/lit/ - Literature

I've been reading the Culture novels lately and really loving them, sad I'm gonna get to the end of them soon. What does everyone here think?

hory shit bros, ive been ass-deep in philosophy i forgot my roots. this book was exceptional.

>>12114883
I only read Player of Games but I liked it and want to read more sometime. I read The Bridge and it was pretty good if you want something different.

>tfw you regularly recommend, and shit on, books you've never read and will never read

>>12114938
ur dum

How do you guys pronounce it?

>>12115048
>How do you guys pronounce it?
Sci-Fi-Fantasy General, like any normal human being.

>>12114938
fuck off pleb

>>12115048
[sffg]

>>12114939
Speaking of which, fuck Jurassic Park

>>12115131
The only good /lit/ general

>>12114938
Well it >is< a blend of science-fiction and fantasy

I need something to read while traveling to family tomorrow, I just want something halfway decent. Halp please.

>story is described as 'nihilistic'
>this is meant to be a good thing

>>12115048
s-fag

>>12114837
>that pic
You know something? That pic made me realise that the American white male has a deep seated mental fear of losing their white women.
Every old scifi book is always someone / something stealing a white woman, and white guys chasing after it...
It this cuckold fetish wired deep into their DNA? This shit shows up too constantly to be coincidence.

>>12115191
what have you read that you liked

>>12115240
Kingkiller Chronicle,Twitlight, Hunger Games and Mistborn.

>>12115240
Foundation, Ender's Game, Black Company, Starship Troopers, Dune, Forever War. A lot of basic stuff.
>>12115252
Funny.

>>12115228
Nah, it’s just a convenient plot. “Woman gets kidnapped” provides a clear, simple goal with an automatically understood reward at the end, plus it lets you put titties on the cover.

>>12115191
Space Viking, it is exactly halfway decent

After Rothfuss' announcement that he would not write until Trump was impeached, it was difficult to see how GRRM could pull back ahead of him as the biggest hack on the planet. But I never lost faith.

>>12115588
>rothfuss announcement
where?

>>12115598
Like the day after Trump was announced as president
Nothing new

>New book covers are bad
Anyway, here's a great book cover!

>>12114938
Wew lad

>>12115598
he said during a live stream that if you want him to write quicker, you have to help him impeach drumpf and that he can't concentrate as long as he is in office

How do you get ideas to write about?

>>12114883
It's a shame he died. Probably the last great author that was still writing sci-fi.

>>12115647

>>12115612
just finished this. damn this was good. ill save it till the 30th, but i highly recommend it if you're on the fence about reading it.

>urban fantasy
>vampires, werewolves, witches, or mythology bullshit
>teenage protagonist almost always and filled with romance
>wod is nearly 40 years old and not a single one comes close to its intriguing worldbuilding, perfect atmosphere, and depth at fleshing out cliches
I want it to be one way, but it the other way.

>>12114837
>Some assholes say litRPG is the direction of Fantasy/Sci Fi

Modern Literature is going downhill fast...

>>12115775
Wod? World of Darkness?
Unfortunately White Wolf went full tumblr and the setting has gone to complete shit.

>>12115810
It's just people trying to explain away their shit taste.

>>12115822
What's this, Marilyn Manson finally had a sex change?

>>12115829
This is really sad.

>>12115822
I gave up on it ever since Paradox got their greedy little hands on it. Those Swedish kikes ruin anything they touch - can't wait for my 10 eurobucks portrait packs and DLC totaling 500 euro. However, OWoD is more or less complete anyway, and I always thought NWoD was a bit too tryhard for me. I understand why they might've made changes for larpers and actual players of the game, but I just read the fluff for enjoyment.
I actually don't know how it's possible that a series adored by literary fans like WoD has almost zero series attached to it. Only a few by commissioned by WW themselves, which are quite bad, and a few cringy fanfics online. But nothing worthwhile. Even the 90s show was garbage. Shame. It has so much potential. That Star Wars and Warhammer have tens of decent series and WOD has none is a fucking travesty.

>>12115839
Damn, she looks great in that. Too few qt goth girls around today and too many rockabilly slags.

>>12115840
WoD was never all that consumer friendly. You can't really sell something like the Tzimisce, at least not as well as sparkly gay vampires. Besides the source material has gone to shit. It's just book after book of horribly written politically correct shit... and all that in a setting where loosing your humanity is one of the main points. Interestingly enough for all the rainbow haired xir's bumping in the night now, Mexico is still a Sabbat held shithole.
Hey maybe that Werewolf game turns out good.

>>12115847
You can't be fat and be a vampire.

>>12115862
Fat? Really? She look fine to me.
And well, I'm not sure I agree. You don't NEED to sell the Tzimisce as anything other than villains, and it's not necessary to incorporate them at all. You could easily put in a Lasombra in there, normies would lose their shit if a decent Lasombra were on-screen.
I guess I don't know much about what's going on with NWoD today. The last I saw was this a couple of days ago:
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-11-19-paradox-taking-control-of-white-wolf-after-vampire-the-masquerade-lgbtq-controversy
But now I'm not sure how to read this article if you say they were infested with LGBTQ garbage, since maybe this means Paradox is going to force them to normalize and stop putting real life politics into the games. I guess apart from being greedy as fuck, I can't think of many SJW things Paradox have done.

>>12115883
I meant that fat girls go into rockabilly.
You can always visit the general on /tg. It's just painful to read (like mages changing the reality by trolling on teh interbuttz).
I kinda gave up on the whole thing but this isn't all that surprising. Those people are simply inept.

>>12115847
>Too few qt goth girls around today and too many rockabilly slags.
goth became a fad just like punk. its not a lifestyle anymore.

>>12115901
What a nice girl. Do you think she's Malkavian?

>>12115909
Goth was never a "lifestyle".

>>12115914
No Malkavians are too crazy to be hot.

>>12115938
Have you actually met any hot girls? A solid 50% of them are batshit crazy.

what book series could you describe as asoiaf in space? the closest candidates i can think of are the original dune and luna: new moon, maybe some of the warhammer 40k novels, but they only share elements. the expanse is schlock. is there any space opera that evokes the same feeling as asoiaf?

The world would be much better if we lived on a full sized ringworld.

about halfway through the three-body problem. does it get any better?

>>12115647
life experiences

>>12115775
Vurt by Jeff Noon

>>12115254
maybe
Neuromancer
Nine Princes in Amber
The Last Unicorn
Sewer, Gas & Electric

>>12115959
Horus Heresy. There is literally nothing else that comes close.

>>12115945
I don't talk about anything involving social interactions on 4chan. That kind of topic seems to call out to spergs here.

>>12115997
The difference being that GRRM writes far, far, far (insert as many far's as needed) better.

>>12115945
crazy girls are great in bed tho

>>12116016
>The difference being that GRRM writes far, far, far (insert as many far's as needed) better.
Are we really going to criticize books for prose competency in /sffg/? Plus, Horus Heresy is not that bad. It depends on the author, but compared to some of the shit that's praised in this general (Sanderson, Rothfuss) and that's available from Black Library, it fares quite well by comparison.
I would say GRRM is probably the best third person limited author there is writing fantasy, so comparing anyone to him seems unfair. He's a master at the craft. The only other fantasy writer I've seen with notable prose has been Bakker (apart from the godawful battle scenes where he turns into fucking Herodotus).

>>12116039
Yes it is that bad. It has all of the Black Library big names. Names which are bad enough on their own but put together? There is only so many times you can describe how ornate a suit of power armor is and they have clearly passed that number.

>>12115990
It'd probably not take that much longer for a ringworld to overpopulate, but you'd be even less capable of affecting or changing anything

>>12115991
Depends on who you ask. It certainly gets different. I personally loved the the flashbacks and connections to Chinese history.

>>12116068
Maybe if you binge them all in a row. But I never noticed that becoming problematic for me. I also skipped plenty of the bad ones. However, overall, the story and characters are well-worth the time investment.

>>12116102
>muh story
>muh characters
if you can't actually say there's anything good about a book then why bother with it?

>>12116107
>the series has a great story and great characters
>this is not an argument for reading /sffg/
Acting like an elitist in a fantasy general. What a fucking autist you are.

>>12115997
Thanks, downloaded it.

>>12116102
It's 50+ books written by an assortment of bad to mediocre writers with only Dan Abnett standing out. Really not worth the time or effort.
As far as fluff goes, Wh40k is right there with any other big franchise like Star Wars, Gaylo or what have you. You have to be a fan to stomach most of the output. I am not that much of a fan.

>>12116137
Just a reminder, but you can skip around after the first three books depending on what you want to focus on. While there is a timeline most of them follow, a lot of the time you can get an idea of what's going on even without reading them in order. But don't take anyone's word as law, since there's varying opinion on what's good and what isn't. For example, many think #5 is skippable, while others find it one of the best in the series. Probably depends on what you're looking for.
>>12116141
>Dan Abnett
His books are literally the worst in the series, get the fuck out of here. You clearly have no idea what the fuck you're talking about. Stop sucking Abnett's dick. Legion and Prospero Burns are some of the worst fucking books in the whole of Horus Heresy. It's clear that you have never read enough of this series to have a valid opinion, so why even bother?
>Wh40k is right there with any other big franchise like Star Wars, Gaylo or what have you. You have to be a fan to stomach most of the output. I am not that much of a fan.
Wrong again. I hated Dawn of War and more or less anything I touched related to 40K (granted, I still hate 40k and find it boring as fuck). But Horus Heresy I love despite its flaws. Any fucking time I hear anyone talking badly about it on here I hear the same regurgitated shit I've heard from others that haven't read it or maybe read a few of the books out of context because muh legion fanboyism. The mere fact that you think Dan Abnett produced good work for the series is embarrassing.

>>12116155
Anon why are you getting mad at me for lack of talented authors at Black Library? I wish there were more quality series like Gaunt's Ghosts but Horus Heresy can not even approach it it terms of the story, characters and quality of writing,

>>12116191
Gaunt's Ghosts is shit.

>>12115862
>You can't be fat and be a vampire
This just shows you don't read. There is a book about a fat vampire.

>>12115228
You're projecting, yurocuck. Men defending women from evil is a trope as old as time. I'm sorry your degenerate brain has difficulty fathoming this without attaching your own cuckold fetish onto it.

>>12115615
wtf I love Trump now

Rothfuss should never be allowed to write again

>>12116381
What are you even doing in here Americlap? You guys don't read, "reading is for faggots" after all, remember?
Please leave our general and meme in the college threads.

>>12116396
>doesn't even deny it
That's the first step in the right direction. Now please don't shit up this general with anymore of your faggotry.

>>12116396
Don't be such a sissy fag anon.

>>12116435
It would just gas you if I stooped to your level.

>>12116524
Those are the same thing.

>>12116536
>Those are the same thing.
You would know best wouldn't you?

>>12116541
REKT

>>12116039
Fuck I actually liked the battlescenes from Bakker.

>>12116696
Then go read ancient history. They're all depicted that way. It's better than anything you'll find on here anyway.

is dune all about big worms

>>12116696
>I actually liked the battlescenes from Bakker

>>12116724
it's about Muslims in space

>>12116726
explain

>>12116724
No. Not at all. If you've read Prince of Nothing, it's a lot like that except sci-fi.
PoN is literally Dune + LotR
>ebin mc that's smarter than everyone else and manipulating them with his mindtricks

>>12116742
Pls don't use that MC shit. That's for weebs.

>>12116696
>death came swirling down

>>12116696
He somehow managed to make a fight between a naked witch wielding a magical sword and an ancient, massive dragon while not-orcs fire arrows at her boring as shit.

>>12116817
Battle sequences are boring by default

>>12116837
Not in anime.

Made the mistake of reading The Warded Man and Prince of Thorns back to back, and consequently want to neck myself. To the anon that asked in the last thread, stay the fuck away from the Demon Cycle. Lawrence at least has enough there that his later series may improve, but I'm done with Jorg.

Going to try out Dave Duncan next. He died recently, I think.

>>12116817
That was a really good fight. So was him telefragging the prophetess

>>12116541
>>12116642
>this is great banter in Amerigola

>>12116963
And the best thing is we don't need a license for it.

Just finished pic related and really enjoyed it. Except for the epilogue, would really recommend if you're into the foundation series, dogs, or being depressed.

>>12116728
Sand people explode out of the desert, conquer the galaxy and bring progress to a halt.

>>12115611
>>12115615
jesus christ this is some pathetic shit right here
hope trump gets four more years just to stop this guy from getting paychecks

So how does it feel to be a pleb? How does it feel when you consciously make the decision to read plebian authors like Rothfuss, Sanderson, Tchaikovsky, or Bakker? Is it that you're aware that this makes you a basic pleb but do it anyway, or is it that you genuinely think these authors are good and that you should keep up with the popular stuff?

>>12117182
Is this a copypasta?

>>12116039
>GRRM
>master of his craft
he's done some good work in the past but the man has clearly lost the plot

>>12117221
what are you a trump supporter or something?

>>12116016
>>12116039
GRRM is just Baby's First Fantasy book

>>12116987
Patrician and Dogpilled

>>12117278
Imbecile. Name better authors. And don't you dare just write Tolkien or some shit. I mean recent ones.

>>12117297
*blocks your path*

>>12117297
Not him but why limit it to recent ones? The old books don't disappear just because the authors might be dead.
Personally I would say Peake is the best fantasy writer of all time. Maybe could argue Wolfe as well.

>>12117297
>He only reads Modern Fantasy

>>12117309
>Guy-Gavriel-Kay
Haven't read him, so you're going to have to give me some of his writing to try out.
>>12117317
>>12117333
I don't, you braindead fucking monkeys, but I'm not going to go compare two completely different things. It's incredible how many banal losers wanting that love to appear elitist end up in /sffg/.

>>12117317
Explain to me in detail what makes Peake's writing good and Martin's bad. And if you try to shitpost I won't even respond, so at least make an effort to put together something cohesive.

This fucker https://williamscorner.blog/ copied what people were saying in the open thread and wrote about it. No wonder it took him so long. He was waiting for his users to write the fucking book for him. So many fucking things in those previews are in the fucking forums. Lazy fuck.

>>12117297
hobb

Is Scott Sigler's Infected trilogy worth a read?

>>12116981
No, you just pay taxes for it.

>>12117150
>>>/pol/

>>12117508
>>>/lgbt/

>>12117360
While endemic to the whole of 4chan I like to call this elitist posturing the /mu syndrome.

>>12117309
Based anon

>>12117150
>paychecks

>>12117508
go fucking kys

Just finished what must be the 10th reading of picrelated, audiobooks and translations included. Why is it so good, sci-bros?

>>12115702
> Probably the last great author that was still writing sci-fi.
U w0 m8?
Banks was pulp trash tier author. Also his prose was awful and convoluted.

>>12116868
Lawrence's second series is essentially a Flashman knockoff in the same universe as Prince of Thorns, though Jorg doesn't really feature in any meaningful way.

It's hardly the height of literature, but I'm the type to buy just about anything reminiscent of Flashman, and definitely prefer that sort of protagonist over muh edgy teen badass Jorg.

Listened to about half of it in audio format because I had a long drive, and while I don't normally go for audiobooks the narrator was actually rather good.

>>12117460
It's ok, Nocturnal is better.

>>12116728
It's literally muslims in space. A bunch of muslims, a sand planet and a SF/F setting.

It's a great read too.

>>12115959
I heard Cyteen and Downbelow Station are good.

>>12116751
Based Akikusa Peperon poster

>>12115997
Horus Heresy kinda makes the comparison simply by being so vast. It varies a lot on book-by-book basis to classify as "space opera" on the whole.

>>12114837
>Did science fiction and fantasy peak already? If yes, when did it peak?
Define "peak". Fantasy is tired as fuck at this point if you just want to repackage LotR and D&D, but there's infinite potential there by definition of it being fantasy. SF is in a better place by comparison considering it requires somewhat more initial work from the get-go versus "fantasy landmass with dwarfs hating elves" setup.

>Who would win in a fight, Kirk in his prime or young Picard?
Kirk would whoop Picard. How is that even a question? Picard is a diplomatic glass cannon with archeology for a hobby.

>New book covers are bad. This isn't open for debate.
Can't argue with that. Give back old artists.

>>12118156
I genuinely think HH is one of the best stories ever told. Being a big fan of tragedy and the antiquity might have something to do with it though, as I've yet to read a single other thing that I'd qualify as a tragedy in the proper sense of the word. How it all came together from a bunch of random bullshit, I have no idea, but it's glorious that it did. Really, my only complaint about it is that Horus is an awful caricature. I don't even understand why, because so many characters have depth to them. But where everyone else has a dozen layers to them, Horus just becomes a Saturday morning cartoon villain by the end. I guess that's because he's not a big figure in 40k overall, but they really could've thought it through a little better...
>>12118195
> Fantasy is tired as fuck at this point if you just want to repackage LotR and D&D, but there's infinite potential there by definition of it being fantasy
But for the vast majority of people that's what fantasy is - repackaged LotR. I personally doubt that's ever going to go away within our lifetimes.

>>12118254
>I genuinely think HH is one of the best stories ever told.

>>12118254
>But for the vast majority of people that's what fantasy is - repackaged LotR
People's endurance always baffles me. I hope new weird takes root and we get more novels like that. Fuck urban fantasy too.

>>12117785
> U w0 m8?
> his prose was awful
oh the irony

>>12114883
>>12115702
>>12117785
>>12118288
Those books are terrible pulp trash.

>>12117781
Maybe every author has that one great book in them because everything he wrote after Hyperion was mediocre at best.

>>12118275
>People's endurance always baffles me.

It's really not complicated - they're not genre enthusiasts who have read everything under the sun to understand these obvious patterns. Someone who reads one or two fantasy books each year doesn't have enough exposure to connect the dots in such a way, especially if he's only reading greats that got recommended to him.

>>12118156
Horus Heresy is not a space opera. It's more along the lines of "ungrateful son throws a temper tantrum" kind of YA novels.

>>12118254
>I genuinely think HH is one of the best stories ever told.

>>12118266
>>12118318
Stupid niggers. Maybe make an argument and I'll respond when I wake up, if you're lucky. I love to talk HH.
>>12118275
New weird sucks ass dude.
>wow everything is sooooooo strange
>but they all act like middle-class american whiteys
Fuck that shit. I'd take dwarves and elves written with a distinct culture over that trash anyday.

>>12117785
>>12118298
Please explain what you mean by 'pulp trash' there as it doesn't seem to be the same definition as what the rest of the English speaking world uses.

>>12118328
>>wow everything is sooooooo strange
>>but they all act like middle-class american whiteys
I haven't read anything new weird, that sounds awful desu.

>>12118328
>I love to talk HH.
Yeah that's the issue here.

Is there any fantasy that actually does a good job portraying medieval life?

>>12116987
fuck i might have to read it

>>12118303
Nah most authors have 0 good books in them.

>>12118356
I'd rather have him talk about that than Sandersonfagging.

>>12118583
Hello horusfag, please stop shitting up our general. No one cares about your blood god.

>>12118298
>Those books are terrible pulp trash.

Just read picrelated, really enjoyed it.

Anyone else read this?

>>12118411
Sometimes it's better to read historical fiction like The Last Kingdom or Hild, which are both great.

>>12115647
Anyone?

>>12118725
I've ran out of historical events

Anyone got Lovecraft's letters in epub/mobi?

Gimme good SFF books written in first person perspective.

>>12115588
>he sold us under the bus
that's beautiful.

>>12118931
AMBER
M
B
E
R

>>12116868
I highly recommend East of January over anything else Dave Duncan ever wrote.

>>12118923
I'm overflowing with ideas. If I ever started writing them I wouldn't have enough years left to get them all down. If I ever started writing them.

https://twitter.com/BrianTMcClellan/status/1065305784538427393

Powder Mage author taking a dump on GRMM

>>12115647
write something that you actually care about so that you're emotionally invested. alternately, borrow some of your favorite ideas but put your own personal spin on it.

>>12118931
Eternal Champion and Phoenix in Obsidian

>>12119024
Twater tl;dr.

When was the last time you enjoyed a book this much?

>>12119063
I'm too intelligent to enjoy books. I see tremendous flaws in everything I read.

>>12119052
It's very cautious -- I wouldn't call it taking a dump on him. He just brings up grum's actual contract with the publisher and his implied contract with readers (by starting a story and asking them to invest themselves in it). Nothing you haven't seen. There is another good comment in the thread about how it also harms other authors, since once-burned fans don't want to start a series before it's finished anymore.

>>12119063
I can't remember

Anyone read Wayfarers by Chambers? Is it good? The blurb sounds kind of lame.

>>12119024
Powder Sage

>>12119069
Start writing, even if just a little. I'm not being a dick, it will seriously help you appreciate non-perfect authors.

>>12119024
>Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings ended with a definitive, world-changing battle, one that drew a clear line between what came before and what would come after for the world, but it’s impossible to imagine a similarly conclusive ending for Westeros and Essos. Martin’s world, not unlike our own, just doesn’t seem to work that way:
Who is this brainlet?

>>12119063
Jezel was bestboy until he started carrying about commoners.

>check lit reccomended
>find The Swordbearer under epic fantasy
>its one book
>400 pages
Am I missing something? It definitely ends on a cliff hanger with a fuck ton of plot hooks but theres no sequel?
/lit/ are you having a laugh?

>>12119069
gay

>>12119063
Couple of weeks ago. It was a short story/novella though. Was fun and humorous in that classic dry, timeless style and not the godawful modern snarky bullshit style. It was the perfect antidote after reading Bakker's Slog of Slogs.

>>12119266
More like The SNOREbearer..

>>12119366
>It was a short story/novella though. Was fun and humorous in that classic dry, timeless style and not the godawful modern snarky bullshit style.
Is it a quiz? Why not just say the title

>>12115048
Suh-Fuh-Fuh-Guh

>>12119391
No thank you. I prefer to keep it to myself.

>>12119421
Bet you keep your virginity to yourself too

>>12119429
Of course I do.

>>12119421
Because it didn't happen

>>12119460
Exactly. Made the whole thing up.

>>12115048
"Science Fiction and Fantasy General Thread on 4channel.org's (previously 4chan.org's) literature board, commonly abbreviated as /lit/ (the slashes are silent)."

>>12118931
Black Company

>>12118195
>SF is in a better place by comparison considering it requires somewhat more initial work from the get-go versus "fantasy landmass with dwarfs hating elves" setup.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess you haven't read much fantasy since, say, the early 90s.

>>12115588
I've said for a long time that Rothfuss is basically playing a game of lazy author chicken with GRRM to see who can stall their highly anticipated installment the longest.

To be honest though I have no idea if anyone even still takes Rothfuss seriously, how long has it been since he published anything? 10 years? His big claim to fame is a trilogy he never finished. GRRM at least had decades of writing under his belt before he basically retired off a 5/7 book series.

Anybody got a epub of Super Sales 3?

>>12119266
Idk how those charts were made but there's a bunch of things that need cutting.
>4 Weis Hickman books
>2 David Eddings
>Creatures of Light and Darkness instead of Lord of Light
>no grimderp section

>>12118926
Why is there a piece of machinery in the middle holding them together?

>>12119876
Anon please stop begging. It's physically hurting me seeing a once proud reader debasing himself for a hanc out. Desist, please.

will i ever find the holy grail of sci fi books that im searching for

>>12120188
>saved
not if you're looking for something specific to satisfy your fetishes.

>>12120201
im searching for a story that has a specific combination of worldbuilding and storytelling tropes, as well as a particular overriding philosophy. preferrably written with beautiful prose. i'm constantly disappointed by everything i read because it doesn't stack up against this imaginary book. it's like i've developed oneitis for an unwritten masterpiece.

>>12120208
Get writing, faggot.

>>12120208
Yeah that's what I meant by fetishes. I know so many things are collaborative these days and authors react to fan feedback but when I see people asking for really specific recommendations well that's just not how creativity actually works. If you have refined tastes, books that hit you hard are rare. I don't have a top 20 list because there aren't enough books that deserve the cut. What are books that have come close for you?
This is guy >>12120219 is correct. Altho it will take a long time for you to git gud because that's how skills are learned. (Protip, even then most writers are dissatisfied with their work.)

Anyone know a good place to find audiobooks for free? I have a lot of downtime at work but only for my ears.

>>12120219
>>12120231
yeah after i came to the conclusion that this book doesn't exist, i started trying to write it myslef. i've been trying for years now but it always slips away from me, or my expectations evolve and my writing is never good enough to match them. throw in some issues in my personal life and youve got a recipe for a book never being written. it's like trying to shit out the most stubborn turd you can imagine. i really wish someone else would write it first so that i don't have to.

if i could do justice to this book the way i imagine it, though, i could fucking die happy right then

anyone here have dune omnibus? it's hard to search for stuff on phone

what do you guys think of isaac asimov?

>>12120355
who?

>>12120355
Hated his books

>>12120188
For your sake, hopefully not anon. Satisfaction is the death of desire.

>>12120501
Desire is the origin of all suffering.

>>12120513
Without character motivation, you don't have a story.

>>12120355
I only read Foundation. It's typical of hard sf: dry style but good ideas

>>12117804
That's good to hear, I enjoyed Flashman and I'm willing to give Lawrence another shot. I actually have Red Sister kicking around my bookshelves somewhere though, so that may end up being the port of call.

>>12118962
Funnily enough, the book I ordered was West of January! I guess that's the one you meant? It looks good, I'm looking forward to trying it out.

>>12119266
Some of the charts have not been updated in years.

>>12120355
Innovative back in the day, boring as fuck to read.

Any fantasy books that are tragic in premise and undertones but are carried by cheerful and happy characters, possibly too stupid to realize how much shit they're in? Or just any books driven by well written and charming characters.

>>12120755
The Death Discworld books? Charming characters all around.

>>12119063

Like two weeks ago when I read Call of the Wild by Jack London, what a fucking spectacular book.

Been reading a lot of Lem lately. I'm not that into sci-fi or fantasy, but I absolutely love Lem and his books, especially Tales of Pirx the Pilot and More Tales of Pirx the Pilot. They are nothing short of brilliant!

Authors similar in style to Jack Vance?

>>12114938
Count me in.

>>12120846
How do I get started with discworld?

Every day I wake up the first thing I do is look up news of Winds' release. Why can't this fat fuck write faster? The only time I get attached to a series and it had to be this one. It's not fair bros.

>>12121512
You don't, it's fucking SHIT.
>le quirky british humor

>>12121512
You can pick a random book, or start with a sub-series that interests you, or go in order of publication. A common recommendation on where to start is Guards! Guards!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_UQGD7FkEI
Don't listen to that other grumpy poster. He seems to be in a sad place.

>>12121541
>Don't listen to that other grumpy poster. He seems to be in a sad place.
I'm in a good place, m8. And I'm entitled to an opinion, I must've read like 10 of them. And I fucking despised Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as well. This is Reddit tier humor and you know it.

>>12121532
But he released a new book just a few days ago. More than some authors.

>>12120188
Okay, I know hubble, iss, lhc, curiosity and vla.
What is iter, lisa and jwst?

>>12121553
>targaryen lore
I couldn't even get myself to give a fuck about the one that came before it either. World of Ice and Fire or whatever? As much as I love ASoIaF, I do not love it for the worldbuilding. It's one of the laziest versions of fantasy Europe ever. But there's still going to be autists parsing through every word of these ghost-written books to find evidence for their pet theory about what will happen in the last book that'll never even get written. I don't even care about the final book. I just want to see how Stannis goes out.

>>12121552
>Reddit tier humor
What did you mean by this?
Anyway you're entitled to dislike any books, subjectively. Objectively however, the general consensus is that Discworld books are pretty good. That doesn't mean everyone likes them, but a lot of people do. Why not let people make up their own mind, instead of saying that the books are buzzword buzzword shit.

>>12121559
I'll tell you how
off screen

>>12121561
>What did you mean by this?
It's simple-minded while trying hard to appear dry. Same as just about every other sort of abysmal comedy the British have produced. The have no wit whatever, it's always
>lol randumb!!!
>isn't this awkwward omggg XDDD
It's kind of how the Japanese are retards that laugh hardest at slapstick comedy. Must be something about being trapped on an island that turns people donkey-brained idiots.

>>12121561
A lot of people also like Rothfuss and lotr.
Just because people don't give a fuck to argue with you, means that they agree.

>>12121586
Are you... implying Tolkien is as bad as Rothfuss? Where are you going with this?

>>12121588
Did I say Tolkien? I said lotr. The hobbit was really good.

>>12121595
YOU FUCKING CUNT YOU TAKE THAT BACK

>>12115048
San Dah Fag Hak

>>12121532
Yeeeeeah.

>>12121654
> The cover of Scott Lynch’s upcoming The Thorn of Emberlain. He hopes to have the book in stores by the end of 2015.

>>12121659
So the big question is, of course, what is the latest on Thorn of Emberlain?

We’ve had the cover revealed in the past couple weeks and Gollancz has basically hinted/commited to a 2015 release, so we have our fingers crossed. And unless I get hit by a bus, I’m very confident that it’s going to get a very late 2015 release. Late Autumn. I don’t know if it will be October or November. But late Autumn.

It’s not the one year gap I wanted since Republic of Thieves, but two years compared to five or six? Or seven or eight? I will keep on ratcheting it down and I promise to do better next time.

Well, you’re not in Patrick Rothfuss or George R.R. Martin range…

I’m fairly confident… Pat has outright said on Twitter that he’s not going to be releasing The Doors of Stone in 2015. It’s possible he’s playing a deep game — Pat’s not quite a prankster, but he does have it in him to give people a burst of excited joy. So I wouldn’t be completely surprised. But if we take him at face value it won’t be 2015.

George… I love him dearly, but who knows. I’m fairly confident I’ll beat both of them. So hey, if the two most popular and gigantic fantasy series on planet Earth aren’t out for Christmas, why not go for number 15 or 16?

>>12121659
>>12121664
After the last fedora thieves book who cares anymore, Republic of Thieves was an absolute slog. He put out a pretty great first book but they way they've trended since why would I want to read the fourth.

I can't be the only one that thinks this.

>>12121532
I am amazed by what could possibly be taking him that long. In fact, that seems to apply to most fantasy authors who give into writing long series. It just makes notable exceptions like Erikson stand out all the more, for example.

>ten books in just over ten years

>>12121681
The difference between Erikson and GRRM is one doesn't spend his days dreaming of rance dressing, turkish pornstars and NFL wild card slots.

>>12121692
don't forget rambling about drumpf

>>12121692
for once I'm glad to be in the dark

>>12121559
Honestly, if you want politicking and scheming just read up The Accursed Kings series. Yeah, GRRM used War of the Roses for real life analogue premise, but it's the above where what fans really like actually comes from.

>>12121692
Another difference is that GRRM's prose and storytelling is actually good.

>>12121719
I read it, and I found it excruciatingly boring and gave up. In general, even though I'm from /his/ I'm not a fan of historical fiction. I'd rather just read about the real events. The only good historical fiction I've read was one book called The Eagle in the Snow. That and Sven Hassel books were comfy when I was young.
And I don't think I enjoy GRRM because of scheming or anything like that. He's just very good at writing third person and knows how to get you attached to people and how to build connections between all of the characters.

>>12121730
Sunset found her squatting in the grass, groaning. Every stool was looser than the one before, and smelled fouler. By the time the moon came up, she was shitting brown water. The more she drank the more she shat, but the more she shat, the thirstier she grew.

>>12121748
just look at that fat fucking disgusting goblin of a man, you just know he was mashing his stubby cock while writing that little gem

>>12121748
Yeah, wow, I'm so impressed by your criticism. Go fuck yourself you cockroach, and bring a real argument next time.

>>12121743
Have you tried Masters of Rome?

I recently finished reading Noumenon and Noumenon Infinity by Marina Lostetter.

In 2088 an anstrophysicist discovers a star that is strobing and proposes the creation of a deep-space mission to find out whether the star is a weird natural phenomenon, or something manufactured.

So he ends up securing funding for an expedition using a generation ship, except instead of people having kids they use clones of the most genetically fit people for the job.

In the books they have faster than lightspeed travel but it still takes them 400 years to get to the star and time passes faster on Earth compared to them when they're traveling (2000 years).

The books were pretty interesting in how they subverted tropes and they focused more on the relationships between people and the artificial intelligence that resides on board.

The structure of the story is that it is more of a series of vingettes in which a first person POV is given to a different character each time.

8/10

>>12121830
I should add that I haven't read a book since I was 18 and I'm 28 now. I ended up buying a bunch of books to rekindle my old passion of reading.

Heres what I bought (tell me if I fucked up):

Red Mars
Green Mars
Blue Mars
Aurora

^ all by Kim Stanley Robinson

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Apocalypse Z by Manel Loureiro

Gate Crashers by Patrick S. Tomlinson

Gnomon by Nick Harkaway

My main problem is that a lot of books that I see seem to have a shitty premise or be set in worlds that I don't sound interesting to me so I don't give them a chance.

>>12121761
>>12121748
topkek

>>12121748

Is Poppy Wars any good? It seems to be the new 'you gotta check this unique and amazing fantasy author out' my friends are telling me about. Their taste isn't always the best.

>>12121828
I have. I'm not a big fan of books that involve people I'm already familiar with and have an image of built up in my head. To me it's no different than going and reading up on fanfic. The only way for me to enjoy it is if they either pick some nobody mentioned in one line of a text or make up a character altogether. This doesn't bother me so much with books and shows, though. I love HBO's Rome even though it's historically bullshit.
Plus,
>reading female authors
>reading HISTORY interpreted by female authors
The only thing women are good at writing is suggestively gay relationships. I fucking love Anne Rice.

>>12121927
I meant movies and shows*

>>12121922
>muh strong criminal girl wif heart of gold
>muh ancient mysticism good
>muh colonialism bad

There I just saved you a read, feel free to thank me later.

>>12121927
>. I fucking love Anne Rice.
So you enjoyed her tome mayflower series? The witching hour ?

>>12121851
>All Systems Red by Martha Wells
That's preddy gud

>>12121955
Nah, I only read Interview a couple others. Think Lestat. I don't think I've ever read the full works of any author, except maybe McCarthy.

>>12121927
Colleen is an honorary man.

>>12122008
Did you like them that much? Admittedly I was impressed with how authentic it felt, I just kinda put it down by accident and never picked it up again. On the other hand, someone recommended me God of War or something like that, a book about Alexander, and I cringed from the prologue onward almost every page. GOOOOOD LOOORD.

>>12121885
you think thats bad?
see pick related. i dont even know where this is from.

>>12122065
Whoever wrote it, they have a big future at Obsidian if they apply.

>>12122095
i swear to god nu-obsidian is such a shitshow.
im kinda glad they got bought by microsoft. it'd probably speed up the inevitable death of obsidian.

>>12122105
>follow the release of torment: tides of numenera
>cue announcement that Patrick Rothfuss is joining as a writer
s.m.h. new rpgs are awful

>>12122105
>be me
>love crpgs
>not a big fan of pillars lore
>but fuck i love the fluff on this eothas guy
>"If they use this in the sequel, it's going to be amazing."
Deadfire was the biggest disappointment of my life thus far. I mean, I could've brushed aside all the SJW side quests and romances and shit. But how do you take the only cool character in the whole setting and ruin the main story in such a way? That's just fucked up.
At least Kingmaker was a nice surprise.
>>12122113
I didn't even need to look up which character he wrote. Rin was so fucking awful. Honestly, that game didn't have a single cool character. But the atmosphere was alright. It could've been a great game if it had actual gameplay. I'd almost call it a glorified demo.

>>12120610
Hah, I remebered it was (direction) of (month), surprised I got that close. I may be biased since I first read it when I was 12, but it held up pretty good when I found it in a thrift store last summer.

>>12122117
I ended up never playing the game because Rothfuss was in it

>>12122117
>At least Kingmaker was a nice surprise.
i agree that kingmaker was nice. but honestly i just find myself going back to divinity os2. sure the writing is not on par with old obsidian but the gameplay and freedom of choices are fantastic. it would be so fucking great if old obsidian could have done the writing for the divinity games.
on a sidenote. its a damn shame that amy henning isnt doing any active writing anymore for games. the legacy of kain games had some of the most excellent writing i have ever witnessed in videogames.
i mean just look at the VA takes.

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

>>12122165
whoops link got cut for some reason.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWM_Vqh8qAg

>>12121851
Red Mars can be dry and I didn't like the main characters but I still liked the hard sf parts.
All Systems Red is fun.

>>12121137
Schuyler Hernstrom

>>12122165
>>12122170
My nigger. I love Legacy of Kain too. It's probably my favorite story in a game bar none. Having said that, credit has to go to Denis Dyack and others for creating Kain in the first place.
Honestly, God of War is the only thing that comes close for me, though I guess I'll see how the whole trilogy (assuming it is one) shapes up. This new God of War seriously blew me away. Best storytelling since LoK a far as I'm concerned - powerful, heartfelt, and thoroughly competent. I was just amazed at how much detail they squeezed out of the Eddas while weaving a whole new story in that setting while respecting that everything that came with the original. To say that it was the best fantasy experience I've had this decade is probably an understatement. Made me happy I lived long enough to get to play it.
But, yeah, I really miss Legacy of Kain. I can't believe the only other two games we got was a fucking cancelled reboot and some multiplayer game. What the fuck.

>>12122203
>This new God of War seriously blew me away. Best storytelling since LoK a far as I'm concerned
thats all because of christopher judge. all i visualised while playing that was tea'lc and his son ra'el. it was like playing a stargate game in a fantasy setting with only jaffa episdes.
>But, yeah, I really miss Legacy of Kain. I can't believe the only other two games we got was a fucking cancelled reboot and some multiplayer game. What the fuck.
its because of money. multiplayer games are big money so they wanted to milk the lok franchise and made nosgoth.
vidya and book industry are really similar in that fashion.

>>12122213
>thats all because of christopher judge
He was truly great. And I loved Jeremy Davies ever since he was on Lost as well.
>wanted to milk the lok
How do you milk a dead franchise, though? There hasn't been a LoK game in ages, and I don't think many people remember it as fondly as we do. To them it's just 'that vampire game with cool voice acting.' It was a terrible idea. But then again, I just read today that Blizzard seriously considered making Diablo a Souls-like game, so I'm pretty sure they're all scratching their heads and grasping for straws at this point as the industry is burning around them.
The only thing I hope for right now is that we get to see another Dragon Age someday. My worst fear is that either one doesn't come out, or that they have the awful idea of turning it into an MMO. I loved Origins, and I found 2 and Inquisition... tolerable. They had their strong moments.

>>12122239
>The only thing I hope for right now is that we get to see another Dragon Age
after the disaster that was inquisition and then andromeda? i dont think its happening any time soon. especially because anthem doesnt look like it will have any of biowares storytelling.
its going to be an online only coop shooter with a bare hint of a narrative in between grinding missions in the vain of monster hunter.
not to mention the bioware studio that was responsible for andromeda was full of idiots and has been since then dissolved. many key figures from the older bioware days also "suddenly" quit during or right after andromedas development. which probably contributed in anthems radical departure from typical bioware games.

>>12122272
Inquisition really wasn't that much of a disaster. I hated the MMO-type zoning, but, I enjoyed the story and the characters apart from the annoying elves. And it was nice to see Morrigan again.
But yeah, Anthem is garbage, and a guy that worked on Inquisition made some Twitter post a while back saying goodbye in a way that did not bode well for a future Dragon Age. Still, it's a known IP with a fuckton of fans, both among actual fantasy people and even Tumblrites now. EA can't let it rot forever.
Anthem is going to bomb 100%

>>12120610
Heard Red Sister had some YA vibes, but that may be more due to young female protagonist and educational institution setting than anything else. Don't have any firsthand knowledge as I haven't read it yet.

If you like Flashman and your main issue with Thorns was Jorg (as opposed to setting or Lawrence's technical ability etc), Prince of Fools is definitely worth giving a shot.

>>12120755
Dilvish the Damned

>>12122113
RPG Codex is the only video game webiste where even a fraction of the users understand this.

Surprisingly adequate SFF book taste there too.

>>12122314
I've said that Red Sister has some YA overtones when it's come up here in the past. It's partly like you guessed, the first book the main character is a child and at a school, but also Lawrence really dialed back the edge from his first two series for this one. I'd hesitate to let a 12 year old read Broken Empire or Red Queen's War, but I'd have no problem with Red Sister.

>>12121851
> Aurora
This is the best 2015 sf book.

>>12122386
I'll probably give it a shot then.

I didn't mind the edge so much in Red Queen's War since the protagonist himself wasn't a Jorg-tier edgelord. His reaction to edgy goings-on was a much more human 'Well fuck me dead, that's horrific, I'm gonna run as far away as possible' sort of deal. But yeah, probably wouldn't recommend it to a 12 yr old.

Then again when I was 11 I read Clavell's Shogun—which contained delightful stuff like a fat Japanese lord having a threesome with a boy and girl prostitute while listening to the sound of a European prisoner getting boiled to death outside—and look at the well-adjusted and functional 4chan shitposter I am today!

>>12121137
Matthew Hughes

>>12122284
Inquisition was shit. SHIT!

Where is the Daniel Black 4 ebook?

>>12122425
Clavell's books are hard to recommend to younger readers not cause of the sexual stuff, which my parents had no problem with me reading (my mother actually told me to read Tai Pan when I was 12), but because they're fairly dense and there's a lot of character stuff going on that a young reader won't really relate to. I got way more out of reading Shogun, Tai Pan, and Gaijin as an adult than when I read them as a young teen, though I will say that Shogun's twist ending (it was a twist for me at 13 at any rate) blew my adolescent mind.

>>12122706
9 days away.

>>12119729
I'd say the problem is opposite and he has read everything. Makes you jaded.

>>12122779
Hardly. Fantasy has moved on from Tolkien in a big way, only somebody who stopped reading in the 90s still thinks it's all about orcs and elves and shit.

>>12122823
Any fantasy books about loving a fish girl?

>>12122845

>>12122860
>read about it on goodreads
>it's harem

>>12122823
What is it about then

>>12122880
Bright movie would the most accurate way to describe fantasy today

>>12122065
That's a Disney Star Wars book.

>>12123073
So still all about orcs and elves and shit

Except elves are rich ppl and orcs are ghetto black ppl

But for some reason there are also normal ghetto black ppl around so who knows what the fuck the orcs are

>>12123074
Haha that boyo doesn't realize the Rebel Alliance is a reactionary counterrevolutionary movement led mostly by the former regime's aristocracy, and filled with soldiers who joined because the Empire was too commie:
"What good is all your uncle's work if it's taken over by the Empire?...You know they're starting to nationalize commerce in the central systems...it won't be long before your uncle is merely a tenant, slaving for the greater glory of the Empire." - Luke's bro Biggs who was his entire inspiration to join up.

It's an organization which exists purely to reassert traditional way of life and values under assault by a New Order.

>>12123074
god what I would do to punch this virtue signaling idiot in the throat

>>12123074
How could you write gays in without it being so obvious and distracting?

>>12123217
I'd argue that trying make it non-obvious/not distracting defeats the point like 80% of the time, the important thing is to make sure it doesn't derail everything else

>>12114837
Is this series worth getting into? How does it compare to say His Dark Materials or LOTR?

>>12115588
I read the first 3 or 4 chapters of F&B. I'd have to look it up, but I think he just (barely) rewrote parts of "A World of Ice and Fire".

>>12123074
atleast the emperor makes the transports run on time and provides healthcare benefits and family incentives.

>>12117297
*gobs in your glass*

>>12123377
The first book is good, but you should pretend the sequels don't exist.

>>12118715
Le Guin and Cherry are generally very good. Not for fast actionentertainment, mind, but literary good. Their books will probably end up as TV/streaming series once (relative) production costs decrease even further. I rue the day.

>>12119063
Honestly, probably the last (adult) Abercrombie book I read.

>>12120188
Maybe.

>>12121692
But isn't Lundin Canadian? Why would he care about The Orange Beast?

>>12121553
Isn't it just a rehash of AWOIAF?

>>12123436
Way to cuck him out from the good ones and make him hate le Guin

>mfw you filthy anglos will never be able to get your filthy paws on pic related, the best modern fiction author
>smug_frog.jpg

>>12123377
Wizard of earthsea and farthest shore are god-tier. Tombs of atuan is a bit behind. Rest of earthsea, don't bother.
Also comparing leguin and tolkien to pullmann is frankly insulting.

>>12122880
grimderp and YA

>>12123533
>best modern fiction author
Sorry anon, King Guy blows this literal who out of the water.

>>12123551
>Also comparing leguin and tolkien to pullmann is frankly insulting.
insulting to pullman? or tolkien?

>>12123660
What does the king of jerusalem have to do with modern fiction?

>>12123664
>he has to ask
yikes.

>>12121969
Nice, yeah I heard a lot of good things about it. The premise sounded kind of lame but since people said it was awesome I figured that the premise just didn't do it justice.

>>12122171
Seems to be a common critique of all of his work

Is John Carter any good?

>>12122880
You got your gritty political intrigue also there's zombies or dragons or whatever fantasy inspired by GRRM, your Sandersonian stories built around a high concept setting with cardboard characters, your heroic fantasy about callow youths rising to slay evil lords but now in an obligatory non-European-inspired setting (China is the current fad), so-called "military fantasy" of the sort pioneered by Glen Cook in the 80s, your fantasy-that's-actually-a-scifi predictable twist stories, and of course your sweeping faux-historical epics.

Nary an elf or dwarf to be seen in most of the hottest names in fantasy of the last 20 years.

>>12122845

>>12123377
Earthsea and Tombs are fantastic. Tombs can almost be read as a stand-alone story. The Farthest Shore is good also.
Since it seems to be under most peoples' radars, the new His Dark Materials book (yes NEW, it's a prequel to the original series, and the upcoming book is set after) is absolutely fantastic YA and just as enjoyable as the original series.

>>12123481
it's fake history dealing mainly with the Targaryens.

>>12124679
No

>>12124807
>the new His Dark Materials book (yes NEW, it's a prequel to the original series, and the upcoming book is set after) is absolutely fantastic YA and just as enjoyable as the original series.
I didn't even know this was a thing. I really loved HDM when I first read it and it lived up to my memories when I reread it a few years ago. I'll give this a read.

>>12124679
I didn't like it and I have very tolerant tastes. But I think it doesn't evolve, so read a few chapters and if you want more of the same you'll get it.

>>12124807
>his dark materials
>enjoyable
I read that a long time ago but it turned to shit by the 2nd book and beyond.
>that long boring scene with the Texan dying
>gay angels
>that fucking scientist going on and on about the animals on wheels
>literal adolescents getting it on
>horrible ending
Pullman is a hack

>The Dying Earth
legitimate 10.0
>Eyes of the Overworld
mediocre, 6/10 being generous

what went wrong for vance

>>12124679
If you like Brown Milfs and Bromance you are gonna love it

>/sffg/ shits on sanderson every occasion it gets
>shills his dark material

>>12125235
Problem?

>>12125235
Is that Method Man?