/lit/ - Literature

1st for waifu

>>11749687
>how far along are you into "Titus Groan"
Still waiting for my copy to come. Looks like I can't bite into it until the next week, which sucks. I'm really looking forward to it.

do elvish boys have smaller cocks than humans?

My apologies for asking this again, but I've been trying to find this for years now. Any chance one of you could help me remember the title of this novel series?

The premise is that a small team of people is chosen to be copied into machine bodies, and identical versions of the team sent on numerous slower than light ships to investigate nearby stars. The book follows one team member, and the world his ship arrives on is visited by silent but benevolent aliens who construct several towers, each containing a gift, including a transparent spacesuit and a small faster than light ship. Shortly after, the entire planet is destroyed by starfish-shaped alien ships. Protagonist barely escapes in the tiny ship and heads for earth.

At earth he finds humanity has turned most of the solar system into a megastructure and most people exist as hive minds of many copies of their individual bodies. After making contact with one of the bodies belonging to the original of one of his team members, he learns he is the only copy of his original that didn't go insane and die.

It's revealed the starfish ships are following the benevolent aliens and destroying any civilization they contact, which now includes earth thanks to the protagonist's ship. The protagonist and his team mate's original barely escape the destruction of the solar system in the FTL ship and embark on a quest to find out who the starfish ships are and why they do what they do.

>>11749704
Yes. Smaller, but seen as inherently more beautiful and manly than human penises, far more effective and pleasurable, desirable yet unattainable by our women. It's what inspired all the ancient sculptures lying around.

>>11749707
That's a lot of detail to remember without being able to successfully google the books. I sense a clever author dangling ruses among our lovely roses.

>>11749745
It's irritating as shit. I've combed through the tvtropes listing for everything I remember, from mind transference to megastructures to starfish aliens with no luck. I don't remember the names of any characters so google hasn't been a great help.

Fantasy with fast pacing but isn't also complete shit?

>>11749770
The Hobbit can be pretty quick when it wants to be. Try also Farmer Giles of Ham.

That's about it, really. All the classics tend to have a slower pace, and all the new stuff is almost universally shite.

>>11749769
I'm working on it too but only because the baguette refueling drogue gave me a chuckle.

>>11749776
I appreciate it. Judging from I time I read it they probably came out between 1995 and 2005, a novel series of at least three books, and I think book 2 or 3's cover had an illustration of the starfish-shaped ships destroying something. I've been going through pages of google image results hoping something sticks out.

>>11749769
>>11749776
Speaking of TVTropes, is your search working at all? Mine gives me blank shit and forces me to use google.

>>11749796
I haven't tried their site search--I've been googling--although I've read two results from TVTropes.

>>11749796
Not working for me, I just get the rotating blue circle.

>>11749707
I'm almost certain I've read it.
Coming up blank, but I'll keep trying.

Any good books/series with vampires?

>>11749827
There's so many fucking vampire books written nowadays that I wouldn't be surprised if some of them were sort of decent, but I personally can only name Dracula, Varney, and Interview With The Vampire - and none of them are strictly speaking /sffg/.

>>11749836
I should have clarified, I'm looking for high fantasy not twilight

>>11749692
Amber is the new black

>>11749842
Then, like I said, I've got nothing.

To be honest, I don't know if vampires would fit high fantasy at all. They seem more like the sort of a heroic fantasy or sword & sorcery thing.

Oh, speaking of sword & sorcery, Hour of the Dragon Had a vampire... but she didn't do a whole lot. Solomon Kane also fought some, but they were more like the really old pre-Dracula zombie type.

>>11749858
I've got that covered too.

How do you guys go about finding new stuff to read?

>>11749707
Welp, the closest I managed was Peter F. Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga, which isn't very close. It has xenophobe starfish aliens but wormholes rather than slower-than-light sleeve exploration.

>>11749973
I already have a backlog full of old and acclaimed classics that I simply haven't had the time to check out. I don't think I'll need to find NEW stuff for years.

>>11749973
I come here and get meme recommendations

Post god tier covers.

>>11749986
How is that possible when this general taks about the same five books every thread?

>>11749981
Thanks for the effort my dude. On a related note, Hamilton is one of those authors who's best enjoyed in retrospect. He's great at story arc and plot but christ almighty is his writing tedious to slog through. Commonealth might be my favorite fictional world but I still haven't worked up the willpower to get more than dozen pages into the third trilogy.

>>11749991
That's hyperbole and you know it.

>The bird let out a slow chicken cackle. It sounded like a chicken, but in her heart she knew it wasn't. In that instant, she completely understood the concept of a chicken that was not a chicken. This looked like a chicken, like most of the Mud People's chickens. But this was no chicken.
>This was evil manifest.

>>11749973
Purchased used at random.

>I continue to prefer The Hobbit to The Lord of the Rings but acknowledge that I represent only a minority of current readers. Tolkien’s epic fantasy is moralistic, and its neobiblical style is pretentious and inflated. Perhaps because it began as a fairy tale for children, The Hobbit is rather more refreshing.
>Whether even The Hobbit is other than a period piece is questionable. Read it side by side with John Crowley’s Little, Big and you will find The Hobbit vanishing away! The same fate attends Tolkien’s epic when juxtaposed with Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials. My own canonical prophecy, founded on a long lifetime of literary study, has to be melancholy. Like his imitator, the Harry Potter saga, Tolkien will not be read a generation or two hence.
>Attempt to reread Rider Haggard’s She or King Solomon’s Mines. Like Tolkien’s books, they are more vivid as movies and fade on the page. Haggard is Tolkien’s authentic precursor; his Allan Quartermain is a palpable model for Bilbo Baggins. Contributors to this guide do damage to The Hobbit when they invoke Lewis Carroll’s Alice books or Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows. Comparisons to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped and Treasure Island are equally destructive to Tolkien.
>For more than a half century, I have been chided as provocative and controversial merely because I go on insisting that, without aesthetic and cognitive standards, imaginative literature will perish, and something in us also will wane. Thinking depends on memory. Fashion passes, and the libraries are replete with forgotten bestsellers. The function of criticism, particularly in the digital age, is to teach us to prefer more difficult pleasures than those so easy that they weaken our minds.

based & redpilled

>>11750078
Did i read that right? Does he like his dark materials?

>>11750078
>his dark materials
>better than lotr
Sasuga bloom

>>11750102
His Dark Materials is not one of the greatest works of fantasy fiction ever written, but it still blows away anything hacks like Sanderson, Rothfuss, or Abercombie ever wrote.

>>11750108
And Tolkien.

>>11750108
Not that anon. I already knew that Bloom reads fantasy, that he apparently has a whole book analyzing Tolkien and that he has been on record saying he likes Le Guin, but I've always seen His Dark Materials as kind of so-so YA stuff, so it wasn't the sort of thing I expected a famous literary critic to like.

>>11750128
I have scarcely seen a more hamfisted treatment of religion than I did on His Dark Materials

>>11750146
You haven't read Narnia, then?

>>11748733
First half of Snow Crash was a lot of fun but the second half, when the story picked up, was total shit imo. All in all a reasonably fun book.

>>11750160
Touche

>>11749973
Author lists normally or similar titles at random. If the premise seems even plausibly interesting then I'll pick it up. Lots of searching, both for titles you will read and which will have quality, making it worthwhile. I even found some Amazon titles again based off Amazon books I bought and liked ~5 years back so once I read those I'll post about them individually.
I wish I could find new manga to read as easily.

>>11750108
For some reason, the one scene that always stuck out to me all these years is when God smiles and fades away... was he even cognizant at the time?

>>11750078
I don't know about everything else, but anyone that prefers Little, Big over the Hobbit is just loopy.

>>11750146
I originally picked up HDM as a teen because I heard it was unapologetic in its critique of Christian dogma and I was an edgy atheist at the time. I ended up finishing it because the relationship between the protagonists was cute and tragic

>>11750078
>Tolkien will not be read a generation or two hence.
kek, when did he say this?

>>11750316
2011

>>11750363
well, still hasn't been enough time to prove him wrong but he such a pseud

I don't particularly like Harry Potter but those books will be popular for many years yet, it will be the first book most girls give to their children to read

>>11750316
I never understood the general obsession with Tolkien. Like, I get that LOTR is popular and actually decent, but it isn't some revolutionary work, nor the first popular fantasy book. Hell, even Tolkien don't thought that is something that should be that popular and even his friends didn't really liked.

(((Harold Bloom))).

Gee, wonder why he doesn't like fiction with Christian influences or themes.

>>11750396
It's a great novel, I consider it one of the best of all time (and not just in the fantasy genre). It has it all, a beautifully imagined world, gripping plot, great characters, a satisfying ending etc

The influential part of it isn't important, it's just a great book. The only people who hate it are far leftists who have a grudge against Tolkien for being a conservative upper class englishman (not that it matters, people who read The Lord of the Rings for political or religious themes are idiots)

>>11750396
LotR was pretty revolutionary in that it popularized modern high fantasy and many of its associated tropes. However, most of the writers inspired by Tolkien had very shallow readings of his work, and unfortunately some of Tolkien's best output (Children of Hurin) was either not published until fairly recently or remains obscure despite his incredible popularity (Farmer Giles of Ham). So we ended up with a world where most fantasy looks vaguely like LotR on the surface but is actually more like Elric under the hood

I'm still salty that Amazon is going to do fanfiction about Aragorn's youth for their show instead of just fucking adapting Children of Hurin or the Fall of Gondolin. It's gritty dark fantasy with morally grey protagonists, lots of bloodshed and incest. Perfect for the GoT audience

What do you guys think of The Witcher books?

>>11750557
I've read only The Last Wish and it was okay, but a bit underwhelming. Geralt was pretty much a blank slate with the occasional quip and the stories didn't really grip me.

>>11750396
>but it isn't some revolutionary work
Uh it was though. It ended up being revolutionary for the worse, but there's a reason why the fantasy genre stopped having as much variety and innovation after LOTR became popular.

>>11750557
my favorite character is black ciri

>>11750670
Don't.

>>11750396
It's a great book and it's also the single most important book in the history of fantasy as a popular genre, what are you talking about.

The single most popular and visible genre of fantasy over the last 25-30 years is basically stuff that is founded on the Tolkien model, and that looks nothing like the kinds of fantasy that were most common and well-regarded before the 1980s. You even have stuff like Terry Brooks and Dennis McKiernan that's a blatant attempt to imitate the publishing success of Tolkien.

Oof. How embarrassing.

>>11750781
Eh, it does the job.

>>11750670
Fuck I just looked this shit up after not keeping up with the Netflix Witcher because well it's Netflix. First I was excited because Cavill was playing Geralt then I got to the part where they're looking for minority to play Ciri. What the actual fuck is wrong with Americans and their media?

>>11750936
>look it up
>it's real
My fucking sides

>>11750936
>Americans
LOL who the fuck are you kidding, yuroshit? You faggots replace HISTORICAL white people with non-whites all the time.

>>11750936
Not having minorities is going to get them assblasted by the media and kill their profits from normies which is all they really care about. I'm tired of all these reddit faggots trying to get their shit made into a show. They're always going to be fucking shit.
Fucking go watch the next star wars stupid fucking cunts

>>11750936
post this on /tv/ and you'll see how much worse Europe is with minority placement. we have a huge amount of blacks/latinos/other ethnicities who want to see televisions/movies with their ethnicities present while Europeans do it without any direct demographics based reason.

64% into Sufficiently Advanced Magic
Out of nowhere a male student ask our hero out on a date and HE accepts. There was no fucking hint about the MC sexuality
What The Fuck

>>11751173
Nevermind, I think he is autistic

>>11751173
was there a scene where the character would have explicitly mentioned if they were heterosexual

>>11751241
not the guy you are responding too but that part irked me too. dropped the book at that point.
its not that the guy had and explicitly stated sexuality. he however did have thoughts about women in a sexual way. as such this thing came really as a surprise to me.
but then again. the book is written by a blizzard guy so inconsistencies and bad writing come hand in hand.

>>11751241
Not really, but since it's written in the first person, one would expect the MC have some kind of sexual opinion when describing men or women like "He was very attractive" or "I had a crush on her as a child"
The author just drops this scene on you about a guy asking him out and he is like "Yeah, I'll date you senpai"
All those monologues and failings on "show, don't tell" and not one hint about his sexuality? It just seems contrived.

>>11751173
>had it downloaded for over a month
>haven't touched it
thanks, nigga. gonna delete that shit

>>11751265
The author literally timeskip a couple of months after that and ignore the whole thing. No date showed at all. It just weird.

>>11751259
But, if they had had the exact same amount of buildup, and never mentioned the character's sexuality, and then a woman had asked him out and he'd said yes, would you have found that surprising

>>11751271
>forced romance
>nothing even happens, complete waste of time and utterly pointless
wew

>>11751275
>would you have found that surprising
No, because we're a species with two genders who tend to procreate.

>>11751275
Man, don't give me this "if he weren't gay you wouldn't mind" shit. What bothers me is the fact that after half a book of monologues and internal debates you feel like you don't know the guy. If at some point before the author just established him as gay I literally wouldn't mind. In fact, I would have liked him better, at the times I thought he was depressed he couldn't fuck his half sister. This author sucks.

So this was fun.

>13th century version of Europe and the Middle East
>A military captain in fantasy Egypt and his platoon are ambushed one night by a minor God, through a stroke of brilliance he is able to kill it by using a new weapon (gunpowder)
>This sends shockwaves through the supernatural pantheon because no supernatural entity of that power has ever been killed by a mortal before who didn't have magic
>Sensing that the Captain is now a risk his commanders send him to fantasy Europe to get rid of him as well as to spy on Fantasy Catholic Church (he is white)
>Has various shenanigans and rises through the ranks because he impresses people as more boogiemen attack him but keep dying because they literally can't comprehend gunpowder

what fantasy novel

>has realistic medieval combat
>low magic
>tip top waifu material
>main character who isn't an author self insert
>isn't ASOIAF

>>11751791
You might have better luck if you just write the thing yourself, anon. Those are some hefty requirements.

>>11751815
But surely it must exist

I've been reading the Hobbit again and I'm starting to think the way the movie was adapted isn't Jackson's fault. The whole thing is written like a timelapse with some minor misadventures sprinkled in for most of the early book.
Also reading Starships Troopers. Pretty good and readable so far. Even though some of the military jargon goes over my head.

>>11749692
The best waifu.

>>11750936
>>11750670
Fuck, is this real? If so I'm DROPPING it fro sure. Didn't have high hopes anyway, but still.

>>11751791
I want something like that too.

>>11750228
Don’t take Bloom seriously. No one does. He’s a meme in /outerlit/ and nothing more.

>>11751791
Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell

>>11752041
>another King Arthur story

away

>>11752056
You should stick to Harry Potter.

>>11751791
the novel im writing

>>11752073
Would read it.

>>11752089
maybe it's not a perfect fit, but it's close. it's no magic whatsoever for the 1st half and then in the 2nd half it becomes extremely low magic with lots of talking about it, paranoia, strategizing, and constantly being wrong about from who and where it will manifest, and always being blindsided when it does

>>11752100
Just give me ending were guy ends up with his waifu.

>>11752100
ok but what about the waifus?

>>11750557

The short stories are the best part. I didn't give a shit about Ciri and the Empire plot, I just wanted more shenanigans with Dandelion while Geralt was monster hunting

>>11752169
>>11752110
main chick's (deuteragonist) face and entire body is cut up, and not in a way i'll probably ever portray as sexy, since that's a bad cliche.

but there's other good waifus for other POV chars. and a YA daughter heroine

>>11751791
>main character who isn't an author self insert
>tip top waifu material
can't have both

>>11752423
So if you are going to self-insert you might as well write in your perfect woman as a love interest?
Is that the reasoning here?

>>11752499
It's what I'm doing right now. I didn't even realize until well into writing both of them.

>>11752194
Just make them wholesome and not sluts.

>>11752504
How those base impulses always lead us astray.
Reminds me of this comic artist, she has a pretty popular web comic, she once posted that when she color palette swaped her main character it turned out to be a spitting image of her father.
Aaaaawkward.

>>11749707
have you tried stackexchange? they have story identification questions

>>11749867
Are you proud of yourself? Is your mother?

>>11752041
Who's the waifu

>>11752679
Dawww, is waifufag upset that his precious beloved was disgraced on the Internet?

>>11752725
Yes, don't talk shit about Fiona.

>>11752739
You are such a loser fag anon.

>>11752739
Dara a waifu

>>11752739
No one's talked shit about Fiona, just drawn her with a dick.

>>11752775
I don't get this either.
Why would anyone be upset about a girl with a (feminine) penis?

>>11752755
Was that necessary?

A quick heads-up fellow SF anons: someone has uploaded every "The Year's Best Science Fiction" anthology by Gardner Dozois from the last 33 years on novanon.net. Link:


https://www62.zippyshare.com/v/Wmkor8Xy/file.html

>>11752803
Of course it was. It's tough love.
The last thing you want to do is coddle the waifuist. You are just encouraging his pathetic behavior.

What's the most comfy fantasy you've ever read?

>>11752995
Hehehe, I was just about to post how I am halfway through this book and I am having a blast. Super comfy. I feel that even if the half I haven't read yet is complete shit it will still have been worth it. I am loving each second of it. Probably the best book I've read this year.

>>11752995
The Hobbit.

>>11753007
btw, don't read the goodreads synopsis, it has spoilers.

>>11753007
It took me ages to get to those Xanth novels. I have to say they're fun. I also recommend Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series.

>>11753054
>Incarnations of Immortality
I hope it's more like Incarnations of Immorality, if you catch my drift.

>>11753065
Bruh

>>11752995
Discworld

>>11753076
Discworld is pretty comfy at its best, but it gets pretty much the exact opposite as the author got older and more ill and his grimdark began to show. Later books don't even try to be funny.

>>11753080
Where should I start if I like magic and want comfy? Optionally, waifus.

>>11753080
Still, that's a lot of comfy books.

>>11753091
You can try Wyrd Sisters.
Or whatever.

>>11752995
David Eddings' Belgariad

>>11753091
Tiffany Aching provides both.

>>11753091
Optionally, there's a lot of waifus in this amateur theater adaptation of Witches Abroad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Was4vsxLEng
I've watched it, it's alright.

The Hobbit movies had massive studio interference and totally fucked up Jackson

>>11751791
Reading isn't ordering from the Taco Bell drive through

>>11749770
Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny

>>11753151
honestly Jackson is a hack and Lucas 2.0, obsessed with the CGI and shallow spectacle

>>11753076
>>11753080
is Discworld an ongoing story or each novel standalone? Also is it mostly a comedy thing or is there action, suspense etc?

>>11753171
>is Discworld an ongoing story or each novel standalone?
As you can see on >>11753076 it consists of several loosely-connected and ongoing stories. Technically standalone novels, but you'll probably still want to read them in order.

>Also is it mostly a comedy thing or is there action, suspense etc?
Mostly comedy, with bits of other stuff in between... at first. Starting on from Night Watch (around where the author grew terminally ill), the comedy angle was dropped almost entirely, and the stories got pretty damn dark at places, and worse still, dangerously preachy. I wouldn't really bother with the last couple books at all if I were you.

>>11753176
okay thanks

>>11753098
>Belgariad
You know I've never actually read this series. I know it's considered "beginner" fantasy, but is it still worth reading as an adult? I don't mind generic and cliche fantasy, especially these days where all these authors are trying too hard to make their stories "deconstructions".

>>11753205
I read the first book last year for the first time and I enjoyed it. It successfully avoids many of the pitfalls that plague fantasy novels. The characters also aren't morons who do stupid things to advance the plot.
Worth a read.

>>11753171
Comedy, but it's god heart. And villains.

>>11753205
it's lord of the rings for babbies, do not read if you are older than 13

>she will never adopt me after my parents die tragically

>>11753205
It's generic and cliche fantasy, but it KNOWS that and owns it. I think there's enough there to enjoy it, especially in the current deconstruction era, at least if you don't have anything better to read right now.

Speaking of Belgariad, the Japanese covers are pretty nice.

>>11753409
I'm not usually one for Japanese fantasy - something about the aesthetics that I don't like - but this one looks okay.

>>11753409
>anime covers
are you trying to make me vomit

>>11753463
It fits the setting and the artsyle isn't full on "anime".

>>11753409
anime-ification always makes me visualize the characters differently forever afterward

>>11753573
As another anon already pointed out, stop posting that shit.

>>11753582
That sounds like a personal problem.

>>11753609
Why? If it triggers you that much just close your eyes.

>>11753612
>Why?
I guess I am not the first person to tell you this, but it's because you a little shit and a weeb to boot.

>>11753616
Stay mad.

>>11753573
It reminds me more of Berserk or Dark Souls than Lodoss War or some shit, and is therefore one of the few examples of anime fantasy to be okay in my book.

>>11753638
Berserk is just homoeroticism and edgelord bullcrap though

>>11753612
>subtle boob veins

10/10 taste

>>11753652
Okay, but the art is fine.

>>11753409
Maybe but I'm one of those ppl who gets attached to the cover of when I read it. I know this isn't amazing but this is it for me. When I do a reread it has to be with my original versions.

>>11753205
I read it as an adult and yes I can tell you why its not great but it's completely chill escapism if you're tired of edgy grimderp and it's doesn't drag out forever. (Don't read the second series or anything else by Eddings bcos it's all retellings of the Belgariad). Try reading one chapter and you'll know immediately if you'll like the rest of the books.

>>11752689
Nimue at first then Dervel's wife.

Lets say I manage to write a groundbreaking science fiction short story. How would I go about getting it published? Does cold calling publishers work or would I be better off submitting it into a competition?

>>11753794
>How would I go about getting it published?
If you're a straight white man then lie about being a straight white man.

>>11753725
*Derfel's

>>11753794
Before you even think about publishing it you need to get some feedback on the story from people who actually like science fiction and have connections in the industry. Preferably from somebody who has been published themselves or edited work that has been published. This isn't as impossible as it seems, there are subreddits and discords full of aspiring writers where you can build some connections with people.

If you haven't been published before you WILL need feedback, listen to what they say, edit and improve your work. It will probably need to be rewritten several times before it is publishable.

>>11753725
Those are some shit tier waifus.

>>11753800
Is this a meme? Surely if my work is good it can stand on its own merits. Most of the scifi greats are white males. I'm more afraid of being taken advantage of by a publisher. My background is in physics so I have no prior experience in the literary field. I am very worried that someone will steal my writing or take my royalties because I have no idea how the industry functions.

>>11753837
Thank you I will look into that. Are there any precautions I should take to prevent stolen work? I don't know if I'm being overly cautious but I have heard horror stories from my friend in the television business of scripts being blatantly stolen.

>>11753867
If it's somebody who has a decent reputation they should be safe enough, thieves usually get exposed quickly

>>11753849
>Is this a meme?
Not really. Unless you make your story super 'woke' then you're gonna have an extremely difficult time getting your stuff published by trad publishing these days.

Is The Day of the Triffids worth reading?

>>11753927
>Unless you make your story super 'woke' then you're gonna have an extremely difficult time getting your stuff published by trad publishing these days.

Not only that but your novels really need to appeal to the young female demographic. Publishing house staff is overwhelmingly female nowadays (the last time I checked, it was hovering at around 80%), so your manuscript is more than likely going to be reviewed by a young woman as opposed to a young man. Apparently, men burn out of the job very quickly for whatever reason.

Another fact is that the male demographic is more and more switching to manga to fill the void left by the absence of male-oriented nerd literature. Conversely, the female demographic for nerd literature has been growing thanks to the YA explosion in the last decade. So publishing houses are all the more eager to appeal to that growing demographic and minimize their efforts at capturing a shrinking one, which of course only exacerbates the problem.

So yeah, unless you can tickle a bean within the first five pages, your /sffg/ novel is getting shitcanned.

>muh Watts, muh Bakker, muh Erikson

True. There is the sole alternative of finding a niche publisher willing to take a risk on you, but good luck with that shit. Even Erikson had to peddle his manuscript around for a decade before anyone would even sneeze on him.

Fish titties.

>ywn be a minor lord in westeros

>>11753849
You're on 4chan. It's a meme by ppl with pol tendencies who don't know how publishing works.

>>11753849
>>11753867
I don't want to disappoint you but the chances of your very first short story being amazing are low. It isn't worth stealing because it may not be publishable in the first place and also because short stories might earn you three figures if youre lucky.

The way to submit is to read submission guidelines at the places you want to submit. Submit to one place at a time then wait. Wait some more. Then, wait. Submitting to multiple places at once is a no go.

Opinions on Dunsany?

>>11754005
>ywn be a lord's minor in westeros

>>11754023
a decent but overrated writer, his stuff hasn't aged all that well

>>11754002
>>11753927
My story is hard scifi with a lot of higher level concepts. There are very few, if any political themes in it. It bears some similarities to the Three Body Problem but delves into concepts of strong vs weak AI, the simulation hypothesis and quantum entanglement. No weird alien sex or whatever attracts the YA population.
>>11754014
Fair enough I'll try to keep an open mind to rejection. I'm not expecting to get rich off of this, I just am hoping for some recognition if it is good.

>>11754100
Just because you get rejected it doesn't mean you are a shit writer, you just wrote a shitty story. Every famous author at some point in his career has written some absolute garbage that was never published, sometimes the story was just not as good as you envisioned and is flawed conceptually.

Focus on getting the story to the highest quality possible through edits and rewrites. Publishing is really more a bonus, you need to enjoy writing and making your stuff as good as possible first. If your work gets rejected by everyone just accept it probably isn't good and move onto another story and try again. Try self-publishing if you have tried for several years and had no luck.

>>11754023
I wouldn't say he wrote anything objectively bad, but he wrote a lot of mediocre short stories.

>>11754002
>Even Erikson had to peddle his manuscript around for a decade before anyone would even sneeze on him.

that could also be because Erikson is a very bad writer who is not good at writing

and even people who like his books generally agree that the first one is the worst in the series

>>11754023
good, important, but you get the idea pretty quickly

Thoughts on pen names? I've got some pretty lewd shit in my book and I don't want my family/coworkers finding out and razzing me for it.

>>11754745
Make it sound African or Middle Eastern.

>>11754745
Are you publishing science fiction? East Asian female.

>>11754378
>that could also be because Erikson is a very bad writer who is not good at writing

this desu.

>>11754745
Why not use one of those androgynous tranny names? Like BJ Finley or something?

>>11753080
I just started the discworld series this summer. That sounds like a cool progression in tone desu.

>>11754378
>that could also be because Erikson is a very bad writer who is not good at writing

>>11755036
A little bit of column A...

>>11755036
Yes but NKJ is a perpetually butthurt proud women of color so her writing being shit is expected.

Books about this?

>>11755156
Kull.

>>11755156
>hole left by christian dark ages
i hope whoever made that realizes there were other parts of the world going through all sorts of scientific advancement, namely china and the middle east

>>11755189
>chirstian dark ages
>things that exist
Pick ONE

>>11755189
Who gives a fuck about them? They are completely irrelevant.

>>11755189
>and the middle east
lol no. And there was no such thing as the "Christian dark ages" to begin with.

>>11755189
What way do you like your cheerios?

>>11755232
Honey-nutted

Started reading Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks. It's the first Sci-fi book that I read (I tend to prefer fantasy) and I'm quite liking it so far. How does it stand next to others in the same genre?

Asoiaf is the greatest fantasy series since LoTR.

>>11755661
>Asoiaf is the least bad fantasy series since LoTR.
ftfu

>>11753927
>>11754002
science fiction is still a mostly male thing, it's fantasy that was taken over by the roasties

>>11755661
>>11755663
both based and correct

>>11755661
>>11755663
b-but LE SUNSET FOUND HER SQUATTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

>>11755713
Name any other fantasy writer since Tolkien, and I will seek out a paragraph by them, of equal or even greater badness to this one.

>>11755720
Michael J. Sullivan

>>11749770
Conan.

>>11755720
terry pratchett

>>11755720
This sounds fun
C. J. Cherryh
Hit me with the worst

is there more like this?
it was fairly enjoyable. especially because there was no nonsense involved. maybe something with low magic but not a litrpg. id like it to be somewhat grounded if possible. fantasy races are fine but not the typical stuff would be nice. or maybe some futuristic alien version where a human ends up in an alien society and needs to adapt to live there.
also something with more of a focus on the main characters. i disliked how much of the books had been taken up by the opposing faction. part of a chapter would be ideal rather than a whole chapter for the enemies.

>>11755228
>this is what cathocucks actually believe

>>11755780
There is something so retarded yet funny about that cover.

>>11755783
Orthodox Christians also believe this you filthy proddie.

>>11755806
>Orthodox Christians also believe this
They actually have a point.

>>11749770
Joe Abercrombie.

>>11749842
Knights of dark renown, David Gemmell

>>11755870
The Vampires don't really do much in that.

noveau mindfuck sci fi recs pls /sffg/?

>>11755189
>post meme image
>makes serious comment

>>11755780
I thought the interludes were way too long and frequent. Dropped it in book 2, I think.

>>11753007
Me again. Just finished the book. It's perfect. I loved it from start to finish. Probably the most comfy book I've read.

>>11755780
I enjoyed that series very much, couldn't find books similar too it, sorry.

>>11755783
Nice try, Mohammed.

Finished reading The Stand, or rather I finished listening to the audiobook, which I realized after is the 1978 cut version, which sucks. But the audiobook was 32 hours long and a good time, so there's that.

Only thing I feel like mentioning about The Stand was how much I enjoyed the good vs evil element, faith vs rationality, abigail vs flagg, was some really cool stuff.

Glenn and Kojak were great, though most of the time Glenn was just a mouthpiece for King to infodump, but I enjoyed those parts so whatever. The story of Kojak being a good boy was very satisfying. And Tom Cullen finding Stu in the desert was a really nice payoff.

Is anyone else in this thread annoyed by the fact that Robin Hobb reuses the same chapter intros over and over in her farseer books? I read the first trilogy and it was tolerable in the first book but by the second and third she was rehashing the same themes almost word for word. Instead of exposition or worldbuilding the chapter intros felt wearying. I read the liveship traders last week and it was a welcome relief to be free of them. Also thank you to the anon in the thread who suggested continuing into that trilogy, I enjoyed it more than the first. Now that I'm in tawny man and back in the six duchies She's already had two chapter intros covering the same subject with no new information and I'm only halfway through the first book!

>>11749973
I downloaded that torrent of npr's top 100 sffg and every book in its series. Normally I just read really big series though so I can read a bunch of books before I have to pick new one.

>>11750557
I enjoyed the first two which were pretty much just short stories. I thought the later novels weren't as good and stopped reading around the tower of swallows or something? I remember they were just getting to a tower and a lake. I think I was worse off for reading the english translation

>>11752995
All these books were so fun

>>11755968
you're right. it just derailed the thread

>>11755189
>middle east
>scientific advancement

Hahaha.

>>11756241
My nigger, I really like first 5 or so of them.

>these uneducated plebs never learned about the islamic golden age
Haha only white people have ever done anything amirite my fellow redpilled gentlemen?

>>11757328
Unless you are, wait for it, the Mongols
Fucking up the Islamic Golden Age and everything. That was pretty nice of them, wasn't it?

>>11757328
>>11757349
>Mongols
The legacy of hyper Koreans.

>>11757328
>islam
>having a golden age

You've been memed anon.

>>11757328
most of that shit happened before islam was a thing. islam in itself engaged in a lot of historic revisionism. and claimed a lot of achivements as their own. most of what is now attributed to the "islamic golden age" was a collective contribution of individual arabic tribes from 2000-1000 BC. even the babylonians had a hand in it.

>>11757328
>islamic golden age
Never happened.

>>11757349
>>11757554
>>11757562
>>11757600
>>11757614
Well, this IS a thread all for fantasy...

>>11757638
And butthurt muzzies it seems.

>>11757638
mudslimes begone.

>>11757328
The Islamic "Golden Age" was literally just Persians continuing to do what the Persians had always done until that cocksucker Avicenna fucked it up by... Do we even have a word for what he did?

I remember that Duns Scotus refuted the same idea that all things exist as God's will and thus that logic has no meaning when he was alive, albeit produced by a different source, at a different time. The only Islamic thing about their "golden age" was how it ended.

>>11757328
Stop triggering the trumpers

>>11757821

>>11757638
>mon visage quand it's either a ginger who bought into that "1001 inventions of the islamic world" shit or a muslim who thinks looting everything persia absorbed from india counts as a "golden age."

For shame anon.

>>11757744
>Avicenna fucked it up
I think you Al Ghazali, and memery aside he just criticize aristotelian metaphysics of his time precisely because it couldn't be proved, and openly reject the ideia that the Quran always trumps over science.

Are any of those chink webnovels worth a read? I mean for /sffg/ standards, don't go pretending to have high brow tastes on me now.

>>11758461
That's wrong bro there are so many Chink webnovels where the protagonist gets a special video game system

>>11758461
>Warlock of the magus world.
>reverend insanity
>dungeon defense
>yours and mine asylum

Pretty much the ones worth reading so far, spirit vessel is worth a look also.

Just read The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August and was pleasantly surprised. A lot of reviews for it claimed it was slow and confusing and I typically find myself hating those but I liked this. Perhaps it's just my style and taste in writing. Only major con is that the character who's eyes we're looking through comes off as emotionless and it's just not as entertaining as it could have been.

>>11758461
The only ones I've tried so far have been A Will Eternal, Cultivation Chat Group, and Pivot of the Sky. AWE is about a Caiaphas Cain style coward who becomes a cultivator, CCG is about a college student who gets roped into dealing with cultivators, and Pivot is neat because it's ancient Egypt themed instead and is more "traditional fiction" in style but sadly the translator stopped working on it last year because it wasn't getting him enough ad revenue.

>>11758545
Ow The Edge

>>11759012
I mean yeah, kinda.
Chinas an edgy as fuck place and a lot of the literature that gets published on the web reflects that.

Wotmw, RI, DD and yours and mine asylum are all pretty well written for web novels though.

>>11759030
I gave up on wotmw whey got to the world that's an alternate version of ours. Am I missing anything?

>>11759040
>whey
When they, I need to either eat or sleep soon.

>>11759030
>Chinas an edgy as fuck place
Also completely defunct, for the looks of it
>isekai
>tensei
>isekai
>tensei

>>11757328
>steal scientific knowledge from countries and cultures you conquered
>claim it as your own
>"Islamic golden age"

>>11759131
Not him, but by same logic then romans didn't made anything since they stole everything from the etrurians and greeks, which in turn, by their own admission, were just aping the egyptians.

What do you guys think about non-fiction fantasy?
Yay or nay?

>>11759040
Not really, the series definitely went down hill as the authors creativity dried up.

>>11759211
>non-fiction fantasy
???????
Are you going some joke about religion?

>>11759223
>going some
going to make some*

>>11759191
Except no? Yes; Roman culture was just Greek culture Romanized, but all their engineering feats were their own creations.

>>11759223
>>11759229
Fuck off brainlet shitposter.

>>11759211
I think that our fantasies are shaped by the Other

>>11759223
It's just the string theory shitposter
don't feed her

>>11759231
>but all their engineering feats were their own creations
But they weren't? Aqueducts were just applied etruscans arcs, and domes were taken from the east, namely Persia and Mesopotamia. The whole end of the islamic golden age was not because islam stopped doing stuff, but rather because western Europe scientific progress exploded out of control.

>>11759258
Yes and ICBM is just anenlarged Chinese rocket.
Don't be such a contrarian retard.
Romans set the standard for both civil and military engineering. Europe had trouble replicating their aqueducts for a millennia.

I don't suppose we could talk about fantasy again, rather than trying to one-up one another with historical and political shit-flinging that goes fucking nowhere and wouldn't fit here anyway?

>>11759496
Fuck you and your fantasy you filthy barbarian.

>>11759490
>Europe had trouble replicating their aqueducts for a millennia.
That is because Europe underwent a huge process of ruralization/reduction of urban population, which turned aqueducts useless. However, from an engineering/mathematical standpoint, roman aqueducts weren’t particularly impressive.

>>11759541
Oh well I stand corrected.
We were going to have a bit of funposting but you had to go full contrarian retard and kill the mood.

>>11759722
Legitimately haven’t see your post until I posted mine. Anyway, in which book does ASOIAF goes bad?

>>11760037
The one after Feast for Crows.

Fantasy with strong mythology? No percy jackson thank you very much.

>>11760100
Kane chronicles

>>11760100
Pollen by Jeff Noon

>this strong independent brave womyn has won the Hugo for best novel 3 years in a row
is this a joke
is her stuff unironically any good or is it only popular because she's a queen

>>11760344
The latter.

She's awful and Hugos are a joke.

>>11760347
>Hugos are a joke
I don't know man I really liked the Three Body Problem by the Chinese guy

>>11760100
Shadowmarch

>>11752995
>comfy
Jinx series by Sage Blackwood. It's YA but I read it last year. The first is good and they keep getting better, more complex as Blackwood learned more craft

>>11760420
I've never read that author's other thing, Sorrow and Whatever, should I read that first?

>>11760355
>>11760347
I liked All Systems Red the novella winner

>>11753007
>Anthony originally intended for Xanth to be a trilogy, and after the success of the first three books expanded the series to nine books. A devoted fan base persuaded the author to continue writing the series, which is now open-ended. Anthony has stated that he has kept the series going as long as he has because the Xanth novels are "just about all that publishers want" from him.[1]
>As of August 2017, there are 41 novels, with the latest novel being released in April 2017. [3]
Yikes.

>>11760520
I only read the first book but it's pretty self-contained. Similar to Dune. I'll probably read the the other two, but not the whole thing.

>>11760520
>>11760528
I stopped reading them a long time ago but they were all self contained but might have had a minor character from a previous book as the new main character or the son/daughter of previous characters having their own adventure

Is this series any good?

>>11760673
its meh

>>11760673
It's shit.

I just finished 2001 a space odyssey (the book). How do the other books in the series compare? I really enjoyed and haven't watched the movie if that has an impact on anyone's input.

>>11760484
They are totally unrelated series. Memory Sorrow and Thorn is one of Tad Williams' earliest series and I feel he's improved a lot over time since then. If you want a really slow paced, comfy adventure about a callow youth becoming a heroic king with magic swords and elves then by all means read it, but you don't need to read it to understand anything else he's written. Except probably the sequel series he's now writing for it.

>>11760767
They're more straightforward plot books

>>11760860
Are they good?

>>11760767
>haven't watched the movie
Why not?

>>11760923
Never got around to it. I've heard it was good tho.

I'm trying to find books with good female leads.
Anybody who has read Sabriel or Jirel of Joiry, what did you think of them?

Is Dune unfit for the cinematic medium? We will never get a kino adaptation?

Just finished Sufficiently Advanced Magic. (mediocre)
The second book dedication:

"This book is dedicated to every person who has had to live in fear of persecution due to their sexual preferences, gender identity, ethnicity, disabilities, religion or any other element of who they are."

Now that's virtue signalling!
*deletes file*

>>11760520
Peirs Anthony is pedophile.

>>11761027
They're both good though Sabriel is more on the Young Adult side of things so don't expect super serious plots.

Would also suggest the Deed of Paksenarrion, and The Traitor Baru Cormorant.

>>11761089
>litrpg
>mediocre
shocking.jpg

>>11761112
hebephile

>>11761053
Would having the actors stand in thoughtful poses while the ten-minute internal monologues display as subtitles count as kino?

Also, are NPCs confused by these passages when they read "Dune"?

>>11749696
I found the beginning slow going. Peake describes each new character...thoroughly...before continuing on to add another player to the ensemble. Once the cast fills out a bit though, the going gets interesting.

>>11761184
Taken from The traitor baru comorant wikipedia page.
"Dickinson has blogged about explicitly addressing issues around gender and feminism, race and homosexuality, as well as imperialism in the world of Baru Cormorant."

>>11761053
The Lynch version has great visuals. If they'd had netflix back then and he'd been able to make a 30 hour series for an ultra-niche audience it would have been perfect.

>>11761027
Sabriel is definitely YA, pretty nice. The magic is unique and there's a talking cat sidekick.
Jirel is good old fashioned sword & sorcery.

My favorite sff novels with heroines:
Hild by Nicola Griffith - historical, medieval
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - Victorian fantasy
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson - sf
Pollen by Jeff Noon - modern fantasy (not urban)

also
True Grit by Charles Portis - western
Story of My Life by Jay McInerney - coked up '80s fucked upness along similar lines to American Psycho without murders

>>11761246
So? Book is good. Do you also refuse to read Lovecraft?

Parable of the Spwer wasn't nearly as good as I expected. Is the sequel better?

>>11761317
I highly doubt it's good if it was written by someone who thinks like this.
https://www.sethdickinson.com/2015/11/24/the-secret-design-of-the-traitor-baru-cormorant/

>Do you also refuse to read Lovecraft?
No, because Lovecraft is based.

>>11761201
>hebephile
same as pedophile you tard

>read a trilogy
>constantly goes on about how deeply in the love the male and female mcs are and how they're perfect for each other and destined to be together etc.
>male mc dies at the end
>preview synopsis for follow up series shows female mc already hooked up with some other guy

What are some fantasy books from the past 20 years that aren't epic or political fantasy and are fun to read (even if they aren't necessarily good)?

>>11761472
discworld

>>11761346
>virtue signalling this hard

>>11761415
A bunch of people got mad at Bujold over the most recent Vorkosigan book because the basic plot is that the main character from Shards of Honor/Barrayar falls in love again several years after her husband's death, after decades of marriage, which some fans saw as a "betrayal" of her husband.

>>11761089
>"This book is dedicated to every person who has had to live in fear of persecution due to their sexual preferences, gender identity, ethnicity, disabilities, religion or any other element of who they are."
Why would you EVER read ANY book that had this as a dedication?

>>11761415
Gotta subvert dem expectations, anon, because morons believe that's good storytelling.

>>11761472
If the idea of Yojimbo/Fistful of Dollars taking place in a medieval fantasy setting interests you then I'd recommend the book Brutal by James Alderdice. Don't let the title or the "epic grimdark" description on the cover dissuade you: it's neither brutal (in the overly violent sense) nor epic (in the epic fantasy sense) nor grimdark (in the 'everything is shit and nothing matters' sense). Honestly whoever came up with that title and that description should have been fired.

>>11761655
But he didn't, anon. If you read his entire post or had elementary school reading comprehension, you would understand this.

>>11761472
Last Call by Tim Powers misses your cut off by 2 years but it's good.

>>11761714
I misread his comment, but I'm glad my mistake triggered you this much.

I can't figure out if Fellow of the Ring is boring me because not a lot happens for the first half or because I keep subconsciously comparing it to the movies. Tom Bombadil was weird as fuck, but the Barrow scene was the highlight so far. I just hope the book picks up soon, I'm bored as fuck honestly.

>>11760520
It's just a nice setting that you can write a lot of stories in, the main characters change all the time and age.

I read like the first 15-20 back in elementary school, there not bad as long as you can deal with lots of puns.

>>11753007
>>11761777
What the actual fuck?

When the fuck is the sequel series coming out.

>>11761830
Hopefully never, those books are fucking garbage.

I finished Peter Watts' Rifters Trilogy a little while ago and now I'm sad. I miss Lenie Clarke...

>>11761803
Like I said, a pedo.

>>11761864
to go from failing at getting a PHD to failing at writing genre fiction.

my teacher had me read two sci-fi shorts in high school and I've been trying to remember the titles:

One was about some kind of intergalactic trucker at a pit stop who fucks an alien or talks about fucking different kinds of aliens with the gist of it being that mankind fucks anything that moves even if it causes him harm

The second, I can't remember the full details but I swear it ends with a female character revealing she has a zombie fucktoy, basically a zombie black bull (seems way ahead of its time).

Could be misremembering these but if anyone has any ideas, let me know.

>>11761317
>Book is good
Yeah no. I gave up in the first third. The plot bends over backwards for our brave heroine.

>The Last Witchking consists of three stories set in the epic fantasy world of A Throne of Bones. The title story concerns the hidden heir to a fallen race of magicians, who learns his father's dark lore as he pursues vengeance against those who destroyed his people.
>The second story, The Hoblets of Wiccam Fensboro, is a tale of survival and the triumph of simple human decency in the face of brutality and defeat.
>The third story, Opera Vita Aeterna, tells the story of an elven sorcerer and a religious monk, and how they discover that the transformational power of friendship can be the highest and most potent magic of all.

TELL ME EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT SOIALOCKS

>>11762039
Has someone mentioned a witch?

>>11761752
>Tom Bombadil
Not a huge fan of that part, but everything from Bilbo's birthday party to Amon Sul are one of my favorite parts of the books.

>>11762039
>but remember, the reason im not winning awards is because scalzi! pay no attention to my writing!

>>11749973
I walk into a library and wander around until a book tells me to pick it up.

>>11757554
Novel about the Fennokorean war when?

>>11762852
In the next thread.

>>11762197
Nice try, Scalzi.

>>11761201
>hebephile
You have never read "Firefly" haven't you?

>>11761941
>One was about some kind of intergalactic trucker at a pit stop who fucks an alien or talks about fucking different kinds of aliens with the gist of it being that mankind fucks anything that moves even if it causes him harm
"And I Awoke And Found Me Here On The Cold Hill's Side" by James Tiptree Jr.

>>11761803
Xanth is basically for junior high/early teen audiences. The humor and sexuality are immature.

Where is the fruitcake anon? It's his job to tell someone to make a new thread!

You're all bloody useless.