connection to Tolkien in their work, but they still focus heavily on European culture and history.

Besides Game of Thrones and Artemis Fowl, what are some series that have several god tier books but go downhill midway through?

>>11689208
Mercedes Lackey is another notable one. But my complaint was more that they all tend to focus on western European history and cliches, and even then mainly on the British, instead of ancient Greece/Rome, Iberia, Germany/France, or Slavic stuff and so on.

>Glen Cook

That reminds me, I'm actually surprised the Cathars haven't show up in more fantasy stuff.

>>11689256
The first few Honor Harrington books are pretty good but the series is generally agreed to be bad by the time the war with Haven ends, and gets worse afterwards since apparently David Weber keeps writing them only to pay for his kid's tuition fees.

>>11689256
gene wolfe's solar cycle

>>11689307
>mfw

>>11688075
all round good fun and way better than I expected, especially considering the author's age.

>>11689178
I dunno what's in a bundle and what isn't but Dark Tower has top-tier narration.

>>11684233
>>11686791
ima repeat what i posted 5 days ago:

I'd like to put out a warning;
sometimes (not this thread though) Malazan, Book of the Fallen will be shilled by some dudes, but the truth is, it just straight up sucks after the very first book ( Gardens of the Moon ) and degenerates into ever more splintering plotthreads with less and less and less relevance to anything, culminating in the prequel books Forge of Darkness and Fall of Light - wherein the first book has basically nothing happening and the second just expands on secondary and tertiary characters from the first; meanwhile failing to retrospectively craft any kind of interesting narrative concerning the civil war and its causes;

its even worse than the original books, because in the original books scope is usually ground-level footsoldiers for most practical purposes, divorced from the absurdity of imperial administration and politics, while the prequels delve DEEPLY into the people making actual decisions - and all of them are irrationally stupid and retarded

do not waste your time reading those 10+ books.

>>11689827
What would you recommend us instead?

>>11687407
Thamiel from Unsong is really, really evil.
It's a book that parodies the Bible and Talmud and portrays them in sort of silly ways - but the Devil is portrayed 100% seriously.

I'm trying to come up with a "Space Force Reading List" that all future Space Force cadets will be assigned.

Here's what I got so far:

>REQUIRED READING
"The Right Stuff" by Tom Wolfe
"Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card
"Starship Trooper" by Robert A. Heinlein
"Pale Blue Dot" by Carl Sagan

>Recommended Reading
"This New Ocean" by William E. Burrows
"Rendezvous with Rama" by Arthur C. Clarke
"A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking
"The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress" by Robert A. Heinlein
"The Call of the Cosmos" by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
"The Martian" by Andy Weir
"Revelation Space" by Alastair Reynolds
"The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman

What would you add?

>>11689026
It's a shame their update schedules are so shit though.

>>11688766
All of them.

>>11689950
>The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
You want the space force to revolt against earth and become anarchists?

I'm really new to reading and feel like reading a fantasy about vampires, does anyone have good recommendations?

>>11690161
No.

>>11690161
>new to reading
???
are you underaged? how can you be "new to reading"

>>11690161
salem's lot

>>11690116
The story of men on the moon fighting for Liberty and Freedom seems very apt reading for an American Space Force.

>>11690224
English isn't even my first language, being a third worldler really held my back from reading anything

>>11690251
where are you from?

>>11690258
Jordan

Been reading World War Z and it has convinced me that I too perhaps can be a bestseller writer since I can shit out a book like that every two months if I apply myself, worst writing I've read since Rothfuss

>Read a novel written by a women with a male main character
>Their internal logic is absolutely baffling and completely foreign to me
Huh, so is this what women who read novels written by men with a female MC feel?

>>11690291
Good writers can generally write convincing characters of all genders. Bad writers can also manage because they often write more generic and one sided characters.

>>11690251
us 3rd worlders arent encouraged to read in early age, most people only discover reading as enjoyable around 20s
different case if the parent is educated

>>11690263
oh. were fiction books in arabic hard to come by? idk if you have any crazy islamic restrictions over there.

can't think of any good vampire books though, sorry. i suppose you can start with bram stoker's dracula and interview with a vampire, although those aren't really what you probably had in mind.
or if you don't mind going pulpier, you can head over to /tg/ and read up on the world of darkness/vampire the masquerade

>>11690330
meant for >>11690224

>>11683310
>This is a bad cover
Ban covers seem to be awful in general. The vovvers if the Miles Vorkosigan books by Lois McMaster Bujold are some of the wordt I have ever seen. Not only tasteless but just plain bad, from a technical standpoint

>>11690339
Books of any kind are really expensive here, I guess I should start with "baby" stuff like oz first.

Jordan is not that religious of an Arabian country, it's just the education and no encouragement issues like
>>11690330 mentions

>>11687996
>Anybody know any sci-fi or fantasy in more unique settings, though?
Try Iain M Banks, he enjoys coming up with the most outlandish concepts, like an artificial giant multilayered planet built like an onion.

>>11689950
>What would you add?
My nigger, how could you leave out "Dread Empire's Fall" by Walter Jon Williams? best military SF after Starship Troopers and Forever War.

>>11687996
The Straggler's Mask takes place on a moon orbiting a gas giant, and has some weird shit going on with its seasons as a result. It also spends a while in a Native South American setting.

>>11690437
seems interesting. do i just read the original trilogy or is the whole thing good and must-read?
>>11690388
woah nigga, you can just pirate books. get an e-reader and download books to your heart's content. it's a bit of a large initial investment but it pays off in the long run.

>>11690388
Hey man, the Oz books are pretty wild, I'd definitely recommend them.

I'm not gonna let the thread end without posting this first.

...

>>11690761
Looks about right?

>>11690651
I thought that americans were terrified of nipples. How they got away with it?

>>11690768
>"The first Sanderson novel with filler"
>"Let's hope it's not the end of his ability to write a tight novel"

no, something is very amiss here

>>11690651
god i fucking hate uplifts, even if that's not what that book is about

"DUDE THERES ANIMALS BUT THEY THINK JUST LIKE HUMANS BUT SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

>>11686255
Magic weapons that aren’t swords

>>11690824
Does it count if it can extend into a long polearm, being effectively either weapon depending on what you need for a given situation?

>tfw i'll be the creator of the first fantasy series to rival tolkien and it will be 100% comprised of white people

absolutely based, good job myself

>>11690769
Kitty nipples are fine silly
>>11690808
It's just the cover art. Kzin weigh like 1000lbs and have two ribcages or something, I forget.

>>11690358
Baen covers can be pretty righteous my dude. Sure some boggle the noggin, but I forgive them. I'd rather a wacky cover than a boring one.

>>11690461
>do i just read the original trilogy or is the whole thing good and must-read?
I havent read the last two books. The original trilogy has an ending that is plenty satisfying.

>>11690917
>one of the best books in the series
>the cover looks like fuckin' CAPTAIN VORPATRIL'S ALLIANCE: A SPACE OPERA LITRPG HAREM ADVENTURE

>>11689950
YOU OMITTED "ARMOR" BY JOHN STEAKLEY YOU DAMN NIGGER

Forever War needs to be required reading, not recommended, and it needs to be at the top of the list.

James A Michener has also written a novel called "Space", I havent checked it out yet but the synopsis sounds like it belongs on your list.

>>11690954
>Forever War needs to be required reading, not recommended, and it needs to be at the top of the list

That books is slosh, and no where near as good as Starship Trooper

>>11690953
Yeah, that's exacctly what I was talking about. Jesus Christ that is horrible, I hadnt even seen that cover. Wouldnt be surprised if it actually deterred people from buying the book if they arent already fans of the series. I only read a torrented .txt ebook, no pics of course. The Well of Souls cover is fine, but those times seem to be long gone.

>>11690953
>>11690977
I suppose you're right that a lot of the newer Baen stuff is bad digital art or photo manips instead of a wacky painting. It gives me a sadness.

New thread folks:
>>11691016
>>11691016
>>11691016

>>11689980
>All of them.
I'll risk looking dumb and say, I don't know if this is saying "Use all the ideas you have" or cheekily suggesting I include every conceivable fantasy race.

>>11691067
This is 4chan mate

Thread is going down so I'm gonna dump some pre-processed cover art images.

>>11691310

>>11691316

>>11691319

>>11691323

>>11691288
I had just woken up when I posted that, I wasn't in my right state of mind.

>>11691326

>>11691332

>>11691336

>>11691342
That's it. I should really start an organized collection. Here's something horrifying as a sendoff.

>>11691350
Nice dump, cheers man