/lit/ - Literature

Shit. The hugo pol anon and thot poster(same person) made the thread.
Yall were slow and fucked up. Now he is stroking it to his accomplishments.

I'm looking for a short story I read a few years ago, hope some anon can help.
The protagonist beamed his consciousness to another planet, where he took an alien form to sabotage the indigenous species.
Sounds dumb, but it was beautifully written at the time.

>>15254804
I don't think is sounds dumb, I'm actually curious now.

>>15254841
Then I hope someone tells us the name

>>15254851
>technologically advanced society
>still use air blimps
Dropped before even picking up.

>>15254804
I think I've read something like that.
Maybe by Stanislaw Lem?

>>15254879
>>technologically advanced society
That's where you're wrong, kiddo. Those blimp users didn't build that tower. Also notice how there's high-tech lights only at the top of the tower, with the light fading from neon to simple electric to flame. Clearly there's some weird technological imbalance going on. The author is a former space scientist and known as a hard-sci-fi guy so he does not tend to write about inconsistent or faulty made-up science. Maybe you should read at least the blurb before you dismiss the setting as improbable or not fitting together.
>Spearpoint, the last human city, is an atmosphere-piercing spire of vast size. Clinging to its skin are the zones, a series of semi-autonomous city-states, each of which enjoys a different - and rigidly enforced - level of technology. Horsetown is pre-industrial; in Neon Heights they have television and electric trains . . .
>Following an infiltration mission that went tragically wrong, Quillon has been living incognito, working as a pathologist in the district morgue. But when a near-dead angel drops onto his dissecting table, Quillon's world is wrenched apart one more time, for the angel is a winged posthuman from Spearpoint's Celestial Levels - and with the dying body comes bad news.
>If Quillon is to save his life, he must leave his home and journey into the cold and hostile lands beyond Spearpoint's base, starting an exile that will take him further than he could ever imagine. But there is far more at stake than just Quillon's own survival, for the limiting technologies of the zones are determined not by governments or police, but by the very nature of reality - and reality itself is showing worrying signs of instability . . .

>>15254933
I don't think so. I believe the writer was nominated for some sort of short story award that same year, that's how I found it. But it's beyond me which award or writer it was

>>15254268
Why did you post a "sci fi" pic of a woman cutting a major league fart?

>>15255043
Because I can.

How do you think the bikes propulsion system works?

>>15254804
Exiles In the Well of Souls?
It's about three people and there aren't there to sabotage, but other than that it's pretty accurate.
>Also forced trannies and space drugs
>>15254851
Read about 6 different Alastair Reynolds books and this is the only one I couldn't finish. Just... So boring.

>>15254804
My brain is telling me I read two books like that, but for the life of me I can't remember.
I think it had to do with transferring a consciousness (data) being easier than transferring a body (mass).

>>15255077
Nope, it was a short story. It could've been an excerpt but I doubt. Also, definitely written in the last 10 years.
>>15255114
me neither

>>15255007
>>15254851
>it another tower climbing novel with different sections having different levels of technology or lifestyle
Fed up of books like these.

>>15255070
She obviously has to fart to propel it. It's why she has to ride like that.

>>15254268
Oh that's pretty good.
I rike it.

>>15254409
He’s not wrong though. 95% of sci fi written past 2010 is just fucking garbage

>>15255147
Wrong again. It starts in the middle and then quickly goes down and away from the tower, then to roaming the other parts of the world. We even don't get to see the upper parts of the tower.

>>15255252
Fuck off retard.

>>15255293
I’ve been here far longer than you. Eat a dick and die

>>15255252
>95% of sci fi written
...in any decade is trash.

>>15255307
any decade

>>15255319
>1953
>Google told me
SPOOK'D

>>15255187
sauuce

>>15255306
Yes, I can tell you are a brainwashed dino. Enjoy reading all those old books over and over whilst succumbing to the hive mind and covince yourself that there are no better ones out there.

>>15255373
Ok faggot. Enjoy your tranny sci fi

>>15255387
>tranny
Rent free 24/7

>>15255319
did this mad lad retroactively refute Google?

Does anyone here know why illuvatar chose to reward the good humans with longer lives when the gift of mankind was meant to be that they die and depart from this world?
Might giving someone a longer life as a reward give them them the idea that death indeed is a very bad thing and make them more inclined to follow evil gods that promise them eternal life?

>>15255373
>brainwashed dino
Never seen the dino touting retard even mention a good "modern" book lmao
What a dumb shitposter

>>15252575
That was just a low effort prelim post.
All the numbers are public to anyone in the grouo and you can look yourself.
I'll probably put something more detailed up when I finish.

Retard who buys shit off the internet without checking out what he's buying first here: King of Elfland's Daughter turned out to be in English. I haven't read much fantasy before, should I finish Lord of the Rings (I've read Hobbit and Fellowship) first or does it not matter? I want to do it right so I'm not just a SF autist.

>man who lives alone on a farm because his wife died in childbirth
>wife's family heirloom he's left with turns out to be a dragon egg
>it hatches, and since he knows the authorities would kill it if they knew about it, he hides it
>it gets found, and he's forced to run from the law to try to get out of the country
Who am I ripping off?

>>15256172
There was an anime like this, I think, although it was about a guy raising a demon or succubus he found in the woods rather than a dragon.

>>15256172
Harry Potter's Hagrid
Some Clint Eastwood movie.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Light of my Life

>>15255947
>do it right
>autist
It's already too late for you.

>>15256172
Eragon

>>15255387
>tranny
Why are you so rent free? Your tenants have been there for years and you willing accept it.

>>15256172
Feels really generic tbdesu

>>15256189
>There was an anime like this
Don't care thanks

>>15256198
>Hunt for the Wilderpeople
>Light of my Life
Will check them out, thanks

>>15256208
Nah

>>15256391
Good

>>15256172
Does he marry the dragon?

>>15254851
Reminds me of Lexx.

>>15256570
Should he? It doesn't have a dragon puss or brapper for him to stick it in but he could probably consummate the relationship on its face

Dropped Black Company after reading the word 'butt' twice in as many pages. Why can't all fantasy writers write eloquently, like say Jack Vance.

>>15255319
Fucking savage.

>>15255319
> My breath froze into pink pretzels.
Books for this feel?

>>15256660

>>15255319
This was pretty funny ngl but you could mock any hardboiled detective style just as savagely as he did SF.

>>15255372
No anon, we are here to discuss literature.
Fantasy in general and Sanderson in particular.
*cough*https://twitter.com/sama_shirogane/status/1256609091931328512*cough*

>>15256172
>my a whim of faith a man catches the interest of a force far greater than him and has to flee or perish
really basic stuff, happens in starwars, LOTR, Harry Potter, more than anyone on /lit/ can name

>>15257098
It's just a paranoid shoestring colonial government so I dunno how much that really applies and is pedantic to the point of being useless anyhow
I want to see other people do something like I'm doing so I know what I like/don't like about it

Fuck E William Brown

>>15257742
Fuck Sanderson

>>15257815
Fuck Jack Vance

>>15256711
no one pretends hardboiled detective pulp is anything better than pulp

>>15257896
>fuck the only good fantasy writer

>>15258187
Ah. The eternal Jack Vance anon. I see corona chan hasn't gotten you yet. Did you try and read anything other than Vance this year?

>>15258223
>only one person likes good writers
okay schizo.
this is the first time I've posted in this general

>>15257896
Fuck Will Wight

>>15258175
Alright, I guess? Would you care to explain how your reply relates to anything I said? Because I clearly didn't mention anything about a genre being better than the other or passing it as something other than pulp.
Chandler calls SF hilarious ("it's a scream") and "crap" (>>15255319). He mimics the style in order to make fun of it.
I mentioned how hardboiled detective fiction could also be mocked down by distilling it's style and essence. There are dozens of writers who memed it.

>>15254299
Based

>>15255077
>>15255137
Where should I start with Alastair Reynolds

>>15255373
The tranny is very predictable

>>15258347
Naw wil wight is fun

>>15254268
>Harlan Ellison used to sit in bookstore windows, challenging any passer-by to give him a writing prompt he couldn't craft a story around
>He was never stumped, even by a guy who just said "the two hundred year old pregnant corpse"
Absolute king

>>15256727
she looks like a realdoll

>>15254804

That's the plot of Avatar wtf

>>15259162
It’s past your bedtime zoomer

What is /lit/'s opinion on Sanderson? I'm reading Well of Ascension at the moment and it's not bad. Granted, it's not great either but Allomancy is somewhat unique. That's really the entire reason I started reading the Mistborn series: Allomancy being considered a great magic system. Thoughts?

>>15259563
He's consistently fun, often derivative, poor prose by literary standards but pretty normal for fantasy. Plots develop like they were written for a movie script. Major plots always resolved by magic objects. Severe power creep as his series progress. Strong worldbuilding, if you care about that sort of thing - espeically in Stormlight Archives.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes LNs worth reading? I have heard only good things aboit the show from /a/

>>15259631
Thanks anon

>>15259637
just watch the show idiot

>1000 pages into ze tian ji
>basic cultivation shit starts
developing a theory that all of the good xianxia's take forever to actually touch upon any progression in cultivation

>>15259563
It's anime in book form. It's boring, would make a great anime series, though.

And if you read books for "magic systems" it's better to read RPG rulebooks.

>>15259637
The translation was very mediocre. They did change translators at some point but by that point I'd given up

Just watch the show, it covers everything anyway

anyone read A Practical Guide to Evil? I had it recommended to me, I'm a couple books in and its pretty good. A bit on the tumblr side in some cases but its some nice dumb fun if you're into that

What is the /sffg/ consensus on Jim Butcher?

>>15259987
I've read both rulebooks and Sanderson and I prefer Sanderson.
Seethe more.

>>15260229
He did get divorced, and I’m not going to judge someone for being unhappy in a marriage. I do like his books so that may be giving me a bit of a bias.

>>15260229
Dresden files are fun. They got a little bit stale towards the end so I don't blame him for resting them a while.
Haven't read any of the other stuff.

>>15254268
you guys had suggested me Throne of Bones as "dark fantasy" but it was quite boring.

Can you guys suggest some dark (or grimdark??) fantasy?

>>15260358
We do get two Dresden Files books this year which is good, and it is one of the reasons why it took so long.

>>15259993
Very fun at times, recently there was a big drop in quality though. The tumblr shit isn't annoying, especially once you see that it is mostly villains that are homosexuals (which is based and realistic given the attitudes shown in the serial).

>>15260229
Among the worst books I ever read, even compared to reddit-tier fantasy.

>>15260370
I'm assuming you've already read Bakker?

>>15260370
That's what you get for listening to some random
anon trying to troll you.

>>15260393
thanks, I'll check it out.

>>15260395
>some random anon
that's like the whole /lit/ though...

filtered

>>15259987
>professional literary translator here. (translated Sanderson into Turkish, so yeah, sue me.)
Congrats.

>>15260427
That's why you need to do it a better way.

>>15254268
is there are chart for good contemporary (2000 and beyond) fantasy novels?

>>15260452
Did you try looking at the charts link in the OP?

>>15260393
>During this time Bakker consistently began to formulate and popularize what would eventually became the foundation for his Blind Brain Theory and Heuristic Neglect Theory
>The Semantic Apocalypse
WHAT?

>>15259325
Hot.

>>15259563
Fuck Sanderson

>>15260471
What exactly do you not understand about the " Blind Brain Theory and Heuristic Neglect Theory"?

>>15254268
i want to read a book about mermaid people doing mermaids things.

>>15255319
starship troopers is not written like that.
why was /lit/ have such arrogant people in it?

>>15260495
>Fantasy author "philosophizing" and linking his ideas to the name of his trilogy
come on, now...

>>15260471
You got something to say about me, you little bitch?

>>15260511
Who do you sound so infantile?

>>15260530
What can I say. Once a failed philosopher, always a failed philosopher.
Not sure what the Heuristic Neglect Theory is supposed to be but the Blind Brain Theory is just a repackaged idea that the unconscious processes of the brain are the main driving force not the conscious noes.
He does like to bloviate about the latest news in cognitive sciences on his blog while I was following him. Not sure about fantasy but he did write Neuropath, a near future sci-fi thriller that deals with these ideas.

What western fantasy novel/series is closest in tone to Berserk?

>>15258270
Sure it is. That is why the IP count didn't change when you answered? Or how you answered like that one autist who goes on about Vance.

>>15260590
>IP count
The bane of shills, trannies and everything that's wrong with 4chan.

>>15258270
>>15260590
Is that also why he was near the top in the top 20 poll?

Also
>what is a poster ID?

Any tips on how to write good prose for a sci-fi novel? I've written 70,000 words so far and I'm aiming for 100-110,000.

>>15260627
I think you've came to the wrong place at the wrong time amigo.
We're discussing Sanderson currently which should tell you a little bit about how little is good prose valued here.

>>15260627
Good prose is good prose, regardless of genre. And as a fail-safe guide, read the novels in the C A N O N

>>15260633
this guy is right, though.

>>15260633
How much of Sandersons Mormanism is present in his books?

>>15256172

Eragon

>>15258223
Vance is goat you shitty boatperson

>>15260641
Oh I don't discuss Sanderson here. Or anywhere else for that matter.

>>15260669
Vance is okay. and compared with others named here, he's quite good.

>>15260669
??? But Vance liked boats.

>>15260633
Don't worry, friend, there are still people here who respect the genre. The redditeurs are just the vocal minority and would disappear if we didn't respond to them.

>>15260634
Correct

>>15260669
>>15260676
Vance is not the greatest, but he is very good. His ability to weave myths and write intelligent, beautiful stories is commendable, however he suffered from being to prolific; his quality varies and at his best (Dying Earth) all his stories and characters have repetitive traits.
Same tier as Anderson, and Herbert desu

>>15260736
because of fuckwits here I read Dune. It was so bad that I had to write a paper on it and presented at a conference.

>>15260748
There's a conference for shitty trolls?

>>15260748
You trusted a suggestion from /lit/?

>Well... it's a bit tough to read in English at this point since most is machine translated. However, I've gotten used to it after reading several thousand chapters.

What do you think this person looks like irl

>>15260752
>>15260755
I don't know where else to turn to talk about literature.

>>15260760
Sorry mate, I’m just mucking around, i haven’t been on lit for long but I’ve seen way to many Dune threads. Lit seems to have an ironic love for Dune.

>>15260779
I'm feeling like it has something to do with the rise of nazi LARPers on 4chan. The übermensch/hero coming and saving people.

>>15260787
Trolling aside, I think Frank Herbert expected to much of the reader. I can understand that it was his writing style, to throw the reader into an unknown world, I’m not an author by any means but i believe it could have been done a bit more coherently.

He could have used annotations throughout the novel to explain new all of the new words and concepts. A way this was done well was in my opinion was “Johnathon Strange and Mr Norell”, where there were quite a lot of annotations that explained the alternate-history of her world.

>>15260787
It's called a Jesus figure, faggot

>>15260760
List your favourite writers and I may tell you a secret

>>15260819
>Johnathon Strange and Mr Norell”
Actually the "strange" language is not strange at esoteric, at all. At least in translation. Almost al of those alien words are mostly casual words you'd hear in MENA. The magic is lost, and stands out as quite old-school orientalist if not read in the USA.

Plus, his giving thoughts of the characters in italics... I mean, that's high-school level of creativity.

I'll check that out, thanks.

>>15260829
Fantasy/scifi or in general?

>>15260819
>>15260837
ignore the greentext, I was copying it to check it out.

>>15260837
>Fantasy/scifi or in general?
Both

>>15260847
Scifi: Probably PKD, John Brunner, M. Shelley, Wells, some LeGuin
Fantasy: Dunsany, Stoker, Robert E. Howard

general: Blake, Sterne, Atay, Buzatti, Hardy, Pynchon, Conrad, Shaw, Shakespeare

>hey guys you know that guy in the previous game, Desmond?
>lol we decided to kill him off screen
>here's your explenation and all you get about the character you have been enjoyong for the past several years and they story you hoped a conclusion for
https://youtu.be/60K5ufdKJIA

>>15260878
Somewhat based. Here's a a temporary dummy discord server invite so we can get in touch without getting Swamped by Sanderson sympathizers:
https://discord.gg/R9ZGm8
Non-retards are welcome to apply as well

i enjoyed lyonesse far more than dying earth

>>15260370
Snakewood

>>15260935
Thanks but I don't use Discord, (my computer is VERY OLD and sucks when I turn it on)

>>15260935
>dino autists are the thread splitters
of course

>>15260962
ill not have this insolence in my chinese dishwashing imageboard sub-thread

>>15261043
Can't you just use the web app?

>>15261075
Terrible memes, even if The Dying Earth was better than the Lyonesse

A reminder that "do not interact with the Hugo Tranny" is not just a meme. He is an attention seeking retard, stop enabling him. He claims he doesn't want to talk with us, but proceeds to proactively rehash the exact same conversations every thread, and if confronted he will refuse to provide ANY constructive arguments. It's pointless. Just filter him.

>>15254268
Just finished Book of the Long Sun. Why does Wolfe always have depressing endings?

>that part in books where the characters have to make a journey to an important place and the author pads it out more that necessary

>>15261359
So... the whole Book of the New Sun?

ugh, hate when this happens
seriously doe, are there any fantasy books written by a man that aren't cringy virgin fantasy?

>>15258855
Chasm City or Prefect.

>>15259162
too bad he never wrote anything good

>>15261563
I have no heart and I must feel.

>>15261591
i'll check it out anon, hoping to be proven wrong. thanks.

>>15261515
Kek

>>15261616
I have no MOUTH...

>>15255342
>>15255406
Not only that, it is in the fucking Google font too.

>>15254268
totally retarded picture

>>15254268
>her ass is sticking up into the air artificially for the sex appeal to coomers, instead of resting naturally in the seat like would happen if it was real
fucking bugmen artists I swear to god

>>15261550
Wolfe
Vance
Howard
Clark Ashton Smith
Lin Carter
Hodgson
Dunsany

>>15261989
>>15262203
autism

>>15261563

>>15262300
cuck

>try to read an actual, literary work
>get bored
>return to laser battles
has sci-fi ruined me lads?

>>15255114
Just this concept was in Altered Carbon (it didn't have any ayys though).

>>15262470
depends on the literary work, like 60-70% of lit fic is crap (same ratio applies to genre fic)

lmao a thousand year old dragon actually just transformed into a 10 year old girl in the xianxia I'm reading

>>15262608

>>15259975
I think you may be onto something. Though it's more that all that shit with fast cultivation progression always has OP MCs.

>>15260229
Dresden was bad, Calderon was OK.

Do you know any good western web novels apart from Mother of Learning? No shit for girls (Worm, Wandering Inn) or smut.

>>15262693
God Tier:

Mother of Learning
A Practical Guide to Evil
Worth The Candle
Pact

Good tier:

Brennus
Unsong
Worm
The Gilded Hero
Delve

You should check these out tier (mostly rationalfic, fanfic, and similar garbage that can be entertaining):
(Upper level)
Twisted cogs
The Games We play
The Gam3
Purple Days
A bluer shade of white
Harry Potter and the Methods of rationality
Twig
The Waves Arisen
------
(Lower tier)
The Good Student
The Metropolitan Man
Metaworld Chronicles

Stay away tier:

The Wandering Inn
Star Child
Re: trailer thrash
Savage Divinity
The Zombie Knight Saga
How to Avoid Death on a Daily Basis
Super Powereds

Best chinkshit has to offer tier:
All chinkshit is shit, especially Reverend Insanity
Just read the four classics and, if you really have to, I Shall Seal the Heaven.

Where do I start with Ian Brandon Anderson?

>>15262730
Elantris, but I seriously recommend you reconsider

>>15262749
But anon, I don't want to be a dino!

>>15262722
>>15262693
Oh and if you are gonna recommend such shit litrpg then I guess another requirement would be no litrpg.

>>15262608
I love that shit in manga since it makes my peepee happy, but in books it's more off-putting.

>>15262783
The only real LitRPG in the first 2 tears is Delve, as WTC is so unlike the standard RPGShit, it is closer to being a Bible retelling.
Just read Unsong if you are gonna be this way, it is the least web novel-like and the quality is on par with almost anything released in the past 20 years.

>>15262730
you're in luck bitch https://www.tor.com/2020/05/01/sign-up-now-for-a-free-ebook-of-the-way-of-kings-by-brandon-sanderson/

>>15262582
>(it didn't have any ayys though)
Shows what you know

>>15260393
Don't, it sucks

>>15262820
Worth the Candle is another litrpg. Also, Worm is for girls even though I asked for no shit for girls. So that's 1/3 as far as the ones I know and the only good one I already mentioned at the start of comment chain.
All in all if you don't know the answer then I would prefer to be ignored than waste both your and my time with such inane replies.

>>15262883
>ebook

>>15262896
>Worth the Candle is another litrpg
You dyslexic faggot

>All in all if you don't know the answer
I was reposting a list to answer a question which has been asked like 20 times in the past year for a retard who can't check the archives, I even remember it being asked in the context of "no novels for women".
I gave you a specific recommendation fitting your criteria, and for the woman shit you can just read the synopsis. Why act like a menstruating bitch?
What the fuck do you even mean by 1/3, that was 1/9, I am not a fucking oracle who can predict your whims.

>>15262883
>tor

>>15262883
>.com

>>15263056
You claimed it isn't really litrpg and it absolutely is (exp from killing enemies, levels, unnatural skills, attribute points, quests). And the list is useless since my question was more specific and the list from what I can see is full of crap I specifically didn't want recommended.
Once again, if you don't know, then don't reply. Simple as.

>>15263056
Oh and 1/3 as in of the three titles from the list that I know only one fits.

>>15263199
If you exclude fantasy on the basis of it having a visual progression tracker, despite the fact that on a practical basis it has a completely different feel and readership, you deserve things to happen to you.
I genuinely tried to help, and would have written a detailed recommendation if you asked nicely, but, given how I have probably read more western web novels than anyone else in this general, and have been recommending them for years, but I suppose your newfag ass just has to turn everything into a fight, because your daddy beat you when you were little.
Once again, its ironic how you act like a passive-aggressive woman, while excluding books on some vague "for women" basis - what does it even mean in the context of worm?
Also: there's this Aesop fable about Hercules and effort... You should read it.

>>15263228
You know what, I just realized that you are probably just in a bad place in life, and you are channeling your negativity here, despite your complaints barely making any sense. Demanding people to read your mind (like litrally the only fiction which didn't fit your initial criteria (which is vaguely defined) was the one which you already knew about, and hence was in no risk of reading).
This is gonna lead nowhere. I suppose I wish you to get better.

>>15260370
Company of Liars

>>15263257
>>15263296
Don't get too triggered. You made a low-effort post, reposting a bad list.

Do we actually have a fair bit of underaged girls here? What's with all those recommendations of YA with young girl MC?

>>15263462
Weirdos ran out of smut

>>15263407
It's my list and it is probably the best webnovel list on the internet. Nothing personnel, kid.

>>15263489
Now this is a based post, the earlier hissyfit was too feminine.

>>15255252
>95% of sci fi written past 2010 is just fucking garbage
That would actually make it a particularly good decade by comparison then.

>>15263574
>>15255252
>>15255307
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_law
2010's has been an above-average decade, despite what you faggots say. Not as good as 1920's, or 1960's, but definitely on the same level as the 1970-2000 period.

>>15262470
>sci-fi can't be literary
i think the elitist opinions of this board have ruined you more, m8

>>15263574
>That would actually make it a particularly good decade by comparison then.

>>15263595
What do you think better by comparsion means, brainlet?

Since /sffg/ is shit, can you suggest some good litrpg novels?

Anyone know any good vampire fiction along the lines fo Fevere Dreame? I have a sudden urge for that sort of thing

>>15262470
read Worm.

>>15263574
Very much on point.

>>15264435
While it really isn't all that similar to Fevre Dream, I would recommend Burden Kansas by Alan Ryker. It's a nice piece of vampire fiction.

>>15263574
Yeah previous decades did not have Sanderson and Rothfuss.

>>15255373
stop using "whilst", it makes you sound like you have half of your brain spilling out the side

>>15255411
because they had elven blood in their lineage. aragorn was a descendant of elros (son of earendil [human] and elwing [elf])

>>15256606
>write eloquently, like say jack vance
>jack vance

on what planet is jack vance eloquent??

also, i don't recall "butt" being mentioned in original Black Company trilogy

>>15258187
bitch, i give a lot of writers space to do their thing, but tales of dying earth is awful hot garbage. the only good thing about it is that it inspired gene wolfe's BOTNS series. and that's about it

>>15265312
I skimmed Worm after after Taylor's warlord days. The story hit the wall after the time skip.

Wildbow has good ideas, but his writing is only a couple steps above the average fanfic.

>>15265457
>don't use words from the English language
Ok, whilst you don't like the word, I don't really give a fuck.

>>15260495
everything. there seems to be nothing unique/new to his thoughts and a TON of obfuscation to make it sounds like BBT is a unique insight that he developed.

the reality is that bakker can't hold his own with actual philosophers/academics, his writing skills are terrible when he doesn't have 2+ decades to sift through the dross, and he's obsessed with gay rape. i can't tell if he's closet bi or he thinks he's "inverting the stereotype" of raped damsels in distress. the only character who isn't raped by another man is an elderly cuck.

the series was sold as a "philosophical whodunit" and proceeded to shit all over that so that mr. unemployable writer could evangelize his BBT nonsense.

long and short of it is, his philosophy is trash, his books are trash, stop shilling for him. let him complain about getting old and american politics on his blog, but don't give his "ideas" any more oxygen than they deserve.

>>15265655
Anon you need to un-rustle your jimmies.
Whatever gave you the idea that I was shilling for Scotty? Did you even follow the chain of replies, like this one >>15260580?

i've decided wolfe is bad now, too many idiots think saying they like botns puts their taste above criticism

>>15265508
>also, i don't recall "butt" being mentioned in original Black Company trilogy
well its there.

>>15265807
Very unbased. Sort your life out son

What cyberpunk genre books have you guys been reading?

>>15262730
> Where do I start with Ian Brandon Anderson?
https://www.brandonsanderson.com/warbreaker-prologue/

>>15265807
I stopped reading botns after the 2nd book because I found it meandering. But then this is when I was younger. I only read Asimov, RAH, Clarke, etc. Wolfe was just too much for my high school self.

More recently I read his short story "The Ziggurat" and really liked it, so maybe I'll give Severian another chance.

>>15266156
the second book is wolfe at peak meandering. the third book is the best

>>15265857
La Passe-miroir, is a very well written book

>>15266289
>not the story contest in Citadel of the Autist

>>15266156
The Ziggurat is some dark horrifying shit.

>>15266372
Ikr, especially when you piece together what really happened.

so Ellison definitely has autism right?

>>15264142
Really need to update this list.

>>15266437

I wonder what a conversation between PKD and Ellison would've been like. Would've been wild giving how crazy both were

>>15265807
If they only read BotNS for the memes but don't go beyond that to look into at least some of his other work (like I think everyone here who loves BotNS should read Peace) they're brainlets. Doesn't make him bad though.

>>15266289
On my reread I think I like Citadel the best but Sword is close.

>>15266156
It's very straightforward. What part is meandering? The Dorcas/Agia section through the flower battle? That part establishes some pretty important stuff.

>>15266801
>supermage
>hey, that looks cool, wizard fantasy superhero? neat i'll--

Warning: This book contains some profanity, gore and content that may not be suitable for children. This book also contains GameLit elements such as stat sheets, and a form of leveling and experience gain.

>>15266910
Hence why I wanna redo it. Take out all the stat shit sheets books.

>>15266910
I've just spent the entire month reading chinese webnovels and western self-pub imitations of them but even now I couldn't ever bring myself to read a litrpg

>>15267037
>chink lover is too good for litrpg

I need more Wolfe, but there is no more Wolfe

DAY 5 of The /sffg/ GR Expedition
~200/261 members gone through
https://pastebin.com/E8WSgaRn
Spam filter problems

Other than “The time machine” any decent books on time travel?

>>15267695
I'd recommend Time Patrol, don't know if the rest of the series is good though

>>15267695
End of Eternity by Asimov

Depends what flavor of time travel you want, plenty of stories about future-only travel with time dilation, eg Forever War.

Can somebody give me the quick rundown on Abercrombie? The First Law setting seems of interest to me - what is his writing like?

>>15268077
Read a preview chapter ffs. He likes to deconstruct things.

>>15268077
>what is his writing like
Just read the free previews

>>15268077
He deconstructs the genre, and deconstructs it well. His work is pretty cynical.

I haven't read his newer stuff, but I liked the First Law and Best Served Cold was a good stand alone.

>>15268077
Except for one cool concept (and I suspect Bayaz was derived from LotR) his world is entirely generic fantasy. The writing is grimdark and austere. There's some humor in there but never got even a chuckle, probably because it's under 10 layers of gritty cynicism. Some cool fight scenes and that's it.
The First Law does not end well. The trilogy of standalones are meh and, again, they don't end the first trilogy well. The books will be forever engraved in my head to the sound of Crystal Castles and witch house music which I used to listen to some years ago.
He started writing some kids books or whatever and last year he went back to the world of the First Law.

>>15257742
But I like loli space soldier.

Is my guys taste based or is it shit?

>>15268310

Titus Groan needs to be at least in the 5/5 category

>>15262722
Why is Pact god tier when Worm is only good tier?

Hate myself lads

>>15268077
Just got off binging Red Country and A little hatred in two days.

Joe's got great prose. He's good at pacing in a scene and is wonderfully descriptive without slowing things down.

Just about all of the books are heavily cynical like the other anons said. The themes of self-destruction and violence being a never-ending cycle come up almost constantly.

People were really disappointed because the first trilogy ends with none of the characters' arcs ending on any upward note except for maybe two.

>>15268222
>I suspect Bayaz was derived from LotR
Tolkien wrote somewhere that if LotR was real life, Gandalf would have used the one ring. Abercrombie shows us that world.

>>15268458
Nobody really cares if you're miserable, so you might as well be happy.
Cynthia Nelms

>>15262722
C'mon, Against the Gods, Warlock of the Magus World and City of Sin are enjoyable to read.

>>15268310
>Pedophile shit station
>good
All I need to know about you to call you a tasteless faggot. God how much I hated that big fucking waste of time.

>>15254804
Almost sounds like The Shadow Out of Time...

how could the guy who wrote Hyperion Cantos fall so far?

>>15269091
I'm guessing he become immune to editors and/or caught the Brain Eater Disease that tends to infect st writers when they're older.

Tbh I haven't read these, but I heard they were bad. His 90's stuff was gold, though. Currently reading Summer of Night.

>>15269091
These are campy fun, don't be a twat

>>15267695
BotNS.

>>15254268
Why tf is this on fucking lit?

>>15269148
nah he just takes all the tricks he learned from hyperion and reheats them in the microwave for you

Fucking hell, the entire second trilogy of powder mage is just sitting there on my shelf mocking me to read it, but I haven't read anything in about 3 months since this fucking virus shit started. My job has actually gotten busier and I'm too tired after work to read and on the weekend I either play videogames or watch shows. I have to mentally give myself a synopsis of the second Babel book every week as I'm halfway through it and fuck having to start again.

>>15268222
his new book in the first law world is kinda shit too. writing those kids books numbed his brain

>>15268310
>favorites Gormenghast
>5/5 Locke Lamora
How is that even possible?

>>15268433
Because Pact is just better and more consistent. Worm had arcs that were just plain out bad, and Pact was captivating all the way through. The ending of Worm may be the best thing wildbow ever wrote, but in Pact he truly started exploring deeper elements of storytelling before degenerating into the absolute disaster which was Twig.
I don't care how unpopular this opinion is.

>>15268829
But anon, I read 100 chapters of against the gods, kinda liked it, but there was a bad aftertaste in my mouth for days. The more I read of webnovel xianxia, the more I get disgusted with myself.

>>15268913
Maximum cringe

>>15254268

In the future, please refrain from posting an image of an attractive young woman to start your thread, a thing which ought to be a bannable offense.

>>15269527
Every thread I make will now contain an attractive young women just to trigger you :3

>>15269515
What's your opinion regarding Ward?

>>15261282
I wouldn't say any of his work, BotNS include have depressing endings. Bittersweet maybe.

>>15266372
>story contest in Citadel of the Autist
Right has anyone managed to actually interpret this? I read them every time but and enjoy them but totally fail to take anything away from them. Am I the retard?
Feels like a wasted opportunity to explore Ascian culture.

>>15269515
>But anon, I read 100 chapters of against the gods, kinda liked it, but there was a bad aftertaste in my mouth for days.
>The more I read of webnovel xianxia, the more I get disgusted with myself.
Maybe you've read too much xianxia and can't stand it anymore.
In this case just stop reading it completely, except maybe stuff by Er Gen.
Also, about ATG, I'm more invested in the characters than the story, that's why I'll keep reading it until the end of times.

>>15268310
this reads like someone who has read exactly 15 fantasy books
there's nothing wrong with liking what they like but I'm not exactly sure how there's any benefit from paying attention to them.
The most this list does is tell you that the writer thinks classics and popular well received contemporary books are both good

>>15269742
I hate it, it's like worm with everything fun about it removed. Probably in a misguided attempt at some sort of psychological depth. He does big, almost mythical stories with archetypal characters in it well. The story, the world. He sucks at this PTSD little girl shit.

>>15269811
>except maybe stuff by Er Gen
Yeah, he is the best of them I think. Not very original and quite repetitive, but quite worthwhile if I feel like it.

>>15266801
>>15267037
>>15266910
can someone, PLEASE, explain to me what a LitRPG is?

>This book contains some profanity, gore and content that may not be suitable for children. This book also contains GameLit elements such as stat sheets, and a form of leveling and experience gain.
Is this a more autistic version of choose-your-own-adventure books?

Is this basically the Sorcery! series? An adventure gamebook?

>>15270037
fantasy book set in a fictional mmo

basically a bunch of authors watched Sword Art Online and decided to copy that

>>15269765
>wasted opportunity to explore Ascian culture
>wasted

Yes you are retarded

>>15270100
howso? it explores language but I wanted more about their society and how it arose. I know the whole point is BotNS is you know nothing aobut Erebus etc (even in Short Sun, Scylla's betrayal is fairly mysterious), but I was still curious

>>15270044
So this shitty quasi-genre is based off a shitty anime based off shitty MMO's?
Talk about shit all the way down.

Hey a bit new to /sffg/ and /lit/ in general. I never read a lot of fantasy, but I figured I'd give Lord of the Rings a try. It's enjoyable, but I'm having trouble visualizing a lot of the landscapes Tolkien describes. I can't seem to render them as hugely or as detailed as he makes them out to be, it's as if my mind hits a wall and simply can't produce anything past a certain size. Is there any way to exercise my imagination into being able to keep up with his descriptions? I like the way he writes and want to be able to enjoy it fully.

>>15270968
>he fell for the Jolkien Rolkien meme
I bet you haven't even read Dunsany

>>15269292
That's fair. Even if you're not directly affected, living through a global emergency can be emotionally tiring. Powder Mage isn't that good anon so you're not really missing out - first one is decent, but by the third the gimmick has worn thin and the author's let the PC overtake him and half the tough frontline soldiers are women. Really breaks the immersion.

>>15270989
Sometimes this place sounds eerily like /mu.

>>15267695
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Catherine Webb

Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague de Camp

The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter

>>15270968
Use Google images and search for Russian landscape painters. Or just Google European nature landscapes

>>15271043
Do they at least have bikini armor or is it politically correct all the way?

>>15271101
it's hilarious how Dunsany is never actually discussed, just name dropped alongside wolfe as some signifier of taste from posters who probably haven't even read the book

>>15271128
It's a problem in general on 4chin.
/fit does not lift, /v does not actually play games and /lit... well /lit neither reads nor writes it seems. It's all low effort trolling.

>>15270968
Interesting, I've never encountered this. >>15271118 is a good recommendation, but if this doesn't work don't overthink it dude. Anyone can sit down and watch a film but reading takes a bit more active participation from the audience. Just read as much as you like if you're enjoying it, and if not, maybe give it a break and read something else.
If you're a bit newer to read then Game of Thrones and a few of the sequels are great reads, and there's a lot of vivid descriptions of smaller scale stuff you might enjoy (like food, lots of food)

>>15271152
this thread's always stood out from the rest of /lit/ by actually reading what we're talking about but there's still quite a few adversarial posters who are obviously just shitposting about stuff they just know a few context clues about

>>15271128
Because no one fucking engages me about Dunsany. I would be glad to answer questions (I am very familiar with his biography and influences), or give my interpretations (I have read King of Elfland's Daughter 4 times).
Also, don't pretend that it is any better with other writers. Like once every 6-7 or so threads an anon will write an in-depth post about something he read; everything else is just 2 sentence long surface observations.

>>15271196
Fuck, cope harder. You probably tried reading Dunsany, gave up after a few pages because the internet ruined your attention span, and now came here to channel your insecurities. Are you, perchance, the Jordanon and the Sanderfag poster?

>>15271310
Are any of the Goodreads groups better for quality discussion?

>>15271310
lmao this cope at being caught out

>>15271333
I have given up on goodreads and pretty much everything else. There are decent places online to discuss literature. Both classical, and contemporary. But not speculative fiction. The best discussions about fantasy/scifi take place on forums of literary fiction, but they are rare, largely because people rarely read speculative fiction, and those forums are slow to begin with. Occasionally there will be a good discord read-along which dies in a month, tops.

>>15271340
>no u

>>15270989
I haven't. I said I never read a lot of fantasy. We all gotta start somewhere.

>>15271118
Not a bad idea, that makes sense. I'll try that, thanks.

>>15271156
Thanks anon, that's pretty sound advice. The book is still good so I won't drop it just yet, but I'm happy to hear there are good alternatives.

>>15270470
Ascian society is pretty clearly Wolfe's idea of what the long-term endgame of East Asian anti-individualism looks like. Wolfe is a Catholic and as some article (I forget which) said about him, one of the major themes of all his work is that the human spirit is worth something. In his view of Asia - remember, he shot at them in war - they don't value the human spirit, only the greater society. When some cosmic space thing comes by promising to improve their society, they sell their souls to it, because their Orwellian culture by that point has convinced them all that they are worthless compared to the collective. Do you not see how the only way a society could have come to such a language by the end of the Earth is through a exploited philosophy like that? That's the chief idea behind the Ascians, and to me it's pretty obvious from the story. There's no greater exploration of what their internal society during Severian's time looks like because BotNS isn't about that; what I said here is probably all that Wolfe himself knew about them.

>>15271452
>We all gotta start somewhere.
Just make sure it doesn't end there. There are a lot of people who despise Tolkien but love fantasy.
Overall, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy_Masterworks is the closest thing to definitive as an answer to "how should I start reading fantasy?".

>>15262883
Don't forget your free book faggots

>>15267253
>...may have read far and away more SFF than anyone else so far and definitely the most off the beaten path SFF.
Which one is this? I need to find the WEIRD stuff and the overall general isn't that helpful as most people don't read.

>finished Desolate Era
>the void is hollow

>read book 3 of some generic "humans find magic and combat with technologically-advanced spacefaring races" self-published shit
>consists of helping magical alternate universe where one of the MCs loses his magic augments but gains a bond with a dragon
>also involves dumb warlocks using blood magic getting popped in the head with boolet
>author is writing like 4 other series too and wants to meta it all together
oh boy

>>15272132
desolate era was on the low tier of the chinese stuff I've read desu

>>15272132
Sounds like trash.

>>15267695

I've just finished One word kill by Mark Lawrence.
It starts a bit yung adultish but gets better with the sequels. Realy enjoyed the wrap up even tough i saw it coming from a mile away.

>>15267695
Quantum Leap - story is slightly different to the vidya but still good.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28696617-quantum-break

Quantum Time - it is the third book in the series though. There is a lot of science about time travel in it though.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43165075-quantum-time

>>15272378
>Quantum Leap -
*Quantum Break*

>want to read book with delicious brown on the cover
Is it okay if I skip to Golem100 or do I have to read the other 99 first?

>>15272111
Although their profile is public, it's still technically a private group. Message me on GR. I will say more when I've finished either way about individuals, but not in the thread. It also may not be what you're looking for either.

>>15272585
Plenty fair enough, sent a message.

Do you guys prefer first person or third person PoVs?

>>15273219
imo within spec fic
third person - fairly consistent, safe
first person - can be something special but can also be terrible

Has anyone read Marlon James' 'Black Leopard, Red Wolf' ? How was it?

>>15265807
>dropping something because of the fanbase
Back to /v/ with you.

>>15260229
Pretty poor writing but still kinda fun. I'll never forget the scene where he goes to the hospital with a knife wound in his leg and is offered Tylenol

>>15272111
I've been giving charts and recommendations to /lit/ for nearly a decade, and to sffg since it's beginning and all you faggots turn up your noses at them. Fuck off. They were the best of what I read, and each year the list changes, but the don't read faggots or dinos just want old obscure books to make themselves seem important. Even when they get non popular shit they still put on airs. No one here wants to read, they just want to meme and shit on whatever someone recommends, unless when they google the name and see it's a unfun dino book.

Getting real fed up of the fucking literary fiction faggots trying to take over sffg because they don't get takers in outer lit who actually read. They have been trying to subvert sffg for years and recently they are actually gaining traction. The people who read genre fiction used to keep them at bay, but almost everyone is leaving because of pol, literary faggots and philosofags shitting up the general and lit in general.
That Dunsany faggot is a prime offender.

>>15266156
Good for you, I've just taken over a month trying to push through into the third book but am giving up halfway. First time ever for me and I've slogged through quite a few bad novels

>>15273616
I got through BOTNS as audio, makes it a bit easier for the meandering parts. Reading through Urth of the New Sun now

>>15273555
I'm an oldhead who recently returned to lit for a visit. You sound unreasonable and autistic, but what charts/recs have you offered?

I've enjoyed Dunsany and Tolkien.

Just started Nemesis Games. I'm fairly enjoying The Expanse after watching the show. It's not as god-tier as people make it out to be, but it's probably the best Sci-Fi on tv right now (since they cancelled everything else decent), and the books are enjoyable enough.

Cibola Burn was rough to get through, though. Lots of random shit happening to hold off the final confrontation from happening too quickly.

>>15273616
>>15273690
BOTNS eventually became one of my all time favorite books. I remember Wolfe's takes on symbols and rain as mercy as being half finished thinking, which is still what I think, but the narrative was amazing and more than that.

Which scenes do you remember as being the worst of the examples of the meandering parts?

>>15273711
Actually, I think meandering might be the wrong word.

I don't think there's any chapter in the main trilogy that feels "useless". Everything is a commentary, or a character study, or world-hinting, or just pure beautiful wordsmithing.

That said, there's the entire story about the created man who sails out to rescue a woman that for the life of me I still can't parse. It just seemed like a full aside.

>>15273771
meandering can just mean drifting, as a river drifts. overall it offers a sense of broadness, with the negative meanings being secondary.

>>15273711
>>15273771
>>15273790
Still that oldhead. Speaking of meandering and rivers, Wolfe's rhapsodizing on Time itself was actually quite plain. Comparing him to Dickens, I'd have to give more credit to Dickens, even though overall Dickens is far more boring.

>>15273555
Are you still there? You can still offer me your taste.

>>15273555
I think you're more or less right about the state of things.

>>15273696
So you're a returning dino, checking out the roost?
You know which chart then. for years I was the only one making charts

>>15273877
are you the only one who says 'dino'?

i dont remember any charts. for the most part i posted in sff threads outside the general.

>>15273851
>>15273829
>>15273696

>>15273919
>are you the only one who says 'dino'?
Not anymore, but I'm the one who started calling the faggots who read nothing but old books and shat on anything new, dinosaurs.

>>15273947
>Modern SciFi
>No Leviathan Wakes
retard

>>15273947
>>15273977
- Stupid watermark
- Shit amateurish use of fonts
- Covers not aligned to grid
- No logical or thematic arrangement
- No vetting or explanation of why the non-classic choices are defendable, thus leaving impressions for most only at suspicion
- Some of the modern picks are fine, but overall it's trashy
- A bot could have made this chart, and better at that

No wonder you've alienated everyone. You have the mind of a neurotic and scatterbrained woman, and your chart shows. Everything about you reeks of low quality and low effort. Forget I asked.

>>15274053
stfu nerd

>>15274057
And you're stubborn so instead of utilizing mean but useful critique, you're just gonna crawl in your shell while everyone around you moves on.

>>15274106
not the same person just think you're an annoying nerd who contributes nothing

>>15274112
>contributing nothing to a board full of nothing

>>15274106
>>15274112
like go through this whole thread, if it's not the one (1) book you'll actually admit to reading all you're doing is just moaning and giving out about other people's tastes without ever getting to the point where you actually have to talk about the contents of a book.
>>15274124
That's your dream, for everything to be dragged down to your level where you can get cheap dopamine (you's) from saying something in another post is bad

New bread
>>15274148
>>15274148
>>15274148

>>15274032
>Leviathan Wakes
The author's long price quartet and dagger and coin series was shit, you think I'm picking up another book of his?

>>15274191
Tbh, I think the Expanse tv-series is better than the books. It better develops characters, and avoids pitfalls the books fell into (one dimensional villains for one).

The Long Prince series was okay, but better in concept than execution (plus an annoying plot hole/SoD-breaker).

I enjoyed Dagger and Coin . . . but apparently I didn't enjoy it too much because I never bothered reading past the third book.