/lit/ - Literature

Fiction is for nerds.

Big fan of Rothfuss and you can't stop me.

About to start this. Just finished the prequel book Tech+Heave.

>>15209798
It ain't sci-fi if it ain't latex.

>>15209866
Kys avatar fag.

>>15209808
Is your wife's boyfriend a big fan too?

>>15209874
I don't mind cuckoldry being a character weakness of the invincible protagonist.

Do I have low IQ and horrible reading comprehension because I can't seem to read high-prose books such as ASOIAF and Dune. There is so many things they talk about that I have no prior knowledge of that I find myself constantly searching up the meaning of these things on my phone so I can better picture the scene.

I ordered a kindle in hopes that it will fix this.

>>15209893
low IQ brainlet here, ASOIAF and Dune were zero trouble so your brain is just wired for something else
also i rarely care much about scene details

>>15209873
I take it you are not a fan of latex.
Or is it girls in general?

>>15209883
That right there is the problem.

>>15209910
for me, it's leather
don't know why people go for inferior latex

>“Steel screams when it’s forged, it gasps when it’s quenched. It creaks when it goes under load. I think even steel is scared, son. Take half an hour to think? A drink of water? A drink of wine? Totter off awhile. If it makes you seasick, then prudently vomit. If it makes you terrified, scream. If it makes you anything, pray. But come into the church before Mass, and tell us what a monk is made of. The Order is fissioning, and the part of us that goes into space goes forever. Are you called to be its shepherd, or are you not? Go and decide.”
I really like this passage

>>15209925
>latex
>inferior
Nigga plz.
You can't explore space in leather.

>>15209975
not going in latex either

If genetic engineering and cybernetic implants were advanced enough to support it how would you augment yourself?

the old 'stronger' , faster' are good but what is something less frequently thought of?

>>15209996
Whatever gives me immortality.

>>15209929
Is that from Canticle?
I always liked the ending based on Mark 6:11: “And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.”

>>15209989
Close enough.

During my exploration of early-20th century fantasy, I came upon this list:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballantine_Adult_Fantasy_series#Precursors,_August_1965_to_April_1969
From the books I have read already, it looks very promising. Anyone has something to recommend?

>>15210012
Yeah, it's great. Too bad all of the religious references fly over my head.

Something that gets me is that most of the time 'science fiction' is just taking todays society and giving it techie-toys.

The culture of today would be completely alien to anyone from two hundred years ago.

Two hundred years ago the idea of women voting was absurd. A woman running a major business ? Preposterous!
Negros in government?
Someone place this man in a sanitarium immediately as he is clearly deranged!

So are there any books that show a future that has a culture as alien to people from this time as this would be to the visitor from 2000years past?

>>15210054
Don't let your drams be dreams! And see what others had to say about the Canticle.

Walter M. Miller, Jr.: A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959)
https://brians.wsu.edu/2016/10/12/study-guide-for-walter-m-miller-jr-a-canticle-for-leibowitz-1959/

The Lost Canticles of Walter M. Miller, Jr.
David N. Samuelson
Science Fiction Studies
https://www.jstor.org/stable/4238992?seq=1
It's free, just make an account.

>>15209996
>how would you augment yourself
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAjR4_CbPpQ&pbjreload=10

Alas the reality will not let us.

>>15210057
lol more than half of your examples of unthinkables actually happened 200 years ago

>>15209910
Dat hairline of the sow in blue.

>26 boys are separated from girls
>they become geniuses
>this is somehow bad

What?

>>15209996
I think a majority of augmentations people would realistically seek are things they could easily achieve with enough hard work, but they simply wish to bypass the work. But sometimes the work is just as important as the result.
Unless you want massive tits or something ludicrous.

>>15210039
Pretty sure this fag and the avatar fag are the same person.

>>15210057
Too Like the Lightning is set in 2450 and the world has abolished nations, the family unit and religion.

>>15210243
You can already get massive tits.

>>15210256
Sounds like a dystopian nightmare.
What about smoking and drunk driving?

Should I finish The Republic of Thieves, re-read Wheel of Time, read Dune, or kill myself??

After a suggestion from an anon, i read pic related.
pros:
>great storytelling
>innovative ideas
>great appeal to players of d&d
cons:
>very slow progression
>battles suck

>>15210333
Bro you need to hit the gym.

>>15210333
go to the gym

>>15210333
>kill myself??

I was thinking back on all I've read these past few years, and what I particularly remembered as exiting.
I don't mean entire books, but chapters and events. Obviously this is a bit unfair, because it's all about building up tension and then the pay off:

But one small sequence stand out to my memory, Book of the Long Sun, the part where Silk is burglarizing Blood's mansion at night.
It's weird, as it's only a small part of a long series, but recalling I was super engrossed in the book at that part. What would he find in the mansion, would he be caught?
Very interesting when the main character is a virtual saint

Does anyone have any books like that? Not like Long Sun overall (don't think that exist), but specifically the breaking and entering, thievish, night-sneak part? Things being real suspenseful and mysterious

>>15209798
>picture for ants

>>15209848
This seems pretty good anon.
>>15210333
If you haven't read Dune before, then you should read it anon.

>>15210340
>>15210342
no need bros

>>15210294
Oh yeah and no gender Can't recall any smoking but all the cars drive themselves so you could easily defo booze cruise across the antarctic while fucking some whore

>>15210368
Ah mad, I literally read that entire part last night. The way he's such moral virtuous person committing a crime he actually quite cute. It's funny when Blood interviews him after and finds his attempts so innocent.
The Judge of Ages, #2 in The Eschaton Sequence, essentially involves the protagonist flitting between disguises the entire book and there's some great scenes where he leads the people looking for him into wrong corners.
Borne has a lot of sneaking around.

>>15210399
Hit the gym not AlphaManlet's twitter.

>>15210433
Egads!
I guess stereotypes are there for a reason.

>>15210368
Well, I'm sure I don't recall some details but I remember when Crokus got into the mansion on the Gardens of the Moon and there he saw naked or half naked the daughter of the owner. I do remember stopping and thinking what was he going to.
Fuck, I do regret stopping in the second book, even If I'd want to continue now, there are so many details that are long gone. I was actually intrigued with that duo that was traveling in the desert and then later found a tower.

Not a break in, but I also liked that scene when Crooker is in a room with Soulcatcher, as they are in a city trying to lure someone in. That was great, Glen Cook made Soulcatcher such a mysterious character, and I could feel Crookers will to know more but he was also scared that he/she could read his mind. That was tense and captivating as fuck. Honestly, some of the best parts of Black Company chronicles include the 'sane' Soulcatcher.

>>15209798
Threadly reminder

>>15210368
Lord of Light is pretty actiony. I don't know if you'll find it suspenseful but you could try.

>tfw last reads are a history book, philosophical work, long russian novel, and a practical craft manual
>mfw earned enough good boi points to immerse myself in shitty fantasy novels for several months

>>15210533
What must have gone through his head when he wrote this?

>>15210645
He probably didnt even think twice about it. Its just baked into the kind of person he is.

>>15210681
He's even an alchemist!

>>15210699
And he knows six different marshal arts!

>>15210681
Okay, but how come he's fat?

>>15210248
They are. He calls anyone who doesn't want nsfw shit on the blue board (which many browse at work) a tranny, and tells them to "dilate".

>>15210681
Wait, is all of this real? He lived 3 lives already. How does one find interest in so many things.

>>15210726
>advisor for the college feminists, the fencing club, and , oddly enough, a sorority club.
You know how eunuchs get fat later in life?
I guess this is the same shit.

>>15210533
i don't see the problem

Any books you could recommend to someone who liked The Last Airbender?

>>15210753
So you say trannies are gonna get fat later in life?

>>15210781
>So you say trannies are gonna get fat later in life?
I don't think most of those dudes will make it that far.

>>15210770
The cradle series I guess.

How does he do it bros

>>15210770
House of blades

>>15210766
It doesn't entirely shine through in that one page.
But the joke is that these books, are very "power fantasy" /YA-ish
Main character is the best at everything he does, and an edgy badass.
He's even the best at getting cucked, and accepting his love interest get fucked by this nasty dude. It's very very strange.

>>15210793
Obviously he's a skilled lover of women.

>>15210793
That's his Deanna. He finally got her after everyone else was fed up with sloppy hundredths and ignored her, so she decided ro settle down with the simp who had a flame lit for her for decades.

>>15210807
>Main character is the best at everything he does, and an edgy badass.
desu it was a bit refreshing to see something new like this

>>15210834
The cuckoldry really makes it stand out.

Fuck E William Brown
Fuck litrpg
Fuck stats
Fuck corona

>>15210858
Never understood why 4channelers are obsessed with cuckoldry.

>>15210870
Yeah it should be everywhere.
Can you give me your wife's number?

>>15210834
Right? It's not all bad. Not at all. I'll be the first to admit I like the books.
It got a lot of internal logic, stuff going, Kvothe keeping track of his personal economy being my favourite part. Even with how incredibly much focus being devoted to him counting his coins, and figuring out exactly how much he needs for the next tuition.
Those things work.

My main gripe really being: What's the point of the entire story being told as a massive recital/flashback.
Kvothe being an unreliable narrator is such a meme, maybe he embellishes his story, OK. I get it.
You'dd think the main purpose of looking back at his life like this, was to offer some additional commentary. Some insight he later gained in hindsight. But there is none of that.
What a wasted opportunity.
The present story at his inn being so small, and entirely disconnected from the larger part of the story, I got a hard time finding it interesting.
Not like the story is confusing. But it's making a mess of things. With zero payoff (yet)

>>15209798
BOOK CLUB Spin - Robert Charles Wilson
how'd you like it?
will you read the next books? they're not as good
is Ty a cuck?

VOTING FOR MAY:
https://www.strawpoll.me/19884195

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1170158.The_Earthsea_Trilogy
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/518848.Sabriel
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43521657-the-ten-thousand-doors-of-january

>>15210870
You never had a girl all your life, then you finally get one and feel happy and contented, then Chad comes along and fucks your girl into falling in love with him. You are now lonely once again.
>never understood why people who never had something is obsessed with having it taken away when they finally got their hands on it

>>15210952
why not obsess over diaper fetishists instead

>>15209798
I found a short story posted here some time ago.
Basically it was about a genius man and a simple woman who fell in love, and the genius knew he was going to die young. He did, and she lived on into a future where her body could be preserved for years and years, and she went back into the history of him to see all the ways he loved her before eventually fading into mental oblivion.

Looking for epistolary novels that aren't Lovecraft

>>15211027
Dracula
Ducks, Newburyport (not sffg)

>>15211027
The Sorcerer's House is /sffg/core

>>15211027
There was a book book about a hacker/programmer having correspondence with AI but I can't remember the name of it anymore.

>>15211074
>dracula
Finished it last night. I think that nigga Bram Stoker dragged that shit out as long and thin as he possibly could, and the final showdown was super underwhelming. Victorian stuff is ultra comfy though, and I appreciate it not being tryhard and subversive and following vampire rules and lore, as best as I know them.

>>15210976
You a nasty freak. You probably like the blueberry swollen fetish too.

>>15211133
"Her"

>>15211133
here it is https://www.amazon.com/Exegesis-Astro-Teller/dp/037570051X

I can't wait for the rabbit fucking.

>>15210949
>Spin
I was planning on reading this next but decided on this instead >>15209863

Got burned out on quantum physics and wanted a change.

>>15210336
I'm probably that anon since I kept peddling Barlowe for a while here. Pacing is an issue, I agree, but the second battle, the one between Sargatanas and Moloch is gripping.

How did you find the style? I thought it fit his visual work that predates this like a glove.

Could you fellas recommend me some sci fi that is barely sci fi? In the sense that the 'things' used in the book, be they deus ex machina or macguffins, are actual things that exist now with maybe some minor modifications. Basically, no laser guns, traveling to Neptune and please - no dystopian novels. If such a thing exists - thank you in advance.

>>15211536
Philip K Dick or Alfred Bester.

>>15211027
Wizard Knight

>>15210793
He just keeps transforming into the garden gnome version of Brian Blessed more and more.

Any good books similar to West World (the tv show) or Blade Runner? I really like the theme of life evolving past humanity and questing what it means to be alive. No Battlestar Galactica.

>>15211579
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by PKD

>>15211608
Seen this book around for years, might give it a try.

>>15211579
>West World
Heroes Die if you care more about the setting and the struggles between the opulent corrupt and the innocent. It's kind of cheesy but I found it fun.

Every book about AI singularity reads almost the same so fuck that trite shit (with a couple of very obvious exceptions like >>15211608).

>>15211618
Blade Runner was based on that book.

>>15211562
>The Wizard Knight is a series of epistolary novels written by fantasy and science fiction author Gene Wolfe. It chronicles the journey of Able of the High Heart, an American boy transported to a magical world and supernaturally aged to adulthood.
Lmao what is this isekai shit

>>15211637
Thanks
>>15211648
I know, I was referring to the book not the movie/s. Already read it though.

>>15211608
>tfw empathy boxes will never be real
Mercer save us

>>15211659
Kys touristshit

>>15211637
Neal Asher's works on AI are refreshing and good

>>15210949
>is Ty a cuck?
yes. I was more and more baffled as the story continued and he kept on doing absolutely nothing at all, but specially nothing when opportunity came to confront her. even when they meet at the cabin and they meet Simmon, he just fucks her without even confronting her about her husband, this MC is the most useless passive observer i've ever seen

i really liked the first half of the book or so when it's about scifi but I lost interest little by little, by the time it ended I didn't like it much. the epilogue specially bothered me, it felt like a forced insert out of nowhere in an effort to create some thread where a second novel could pick up

>>15211536
Bleeding Edge?

>>15211674
>Neal Asher's works on AI are refreshing and good
I have one of his books called Dark Intelligence but I have seen a lot of mixed reviews about and can't decide on whether to read it or not. The story sounds pretty good to be honest.

>>15211195
>and subversive and following vampire rules and lore
OG Bram Stoker set the rules. Dracula certainly did not follow any of the traditional "rules" found in folklore.

>>15211027
Francis of the Filth

>>15211911
>Francis of the Filth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOAuR_UdA-U

>>15211911
What happened to the Jewish filthy frank?

>>15210770
Way of Kings

>>15212049
>wearing the carcasses of dead being on your person
>break your promise and kill your gf

>>15212096
>wearing the carcasses of dead being
I hope it wasn't a bat.

Thoughts on Wyman Manderly. Stark Loyalist or scheming bastard trying to claim Winterfell through marrying Rickon to one of his daughters while making White Harbour the main power in the north?

>>15212169
Can't you go to the eternal got thread in /tv/?

>>15212169
i don't remember the books anymore

>>15212169
Stark loyalist. From a narrative perspective, it would be redundant to knock the Starks down yet another peg.

>>15212287

I'm liking a lot focus other houses like Manderly and Dustin are getting in the later books but we don't really need to see another house take a shit on the Stark legacy. I think Manderly is completely true to his words about standing by the Starks. He'll probably make Rickon a ward of his until he is old enough to inherit Winterfell, him making the mintage of Robb Starkk is proof enough I guess along with murdering the Freys. Very interesting character though.

>>15210336
book was great but the way everything was resolved was too generic. if this put you off don't bother reading the sequel, the deus ex machina there is infuriating. I actually quite liked how the sequel built on it but it was ultimately extremely disappointing

>>15211533
>How did you find the style? I thought it fit his visual work that predates this like a glove.
I haven't seen his visual works, but his descriptions are like written paintings. He places a lot of emphasis on visual details. Sometimes this contributes to the book's mood and sometimes it becomes tiresome.

>>15210793
Kvoth is obviously based on himself.

>>15211536
Daniel Suarez my anon. All his books are sci-fi with technology that exists or could exist today.

>>15212472
I want technology that can't exist today.

>>15212496
Didn't you say "recommend me some sci fi that is barely sci fi? In the sense that the 'things' used in the book, be they deus ex machina or macguffins, are actual things that exist now with maybe some minor modifications" ??

>>15212454
It's stupid to presume.

>>15212535
Different anon, I should have said.

>>15211553
>>15211684
>>15212472
Thank you!

>>15210863
Corona is based and hoax pilled

>>15213485
>corona is a hoax that every single country in the world is playing along with
This is your brain on /pol/

>>15213627
Same way the whole,liberal agenda is being pushed in every country
There are millions of fellow travellers

>>15213647
>capitalism leads to globalism
who woulda thought
dumb commie

Do you know any high fantasy novels for this feel? light novels is fine too but please recommend more than one if you can.

I've a theory that everyone who really cares about fantasy authors using problematic tropes are mediocre writers who are bitter everyone only reads tolkien instead of their shitty tolkien ripp off

>>15210336
fwiw the book satisfies the reader wanting a novel thats flavored with the paradise lost and gothic motifs
it’s entertaining but doesn’t shine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fvh32fQ8nNI
Books for this feel?

Anything like ASOIAF but actually good?
I've asked for it before, all I got recommended was the history of any country in the world, which is boring.
I like the idea of different noble houses competing for power, each with their own lineage and history and particularities, court intrigue, succession crises. Also without the smut.

>>15214138
literally the history of any country in the world

Crackpot Ice and Fire theory: There's a massive tunnel connecting the crypts of Winterfell to Bloodraven's cave which Bran will use to go back to Winterfell in Winds.

>>15214165
Then recommend me some good history books that are well written and spicied up.

>>15213781
Yuri shit?
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/33897329-ancient-ruins

>>15214197
Jesus fuck. That book is never coming out. Post posting your theories.

>>15214055
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/591745.Flesh

not really robots but its a dude going around having orgies. its not really that good but it was written a long ass time ago and it shows in prose and writing.

>read Future Evolution thinking it's going to be like After Man by Douglas Dixon
>entire first half is just a hilariously outdated book on biodiversity and mass extinctions (guise this might be unbelievable but we'll soon BEGIN to SEE the effects of CLIMATE CHANGE IN OUR RAINFORESTS!!!)
I'm learning some stuff but I might as well have read a textbook. And I can't even be sure the entire book isn't based on horribly outdated science

Has any one here ever read the book Diaspora? I have been reading through the beginning part of the main characters creation and growth. It really feels laborious reading through the book though.

>>15210870
It's the premier incel fetish.

>>15210770
hyperion cantos

>>15210770
Earthsea, particularly the first book. Setting is a not!Polynesian archipielago ruled by taoism-themed wizards, plot is a coming-of-age story following the most powerful wizard in history through his youth learning humilty and restraint after accidentally setting an otherwordly horror loose by peeking at his master's spellbook before due time. It's where Eragon's magic system was stolen from.

>>15211736
It's implied a lot of Dracula's more esoteric powers come from him being a sorcerer rather than from him being a vampire

>>15211736
Dracula follows on from Carmilla very closely. It's the best written 19th century vampire book, but it's not a trendsetter.

>>15210949
grudging 5/5, fuck the author for deliberately burdening us with ty's unemotional perspective, just so we can get a single scene of him protecting a child to show the effect of the mars drugs

>>15210949
>>15215236
I'll write something up tomorrow.

>>15209807
Anime is fiction 99.99% of it. Fition =/= fantastic

>>15215236
that scene it's retarded anyway, the mars drug is just a drug. it would be someone wasting his entire life and then trying mushrooms by chance of luck it changes his personality for the better and oh also it gives him youth. I guess it's a parallel on the impotence of humanity up until the hipotheticals say it's ok you can ascend now. but it makes the story so boring and the characters so unlikeable, i was legit annoyed by the end

>>15209893
ASOIAF isn't high prose at all. It just has a lot of names in it so people with zero attention spans get bewildered. This in spite of the fact that every damn character gets descriptive reminders of just who they are every time they're present. GRRM couldn't spoonfeed you any harder.

>>15209996
Not needing to sleep.

>>15213825
They don't even read Tolkien lmao, at most they saw the films 10 years ago and comment on the way Middle Eastern people are portrayed as evil in it.

>>15212324
I hated the fucking ending there, but found the journey towards it so well done it kinda makes up for it.
Adramalik being constantly bullied is especially fun

>>15214442
It's not Egan's best, both in terms of the core ideas or writing an interesting world to present those ideas.

>>15211579
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep has nothing to do with the movie Blade Runner. For what you're looking for, I recommend Greg Egan's Diaspora (>>15214442 I know I literally just told you it's not great but it's literally but this dude is asking for), Revelation Space (slight Battlestar Galactica-esc), or Blindopraxia

>>15210949
Not a fan of the cuckoldry, almost didn't finish this.

Why do I find almost every sci fi book as being juvenile? After 20 pages ot just seems that there is this one person who is the technological Jesus Christ, trying to save us/himself from this technological doomsday and then little happens in the way of the actual plot, it's just describing some wacky thingamajigs that don't and won't exist. I don't think this genre is for me

>>15217096
It's because the key word is science, not fiction

>>15217103
Yeah but I generally dislike fiction, it's why I thought this would click wih me

>>15217096
Did you read Accelerado? Lol
>>15217149 but if you dislike fiction why is emphasis on the tech versus plot a problem?

>>15211579
>I really like the theme of life evolving past humanity
Evolution by Stephen Baxter and Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon. Nothing like those two shows, but good on that theme.

https://youtu.be/41_d4D7T6uI
books for this feel?

>>15217797
Can you stop spamming videos no one is going to watch to know what feels you're talking about?

can someone show me a nice fantasy book or series similar to Natsume?

>>15216818
I think I am gonna put it back on the shelf then. I already read the synopsis because I am a turbo zoomer.

>>15216818
what is egan's best if not diaspora? it was overall an easy read, unlike schild's ladder.

>Okay, so there's like a big fish monster, right? But it's like totally indifferent to people. THAT'S HOW BIG IT IS!
>And it lives in this old castle ON THE MOON!
>AND THERE'S LIKE EVIL WIZARDS AND SHIT!
What's so great about this guy? I can read any random story in an old issue of Weird Fiction and find writing of greater calibre.

>>15218074
Go-to for normies who have never read a book in their life to talk about as if they've read his works because he's well known and they think it makes them sound smart.

>>15218072
I personally really liked Permutation City. I think his greatest work might be Orthogonal, not to say I understand all of it, but I think that's what I enjoyed and most and found most satisfying. Definitely want to come back to that series and digest it all properly once I've got the time.

>>15217864
Why does that cat have a smug look on it's face while it turns it's butt towards me?

>>15214198
Herodotus's Histories

>>15218074
You know how philosophers always wonder if life is eternal or infinitely brief? You know how children pontificate whether ants and flies and fish are aware of their place in the world relative to humans?
He takes that and flips it in an accessible way. Plebs latch onto him because of his reputation in pop-culture but don't have you're opinion of stuff be defined by the character of other people and their opinions

>>15218074
What to know how I know you've never read a random story in an old issue of Weird Fiction?

>>15218354
No I don't. Go ahead. Tell me how you know. Make your case and justify Lovecraft to me.

>>15218202
Unironically this.

>>15218244
Thsy's not scary, though. It's not even particularily interesting. "Humanity is inconsequential" isn't even that novel of a theme, not even in Lovecraft's time, and the purple prose doesn't make ot better.

>>15218074
While I'm the first to admit I live pieces that are stuck in their own time; that's like one third of Howard-boys writing.

>>15218081
>>15218244
Personally, I prefer the briefness of the King in Yellow to all of Lovecraft's works, but to say he's normie tier feels kinda odd now.
I get where you're coming from, but it's more name drop than actually having read the content.
Most people I knew that talked about Lovecraft talked about having read The Mound (Yes, it's the least popular one, it was the only one our small town library had) and it literally is the equivalent of a 'Best of HP Lovecraft descriptions' but in a shit story.
We got Chambers though. Hoo-boy if he didn't write about War stories it'd have been on the banned-fiction list and I fucking love him for that reason alone.

>>15214198
>/sffg/ - science fiction & fantasy

>>15218404
Chambers and Machen were much better, I guess Lovecraft just isn't for me.

>>15218473
Blackwood is pretty good as well.

>>15218081
The mark of the weakest and most pathetic of men is letting the majority decide what they like, one way or another.

>>15218473
Clark Ashton Smith and Hodgson were better than both. House on the Borderland is very likely the best piece of weird fiction ever written.

Bump from page 9.
Fuck the christcucks, pollies and philosofags shitting up this board.

>>15218795
>>15219625
>3 hours between post and it already reached page 9
Jesus fuck /lit/ is dead.

>>15219654
the sticky saying this is a slow board really shows how much this place has changed.

>>15219625
There is a bunch of off topic shitposts in the catalog. Like /b/ tier shitposts. No one gives a fuck anymore. Hiro probably got the coff and the mods and jannies can't be arsed.

I don't mean to sound rude, pretentious or disrespectful, but.. is there any "intelligent" sci-fi? I gave Philip K Dick's "Do android dream of electric sheep?" a try and even though I'm barely 15% through the thing, the book is killing me
>you either stay on Earth and are deemed as one type of individual, or you go and you're another, it's all black and white and our distressed protagonist(s) will follow the path of "reason", a predetermined notion which is at once obvious
>the war... nobody remembers who or why, or who even won... the war just happened
>the silence of the world is alive
I mean, I'm going to finish it but it's drained my will to live in 30 minutes, what the fuck is this? Hopefully it evolves into something deeper and better.

>>15219625
>>15219654
>>15219675
>>15219805
We are being raided. It will pass.

>>15219972
You aren't being raided. Culture has changed and left you behind.

>>15210533
>>15209883
>>15210807
>>15210858
>>15210949
>>15211679
>>15216892
>>15219625
Complete misunderstanding of cuckoldry as per the usual on 4chan where it's come to mean "I'm jealous" or "thing I don't like".

>started reading a little hatred since i missed it when it came out somehow
>savine dueling with bremer
>tells him to go all out
>he fucks her up and says that wasn't even his full power
honestly based

>>15220048
Cuck

>>15219953
Feels like what I felt when reading Fahrenheit's hamfisted poetic language. God, Bradbury was such a fucking hack.

>>15220048
The lengths cucks will go to justify their insanity.

>>15220200
>a little hatred
Oh it Joe Abercrombie. It's bound to be all edgy and gritty and grimderp.

>>15220321
Why are women such whores? Why do they turn themselves into such abominations? Is it our fault?

>>15220341
Maybe you could put all that angst and sexual repression into a novel?
Heck if Rothfuss can do it I am sure you can to.

>>15220337
before this i read magician: apprentice and master and boy that was some tedious shit. nothing bad ever happens and the characters are only slightly challenged and quickly overcome. i'd rather read grimdark edgy shit since it makes the characters seem more like actual people

>>15220477
I don't mean to be snarky but given the choice of those two I would rather pass on both.
The issue here is not that it's edgy and grimderp but that it's written rather corny. Abercrombie seems to have that signature grimderpiness to it.
And given the current state of /v, he's not the only one who goes so far into one direction it ends up looking like a parody.

>>15220341
Why are men such pigs? Why do they turn themselves into drunkards and abusers? Is it our fault?

Just finished the Heretics of Dune and it was awful. Ok, there were many good moments (Lucilla was nice and the confrontation of Waff by Tazara was cool too), but even though I loved God Emperor of Dune I just felt that Herbert was lost on this one, he either didn't know how to write an ensembled cast or wasn't sure who was the main character (Teg, Ducan, Lucilla, Sheena or the Bene Gesserit). He was too lost he didn’t seem to know if he should focus on Gammu or Rakis. Also It wasn't as thought provoking as the four other books and the pacing was still too slow.

Tourist here. I don’t really read fiction because I simply never found them fun. The only fiction I’ve read are Lovecraft and Chambers’ King in Yellow, and part of reason I adore them is because of how short yet memorable they are. So imagine my shock when I picked up Dune just because I thought the giant worms seem cool and finished the book in 6 days. Holy mother of kino, it’s reputation is well deserved. I highly doubt I’ll ever commit to another fiction title, but I’m glad I happened to this one and look forward to making it to God Emperor of Dune as everyone says that it’s Kino Ultima. Man what a ride that was. I could fucking SMELL the disgusting Fremen caves good lord

>>15221009
I think you are ready for Gene Wolfe young padawan.

>>15221313
wtf i love star wars now

>>15221313
My penis was not prepared for this

>>15221595
>>15221663
The OG costume is the pinnacle of Star Wars.

>>15221737
she DOES have a picture where her arms are not covering her nippleroonies, right?

>>15221313
>Jewish

>>15221799
Of course. But if I post it we'll have the resident fun hating puritan start screeching and try to snitch me to the tranny jannies and get me banned and then I'll have to change my IP which takes the whole 60 seconds or more and it's just not fun.

>>15221957
tell me where i can find them

>>15221945
And you wonder why you are a virgin

Dan Simmons really can't into resolutions. Apart from Song if Kali, all the endings for his books are awful or rushed. Just get some fucking ghostwriter to write the last 2000 words dude, what the fuck.

>>15221999
>Song of Kali
That had some ending.

>>15221964
I don't remember where I got them from.
https://slutmesh.com/new-porn-liz-katz-pikachu-nudes-sex-tape-nodes/

>>15221999
I don't think there has ever been a genre writer who knew how to wrap up his story properly.

>>15222057
thanks

>>15222116
Herbert finished all novels up to Dune Emperor with a bang. PKD is notoriously excellent at endings and so were Wolfe, LeGuin, Clarke, Hodgson and many others. Simmons is the outlier if anything.

>>15220528
Yes.

>>15220643
It followed a long layoff. Often a warning sign.

is legend indicative of the overall quality of the drenai series or does it get better?

>>15222127
np

>>15210743
Find interest in so many things? More like being a clueless jackass fucking around for years without purpose.

>>15222449
But he leads the feminist club!

>>15211659
It's especially stupid because he was only still a boy because he "lost" a bunch of years in fairyland basically so then some fairy ages him into where he should be instantly but he acts like he's still a boy just in a man's body, then he goes to valhalla for 20 years, comes back and still thinks he's a boy that got changed into a man's body. Like for fuck's sake after 20 years you'd think he'd actually be an adult finally, but no of course not.

>>15222490
Exactly?

>>15222517
What do you mean?

>>15222383
I only read White Wolf and Swords of Night and Day way back when and liking both. I have no idea why I didn't go back and the earlier ones and now that you've reminded me, I will.

HOWEVER. Glancing over the Amazon reviews of those two the theme seems to be more of the same...and that's a good thing, or, the same thing only better. So perhaps whatever you disliked in the first continues or intensifies throughout. I read them when they came out so I can't remember the specifics, but I think they had a sort of Conan vibe I was into.

>>15222500
>20 years
Did you read the end? Half a day at most.

>>15222500
From what I remember about the second book, after he returns from Val's castle, Able's speech and narration sound a lot more mature, which contrasts with the childlike narrative of the first book (Ben, do you remember mommy and daddy, and our woolly doggy uwu), but of course, you have to pay attention to the subtle details.

My repertoire, in order of reading over the past 9 years:

ASOIAF in around 2011
Dune in around 2015
The Expanse after the first two seasons finished
The Witcher, long time after playing W3
Kingkiller in 2019
Mistborn in 2019
LOTR in January 2020

I'm quite well read.

Has anyone read Mythago Wood or its sequels? I started the first one blind, and it's great so far.

>>15222804
I saw it mentioned here and gave it a shot. I thought the setting was great but at some point I had an uncomfortable psychological insight into the author which made it kind of repulsive to me. But if you're into it then by all means enjoy.

>>15222910
Shit, really? I kind of want to ask you what it is before you disappear into the internet void. Want to write it into pastebin and give me the link, then I can check it out after I've finished the book, assuming I don't come to the same realization?
pastebin dot com

>>15222973
Intrafamilial sexual rivalry. 2 boys vie for dad's bride. Yuck.

>>15222785
You’re a faggot

>>15222721
ok, thsnks. just finished legend and it was a bit disappointing. rushed, clumsy and insisting on character traits that werent ptoperly built up. shitty ending too

Any books about raising a dragon or some other monster that aren't trash and/or YA?

>>15223191
Did you read the Pern books? I read them when I was YA trash, but before YA trash became a thing. Also they're quite feminine, but not feminist.

>>15223191
Iron Dragons Daughter - even though it has young protagonists, I did not find it to be YA, I just found the book to be extremely depressing.

>>15223124
Not the person you replied to.
I'm somewhat confused by your phrasing.
Did you leave out "to be" or did you mean that they are trying to replace him?

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49917739-the-human-son
Litearally just came out and people are praising it.
About to head into it and read it since its a fairly small novel with only about 100k words and it sounds interesting. Wish me luck anons.

>>15223356
I was as clear as I could be. Fantasy time warp.

>>15209798
>>15210949
Spin - Robert Charles Wilson
This is the first novel I've read from this author, though I've looked at several others and had a favorable first impression of them, it just so happened that this was the first one that I got around to reading. I will be reading others from him, probably many over time.

Spin is an interesting novel in that I don't think the sci-fi elements count for much aside from setting up the plot. It's very heavily focused on character relationships from beginning to end. I greatly enjoyed that. It's not action heavy and it involves a lot of talking and speculating. The consensus among those I read it with seems to be that while the characters are almost all generally unlikeable, that doesn't really detract from the story overly much. In my case I wondered if in the creation of "real people" whether it makes if it likeable or not, as I mostly saw them as just being flawed people trying to survive in their own ways, to where it was nigh irrelevant whether I liked them or not. Although there are many mentions of when events happen and other methods that provide the novel's internal chronology, I found that they were lacking internal consistency, which was unfortunate but not overly important. I personally quite enjoyed the ending and how it changed what I thought about the novel as a whole. I will be reading the rest of the trilogy, which I've seen some advisement not to do so, but I'll entirely ignore that.

A problem I often have with something I really enjoy is that I often look more and more closely at it the more I enjoy it and oftentimes this leads me to seeing all the flaws with the details and brings disappointment that I wouldn't have otherwise experienced. If Spin had a few minor changes and fixed up its inconsistencies, I'd proclaim this to be one of my top novels that I've ever read without hesitation. As it though, it's merely great. I highly recommended it to anyone who is interested in a character focused near future SF.

Rating
5/5, easily

I thank everyone who voted for this to be the book of the month and for the nominator in choosing it as a choice.
P.S. I continue to resent the semantic drift of various words becoming diluted, such as the word being used to describe a relationship in this novel in this thread.

>>15223415
>Autistic Human-Robot shut-in mom raising a kid
This is pretty good so far.

>>15223191
His Majesty's Dragon

>>15222804
I read The Hollowing, probably because it won the Mythopoeic Award, and it was good but slow ofc

>>15214138
Nine Princes in Amber

Any books for the post-apoc and post-post-apoc Canticle feel?

>>15210333
WoT has massive re-read value desu

>>15214429
Finished it. God damn what a waste of time. It feels like for extended periods of time the author forgot the book was supposed to be about future evolution and not "hey let's tell the reader about this book I read". It wouldn't have even been that bad if it he stuck to his actual areas of expertise but you're also treated to his opinions on anything from genetics and mental illness/IQ to nanotechnology, likely sources of human extinction (concluding that the most likely is fucking ASTEROIDS and that it's likely we'll survive 500 million to a billion years) and the singularity (he dances around using the term but he wastes half a chapter on describing the beliefs of people like Drexler and Kurzweil). There's also like 5 total illustrations on actual animals evolved in the future, one of which is just new varieties of dandelion, and elsewhere the book's supposed central topic is only present as "oh and our vermin and cattle will probs evolve to fill different ecological niches idk"

>>15220477
Read Bakker.

>>15219953
The first Foundation novel by Asimov might interest you.

>>15211195
I agree that the middle dragged out, but I didn't think the final showdown was underwhelming.

>>15211562
Honestly the epistolary aspect of WK is pretty thin.

>>15211659
It's good. It's certainly better than any other "isekai" work you've read.

>>15222500
He changes noticeably in the second book, but I'll agree that it's not handled anywhere near as well as the change in the narrator's voice that occur in The Book of the Short Sun.

>>15224614
Read BotNS if you haven't already.

>>15225415
Book of the New Sun?

Just finished Mona Lisa Overdrive. How's the rest of Gibson? Thought I'd give the Bridge trilogy a try after I'm done with a couple of outer lit books.

>>15214138
>>15214198
Read about St. Olga of Kiev. Truth is stranger than fiction and she's a more wacky/competent Cersei or Catelyn.

Are you supposed to hate the Aes Sedai while reading WoT? There's so many smug bitches and infighting I want the whole tower to fucking die

>>15225754
Yes. The fact that they live in an Ivory Tower on Vagina Island isn't a coincidence.

>>15225428
It's the best

>>15223729
you are going to learn to live eith the fact that in this website people use cuck as a derogative term to refer to any character who is passive, weak. btw i disagree with the consensus you mentioned, i don't really think the story is boring or uninteresting, but the way it's told it certainly didn't keep me on the edge of my seat

>>15210171
Wrong.

>>15225754
Everyone hates them, they blame them for destroying the world.

>>15225754
>while reading WoT
You're not supposed to read WoT.

>>15226092
I said I resent it, not that I don't live with it, or accept that's simply how it is.

This is good stuff

>>15224614
wtf BotNS is nothing like Canticle and feels nothing like it.

DESU Anathem by Neal Stephenson felt... close. There's a feeling to the shut-ins very like that in Canticle.

Also, why is Neal Stephenson never mentioned on here?

>Also, why is Neal Stephenson never mentioned on here?
lurk more esl faggit

>>15226503
I'm not his shill, most of his stuff is unreadable cheese. I was merely being curious. Thanks for not being a cunt.

>>15226262
Incorrect.

Why cant i find any good audiobooks to pirate? i wanna listen to the rest of the halo series after Glasslands.

When did you realise xianxia is the superior form of fantasy literature?

>>15226623
honestly wouldn't mind reading a xianxia with an entirely average protag, everyone I've read so far has the protagonist at the very least getting some insanely lucky magic item to help them overtake more talented people.

>>15225574
Cool rec, thanks

>>15209996
i really like that think in GiTS (the film) where major and batou are on the boat, and they talk about being able to sober up pretty much instantly. That'd be pretty cool, not so I could be an alcoholic, it'd just be nice to not have to worry about a hangover if I wanted to drink.

>>15209996
I'd augment my vision so I could wear sunglasses at night

>>15226568
>Incorrect
Obviously its subjective but why you didn't like it?

I'm trying to write a fantasy series on the MILITARY FANTASY genre. I have no attachment to quality, I just want to shit out 5 books in a year and sell them on Amazon for shekels. First, I need to know the tropes of the genre. I already read The Way of Kings and ordered Chronicles of the Black Company. Is there anything else you'd recommend on the subject?

Fuck you for recommending Worth A Candle, it's shit. Especially all the meta crap.

>>15226623
>>15226639
Yeah, almost everything I've read has a character who's either reincarnated, allowing him to predict 100% of what will happen or has a cheating item/skill/ability which let him be stronger than those of the same level or both of there at the same time....
Ironically, I like chinkshit more when they're western based instead of eastern, at least they have to change more stuff and not keeping copy-paste......

>>15226798
A reasonable question. The answer is hard to put into words, which makes me look like a mute on here. I just felt Simmons was reaching for something he never came anywhere near, and the book had nothing, no characters, no flair. I tend to be pretty harsh on remakes of every stripe though.

Any book recs with minotaur MC?

>>15227000
Thing is that the Er Gen books I've been reading don't even need it, after each protagonist's cheat item they take/steal most of the rest of the secret magic bullshit they get throughout the rest of the story so it doesn't feel contrived.
If he just did away with the one initial lucky item and just made his protagonists start out with slightly more 'talent' or whatever so they didn't feel like complete chancers the whole thing would work better. (all 3 books are still pretty strong entries into the genre mind)

>>15226987
Shit taste and small brains, anon, ngl.

>>15226623
tfw you realize there will never be a better Wuxia/Xianxia than Journey to the West

>>15227119
Journey to the West isn't even the best chinese classic tho

>>15226972
Come on, anons, at least tell me how my idea is shit.

>>15227119
As expected of a xianxia fan, you have no taste.

>>15227234
>a xianxia fan
Dear dyslexic fag, I have never enjoyed, nor finished any of those shitty Chinese webnovels that get shilled here. And if you can't appreciate Worth the Candle - your loss.

>>15227170
No, but the Dream of the Red Chamber is not wuxia/xianxia.

>>15227354
There's nothing to appreciate, meta stories are inherently worthless.

>>15227119
Water Margin is the first wuxia bro

>>15226972
focus on a squad in a larger military unit, get to know each of the characters in it then either destroy them mentally or have them die until one remains who becomes the sergeant of the next squad of fresh recruits
then you switch the sergeant character's thoughts to "oh no these kids are gonna get fucking murdered was i like this when i first joined?" and then kill them all and promote him/her again to be leader of the whole shebang where they feel intense guilt for the losses of soldiers and either die a hero or live on an embittered grizzled veteran

>>15227786
Good shit anon. I've been looking for a way to introduce more War Is Hell stuff. Part of the issue is having to stick to the tropes and not deviating towards what I just think is cool. Or finding a way to make the cool and the tropes mesh.

>>15227491
>this is what people who don't read beyond entertainment believe

>>15227642
First != best, journey to the west is clearly better

>>15227491
>>15227876
And yes, I realize the irony of saying that while advocating an escapist story but I would do the same with Wolfe - most of his works can be read purely for enjoyment, but only the careful, intelligent reader will appreciate them to the fullest

>>15227045
The House of Asterion, by Borges.

a nigga wishes he'd finished the Ware trilogy before buying anything else by Rucker. Or, I should have at least looked up what Turing & Burroughs was about before I bought it.

>>15227974
ty, will try

>>15226262
It's great fun.

>>15227974
You just spoiled it for him asshole

>>15228270
knowing basic myth "spoils" it lol

>the chinese have a cuck hat
learning this was honestly worth the 10k pages of xianxia I've read so far

>>15210949
I read it around 10 years ago so decided to give it another go. Overall I agree with what other people said, the story telling is fine but this is really not science fiction. Also the MC being so beta is a bit triggering. I have 0 interest of reading what happens next.

>>15228975
Just don't be so easily triggered lol

>>15227491
>meta stories are inherently worthless.
No, meta is amusing in general for all things.

>>15226972
That isn't how it works. That isn't how it works at all.

>>15213781
What is that feel supposed to be? You're holding hands with a little girl but you're muted?

>>15223729
>Spin is an interesting novel in that I don't think the sci-fi elements count for much aside from setting up the plot

>>15228975
>the story telling is fine but this is really not science fiction

I don't understand you guys, SF without ray guns is still SF. 'Never Let Me Go' and 'Station Eleven' are both science fiction. See: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/18/it-drives-writers-mad-why-are-authors-still-sniffy-about-sci-fi

>>15217864
Seems not.

>>15209798
>>15210949
MAY SELECTION: The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43521657-the-ten-thousand-doors-of-january
https://www.strawpoll.me/19884195/r

>>15221957
Enjoy being eventually range banned.

>>15226594
Because you're not particularly competent or trying. That assumes they exist as well.

>>15228975
I think I disagree. There is more prioritisation of character over concept, but it still portrays some interesting ideas
>the spin itself is a very cool concept, put to excellent effect here with the accelerated Martian colonisation
>Martian colonisation itself was neat
>The idea of a galaxy-wide intelligence having to somehow deal with much faster, small brains is interesting (even if John C Wright did it better: just create smaller brains in rigid hierarchies)
It missed a lot of "fluff" scifi (holograms, drones etc you know the superficial stuff I mean), but still had a good few core ideas

the protag was a beta but then it was a good way to provide a study of the situation and other characters around him

>>15229402
discord readalong starting on the 18th of may

>>15229411
i have tried archive and piratebay, other places but i cant find them..

>>15229364
For me I meant that it's more SF lite, not that isn't science fiction. The sci-fi elements aren't the focus. I wasn't saying it wasn't science fiction. The Martian is sf as well, though even "liter".

>>15229441
I found them on multiple sites within a few minutes.

>>15229441
http://audiobookbay.nl/audio-books/halo-collection-various-authors/

>>15229520
if its free audiobooks of the halo series after glasslands could u please link?

>>15229553
>>15229547

>>15229547
>>15229520
>>15229556
ty

>>15229553
It's also in the OP, but doesn't have as much there.

NEW THREAD
>>15229672
NEW THREAD

>>15229312
Nah, even the first time the I read something like that, the concept of characters realizing that they are characters in a story didn't amuse me that much.

>>15209807