/lit/ - Literature

>>13050039
First for fuck worldbuilding and magic systems

>>13050039
first for:
-lady a hack
-catcher a shit
-sanderson a waifu

>last read
Leena Krohn - Pereat Mundus
>currently Reading
Wizard Knight and Urth Of The New Sun by Wolfe
>reading next
idgaf

I'll probably drop Rage of Dragons. I also need to throw Coiling Dragon in there somewhere. Battle Mage is slow but alright enough so far. Shit is happening but not happening enough in Darkest Revenge.
Help.

>>13050039
>Coiling Dragon Book #6 (or Runeborn, for a full novel)
>pic related
>one of the pic relateds I don't even know anymore I never multiple things at one time

Hemingway, men without women.
Albert Camus, the plague.
Want to read something by zizek.

> Last Read
Take Back Plenty by Colin Greenland

Quirky and original and I liked it a lot. Not sure I loved it though.

> Current Reading
Theirs Not to Reason Why series by Jean Johnson.

The lead is far too OP. Being able to tell the future years ahead kind of removes any tension. But the author certainly knows how to write military sci-fi.

> Reading Next
Ipseity (The Stork Tower Book 5) by Tony Corden.

Probably the best written litrpg around.

>>Last Read
does this only include what I finished or what I read? last I read was the phantom tollbooth if that counts as fantasy. yeah its a kids book but damn that shit is fun. after that, I started the black company but gave it up at chapter 2 or so
>>Currently Reading
pirate freedom. started out really good but starting to get a little dry now that chris is a pirate. it actually was better when he was just a working sailor desu. its still fine. I'll probably finish it
>>Reading Next
either another gene wolfe or another pirate story if I can find a good one.

>>13050039
>What You Reading Edition
Last I finished Luna: Moon Rising, which was alright.

Currently reading: Against my better judgement I went ahead with yet another book of the Malazan Book of the Fallen. Book 4 House of chains.
Surprisingly, I really liked the first part (quarter?) of the book which was uncharacteristically confined to only Karsa Orlong and whoever he's traveling with. A proud warrior from a remote tribe venturing out as the first in centuries - it was nicely executed. After that it's business as usual of trying to remember the who what and why's of the excessive cast of characters, at least two of which, Cutter and Strings, seem to have been given new names.
But I'm optimistic about the two thirds of the book still left to wade through.

Great series.

>>13050220
Great writer.

>>13050220
you forgot the other 4 books anon

>>13050228
i wanna sex

>>13050252
>i wanna sex
Don't we all.

Hey anons. Maybe someone here can help me because my googling is failing me. I am searching for the title of a book I read. Here is the stuff I know : Male protagonist, he is maybe 14 years or so old. He and his dad or uncle catch Wisps/spirits at the beginning of the book and put them in flasks. Relatively early in the book the village they live in gets attacked and destroyed and he has to flee. I think that the book ends with a siege of a city he fled to. I think the central antagonists of the book are demons or something like that not sure. Any tipps and stuff would be appreciated.

> last read
final empire (mistborn 1)
holy shit that was some generic YA shit

> currently reading
notes from underground
i feel like he could be talking about today's outrage culture and SJWs

> reading next
before they are hanged (first law 2)
decent. he's a new author and it shows, at the same time that makes it easy to forgive a lot.

>>13050039
What are essential books to read to get a good grounding in epic fantasy for someone with delusions of one day writing their own epic fantasy book/short stories.
Asking for a friend.

>>13050350
>before they are hanged (first law 2)
>decent. he's a new author and it shows, at the same time that makes it easy to forgive a lot.
Read his stand alones after. There's a noticeable jump in quality. He's releasing a new trilogy sequel to the first law, first book out this year. Only grim derp that I like.

>>13050098
Why don’t you try reading real books instead?

>>13050039
>start reading pic related
>reach page 100 and realize the author is just talking about the first crusade with swapped names
>wonder why I'm not just reading the Alexiad

I'm reading The Iron Dream. It's a little too subtle for me so far, I can't tell who the Dominators are supposed to be.

>>13050381
Because the first crusade doesn’t have horrific faceless rape monsters, and horrific magicks

Edgiest fantasy book I've ever read and I'm only 210 pages out of 700 into it.
>one of the main chars is a sex addicted woman that gets moist thinking about male chars and fingers herself in the bathtub
>another char goes to bath houses to fuck men
>another char bullies his depressed sister into giving him hand jobs
>another char is a crazed mage that puts spells and curses on innocent people walking around
>another char owns a brothel and blackmail customers into sucking his dick
>same guy also hosts public orges where women get their cunts stuffed with horns by other women
>same guy also plans to summon a demon to possess a bull so the bull would fuck a woman for some religious ritual
Shits fucked up but the plot is actually interesting.

>>13050523
>>another char bullies his depressed sister into giving him hand jobs

hot

im buying one of those meme decorative sets of GoT they have on display at Barnes and Noble
is there a reason I shouldn't

>>13050057
What else is there in fantasy?

>>13050624
Maybe wait until the series is complete?

>>13050371
lad

>>13050734
Not that anon, there is only one real book there.

>>13050720
I dont want to wait 15 years

>>13050720
as a man who openly states that those books are my favorite books of all time regardless of genre, I can say with zero qualms that they will not be finished by GRR Martin and his assistants will 'finish' it by ruining the series

>>13050752
>real book
anon...fantasy is a shit genre. If you want a 'real book', read The Jungle, The Prophet or the Odyssey

>>13050845
>fantasy is a shit genre
why are you here anon

>>13050624
He will die before finishing the series. Buy Dunk & Egg instead. If you're ok with the series being finished by someone else then by all means.

>>13051009
/our guy/ Brandon Sanderson will finish it.

>>13050039
>Last Read
Old Man and the Sea by Earnest Hemingway
>Currently Reading
New Testament
>Reading Next
Probably Old Testament. Also intent on reading the Quran from front-to-back though I've already read enough to know that it's a vile religion that has no place in the West without reformation. Wouldn't mind learning more of Hinduism as well. Ultimately, Christianity is serving me VERY well and I can't see myself converting to anything else ESPECIALLY Islam so I've signed the 'commitment'. It would seem, as of a few days ago, I am a born-again Christian. Praying is becoming a daily habit of mine and I perceive it as being a beneficial one.

>>13051019
hes too s.oy to even read it

>With Ice and Fire, I specifically found Daenerys's plot too brutal. I'm all for putting characters into terrible situations, and letting horrible things happen. But her plot crossed the line for me. I did not want to read a series where teenage girls have their brothers brutally murdered before them, are raped into submission, finally fall into a kind of stockholm syndrome love with their captor, then get betrayed for showing a little kindness. There's a kind of brilliance to the way that plot played out, but when I was done with it, I just felt sick.

What the FUCK does Chevrolet cerise even mean? Is he actually talking about a classic car colour that was popular in the sixties so that people at that time would get the reference?

I swear Harrison is great, but sometimes I don't know if he composes his sentences based on words he finds on a thesaurus or if he simply invents them.

>>13051041
>completely forgetting that she didn't feel all that bad about Viserys, and he was the one torturing her
Cringe, and dare I say it, bluepilled.

>>13051038
I'm happy for you anon. thanks for sharing

I want to get into cyberpunk. What would you guys recommend as my starting point?

The Urth of the New Sun

Conspiracy Against the Human Race

The Babbling Corpse

>>13050271
Zelda

>>13050358
Bump

>>13050039
Last - Ibsen - A doll's house
Currently - Roth - Sabbath's theater
Next - Tarkovsky - Sculpting in time

>>13051172
Usual rec is Gibson's Neuromancer, but Pat Cadigan's Synners is also a good place to start.

>>13050689
I guess the other option would be keeping a lot of things mysterious. Focus on your character's journey rather than fleshing out the world. Maybe your character doesn't know what's on the other side of the mountains or the name of the thing that just slithered into that tree. We don't have to know either. Instances of magic can happen, but be treated as brief flashes of the unexplainable. Maybe magic doesn't have to operate by consistent laws, which seems to be what magic systems are all about. This seems more in line with the medieval romance tradition to me. It could be similar to what Sword and Sorcery is all about, but I haven't read much to speak of in that genre.

Is there anything that features elves or drow as protagonists, but isn't made by WotC?

>>13051194
No that would be too easy.

>>13051416
I find that sort of thing much more interesting. The mystery is cool especially when you do get eventual payoff or explanation for some of it as the story progresses.

I try to focus on the characters and plot in my own fantasy stories more than those grander elements because I find it more personally compelling.

>>13050189
>excessive cast of characters
>new names

Just give up now, Malazan is way too much hustle and bustle for a philistine like you

>>13051084
With basedbugs it has very little to do with how the woman feels

>>13051426
>WotC
What?

>>13051636
wizards of the coast, the people who make Dungeons & Dragons

How much incest is too much incest?

>>13051716
when they start to look like this

>>13051726
Guess my character is safe then. It's only between two characters and it doesn't result in a child, so no literal generations upon generations of inbreeding leading to some unholy abomination.

>>13051749
i dont think 1 generation is a huge risk anyways

>>13051172
Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? is a pretty good starting point.

>>13051716
Incest is only okay if the characters end up receiving divine punishment for it

>>13051815
but it's pure...

>>13051041
How embarrassing. To understand women so little.

>>13051854
Sanderson is a Mormon

>>13051172

Either Neuromancer or Snow Crash. The latter is kinda the first on crack, but you can't go wrong with either. After that, it doesn't matter: you might read more Gibson, go into Altered Carbon if you want some futuristic hardboiled stuff, look for more obscure 80s cyber books, and go into comics and manga, which has a HUGE bulk of cyberpunk gems. The ones I personally recommend are: Blame! (and other Nihei Tsutomu works), Eden and Transmetropolitan.

>>13050039
>Last Read
Miles Coverdale's translation of the Psalms
>Currently Reading
Edmund Spenser's Amoretti
>Reading Next
Pico's Oration on the Dignity of Man

>>13051716
which book. i need to know

>>13051172
Mirrorshades:The Cyberpunk Anthology,it has short stories of most of the core writers that created cyberpunk.read that and then go read the books of the writers you enjoyed.

>>13050098
Battle mage is schlock but the best out of those four

Alright I just read the Lightbringer books that are out so far, I'm still hungry for some some magic systems and world building. I've already read all the Sanderson stuff.

I was surprised when he
>Gets ripped and bangs the 9 to 10/10 instead of the midget tomboy friend
I'll admit, I was not expecting that.

Anyone here have a good system for coming up with fantasy names? I hate the names that sound like they were mashed together by some random syllable generator (like Ogroth or Peshkalor). But then I'm also not crazy about the ones that sound like slightly altered versions of real world names (like Rubert or Waltor).

>>13050523
sounds cringe as fuck

>>13052246
Tsis "TIGHT PUSSY", not Teia "THE MURDEROUS" ok.

>>13052248
Take names that sound like they were mashed up and combine them with names that are slightly altered (like Ogbert or Peshkawaltor)

>>13052246
>Modern fantasy
>Magic Systems
>Fat protagonist
W E W

>>13050689
>What else is there in fantasy?
Zoomers were a mistake.

>>13050381
>yfw the second series is basically the same plot as the first series (huge army attacking someone they don't like and side plots)

>>13050523
>700 pages
This should have been the first clue you were reading something terrible.

>>13052246
>I'm still hungry for some some magic systems and world building

>>13050220
Why

>>13050271
I know Reddit is a meme here, but try /r/whatsthatbook

>>13052285
>like Ogbert
Damn, maybe you're onto something. I like that one.

>>13052301
>+1 skinspy dickgirl has been added to your consult account.

>>13052246
>not wantwanting the tight pussy

>>13050523
How edgy is that compared to black leopard red wolf?

>>13052398
you okay anon? is your left arm feeling numb?

>>13050061
Jesus, you got everything backwards.

>>13050039
Posting the monthly reading for anon while he's away

>>13051045
I don't know the context, but 'chevrolet' was originally a French surname, and like English surnames, it was rooted in the person's job. So like how someone who has 'chandler' as a surname is probably descended from a candle-maker, someone who has 'chevrolet' as a surname was probably a shepherd. Cerise is red, right? So it could be interpreted as a 'red shepherd' which really doesn't say much but might be important to the story.

>>13052306
It's not actually terrible. That's the thing.
It's quite unique as it's a fusion of horror and epic fantasy.

>>13052561
I haven't read the book and I never will so I don't know if it has actual horror in it, but edginess by itself is not horror so you might be confusing the two.

>>13052575
I didn't describe any of the horror in my post, just the edginess.

>>13052248
Let your setting be inspired by a non-English European country, then give your characters names that are absolute fucking nightmares for non-native speakers to pronounce like Rahikainen and Honkajoki.

>>13050039
>Last Read
The Wizard by Gene Wolfe
>Currently Reading
Lud in the Mist by Hope Mirrlees
>Reading Next
Haven't Decided, Recommendations?

>Last
We, for last month's reading.
>Current
Urth of the New Sun
>Next
Not sure, maybe Jonathan Strange

>>13050523
>cover is real people
not even once

>>13050957
Because fantasy is my favorite genre. I also like to listen to Lil B sometimes. You can love something and acknowledge it's objectively shittier than most other things.

>>13052462

Thanks, I'm glad someone replied, though I don't know if it clarified the meaning. Frankly, this has bothering me for a couple months ever since I read The Pastel City. Me not finding the source for the name Chevrolet was a fault on my part though. I gave up too early after seeing only results for the car brand.

The context (I should have posted it before, my bad):
"In the water-thickets, the path wound tortuously between umber iron-bogs, albescent quicksands of aluminium and magnesium oxides, and sumps of cuprous blue or permanganate mauve fed by slow, gelid streams and fringed by silver reeds and tall black grasses. The twisted, smooth barked boles of the trees were yellow-ochre and burnt orange; through their tightly woven foliage filtered a gloomy, tinted light. At their roots grew great clumps of multifaceted translucent crystal like alien fungi. Charcoal grey frogs with viridescent eyes croaked as the column floundered between the pools. Beneath the greasy surface of the water unidentifiable reptiles moved slowly and sinuously. Dragonflies whoe webby wings spanned a foot or more hummed and hovered between the sedges: their long, wicked bodies glittered bold green and ultramarine; they took their prey on the wing, pouncing with an audible snap of jaws on whining ephemeral mosquitoes and fluttering moths of april blue and Chevrolet cerise."

"April blue" meaning is clear, but I can't really see the connection between shepherds with red, if that's what he meant. The fact that the C is capitalised does confirm it's supposed to be the surname. Only thing I can think of is if he was referring to shepherds who sacrifices their animals, idk.

>>13051815
Fuck yeah. I'm using this.

>>13052755

Fantasy is a shit genre only if you only read shit fantasy books. It's far more a reader problem than a genre problem.

>>13052248
I use old norse words for names, in the spirit of shitting on my fellow Americans. Like Skeiðr or Ægishjalmr or other semi-made up shit.

>>13052772
the greatest fantasy books in the world don't come close to sniffing the shit of classics like the works of Dostoyevsky, for instance. Don't worry, I'm an autist like you. I like bullshit like the Avengers. I also recognize that movies like There Will Be Blood are objectively superior in every way. it's the same with books.

>>13052755
its called a "guilty pleasure" anon, you don't have to try being so deep about it

>>13052764
In that context I think your original instinct is correct: He was just using a contemporary reference to describe something in his book. Which is fucking abysmal writing. Reminds me of that book where China Mieville described a character as looking a bit like Leonardo Di Caprico... Buddy, no one's going to know who that is in thirty years.

>Last Book
Fall of Hyperion
>Current
100 Years of Solitude
>Next
Star Maker or Emphyrio

>>13051045
>>13052764
I mean, Virconium is dying earth, which means far future. He references a few other modern things from the mouths of Reborn Men/Women. Rue Morgue Avenue, possibly Vegas, Blackpool, Venice, etc

Are they any good?

>>13050228
>>13050269
I want to KISS Sarah J. Maas

>>13052888
Yes, Roadside Picnic and Hard to be a God are easy to read, very enjoyable, and short enough to be interesting diversions.

>>13050039
Has anyone finished this series? I'm in the last book and it's really sloggy, dunno if I want to go on. Just curious, does the MC ever tell his wife/s the truth about himself? If yes can you remember in which part of the book?

>>13052908
>really sloggy
skip villain parts.
>does the MC ever tell his wife/s the truth about himself?
nope not even in the short story collection.

>>13052908
It gets progressively worse. Like he just starts copy pasting Wikipedia about halfway through the second book. He doesn’t tell anyone anything, he just starts writing what he knows all in English. Really cringy ending

>>13052927
>skip villain parts
Been doing that since book 1, I've mostly been skimming everything in book 4 and it's still fucking sloggy.
>nope
What a fucking waste, bet he never even has a threesome.

>>13052729
>judging books by covers

>>13053041
I agree with you, but I still would not buy an edition with an ugly cover.
Not that guy you're quoting, obviously.

>>13053041
There is literally no reason not to do this.

>>13053065
Just get ebooks and you won't need to look at covers.

>>13053041
that is the point of covers

>>13053041
You should see the cover they used for the ebook version of Wagner's Night Winds. Absolute travesty. Especially considering the original cover was done by Frank fucking Frazetta.

>>13053079
I think all books should just have a blank black cover with the name. Just to fuck cover autists.

>>13053076
That's what I did with this one.
Can't stand this cover desu

>>13053079
False. The point of a cover is to catch your eye while it sits on the bookshelf. It's the wrapping in which the book is packaged. If you're going to judge a book by its cover, then you might as well eat the foil your chocolate comes in.

>>13053096
I'd drop that just because it has a foreword by Jeff Vandermeme.

>>13053098
don't you have to judge it in order for it to catch your attention

>>13053110
Everyone understands what a book is: They know that the important part of the book is what's written on the pages under the cover, not what's on the cover itself. Yet some smoothbrains insist on judging the content by what's on the cover... There's not much we can do for them, I'm afraid. Just the gas chamber.

>>13053118
"the cover caught my attention" is a judgement, you pseud

>>13052908
are there similar books?
i like the idea of introducing modern knowledge to relatively simple people.

>>13053118
If you are >>13053098 then you sort of backed yourself into a corner by saying the purpose of a cover is to "catch your eye while it sits on the bookshelf"
Not saying the cover is more important than the content but of course most people will prefer a good looking cover instead of a shitty one, and covers with real people instead of artwork or even just text rarely look good.

>>13052327
Not a bad idea, thanks anon.

>>13053126
Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague de Camp.

>>13053174
thanks.

>>13053161
Don't bother with r/whatisthatbook, they do an ok job with general fiction but are mostly clueless when it comes to SFF.
Try r/fantasy instead, they get a shitload of posts just like yours everyday and a surprising number of them get answered.

Any good relatively modern vampire novels written by men?
Or if written by women, not one of the trillion Anne Rice or Twilight clones.

>>13053122
>"the cover caught my attention" is a judgement
I'm not disagreeing with that. I'm saying not to judge (the content of) a book by its cover. Feel free to judge a cover by its cover all you want.

>>13053098
>The point of a cover is to catch your eye while it sits on the bookshelf
That's judging it.

>>13053240

>>13053233
No, you're judging that the contents might be worth reading because of the cover. You're also judging the contents of the books that didn't catch your eye as being less worth reading.

anything like berserk? more graphic than botns but not just smut

Are the Hyperion books self contained or would I have to commit to reading all 4 if I start with them?

>>13053255
Prince of Nothing

>>13053334
thanks cutie

Getting bored of masters of rome. Going to put it down when i finish book 2 and pick up something a bit more fun.

>>13050039
>Last Read
Roadside picnic
>Currently Reading
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
>Reading Next
Not sure, maybe Dune or something from Asimov

>>13050523
I actually picked this up because I saw a post about it a few threads back and read it today, it was surprisingly good at point, particularly when the author forgot to focus on how degenerate everyone is.
Its best parts reminded me a lot of The Mummy, the Brendan Fraser movie, lots of tombs and curses and undead, good fun.
It's got a decent start, a decent middle, and a decent end with everything wrapped up pretty neatly. If you can get past the degeneracy it's a good read.

>>13053262
Most people recommend only reading the first 2.

Thoughts on the Thomas Covenant trilogy?

>>13053479
Yeah I'm getting a mummy/indiana Jones vibe from it. The author has released a sequel for it. Check his goodreads page.

>>13052625
Okay, the spurdo cat was too much. Someone on this site made this. unless it was rebbit

>>13052895
The booty pic isn't maas

>>13053229
The fat vampire
The ugly vampire

I've never before read fantasy, but I am interested.

As a background, I've enjoyed the LotR movies, I watch Game of Thrones, and I've played both Skyrim and Witcher 3. My preferences are Game of Thrones and Skyrim, in terms of content, where with GoT the worlds of the north and Essos are quite interesting, and of course Skyrim with its "old world" content, and multiple story-lines and so on. Anything that captures high fantasy / epic / dark / would be good.

What books/series might cover this then? Having done some basic research, it seems the Malazan series would be closest to my preferences? Anything else?

>>13053229
The fat vampire
An unattractive vampire

>>13053813
I would read more shitty YA if it was.

>>13053835

>>13053843
1. That's a man
2. It has no ass
3. It's man ass

>>13053852
Whatever Pedro.

>>13052897
>Hard to be a God
Why after all these decades there isn't an audiobook for that?

>>13053862
Hey man, if you're into trannies I don't judge. I would rather mine be thicc and look like females, but if you want manly women, more power to you bro.
Degenerates unite.

>>13053894
I am habling no espanol por favor.

>>13053915
What did you post????

>>13051172
Ware tetralogy.

>>13053915
Pedro's right. All I see there is a severe case of lumbar hyperlordosis

What's a good series with religious zealots being the good guys?

>>13054134
Warhammer 40k

>>13054152
>good series

>>13054134
Good is subjective. How can murdering people to convert them like the crusades did, be considered good?
Only "good" religious zealots would be some pol approved book. Go ask your friends there.

>>13054195
Muh crusades jfc stfu

>>13051416
So, ASOIAF.

>>13054134
Solomon Kane

>>13054208
Literally sounds nothing like ASOIAF.

rec me some clinically edgy sci fi or high fantasy

>>13050039
>Last Read
Roadside picnic
>Currently Reading
The turner diaries
>Reading Next
Rapture

>>13054265
>focus on characters
>magic is treated as something dark and mysterious, not ruled by any kind of law

>>13053041
It’s litterally the point of book covers retard.
If you buy a book that has real people on the cover you’re probably a homosexual incel who needs to have sex

>>13053098
Brainlet you just contradicted your own point

>>13054312
The focus in ASOIAF is on politics and subversion. Not to mention GRRM has given up on the actual story and instead focused on world-building. Plus a focus on characters and magic being mysterious was a thing in fantasy decades and decades before ASOIAF.

>>13053457
What did you think of roadside picnic ?
It was pretty good read and I genuinely cared about Red and his spic wife. Even cared about his Russian friend.
30% of the book made sense and I had no idea what the ending meant.

Also what is a hoverboot

>>13054195
Cringe Jesus Christ

>>13054342
ASOIAF does focus on politics, but in a character driven way. There are a lot of clear character arcs and they drive the story forward. GRRM is not focusing on worldbuilding. He's just stuck at a very specific plot point and that's why he's chosen to expand the world (and by that I mean add more depth to what we already know from a few books ago, not just coming up with new shit) to give it some kind of resolution.

>a focus on characters and magic being mysterious was a thing in fantasy decades and decades before ASOIAF
I'm not saying the opposite. I'm saying that guy who asked should read ASOIAF if he hasn't already.

>>13054373
>GRRM is not focusing on worldbuilding. He's just stuck at a very specific plot point and that's why he's chosen to expand the world
Yea; he's given up on the story because he knows he'll never finish it and instead decided to do some pointless world-building.

>>13054406
That's why you have HBO.

Has anyone read Doris Lessings, Canopus in Argos: Archives?

How is it?

>>13054411
lol and look how great that's worked out.

>>13054406
As I said, I don't think it's pointless. But whatever mate, I enjoy it and you don't. Life goes on.

>>13054423
While you might object the quality and direction they have took the series has been a resounding success for everyone involved.

>>13052662
God damn do I love that movie... been too long, I need to watch it again sometime. Withnail&I.

>>13053041
When an author decides to use a cover that looks like it came out from the worst parts of Deviant Art instead of doing some cheap minimalist design (if they're literally starving on the streets and can't afford better) then I'm judging the absolute fuck out of that book based on the cover.

>>13053240
Taking surface-level interest in some things and not in others is not judging the book. Everyone has different biases, it's natural. A cover with firearms on it will catch my attention IMMEDIATELY because I'm a big gun nut. Also forested/woodland scenery, because I'm into survivalism. Getting your interest captured doesn't mean you automatically judge it as being good. If this reply caught your eye and you're still reading it, then I must have your intrigue to some extent; so are you judging this reply as being good?

>>13054195
Evil shit exists in fantasy.

I read a Canticle for Leibowitz. Any other sci-fi books about the Christian Church which don't portray it as pure evil?

Can we stop talking about fantasy?

>>13054451
>>>/tv/

>>13054547
You are judging the book with the firearm to be interesting to you, because you like guns and there is an exploding device on the cover. Just as if you see a book cover with a guy being buggered in the ass, you would think it's bad.

If you don't judge books by their cover, why don't you go read a book with a my little pony on the cover?

>>13054625
So you want a fantasy book about the Catholic church, which subverts reality and the truth and makes it good and wholesome? Probably gene wolfe

>>13054909
*0.27 Tip$ have been added to your account*

>>13050039
>Last Read
the dispossessed
>Currently Reading
the left hand of darkness
>Reading Next
i might actually read a game of thrones

I'm running out of good indie published stuff to read. Please help. I don't know what I might do if I completely run out of things to read. Halp plz.

>>13054918
Listen pol boi, your desu vult and other religions are means of control. They all shed streams of blood to keep their religion in power. You call a religion that preaches of peace, but then hires missionary mercenaries to clear the infidels wholesome? What about buggering little boys and telling them they are doing god's work by being a buttboi and getting used like a sleeve? What is good right?
Hindus, Muslims, Christians all do the same shit. Shove your tip up your ignorant ass.

>>13054955
Whatever you do don't fall for the garbage Amazon self published chart that one crayon munching anon is going to post soon.

I posted this list the last time someone asked for some self pubbed books, not everything is top tier but they all range from average to good.
So I'm just going to paste it again.

You can try
>Cradle
Highly popular chinkshit written by a western author

>Path of Flames
>Ember Blade
>Crimson Queen
epic fantasy

>Amra Thetys
Female thief

>Where Loyalties Lie
Pirate Fantasy

>Construct by Luke Matthews
Fantasy version of an AI gaining emotions and free will

>Into the Labyrinth
More chinkshit by a western author

>Beyond Redemption
New weird, highly original, hard to describe, go read it if you want something that's fresh and induces mindfuckery.

>Orconomics
Comedy, satirical take on a capitalistic fantasy society.

>Another Stupid Spell
More orc comedy

>Priest of Bones
Peaky Blinders in a fantasy setting. MC returns from a war to re-establish his gang and take control of his territories.

>Traitor God
MC returns to the city he fled from to fuck shit up after his best friend is murdered in cold blood.

>>13054994
Cringe and basedpilled

>>13054994
>Hindus, Muslims, Christians all do the same shit.
Nah. Muslims wage war against all religions not named Islam. Whereas Christians and Buddhists and Jews and Sikhs and Hindus all get along these days.

>>13055002
>recommending Where loyalties lie but not the precursor series.

Fuck pirates and fuck yelloweyes

>>13055049
Read that too, didn't like it all that much. But Black Thorn was the most unintentionally hilarious character I've read in a while, was very well written.

>>13054955
Also add Never Die by Rob Hayes to that list.
Fantasy with undead heroes version of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai.

>>13054994
>They all shed streams of blood to keep their religion in power
genocide is not a bad thing

>>13053835
Malazan might be a bit much as an introduction to Fantasy since it's so fucking long.
Personally I would recommend The Hobbit since you liked LotR movies, or The Black Company for dark fantasy.

>>13055046
>Nah. Muslims wage war against all religions not named Islam
nope. they also fight amongs each other. islam is kinda like chrsitiantiy in that regard. different sects fight among each other. really the hate-list for muslems is pretty much this in that order:

1. jews
2. non muslims and muslims of other sects.
3. for some inconcievably reason black people especially mixed
3. chinese people

>>13050220
Thanks for the recommendation anon, it was just as great as you said!

>>13055038
Never wore a fedora, and I don't walk 10 feet away from a group of people and laugh when they do to feel included.

>>13053813
Yeah,her ass it's way bigger
and that's a good thing

>>13054892
It isn't a judgement, it's a subconscious psychological reaction. There's no thought process in it; see gun, like gun. Do you really think that I need to think and remind myself that I like firearms? "Oh, a firearm, hmm... oh yeah I like firearms! Neat, lemme see that book!"

As for buggery, it depends. If it's two masculine dudes, gross. If it's a masculine dude having his way with a feminine dude, nice. If it's two feminine dudes playing together, that can be pretty hot too.

I'm not into childish stuff like My Little Pony, I would glance over that cover and move on without even touching the book unless I was going to buy it for someone else for some reason.

The purpose of a cover is to attract the attention of people who would be interested in the context of the story, and from there they can read it and judge whether it's good or not. I once opened up a book with an armed guy on the cover (if I'm not mistaken; this was about 7 yeas ago, potentially even to the day) but in the first couple pages I noticed a few things that immediately stood out to me as being unrealistic so I stopped reading and decided it wasn't good enough for me. I judged it poorly based on the content, but the cover caught my attention so I checked it out. I didn't prejudge it as likely being good, but merely thought it might be in line with my own interests. Turns out, though it is technically in line with my interests, some of the context made it something I quickly lost interest in.

Pic related is the front cover of one of my books, the third one I wrote to be specific. I have a paperback copy here within arm's reach too. I took the photo myself years ago. This book has A LOT of firearms though granted not all the ones on the cover if I recall correctly. It's written by a gun nut for gun nuts, and indeed any gun nut who checks out that cover would likely be inclined to have a look, and as it turns out that's probably my most popular book besides my 5-novel zombie survival series, the protagonist of which uses one of the rifles there on the cover. If someone sees that cover and they don't like firearms at all, then they will likely not bother checking it out. I don't perceive that as being the same as them judging it to be bad before even looking at it, though some might, and that wouldn't be very nice. Still, their mind is their own and if they want to judge my book by its cover then they may.

>>13053835
Read the OP

>>13055179
Pics? Sarah maasive full body on Google gets me nothing. It seems she paid google to fgas wll her pics.

>>13055180
>a five paragraphs post just to plug your own book
Geez.
Also.
>I once opened up a book with an armed guy on the cover ... but in the first couple pages I noticed a few things that immediately stood out to me as being unrealistic so I stopped reading and decided it wasn't good enough for me. I judged it poorly based on the content, but the cover caught my attention so I checked it out.
You can't judge a book by a few sentences or pages, you have to read it in its entirety and make an informed decision at the end.

>>13055226
It wasn't just to plug my book, in fact we had been speaking of books with firearms on the cover for a while now; it fits contextually. Besides, if I really wanted to plug my book somewhere to try and get sales, /k/ would be the place to do it, and indeed I wrote it for them. I subtly put them in the 'Dedication' section of the book.

I disagree with your claim that a book must be read in its entirety. You can tell just on the first page whether it's likely to be well-written or not. If there's a couple typos spotted on just the first page and the reader can't stand typos, then they can judge it to be a poorly-written book and leave it be. Or it could simply be the writing style. Different writers have different styles, and not every reader will like a writer's style. Anyhow, it seems like we might just have to agree to disagree.

>>13055188
>on Google
That's your problem. They hide the good stuff. She thicc.

>>13055256
>>13055188

>>13054287
Dr.Adder
>>13055188
Not him but you can see her full body on some interviews.

>>13055252
>k/ would be the place to do it, and indeed I wrote it for them. I subtly put them in the 'Dedication' section of the book.
So you were the anon with the gun meister fetish.

>>13055180
Subconscious judgements are still judgements.
Judgements do not have to be final.
You are still a retard.

>Master, the fat man has resumed writing. He's going to finish the book.
>"He cannot be allowed to finish. The HBO ending will be the only ending. Kill him, then burn the manuscripts."

>>13055002
not him but do you have an audiobook list with newly released books? I read most of what you have there and some to boot, I would like some more books to add to my collection or I will have to pick up Sanderson's protege's new book.

>>13055351
He's from /k/, what you expect? Those guys install fleshlights into their gun stock, so they can't be caught unawares and unarmed when fapping.

>>13055374
Wouldn't be surprised if this happens. It would force people that haven't seen the show to watch it, for closure.

>>13055256
>>13055263
Thick white women are my weakness. I need to breed her so bad...

>>13055263
>>13055256
those pics don't show enough ass, come on mate, show me the good stuff

>>13055385
Not really into audiobooks sry especially not the self pubbed kind.
If by Sanderson's protege you mean McClellan his second Powder Mage series is fantastic btw, a huge improvement on the first trilogy.

>>13055534
>a huge improvement on the first trilogy
care to explain why?

>>13055002
>Orconomics
>Another Stupid Spell
These were good. I would add:
>the god kings sword
>blue mage raised by dragons
>waldo rabbit
>everyone loves large chests
These are comedic fantasy. They are pretty great. Would love more books like this.

>>13055256
>>13055263
Truly the Queen Mom of /sffg/

>>13055180
That's how they get you bro.
Hot chick and an object of your interest.

>>13055277
'Gun meister fetish'? Don't know anything about that.

>>13055351
Agree to disagree I suppose.

>>13055670
Nice.

>>13055002
I have just looked up most of these books and none caught my eye.
Alas anons weep for me!
I need some quality sci-fi.

>>13054422
bump

>Last Read
some fantasy book from the 50s
>Currently Reading
some fantasy book from the 60s
>Reading Next
some 2000 page fantasy book about the morality of sin and obfuscation of the dialectic method between humans and elves
Am I cool yet? Do I fit in with all you epic contrarians?

>>13055837
Then don't read indie shit

>>13056042
I try to not be an elitist.
Maybe I've just gotten too old for fantasy.

>>13055252
>I disagree with your claim that a book must be read in its entirety. You can tell just on the first page
I'll do you one better mate. I can tell just by the cover.

>>13055837
She disassembled a few bluedio headphones to make that.

>>13055252
>judging a book by it's first page

>>13056188
>>13056609
>not judging a book by the title alone

>>13050228
>>13050252
>>13052895
too much make up. What is she hiding?

>>13056648
Same thing that like 90% of women; an average face

>>13055534
Actually I was talking about his urban fantasy. Don't make me do something I know I will regret.

>>13056644
Works fairly well for YA, generic epic-fantasy shit and litrpg quite well.
With the cover my guesses are generally 95-97% accurate.

Which is why pic related instantly caught my attention.

>>13056644
I do that with JAV's.
How can you not watch something called "DASD-469 My Wife's Son Shows Me His Cock And Tries His Hardest To Seduce Me."

>>13056648
She's hiding from the likes of you.

>>13056648
>too much makeup
It's only going to get worse. Lot of women are starting to put make up on their 5 year old daughters these days. In 20 years time people will 90% be marrying a mask.

>>13056679
Listen Brian Stableford, when you try to plug your own book anonymously, make sure the image shows up on a google search, and make sure the Amazon page has some reviews and ratings.
Probably would have been better if you plugged it in rebbit.
https://www.amazon.com/Pool-Mnemosyne-Brian-Stableford/dp/1612277314

>>13056744
Damn this dude writes so many books and all of them have like 2 ratings at most. Fucking sad

>>13050039
>last read

proxima by stephen baxter (liked it but i'm confused. Even made a thread about it but no one replied)

>currently reading

Jo Walton - Among others (great so far)

>Reading Next

From the corner of his eye - Koontz

>>13056680
>my wife's son
>??? basketball player.jpg
>google
>its newhalf porn

Just finished reading this, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the series so far, but are the last two books still worth it knowing that it ends on a cliffhanger? Kinda turning me off to reading them desu

>>13056772
Stephen Bexter is shit. No one is reading him.

>>13050689
prose, mythological allegory, interesting ways to explore the human condition, betraying expectations, ...

>>13056793
if only i knew about this before i read him

>>13056766
He should probably allow ebooks. He seems to be one of those dinosaurs fighting change. Like other authors in the early 2000s that were fighting ebooks, saying it will kill the book industry.

>>13056807
>>13056793
Cosmerefag reads him.

>>13056816
who dis?

>>13056744
no need to be so harsh on brian, mate. the man just wants to share his work.

>>13056811
He's actually "quite known"* for translating French sci-fi of the early 20th century.
Bit of a living fossil too, archaic word use galore.
I think I have a few PDFs of his novels, I'll try sharing them on Mega in a minute.

*Local French scene mostly.

>>13056837
Whatever happened to that anon that was plugging his furry novel?

>>13055133
>islam is kinda like chrsitiantiy in that regard. different sects fight among each other.
nigga christians haven't fought each other in like a million years.

>>13056844
>>13056837
>>13056811
>>13056744
>>13056679
If anyone's interested:

https://mega.nz/#!kz5A0IgS!MNDuOn1CADaQIN3hgQT4Axn6aluZ1M07xVQYR1XwYdw

Halcyon Drift should be one of his most well known works.

>>13056862
thanks brian

>>13056853
Uh... care to elaborate?

>>13056856
That's why the good ole boys from Catholic church burnt down those Pentecostal churches back in the day.

>>13056862
>pdf
fucking disgusting. epub3 or bust nigga.

>>13050523
The first two characters don't sound so bad, but something tells me the author goes into too much unnecessary detail, the rest sound like assholes.

>>13056991
I'm sorry, I don't like it either. But it came from a 4gb zip file full of obscure stuff and I'm not going to pay for sci-fi or fantasy shit when more than 90% is shit. So I can't rip an epub of it myself. And PDF to epub is always going to end up even worse.

>>13056856
>nigga christians haven't fought each other in like a million years.

may the cat eat you and may the devil eat the cat

>>13057049
There is a special program you use for pdf to epub.

>>13057251
Did you even read my post?
Converting something to a superior file format isn't going to help when the original is already broken.
It's like converting a low quality jpeg to PNG, it doesn't do shit. The damage is already done.

>And PDF to epub is always going to end up even worse.

>>13052842

It's not that abysmal, given the context. I'm pretty sure that's not really uncommon, even among venerated classics. It can also lead you to search for context and discover new things. People might not know who DiCaprio is in thirty years, but if the book is still being read in thirty years then that will lead new readers to discover about some now classic movie actor; and if it isn't, then it won't matter.

>>13052880

Yeah, but...Chevrolet cerise? I mean, was red a cultural colour for Chevrolet cars or something in the 60s?

>>13057301
There are some of my buddies on private that clean up pdfs to epub. They do a great job. And have to use like 3 programs and do some html coding.

>>13057596
>HTML coding

>>13056816
I've only read the Xeelee Sequence and I seem to be the only one who has read most of those books, as per usual.

>>13055537
The writing mostly, it's like he's twice the author he was when he wrote Powder Mage. I know it's a little broad to just say "the writing is better" but I swear that's exactly what it is and I've seen a lot of people who've read it say the same. There's just a huge qualitative increase in every aspect of the books compared to the prequels.

>>13055837
Not that into sci-fi and not sure these are indie, they sure have that vibe though. Check out

>Poor Man's Fight by Elliott Kay
Mil sci-fi, single character focussed, enlistment, training, system goes to war over educational debt.

>Trader's Tales by Nathan Lowell
The best book I've read where nothing happens and every second is still amazing. It's very slice of life'ish, basically the story of a man who works his way up the crew hierarchy of cargo space ships. Appropriately the books are named, Quarter Share, Half share, Full share, Double share etc.

>>13056676
Yikes anon, don't degrade yourself into that. Check out the few sci-fi recs I gave the other anon.

>>13056991
You'd be surprised how many people find it hard to change from pdf's to epubs, god knows why. There was one special anon the other day that said epubs can be tampered by uploaders so he only reads scanned pdfs to be safe.

>>13057663
Isn't epub just html in a container?

>>13057408
>was red a cultural colour for Chevrolet cars or something in the 60s?
Yes

>>13057743
I've read Vacuum Diagrams. I liked it but not enough to read all of the Xeelee books.

The book he wrote with Clarke, The Light of Other Days, was pretty good though.

>>13056792
If you're not really feeling it, I wouldn't bother. They're not that great on their own (Children of Dune level at best) on top of the lack of payoff.

>>13050039
>Last Read
The Killing Joke
>Currently Reading
Night's Master by Tanith Lee
>Next
The Complete Works of Plato

>>13054994
cope

>>13058193
Based Tanith Lee Poster

>>13058250
Let me get all the insults out so we can discuss books in the thread
>seething
>btfo
>soi
>incel
>virgin
>[insert colour here]pill and cringe
>onion
>based
>brainlet
>soullet
>(((them)))
does that about cover it? Good? Okay, lets get back to book discussion.

>>13058264
I talked to one of her editors once and he said she was kind of a bitch to work with. Not that it makes any difference to me, she was still an amazing writer.

>>13058288
The bitchy ones are the best. It makes hate fucking them hotter.

>>13058288
>>13058318
Checks out.

>>13058349
She's got the crazy eyes

>>13058276
cope

>>13058349
>image ramming her hard and she looks at you like this
I need to fap bbl.

>order used from Amazon
>Get a mint copy and collectors edition of stranger in a strange land
Feels good

>>13058535

>>13051815
or if they are gods

>>13058535
Last two "used" items from Amazon showed up shrinkwrapped, mint new copies.

>Jack Vance's Ecce and Old Earth
I love that Spatterlight Press keeps Vance's books in print but their cover design is amateurish. Was pleasantly surprised to get the 90s-core first edition.

>Eden: It's An Endless World Volume 2
Considering that a "new" copy of this goes for like $40, I was pretty stoked when the $6 "used" copy turned out to be a mint new copy.

unreliable narrator > self insert protag > "real" characters

I need more self insert protag books

>>13058080
I do believe she is referring to the nauseating juxtaposition of HTML and coding.

Can anyone recommend some good short story collections in a high fantasy setting? A collection of loosely connected stories set in the same world would be great.

>>13058728
Thieves World

>>13058717
I don't are what you coding autist think. Html is typing words in a particular way, with special phrases to make the words function a certain way. It's coding. It may not be Fortran or ruby or haskwell, but it's code.

>>13058535
You're gonna rage, but I got a mint condition of The Complete Conan Chronicles for 10$ in canabux, including shipping off Amazon order used. The shit that happens sometimes.

>>13058728
Night's Master

>>13058874
It's page formatting. There is no similarity. Stick to reading comic books.

>>13058535
Anything listed as "good" or above in the used section of amazon is pretty much guaranteed to be absolutely pristine

>>13057986
>There was one special anon the other day that said epubs can be tampered by uploaders so he only reads scanned pdfs to be safe.
its the fucking opposite.
epubs are really just zip files with html, css and xml.
pdf files can have executable code imbedded in them.
stupid fucking people.

Wow, this thread was like 70% outer lit

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27272960-pixiegate-madoka

Does a Gamergater have what it takes to be part of Japan's worst magical girl squad? Fuck no.

Julian Argento is a socially-awkward, Reddit-obsessed nerd about to start his junior year of high school. He finds his foreign exchange program request to Japan has been approved, and he'll be joined by an "almost perfect" dream girl that looks just like his crush Jennifer Lawrence-That is, until he enters the wrong transfer rocket and is sent to Urobochi High, academy for Magical Girls. He is assigned to the "kitchen appliance" squad, and he must learn to be good-hearted, maintain friendships, and spread love in order to become a true Magical Girl... all while stopping his psychotic sister and her sea punk boyfriend from destroying Japan with their dark powers. Shouldn't be too hard. After all, he's a "nice guy"!

>>13059345
What precisely IS a gamergater? Effectively someone who doesn't want to de-sexualize female characters? Someone who supports scantily clad 'armour' on female characters? Someone who likes the boob-jiggling technology on those Dead or Alive games? I would assume such since, to my understanding, the whole 'gamergate' thing was about feminists pushing against gamers and gamer culture meanwhile gamers were like "no, fuck off, you're not messing with our games." Then the whole 'get woke go broke' meme came about, and it's proving to be truthful in many ways. We'll see how the latest Mortal Combat game goes; the women have been de-sexualized (some even saying that some of them look like men) meanwhile many of the men are outright shirtless.

Gimme some redpilled sword and sorcery stories?

Currently reading pic related.

>>13059681
theres a lot of misunderstanding about gamergate in total.
bascially it started with this chick zoe quin. she made a shitty little text adventure and slept with 5 guys in the gaming press to get her game promoted even though i was free. her ex bf exposed the whole thing. at that point it was all fun and games. thot gets outed and everonye has a laugh. following that though it turned out that a lot of journalists were whiteknighting for her and the famous "gamers are over and dont have to be your audience" articles started appearing. a guy on the inside posted a secret mailing list where "journalists" from all kinds of websites were seen colluding on stories. this was known as the "games jurno pros list". then it all escalated into sjws siding with the journalists. a lot of false information got spread and people got up in arms about how journalists and sjw are ruining games.

tl;dr: gamergate started as 4chan making fun of a lolcow who fucked 5 journalists to promote her FREE game. it blew up and journalists and sjws banded together to declare that gamers are shit people and sexist and dont need ot be the audience for games.

Just want to die lads

Just popping by to pay my respects to Gene Wolfe. He was the best living author in the genre for a long time and he has left a void that is unlikely to be filled. RIP.

>>13054348
Yeah it was confusing sometimes,i thought because i picked a bad translation(German), but i really liked it. To the end: i guess Red hesitated with his wish, because he realised that the "Golden Ball"(? dont know how it called in the english version) has flaws, like the old guys kids. His daughter is a slut with no personality or soul, and his son was ironicly taken by the thing he was granted, so by wishing happieness and luck for everyone he also takes revenge on humanity, thats atleast my interpretation also no fucking idea whats a hoverboot is.

>>13059689
how is the book, arkadas

>>13059701
this is a fair and balanced summation of the events

>>13050039
Opinions on the first law series by joe ambercrombie?

good, bad? should i read it bros?

does fantasy cyberpunk exist? something that isn't just grimdark

Read two chapters of Gardens of the Moon. I don't follow it, the first chapter was about mage hunter and dude from Prologue investigating massacre of one village. Then it jumps to another cast of characters where a chick reminisces about epic battle where her friend got turned into Pinocchio.

Can anyone throw a spoiler-free bone to me? I don't see where the story is, it's just events where buncha crap I don't know gets namedropped, it's a cheese grater of casual filter. I am usually opposed to superfluous explanations, but when your world is just so out of ordinary you at least kind of need to present a POV that digests the world to the reader a little bit.

>>13060089
Only two chapters... Just keep reading.

>>13060118
Third chapter better not have entirely new cast of characters.

Im looking for a swedish sci fi book but im having trouble remembering the name. I think it was in verse?

>>13060003
Shadowrun?

>>13060119
Well, Malazan has a lot of characters.

>>13059977
Best grimdark series out there desu.

>>13058728

slave where are you

>>13060245
I'll make it, just so I can stop refreshing /lit/ to post monthly-reading-anon's picture in the next thread.


NEW THREAD
>>13060273
>>13060273
>>13060273

>>13059805
To be fair, literature-wise it's pretty bland and uninspiring. (Not to mention that he was a Hitler LARPer himself. pic related, it's him)
But he did this during 1940s, so I am reading it out of interest. Not to mention that there's no established fantasy/historical fiction genre in Turkish literature so it's cool to read about a now-clichéd D&D Druid character at the beginning of Book II.
I happen to be a literary translator so I'd love to translate this into English (and 'fix' it along the way.)

>>13058991
You seem upset, friend.

>>13060089
Malazan is a brainlet and adhd filter. If you can't pay attention it's not for you. Malazan doesn't hold your hand throughout the book. You are just thrown into it.

>>13060222
>freezing cold on mountain top
>wears fur bikini with shawl and apron dress
>logic

>>13059701
I do recall Zoe Quinn, can't recall the whore aspect. All in all, I'm inclined to believe that this is accurate.