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/lit/ - Literature


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13497339 No.13497339 [Reply] [Original]

PROSE EDITION
>Who are your favorite wordsmiths? Provide examples of their work if you can.
>How purple do you like your prose to be?
>List at least one modern SFF book that you think has good prose.
>What are you currently reading?

Monthly Reading for July: The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

Monthly Reading books: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15ZwgDZVXB-nLqjbgcqgntZDyTddd0eqP

Fantasy:
https://imgoat.com/uploads/0935e4cd59/105363.jpg
https://imgoat.com/uploads/6d767d2f8e/21328.jpg

Science Fiction:
https://imgoat.com/uploads/def184ad8f/124507.jpg
https://imgoat.com/uploads/b44928ae11/114401.jpg
General:
https://imgoat.com/uploads/6d767d2f8e/21332.jpg
https://imgoat.com/uploads/6d767d2f8e/21330.jpg

SF&F author listing with ratings and summaries:
http://greatsfandf.com/authors-full-list.php


Previously:
>>13486156
>>13471912
>>13456614
>>13441921
>>13430053

>> No.13497370

OLD GOOD
NEW BAD

>> No.13497391

I've always been a dummy dum and I remember writing a couple short stories when I was in middle school.

What is prose? I only just started a few hours ago actually putting words on to paper and I'm still an uneducated dummy dum overall

>> No.13497392

>>13497370
This is true.

>> No.13497406

>>13497391
Prose is the words themselves. Word choice, rhythm, flow, all that stuff. How the piece of writing actually reads off of the paper rather than its content, though the tone/theme/characters/plot are all informed by prose in some ways.

>> No.13497407

Name a single good book that came out this year

>> No.13497408

>>13497391
avoid adverbs, use as few adjectives as possible, vary sentence length, and SHOW DON'T TELL
also learn about story structure, characters and themes

>> No.13497422

>>13497406
>>13497408
Thank you, the hardest part so far had been just getting settled in to a starting point.
https://pastebin.com/viJQsyjG
It's only 1000 words so far but it's the first time writing since school

>> No.13497434

>>13497422
also write as much as necessary, as little as possible at any given moment

>> No.13497438

>>13497408
>muh adverbs
>muh adjectives
That's just a phase, right? This avoid-stuff-that-is-completely-normal-to-use-bullshit-FOTM writing style will stop in the next few years again, replaced by something different, right?

>> No.13497440

>>13497438
What would you like to see come around in writing style?

>> No.13497447

>>13497370
this but Unironically

>> No.13497453

>>13497438
Show me some good adjective/adverb heavy prose.

>> No.13497454

>>13497434
How do you balance that with providing enough detail to give the reader the ability to imagine the scene

>> No.13497462

Purple prose > no prose, BUT purple prose really only works with "older" genres like Sword & Sorcery, Lovecraftian and Gothic Horror, Space Opera. Also retards need to stop equating ANY prose with purple prose. I swear to fuck these zoomers only read fantasy written in the last 10 years by writers who write like they're a computer and the moment any of them use a word that's remotely flowery zoomer fucking shits start crying about difficult the prose is.

>> No.13497468

>>13497454
Ignore the retards who spew the MUH SHOW DON'T TELL bullshit. That crap only started showing up in literature fairly recently because of morons thinking writing a story is the same as directing a movie.

>> No.13497482

>>13497468
And yes you can give too many details, but too few is just as bad or hell even worse.

>> No.13497488

>>13497468
No, it started showing because Sanderson became popular and he likes to lay everything out and treat his readers like 5 year old down syndrome children that are reading in their third language.
Then these same retarded kids read juvenile crap like Malazan and cannot fucking stop raving about le sophisticated fantasy.

>> No.13497489

>>13497422
Learn the distinction between "it's" and "its." Check your sentence length, you have run-ons in there. Be sure to read things out loud to test how they read off the page. You have verb tense errors that could be fixed by doing that. Reading out loud also lets you pick out extraneous words that gum up sentences and make them clunky.

>> No.13497494

>>13497489
Thank you for that good feedback

>> No.13497662
File: 35 KB, 480x640, 1563221860625.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13497662

Purple schmurple

I'm writing sword&planet and my prose is as purple and unapologetic as it gets, and I love it. Modern sff literature is too concerned with itself, it's all too self-important for me to take anything to heart, because I know these modern authors are simple robot-minds that cater to the hypersocialized blue light-addled consumers who need the gray and dull grim to give color to their lives. The irony.

>favorite wordsmith
I'm not allowed to say Tolkien aren't I? Fine, Gene Wolfe.
>good prose in sff
Book of the New Sun
>reading
Finishing Ringworld, foundation, and rereading The Darkness that Comes Before.

>> No.13497780
File: 2.71 MB, 2880x1434, netflix-the-witcher-1563577891.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13497780

Look how they massacred my boy.
I won't even get into how they butchered everything else.

>> No.13497843

>>13497422
>Darkness from the night before had just began it's descent in to morning when his eyes sprang open and legs swung off the bed to lift himself up to a standing position in one brief movement.
>It's only 1000 words so far but it's the first time writing since school
Yeah, I can see it

No punctuation, convoluted; "descent in to morning" probably sounds good in your head, but its terrible, "standing position" and "from the night before" are pointless, they can be easily inferred, "to lift" should be "and lifted" as there's no point in explaining the goal of an action, if that action happens as expected in the next few seconds, "in one brief moment" is pointless unless you want to make the scene more vivid and active (still it would be suboptimal), which clearly you don't given that you overuse passive sentences.
Depending on what atmosphere you want to achieve you may want to do something like this (and I am not claiming this is good writing, just one that avoids painfully clear errors):
In the gloom of twilight, there was barely a sign of morning when his eyes sprang open; and in one sudden movement he lifted himself up.

>> No.13497926
File: 304 KB, 500x850, monthly reading.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13497926

>>13497339
>What are you currently reading?
I haven't actually started yet but I just put the monthly book onto my e-reader. It's time to find out if we were all memed.

>> No.13497938

>>13497780
>netflix
kek
But what is wrong with this image?

>> No.13498078

>>13497339

I love Gene Wolfe for his ability to insert powerful religious themes into his work that drives you with wonder over how there is a causal link between us and the creator as we trace back to our origin.

However, Jack Vance has:

"Cease the bickering! I am indulging the exotic whims of a beautiful princess and must not be distracted."

Prose is like architecture, it should serve the purpose of the writing. Vance wants to build ancient, lived-in worlds that serve as a backdrop to the wit and cunning of his characters. Wolfe wants to impart weight with his, wants to create something craggy that must be reread. I've discovered that I like purpose prose more now that I have a kindle and therefore when I see a word that is an incredibly specific adjective meaning "shadowy but in a peculiar way" I'm not left confused.

Now for modern SFF that has good prose, I want to actually plug Schuyler Hernstrom's Thune's Vision. Its the first work in a long, long time that I feel understands how to write sword & sandal. The language is evocative and free-flowing to me.

>> No.13498090

>>13497938
Since when are witcher eyes like that?

>> No.13498092

>>13497468

I think its a good rule for beginner's that serves as something that should rumble about and can be ignored once they have more skill in the craft. Showing, not telling, is as much plot as it is dialogue or description. There are many things we must be told, but the character of people and places can and should be given to us so that it doesn't feel empty.

Whenever I say to show and not tell, I mean something as simple as in plot we are told that an area is extremely dangerous yet there is never any threat shown. If the most we get from a dangerous wilderness is a single adjective changing their camping into "restless sleep" then you've gained nothing from it.

>> No.13498095
File: 20 KB, 220x312, 220px-Picture_of_Algernon_Blackwood.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13498095

Figure I'll try asking here: what is the best edition of Algernon Blackwood's weird fiction? I've been able to find semi-comprehensive, modern, edited editions for similar writers such as Clark Ashton Smith and Arthur Machen, but not for Blackwood. I'd like to avoid piecing together various story collections if I can.

>> No.13498097

>>13498090

After 85% toxicity

>> No.13498104

>show, dont tell
>in a written work

You want me to draw a picture or what?

>> No.13498120

>>13497938
>But what is wrong with this image?
That looks like middle aged Edwin from Twilight not Geralt of Rivia

>> No.13498165

>>13498104
Yea it's retarded bullshit. It's called storyTELLING for a reason.

>> No.13498168

>>13498090
Did you even watch the trailer lol

>> No.13498229

>>13498095
https://userupload.net/q2sk4qelgchx

>> No.13498396

>>13498229
Hmm, I don't know what that is so I don't want to click it. I think I managed to answer my own question, though, with another round of hunting through Google, as a publisher called Stark House seems to have reprinted the majority of it.

>> No.13498401

>>13498396
>Hmm, I don't know what that is so I don't want to click it.
Fuck you then, asshole.

>> No.13498404

>>13498401
Why would I click some random link to god knows what without even being told what it is?

>> No.13498417

>>13498404
>ask for best edition for Blackwood
>someone posts you a link
>HURR I DUNNO WHAT IT COULD BE

>> No.13498422

>>13498417
I don't mean any offense to you, but I've been using this site long enough to know better. If that is indeed what I am looking for, that is, an edited edition and not some OCR'd crap that you can get on Kindle for a dollar, I'd still like you to tell me what it is, for example the publisher.

>> No.13498428

>>13498229
>>13498396
>>13498401
>>13498404
>>13498417

I reply to all to show that I am not involved in this previously, but the link is essentially a two part megapack of Algernon Blackwood zipped up.

I have opened both up in calibre and they are of good condition, but I must now ask: is this series of megapacks good for other things? I'm always interested in convenient omnibus formats of works. I haven't heard of Wildside Press before to be honest.

>> No.13498444

>>13498422
Next time just search on mobilism and stop being such a crybaby bitch, it's just a dl link. If you don't have basic protections against clicking malicious links idk what the fuck you're even doing on this site. Anon posted a legit link to exactly what you wanted and you're complaining, just fuck off.

>> No.13498481

>>13497339
>Who are your favorite wordsmiths? Provide examples of their work if you can.
>List at least one modern SFF book that you think has good prose.
John Crowley's is probably the best prose stylist in the history of speculative fiction.
Random sample from Little, Big:
The house was tiny and tidy and stuffed with stuff. An old, old dog of the dust-mop kind sniffed at his feet, laughing breathlessly; be bumped into a bamboo telephone table, shouldered a knickknack shelf, stepped on a sliding scatter rug and fell through a narrow archway into a parlor that smelled of roses, bay rum and last winter’s fires. Jeff put down his newspaper and lifted his slippered feet from their hassock. “Edgewood?” he asked around his pipe.
From chapter 1 of engine summer:
The beginning… If I am only a story now, I must have a beginning. Shall I begin by being born? Is that a beginning? I could begin with that silver glove you wear; that silver glove, and the ball… Yes, I will start with Little Belaire, and how I first heard of the glove and ball; and that way the beginning will be the ending too. I would have to start with Little Belaire anyway, because I started with Little Belaire, and I hope I end there. I am in Little Belaire somehow always. I was created there, its center is my center; when I say "me" I mean Little Belaire mostly. I can't describe it to you, because it changed, as I changed; changed with me as I changed. But you'll see Little Belaire if I tell you about me - or at least some of the ways it can be.
>What are you currently reading?
Count to a trillion by Wright. So far it's good.
>How purple do you like your prose to be?
If by purple you mean idealistic or romantic, then I hate it. If you mean wondrous and atmospheric then I love it.
>>13497662
Based
>>13498078
Same for me as far as kindle's go. Really makes certain authors easier to read.
Also I have suspicions that you are the stalker anon and you shilling that obscure book is a ploy to get my goodreads ID.

>> No.13498494

>>13498165
>>13498104
I hope you retards are baiting. There's a difference between writing
>"This is anon, and he is very smart"
and
>"This is anon" *anon does something very smart*

>> No.13498509

>>13498494
Did we say there's no difference? What the fuck point are you even trying to prove? That your first example was superior? Because it is.

>> No.13498517
File: 2.64 MB, 3500x3500, 1563454065897.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13498517

I started reading demons of astlan, but I can't find the 3rd book anywhere for free
The books themselves are okay I suppose, but I just didn't like them very much, enough so that I would pay them. But since I've already invested time reading the two first books, I should finish the third for completion's sake.
Can anyone give me tldr or place to read it?

>> No.13498531

>>13498517
http://libgen.io/foreignfiction/index.php?s=demons%20of%20astlan

>> No.13498533

>>13498517
It's on mobilism AND libgen shit chart anon...
I can understand newfags not knowing where to looks, what's your issue?

>> No.13498536

>>13498517
anything good on this chart?
Jack Vance is my favourite author if that helps

>> No.13498539

>>13498531
thanks
>>13498533
I never really used either of those two actually
my previous job had free kindle thing so i could just browse stuff for free actually

>> No.13498558

>>13498536
It's not my chart but there are some really red flags in there, but I figured I'd pick something from there since I had to sit 10 hours in bus thrice in last couple days and I didn't want anything that would require brain function to read

>> No.13498575

>>13498536
some of it seems good. i personally enjoyed demons of astlan, trysmoon and the sort of dark mage. i heard good things about super saleso n super heroes and everybody loves large chests but i havent read them yet. spell monger is something im reading soon but i dont know yet if its any good. i also heard praises for unsouled by will wight but again i havent read it.

>> No.13498577

>>13497780
I've played the games, are the books any good?

>> No.13498586

>>13498577
They're average. If you liked the setting the books are probably worth reading.

>> No.13498596

>>13498536
>Jack Vance is my favourite author if that helps
Check out Schuyler Hernstrom. Currently the best writer of Vancian fiction. Michael Shea has also been praised for his Vancian fiction if you've never read his stuff before.

>> No.13498600

>>13498536
general rule of thumb is that if it can be found on royalroad, it's garbage

>> No.13498602

>>13498481
>>13498596

I understand, if it makes you feel better my goodreads account should make for some chaff

>> No.13498614

>>13498539
Check the fucking /lit/ sticky next time.
>>13498536
Unsouled and Dr. Anarchy require 0 brain power to read, but are very entertaining. I tried Astlan, but it was mediocre. Arand/Darren is a book-a-month smut writer. Fimbulwinter is also smut, but it has very entertaining kingdom-building aspects in itself, and the way it incorporates mythology is interesting. I have started Advent, and so far its mediocre, but I can see why people like it and it may get better. Large Chests seems overhyped, I found the first few hundred of pages pointless and then dropped it.
>>13498577
They are not

>> No.13498620

>>13497370
Unironically this.

>> No.13498635

>>13497454
Readers can imagine things all by themselves, the less detail you force upon them the richer their imaginings. Let the reader do your work for you whenever possible. They will enjoy your book all the more.

>> No.13498648
File: 69 KB, 1280x720, 79584637563.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13498648

>>13498635
>No! Spoon feed me the plot and create a levelling system for the MC so I know he's consistently getting stronger.

>> No.13498665

>>13498614
>Check the fucking /lit/ sticky next time.
Nothing there about sites with free libraries, friend.

>> No.13498673

>>13498596
>Schuyler Hernstrom
Thanks, I think I'll read Thune's Vision.

>> No.13498684

>>13498673
If you ask me nicely I can give you a link to all of his stories minus one that he's written so far. His truly Vancian stuff isn't in Thune's Vision (even though Thune's Vision is still great).

>> No.13498691

>>13498665
They literally give you a link to b-ok.

>> No.13498702

>>13498684

I'm not that poster, but I've heard good stuff about Mortu and Kyrus. Is it truly up to the standards of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser?

>> No.13498720

>>13498702
I still haven't gotten around to reading Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser yet so I can't comment on that, but I enjoyed Mortu and Kyrus a lot. The setting is great and creative and I'll always enjoy bro duo fantasy. I'd say some of his other stories were better though: Images of the Goddess might be my favorite Hernstrom story so far. It's EXTREMELY Vancian with a great sense of humor and adventurous as fuck.

>> No.13498969

>>13497926
Read one page...
>Path of Tacos
>Young female assassin with an obsidian dagger
Oh boy, I believe we've been meme'd rather successfully.

>> No.13498980

>Check the fucking /lit/ sticky next time.
The sticky is shit.
>>13497339
Btw, does anyone have that image with all the places to look for books saved? libgen,b-ok, mobilism, myanonymouse etc.

>> No.13498981

>>13498969
Read on, the book is satirical you dumb fuck

>> No.13498993

>>13498980
No, but if that image helps me find:
- The Lords of Creation, John C. Wright
- The Word of God: Or, Holy Writ Rewritten, Thomas M. Disch
- The King in the Golden Mask and Other Stories, Marcel Schwob
I want it too

>> No.13499053

>>13498969
>assassin
Maybe you should have read more than one page lmao

>> No.13499195

>>13497370
Unironically true

>> No.13499226

>>13497422
You've got some good stuff going on, but your sentence structure is so unnatural I had to stop to paragraphs in. Try this: Read each sentence out loud to yourself, then put them together and read each paragraph out loud. If it doesn't sound natural or flow off the tongue it doesn't belong on the page

>> No.13499228

>>13499226
>>13498635
>>13497843
Thank you very much for taking the time to look it over and provide some feedback

>> No.13499289

>>13498428
I can comment on the horror side, if you're interested. If you're interested in weird fiction, here are my recommendations -- note, none of these are "megapacks" or things of that sort, but are properly edited collections.
>M. R. James -- A Pleasing Terror published by Ash-Tree
>Clark Ashton Smith -- The Collected Fantasies, 5 vol., published by Night Shade
>H. P. Lovecraft -- Collected Fiction Variorum Edition, 4 vol., published by Hippocampus
>Arthur Machen -- Best Weird Tales of Arthur Machen, 3 vol., published by Chaosium
As for Algernon Blackwood, the best I can find is the reprints of his fiction collections published by Stark House which covers almost everything -- I can't vouch for the quality of these as of yet.
If there are other authors you're interested in let me know and I might be able to help.

>> No.13499311

>>13499228
No prob, dude. I should add what I liked about it: you're not oversaturating the page with description. Little details like the fact that his hair is buzzed leaking in where it's convenient adds to the mental picture, while if you just gave a straight description of the guy it would be all fuzzed up in the mind by the end. Nice touch.

>> No.13499408
File: 10 KB, 416x431, william_wordsworth.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13499408

>>13497662
I can't wait to read your book, sexy bionocle posting anon.
>these modern authors are simple robot-minds that cater to the hypersocialized blue light-addled consumers who need the gray and dull grim to give color to their lives
It's fucking true. My 1896 collection of South Pacific stories sold for one dollar through the mail has more life and style in it than anything I've read that was published in the last ten years.

>> No.13499471
File: 142 KB, 500x667, snow-crash.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13499471

>>13497339
>Favorite wordsmiths
Zelazny Zelazny Zelazny
>The Doors of his Face, the Lamps of his Mouth:
>Venus at night is a field of sable waters. On the coasts, you can never tell where the sea ends and the sky begins. Dawn is like dumping milk into an inkwell. First, there are erratic curdles of white, then streamers. Shake the bottle for a gray colloid, then watch it whiten a little more. All of a sudden you’ve got day. Then start heating the mixture.

>Lord of Light:
>Why could you not have left me as I was, in the sea of being?
>Because the world has need of your humility, your piety, your great teaching and your Machiavellian scheming.

I swear to God if you dumb faggots don't go read Comes Now the Power RIGHT FUCKING NOW I'm gonna FLIP my FUCKING TENDIES REEEEEE In all seriousness, it's the best piece of writing I've ever read and only like 8 pages
Current read is pic related. It's very comfy
>>13497662
Show writing
>>13498078
>Based Hernstrom
Some anon turned me on to him last week. His Vance pastiche in that one was particularly good

>> No.13499606

>>13497407
No. You will say it's trash.

>> No.13499673

>>13497780
wait until you see how they butchered your girl(s)

>> No.13499696

>>13498577
If you liked the game yes

>> No.13499709
File: 36 KB, 350x556, revelation-space.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13499709

Good lord this series turns into fucking garbage. The first book is alright, the other two can go Fuck themselves.

>> No.13499711

>>13497780
The trailer looks kino

>> No.13499755

>>13498558
>but there are some really red flags in there
>has a disclaimer at the bottom telling you this from the get go
>tells anon anyways
???

>> No.13499763

What's some good scifi involving aliens interpreting human culture and vice versa? I just realized my favorite part of any alien invasion story is the scenes where the aliens talk amongst themselves trying to figure out human society.

>> No.13499774

>>13499763
Battlefield Earth

>> No.13499874
File: 15 KB, 338x640, bunny15_china-1.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13499874

>>13499408
>>13499471
Really? Much obliged. The main character is debating, in this scene, whether to take [an offer] or not. The whole scene is much longer (part of the first chapter) but I'm simply posting a small excerpt of his musings here. Take into consideration it's a first draft. I'm spewing words on the page here, barely no edits outside basic grammar and typos

---

He stole another glance at the Tay-shell then moved to the window, where Volthuma stretched past the horizon across the curvature of the planet and even beyond, like a fourth-dimensional volute beginning in a coutour of the outer space and continuing into the artificially maintained depths of the world. The entire planet was to be experienced as an integument of buildings and people, all alike, clones of one another, cells around an interior sun of a planet core. Fast and instantaneous transportation turned the once harlequinic human civilization ia11nto a grey soup of indistinctiveness. Every human on every world looked and acted alike, all the madness of custom, tradition, history, culture meshed together into order and rule, bureaucracy and technology that went past real world barriers. If he could speak to and see someone's image-projection half a universe away, what would happen to a population confined within only a few hundred million cube kilometers of space? If information could travel across the abyssal gape between galaxies as fast as someone's voice from across the room reached Anand's ears, what secrets were there left anymore? What mystery?

>> No.13499904

>>13499763
Three Body Problem
CHANUR
H
A
N
U
R

>> No.13499986
File: 45 KB, 853x543, le banker bear.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13499986

>>13499874
>Fast and instantaneous transportation turned the once harlequinic human civilization ia11nto a grey soup of indistinctiveness. Every human on every world looked and acted alike, all the madness of custom, tradition, history, culture meshed together into order and rule, bureaucracy and technology that went past real world barriers.
I like it. Could use refinement but you already knew that. Keep on writing, bioncle anon.

>> No.13500009

>>13499874
Very nice. I like

>> No.13500100
File: 243 KB, 1280x923, oe0pv3nphc031.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13500100

That's enough of AWS for today.
Time to funpost!

>>13497938
It looks cheaply done.

>>13498577
Books are a fun fantasy read. With unicorn hunters turning world famous whores once they hunt them to extinction and other fun stuff.

>>13499673
I have seen it and I won't be watching it.
There's only so much Netflix mandated political correctness a savage Slav like me can take.
Plus I had enough contact with shitty (no pun intended) Indian "engineers" in real life, I really don't need it in muh fantasy.
Oh how they miscast Triss.

>>13499711
Anon pls. This is a quality bait zone. Put some effort into it.

>> No.13500203

>>13500100
Not bait bro. I hate the idea of nigger triss just as much as you do, but it looks good

>> No.13500247

>>13500203
We wuz elves n shieet

>> No.13500260

>>13499709
reynolds is a hack

>> No.13500298

>>13499709
>he didn't like the space chase in book 2
an hero

>> No.13500428
File: 301 KB, 1600x1375, 1563337016788-tv.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13500428

>>13500247
>52% of all magic is cast by just 13% of the sorceress population
What did they mean by this?

>> No.13500451

I am looking for a book with that comfy tavern atmosphere in rpg games . Is there anything like that ? Don't say the wandering inn please

>> No.13500524

>>13497407
I've been looking. None so far. In any genre not just SFF.

>> No.13500574

Anyone fuck with Kim Stanely Robinson? I'm halfway through Red Mars and I'm really enjoying it.

>> No.13500588

>>13498635
>empty room syndrome
>am I inside or outside?
>what is lazy worldbuilding
Bullshit. The trick is to provide enough subtle details for the reader to build from. NO details or minimal details make a Fantasy novel boring as fuck. May as well read regular real world fiction then.

>> No.13500691

>>13500428
>el goblina
>real life chucky doll

>>13500451
Heroes die by stover

>> No.13500697

>>13500574
I like his global warming milf book.

>> No.13500892
File: 3.09 MB, 2500x3552, 1546032872431.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13500892

What are you guys reading?

>> No.13500924

>>13500892
nothing
books are sith

>> No.13500935

Hi guys, recently decided to get back into reading after finishing The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Really enjoyed it and reading the sequel now. Was thinking of starting the wheel of time series after that but just browsing here to see other suggestions that look interesting

>> No.13500952

>>13500691
>Heroes die by stover
>listened to shill and read
>it's cuck shit
Stop recommending cuck shit.

>> No.13500959

>>13500935
>this low quality bait

>> No.13501180

I've been looking for a good series to read but all i find is trash. All the books you people enjoy are garbage.
>if you don't like it here then leave
Force me faggot

>> No.13501188

>when you try and write for the first time and realize your vocabulary is limited to the 10 same youtube channels you've watched the last 6 years

>> No.13501200

>find qt booktuber
>horrible self harm scars from the wrist to the shoulder
>it's gross and distracting
>deep down want to hold her and protecc
My attraction towards fucked up women whom i want to protect will leave me in a Philip K Dick marriage lmao

>> No.13501208
File: 1.74 MB, 948x1244, Avoid All Of These.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13501208

>>13501180
You might enjoy these.

>> No.13501220

>>13501188
>>13501200
>youtube personalities
>>>/soc/
>>>/trash/
>>>/gif/
>>>/tv/

>> No.13501222

>>13501220
Youtube is the new TV m8

>> No.13501377

>>13498078
I’ve been interested into getting into Wolfe and I’ve read The Fifth Head of Cerebus, just the story itself which is in an anthology I own and not the book of the same title which I know has two other related novellas, the thing is I’m an atheist and I know Wolfe’s work is very Catholic. Not that I avoid works by religious authors per se, that would be extremely limiting, basically I’m wondering if a firm atheist could appreciate Wolfe’s work in a significant way, as long as there’s nothing telling me I’m a filthy degenerate who deserves eternal suffering and torture, though from what I hear Wolfe was a pretty classy guy and I know many writers who aren’t very religious seem to love him. Worth a go?

>> No.13501491

>>13500892
Fevre Dream is one of the better vampire novels I ever read. Anubis Gates /Tim Powers is seriously overlookd on /lit/.

>> No.13501590

>>13500892
Warhammer Fantasy novels. It's okay.

>> No.13501783 [DELETED] 

>struggling to write due to constant anxiety and depression
>knowing that my life is going by without me accomplishing anything makes the anxiety and depression worse
>try to get a therapist
>therapists start at $200 a session and can only meet during work hours
>and that's for a social worker, not a licensed psychologist

the fuck?

>> No.13501808
File: 429 KB, 1001x1600, img104.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13501808

Gonna finally start in on this series. Some Viking/Celt Sword & Sorcery that's supposedly pretty brutal from the S&S boom of the late 70s.

>> No.13501970

>>13497407
Underlord

>> No.13501973

/sffg/, is an art therapist a bad choice if my issue is I can't write anymore?

>>13501491
is anubis gates steampunk? I remember seeing it years ago on a steampunk shelf that someone at B&N had set up for some reason, but I don't know if it's accurate.

>> No.13501982

I need cute girls doing cute things in a fantasy setting!

>> No.13501999

>>13501208
Needs some Brent weeks

>> No.13502007

>>13501982
have sex

>> No.13502036

>>13501970
Oh shit uncrowned is August which is week after next.

>> No.13502078

I've been playing Crusader Kings 2 to get some ideas and my king has been married and cucked three separate times

What's a good setting for this level of cucked

>> No.13502113

>>13497462
This. Purple Prose is fine, it's just that it's the default writing style for brainlets so of course there's a stigma.

>> No.13502158

>>13501377
>I’m wondering if a firm atheist could appreciate Wolfe’s work in a significant way
Yes

>> No.13502534
File: 253 KB, 656x980, 648c90f5ff0218c60b1461e3b5883917.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13502534

Sword & Sorcery

>> No.13502565

>>13502036
>adds new blog posts regularly
>doesn't update his FAQs
>doesn't update his "last book worked on" or that entire section
why even have a fucking website

>> No.13502588
File: 242 KB, 256x425, file.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13502588

What did I think about it /sffg/?

>> No.13502601

>>13501377

I don't think there's anything necessarily attacking atheists and calling them degens, its just more that you can tell that some of his writing affirms what he believes to be beautiful about the world. If you can read the Fifth Head of Cerebus, then hopefully you can realize that there are alternate readings to his work aside from his intent, both options being profitable and enjoyable.

>> No.13502643

>>13502534
Oh no, it's that DYEL.
Bro you don't even lift.

>> No.13502895
File: 139 KB, 734x1039, 1f583d259febe5be58a5498efe10197c.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13502895

>>13502643

>> No.13503004

>>13498720

Well then, I'd be glad to get a link. I'm still iffy on Cirsova but want to give his works a try.

>> No.13503010

>>13499289

Thank you, the great problem I've had with most of the weird fiction authors is that they loved to write spindly collections of short stories that publishers always seem to like to group oddly and incoherently such that I'll end up with 5 of a famous story just to get 1 each of the lesser known ones.

As of right now I think I'm needing to buckle down on the backlog I already have! Although I have been trying to figure out M R James for a while, so I'm eagerly looking forward to ordering a copy of that collection.

>> No.13503032
File: 316 KB, 657x705, 1563675490536.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13503032

Any good sci-fi with a "go nowhere" future? Where humanity doesn't reach the stars yet manages to avoid extinction?

Already read BotNS.

>> No.13503048
File: 49 KB, 750x400, rover.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13503048

>>13503032
Should probably specify that I don't necessarily mean post-apocalyptic.

More something where humanity's burst of energy sort of fizzles out.

>> No.13503072

>>13503004
https://www32.zippyshare.com/v/taVrpmib/file.html

>> No.13503076

Anyone have some good fantasy book recommendations?
I recently burned through the first two Stormlight Archive books by Sanderson which I really enjoyed, although I'm a bit bummed out to see the third one receiving middling reviews + the realization that this series isn't going to be finished for another 20 fucking years. So bonus points for a series that's finished, not dragged out, doesn't involve too much end of the world shenanigans and hopefully involves the main character(s) suffering a lot which I have a soft spot for. Thanks.

>> No.13503092
File: 30 KB, 230x368, proxy.duckduckgo.com.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13503092

What are some good books about time travel?

>> No.13503102

>>13503076
name of the wind is pure fantasy kino

>> No.13503126
File: 188 KB, 606x1021, proxy.duckduckgo.com.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13503126

How are these Thomas Covenant books?

>> No.13503128

>>13503126
Terrible

>> No.13503134

>>13503126
They are old, so they are good.

>> No.13503138

>>13503032

Depends how far in the future you want.

The Rifters Trilogy by Peter Watts has the energy of humanity going to desperate lengths just to stay alive on an Earth that's essentially a giant refugee camp. There's no hope to actually escape the situation, it feels like humanity is just trying to prolong things.

>>13503076

Robin Hobb's Assassin trilogy is pretty self-contained, although it has sequels, and definitely has suffering.

>>13503072

Thank you, I think I'm going to actually read Image of the Goddess first

>>13503126

Call me a libcuck, but I dropped the book after the rape scene. I just didn't have any interest in it after that. Good writing and interesting ideas though, if you have more of a stomach than I, feel free to read!

>> No.13503170

>>13503076
realm of the elderlings

>> No.13503296

>>13502588
You wanted to program a Real Doll™®© for yourself, using the advanced algorithms and probability notations.

>> No.13503323
File: 45 KB, 562x434, go_be_fat_somewhere_else.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13503323

>>13502895
You are a disgrace to the genre fatty.

>> No.13503324

>>13503126
Absolute shit.

>> No.13503325
File: 25 KB, 480x360, Xyik95kcE[1].png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13503325

Looking for a book series I read over 10 years ago. Just for the sake of knowing the name again.

I don't remember any character or place names, just a very rough plot of the first novel.

>desert setting
>protag starts out as or becomes a slave
>becomes a fighter of some sort
>can grow wings now

Second book he goes through some gate and most of it takes part in another dimension full of demons (?).

It might be YA but I can't really remember.

Not much to work with I'm afraif, would still appreciate any help.

>> No.13503334

>>13503325
Too vague for me.

>> No.13503345

>>13503138
But the Rifters end up on a positive note. The stronk, independent 90 percent female nations from Africa (I am not joking avout the percentages) have the solution to the βehemoth

>> No.13503424

Looking for some decent wish fulfilment fantasy. Stuff with a badass protag who kicks ass, respected and feared, gets the girl, etc.
I've read too much Literature recently and need some escapism.

>> No.13503433

What's /ourguy/ Peter Watts up to these days?

>> No.13503456

>>13503424
Neverending Story

>> No.13503466
File: 49 KB, 640x481, This is very good.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13503466

Any fantasy books where a lesbian has to give into dick willingly or die? She can either accept the dick and spread her legs herself (or get on top) or walk up to the trap door to do the midair jig.

>> No.13503508

>>13503466
I wish you guys jerked off before posting here.
It's just too much.

>> No.13503563

>>13503508
You read books to jerk off your mind. Why do I have to fap before posting? When in the history of literature there has been worse things than a lesbian willingly taking dick?

>> No.13503623
File: 461 KB, 1024x768, proxy.duckduckgo.com.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13503623

Been reading the 2001: A Space Odyssey series. Good old-school science fiction. Anyone else like these? And anyone else read any Arthur C. Clarke? Rendezvous with Rama was awesome but the sequel was garbage because it was co-written with another author. Also read Childhood's End, it was decent.

>> No.13503632
File: 59 KB, 1078x1134, laughing survivors.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13503632

>>13503563
>complaining about antisocial weirdos on a anti social weirdo website that only has like 5 women on it any given time on /cgl/
shiggydiggy

>> No.13503636

>>13503623
>it's the duckduckgo search anon

>> No.13503638

>>13503632
whoops meant to quote >>13503508

>> No.13503644

>>13503632
I think you replied to the wrong post, delete and try again.

>> No.13503678
File: 138 KB, 736x1092, d7b4d2aa8aa5ca3f97ad0dcc42f9745f.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13503678

Sword & Sorcery... but with ANIMALS!

>> No.13503737

>>13503678
Wouldn't that be Brawn and Bestiary? None lifting anon.

>> No.13503777

>>13503563
>>13503632
Whatever made you think this is your little safe space?

>> No.13503895

Just watched the Solaris movie by Tarkovsky, thought it was pretty awful . How does the book compare? I liked Fiasco by Lem.

>> No.13503924
File: 2.31 MB, 2000x2199, The Last Redoubt.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13503924

>>13503032
The Night Land

>> No.13504425

>watch The Expanse
>throw my binder of notes in the garbage

>> No.13504441
File: 175 KB, 901x1200, 1562800226424.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13504441

>>13504425
Why?
The notes were not good or the Expanse was not good...?

>> No.13504444

>>13504441
My notes were the Expanse

>> No.13504465
File: 121 KB, 768x1024, 1562579565773.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13504465

>>13504444
Go and fish your notes from the dumpster.
The Expanse (Belters, various Solar polities, overpopulation, etc.) have all been mentioned in a variety of works dating back to at least the 70's. I think that the only new-ish element is the alien murder goo.

>> No.13504486

>>13504465
Alright you're right

>> No.13504545

I want to get into the witcher series -- do I have to start with The Last Wish? or can I start with Blood of Elves?

>> No.13504546

>>13497339
Can somebody post a good Sci-fi /lit/ chart? The more titles included the better...

>> No.13504566

>>13504545
The last wish is the one good book in the series. You can start and end with it desu

>> No.13504631

>>13504566
copped, thanks

>> No.13504666

Read Snow Crash and it was trash, can anyone recommend a good cyberpunk book? I enjoyed Neuromancer

>> No.13504725

Tried giving The Anubis Gates a go. I couldn't make it through the first few pages because of sheer confusion. The fuck language were these people speaking?

>> No.13504795

>>13504666
Count zero

>> No.13504911
File: 261 KB, 1920x799, 237652345677.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13504911

>>13503126
Depressionkino

>> No.13504920
File: 1.43 MB, 1750x2639, dune2.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13504920

>>13504911
I shudder to think what brand new memes will Dune bring us.

>> No.13505014

>>13503138
>but I dropped the book after the rape scene
>drops after best scene

>> No.13505047

>>13504666
I think the only cyberpunk work I've ever read was blame, and it's not a book.

>> No.13505056

>>13497339
Is the Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov any good?

>> No.13505062

>>13505047
>only good cyberpunk*

>> No.13505200

>>13504666
Idoru

>> No.13505210

>>13504666
A Song Called Youth by John Shirley

>> No.13505216

>>13503102
Have Sex

>> No.13505232
File: 572 KB, 252x252, IllinformedUglyBluebottlejellyfish-small.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13505232

>>13503777
What made you think this was YOUR safe space?
Just deal with all the cumm brained readers.

>> No.13505235

>>13501973

Kind of but more historical fantasy.

It's still really good though, would definitely recommend.

>> No.13505307
File: 123 KB, 400x595, “Christ, what an imagination I’ve got.”.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13505307

>>13503032
Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner

>> No.13505365

>>13505056
It's my favorite but I'm a pleb so take that as you will

>> No.13505454

Oh look another female skinned male protag. Can't wait for this trend to fucking die.

>> No.13505463

>>13505454
Trying to write something without a brain is like trying to imagine yourself dead

>> No.13505469

>>13505454
>female skinned male protag
what the fuck are you even talking about?

>> No.13505506

>>13505469
He's obviously talking about female protagonists written as men.

>> No.13505531

>>13505469
It's when an (male) author superficially changes his male protag into a female one to impress the reddit geeks.
The character is male in everything but pronouns and love interest (and the odd comment about clothes or being objectified)

>> No.13505565

Recs for well written dystopian sci-fi?

>> No.13505612

>>13505056
I'm personally not to fond of them. But anyone interested in sci-fi should have read them desu

>> No.13505722
File: 507 KB, 1251x1984, skin_walker.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13505722

>>13505232
You are going to have to look somewhere else for encouragement.

>>13505454
>>13505531
>female skinned male protag
Don't ever mention it again.
Degenerates actually get off on shit like this.

>> No.13506003

>>13500691
lyonesse has plenty of /comfy/ tavern scenes

>> No.13506010

>>13506003
meant for >>13500451

>> No.13506065

/sffg/, I had an idea for an iconic scene I want to include in my book but it basically creates a loose plot thread and I'm not sure how to resolve it.

My mc enters the magical world by train, and I was thinking of having a scene where the door closes on his shadow and drags him half way across the platform before it's torn off

>> No.13506110

>>13505722
>Degenerates actually get off on shit like this.
Like a doujin i read YEARS ago (2006?) here on 4chins. Where a doctor wanted a test subject and a guy put on a suit, got an injection and his dick shrunk. The doctor then pushed something into the void and the outer skin formed a vagina. (this was over time of course, I think he got knocked out).

He wanted to change back at the end and had to wait or some shit so the doctor can get stuff in place.

I've seen so many shit on this site. It's aaawwwwrighhht though

>> No.13506125

>>13506065
And what happens? The train goes back to the real world with his shadow in tow and he has to find a way to get his shadow back and reattach it?

>> No.13506200

>>13506125
when I was originally coming up with the story the plot was very different. My idea was that the MC would be followed throughout his adventure by a stalker that turns out to be his shadow when it saves him in the middle of a fight. Now however there's already things stalking him, and a major plot twist is there is no way home.

I'm thinking maybe it could just rip his shadow's arm off to match his body, but that feels kind of pointless. I'd rather have an iconic scene that has plot relevance.

Maybe I can do a scene on entry the train just turns into a fucking roller coaster and he's basically in free fall inside the car. That feels kind of derivative though since it's so similar to Alice's entry

>> No.13506542

>>13506200
>when I was originally coming up with the story the plot was very different. My idea was that the MC would be followed throughout his adventure by a stalker that turns out to be his shadow when it saves him in the middle of a fight. Now however there's already things stalking him,

Read Wizard of Earthsea before you write your book and make changes accordingly.

>> No.13506603

>>13506542
the funny thing is, i read wizard of earthsea three months after I came up with the idea but by then the story had been pushed to the back of my mind so I didn't make the connection until you just reminded me.

that said, i dont think I should wrack my brains about getting an iconic scene in. im writing anime garbage after all

>> No.13506732
File: 562 KB, 500x500, 1550413192880.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13506732

Anything good come out of children's/middle grade fantasy lit recently?

>> No.13506778

>>13504795
>>13505047
>>13505200
>>13505210
thanks for the recs

>> No.13506790

>>13506603
actually, thinking about this right now, I have to wonder what qualifies as an iconic scene.

I've got a scene where the hero catches a shooting star and it burns his arm to a stump, but actually there isn't a good chance to show that flashback until later in the book unless I shred the prologue. There's a scene where the characters get attacked by vicious stuffed animals whose bites carry a disease that turns your skin and bone into felt and stuffing, but the infection doesn't get far before it's treated.

other than that though, I don't have anything that's hasn't been done a million times before

>>13506732
I imagine if there had we would have heard about it by now.

>> No.13506804
File: 467 KB, 333x500, bootleg hp.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13506804

why is this allowed

>> No.13506828

>>13506790
>I've got a scene where the hero catches a shooting star and it burns his arm to a stump
Oh. You're THAT anon.

>> No.13506834

>>13506804
Why is Harry Potter clones allowed?

>> No.13506852
File: 77 KB, 500x388, nt-forget-youre-yourself-forever-32313243.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13506852

>>13506828
anon, if I had the power to be another anon I would, but unfortunately I'm stuck as me

>> No.13506897
File: 116 KB, 1080x1080, 07_41763520_2256192784612984_1062661463831395253_n.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13506897

>>13506834
>are
Why are Harry Potter clones allowed?

>> No.13506941

>>13506897
oh my god i would cast a spell that glued my face to her ass

>> No.13507015

>>13506897
I was clarifying your question.

>> No.13507021

Why does >>13506897 look like >>13506732

>> No.13507036
File: 2.49 MB, 1024x576, ladybug.webm [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13507036

Please recommend something with a comfy romantic dynamic. I mean something like a female villain falling in love with a male hero, or two super-heroes in love with each other's persona/secret identity but not with each other's secret identity/persona (pic related).

pls recommend. Even if it's one of those crappy litrpg novels I'll be greatful.

>> No.13507042

>>13507036
Isn't that a kids show?

>> No.13507050

>>13505056
Personally I don't really like Asimov.
He gets a lot of attention from the narrative of the "Big 3" of the time being Asimov, Clarke, and Heinlein. I think all 3 of them are overrated.

>> No.13507073

>>13497422
I echo all the aforementioned criticisms.
It seems extremely light on the fantasy or sci-fi.

>> No.13507085

>>13507073
Yea it looked like I was trying too hard to not say anything

>> No.13507113
File: 38 KB, 123x190, 1556527605719.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13507113

>>13507042

>> No.13507144

>>13505056
Not his best despite popularity. Read his short stories instead. If you want novels, read the robot detective stuff like Caves of Steel. For a deep cut try The Gods Themselves.

>> No.13507304

>>13501208
>Books to avoid
Those are all good, except for the Scalzi

>> No.13507356

>>13501208
You like Sanderson and Urban fantasy dino anon, you are not allowed to give suggestions or make charts.

>> No.13507362

>>13506804
My first thought was Little Witch Academia actually.
>>13507042
America has the misfortune of being built on Puritan foundations. This isn't unusual for French media.

>> No.13507438

ARE THESE LITRPG?

Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody
Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life
Goblin Slayer
Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom
I Became the Secretary of a Hero!
Is it Wrong To Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
Konosuba God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!
Me, a Genius I Was Reborn into Another World and I Think They've Got the Wrong Idea!
Mixed Bathing in Another Dimension
No Game No Life
Paying to Win in a VRMMO
Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon
Strongest Gamer
The Rising of the Shield Hero
The Unwanted Undead Adventurer
Walking My Second Path in Life
Young Again in Another World

Various other examples. All of the above are officially published in English.
The fan translated ones are even more absurd.

>> No.13507444

>>13507304
Noose your shit tastes out of here.

>> No.13507455

>>13507356
Sanderson lost me as a fan when he shit the bed with stormlight 3.
Urban fantasy is just detective novels. It's shit.

>> No.13507468

>>13507438
Missed one.
I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level

Some fan translated ones:
LVL999 Villager
The Strongest Guild Master Founded a Nation in a Week
Founding a nation in the different world for the sake protecting 1000 Homunculus girls
I Made a Slave Harem Using a Charm Cheat in a Different World
The Chronicles of a Lost Man in His Forties Founding a Nation
So What If It's an RPG World?
The Ability to Make Town!?
Skill Taker's World Domination ~ Building a Slave Harem from Scratch

Could go on forever, but yeah

>> No.13507489

>>13507455
urban fantasy is terrible name indeed.
It seems to be practice mean exactly what you've said, rather than fantasy taking place in an urban setting. I find this to be much more common in Japanese novels. Yes, novels, not manga.

Definition used: fantasy in a more or less modern urban setting.

Examples:
Baccano!
Death Note
Durarara!
Bakemonogatari
Tokyo Ghoul

Tons of others really.

>> No.13507587
File: 451 KB, 625x416, mildly angry dog.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13507587

Why does every new fantasy book has to be a fucking series? What happened to the good old standalone novels?

>> No.13507588

>>13507438
>>13507468
I don't understand your posts. Are you shilling chink shit?

>> No.13507591

>>13507587
Because publishers want it to be that way for various reasons.

>> No.13507601

/sffg/, do writers groups still exist? I keep looking for them in my city and they're all paid writers workshops

>> No.13507606

>>13507587
Library at mount char is a standalone.

>> No.13507742
File: 90 KB, 600x625, otter melon.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13507742

>Longwinded fever dream/hallucination/flashback sequence
>This happens on a regular basis to reveal something about the character's past or motivations
Is there anything more tedious than this?

>> No.13507801

>Longwinded purple prose that goes on for many pages for the author to show off their erudition
Is there anything more tedious than this?

>> No.13507812

>>13507742
How about having to read some witty schizophrenic skank's POV after the flashbacks?

>> No.13507882

>>13507812
That sounds pretty painful too.

>> No.13507916

>>13502078
Modern Sweden

>> No.13507924
File: 689 KB, 1168x1600, 1511705429824.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13507924

I need more stories like The Outer Sphere, not so much the litrpg stuff, but the town/kingdom/empire building, along with the big timeskip so that the reader can see how the characters' efforts effected the outcome of history and what was garbled or twisted around. Bonus points if it's the original characters from pre-timeskip that are able to experience and react to the post-timeskip world, whether through immortality, (cryo)stasis, or some other excuse. Also, no basedboi MCs, and no female MCs. Thanks.

>> No.13507958

I've decided to read The Wizard of Oz and already I can see why what I'm reading is a classic.

This is not something I can just engineer, and to be honest, I don't think it's something L. Frank Baum could have engineered either. I think when it comes down to it, it's nothing but luck, and even the writer writes the best story, it all still just comes to luck, luck, luck.

It's fucking terrifying

>> No.13507960

Posting an excerpt of my work - kind of ripped from a section without context, but I'd appreciate any input.
https://pastebin.com/2WbUQv9k

>> No.13508013

>>13507960
As he fell, Ebern spun, striking the ground on his back - he felt gravel and twigs tearing at his back, the boy’s shrieking louder now than ever. He slid, tearing a gouge thirty feet long into the hillside,

I think you could drop the "on his back" part to get rid of the double back use

>> No.13508024

>>13507960
Should have posted it here:
>>13506923

Is this your fantasy version of Dragon Ball Z?

>> No.13508041

>>13508013
Ahhh, you're right. I've switched it to,

As he fell, Ebern spun, striking the ground with his shoulders before his heels made impact - he felt gravel and twigs tearing at his back, the boy’s shrieking louder now than ever.

>>13508024
Fair point, I'll post it there as well.

Not .. really, but I kind of wish that it was now. It's a story about a kid getting kicked out of his magical forest and trying to figure out who his mother was - the part I shared was from the prologue, where his uncle is taking him to the forest in the first place.

>> No.13508096

>>13508041

Ebern sounds like a little faggot

>> No.13508110

>>13508096
He tends to be. His relevance to the plot is primarily as an early example of someone who fully embraces the way of the forest people, whereas his nephew (the crying kid he's holding onto) decides immediately that he'd rather go off on adventures. He tries to stop it for a while until the situation's taken out of their hands.

>> No.13508192

https://pastebin.com/kpbW9Wna

A tip I want to try and follow to help me ease in to writing is doing a short story a day or something similar to that. Not worrying about it being good or epic, just putting words on paper

>> No.13508200

>>13508192
Do you read a lot of light novels by any chance Anon?

>> No.13508202

>>13508200
No, does it show?

>> No.13508229

>>13508202
I'm just being an asshole, I've noticed a lot of people influenced light novels write very similarly; short immediate to the point statements, almost exclusive reply-and-response dialogue, switching perspectives multiple times to different unimportant characters within the same scene, etc.

>> No.13508343

>>13508229
I have zero writing experience so I'm still trying to stretch out the ideas from the guides and things I'm reading. One of them mentioned that trying to butter up the conversation text just takes away from the text, so leaving it at ___ said, _____ replied, etc isn't a sin

>> No.13508604
File: 134 KB, 1000x500, download.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13508604

Just read pic related.
>based on actual scientific achievements
>VR worlds
>spaceships
>hostile aliens
>a story that spans centuries
>a study of human nature against the unknown
I understand that it may be a little hard to read for brainlets, but it is kino.

>> No.13508616

>>13503924
The Night Land is actually hopeless as fuck. All the good shit that proceeds it at the end of time is fan fiction.

>> No.13508617

>>13508604
its a shitty crypto litrpg.
nothing more and nothing less.

>> No.13508682

>>13507438
What do mean by litrpg?

>> No.13508748
File: 200 KB, 1304x739, Screenshot_20190719-045804.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13508748

>>13507444
Is this the power of inceldom?

>>13502534
Based S&S poster

>> No.13508819
File: 67 KB, 307x475, 946787634567.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13508819

Holy fuck this was bad

>We wuz space kangs n shieet
>Saved from climate change by muh governments
>Fags on the moon making tiny elephants
>Omnipresent surveillance good, freedom bad

How did we go from Revelation kino to this shit? Does the series get any better? This was a real struggle to finish.

>> No.13508854

>>13508604
It's certainly one of the must reads of contemporary sci-fi. However the story does feel a little unfinished from time to time. For example the three-body problem, the game and the solving of the problem are hugely important in the beginning but doesn't really amount to anything in the end.

>> No.13508898

>>13507801
Long-winded non-purple prose that goes on for many pages for the author to show off their illiterateness.

>> No.13508910

>>13507587
This wouldn't be so bad if the average fantasy writer didn't spend 10+ years to wrap up the series or the series doesn't go beyond a trilogy.

>> No.13508915

>>13507362
>America has the misfortune of being built on Puritan foundations.
Nice try, Catholikuck.

>> No.13508981
File: 256 KB, 750x1108, tumblr_m70m77aZ8F1qmg4b2o1_1280.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13508981

>>13508748
>Based S&S poster

>> No.13509093

>>13508819
Read The Prefect already. Goddamn, everyone reads this trash and bitches about it but maybe one other guy read The Prefect and I don't even know if anyone read the sequel.

>> No.13509117

So is Nueromancer actually good?

>> No.13509174
File: 1.19 MB, 1443x795, Aspiring Bloggers Get Out.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13509174

What the fuck is happening in this general?
Fuckers are posting blogs about them choosing a book to read and giving excerpts of their work ripped without context. What the fuck.
Are these summer rebbit invaders?

>> No.13509203

>>13508854
>>13508604
Nice try chinks. Your trade problems aren't looking so bad, so you're back to shilling chink authors for the motherland.

>> No.13509210

>>13508748
Dyel?

>> No.13509280

>>13508604
The book is about humanity's saga to move from the earth to the stars. However, unlike most western fiction, this doesn't happen as a natural evolution of science but because of hostile aliens with much better technology.
The author mixes a lot of things together (social/political/ethical/moral/scientific/technological issues) realistically but sometimes tends to overdo it with the details of every character's backstory.
Those who like doorstopper scifi sagas must read it.

>> No.13509340

If you're writing a web series, how do you get publicity for it to attract readers?

>> No.13509351
File: 33 KB, 145x145, 1561217121629.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13509351

Can anyone remember the name of that russian website which hosts books?

>>13508604
How is this affected by chinas attempts to clean up literature heading over seas?

>> No.13509352
File: 67 KB, 230x313, Texhnolyze_DVD_vol_1.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13509352

>>13503032
>>13503048
You didn't specify books, so I'll recommend Texhnolyze. One of my favorite science fiction works.

>> No.13509693

>>13509117
IDK, but snow crash is pretty good so far

>> No.13509727

>>13509340
Buy space on a billboard and inform people that you're giving away a free novel.

>> No.13509738

What topic do you want for next OP? I'm burnt out of ideas.

>> No.13509759

>>13509738
Best religions in fantasy

>> No.13509842

>>13501808
So how is it ?

>> No.13509863

>>13502078
I have always been looking for something for this ck2 feel

>> No.13509871
File: 49 KB, 636x848, b953056075479903ea440bb9ed6fc845.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13509871

>>13509174
What are you saying? I have given context to the excerpt that I posted. Besides, it was only serving to showcase my style and my prose. Who cares otherwise?

>> No.13509902

>>13509352
I didn't really like Texhnolyze but I can sort of appreciate just how relentlessly nihilistic it is.

>> No.13509933

>>13509842
Only about 30% through it so far, but I'm enjoying it. I like that Odin is a character in the story, but he's treated as a dark, violent, and brutal god and not the stern but fair teddy bear he's usually portrayed as in fiction. And yea it's pretty grim so far (protag gets forcibly transformed into a berserker and ends up raping the girl he loves).

>> No.13509956

>>13509933
Sounds interesting . I'll give it a try . Thanks anon

>> No.13509971

>>13509093

I honestly didn't even know the Prefect had a sequel, but the political system of Demarchy is still one of my favorite things in his books

>> No.13510084

>>13508343
It's a bit late to reply, you can also just drop the said sometimes. And whoever you read that 'don't butter up conversation' was right if they meant to avoid shit like, 'so and so angrily said'. You could also do ____ glanced towards ____, or ____ turned away. While said is good because the mind just glosses over it, the real purpose of ___ said is to make it clear to the reader who the speaker is, so dropping the said works to if you make things clear. Avoid just having line after line of back and forth quotes with no tags unless it's just two speakers and you stick to a 1, 2, 1, 2, etc. If there's three or more, you must use some kind of tagging, just make sure the reader isn't confused.

>> No.13510087

>>13509117
Yes, unless you're a brainlet.

>> No.13510255
File: 26 KB, 500x484, FB_IMG_1563651000149.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13510255

>>13509738
Favorite SFFG/horror stories/books

>> No.13510394

>>13503466
GOOSH GOOSH GOOSH GOOSH GOOSH GOOSH GOOSH GOOSH

>> No.13510510
File: 48 KB, 261x400, I'm going, brother.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13510510

>>13497339
I just finished tawny man trilogy. I loved all three books even if fool's fate's ending kind of left me feeling soured on the whole thing. I FUCKING HATE MOLLY
I need a break from this type of fantasy. It's lethargic, slow, and focused. I like fitz but as a hero he doesn't really do *that* much and isn't especially powerful (which I like) but I want something different.

What should I read for something with an epic scope and magic with more classic powerful magicians and warriors? stuff with majestic feats of legend and large scale wars. Thought about malazan but it seems like a huge investment

>> No.13510537
File: 581 KB, 612x665, 1563067180394-lit.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13510537

>>13510510
Sword of Truth

>> No.13510557

>>13510537
I couldn't even make it all the way through eye of the world and I heard terry is even worse

>> No.13510606

>>13510557
Hard to say. Not much a fan of either, but it checks all the requested boxes. Goodkind gets less bogged down in minutiae than Jordan

>> No.13510645

>>13510510
>>13510557
>hasn't read malazan
Might as well have not read LOTR either. Absolutely DO NOT waste your time reading the trillions of words in WoT or SoT before you've already exhausted stuff as great as Malazan and black company. There's simply too much useless garbage to slog through that's not worth the time.

If you're even considering a modern epic fantasy with a large time investment (and I mean, RotE up to tawny man was 9 books so you're already kind of there...) and you haven't finished Malazan yet I think you're doing yourself a disservice.

>> No.13510665

>>13507489
What does that all that weeb crap has to with /lit?

>> No.13510718

>>13510510
you've read liveship traders right?

>> No.13510720

>>13510645
>as great as Malazan
lol

>> No.13510729
File: 33 KB, 499x338, bkub7.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13510729

>>13510720
>contrarian classical faggots

>> No.13510736

>>13510729
>contrarian
lol

>> No.13510737

Let's say one lacks enough monetary resources, given that condition, where would one go to download a free ebook in the english language? Hypothetically speaking, of course.

>> No.13510747

>>13510729
>>13510645
malazan sucks

>> No.13510773

>>13510729
But Malazan actually sucks donkey dick.

>> No.13510823

>>13510737
It's almost impossible to find free ebooks (in the english language) on the surface web like you would with any other language.

>> No.13510825

>>13510510
Read The Darkness That Comes Before

>> No.13510827
File: 14 KB, 473x333, 1524001027752.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13510827

>It's a mormon author spends 20000 pages describing his magic system episode

>> No.13510860

>>13507587
*Guy Gavriel Kay blocks your path*

>> No.13510897

>>13510737
https://forum.mobilism.org
http://libgen.io/
https://b-ok.xyz/

>> No.13510961
File: 40 KB, 460x960, FB_IMG_1563649816104.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13510961

THREAD WHORE! RRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

>> No.13511005

>>13509174
Reddit invasion because of the witcher trailer probably

>> No.13511120

>>13510510
Riftwar
The SIlver Sun by Nancy Springer

>> No.13511144

>>13510510
Check >>13500892 for stuff

>> No.13511223
File: 85 KB, 774x1032, 1563221814604.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13511223

Make a new thread right now or else I'm making another minimalist thicc bionicle thread for you autists to sperg about the lack of links.

>> No.13511268

>>13511223
>footfags

>> No.13511272

>>13511223
Do it faggot see if i care

>> No.13511281

Is Brent Weekes' Way of Shadows anygood?

>> No.13511285

What are some books with deep lore like the Bionicles series?

>> No.13511301

>>13511281
No.

>> No.13511324

>>13511285
the gba version of Bionicle is the greatest game ever made and also the one with the most intricate writing and plot. nothing in fiction or games comes even close to it.

>> No.13511394

Why didn't you?

>>13511392
>>13511392
>>13511392
>>13511392
>>13511392

>> No.13511397
File: 350 KB, 1200x1600, 011_A1_05.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
13511397

>>13509738
Best moms (Thicc Milfs) Edition

>> No.13511398

>>13510729
Leave the filthy plebians to their tastes, they will never know the joy of thousands of pages of pure kino.

>> No.13511404

I forgot to mention, mommy fags are banned from entering.

>>13511392

>> No.13511520

>>13503076
I'm in the same boat as you. I enjoyed the first two stormlight books but now the third one seems daunting. What did you think of those in between chapters about random characters? I kind of liked them because they reminded me of the little cutscenes in final fantasy 9 but sometimes I just wanted the to be over to get back to the action.