/lit/ - Literature

First for sanderfag a hack

>>14087922
What's some sci fi kino with visionary bathing rituals, as in the Mars trilogy or starship troopers?

FUCK PURPLE PROSE

4th Sanderson a goddamn dry hack. How can anyone stand his prose and dialogue?

>>14087922
Happy Halloween!

>Assuming that a setting is one like our world, save for the fact that magic used to be relatively widespread before it dwindled away, what do you think would be a good time period for magic to vanish, and why?

Someone in the last thread suggested the Bronze Age collapse, but why there? What would you suggest, and why?

DISCUSSION TIME!

>Did you like the book? Will you read the sequels?
>What did you think about the very non-descriptive way technology was used in the novel?
>Did you like how future culture was pictured? Stuff like gaming guilds having developed into entire nations, weaponized memes and stuff.
>Who was best girl?
>Any other thoughts?
>Are you doing anything fun this Halloween?

Also, reply to this post with nominations for what we're going to read during November!

anything set from the pov of the defenders in a siege?

Little blue > Renfei > Suriel > mercy > Ezekal >>>>>>>>>>>>> yerin

>>14088038
The first Red Knight book. And I've seen something mentioned here called 100 ways to defend a city or something.

>>14087944
His plots are interesting enough to keep me reading. If I wanted to read good prose or good dialog, I wouldn't be ready shitty genre fiction in the first place.

>>14087998
Weaponized memes and battle autism was the best. It shows that one of our guys wrote the book.
I read book two but never got around to book three.

Since it's Halloween I nominate "let the right one in".

>>14087998
>>Did you like the book? Will you read the sequels?
I liked it. I might.
>>What did you think about the very non-descriptive way technology was used in the novel?
Nothing bad about it. It was rather elegant to side-step the whole question of "are virtual copies of humans really human?" by just ignoring it.
>>Did you like how future culture was pictured? Stuff like gaming guilds having developed into entire nations, weaponized memes and stuff.
It was pretty interesting, the whole thing with the Oubliette especially.
>>Who was best girl?
The "mount"
>>Any other thoughts?
You could tell the author was (originally) from Finland because of that one mention of licorice, and the Finnish swear words of course.
>>Are you doing anything fun this Halloween?
No, it is a foreign "holiday"

>Nominations:
Early Riser
by Jasper Fforde

>>14087998
>Did you like the book? Will you read the sequels?
I've read almost half of the monthly books and this was the third worst. I will avoid the sequels like the plague.
>What did you think about the very non-descriptive way technology was used in the novel?
Stupid. It was literally magic words that solved every conceivable plot problem. Like "oh shit I have to teleport the cast to the other side of the city, q-shit lmao". The quantum communication was the only thing that made sense. Public/private key cryptography does not even work like described in the book. Fucks sake.
>Did you like how future culture was pictured? Stuff like gaming guilds having developed into entire nations, weaponized memes and stuff.
Weaponized memes and autism was fun, the guild shit was to on the nose.
>Who was best girl?
Ship.
>Any other thoughts?
The one redeeming factor was the whole heist plot that was slightly engaging. But I honestly don't think you can fail to make such a plot at least somewhat exciting.
>Are you doing anything fun this Halloween?
Some minor pumpkin decoration.

>>14088455
Acquire taste

>>14088038
First book in The Fencer trilogy by KJ Parker.
Second book in The first law trilogy also kinda fits here.

Just finished Hyperion and I'm wondering if the rest of the series is as good as the first book.
Anyone?

>>14088549
You hard scifi cunts need to turn your brain off.
Remember that a lot of the technology we have now started as fiction, not the other way around.

>>14088038

Bro, that one with druss from david gemmel. You get a 8 layer supersiege. Was it legend? Was pretty allright.

>>14088038
>>14088682
I replied in the previous thread, but Parker's latest book is also about defending a city. Said first book in The Fencer trilogy bored me to tears a couple of years back but this looks a lot more interesting, and apparently, humorous.

>translator writes “lol” in every single 7nncessary translator note

Ok

>>14088735
No. Stop with Fall of Hyperion, it still won't solve a lot of questions but it's some closure. if you read Endymion you deserve pain.

"Szeth son-son-Vallano, Truthless of Shinovar, wore white on the day he was to kill a king."

>>14088455
There's also the barely mentioned girl Akura girl from last book.

>>14088758
I'm not a hard scifi cunts you cunt. My problem is not with the concept of technology without exposition but with the usage of such technology as dei ex machina, introducing it in the same sentence as it's used to solve whatever corner the writer have put himself in.

25th for
>people actually buy and read this shit

>>14089648
mixing publisher cover variants should be punishable

>>14089714
i dont think new spring has a print that matches the rest of wot, but i agree. that shits disgusting.

Anons, I have a stupid question about A fire upon the deep.
In it we have the zones and the closer you are to the center of the galaxy, the more stupid you get. Children get stuck on a planet in a SLOW zone with intelligent dogs. And here is the thing - how are these dogs so smart if they are in the slow zone?
They get a tablet and in a matter of days they learn to use it and learn to speak the language of aliens! How is it possible for them to be so smart if they are in the slow zone? It seems to be a huge plot hole

Is black company actually good or is it "old=good?"

>>14090080
I’ve only read the first one. I thought it was fine, but not great. For some reason I was expecting it to be more grounded than it turned out to be. I’m not planning to read the sequels.

>>14090080
The first trilogy really was quite decent, but my tastes are apparently severely deranged, so take it with a grain of salt.

>>14090156
Is it viable as a one off or are there tons of unfinished arcs and plot points? I hate stopping during a series. I did it with the warded man after 50 pages into book 2.

>>14090043
Being in a slow zone doesn't make you "stupid" in that sense; Earth is in a slow zone. You can't be a godlike hyperintelligence in a slow zone, but e.g. a human moving out of or into a slow zone doesn't automatically get smarter as their brains don't rely on any upper-zone physics. This is made pretty clear.

Now, human brains *are* based on slow zone physics, so when you go into the "depths", you do get dumber and eventually stop functioning. An analogous process would occur to a higher life form trying to go "down" at all, and in fact most of the big plot is about how such a being can affect events in these regions.

>>14090235
Thanks for explanation. Can you please explain something else - I've read only 1/3 of the book and don't seem to have a good idea of what a power is. At first it's stated to be a civilization that transcend but then the old one is treated like one entity. So, is power a highly advanced civilization or is it a singular being?

>>14090207
It kind of works as a one off. I wouldn’t say there are plot threads that are unfinished, exactly, but there is clearly room for the story to continue.

Also, while I didn’t love the way the plot played out I actually did enjoy the style in which it was written. I guess I just didn’t end up getting invested in the characters enough to continue. You might feel differently.

>>14089714
My Count Zero is from a different run than the rest of the trilogy but it's by far the best looking and I Couldn't find the matching ones anywhere. That's part of why it's my favourite Gibson novel.

>>14090362
>cover has an effect on determining whether it's your favorite novel
I knww marketing by cover was effective, but I didn't realize just how effective it apparently is.

>>14090367
I never said it was my favourite full stop, I just said it was my favourite Gibson. Anyway, it's not just the cover, the book is physically smaller than the other print runs and has a better looking font.

What are the best Science Fiction books of the last 10 years?

>>14087922
I'm about ten pages into a little hatred and so far characters have
shit themselves
pissed themselves
hocked up cold spit several times
vomited
spit cum into wine glasses
what the fuck is abercrombies problem?

>>14087998
There's only a been a single strictly fantasy monthly reading book this year so far, so let's go with another fantasy. That's what I thought anyway, but then I looked with suitable requirements in mind and didn't come up with anything.

>>14090416
That's not a realistic question to ask unless you just want some compiled list from elsewhere or if you simply want someone's personal favorite of what they've read from the last 10 years.

>>14090528
Imagine you were in charge of a major book award like Hugo or Nebula (except not shit) and you had to select the best book of the last decade.

>>14090552
I wouldn't because I haven't read anything from the last 10 years, which is only about 5 novels, that would be as such.

Assuming what you actually mean is "What science fiction books from the last 10 years do you think I'd enjoy reading" rather than simply soliciting the opinions of others, then you ought to provide what you think have been the best of the last 10 years. If that doesn't work, then your favorite science fictional novels overall.

>>14090594
>I haven't read anything from the last 10 years
You know, you could just ignore the question then.

>>14090416
Wayward Pines Trilogy
Agents of Dreamland (a novella)
Man from Primrose Lane or Dark Matter (different authors but very similar books)
Southern Reach Trilogy
Three Body Problem

>>14090505
Requirements get thrown out the window in preference of monthly anon's biases willy-nilly so I wouldn't worry about it. Rec what you want, it can't hurt.

sarah j. maas

>>14090637
And you could provide a good faith excerpt.
>select the best book of the last decade.
>I wouldn't because I haven't read anything from the last 10 years that would be as such.
Seems neither of us did what either would have wanted. With a somewhat looser defiinition of science fiction and actually do more a off-the-top of my head of publishing years, seems more like 15 from the past 10 years, but still nothing I'd consider to be worthy of being called the "best".

>>14090661
>Wayward Pines Trilogy
I liked that one. Haven't seen it mentioned here before.

>>14090789
>Wayward Pines is an American mystery, science fiction television series based on the Wayward Pines novels by Blake Crouch

>>14090661
>Three Body Problem
I love the first one. The second book had so many missed opportunities, it almost turned me into a fan-fic writer. The third lost the plot completely.

>Agents of Dreamland (a novella)
What makes it special in your opinion?

>>14090661
damn compare any of these to old sci-fi and it almost seems like OP's question was in jest just to bring up how bad scifi had gotten

>>14090841
>it almost turned me into a fan-fic writer

>How a fan fiction for Cixin Liu’s Three-Body Problem became an official novel

>>14090849
That isn't what OP means.

>Interrupts your journey with another song.
Did Tad Williams want to be a songwriter or something? Every few chapters, someone is singing. I hate it when characters break out in song. Nothing is worse than being sung at. If I was in the mood for music, I'd turn on music. Not be reading a book.

But it's more than just not being in the mood. It's the fact that songs are meaningless fluff at worst, and hamfisted """foreshadowing""" at best. It's just empty words that may or my not mean something, until you reach the point of the story where you can go "heh, I remember that from the song." Assuming you can remember some lyrics sung 20 chapters ago.

That being said, I just finished the second book of Memory Sorrow and Thorn, and it's not bad. The second book is better than the first. There are fewer lore dumps, and more present day happenings. But I feel like the story is trying so hard to dodge tropes and cliches, that it's not doing anything spectacular at all. The high points never quite reach high enough, because by way of subverting expectations, it opts to do something mundane instead.

I'm not even upset that Simon got cucked, because he's still the same kitchen boy he always was, with all of his flaws. He hasn't changed or grown, and doesn't deserve her. If anything, Miriamele losing her virginity to some random noble is a tragedy for her, and has nothing to do with Simon. It's not shown as this female empowerment moment. She's in a terrible position where she feels completely helpless and has no other options.

>>14090801
>I liked that one
Usually people only read the first half of the comment, not the second.

>>14090883
I loved Tad Williams' proto-litrpg series, then I liked one of his fantasy series and was bored to death by another. But I can never figure out which was the boring one. I think it's a brother and sister as orphaned royalty. Volume one reads like scattered notes to a prequel expanded into 800 pages it's so dull.

>going away for just 2 nights
>have like a hundred books to read on my kindle
>still feel like I need to put more on there
I have a problem lol

>>14090883
Williams is doing that because Tolkien had loads of songs in his books, he's playing around with that tradition within fantasy

>>14090916
Oh. I never read Tolkien before. That sounds like something I would hate.

>>14090934
I tried listening to lotr on audiobook once and they sang the songs with instrumentation and everything lol

>>14090951
That sounds horrible. I'm actually listening to the audiobook version of Memory Sorrow and Thorn. There are two versions. The guy who goes by the name of Wincott is a better reader. But when he gets to songs, he can't carry a tune at all. Even the songs that are easy rhymes, he still can't match the rhymes. It comes out as an awkward jumbled mess every time. The man has no soul. The only reason I know he's singing at all, is because the narrator said as much, and Wincott changed his cadence of speech.

Spend too much time on 4chan and the Internet in general?
Wish you were actually reading that entire time instead?
The solution is audiobooks.
Audiobooks are the perfect solution to get through many books as they can be listened to at any time regardless of what you are doing.

>>14091014
bro its an audiobook bro its different you have to multitask bro this is audiobook bro youll absorb the full breadth of the book bro you can multitask bro please

>>14091038
>this is your brain on ADD

>>14091038
Is this sarcasm? Your post is so poorly written, I can't tell what you're getting at.

>>14091059
its pasta and its making fun of "people" who """read""" audiobooks

>>14091066
THAT counts as pasta on /lit/? It reads like it was written by an ESL.

>>14091084
Lurk more before posting.

>>14091089
Pff. No.

>>14091084
No, that counts as an idiot thinking he's being clever.

>>14091124
im not the one who thinks background noise is the same as paying attention

>>14091038
A lot of genre fiction doesn't have so much breadth to absorb. I can listen to litrpg audiobooks all day long at work but I can't imagine wasting dedicated hours on them. Unless it's that's one missing volume with the key story point

What's a good book like ass oyf (medieval warfare and scheming, noble houses competing for power) but actually good?

Oh no, misunderstandings due to different unmentioned expectations!

>>14091148
>ass oyf
You're being dumb.

>>14091140
Audiobooks aren't background noise, if you pay attention. And if you miss something, you can always just rewind and re-listen.

>>14090422
What did you expect?

>>14091206
If you aren't multitasking with them though, it's a complete waste of time. That's why I don't read any longer. It's a waste of time. Really, not always multitasking is a waste of time. There isn't really anything worthwhile to solely dedicate time to.

>>14091260
Did he publish anything yet?

>>14091267
Well, some things take full focus to do well. For example, I listen to audiobooks while I draw. And while it's easy for me to follow the audio while I'm drawing, my drawing speed definitely slows down. I'm not able to get into a flow state. But when I stop the book and focus on drawing, I work much more efficiently. I would draw in silence more often, but all my regretful memories creep up on me and drive me insane. So I use audiobooks to drown out those thoughts.

Waldo Wabbit book 4. Does he fuck his "good wife"?

>>14091333
Autism

Does anyone have fantasy recs that could be considered spy/espionage thrillers?

>>14091333
Hes still terrified of her[/Spoiler]

>>14091333
Waldo Rabbit isn't really smut. Its more in line with Discworld or other more light-hearted fantasy.

Finally finishing wot, after forcing myself - I'm kinda glad I did, since most of the based characters got their spotlights equally. Rand deserved that rest

>>14091643
As according to your delusional and distorted logic anyway.

>>14091366
In the style of James Bond or did you have something else in mind?

>>14091770
Any style basically. Something fun like James Bond could be pretty cool but more serious stuff is welcome.

>>14091745
I always wanted Rand to die. It felt cheap after all the struggling he did with needing to die and his final acceptance of it.

>>14091765
have you read it? there is no explicit sex in it what so ever. in the whole 4 books so far theres like 2 times where he and his wife have sex and they are both not explicit and only about a paragraph each. if you wanna shit post fine but atleast read the material you want to shit on.

>>14091796
Autism

>>14091787
>I always wanted Rand to die.
Same. But at the same time. I just want the little bugger free from everyone. KInda sucks that by that book, all I cared for was for Moraine, Thom, Tam, Gaul, Sulin, Talmanes and Mat to lived on. I find myself couldn't giving a single shit for the rest

>>14090841
>Agents of Dreamland
It's well written and has a really cool concept. Also a unique spin on your typical end-of-times cult leader.

>>14090849
Meh, lots of old sci fi was dry, badly written shit. We only now read what made it through the passage of time and the bad ones are largely forgotten.

>>14090422
If you have ever been here, and paid attention instead of sucking your gums, you would have realized what a waste of time you were getting yourself into.

>>14091967
Checking the archive it seems you REALLY didn't like his books, to be posting pics of slow animals for more than a year....jeez.

>>14090552
Terra Ignota series - Ada Palmer
Shades of Grey - Jasper Fforde
Early Riser - Jasper Fforde
House of Suns - Alastair Reynolds
Chasm City - Alastair Reynolds
And really, that's about it for scifi.

>>14092041
Only Terra Ignota & Shades were released in this decade, 2010-2019.

>pov is 2nd-person

There's a fucking reason why nobody uses this godforsaken shit

>>14092069
Scifi is doomed.

... i like sanderson, fight me.

>>14089459
Loving his arc thus far

>>14091178
Fuck. This.

>>14090422
Joe has a new book out? Is he still milking the first law?

>>14092097
The Raven Tower? It was recently mentioned in these threads that it was 2nd person.

>>14088735
2nd book is really good. Book 3 and 4 are worth reading, but not as good as the first two.

>>14092146
Only we were willing to properly communicate with each other, all of our problems would be solved!

(This is entirely incorrect, as it assumes an exclusively mistake theory worldview that excludes conflict theory. A lot of problems can be prevented and resolved through discussion, but not all of them.)

>>14092171
Oops, that's supposed to start with "If".

>>14091178
This statement was about the audiobooks discussion, but I guess it applies to what happens in books as well.

Has anyone here read The Grim Company? I've taken many of its ideas and applied them to my DnD games because i like them so much but the texts themselves aren't really great.

>>14092097
The only time I've ever thought 2nd person was acceptable was this one time on /a/ some dude ran a CYOA thread about trying to date a character from a show and he did a really good job of it.

>>14092157
yes, he succeeds in making increasingly derivative characters in every story

>>14092332
I read it all but man Sharp Ends was slog to read.

>>14092218
I found the storyline to be really hit or miss. Some good parts surrounded by a lot of boring or meaningless grimderp.

/sffg/, how do I get good at writing? Apparently writing every day for 3 weeks isn't enough.

Man, I'm erect at the thought of shortstack cunnies getting breed in remnant 2. Why is it so hot when a girl says you're too big?

>>14092547
just write more often then lol

>>14089727
Yeah it does.

>>14092547
That's like saying I played basketball everyday over the summer break, why hasn't the NBA hired me yet?

>>14092611
I used to be good, and I was good with no training, but despite how much I've improved since I started this writing binge, I'm nowhere close to my peak.

I'm convinced that the dealbreaker is my Bipolar II not cooperating, but despite being off my meds for a week and staying up until 3am every night, my brain's not making with the hypomania

>>14092624
Have you looked back over what you wrote before recently? It may be that mania had you believing that you were good when you actually weren't. Grandiosity is a primary feature of mania after all.

>>14092635
yes. It's still good.

Also, there's no mania in bipolar type II, which even my psychologists have seemed to forget, often within five minutes of reminding them. Their entire treatment plan is built around type I and they try to minimize any abnormal behavior habitually even if that behavior is positive. Only my psychiatrist actually understands that and she's become so unreliable this year I haven't been able to reach her in months

>>14092667
Hypomania is simply mania lite.
The grandiosity is still there, only less so.
Image is from the DSM-5.
So they've diagnosed with you Type I and you disagree with that or what?
My father had Type I and often refused to take his meds, so I know how that goes. He was often in a mental institution as result for his actions.
I don't really want to derail the thread overly much, so I'll stop it here.

>>14092097
I really hate this in porn.

>>14092686
No, I'm not diagnosed with type I. Technically I'm not even diagnosed with bipolar at all. I asked a previous therapist about it and he said because I didn't have manic episodes I didn't have bipolar disorder. He didn't even fucking know type II was a thing!

Present or past tense?

>>14092717
Past please. What I dislike the most about fanfictions are that they tend to be written in present tense and this cancer is spreading to books as well. Although I don't hate it as much as second/first person

>>14092097
>>14092720
there is only one work of fiction allowed to be second person.

>>14092717
past

>>14090862
cool, now when the fuck is ken liu going to finish the dandelion dynasty? Dude's too good a writer to waste his time translating a fucking fanfic

Based on my current experience:

First Person (Done well where I can empathize) > Third Person Limited > Third Person Omniscient > First Person (Unable to empathize) > Second Person

Past > Present > Future

That being said, I haven't read any Second Person or Future tense novels yet.

>>14092758
To be fair Baoshu was already an established writer. The only thing I've read from him though so far is "What Has Passed Shall in Kinder Light Appear" which I rather liked.

Look, I'm going to say it: Tolkein was a brilliant mythmaker, artist and linguist, but as a storyteller he's just plain shit. Most of the characters have no personality, the pacing is terrible, and tom bombadil's existence is just fucking indefensible,

>>14092814
I feel the same way, which is why I never finished any of the books.

>>14092814
True, this is why Sanderson will always be superior.

>>14092707
>he said because I didn't have manic episodes I didn't have bipolar disorder
non-clinical psych m.a. here
this is correct. mania is the key symptom of bipolar, just as lack of empathy is the key symptom of ASD

>>14092841
Lack of empathy is a key symptom for a lot.

>>14092841
From wikipedia
>Bipolar II disorder is a bipolar spectrum disorder (see also: Bipolar I disorder) characterized by at least one episode of hypomania and at least one episode of major depression. Diagnosis for bipolar II disorder requires that the individual must never have experienced a full manic episode.

It's like they literally don't fucking teach this shit in universities. Am I going to have to go through life telling my psychs how to do their job? Is that really what this is going to be?

>>14092857
If you think that's bad, you probably should look up Inter-rater reliability which is how often multiple clinicians will give the same diagnoses. It's a lot lower than you'd think for a lot.

>>14092857
okay FINE it's almost 3am and I reckon it's time for a fucking RANT


>Am I going to have to go through life telling my psychs how to do their job?
Likely. Even as a psych M.A.., I hold counselors and most psychiatrists in disdain. In my younger years, I had the chance to try LSD--which at the time did WONDERS for my severe depression and suicidal ideation--yet when I brought this up to my psychiatrist, I was met with a "Why are you telling me this?" then he proceeded to tell me that LSD will provide ONLY a bad trip. Useless fucker.
I find counselors tend to project their experiences (or lack thereof) which creates a cloud of ignorance where they don't genuinely understand the ordeals another person could face, or believe they can simply get over it easily.
Lastly: I will try to keep this concise but this is more personal so you feel free to disregard this if you'd like--I was texting with a counseling 'friend' (we were in the same department, just different programs) while I was going through some personal shit recently involving a poor homelife and strong suicidal urges. Following a short conversation over several days, my last message to her was telling her that I almost had access to a pistol when I moved back home and if so, I wouldn't be here now. I never heard back. Completely ghosted nearly a full fucking month now.
Polite sage.

>/litrpg/comments/difp0b/a_hypothetical/

Anybody lurking know of any more juicy drama reveals like this one? I don't know why I find it interesting to read but I do.

>>14092881
In my personal experience, the people who pursue a degree in psychology often do so either because they hope to it will help them with their own problems or help them with the problems of those they care about.

I too have a degree in psychology.

>>14092893
>help them with their own problems
Yes. 'Mesearch' is a very real concept.

>>14092866
honestly, as someone who's been in therapy since I was 8, I feel comfortable enough to say that nobody in the field knows what they're doing.

None of the studies are repeatable, most of the most famous and infamous ones were riddled with experimental errors, and very few of them seem to know what they're doing.

For fuck's sake my dad's a psychologist and every diagnosis I got was a surprise for him. My psychiatrist is a specialist in autism-spectrum disorders and she didn't pick up that I had aspergers until eight years after I met her when my psychologist asked saying he knew her specialty and saw my symptoms but didn't see it mentioned in any of her notes

to be fair, I don't think it's a psychologist thing. I just thing most people in general are absolutely terrible at their jobs. I have yet to meet a physicist who has any sort of intuitive understanding of their subject matter or is capable of explaining it without parroting canned metaphors that predate the moon landing

>>14092881
fucking christ dude.

>>14092890
I read it. It's clearly just someone making up a plausible situation. Putting the names backwards and switching pronouns really doesn't hide anything. I guess if tabloid tier gossip is your thing, then ok.

>>14090080
It's good. I finished the first trilogy a bit of time ago. The vibe is really interesting and the narrative style is good. I read it after reading the last Joe Abercrombie novel and found it to be about on par.

I'm going to start the next set of books soon. I enjoyed the world-building, the sense of dread, fear, and the moral ambiguity. The latter theme is being ground into dust by GRRM, Abercrombie, and anyone else penning tractable fantasy but it does not feel at all forced in The Black Company -- perhaps owing to its age and the fact that its narrative style is intentionally blitheful with regards to shocking the reader.

I'd liken it to BotNS in terms of the effect it'll have on you if you read it carefully and patiently. Subtle, piercing, engorging, and rewarding.

>>14087922
When do you guys pick next month's read?

>https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6aypt5
>0:32 - 0:41
Is there any books with fights with this feel? I just want fast paced action where the characters jump over an incoming missile or aerial cqc combat. It doesn't even have to be that. Any book with good magic fights will do. I'd read light novels but their characters are so shit. I've read:
>stormlight archive
>mistborn

>>14092950
They did it that way so they can't get sued for liable or breaking a ndc.
Unlike here, what you say on rebbit can follow you.
It's like how the military says "they can't confirm or deny anything".

>>14090416
The Terra Ignota series is the best piece of genre fiction written since 1983.

>>14093260
How big do you think his penis is?

>>14093453
>too like the meme
Is her last book coming out soon? Why the sudden increase in shilling?
Has the three meme problem and too like the meme shill returned? Noticed an resumption of it being forced into everything.

>>14093457
Bigger than mine that's for sure.

Post tropes you like.
>Heroes win due to the power of friendship and/or love

>>14092602
Link? I literally spent /days/ trying to find one and couldn't.

>>14093536
>>>/a/

>>14093536
>private detective is called in for something minor and winds up uncovering and defeating a huge conspiracy

Are there any good books like the Thronebreaker game set in the Witcher universe? Basically an army / force of underdogs waging borderline guerilla warfare against a superior enemy? Doesn't necessarily have to be fantasy but I assume it's the best place to look.

>>14093703
A fantasy Rambo?
Yes. But your refined tastes would surely turn it's nose up at self published works. Goodluck finding that specific niche in traditional publishing that doesn't have someone trying to rescue their lesbian lover.

>>14092900
Take this shit elsewhere, literally anywhere else. Maybe you're a shit writer because you have no understanding of time and place.

>>14093477
>Is her last book coming out soon?
No one knows. I've seen both February and June 2020 listed as release dates.

>>14093453
So is this readable or more Lefty identity feminazi crap ?
I'm getting sceptical about everything written by women nowadays.

>>14093772

Rambo works alone, doesn't he? I was thinking more in the sense of a company or a regent-in-exile on the run in their own lands, now occupied by an enemy.

Honestly my first thought was something like Robin Hood (or Ivanhoe, which of course includes Robin Hood). There are wuxia and light novels like this but they tend to focus too much the powers of the individual protagonist.

Which self-published fiction would you recommend?

>>14093772
>>14093828

>refined tastes
Mate, I play the Witcher spin-off card games...

Is there a Tamer 6 copy out there that isn't faulty? I feel like the author has been deliberately distributing fake copies to expose pirates. Even though the book was kickstarted and he got 80.000 dollars for it besides the actual purchase of the book. God MSE is as greedy as he is petty.

>>14092950
Look up the term 'plausible deniability', silly.

>>14088491
It really did read like something someone from here could have written. I'm actually baffled that the series is so well received by people in general.

>>14088529
>It was rather elegant to side-step the whole question of "are virtual copies of humans really human?" by just ignoring it
I would personally have enjoyed the book more if it had not sidestepped such questions. It raised and never dealt with interesting ideas in favour of the master thief vs detective plot, which I think is unfortunate. Both could probably have fit if the author did not have to cram so much worldbuilding in there.

>You could tell the author was (originally) from Finland because of that one mention of licorice, and the Finnish swear words of course
Yeah, the whole Oort cloud civilization seem to be some kind of techno Finns. A little far fetched but entertaining and nothing that bothered me.

>The "mount"
Wew

>>14088549
>It was literally magic words that solved every conceivable plot problem.
I mostly agree. One instance where I think it worked was the Archon stored in Jean that took over the spike in the end. It was not over explained but was foreshadowed. Also how they used the ring the detective got from Pixil.

>Ship
Wew

>>14093831
>>14093828
Didn't expect you to respond in the positive. I can't remember the "really good" ones right now(not is not in a game).
Off the top of my head, I can only think of Awaken online and unbound deathlord : challenge. They both do what you want, but sadly take place in a game. So there actions doesn't mean shit. I got fed up because they were doing too much "feelings" shit.

>>14093840
It's self published. Of course it isn't going to be properly proofread and edited. He is trying to rush as much books as possible.

>>14093861

Looking them up now.

Are they at least "grim" like dotHack where your experiences affect you in real life (e.g. getting stuck in the game, losing your memories, if you die in-game you die irl etc)?

Are there any new high fantasy authors with good prose other than Erikson? I find a lot of it to be either turgid, repetitive, and needlessly dense, or high school fanfic amateurish nonsense. Erikson has a great subtlety and flow to his writing, I want authors that can do that

>>14093816
It's absolutely not lefty identity feminazi crap. The series does not really take a stand on whether the genderless society it portrays is right or wrong but, major spoiler, the society does crash and burn in total war because of its internal faults, one of the faults being the way sex and gender is treated.

>>14093881
Unironically Rothfuss. His prose is absolutely fantastic. Character and plot way less so, but he writes beautifully.

>>14093889

I honestly disagree. I admit the first novel shone in places, but I think that's mainly because he spent so much time on it. Wise Man's Fear is mediocre in terms of prose. Sure, it's a lot better than the average fantasy book, but it's not even close to someone like Scott Lynch (and I hate Lynch) or even Vance.

>>14093873
Something like that. Both have actions that take place in the game affecting the world.

If you want "(((grim)))" try Rules Free Vrmmo.

>>14093889
>Unironically Rothfuss. His prose is absolutely fantastic. Character and plot way less so, but he writes beautifully.
I partly agree. His prose is mostly good but it is quite cliche ridden and somewhat neckbeardy if you understand what I mean.

>>14093910

I'll check them out. I don't want grim per se, I just want there to be actual stakes beyond, I dunno, getting your WoW account hacked.

Just finished that large chests book 4. That was great. The spankings, the catgirls, the monster girls. Can't wait for book 5.

Now onto tight pussy part 2.

>>14093917
Yeah, they both have consequences other than your account being deleted/hack.
Rules free vrmmo is just fetish fest bait. Nothing of consequence happens other than you walking around erect all the time.

>>14093805
>February and June 2020
Nope lmao

>>14094450
>2021

>>14087998
>Also, reply to this post with nominations
Phantastes by George MacDonald.

>started black company
>already had to read first 2 pages twice
Is this going to improve my brain at all or should I just stick to my normal trash? It's like my mind is moving at the speed of molasses

How do I find unreliable narrator books without spoiling it?

>>14093260
Have you considered reading the thread?
>>14087998
>reply to this post with nominations for what we're going to read during November!

>>14093450
>>14093844
There's nothing plausibly denialable about what's provided there. Also, it's a NDA not an NDC.

>>14094619
That only way to do that is to stumble upon them.
It would have been possible if someone just posted some books without replying to you and then just started reading one without looking at them, but seems unlikely that that would have happened or that you'd have done that.

>>14094574
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sluggish_cognitive_tempo

>>14087922
>Monthly Reading For October: Quantum Thief
Great book but for a limited target audience. The hard science will tire brainlets.

Any good surreal comedy books?

>>14087998
>Did you like the book? Will you read the sequels?
I enjoyed it. There were a ton of cool ideas, as well as some awesome visuals (e.g. the memory palaces on the Oubliette). I recently finished the second book, and I’m starting the third book now.

>What did you think about the very non-descriptive way technology was used in the novel?
I wasn’t a huge fan of that. It made it super difficult to follow what was going on a lot of the time. Thankfully, it helped to avoid infodumps, but I’d prefer to not be left in the dark for over 50% of the book.

>Did you like how future culture was pictured? Stuff like gaming guilds having developed into entire nations, weaponized memes and stuff.
The concept of the Quiet was super interesting. Specifically, giving everyone equal opportunities - everyone can be a noble, but everyone has to be a Quiet as well.
>Who was best girl?
gentleman best girl

>Any other thoughts?
More like this for monthly readings!

>Are you doing anything fun this Halloween?
I stayed home and finished Outer Wilds. Good stuff, definitely check it out.

>>14087998
Nomination: The City and The City by China Mieville

>>14090416
Seconding Terra Ignota.

>>14095404
This is an excellent book. Didn't much care for the other book of his I read but that was excellent.

>>14094898
non disclosure contract.

>>14095799
I know. It's much more commonly called a non-disclosure agreement though.

>>14093450
>Unlike here, what you say on rebbit can follow you.
That's simply wrong. Reddit is actually easier to avoid being followed. It's extremely easy to use a VPN or similar IP hiding unlike on 4chan. Reddit is basically just everyone using tripcodes permanently with the archives on site. Don't fool yourself into thinking your IP address isn't linked to your posts.

>>14095857
I'm looking at your email is linked to your account on rebbit.

>>14095890
That's a throwaway account with a throwaway email no doubt. If the person uses their actual email, that's their own fault for being an idiot.

>>14095377
My diary

>>14095401
>gentleman best girl
Finally someone with some taste.

>>14092890
only retards listen to audiobooks, i don't see why it would matter if they're angry or not
focus on the people who actually read the book instead of the commuter bugs who won't even deign to pay attention to your work

>>14095377
Jasper Fforde: Shades of Grey - or - Early Riser

>>14095933
You sound upset.

>>14095903

Let's just go through this idiocy.
https://www.reddit.com/r/litrpg/comments/difp0b/a_hypothetical/

>approached by predatory organization
What for-profit organization wouldn't be described as "predatory" if that's defined as "concerned with making profit above all else"? If you think a company you're with is your friend, then you're going to have a bad time.

> What they didn't tell the author is that they're basically just using the free service that ACX has set up
They had no obligation to do so, in fact saying they were only the middleman where the author could cut them out of the process would be against their interests.

>author happily hands over the rights to their next nine books.
That's their own fault. If they don't know what they are doing and aren't interested in learning or won't get the help of someone who knows better, then that's simply the consequences of their actions. Should it be this way? No. Can anything be done about it? Yes. Will anything be done about it? Probably not. When I was looked at this I saw something mentioned about a LitRPG Authors Guild, which is a first step I suppose.

>narrator decides to use their leverage to get more profit for themselves
There's nothing wrong with this. The author should have negotiated with the narrator for the entire series, rather than what seems to be on a per-book basis. That's the author's fault. The narrator took a gamble and it didn't work out. This may not reflect favorably for their future work and the narrator will have to deal with the consequences of their own actions as well.

>keep the negotiation secret
Doesn't say it that was in any way a formal agreement, but rather just that the author didn't discuss it.

>People who can't listen because the narrator is different
Consequences of actions. Lessons hopefully learned and not to be repeated.


Overall, this is nothing. Stuff like this happens all the time. Every now and again this flares up animated works and videogames where a character has a different voice actor and the fans are upset about it. This is why author often have someone else handle this business side. If a person wants to be entirely independent they have to deal with the drawbacks of that.

>>14092760
>Second Person
Iain Banks Complicity
Italo Calvino If on a winter's night a traveler

>>14093885
>genderless society it portrays
>absolutely not lefty identity feminazi crap
ok

>>14096060
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genderless_language

What I personally find most interesting about LitRPG is that seems to parallel the development of early science fiction. If you read any about the history of early science fiction, you'll see that it was relatively few writers who mostly all knew each other and would meet up or otherwise correspond with each other. They'd also help each other various ways. I've seen a lot from the older authors who lament that science fiction as a result of its maturity has mostly entirely lost that sense of togetherness, camaraderie, and connectedness. Probably mostly because there are so many writers now and it's too difficult for everyone to know everyone. Will LitRPG in the decades to come achieve a modicum of respectability as its improves and attracts authors of higher quality? To be seen.

>>14095946
>Latest book
>The novel is notable because Fforde never uses a gender descriptive pronoun for the protagonist Charlie Worthing, referring to Charlie variously as they/them, I/me, and as simply 'Charlie'.

Did he go woke?

>>14096137
I think it's probably more profitable to allow the reader to more easily imagine that they are similar to protagonist.

>>14096148
So...he did

>>14096154
I don't consider "woke capitalism" to be "woke" or that "woke" ought to be co-opted in general as it describes a very specific context for a very specific people, but everyone tends to want to make everything about themselves, if it if's allegedly for furthering the cause of those people they are co-opting it from.

>>14096168
>if it if's
>even if it's

>Mark Lawrence is writing scifi now
https://www.goodreads.com/series/237318-impossible-times
What?

Is it possible to attain eloquent speech from only reading books?

>>14096422
No.

>>14096137
>woke
I don't get what all the fuss is about. But, then again, I am not from a language that is "slaved" to gendered language. I find it much easier to live with a language with only two pronouns - those for sentient beings and those not. Gendered language is fussy and one of the first hurdles for a non-native speaker learning say German or English. And as such literary devices like the one Mr Fforde used in that book, and I do think it was just a literary device bereft of any grander sociopolitical meaning, wouldn't even be a topic in my little country. Nothing much would be gained with it - I mean writing dialogue between a man and a woman is the only thing that seems to be more difficult without gendered pronouns, none of that "he-said-she-said".
Furthermore, when I read the book I didn't even notice this lack of gender for the main character. I am a man and I just assumed that Charlie was a male name. There was no question somehow. And because I am a man I assumed the relationships and many of the situations in the book are what men tend to have. (Am I a homophobe now?) But I have to agree with >>14096148 here, and I can potentially see how everything could be interpreted the other way. Wikipedia states that:
>Charlie is a traditionally masculine given name in English-speaking countries, often a nickname for Charles[1], but is now used as a unisex name.
Perhaps me being an "ignorant foreigner" has been the reason that I have not quite yet caught up to the fact that Charlie is now considered unisex.

But on the topic of the topics of the book itself: I quite enjoyed reading the book and to try to ease your mind I will say this: I did not find any "wokeness" or discussion of gender norms or least of all asexuality/bisexuality/hermaphrodism, just a story in a fictional alternate world where the Ice Age never really ended.

>>14096422
Apparently not.

>reading honor harrington
>WELFARE IS BAD
>UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME IS BAD
>RELIGION IS GOOD (in moderation)
>THE UNIVERSE IS FILLED TO THE BRIM WITH RETARDS WHO SOMEHOW MANAGE TO GET PROMOTED TO BE IN CHARGE OF LITERALLY EVERYTHING BUT WILL ALSO COMMIT SUICIDE VIA MISOGYNY

Why do we like this series, again

>>14096060
>this knee-jerk reaction to a word
Identity politics seem to have melted your brain bro.

uh, nice shitpost there anon

Do we like Peter F Hamilton's work?

>>14096436
>>14096449
How do I practice spoken eloquence then, when the only people I would want to converse with are, like me, sitting at home reading books?

>>14096470
If by "we", you mean /sffg/, then it doesn't seem favorable to me. Mixed at best. I certainly don't like Weber, but it's not about politics for me. An author can write whatever they want as far as I'm concerned and then I'll enjoy it or not. >>/lit/?task=search&ghost=&search_text=honor+harrington


>>14096498
Not particular it it looks like.
>>/lit/?task=search&ghost=yes&search_text=Peter+Hamilton
I haven't liked it myself. I did like the adaptation of Sonnie's Edge in Love, Death & Robots though. I had read the short fiction previously and didn't care for it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love,_Death_%26_Robots
Almost every episode is an adaption of SFF short fiction.

>>14096509
Why do you need to be one?

>>14096566
Be what? An eloquent person?
Because I want to find someone that I can converse with like those beautiful book dialogues. I don't know if I'll ever meet such a person, but if I do, I need to make sure I can match them.

>>14096645
To me personally, that's only somewhat less silly then someone saying they are learning a constructed language* in case they ever have the chance to able to use it as their primary language.

*Sindarin, Klingon, Dothraki, etc

>>14096746
I don't think that's a fair comparison. Yes my reason is silly. But I'm sure you'll agree eloquence is also a practical feature, helping with many aspects of daily life.

While we're on that topic, can anyone recommend me books that put a great emphasis on long and beautiful speech, be it monologue, dialogue, or soliloquy.

>>14096860
It's a comparison to as if that were the main, if not only reason why. I may be entirely wrong, but based on your image, I hope you aren't considering the speeches in Monogatari to be the sort of "eloquence" you'd be striving for.

Speaking of -gatari, what books feature a boss rush, like Katana had?

>>14096872
Not particularly. I am thinking of speech that you might commonly find in classic texts. Speech that some might even consider olden. And so I ask for book recommendations where this kind of speech is not simply a consequence of great writing, but one of the main features.

>>14096919
Well, I hope you realize that what we now consider science fiction didn't really start until the early 1900s and wasn't really formalized until the mid 1900s. If you mean fantasy, most of what we be in these threads would be of a similar era. Otherwise, may be better to ask elsewhere.

You can try to look through these I guess:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_science_fiction

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_fantasy

>>14096965
I got sidetracked into posting in this thread, but it can be any genre.

>>14096919
The Worm Ouroboros by Eddison
Gormenghast
then there's some recent scifi book written by a woman author that uses retro prose but my memory is swiss cheese

>>14096422
if you talk like a book with flowery prose you're going to come off as weird or at best pretentious. it's better to develop wit if you want attention.

Ain’t it great when the author decides fuck having a good story let’s just write 1000 pages of harem garbage

>>14097780
Sadly, you're being sincere.

>>14087922
OP is a faggot.

>>14097789 Do something about it.

>>14097795
I cant even be present for new threads to post this shit early (not even here for every thread), let alone be fast enough to re-thread.

>>14097803 Seems the only thing you can do is whine about it then.

Are the Darkness books by Harry Turtledove worth reading?? They seem interesting but I don't wanna invest the time if they're shit.

>>14097812
Only you can decide if they're worth reading.
Here's an online preview of the first book.
https://books.google.com/books?id=vcAGcNB09TwC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

>>14097809
And whine I will.

>>14097821
Lol what a dimwitted asshole.

>>14097821
I'll give it a look

Reading through Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson for the first time and really, really liking it (so far, I like it more than Neuromancer).

I guess I'm asking for recs. There's a great passage about halfway through the book where essentially, incantations, in the form of a story, are given power and treated as essentially magic. I absolutely love shit like this. What are some other works that use the human-created story, language, or ideas that are given power (and yes, I say this knowing that this isn't 100% the point of the work, but it's always been something that I've found fascinating).

I've also been wanting to get into Golden Age and New Wave sci-fi /lit/. What would you guys recommend?

I recently finished Ritualist, the first book in the Completionist Chronicles. I enjoyed it enough. The ending buildup was a bit sudden but I thought it was decent. I like the concept of wanting to '100% the game'; learning all the secrets, discovering all the classes, so on and so forth. I think the writing is different enough to stand out in a good way without the tryhard mundanity of the genre, and I prefer subtle jokes over in-your-face references.
For now, I'll continue with Book 2 while I alternate between Desolate Era.

>>14098028
>I've also been wanting to get into Golden Age and New Wave sci-fi /lit/.
To me golden age scifi is defined by short stories. It's the era of big new ideas that could only now exist in scifi as an established genre, and short stories boil that style down to the essence. I say start with Asimov or Clarke since they wrote the most short stories of the big authors of that era. Clarke is convenient because there's a single phonebook-sized tome that collects all of his stories from the fanzine era onward.

Thing about Asimov and Clarke though is that they're both very technically-minded writers with very spare, efficient prose. If you want something more stylistic look up Bradbury; if you want something from a more colorful worldview look up Philip K. Dick.

>>14098028
>What are some other works that use the human-created story, language, or ideas that are given power
This is a regularly recurring theme in the Discworld books. Probably the most famous single instance is a scene in Guards, Guards where two characters are trying to engineer an arrow shot so the odds of hitting are exactly a million-to-one, because everyone knows that million-to-one shots never miss.

WHOLESOME TALES

Just finished Blindsight's sequel. Didn't like it. Blindsight was far better and a fluke. Won't be reading the third.

Can anyone recommend me some fantasy novels that are in a disjointed but connected anthology style a-la Kino's Journey?

>>14098028
>wanting to get into Golden Age
>>14098077
>To me golden age scifi is defined by short stories.
I'd say short fiction, but I agree.

When I wanted to do so, I looked at what I already had downloaded and went with The Golden Age of Science Fiction: An Anthology of 50 Short Stories, Vols 1-13. It's a bit misleading since they aren't by any means all short stories. There's also novelettes and novellas included. Yes, that's 650 stories. I believe they are all sourced from public domain magazines from that era on Gutenberg, but it's much easier to have them all together like this in an accessible format I also have so many magazines from to other downloads, but they are a hassle since most of them are actual scans. I can upload all of them if needed.

I didn't read all of them by any means, there were many I didn't have any interest in, but I read at least a majority of them.
Look at the Source tab to see which I recommend from those volumes:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSg5JYQyEm9fjOmSSTMylfLaThYTmpqPKMpF_gYoqhYl5IXzZtvmBrK7o2fUaLA5g/pubhtml#
I ought to upload the most recent version, but no need to do so right now.

>>14098115
Probably the closest you'll find to that is a collection of short fiction from a single author where each one is about the same character having an adventure in a different place.

>>14096498
I like the Commonwealth Saga (in particular, the Void trilogy). Haven’t read much of his other stuff.

Is action sci-fi a genre or is there just military sci-fi? It's kind of hard to describe what I'm looking for, like the setting being something in the vein of 80s-90s action sci-fi movies like Total recall, Fifth element or the recent Dredd, but not necessarily with one main hero. I haven't really tried much military sci-fi but I'm getting the impression most of it is more focused on the military aspect of it and the tech than action scenes, individual characters and having more than an "us vs them" plot. Another way of describing it would just be average fantasy but with guns and cybernetics and such instead of swords and magic. Also anything with future cops in this vein?

>>14093536
Heroic last stand (successful/unsuccessful)
Self sacrifice for the others
Loyalty to a greater cause

>>14093703
>Basically an army / force of underdogs waging borderline guerilla warfare against a superior enemy?
The seventh Malazan book.

>>14087998
Almost finished with it, had an okay time, not sure if I'll read the rest of the series yet or not.
>Also, reply to this post with nominations for what we're going to read during November!
Quarantine by Greg Egan

When do you pick November's read?

>>14098907
Voting will be during the next thread.

>>14098830
>Greg Egan
Nice try, but you won't expose me as a brainlet with your hard sci-fi.

>>14098927
why are these things not decided before the month starts?

>>14098927
thank you

>>14098957
Because we want the reader's raw emotional state after just finishing a novel to influence their choice. For better or worse.

>>14098972
That's a fair reason

Because andrea did the wandering inn audiobook (50+ hours), books that people actually want were pushed back. So many books I was supposed to get months ago are now being released..
Anyways, bbl, thinking of andrea makes me want some slampiggie porn.

What are you guys reading?
Looking for something released recently.

Recommend me something to get back into reading.

>>14099456
children of time

>>14099456
Bakker

>>14099456
What do you like?

>>14099753
I'm not too sure, as I didn't read much fantasy and science fiction in the past. The only constraint I have is no pop science. Like in 'We', if you've read that. Apart from that I am open to any suggestions really.

Any fantasy survival books?

>>14100260
Plenty.
So far, Daniel Black is the best magical survival fantasy I read, where you start with almost nothing, pick up people, and forge an existence. A lot of people are now imitating it too. Only problem is that it's filled with smut. If you ignore the smut, the book is quite entertaining.

There are others, but I can't recall right now. I should really make a survival chart, since I had to dig through some awful poorly written self published shit in order to find the gems.

>>14100337
I've read that one. It's average. Not really what I'm looking for, but not far from it either.

If you can think of any others, let me know.

>>14100346
Well... I have to warn you, the others might be litrpg-esque, or blatant litrpg. Traditional publishing has completely failed on this niche front, at least recent release in the past two decade. There is Lucifer's Hammer from decades and decades ago, but that is scifi, Heinlein also has some survival books which were great, but that is also scifi.

Remember a lot of these are self published, so they may/will suck.
The ones I have access to are:
First Song by Blaise Corvin (don't try his ludus books, they go woke for no reason pretty quick and are shit).

Spellmonger by Terry Mancour

Remnant by Randi Darren. (If it wasn't for the smut, this would match what you want 100%, skip the smut and you can still enjoy it).

Dungeon deposed by William d Arand. (Kinda had something like surviving)

Advent by Xander Boyce.

System apocalypse by Tao Wong. (Series could have been good, but he made his protag a faggot with literal anger issues, yet he still helped protect the people who kicked him out of the land he made safe. I dropped it because I couldn't take someone putting themselves in harm for others that treated you like shit, and put you to die.).

Bobiverse (but you wanted fantasy and this is scifi).

Night Lord by Garon Whited. (Had a good premise, badly executed. I have it the old college try and it went to shit in book 2).

Watership down... (if you're desperate enough and don't mind rabbits)

Treason by Scott Card (I think you're stranded on a planet and have to survive?)

travelers gate by Will Wight (kinda).

Can't recall the rest or they are blatant scifi.

>>14098197
I'm assuming you dont have any examples, but i'm asking if you do anyways just in case

>>14100564
I don't mind self-published, but I cannot tolerate litrpg. It's really too bad that most of the titles of this genre are in this niche.
>spellmonger
I read the first 30% I think, and didn't really get any survival vibes from it. Looked more like wizard outpost in distant village. I also remember not liking it, and that's why I dropped.
>remnant
Too much litrpg, from what I remember. Dropped very early, in the first few pages. If you can tell me I'm wrong about this I'll try again.
>Night Lord
Complete shit. One of the worst books I've ever read.

I'll take a look at the others. Thanks for the recommendations. I may also check some of the sci-fi you mentioned. Although the sci-fi elements completely change the meaning of survival, maybe I'll find something akin to what I'm looking for.

>>14100675
The main problem is that I know of various series of stories but only as magazine serializations. I don't know if they've been collected, let alone available.

How do people ITT feel about the term 'speculative fiction'?

>>14100920
It's a useful term in that it combines science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and horror under one umbrella seeing as they're all types of genre fiction that share similar themes and demographics. I just wish it was more inherently descriptive, because only science fiction and alternate history seem "speculative" at first blush.

>>14098077
Would it be hard to understand all the technojargon?

>>14098103
I've heard of Discworld and have been thinking about getting into it for YEARS now. The only thing by Pratchett that I've ever read was Good Omens, which I always really loved. I'm definitely going to get into it, since this sounds like exactly the thing that's up my alley, though it's a lot of a reading.

>>14098147
Damn, that's a lot of shit too. But thanks!

>>14100260
What do you mean by survival?
That ranges from being stranded somewhere and having to survive the wilderness to the world ending and having to survive that, to some disaster happening locally and surviving that, to much else. Let alone "survival games".

good fantasy literature with demons?

>>14100952
I'm usually not really on /lit/ much, been here because I've been reclaiming my love for reading lately. Is horror discussed on this board much? In this general? I'm just wondering even though I haven't really read much horror material.

>>14101005

Yes, I'd read the early Clive Barker works it's horror and fantasy

>>14101005
Fantastical horror, sometimes. Standard horror, no.

>>14100960
>Would it be hard to understand all the technojargon?
For the most part, no. The actual science in most of these stories rarely goes above the high school level, and when it does it's because of one central idea that the story makes a point of explaining in simple terms. Asimov, for example, structures most of his stories like fair-play mysteries, and a fair-play mystery depends on the reader having access to all the information they need to solve the problem themselves. Stuff that isn't explained is either a contrivance to justify the setting (hyperdrives, "positronic brains") or background filler.

>>14100960
>I'm definitely going to get into it, since this sounds like exactly the thing that's up my alley, though it's a lot of a reading.
Nice thing about Discworld is that it doesn't really have to be a lot of reading; all of the books are standalone. My advice is always just to pick the book that sounds most interesting to start and don't worry about making a commitment.

>>14101019
I'll get to Clive Barker eventually. Always wanted to read Abarat.

>>14101021
Ah.

>>14100984
Any of those, except survival games.

>>14101027
As in, if it doesn't have science fiction or fantasy elements, it doesn't really belong,

>>14101026
>For the most part, no. The actual science in most of these stories rarely goes above the high school level, and when it does it's because of one central idea that the story makes a point of explaining in simple terms.
Cool, might get to this real soon then.

>Nice thing about Discworld is that it doesn't really have to be a lot of reading; all of the books are standalone. My advice is always just to pick the book that sounds most interesting to start and don't worry about making a commitment.
I've heard it's a good idea to pick a character that you're interested in, and just read all the books that are about them in order. How true is that?

>>14100992
You can read the warded man but stop after book 1

>>14101038
That's not a bad way to start. Only thing to worry about is that the first Witches book isn't really representative of the rest.

>>14101048
>Only thing to worry about is that the first Witches book isn't really representative of the rest.
How so?

>>14101054
Most of the book is spent following a young witch who spends some time with her old, stubborn asshole witch mentor. Then Pratchett decided he liked the stubborn asshole witch way more and went on with stories just about her and her friends. The original protagonist never shows up again aside from a cameo like forty books later.

>>14101076
Oh, okay. That makes sense.

I'll probably check out Discworld real soon then. After I'm done reading what I've been reading through.

>>14100821
>>remnant
>Too much litrpg, from what I remember. Dropped very early, in the first few pages. If you can tell me I'm wrong about this I'll try again
Naw. You're right. I actually wanted to drop it. It took a while for me to like the book. I only stuck with it as long as I did because my autism demanded it. Writers really need to work on their hooks, and stop depending on their names to make readers stick with something.
but it was exactly what you wanted. Stranded in the middle of no where and he builds a farm and cabin out of hard labour. If Daniel Black and this book cut down the smut they could have been commercial hits.

>>14101033
There are a lot of others I couldn't quite remember. Nothing really came to mind of high/epic fantasy and I didn't try to search for any aside from what I already have. These are all sci-fi or zombies.

Finished and liked
A Maze of Death
I Am Legend

Briefly looked at and might be ok:

Campbell - Virus kills all adults and children have to survive on their own.

The Drowned World - "London has been transformed into a primeval swamp, and within its submerged landscape giant lizards, dragonflies and insects compete for dominance."

Wool - "In a ruined and toxic landscape, a community exists in a giant silo underground, hundreds of stories deep."

The Martian - Very much an edge case for the thread, and science fiction. I liked the movie but haven't got around except to glance at the book. Described as "competence porn". Stranded on mars.


Didn't personally like, but maybe you will :

Day by Day Armageddon: " An ongoing journal depicting one man's personal struggle for survival, dealing with the trials of an undead world unfolding around him."

The Children of Men - Protagonist is on the run a lot and trying to survive and keep others alive. I liked the movie, but I apparently wasn't interested enough to keep reading the book.

>>14101174
>autism

>>14101246
If you are compelled to finish something because you started it, or you have ocd. It's autism.

>>14101258
Apparently autism is everything.

>>14101174
>stop depending on their names to make readers stick with something.
If that's the case with you, then you are probably too affected by appeals to authority in general. Just because you've liked something from someone before doesn't mean at all that you'll like something else from them. Everything ought to be judged on its own merits, same as these posts.

>>14101262
It is. We don't acknowledge how they are trying to break autism into assburgers and other little less negative sounding afflictions. If you're weird you're autistic.
just like how you're autistic. I'm surprised you didn't break down my entire post into quotes. It probably took all your self restraint, but I know who you are autistic-quoting-anon kun

Has there been any good coming-of-age novels in the last year, two years that I've missed? Something without garbage assassins or trash female protagonists.

Just a classic story, like Dragonbone Chair or Wheel of Time. Going on an adventure, getting the girl, monsters and swords etc.

>>14101307
That's wrong though.
Asperger's doesn't even officially exist any longer and most other related aren't even used really.

>If you're weird you're autistic.
Seems more like a persecution complex from willful ignorance.

Obviously I am, there's a only a few posters that post a lot. Your narrative continues to be silly.

>>14101276
>If that's the case with you, then you are probably too affected by appeals to authority in general
No. I tried it because I liked some of the author's work before, I stuck with it because of my completionist complex. Same reason I stuck with that wandering inn shit. I gave it a full try, so when I say it's shit, it's fucking utter shit. And if I see that shill from a few months back (who magically disappeared when people actually started to read that shit) imma pray I meet him in person...

>>14101325
>Something without garbage
>like Dragonbone Chair or Wheel of Time
Is this bait? Are you taking the piss right now? Or do you believe those two garbage series holds worth?

>>14101262
'Autism' is code for "I'm a glaring newfag and my post should be completely disregarded" nowadays.

>>14101348
>completionist complex
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_of_missing_out
>but if it gets better, but what if gets better, BUT WHAT IF IT GETS BETTER!?!?!?

I’ve never read a fantasy novel with the exception of a couple of the Ranger’s Apprentice series a long time ago and I wanted to know what the definitive fantasy novels are and what yall’s opinions on LotR and the Hobbit are

>>14101371
>>14092814


>definitive
Yeah, no.

>>14101365
>talking shit about Dragonbone Chair

What has /lit/ become?

>>14101381
>taking one random post to mean all of /lit/
Still seems the same as ever to me.

>>14101346
It has nothing to do with "post a lot". It has to do with you latching onto the word "autism" from that long post. Your self denial of having autism and sperging out anytime the word is mentioned, is what gave you away.

>>14101401
Only when you use it.

>>14101369
>here longer than he was alive
>newfag

>>14101379
I'm not saying the hobbit and lotr are definitive, I was asking what novels yall do consider to be definitive and what yalls opinions on the hobbit and lotr are, since they're the one series I've heard of alot

>>14101365
>something without garbage assassins
Why don't you fuck off?

>>14101422
Leave and never come back.

no wonder this general is dying with all this hostility

>>14101370
I don't fear it gets better. I just like to know when I'm talking about something I have facts to back it up. Even if a book gets better it doesn't excuse the shit it had before the "good" parts.

Why are you trying to shit on people completing something to form an opinion? Does it hamper you in some way? Are you by chance, the sperg who reads a page of a book, then goes on to lecture people (even those who actually read the book) how bad it is?

>>14101444
I wonder how so many crossboarders found their way here over the past week or three. I can't see /sffg/ advertised literally anywhere else for any reason.

>>14101451
"Didn't personally like" isn't the same as "it's bad"

>>14101455
i think the corruption is from within

Kinda funny that all of the collected women in WOT failed Rand so hard. Then Tam comes in. parts a few word and gives birth to Jesus Rand

>>14101468
Very well could be but it seems that the shitposting has been turned up a bit recently. Have you noticed this too?

>>14101407
Lol. Whenever you argue about autism with anons it's never me. I just read all the posts, so I know your triggers. Kek. This is the first time me and you discussed "autism being a catch-all", from what I recall. Autism-anon.

>>14101473
changes irritate

frens pls stop fighting

>>14101431
HURRR, I LIKE READING THE SAME BOOK OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN

That genre of coming-of-age is complete trash and creatively bankrupt.

i have read the 1-st book of the three body problem i really want to know if it gets any better. The book was a boring, soulless meme sci-fi insect mentality piece of mediocrity.

why does /sffg/ only like bad books?

>>14101592
From your years of reading, what are you top favorites?

>>14101580
Well it is written by a chinese person

>after naysayers were questioned up front in a way they couldn't meme their way out of answering truthfully, they left
Not surprised

I would put the vote in the OP of the next thread, and even make the voting, but I don't know what would be excluded from the vote.

>>14101644
Who are you quoting?

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