/lit/ - Literature

What would a good scifi booktube channel look like?

>>14667183

>Would terrestrial and submarine civilizations be able to co-exist?

No, fucking squid merkfolk would probably be jelous of human (white) beauty and would try to steal humans for some underwater (bubble) sultan or sultana's harem.

They would also need islands or tidal pool beaches for fire based industry

>>14667183

3rd for BIRDBOI

>>14667219
10-25 minutes of wall noise

>>14667183
>Would terrestrial and submarine civilizations be able to co-exist?
>implying they are not already

>>14667183
Why shouldn't they? Technical difficulties associated with murdering each other on any significant scale are too great to overcome without advanced magic/technology that also requires general intellectual advancement and consideration of the benefits of trade. The main thing that a terrestrial civilization needs from the sea is its use for transport, and that does not interfere with a submarine civilization at all.

>>14667241
Turns out, it's not wall noise, it's actually a message from a superior and unknown race. They want us to decipher some codes that appear in the video, if we aren't able to do it, they will enslaves us and make us work in the mines of Europa. But! if we are able to decipher their codes they'll give us the best fantasy book ever written by their race.
We only have one month.

>>14667183
About halfway through the first book, so far it's pretty interesting.

What did I think?

>>14667637
meh.

There was a sort of undercurrent in PIE origin myths that elves, titans, etc represented the indigenous pre-indo european peoples and their Gods, that the new invaders conquered, but didn't fully understand.

So anons, why are there elves in your setting? What is exceptional about them that make them necessary to the setting, and what is so important that they couldn't have just been a human faction with some vague magic attached?

Does Conan hold up?
I'm only interested in it now because I've been reading Imaro which pretty obviously takes inspiration from it.

>>14667728
>So anons, why are there elves in your setting?

Because someone liked the idea. And I do mean that as an actual in-setting explanation. When you CAN make new species, which is well within power of both heavenly gods, and major mortal power in the mortal world, the question is generally not "why?", but "why not?"

>What is exceptional about them that make them necessary to the setting, and what is so important that they couldn't have just been a human faction with some vague magic attached?

They are not particularly exceptional, and they are important for illustrating why the most obvious line of thought of someone who gets the power to shape life and decides to improve on human frailties leads nowhere, while being still human enough to remain relatable.

>>14666538
>>14666128
>>14666433
>many Kingdoms of degenerates, fools, sociopaths and liars.
Yet there is no rape? I guess murder is better than rape?
Get the fuck out with your reddit ass. Girls cry when rape because it isn't a hot chad doing it. They are upset that an ugly fucker who they wouldn't even look at is getting their juice box.

>>14666417
For someone to know all the games you guys just come here to post, they have to be a gaymer and and not a reader. Reading takes the same dedication that gaming does. You can't do both efficiently.
It's like me going to /v/ and asking them what book is like something more than night.

>>14667791
The movie is still fun, literally watching it.
Books, maybe not so much. It's been a while since I've read them.

>>14667728
Pretty much the indigenous natives that were conquered by the more warmongering species.
Apart from being one of the only species able to use magic, an extended lifespan is also pretty notable.

>>14667830
Or like, I don't have to write rape because the story doesn't require it?
Also, come the fuck on man that's just a generally embarrassing comment to make.

>>14667845
You can't talk about writing "degeneracy" and "sociopaths" and then pretend as if rape doesn't exist. I mean if you are writing an YA, then yeah, it's okay, but if you plan on writing a non kiddie book, it has to have rape. Other people will call you out for it. Unless you're a special snowflake who feels if he ignores something, it doesn't exist?
...or maybe..? You're a girl aren't you? Rape is making you uneasy (gimme dat pussy), and you post the pic of a women looking worried.

What is some of the 'darkest' dark fantasy?

Book of the New Sun question: If Severian was only able to identify Vodalus's agent as the Autarch only after receiving Thecla's memories, is what the Autarch looks like not generally known? This doesn't really make sense to me since it was even mentioned in the very first chapter of Shadow that the Autarch's face is stamped on a coin. Hell, Severian himself is even able to recognize that the face on Vodalus's coin was not the face of the Autarch. So, why did Severian not recognize that man as the Autarch immediately?

There's a lot of weird shit in BotNS but for some reason this is really bugging me. Maybe I'm just missing something really obvious. I'm only done with Claw btw, so don't tell me if it's a spoiler for the later books or something.

>>14667380

Whats it about,

>>14668098
A stamped coin isn't a photograph. All that Severian recognized is that one coin didn't look like another.

>>14668034

My diary desu

>>14668034
The Darkness that comes before

What are some themes that science fiction and fantasy should explore more? I feel like a lot of them these days revolve around the same kind of stuff:

> Excessive corporations and capitalism can lead to bad society
> Excess militarism / totalitarian government is bad
> Government reducing our freedoms, privacy, etc is bad
> Respect nature, don't compromise it in face of technological advancements
> War bad

I feel like every major story is some variation of one of these themes. What are some underrepresented themes that should be explored more?

>>14668478
Authoritarianism is good in some circumstances is a rarely touched upon theme.

>>14668478
I would like to see a novel based around a killer using new "green" tech to kill his victims. Really, anything detailing ways to kill people with solar panels or Run of Rivers would be interesting to read.

>>14668504
You could just throw someone off a dam or collapse a windmill on his house.

>>14668504
what would be the theme to that though? That "green" technology still has the potential to be used for evil purposes? What kind of message would it be sending, that just because something is made for the "good" of the planet doesn't mean it shouldn't be controlled/regulated to ensure it doesn't fall in the wrong hands?

>>14668501
I feel like most common medieval fantasy ends with some sort of "righteous" monarch taking the throne in the end. In Lord of the Rings, it's only seen as a positive that there is a king in the end, so long as the king is good (Aragorn)

>>14666949
ty london

>>14667219
a cute girl doing cute things while discussing non-YA SF

>>14668187
it's about colonizing mars

This bread contains to much fantasy. Post sci-fi kino.

I'm only starting to get into reading and the group reading in this thread seems like a great idea. Seen as small gods is part of the discworld series, should I read the books in order or can I just start with this book?

>>14669096
Colour of Magic is the typical start point for most people.

>>14669096
If you wanna participate you can start with Small Gods or precede it with Pyramids I guess.

>>14669096
you don't have to read anything before starting small gods, discworld has a lot of sub-series. it's more like a shared universe than one continuous story. also the group reading happens in discord not in the threads.

>>14667843
Different anon.
That's not true. People can be a lot.
For example I've finished:
...over 1,000 novels
...over 1,000 movies
...over 500 anime series
...over 500 games
...over 300 manga series
...over 100 TV series
...over 20 light novel series
...over 10 comic series
and listened to a lot of music

>>14669134
>>14669162
>>14669164
Allright, thanks everyone!

>>14669257
Get a life.

>>14668478
what are some quality novels about excessive capitalism/corporations killing society? this is a theme I can never get enough of

>>14669460
that's called cyberpunk, although usually it's more of a background element

>>14668512
Monarchy isn't authoritarian except in the context of a modern nationstate. Feudalism is greatly decentralised. A king can be powerless simply by irritating a couple of his vassals or making shit decisions. A modern day bureaucrat has more unchecked power.

That concept is like the divine king or a pagan hero-king. You must understand the cultural background. Not merely righteous.

>>14667830
>>14667968
Y'know anon(s), you don't have to write some things.
I guarantee there would be rape in at least one book you read that didn't write about rape.
Unless all you read is shit with rape, then I guess your virginity remains safe.

>>14669257
No one cares.

>>14669491
Also, we were talking authoritarian SF not fantasy.

But I agree, just check and see what the Crown of France in the 10th and 11th centuries had to deal with. It was not until the 16th century that the kings - not all - had absolute power. The first ones that come to mind are Francis 1, his cousin Charles and Ivan the Terrible.

>>14669096
IIRC Small Gods is completely disconnected from the rest of the series besides a few passing mentions of locations. I'd recommend reading Pyramids first though as Small Gods refines many of its ideas

What's a book that will fill me with a sense of childlike wonder?

>>14669845
The Bible

>>14669845
Lord of the Rings

>>14670387
Harry potter

>>14670129
Xe said childlike wonder not a profound understanding of humanity and the universe.

>>14667313
no, just wall noise.

>>14667791
Yeah Conan's tight

>>14668034
KJ Parker

>>14669845
Earthsea desu

started strong but was utterly disappointing in a similar way to Three Body Problem
whew false alarm everyone magic isn't actually real and the universe abides by rules acceptable to 21stC rationalists after all, let's all get digitized woohoo
The author was a coward, T-world should have been the real world or something, anything but what we got, all the horror and uncertainty of the demons in the beginning gets sucked right out by that wretched final third

>>14669460
The Simulacra

>>14668098
He doesn't even recognize the person on the coin as a man at first. "This one bore what I at first thought was a woman’s face—a woman crowned, neither young nor old, but silent and perfect in the citrine metal."

>>14671298
Yeah, I think I just remembered that passage wrong

>>14667637
it made me lol

>>14668034
Bakker

>>14668509
who cares

So does this book start to get a little more coherent later on or is it always disjointed as fuck? I get that the whole plot of the book means you gotta expect it to be a jittery but I'm only about 80 pages in and having the characters introduce themselves over a dozen times already is getting a little tiring.

Is the Goodkind meme real, or is it overblown?

I haven't really taken note of his stuff, I just saw a book of his earlier today and was wondering your guys' opinion on it.

>>14672127
>>14668509
>>14668504
>>14668478
He is just a psychopath that wants to find new ways to kill people, and he wants you to research how to do it for him.

>>14672424
Depends on how you look at it. He's not the worst writer out there but Sword of Truth is quite cliche and he will ram Ayn Rands big veiny cock down your throat. Also bondage sex.

>>14672424
Avoid all authors with the name Terry.

>>14672424
Sword of truth 1 was pretty good. The world was a touch generic, but I liked the idea of a sword that can only cut liars and I like the evolution on light/dark magic into positive/negative (which D&D failed to do).
In retrospect I would have much preferred a sword that cut the guilty or something more likely to have collateral.

Anyway book two was not so great. The stakes just don't seem that high for an emperor of a military state.

Every book after that until I dropped it was anti-communist preaching.

Overall not so great.

>sword of truth
Only thing I remember from that series is the heroine which includes her in constant danger of getting raped what seems like every other chapter, the time where she got raped by proxy with some magic spell, and the "cheating" scene where she fucked the protagonist's half brother and enjoyed it only for it to be revealed that it was actually the protagonist she was fucking.

>>14672424
First two books are kind of okay, after that it's trash. Goodkind is the type of person who loudly starts stating their opinions for no reason when nobody asked and nobody was talking about anything remotely related to that subject, and he does it in the books too.

>>14672424
The meme that he's so bad at writing it's funny?
That's true

>>14672336
It's always going to be like that. He will met new people and visit other civilizations, but you have to understand that he doesn't remember to read the diary. Because of that he needs to be introduced pretty much every time. Plus, the diary grows every day, gets harder to read.

>>14672336
I don't remember being annoyed by that in particular. As best I can remember Latro just starts omitting people reintroducing themselves.

>>14668187
It's mostly about politics. The terraforming of Mars is pretty much just window dressing.

It's really dry.

>>14673219

Nice, thats how i like it

>>14673121
I thought at first the diary was going to be something of a plothole considering later on it'd take him a whole day just to read the damn thing but then it turns out he barely glances at it.

Some more questions to Conan lore fags. Who are slavs, balts and finns of the Conan universe? Hyperborea and Brythunia?
Also, what happens in that area that a marked in red, if anything? I know that in Red Sonja that location I marked with red X is were notRussians live as well as sorceress Vasilissa http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/vassilis.htm.. But again, that's from Red Sonja comics.

>>14673392
Fug, forgot the map.

>>14673399
And another map.

>>14673399
>>14673405
why does this look like someone with down's syndrome tried to draw eurasia

>>14673438
Because It's supposed to be Eurasia, in its mythological past. As far as I understand it.

How long will Redwall Abbey keep up before going bankrupt?

What do you guys think of The Crown Conspiracy (Riyria Revelations)? I'm all up for a great duo traveling around, this appears to be like that.

>>14673490
They tend to murder beasts who try to collect taxes from them, I don't think they'll have a problem soon.

>>14673490
What is salamandastron’s tax policy?

what's a setting that makes you want to explore?

im looking for a new source of inspiration. something that can give me a world of hidden corridors, puzzle statues, strange machines - something like hogwarts that can get my blood flowing

>>14673707

>>14673707
>something like hogwarts that can get my blood flowing

Try Harry Potter.

>>14673802
brb making a s.t.a.l.k.e.r. mod based on this.

>>14672825
the reverse cuck sounds pretty stupid

>>14673707
the night circus

>>14674000
Stanley Parable but with creepy BGM

>>14673606
Plagues can't melt abbeys, the goodbeasts deserve the truth about Loamhedge.

>novel called Day of the Triffids
>triffids play no role in the story and only become slightly annoying in the last 40 pages

Recently finished WoT and just started Gardens of the Moon. About 2/3 of the way through. Blown away, and slightly overwhelmed. Are there any resources you’d recommend for readers new to Malazan or is it better to just avoid any and all discussions of the books until I finish them completely?

>>14673490
They're tax exempt

>>14673491
Sullivan is one of the worst modern authors

>>14672424
The first few books are very generic but with one or two decent ideas. After that it becomes possibly the worst fantasy series I've ever read. Even his obvious BDSM fetish (which he angrily denies) can't save it.

>>14674005
>>14673817

read it

Been reading some Chiang. He's a great idea guy but a shit-level writer. I still consider him interesting and far better in conceptualizing and making stuff work than, say, Ballard, despite the latter being a superior stylist. Would you agree?

>>14673802
Are there any books like this? That shit is cool as fuck.

>Shortly after President Thomas Dewey leads the United States to victory in the space race in 1952, a meteorite strikes Chesapeake Bay, obliterating most of the Eastern Seaboard. In the aftermath, mathematician and former WASP pilot Elma York calculates that the resulting climate change will make the planet uninhabitable within 50 years. This threat accelerates efforts to colonize space and leads to Elma joining the International Aerospace Coalition in its attempt to reach, first the Moon, then Mars.

>>14674284
Really? Well fuck. I liked the idea of the book. I'm looking for a duo/trio that are loyal to each other and just roam around doing fuck all, always together. Can be anything, fantasy, Sci-fi..Any suggestions?

>>14674554
Don't read it then even if it is a multi-award winning series.

>>14674554
something something I've devised a set of rules to make sure I only read good books, etc, etc

>>14668504
A short story about a jaded technician working at an orbiting solar power plant would be neat.
The idea being that he uses the microwave that transmits power to the surface to fry people in their cars.

>>14674554
Sounds like a worse Lucifer's Hammer

>>14674603
If this is the top award winning series the state of sci fi is horrible.

Does anyone have any recs for kindle unlimited?

>>14674616
>Many people subsist by looting former stores and by catching rats and various fish, especially the now-plentiful giant carp, which are mostly either former pet goldfish or their progeny, engorged by the massive supply of food available to them, primarily in the form of human and animal corpses.
metal

>>14673505
>>14673606
>>14674281
I was talking about the company who owns Redwall.

>>14674581
>believing some random anon who may have diametrically opposed beliefs to your own

I'm at least 2/3ds into my (fantasy) book. How much autism could my potential readers take?

>>14674186
As I recall the wiki and such will spoil shit immediately.
I believe the books themselves have character lists and such at the end, which you should probably refer to as you read.

>>14674969
Well, to be fair, he was the only one to answer, probably the rest didn't read the book. And there are so many books, someone may have a different recommendation.
Am I wrong trusting in the good people of /sffg/?

>>14675092
people spend money on litrpgs

>>14675164
>Am I wrong trusting in the good people of /sffg/?
Yes.

>>14667234
agreed, one of my worst nightmares is having to cuddle up to a shriveled old raisin.

>>14675405
You'll be one one day.

>>14675164
>implying he read the book rather than just telling you as such for political reasons

I loved hyperion.
Can someone recommend me a book?

>>14675666
Hyperion 2: Electric Boogaloo

>>14675666
BotNS

>>14675666
What did you love about it? The worldbuilding? The intertextual jerkoff?

Never really read any scifi, but what's the best out there sort of like Star Trek? Emphasis on exploring and avoiding conflict, maybe with philosophy thrown in?

>>14676121
Just read star trek novels

>>14676121
Roddenberry wrote books himself and they're decent

Otherwise Vorkosigan, The Culture and any of C. J. Cherryh's scifi have bits of what you want even if none of them is anything close to a direct mirror

>>14676121
Three Body Problem

>>14676121
Try big dumb object (BDO) tropes, eg Rendezvous with Rama, Ringworld, Pushing Ice.

>>14673707
>>14674306
Vurt
The Last Unicorn
Last Call - Tim Powers
Zod Wallop

>>14672627

>>14676548
ok terry

Hey Chartanon, are you there? Something weird happened to me today and surprisingly I think you're only only person I know with enough context to help me interpret it

>>14675092
depends on the kind of autism. Readers can take quite a lot of autism if you know how to make it entertaining

>>14674052
>hating on Day of the Triffids

>>14676163
A Stitch in Time is the shit

>>14674539
House of Leaves sort of

So I'm thinking of taking the Dune golden path, I know God Emperor is supposedly some absolutely insane bullshit that makes the whole journey worth it but are Messiah and Children any good or a slog to get to the good stuff?

>>14676643
>Look up litrpg

...
I'm dangerously close but it'll be okay

What series has the best second book, Dune or Ender's Game?

>>14677942
Messiah is 5/5, it's the end to the first book, very much worth the read.

Children is 5/5 at it's best and 2/5 at it's worst and feels like the worst parts of the first book - sadly, Children is primarily written like the worst parts of the first book.

What's the most alien setting you've seen in a fantasy novel? I mean something you can't get just by copying or mix and matching actual historical periods.

>>14678092
>mix and matching actual historical periods.

If only.

At this point historical fiction can be - and sometimes is - more alien than 98% of fantasy settings, because the latter tend to be populated with people of XXI century Earth, with only superficial decorations from other time periods.

But if you want examples from fantasy, I guess Dying Earth, Book of the New Sun, and the Machineries of the Empire (the fact that the whole civilization quite literally runs on black magic is sufficient to brand the latter as fantasy, I think).

>>14677942
Messiah is one of the best books in the Dune series, up there with God Emperor and Heretics. Definitely worth.
Children is mediocre in my opinion but has parts which are good (the first half) and parts that are a slog (the later half), especially the Leto and Gurney stuff in the late middle of the book. Ending is very good.

But since we talk about Dune, in my personal opinion Heretics is the best book in the series. That comes after God Emperor. Chapterhouse is not as good but presents interesting new paths for the characters to take and implications following the honored mantra and their enemy.
I wish Frank Herbert finished the series, I really do.

>>14678092
>something you can't get just by copying or mix and matching actual historical periods
But that's exactly what happens 99% of the time, there's a reason the saying goes "there's nothing new under the sun."
Even batshit insane stuff like Morrowind lore is mostly rooted in real world cultures, just ones we aren't exposed to very often.

>>14678073
>>14678159
Sounds good, is Chapterhouse worth while if you decide to continue past God Emperor or is Heretics the best hard stop point?

>>14678183
Hell yeah Chapterhouse is still very good. Don't get me wrong, all Dune books are good in my opinion. Dune is my favorite series after BotNS. Even the worst parts of Dune are still better than other entire books.
All in all, Heretics and God Emperor are the 2 best books of the series, but I think certain specific parts in Charterhouse are still better, even if the book overall is not better. And heretics ends in such a way that you kinda need to read Chapterhouse. Or rather, a lot of people stop after God Emperor, but nobody stops after just Heretics. The first 3 books are a trilogy of the Atreides, while the other 2 (supposed to be 3) books were supposed to be a Bene Geserit trilogy. That's how it works.

Going to the Gibson talk/QandA. What should I ask him?

>>14678183
If you read Heretics you might as well read Chapterhouse. I mean why wouldn't you.

>>14678253
>>14679604
Alright, full Frank Herbert train, don't stop until he stopped.

/sffg/ a few days ago I was forced to take a break from writing my isekkai about a boy who wants to be an adventurer but was sidelined into being a cook because of a fear that im losing myself. That night asked for a sign.

the next day i had a dnd game. another player who cooks in-game but not in real life somehow got into a cooking competition in the game. after five minutes of googling recipes to make he chose my jaw hit the damn floor. not only did i know the obscure dish he picked, i immediately recognizec the obscure chef who invented it, part of his medical history, the restaurant at which it was served as an appetizer, why it was invented in the first place, a recipe for how to prepare it, and how to extract the two industrial chemicals used to make it from raw materials

It was so bizarre Im convinced it meant something, but im not sure what

>>14679547
ask him why you aren't capable of independent thought and have to ask people on 4chan what to do like some kind of zombie slave?

>>14667183
Underwater themed pic and no bikinis.
Disappointing.

>>14680332
>It was so bizarre Im convinced it meant something, but im not sure what
Don't leave your day job.

>>14679547
Ask him why he hates steampunk and watch him rant for like 20 minutes.

>>14680332
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_thinking
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia
etc

>>14680422
Apophenia doesn't have anything on this. Im well aware fate doesn't exist outside the human mind, but inside the mind it creates an actionable narrative that allows me to divest myself of the burden of indecision. This is fate because I want it to be fate, and I want it to be fate because im otherwise a wishy-washy and hesitant person and won't get anything done unless I feel like im being obligated to by an outside force. the great thing about fate is, it comes from inside but it sure as shit doesn't feel like it.

>>14680493
Oh, okay, like flipping a coin to decide actions. I didn't decide to do it, the coin did!

>>14680338
she doesn't look underwater

>>14680537
basically, except instead of it being a coin it's your sense of narrative causality. makes it a lot easier to get the answer you know you want

>>14680569
That doesn't to be going very well for you though.
The previous times you've mentioned such things they haven't worked out.

>>14680552
It's pretty hard to take a selfie underwater.

>>14680577
The hardest part of using it is knowing when not to use it

>>14680682
But then you'd have to decide when to use it which defeats its purpose.

>>14680577
you're right that ive had trouble with self-inflicted deadlines, but that's the beauty of fate: we're predisposed to believe it has its own agency that supercedes our own. its a hard-wired ideological tendency like religion or xenophobia. You can spend your whole life abstaining from it or dismissing it, but still it will tempt you

>>14680760
use it a while and you need to choose just to not use it. at that point its ingrained and you can pretty much do anything you can justify. its such a roundabout way to regain free will, but it works like a fucking charm

>>14680838
Well, enjoy your delusional coping mechanism then.

>>14680610
>firecrotch
>but no freckles
CURSED IMAGE

>>14667183
Seven days remain

>>14680336
I'm totally capable I just want (you)s

Really struggling with Malazan. I'm like a fifth into the first book, and I haven't retained much of anything. I think the problem is that I don't care about any of the characters. And everytime I become interested in one, the PoV changes to another. I'm uncertain about the passage of time. And sometimes it feels like I'm reading far after the fall of Malaz, or only shortly after the fall of Malaz. I'm getting characters confused from chapter to chapter too.

On top of that, I'm not a fan of everyone being referred to as their D&D class. "The assassin" or "My wizard", etc. It pulls me out of the story when characters are reduced to a single class like that. I'd much rather they make up words that don't sounds like D&D, so it won't feel like I'm reading some dungeonmaster's campaign.

I don't know guys. I don't think I can do this one. It's too... I don't know what word to use. "By the book"?

>>14681161
>so it won't feel like I'm reading some dungeonmaster's campaign.
guess what Malazan literally is

>>14681170
Cool trivia, bro. You have any book recommendations while I'm here?

>>14673707
Xianxia has constant exploration

>>14674554
>earth is uninhabitable because of minor climate shifts
>buhhhhhh let’s colonize mars and the moon hey are totally habitable

How can Han Li just leave his sect without a word or any intention to return
How can th author just jump 3 centuries in a couple paragraphs

“Oh he just cultivated in seclusion to the peak of the human world, time to ascend”

>>14681047
>Seven days remain
for?

Any books where the rebellion wins, and they have to deal with the consequences. I've read GOT.

>>14681791
Mistborn trilogy

>>14681791
A Crown for Cold Silver - Rebels win but then all slip away from power for various reasons until 20 years later...
Powder Mage - Starts with the revolutionary murder of the king
And for scifi there's Aftershocks by Kloos which is set something like a decade after the protagonist's planet lose an aggressive war.

>>14667183
This was a 2019 Goodreads SF Nominee.

I found it to be highly disagreeable in many ways. While I disliked various stylistic choices, primarily how dialogue and perspective were presented, they are irrelevant by comparison to what I saw as the worst issue, the utter inanity of the test itself.

This novella is a sensationalist scare tactic at best for those concerned by the inhumanity of the immigration process and the acquiring of citizenship. It presents a complete caricature, not even in the mode of hyperbolic satire, and wants to be taken seriously. I've never been in favor of the method of arguing that says, "Yes, it is inane! Because the process itself is inane!" Anyone who tries to prove their point by doing exactly what they are arguing against is foolish at best.

There's no way that the test as presented would be used for citizenship. It fails to have any sort of plausibility. This doesn't test in any way what the ideal citizen would be. I will not accept the argument that it doesn't need to have the slightest plausibility if it successfully affects the emotions of the reader in the desired manner. I don't think doing so serves the purpose of immigration or citizenship reform or the promotion of a tolerant and multicultural society.

What has been written is literally four choices of the moral machine, http://moralmachine.mit.edu/..

I understand the comparisons to Black Mirror, all of which I've watched, but I would hope that nothing so ridiculous even by that measure would be depicted. I don't think there's anything particularly novel about virtual reality any longer so the twist was not surprising in the slightest to me, but for those unaccustomed to such ideas I understand it may have been shocking. I was hoping it would have went one level further really, but it didn't, which was disappointing since I think it would have gone well with its one of its other themes, the attempted erasure of consequence during the testing itself.

The other problem I have is with the the proctor/invigilator. He's only a trainee. While it's believable that they would use trainees, one would think they would use the same method on him as the one being tested, but they do not. They should have. The proctor repeatedly states that he's so honored to be there, especially since there's no one else like him there, which seems to be about race, as he's not white. He has made it where he is by having fully internalized the savagery of the British Values Assessment, BVA, the name of the test. By trying to be the best cog of the system he could he could he has dehumanized himself and through that is only able to treat others inhumanely. There is irony in that the one doing the testing should not be able to pass the test. It's unclear if this meant to say that minorities should neither assimilate nor become part of the system that oppresses them.

TL;DR:
1 star for being ridiculous in a bad way.

>>14682124
a lot of words to moan it wasn't right wing enough for you

>>14682126
Actually the opposite.
> I don't think doing so serves the purpose of immigration or citizenship reform or the promotion of a tolerant and multicultural society.

It's a detriment to the left rather.

Back again for more book recommendations. Please help.
Finished:
Dune**, Licanius Trilogy*, The First Law, The Broken Earth*, Memory Sorrow and Thorn*, The Wheel of Time**, Nightflyers, Book of the Ancestor*

Ongoing:
Cradle(Will Wight)**, A Song of Ice and Fire**, Borne(chapter 33)

Skipping:
The Prince of Nothing, The Book of the New Sun, The Black Company, Malazan

*Favorites so far
**More favorite than other favorites.

>>14682141
>>14682126
By which I mean that the politics weren't the problem, the ridiculous presentation was the problem.

What sense is there creating ridiculous imaginary scenarios that are entirely sensationalistic and counter-productive to rational thought rather than the actual inhumanity of reality?

>>14682177
Lastly, unless there's a response, I would say that Years and Years had a much better take on the matter, despite being melodramatic. I was going to write more but decided to stay within the limits of a single post.

>>14682141
Yeah sorry your use of "scare tactic" misled me, I think a bunch of your complaints here about plausibility are pretty asinine but I buy your general grievance with it

Have you read the Philip K Dick book with a test in it (Frolix 8 iirc) that handles the whole patently absurd and impossible test scenario well

>>14672336
I thought it got worse further in, some times while he had his diary he would be aware of sections of it, but not other sections, while the sections he remembered and didn't know were consistent and convenient for the narrative over the course of a few days. I enjoyed the early sections a lot more.

>>14682210
Scare tactics drive sales, that's just how it works. I'm not going begrudge him over that in terms of making money.

No, I haven't read that particular PKD story. The one of his that I have read with a test is "The Exit Door Leads In" which is one of my favorites of his short works.

>>14682126
>>14682210
It's unclear whether you read The Test or not, so please clarify that as well if you would.

>>14682124
> http://moralmachine.mit.edu/
>prioritize occupants of the self-driving car taking responsibility when death is involved
>get a big list of which humans I approve more or less of
Huh.

>>14682238
nah, it seemed like a pretty cynical attempt to cash in on brexit being in the news above all else so I had no interest

>>14682254
It would seem then that we both disapprove of it and that you were overeager to condemn me.

>>14682175
>A Song of Ice and Fire
How far in are you? You worried about it never being finished?

>>14682124
>modern scifi
cringe

>>14682175
Have you tried Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere?

>>14682284
Different anon.
I don't worry about anything being finished and I think those only engage with that which has been finished are entirely silly.

>tfw I'm already regretting taking a break from writing but I don't have my passion back yet and I'm not likely to get it back any time soon

I feel like sideshow bob in the ruins of an abandoned rake factory

>>14682175
Give the Song of Shattered Sands series a try. Middle eastern fantasy almost universally kicks ass and this is one of the main reasons why.

>>14682284
I'm as far as is possible until The Winds of Winter comes out. I'm a little worried that it will never be finished. However, I put it the "ongoing" section, because I feel fairly certain that TWoW will come before George's fatale heart attack. A Dream of Spring however? Not so sure about that one. But what can I do? I'm not going to expend energy fretting over things I have no control over.

>>14682346
No. What is it? Are the characters any good? I'm not really impressed by magic systems and settings. I want to like the characters first, and then if the fantasy stuff is cool, then that's all the better. For example, I liked Rand and his friends before I cared about the properties of a fades. Or how exactly Moiraine's coins worked. And I cared about Moiraine before I cared about all the intrigue of the White Tower. Sanderson did an ok job finishing the story. But there were a number of characters I feel he didn't understand. And skimming this guy's wiki page, he seems to have a great interest in the scope of his world and the magic involved.

>>14682440
Is it all fights and shit?

>>14682507
>Is it all fights and shit?
Not all fights, but the fights tend to be where it shines.

>>14682507
I haven't tried Cosmere besides Mistborn which I didn't like (YA vibe), but it's one of if not the most popular ongoing series. Warbreaker is a standalone that I'm meaning to try before giving up on him.

>>14682526
ok aeos

>>14682522
Bluh. I don't care much for fighting for the sake of fighting. Hearing someone got cut, or did some sick move or whatever doesn't mean much to me. Will I actually care about the characters, beyond their fighting skills and abilities?

>>14682526
Are you the same Anon? Because if so, why did you recommend something you didn't like?

>>14667234
Can someone say: UNDERWATER JEWS!

>>14682589
Well the reason I disliked Mistborn is the YA vibe, which not all of the Cosmere has (it's a bunch of different series). I mentioned the Cosmere in the first place because it's a hugely popular series.

>>14667728
The elves were supposed to be the spirit of dead ancestors that one could inherit (a form of reincarnation). That's the reason why Tolkein made some of the references he made to the elves "fading".
See good ol varg's explanation:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/3ejQVZ3gbuWy/

>>14682608
How are you so sure that the other books aren't similarly YA?
Also, I don't need help finding just any popular series. I could easily search popular books and just blindly go down the list. I want books that people believe in.

>tfw finished BotNS but don't understand it at all
the final parts of Citadel completely baffled me, does anyone else relate? I vaguely understood what they were describing in 'the key to the universe' chapter but once Severian brought up the fact that he wasn't the first Severian that's when the book straight up lost me

I guess what I liked about it most was Thecla/Severian relationship, like how severian would nonstop rave about thecla in the beginning of the book but at the end of the series he straight up calls her a 'cruel and foolish woman'. and how his opinion on vodalus did a complete 180 at the end of the book too

I might check our Urth later but I heard it's pretty shit, or at the very least has some mixed opinions

>>14682636
After reading Mistborn I went and specifically looked for something that wasn't YA.

OK something I believe in - Let the Right One In by John Lindqvist, a horror novel about vampires and childhood. For something more subdued, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

>>14682356
>only engage with that which has been finished are entirely silly.
I can understand that. Its just annoying having all these hints about how there are bigger things happening and plot points that don't go anywhere.

>>14682522
Ughhhh, the first chapter is a random fight scene, capping off with a hamfisted "don't hit wimmin, toxic man." Exchange. And then the second chapter is grossly described casual sex. I really don't want to hear about the "grunts" characters make while fucking, and cum slicking down their thigh. Fucking disgusting.
I'm already getting female power fantasy vibes off this thing.

>>14681161
> I'm like a fifth into the first book, and I haven't retained much of anything
You get dicked around at the start. Refer to the character lists at the back if you get lost.

Ganoes Paran is important. Bridge Burners are important. Crokus is important. That's about it for book one.

The book is a GURPS campaign btw, so you're not going to get away from the tabletop setting.

>>14682124
>1 star for being ridiculous in a bad way
The lowest score you can give a book on Goodreads is 3.5

>>14682837
oh, yeah, I forgot about the first scene. The rest is different, but if you hate female power fantasies just put the book down and walk the fuck away. from here I mean. we're way above our incel quota

>>14682938
Yes, everyone who criticizes anything that women are involved in is an incel. Our hole quota is luckily unfilled.

>>14681161
Skip the first book entirely. Most of the shit you'd miss by only reading tl,drs of the plot from returning characters in the second is fucking dumb, irrelevant or got retconned anyway.

Anyway, the rest of Malazan is not exactly great too, I'd it is just mediocre, with plenty of nonsense in worldbuilding, the author trying to be woke and grimdark at the same time, a lot of characters having glaringly modern mentality,etc. But the rest of recently-written fantasy is even worse, so once you've read all the classics you're not exactly rich on options.

>>14682613
Imagine taking a literal retard seriously.

>>14683008
I'm starting to see how dry fantasy is of good material. I thought I would get recommendations of a bunch of hidden gems. But so far the greats are like the same 10 books mentioned again and again. And for the rest it's like "this one doesn't completely suck ass, so you might like it"

>>14683038
Hey, at least fantasy is not 100% shit like modern "serious literature".

You can name some books you liked, and maybe we'd be able to provide specific recommendations of books similar to them.

>>14681866
>Aftershocks by Kloos

I thought it was good. A bit better than his Frontlines series now that he's a more polished author.

>>14683063
I'm this Anon: >>14682175
And that's everything I've read. I'm already thinking of skipping The Song of Shattered Sands. But no, I'm going to sleep on it and come back and give it a fair chance. It's a little hard to focus when it already disgusted me by chapter 2.

>>14682963
ok incel.

>>14681161
It took me like 2-3 tries to finish the first book. It opens with the whole prologue and a opening act with the fall of Pale, and then immediately goes into another opening act in Darujhistan

And then the second book starts up and there are only a few connections to the first. I'd suggest trying to power through until like a third or halfway point and then try the second book, it was written like 10 years later so it reads better.

>>14683095
Try Guy Gavriel Kay's books, particularly Fionavar/Tigana (his latter offerings get worse) and, if you somehow actually missed it, instead of not including it as obvious, Lord of the Rings.

Would I like Nevernight if I mainly watch anime?

>>14683400
By Jay Kristoff? Probably, I read his other YA series (the asian steampunk one) and liked it mostly because it was incredibly overwrought even for YA fiction, had some hilarious purple prose.

I am in need of some QUALITY sci-fi anons.
I need something good to read.
I spent almost two hours trawling Goodreads for something to catch my interest and most of it is just so horribly bad.

>>14667295
It does : when à boat sinks & tons of material or resources pollute the ocean.

>>14683655
What books did you like?

>>14683092
Yeah I liked Frontlines until he got to the actual fighting aliens bit and then I lost interest but I zoomed through Aftershocks

>>14683655
Diaspora - philosophical
Revelation Space - space opera
Neuromancer - cyberpunk

>>14682652
Urth explicitly answers why there are multiple Severians iirc

>>14683655
>so much makeup her face looks like a mask

Why is The Name of The Wind held in such high regard? Kvothe comes off as a Gary Stue. Sure he has some hard years as an orphan, but other than that he is able to do everything almost perfectly.

I liked The Wise Mans Fear way more, as it pointed out his flaws way more, and he seemed human.

Also the way he narrates is horrible and pompous as fuck. It sounds like that one guy in class who thinks hes hot shit, but in reality nobody likes him.

I dont think its a bad series, but to me it seems higly overrated.

>>14684051
congrats on coming in here and being a contrarian by shitting on a series everyone here hates lol
>Also the way he narrates is horrible and pompous as fuck. It sounds like that one guy in class who thinks hes hot shit, but in reality nobody likes him.
The series is bad but this bit is absolutely an intentional bit of character work, that is exactly how he is supposed to come across.
It's gone to shit with the pace of writing but I suspect the whole point of the framing device where a random guy in the pub is talking about his past glories was eventually gonna reveal that he's heavily embellishing what happened.

>>14667728
I have !elves called syeia. Apart from the classic longer lifespans, more apt magic and being humans+. The book takes place at the end of the 19th century and the elves are the direct aristocracy, the queen is elven although she is only a figurehead with limited power because the more numerous humans have established a parliamant akin to the German Empire's or Britain's. The reason for them being all aristocracy is mainly because most old aristocrat families became aristocrats due conflict, and having magic in the age of swords is like bringing a machine gun to a fistfight. With the rise of rifled barrels and cartridge ammunition though, technology is effectively closing the power gap between magicians and the mundane people.
In an effort to raise the number of magicians, the government has established a magic baby subsidy, and since elves are more magical, they don't work, they simply pump out baby after baby to be sent to serve as a magician. They become more disconnected from the real world, as they can stop interacting with normal people and can afford to not have jobs and the whole race is degenarating as a result.

Main character kills these fucking elves. I've written my book, a second one is in the works, it's free for kindle now and doesn't have drm. Please leave a review. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083L9B4PD/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb

>>14683760
Well I was actually looking for something similar to Declare by Tim Powers or the Laundry series by Charles Stross (but only the first few books before he turned into a soccer mom).
Tried The Cold by Rich Hawkins - didn't like it, along with a few newer zombie novels, which were either badly written or just boring.
Also The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling, ridiculous premise on top of lesbian crap - and I really don't tolerate that kind of degeneracy.
Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw - interesting premise, not that interesting novel.
The one book I did finish was Cry Pilot by Joel Dane. It was a fun read with sci-fi as soft as possible, borderline technomagical, with all the buzzwords (nano, AI, terraforming, etc.). Still interesting enough.
I've tried to mix things up, try something new, like the hollow Earth genre - I am currently trying to read The Descent by Jeff Long. Not all that impressed.

>>14684144
Ill admit Im new to this board. I've mostly been looking at goodreads, and everyone praises it there.

But he does the exact opposite though, he tells Chronicler multiple times how people have exaggerated the facts about him (including himself from time to time)

But the consenseus here is that its pretty shit?

>>14683768
Thank you anon for being the Indian IT support of book recommendations.

>>14683798
Don't be like... you know.

>>14684195
It's a great series. 5 magic systems, rich world, differing cultures, overtly fallible MC.
A Wise Man's Fear is definitely a step up though, with less time wastage and a stronger supporting cast.

Ignore Goodreads, they praise literally everything.
There is no consensus to be had on 4chan on any topic ever.
As much as he tells the chronicler that the stories are exaggerated, he exaggerates. He said he would at the start and it is clear that he is doing so. There's also a fair bit of lying to himself that comes across quite well.

>>14684237
>It's a great series.
Why are you making fun of that poor tourist anon?

>>14684237
His only fallacy is that hes poor (which he overcomes by the second book), and a hothead sometimes. Other than that he has godlike memory, intellect, is a strong dueller, best muscian, and is a womanizer.
I dont think hes that fallible as you make him out to be desu. And the culture thing isnt really a focus untill he meets Tempi.
His 2 friends (Sim and the other guy) are kinda bland a forgettable. I think Rothuss wasted a great deal on especially them,as they come across as empty husks Kvothe talks to. They have had almost 0 impact on the story, compared to for example Devi, who has much less screentime, but way more impact on Kvothe.

>>14683103
Dilate

>>14684506
>and is a womanizer
Yea nah, he's 0/1.
Not the strongest dueller. Absolutely no street smarts. Shit at math and chemistry. Mediocre healer.
Auri and the master namer are great characters. His first teacher was great.

Other cultures include the Fey and the aristocracy.

>>14684051
>held in such high regard?
i wouldn't say that. it's popular, but that's not really the same thing. one direction, reality tv, they're also popular but aren't held in high regard. name of the wind falls into the same category.

>>14684594
Quill Award (2007) – Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror[3]
"Best Books of the Year" (2007) – Publishers Weekly – Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror[4]
Alex Award (2008) – Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)[5][6]
Reader's Choice(2008) – SF Site[7]

The book was a critical and commercial success, debuting at the top of the New York Times Fantasy list.[7][8] It also reached the top of the New York Times' Hardcover Fiction list approximately three weeks after its release.[9] Author George R.R. Martin blogged that "The Wise Man's Fear was worth the wait. I gulped it down in a day, staying up almost to dawn reading, and I am already itching for the next one. He's bloody good, this Rothfuss guy."[10] Locus stated that "The Wise Man’s Fear fairly leaps off the page, whatever the setting and circumstances."[11] Publisher's Weekly's review was glowing, claiming that "As seamless and lyrical as a song from the lute-playing adventurer and arcanist Kvothe, this mesmerizing sequel to Rothfuss's 2007's debut, The Name of the Wind, is a towering work of fantasy."[12]

>>14684579
>Litterally fucks the Aphrodite of that said universe, and is afterwards know as a super duper guy in bed (also fucks his Ketan teacher)
The only woman who is elusive is Denna, all the other girls lusts for his D, which is explicitly hinted at
>not the best dueller
His teacher litterally starts pitting 2 against him during class, cause he wins all his battles - only suffers a loss one time cause of his strains himself too much with all the other shit he has going on. And by that you should also consider the age hes at. Hes the youngest guy around.
>Learns the Ketan and proceeds to slaughter 5 people straight up after with no effort.

>shit at math and chemistry
Arent those two subjects exactly what he needs at Kilvins workshop - the one he exceeds at, iirc.

Ill give you these: Auri, Elodin are the better Characters. Especially Elodin. The Fae indeed have their own culture - but the aristocracy is a straight out cop out of any fiction book, come on man.

I like the series, the second book very much. But its not as good as everyone hyped it up to be, and has it flaws. He is a gary stu very much in the first book, and that one is filled with cliches, and (imo) shitty prose - but I dont really like when Kvothe goes full poet.

>>14684579
Also street smarts is something he learns during the years as an orphan. So you can toss that one out as well
>>14684594
Yeah that kinda dawned on me, after I made the post

>>14684683
He didn't learn street smarts though.
He keeps walking into traps. His rival one ups him every time. And he got beat a lot on the streets. All he learned on the streets was that he's a trained actor and maybe that's a useful skill. He never does learn to watch his back.

>The only woman who is elusive is Denna
It's the only one he wants. She is not ready for commitment, and he keeps cocking it up and then lying to himself about it.
The succubus fucks everyone to death. That's her thing.
I'm also godlike in bed btw. Phenomenal.

Devi straight up schooled him in a duel.

>>14684676
>Arent those two subjects exactly what he needs at Kilvins workshop - the one he exceeds at
No. They're the ones he needs for maths and chemistry, the subjects he bombs out of.
Sygaldry seems closer to carving than science.

This is so dissapointing. After Lifecycle of Software Objects (included to ramp up the page count), I guess Chiang is an one trick pony. There's some Sindbad-like fable, something about Parrots, alternate timeline where Creationists figure out they're not the center of the Universe via astronomy... just weak, weak, weak. He never could write but at least he had good ideas.

I'm at titular story now and he's still fighting to find any sort of foothold that might finally drive the narrative upwards.

>>14684194
Cry Pilot sequel is out now anon although I couldn't find it to pirate yet

>>14684865
nvm it's on mobilism now

>>14684536
ok incel.

>>14683038
just don't read modern fantasy and you will be fine

>>14685503
Rule of thumb of reading: If it isn't something your grandfather would have read, don't read it.

>>14685533
>you may only read Louis L'Amour
I'm OK with this.

>all these cool fantasy series i want to read
>they’re all absurdly long, and my attention span is trash, so it takes me forever to get through one book if even that
How do I fix this bros?

>>14685579
By reading fantasy magazines that are filled with short fiction, collections of short fiction, and anthologies of short fiction.

Any authors like Lois McMaster Bujold?
Over the past year I've read through all her work and I just need more that scratches the same itch.
Great character development, worldbuilding and really likeable protagonists, especially Miles Vorkosigan. Also mostly hopeful with positive endings.

I find it a bit strange Vorkosigan Saga isn't more popular, I suppose the horrendous covers have something to do with it.

>>14685404
Try the other one.

>>14685659
It might seem an odd comparison but Diana Wynne Jones. There's less of the feudalism, less of the complex politics, and most of her books are written for younger readers, but the character development, worldbuilding, and likeable protagonists are there. One of the background factions in Deep Secret could be dropped into Vorkosigan without feeling out of place. And the hopeful, positive, yet completely earned endings are there.

Less middle-aged women having sweet puppy love though.

>>14684194
So, spies in a sci-fi setting? Sci-fi thrillers?
I really like the Agent Cormac series by Neal Asher.
The Joe Ledger series is pretty good for operators fighting against sci-fi mad scientists. The first one is about zombies, but after that the series goes a lot more sci-fi, with a few supernatural elements later on. Book 9 confirms a recurring villain is a demon and confirms the character is in the same universe as the Monster Hunters International and a couple other thriller series. Even has a Franks cameo.
Have you read Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia?

>>14685579
Do what I did and get a graveyard shift job, one that you have to stay in your post for six hours straight but there isn't much work to do, something like telemarketing, in an income calls only position. Then just read for like four or five hours a night. Just remember to turn your phones internet off.
I read three to five books a week, sleep till noon make enough money to pay the bills and spend my afternoons shitposting on the internet. For someone who isn't interested in a partner and who has given up on dreams of an actual career, it's pretty much paradise.

I just finished Prince of Thorns, do you guys think Mark regrets that horse kick? what the fuck was that?

>>14685799
The second two Starfishers books by Glen Cook are about a spy.

evening /sffg/ anyone have any recs that capture the atmosphere and tone of system shock 2, always in the mood for some space horror

>>14686036
Hull Zero Three

>>14676643
What's up flavours anon?
Thanks looks like centuries eggs. You nasty if you will have people eating that spoiled shit.

>>14686048

thanks anon, heard of hull zero three a while back never got round to checking it out though, will do this time thanks for the reminder

There any good books that examine the "murderhobo" trope?
You know, that character type that usually comes in roll playing settings where the players decide to just play a character with basically zero moral compass and just straight up kill everyone they see either for gold or just for the hell of it.

>>14686036
I'm having a brain blip atm. What's the book about the huge space ship that is full of sentient planet killing weapons and it "haunted" by the captain whose body is frozen to stop a corruption spreading?

>>14686179
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36633640-rapture
Literally murderhobos the series.

>>14686244
Revelation space

>>14686374
That's the bunny. Thanks.

>>14683095
Maybe try
Zelazny's Amber books
Feist's Riftwar Cycle

>>14674619

NK Jemisin

>>14686048
>>14686112
it's not a good book. The author didn't know what to do with his own story- plotholes and stupid contrived bullshit at the end- 5/10

>>14686569
While this is true the atmosphere matches SS2 better than anything else I've read.

>>14686179
I read like 30 pages of it but I think this is what The Vagrant (by something Newman) was gonna be

>>14674619
https://www.amazon.com/Semenology-Bartenders-Paul-Fotie-Photenhauer/dp/1482605228

>>14686475
I know you can't judge a book by its cover, but good god why does every self published book have such a god awful cover?

>>14686712
art plus licensing it costs a lot

>>14686518
Angry nigger

>>14684799
Try Ken Liu for Asian-American short stories.

>>14686101
hey man. Those aren't century eggs. They're actually ravioli filled with a black truffle broth. I mentioned the story behind them here >>14680332 which I what I wanted to ask you about.

Also, century eggs aren't spoiled, they're actually cured like bacon in an alkaline salt. the whites turn brown and jelly-like because the alkaline salt dyhydrates the egg while also causing it to undergo mailard reactions (the reactions that cause food to brown when you cook it over hight heat). The yolk turning green is pretty normal too. It's the same reason egg yolks sometimes turn green when you hard-boil them

>>14686712
Because in real life you can't just use someone's shit for free like you do on 4chan. I mean you can, but expect lawsuits.

>>14685533
The rule I've been using is if it doesn't have an ebook version, don't read it.

>>14686712
Just based of this statement I'd guess that the publisher commissions the covers. Maybe they have a fully employed graphic designer explicitly for this purpose.

>>14687005
>It's the same reason egg yolks sometimes turn green when you hard-boil them
If your yolk looks green after you boiled an egg, that means the egg had a hairline crack for some time that let air in (and in turned spoiled it).

>story
So you're shocked that someone else knows about or selected (by accident) your pasta with stuffed liquid mushroom recipe? Nothing is new under the sun. If you really wanna get paranoid, the guy is probably a stalker of yours, and knew your weakness to spreading those cheeks. Did anything else other than your jaw drop? (Like your womb?).

>>14686712
Because that’s an added expense on your ass as a self published author

>>14686712
Dungeon Born and Orconomics look alright

>>14684195
yes. if you were around for longer youd see people here talk shit about it. branderson a hack, kvothe and rothfuss are cucks and soulcatcher a shit
now go read gene wolfe

>>14687143
Yeah most publishing houses do this. They either have in-house artists/designers or they buy art in bulk and just use it for whatever, they've got everything down to a laser focus for what will make somebody pick up a scifi book, a fantasy book, etc, and buy it. Some of the smaller publishers like Night Shade and Baen are able to offer more "custom" covers which will actually depict a character or scene but this is also becoming more common with the bigger publishers now.

All those litRPG books seem to have one or two artists doing the covers for them, they all look like that one Sakimichan artist.

>>14684195
>consensus
>here

What do you think Peter Watts will do for Omniscience when he finally gets around to write/finish it? What would you want him to do?

>>14686036
Blindsight.

>>14682526
Warbreaker isn't very good at all.

>>14687775
what else would you recommend for a standalone non-YA cosmere novel then? elantris?

Unrequited Friendship

>>14687836
>implying anything he's written isn't YA

I need to do more review posts, it's been more amusing than I thought.

Any cyberpunk other than Gibson and PKD worth reading? The more bizarre / outlandish the better.

Whatever you like I'll tell you something that's bad about it.

>>14687889
Snow Crash by Stephenson

Is there really anything worth salvaging from these threads?

>>14687430
>not trying to create a false consensus by pretending to be many people and posting constantly over a long duration

>>14687942
>mfw none of my samefagging turned anyone into a gerard kleinfag

>>14687219
Dungeon Born, no.
Orconomics, yes

>>14687948
I only see 10 total posts about him lit ever.

>>14687960
I have failed him

>>14687836
>>14682526
The emperor's soul.

>>14686475
Is self published dead? I haven't seen you shilling in weeks.

>>14687983
Not only is self-publishing not dead, there's a self-published author who has being promoting his book in this thread and managed to become the book to read in the discord.

>>14687150
>egg
actually, it results from a reaction between sulfur in the white and iron in the yolk. In hard boiled eggs, it happens because the egg is overcooked, not because of a crack.

>story
Dude, I've already been over this with someone else in this thread, no need to get your titties in a twist. Long story short, I believe in "making your own fate": basically hijacking the human instinct to find a meaningful theme between unrelated events and using it as a surrogate for decisiveness or willpower by constructing an imagined destiny where the desired outcome is already predetermined.

>>14688068
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity

>>14688068
That's just your mental illness talking.
Start taking your meds again.

New thread eventually

>>14688068
>meaningful theme between unrelated events
I too believe that everything happens for a reason, and that all actions are connected.

>>14688092
>>14688263
fate doesn't exist outside the human experience. It's a work of fiction we write ourselves and then pretend is a force of nature. In truth, none of us are puppets on strings even if the majority may see it that way. That said, some people have trouble making tough decisions. For me, imagining the strings makes moving forward a little bit easier.

>>14688112
I'm on my meds. I'm on more meds than ever before

>>14686823
Can't say I really care about race in that regard, it's not like Chiang put his 'heritage' anywhere in his stories. I like him because he has very little literary talent but still manages to write better stuff than, say, Ballard. Anyway, thank you.

>>14688308
>puppets on strings
Same hardware, same experience, same result. You are a product of your genetics and your experiences (especially your early ones). Is there room for free will under these assumptions? If there is then it is not that free.

>>14687889
You are looking for
Vurt series by Jeff Noon
Software series by Rudy Rucker

>>14688448
>believing in free will without an act of free will

>>14688448
however much I might despise it, right now the evidence is in favor of technically free will. For the most part, we're still deterministic, but there's enough atoms in our brain interacting with enough other atoms that occasionally the laws of causality can make a cosmological oopsie in our nervous system.

hopefully we can find proof of exceptions to Lorentz Invariance, but until then we're stuck in the age of motherfucking ultron

do you ever write something and feel like all your literary inspirations are on display in one statement? I'm fucking one use of the word "Abscond" away from kicking myself in the dick

>>14688527
Consciousness is a product of the quantum computation of brains.

>>14688544
>quantum
>100 degrees fahrenheit
just kidding, we know just about nothing about quantum or brains, who knows how they're related

>>14667183
any good books priminently featuring mermaids?

New thread in thirty minutes.

>>14688862
Any mammals living in the ocean would not have human skin like that, it would be dolphin like with lots of blubber, or otter/ walrus fur to stop wrinkles from water saturation. They also wouldn't have long head hair like that under water.
Why don't you scaly cunts just admit that you want to fuck a giant fish, like a marlin or giant tuna.

>>14689043
How long did it take for you to become so pedantic and hate fun so much?

>>14689043
>implying all creatures have to be created by selection
Why can't a wizard do it?

NEW THREAD
>>14689093
NEW THREAD