/lit/ - Literature

>>15745962

>>15778682
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwmeH6Rnj2E

Fuck assimov

>>15778737
Why?

>>15778737
Asimov was great.

>>15778682
Anybody interest in reading my wuxia novel?

>Divine heavenly rapist monarch

>Nip bong bing bong of the golden waterfall sect was a seven foot child with gum cutter abs and ancient runic tattoos covering his entire body. Maligned by his family as "trash" but also the favored grandson of the klan's strongest ancestor he must set out on a journey to rape his way through celestial fairy's who aren't as heavenly as his wife and loot ancient tombs whose owners are both alive and inexplicably approve of his actions to foil the plans of ancient sects whose crimes are presented as a greater evil than his own in liner increasing levels of difficulty with occasional cameos from future, overly smug mentor figures from higher realms who go wide eyed at any vague display of talent.

>Also there's a fat side kick who creeps on women and an earnest teritary character he'l meet along the way.

If you're going to put sex in a book then actually put sex in it. None of this shitty "cinematic" fade to black after they embrace horseshit.

Just finished The Hod King. Thanks to the anon who recommended the Senlin series.

It was pretty fun. It had everything I usually hate (quips, affected Edwardian? storytelling, steampunk) but it was surprisingly well written, if you leave out the many paper thin personalities, a few terrible purply constructs and some bits of exposition and dialogue that could have been more subtly paced. I didn't mind how campy and good-hearted the main cast felt either ‒why, in contrast, I have some qualms about the paperthinness of the antagonists‒ (it fit the tone well and it was a nice contrast to the generic grimdark I'm used to reading). I just hope he doesn't overdo it in the next book.

>go into Dune Messiah not expecting much because of the way people describe it
>it's fucking kino, couldn't put it down over three days until finished
if this is considered 'weak', then Children and God-Emperor have me hyped as fuck.
but also, pic related edition can go to hell. i'll be blacklisting Hodderscape books, embarrassing amount of spelling errors in this edition.

>>15779213
Seems like Messiah gets a bad rep from people, but it's my favourite in the series.

>>15779335
Based, it's the most personal and tragic novel in the series.

>>15779335
Mostly because people like the worldbuilding and fremen culture in Dune, but not necessarily the character exploration and drama. It's a bit like Alien 3, hated by most but lowkey the best or second best in the series.

>>15778682
Another wasted opportunity.

Idea for my novel: a race of liquid-jellyfish motherfuckers that can seep into your blood and control your brain without even knowing about it. Like you're just always on autopilot, you do what the jellyfish wants without consciously knowing why you're doing it. Thoughts?

Has anyone on /sffg/ read Count Zero in recent memory? I am trying to figure out a few things that I feel I may have glanced over.

>Was Turner just an incompetent retard used by Conroy? Gibson seems to use Paco to demonstrate how someone competent would do the same sort of job.
>Why was Marly picked to find out who was making the boxes? She seems entirely unprepared to do the job she was hired to do, even more incompetent than Turner but at least seems cognizant of this fact.
>Why did Christopher (reportedly) kill himself after getting Angie out? Seems like a dumbass move and was probably the AI's disposing of him.

Also, unrelated, but Bobby is a Based Retard.

>>15779664
sounds like 'the lives of tao' by wesley chu

>>15779683
Fuck, okay I gotta read that and make sure I'm not unintentionally plagiarizing. Thanks!

>>15779630
Got unbanned I see....
We will make sure it sticks next time.

>>15779706
warning, it's bad

>>15779733
Is it bad because the idea is trash or the author is trash?

>>15779747
Just a weak book imo, it's very heavy on the nerd wish fulfillment side of things

>>15779757
Oh alright, well I'll just buy it used on amazon for a negative example.

>>15779769
It'a also basically The Thing.

>>15779668
Why does the sprawl trilogy covers look so fucking good to me?
It makes me want to buy them and maybe even read them.

please recommend me good fantasy
in my youth/young adulthood I read every discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, lord of the rings already before that, song of ice and fire like 5 years ago, recently reread it when the lockdown started here

>>15779862
It's not like you're requesting anything specific so you might as well look up some books in OP's charts and try anything that seems interesting to you. Read Robert E. Howard.

>Horror is better than sci fi fantasy.
>Horror has roots in the perennial culture and oral tradition because it's based in primal fears. Fears of disease, of our paleolithic predators, of men turned bad, of dark space, of the elements.
>Basically, sci fi and fantasy were things born out of the middle ages and thereafter, but didn't really exist properly until the 20th century.
>Not to mention horror fiction has more literary merit. Even something as basic as Frankenstein was born out of the Romantic blood of Shelley.
Debate me, /sffg/

>>15779890
no

>>15779872
recommend me a chart to look at

>>15779904
>No
Because you know it's true

>>15779890
Drawing a line between horror and fantasy when they are completely imterwoven is silly and pedantic.

>>15779862
Read Wolfe, Clark Ashton Smith and Jack Vance. Or Wagner and Lin Carter if you like it more pulp

>>15779923
Fantasy might have "ghosts" and "spooky stuff" but none of them are used as literary devices, nor does the plot gravitate around them. Fear and dread are horror's aim, not to incense awe in a big world for the reader's pleasure.

>>15779927
thanks

also whats wrong with pic related that warrants it being in the meme folder?

>>15779931
So you're telling me fear, insanity and dread don't run all the way through Hamlet or Macbeth?

>>15779961
Read the first four, they're essential. You can also read the next 2. If it's not by Frank, don't.

>>15779964
>Thinks that saying that evoking Hamlet would be bad for my argument.
Fine, Hamlet is horror tier because it has ghosts, dread, insanity, a bad ending, etc. That just makes horror more literary.

>>15779973
yes I read Dune, thats why I dont get why that pic is in the meme folder. You start with book 1, if you like it you continue to book 2, 3 etc, then stop when its not by Frank anymore

>>15779975
Oh, you're /outerlit/. I'm sorry I engaged (You), please vacate the premises.

>>15780013
>/outerlit/
What did xe mean by this?

>>15780030

>>15780087
Is this making fun of me for being a lit major?

>>15780098
Oh no just, life already does that for you.This is more about the pretensions pseuds.

>>15779630
What's wrong with her belly button? Literally doing all that then messing up the best bit.

>>15778682
holy shit books for this feel?

>>15780202
>>15780205
Go the fuck away.

>>15779117
FUCK yeah bro (no homo) bust it out Nigga

>>15780205
The Dispossessed is technically a solarpunk

>>15780213
You seem frustrated - Connecting/reconnecting with nature might help you out a bit sweaty

Am I nuts or was this just Warhammer for girls?

>>15780281
Motherfucker, I live in a bean field and just got done watering my tomatoes, squash, and herbs. I fucking love nature, but that doesn't stop me from hating you're made-up genre.
>>15780289
I saw a tor article written about that character and hot to get "galactic swole" with some trash tier "curling in the squat rack" jokes.
https://www.tor.com/2019/10/30/gideons-guide-to-getting-galactic-swole-an-epic-tale-of-skele-flex-trashbaggery/
Is this what makes women laugh?

>>15780281
You're the one who kept pushing MAGNA CUM right? Are you the mother fucker that tricked into reading Prince of Thorns too?

>>15780289
that writer never published another article for them so I don't think it landed

>>15780371
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3rFgr0Tu1c

>>15780371
It's done rather well.

>>15780482
The swole article?

>>15780519
The book.

>>15780550
Oh alright.

>>15780346
why is prince of thorns a better plebfilter than wolfe lol

>>15780591
A man who dislikes Wolfe may have taste, or he may not. A man who likes Margrave of Thorns surely does not.

>>15780289
Is it any good though?

>>15780216
I need to enter closed door cultivation for seven hundred years to write the damn thing.

>>15779133
>I just hope he doesn't overdo it in the next book.
Same. It's hard for me to imagine he'll be able to wrap everything up with just one more book, but I guess he hasn't given me reason to doubt him so far.

>>15780720
>Is it any good though?
according to the overall sentiment of those who have posted in /sffg/ about it and those who have yet it, yes. But, that may only be because of the people who wouldn't like it haven't had much to say about it for various reasons.

>>15780864
Well I'm gonna read it and post on /sffg/ about it either way.

>>15780720
It's fine. It's basically a YA novel, except that the MC won't stop talking about tits.

>>15780289
I couldn't get past the first ten pages. It tries too hard to be edgy and humorous.

Could anyone here recommend me a more adventurous and fantastical/whimsical book? Ideally a bunch of people just going through and exploring a more unique fantasy world, without it just being medieval europe with dragons and badly done political intrigue with an evil overlord. Maybe a bit like A book of the new sun except a lot more casual and easier to read.

>>15781020
Does it need to be a series? I hear Wizard Knight is good, it's got a new edition coming out soon too.

>>15781020
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travel_literature
sounds like what you want, only that isn't sff.

>>15781054
Not necessarily, but Gene Wolfe was just such a hard read and I want something more casual but I just cannot think of a series atm that captures what I am looking for better.

>>15781020
You might try Redemption's Blade.
Or just revert to the default gold-standard Discworld books.

>>15779852
Those meme covers like in that anon's post are only in Brazilian or some shit. Pic rel is what you're actually likely to wind up with

What's the maximum you would pay for an independent sci-fi book? Physical paperback copy?

>>15781274
Doing market research here is foolish at best.

>>15781274
>tfw you were gonna green text "pay" but realized you've spent almost a hundred dollars on crystals and coins for wuxia shit

Standard market rates anon, don't price yourself out of the market.

>>15781054
>>15781075
It took me a while to get used to wizard knights first person perspective, so much so that I haven't finished it yet.

Anyone else get this?

>>15780895
Oh dear.

>>15781274
I dunno, I never pay MSRP on books anymore, I buy everything used for like $5.

>>15781441
Buying used is worse than piracy.

>>15781450

>>15781473
Used sales only support the seller and no one else.

>>15781504

A Modest Proposal To Fix The Problem Of Lost Revenue

All media is free to acquire. Any time a person views a commercial work a micropayment is made to the various relevant parties in proportion to how much they experienced of its content. Personal ownership is an outdated concept. All media is provided as a service. This is an experiencer friendly approach as opposed the current model of upfront lump sum payment before being able to view the content where the experiencer is paying for 100% of the content before knowing whether it was worthwhile. This will also make experiencers much more willing to try out a far wider variety of media as well. If an experiencer enjoys the media, as evidenced by having assessed their emotional state, they may be offered a discounted rate on future experiences by that provider to incentivize them into experiencing more.

>>15778682
Nice drawing. Is it based on some novel or something?

>>15779668
How is Turner incompetent? Literally built a career of doing exactly what he's hired to do.
Did you not get Marly's backstory or a sense of her personality? She's honest for starters and has something to prove.
The father probably kills himself for fear of the repercusions. The yakuza tycoons are not fun to mess with. The AIs know that the technology will soon be more spread so what could he probably have worth preserving.

I don't think the AIs are that evil or dumb. They just like to exploit vulnerable people because if these fuck ups don't fail it's a win win for everyone, not that the fuck ups care, but they accept to do stuff for the possibility of a potential win for them (Read David Hume maybe.) My take is that the AIs see humanity of an entire race of fuckups, so competence doesn't really matter that much in picking a tool.

>>15781505
Take your retarded /v/ tier logic somewhere else, you consumerist faggot.
Also, start reading better books. Books that may be out of print. Books whose best editions are old.
God dammit, manchildren and their shiny already yellowing massmarket paperbacks are absolutely disgusting.

>>15781898
You're just a hipster consumerist.

>>15779630
Damn. I like the metal bikini, specially this built in vibrator model, but why they gotta introduce glass paneling now?

>>15779630
That armpit is howling my name

>>15781911
And you're an ignorant fuck, probably an American considering how highly you hold copyright.

Writers used to get not a single penny for translations. Second hand bookstores were extremely common. The only way to have access to certain titles is through libraries or used copies.

Go support the high literature of some Stephen King wannabe lmao.

>>15782022
>Writers used to get not a single penny for translations.
Many only get a single payment because a lot is work-for-hire.

>The only way to have access to certain titles is through libraries or used copies
Why is why digitization projects are so important.

>>15780220
Yes. And it's perfect.

>>15778754
Probably because Asimov believed in cyclical history, and leftists don't like cyclical history

>>15778682
I think sexual content tends to end up as an advertisement for degeneracy, and appear in highly politicized works.
I mean in books that are not romance/porn-for-women
Over all, not very good. However they can be kept brief and tasteful.

>>15778682
I use light sexual content to draw in and keep viewers titillated. By the time they start to wonder if sex is coming they're hooked on the plot and the characters and they're invested enough to wait. Throw in some sex unless the people you are writing about are robots, but realize that less is often more.

>>15779213
For years I've heard Messiah was bad and perhaps the worst book but like you said I thought it was pretty hype. Had me on the edge of my seat more than Books 1, 3, and 4. God Emperor is so far the most disappointing to me but it was still a great book, just not better than 1 like people claimed. That's just my opinion.
Children is also hype as fuck I think. My ratings so far are 1 > 3 > 2 > 4. Haven't started Heretics yet.

>>15781274
I don’t pay

>>15780205
>fascists want cyberpunk
Are you fucking retarded? Seriously, you red tranny fuck, are you mentally impaired?

>>15782945
why not?

>>15779927
I'd like to read Zothique, but it's confusing finding it on amazon since it always seems to be just a piece of the collection or part of something else? I'm pretty retarded.

Wait. 100 posts and no one said it?

Fuck E William Brown

>>15783471
Who?

>>15783471
Is this like reverse psychology? Because I just got the sudden urge to buy one of his books.

>>15783419
Find the version closest to the 70s Ballantine edition, that was edited by Lin Carter.

>>15780202
>>15780205
solarpunk? more like COPEpunk

>>15783006
Cuz

>>15783471
It's not canceled, it's more indefinite postponement

>>15780902
that's all of sff published recently

>>15781075
could try Chronicles of Amber

>>15781020
Have you read Lyonesse?

>>15784707
I would like to read Lyonesse but I ordered it from Germany and panicked about what language it would be until it arrived, and then straight away I lent it to a friend who wanted to get into fantasy and then he ghosted me

Fuck, my hypomania wore off too fast again! I only got three days out of it, and I didn't even write during one of them!

GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!

Lads, any decent books similar to Red Rising but less YA and Hunger Games-esque? Need a decent political/empires driven Space Opera that's not Dune.

>>15785581
try The Dread Empire's Fall trilogy by Walter Jon Williams

How come books don't incorporate the reader into meta and mindfuck me the way VNs do?

>>15786183
Because that shit falls foul of the 3 G's:
>gimmicky
>gay

>>15781105
ah shit. I am currently reading The Peripheral but you just made me want to read the Sprawl trilogy again.

>>15783599
same

Need books were the protagonist is laid low, stolen from by street urchins, then when he recovers he finds them and kills them.
I'm fed up of books where people let little shits get away with crap because they are young. I want equal opportunity slaughter.

>>15778682
Nice loli yall have there.

>>15781927
Glass paneling is the future.

>>15778682
I wish I was that girl.

This is a weird request but any recs for books/writers that do not participate in social media like Twitter? I feel like those that do tend to be worse writers.

>>15786103
Thanks, I'll give it a shot.

>>15778682
I like how there is a trend in various media to introduce partnerships/couples of older male and young (possibly) female to consumers.

>>15782584
no, just remove all sex unless it is strictly a romance novel.

I want to start Malazan but bruh, fucking so many thick books, even a quadriplegic is too much for me.

>>15788272
You can just read one book and stop if you don't wanna continue, you know.

>>15788272
>I want to start Malazan
Why would you want to do that?

>>15787811
read dead people

I'm looking for sci-fi that scratches that inter-planetary war/politics itch. Something with good world building and characterization that focuses on conflict between differing races/ideologies on a massive scale.

Any recs for something along those lines?

Already read Dune, Hyperion, and Foundations.

>>15781105
>only in Brazilian
Can they even read in Brazil?

>>15788272
Take it from someone who has read up to book 8.

The world building is ridiculously ambitious, and you can tell Erikson is a huge anthropology nerd, easily the best part of the entire series. The conflicts feel massive, the players have good reason, and there's enough femdom to get you off if that's your thing.

Unfortunately, his characters are two dimensional and there are so many of them that (barring few exceptions) they all just sort of blend into each other. His build ups to climax are solid, but the climax itself is almost always underwhelming. Most of the books end up being nothing more than a few chapters of introduction, 800 pages of world-building pseudo-filler, and a hundred pages of rushed resolution.

I enjoyed reading it but I'm never satisfied after I've finished a book. Overall a solid 7/10 and worth diving into, but don't expect the greatest series ever written.

Has anyone read The God Killers by John Baxter? is it good? I just bought it

>>15788587
a little late to ask questions then...

>>15788521
old mans war is fun

>>15788521
Neal Asher's Polity universe books.

Anyone read the 4th book in the Three Body Problem series? I know it’s from another author, but I’m wondering if it’s worth it. I loved the series.

>>15788830
>Neal Asher
I have Technician lying around somewhere i think i picked it up from a flea market with a fucking bin full of books. Never read Asher. Is it any good?

>>15778682
I prefer fade-to-black sex scenes, or abstract/allusive descriptions of it, at least in something I'm trying to take seriously. If I am reading erotica I am fine with more explicit stuff of course.

>>15788587
>The God Killers
Considering it has 4 total ratings on Goodreads and and was released in 1968, probably not.


>>15788859
You asked last thread and still you continue to be silly and not actually use it's name. It's called The Redemption of Time by Baoshu. No one has mentioned it except when I posted "The only thing I've read from him though so far is 'What Has Passed Shall in Kinder Light Appear' which I rather liked."

>>15788863
A few seem to think that he's decent, but not good.

>>15788781
This
It is not really good but it will scratch that itch. It feels like you're playing Master of Orion while you're reading

>>15788093
>Just write all of your characters as though they were eunuchs to satisfy insane puritans bro

>>15789242
Human sexuality is inherently evil.

>>15789268
yeah, I'm thinking you're based

>>15778682
i read this comic that explains his backstory. In this story he is such an unlikable prick that i cant feel sorry for him and would rather see him suffering.

Its a shame really. I am a fan of Warhammer and the fact that Games Workshop took so many idea from this series makes we want to read this saga.

Do the books manage to flesh out his backstory better than this?

does anyone even enjoy sex scenes

>>15789516
If I want to see sex I'd rather watch porn. If I want to read about sex I'd rather read actual erotica. Unless there's a good reason to depict it in a normal book I don't really care for it.

Do you guys like the Redwall series?

>>15789516
I unironically enjoyed the r a p e scenes in spirit vessel and once in a book I read as a teenager about a god descendant being raped by her god uncle in a book about children who got stolen from a magical garden that was obviously a horny librarians fantasy.

Legit never enjoyed it any other time in anything.

>>15789430
Not really, although he didn't seem as unlikable because everyone around him is also and asshole.

>>15789242
>lord of the rings but frodo gets castrated at the end

MY FANTASY NOVEL IS ALMOST DONE YOU UNGRATEFUL FUCKS

>>15789516
Scott Bakker seems to. Especially those involving incest.

>>15789657
yes but he is the main character. The sword he carries fucks up his life a lot and i am supposed to feel sorry for him but i just cant.

Guys.
I'm trying to remember this scifi picture book envisioning the history and bizarre evolutions of humanity over the span of several billion years.
I remember the illustrations being black and sepia and it featuring, at some point, a living wall of humans whose bodies had been made square and stitched together.

I remember it being called "a thousand humanities" or "a billion earths" or something like that

>>15790238
Man After Man - Douglas Dixon?

>>15790238
It's in the archives, I think.
Either there or it's a Clive Barker book.

July sucks. Nothing of note is coming out.

>>15790238
There's Bones of the Earth that actually involves humanity over an extreme timespan but I don't think it's what you're looking for.

>>15790537
>>15790572
>>15790612
Found it, but thanks.

>>15790612
The Last and First Men is like that too.

>>15790739
That's the book from the archives. It's been posted multiple times over the years.

>>15790739
You should defo read this and Stapleton. They're wonderfully unique, this one especially.

Finished Arm of the Sphinx myself, still feels too shallow to me. Maybe I'll look at 3 when 4 gets released, but I will probably stop here.

>>15790537
>member this scifi picture book envisioning th
This is a gold mine, though

Decided to try reading Real Literature and got 100 pages into Blood Meridian before being bored to death and dropping it. Fuck that shit, back to sff.

Just looked at my kindle and I've stopped 4 books in a row at 24-26% complete.
Think I need to read some 300 page schlock to get back in the groove

>>15791386
Is that what the gmo foods and hormone saturated water supply will do to us?

>>15791482

I really enjoyed Ted Chiang's two short story collections. What other scifi short stories should I read?

>>15791618
Axiomatic by Greg Egan. Specifically, his collection titled Axiomatic (he has a short story titled Axiomatic as well which is conveniently included within this collection.)

>>15789516
Only if it involves some kind of fetish, like rape, incest, age difference, femdom etc.

>>15791625
Thanks, I'll check that out.

I want to come in someone's mom.
When is ww3 gonna start so I can commit some atrocities?

>>15791637
A man of culture, I see.

>>15791682
soon. chinas gonna riot cause the west is banning tik tok.

Why is Chinese sci-fi so good recently?

Why is xianxia so much fun

Can you guys list the worst self published authors you ever read?

>>15792445
Robert Stanek.

>>15779668
Sure anon. Come here, have a seat across from me and we can discuss the dog turd that is the sprawl trilogy. To answer your questions, you see, Gibson is a hack. Yes yes he has cool worlds, he is a founder of cyber punk, etc but he wastes it all. Instead of having a cool heist in the first one after all the lead up, it fizzles out with a whimper and you're left with an empty feeling. We get "they're like wasps", razor girl leaves, and case is just case again.
The nice thing about count zero is, its the second book, so you know it's gonna go nowhere and once again the first character you meet is wasted. Turner, a merc who has quite literally been brought back from the dead is barely used. Instead we get art girl who quite literally does nothing, a cheap call back to the first book with the remains of the space station and AIs loose in cyber space, and the kid who is a poor hacker next to case.
Count Zero sucked. I skimmed everything that wasn't Turner. For some reason I let my hopes get up that maybe the second book would be better. That maybe it wouldn't be a let down at the end. And yet, it was. A huge let down. I just want a good cyber punk book. The descriptions for his books make them sound good, and then they are crap. I'm not touching mona Lisa overdrive if I can help it. I'm sorry but the sprawl trilogy is severely overrated and I don't know why people always bring it up. It is not good sci fi.

>>15780087
Heckin awesome! Upboat!

>>15788566
>that spoiler
yeah, i'm thinkin based

>>>/v/515840175
/v/ discussing xianxia i haven't crossboard linked in a while I hope this works

>>15792445
Eric Vall, Logan Jacobs

>>15780289
I just started reading this so far, seems ok

>>15780205
Stop trying to make this a thing faggot

>>15780289
>>15780336
Remind me to never read this abortion

I like John C. Wright

>>15793846
He’s great until he went off the Catholicism deep end in what I still believe is just an attempt to imitate Wolfe

>>15793846
what do you think of the golden age?

>>15794205
Most people would say it's his best work
It's just so much fun every character being such a large ham, all genuinely
But I really like the Hermetic Millenia -part of Eschaton Sequence

>>15794205
I loved golden age
>>15794228
I never finished the first book. It seemed really great but the fact that Spain and India are what become super powers in the future just kept bugging me, it was too much of a leap in logic

>>15794051
Didn't he literally have a stroke or something before converting?

>>15788521
Joel Shepherd's Spiral Wars series would probably be worth looking at, basic premise is after the end of a big conflict a flagship goes rogue because their captain got murdered by a human conspiracy, it's mostly a space opera series but a lot of the series also involves them interacting with alien races and maneuvering through their political systems to get help. The aliens are fairly interesting too.

Is she going to fuck the horse?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08C62V56P/

>>15794317
You know India is becoming a super power right now, right? You know India and China might go to war?

>>15792669
imagine being filtered this hard by a fairly basic science fiction novel

Anyone knows when the next demons of astlan books are coming out? I really wanna read about space weed.

>>15794748
https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/19399923-where-in-the-abyss-is-book-iv
>Fear not, it is coming, and it will be done faster than Book 1 was written. (That started in the mid-80's and was finally released in 2014)
so anywhere between now and never

>>15794694
>geopolitical brainlet
What are they gonna fight for 1 month and 2 whole days this time?

>>15793491
>shills a shill thread

>>15781020
Cervantes

>went from hypomania to two nights of writers block in a row

kill me dear god fucking kill me

If any of you are huge black bulls who like to creampie white women so I can snowball the cum, contact fourlitreview at yandex dot com

When is the next volume coming out?

>>15792445
>>15793540
For me, it's Bunnygirls: A Bunnygirl Harem Adventure

My ex-library copy of Pynchon's Bleeding Edge has an SF sticker on it. Is this accurate?

>>15788521
Vorkosigan

>new dresden files next week
i know a lot of you guys shit on jim butcher, but im excited

What do you guys think about Redemption's blade and Traitor's blade? Are they any good?

>>15784727
Never lend a book

>>15781376
>It took me a while to get used to wizard knights first person perspective, so much so that I haven't finished it yet.
its amazing how different people can be. it is incomprenhensible for me that you actually think that, i have an easier time understanding a tranny or those fetishists who dive in septic tanks

Books like men in black?

>>15794911
>https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/19399923-where-in-the-abyss-is-book-iv
E William Brown should take a page from this man's book. He wrote what's going on and people have a time frame on waiting. A year or two. Brown just cut communications to write his d&d situations.

>>15796010
Outer lit is going to blow up. People that haven't visited in years will come to discuss it (at least that's what happened when a new Dresden was released over my years of stay on lit). We might actually get rid of the pols and christcucks for a week with the amount of Dresden Files threads, I hope.

Is Frankenstein sci-fi? (book not the film)

Can I read the Mistborn trilogy without needing to read anything else in the Mistborn series? I'm fucking tired of reading unfinished fantasy series.

>Sanderson's new kickstarter for his leatherbound Way of Kings already raised 2 million bucks and is on its way to 3 million
>It's still the first day
Jesus christ. The art looks great though so even I'm kind of tempted.

>>15798085
yes

>>15798132
it's self contained enough that it won't leave me with an insatiable appetite for the next book? I'm still pissed at Martin and Lynch and Rothfuss.

>>15798092
He keeps good illustrators at the very least.

>>15798151
Yes.

>>15798166
He must have so much clout with his publisher that he can even have a good number of illustrations of decent quality in his novels.
Then again, the fact he can raise millions in hours is proof enough of how reliable a cash cow he is.

>>15798187
WoR and then Oathbringer were the largest physical single volumes Tor had ever produced, even.

>>15798193
biggest turds I've ever seen

>>15779335
Same

>>15798382
Chunky fat ones.

Is Sanderson like GRRM in that people here hate him because he's popular or is he actually a shitty writer?

>>15794317
> Spain and India are what become super powers in the future
I mean.. There was a reason for that, basically anyone bigger than them was all but wiped out in mutual destruction from regular war, large scale atomics or plague
They were just among the few lucky cultures to make it through, without having accidental or deliberate destruction inflicted on them

Besides, the book is so far future, I didn't feel it needed to be realistically rooted in our world, so much time and change has happened.

If it's any consolation, the books doesn't get hung up on that setting, The setting changes, a lot.
The superpower Spain thing, was also just a huge fucking excuse to have the villain reinstate monarchy and turn to Catholicism (just like the author!)
Wright clearly had some specific ideas he wanted to execute, which needed this settup
They do pay off

>>15798085
Yes -- in fact you should. I really liked the first three Mistborns, but the follow-on series was unrelated plot-wise and much lower in quality.

>>15794694
China will push India’s shit in harder than my dick. What is India going to do? Throw feces at them?

>>15798895
They just need to wait until the chines infrastructure and governmental malpractices kill them. 2 pandemic viruses have been release recently and the failure of the 3 gorges dam has killed thousands.

>>15778682
You just know.

>>15789667
Does it have (empowered) women in it?
Does it have sex?
Is main character women?
Does it have lgbtq+× and interracial relationhips?
If answer to any of these questions is yes then don't bother publishing it or even releasing

>>15798994
Mate having sex is not a bad thing. As long as it's no long and descriptive one might even consider it necessary in order to create a realistic world.

>>15794665
>reading smut
your that dog girl anon right?

>>15799016
I tend to agree. As long as its not intended to be as erotica and does not happen too often i don't really mind. However sex is used as a checkbox or story device used nowadays rather than being a part of the story in an organic fashion. Id rather have fade to black or implications than amateurish attempts at graphic sex scenes. Funnily enough i think authors that specialize in erotica do it much better.

>Tad Williams
>Stephen R. Donaldson
>Guy Gavriel Kay
>Piers Anthony
>Michael Moorcock
>Roger Zelazny

what sci-fi books would you reccommend to someone who's mostly into fantasy?

>>15799107
Sometimes when I read old sci-fi books, I wonder if the vocabulary of modern sci-fi writers has actually decreased in volume, or whether it's a conscious decision so as to attract a wider audience.
Or maybe I'm just not reading the right sci-fi/fantasy authors, and that there are modern novels out there with a crazy amount of words that I need to look up in a dictionary.

>>15799016
It is a crutch at best, at worst it indicates shitty story not worth anyones time. Assuming typical fantasy novel and mediel setting, there may be brothel in town and some characters may visit them from time to time. ANY MORE DESCRIPTION AND ANY MORE INFORMATION than this just means the story is shit and uses sex as plot element or plot device. Sex in story will make capable characters and plot less impactful, it will likely ruin them completely and become the most defining aspect of the story, in simple terms it will make it shit.

>>15799118
Hyperion
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Shadow of the Torturer

>>15799118
Dark matter

>>15799133
Why exactly would having to look up words be something desirable? Using an obscure word where a normal one works fine is for pseuds, it only breaks the flow of the book.

>>15798994
Jesus Christ you paranoid fuck.

>>15798624
I've been trying to figure that out for as long as I've been here. I've been reading Way of Kings and so far he's got his faults and is overrated by far, but if you view his work in a vacuum, he's pretty okay.

>>15798624
It's because he's popular and mediocre. No one in his right mind hates Asimov, who's a lot more popular.

>>15799328
Asimov is very dry though he only knows how to write about ideas and not actual humans.

>>15799362
He'a still great. Brandon isn't

>>15799328
I hate (((Asimov))), the dirty pedo fuck couldn't even write a damn.

>>15778737
Why? I read a shitton of Asimov (and Bradbury, Clarke, and Dick) in middle school and it started bouncing ideas around in the brain which has been good for me. Obviously his prose isn't great and his work doesn't stand out now, but he was obviously way ahead of his time.

>>15782441
shut the fuck up. Psychohistory is literally the closest to Historical Materialism we've ever gotten in mainstream sci-fi.

>>15779119
idk almost not authors are good at writing sex, and those that are freak me out more.

>>15779213
>>15779335
>>15779598
>>15779620
I should probably read any Dune sequel

>>15779862
Read Gene Wolfe; start with Shadow of the Torturer. Best book I've read in years.

>>15780187
LMAO

>>15780213
They're not wrong, tho

>>15780220
This.

>>15781075
Sad to hear that. I definitely think there's a light reading of BOTNS to be had but I also understand if you don't want to miss 70% of what is going on just to appreciate the adventure story.

>>15781441
>>15781898
>>15782022
This. Or just pirate from b-ok.org

>>15782984
2/10, I felt the need to call this bait 2/10

>>15783814
lol

>>15784187
I bought this on a whim years ago and it's just sitting on my shelf. Should I actually read it? What's it like?

>>15785169
Oh I know this feel so well

>>15787665
do people actually jack-off to this shit? It's not even close to approximating an attractive woman, let alone an ideal

>>15789268
this

>>15789242
>>15799016
>>15799091
I mean I don't like writers describing characters shitting unless absolutely necessary. Doesn't mean I am anti-shit, just that it would be unnecessary for almost any story.

>>15789516
when I do I hate it so I then enjoy it even less

>>15789549
this

>>15789657
>once in a book I read as a teenager about a god descendant being raped by her god uncle in a book about children who got stolen from a magical garden that was obviously a horny librarians fantasy
Lmao what's this book

>>15791396
>>15791409
yeah idk why people think literature is supposed to be boring and suck.

>>15792952
based

>>15794973
kek

>>15796010
desu Butcher is an extremely capable pulp writer. It's like Lovecraft or Asimov, though it'll be awhile before we know how he holds up.

>>15796062
This has been a hard lesson

>>15798092
>>15798187
>>15798193
It's wild how popular these are. They are literally just fine, but so much fantasy is horrible that they become the GOAT. No disrespect tho; Sanderson must hold the record for the most number of "fine" or better words for a writer his age.

>>15798624
he's fine he's just a competent pulp writer. He has some annoying fans though

>>15798930
If you think the CCP is incompetent wait until you hear about the USA :^)

>>15798994
imagine going on an incel forum just to tell us you are an incel. Like we already fucking know get more of an identity.

>>15799118
I'm just telling everyone to read Gene Wolfe but BOTNS is a SF book that feels like Fantasy, so much people don't realize its even SF at first

>>15799381
Fuck off

>>15799400
>If you think the CCP is incompetent wait until you hear about the USA :^)
who cares about the usa? we are talking about India you autistic mass replier.

>>15799150
Bah, it's not like being descriptive of sexe-stuff automatically makes a fantasy book bad.
It's just hard to pull off without bungling the entire feel of the book.
Actually I don't think I've ever read a book where it was done with success.
Huh
Maybe it does make a book automatically bad.

>>15799362
Humans are booring and shit. Ideas are great.

>>15799362
It is what it is.
Not every book is a character study, or should be.
I just don't think it's valid criticism, his books never pretend to be something they are not.
Like saying a pistachio ice cream, is bad because it doesn't taste chocolate--

>>15799421
Based.

>>15799400
>imagine going on an incel forum just to tell us you are an incel. Like we already fucking know get more of an identity
Ok but why does a well adjusted non incel male, needs to validate women every second of his life? Why involve sex (and women) in adventure/fantasy stories? Just as you said, people shit and piss, doesn't mean it has to be graphically described(or described or mentioned at all) every time a character does it, same with sex, and same with women. When women get involved in a story, adventure stops and it becomes about how do we feel about this or that. Let women exist just don't involve them in stories. If I am an incel for wanting a good story then so be it.

>>15799495
You seriously don't believe sex can be used as a greater plot device than 'taking a shit'?

>>15799118
>what sci-fi books would you reccommend to someone who's mostly into fantasy?
"The Iron Dragon's Daughter" by Michael Swanwick, a pretty cool and unique mix between scifi and fantasy, to ease into it. Or the "Deathstalker" series by Simon Green.

>>15799560
Oh, and "Swan Song" by Robert McCammon, if you are into dystopian/post-nuclear scifi/fantasy.

>Reading Alastair Reynolds for the first time
>It's really good

A nice surprise

>>15798151
>it's self contained enough that it won't leave me with an insatiable appetite for the next book?
Yes, it's not even half as decent as what those guys wrote so it's easy to not want any more of that schlock.

>>15799495
>claims to want a good story
>so smoothbrained he actually reduces massive an important inter-relationship dynamics into basic biological mechanics
You're so fucking far down the idiot incel toilet shithole there's no hope for you. You've huffed so much loser shit stink you can't even think logically any more in your desperate bid to protect you turbo beta ego.

>>15799527
It can be used as plot device by a lazy or incompetent author who cannot come up with an actually good plot device and has to use a crutch instead. This is the best case scenario.
In almost every other case it has as much value as taking shit. This may be hard to understand and accept for those who idealise females but it is the truth.

>>15799667
>reduces massive an important inter-relationship dynamics
There is no need for that!!! I am talking here about adventure and fantasy, there is no need for any kind of "inter-relationships" that result in any kind of romance and (eventually) sex.

>>15799713
Lmao at this incel.
>romantic subplot
>potential sex
>akchually just use another plot device bro

>>15799780
You will never understand, you have no self awareness.

Thank to the recommendation here i started reading the lyonesse and whoever the faggot who recommended it ... well thank you it's really good. However, the sheer amount of different flowers, tress and random plants mentioned is a bit overwhelming, and I have had to google a lot of them on the account I'm not a botonist.

>>15799958
Says the man who has trouble understanding the fact that sex and love are interlinked and that love/romance is integral to the human psyche.

>>15799780
>>15799994
Guys neither of you are going to be proud of this conversation when you calm down.

>>15799994
>love/romance is integral to the human psyche.
It may be integral to women psyche (I suspect but don't know for sure) but I doubt very much that for majority of human existence it was integral to male psyche.

>>15778682
Whats that architectural style called?

>>15800024
Is this satire?

>>15800024
breeding is literally encoded us in order to make sure our species survives. And as mammals that have a long defenseless period after our birth the male female bond is essentially required to make sure the offspring survives.

>>15800082
Shitty greek/roman ruins knockoff.

>>15800111
I was talking about romantic love.
Also the baby and mother bond can hardly be considered love. During history and even today in some societies poor women have 5 to 10 kids (while the other five didn't even live past 12 months) who just live on the street at age of five, it was like that and worse in old societies, the form of mothers love for a single child that we know today very likely didn't exist back then.

>>15800119
If theyre shitty, then why do they have so much soul?

The absolute state of projecting inceldom lmao
>the form of mothers love for a single child that we know today
>the baby and mother bond can hardly be considered love
>the form of mothers love for a single child that we know today

>>15800201
Are you talking about neoclassical architecture or about the OPs pic specifically? The pic has no soul.

>>15800188
>>During history and even today in some societies poor women have 5 to 10 kids (while the other five didn't even live past 12 months) who just live on the street at age of five.
Society right after the industrial revolution is not a representative of history. It was a brief period that lasted only until people adapted to the new structures and rules of the revolutionized society.
> it was like that and worse in old societies
WTF, were are you taking this information from? Pre-medieval and even early medieval society is basically completely agrarian by necessity. children were not only taken care off but needed in order to run the farms of the fast majority of the population.
>the form of mothers love for a single child that we know today very likely didn't exist back then
Stop huffing your own farts and educate yourself on history. Instead of making Crazy theories about how "things worked back then' read some fucking books mate.
The case of suicide from women and men after the death of one or more of their sons is no uncommon in most of history. And while one could extrapolate that there as more detachment form your children as disease might taken then form you, what you are suggesting is beyond ridiculous. It goes to the realm of the unnatural, for fucks sake most mammals show tremendous care to their offspring.

>>15800270
What does this have to do with 'inceldom'?

>>15800270
This is beyond inceldom. Someone has severe and deep rooted parental issues that need to be taken care off.

>>15800289
if you follow the conversation chains a few links up, I think you'll get it

>>15800284
>The case of suicide from women and men after the death of one or more of their sons is no uncommon in most of history.
Was it same with female children?

>sake most mammals show tremendous care to their offspring
That is because they have to, it is purely survival mechanism, cats will abandon kittens so that other kittens may survive. Human families had 10 kids. The love for the baby would end the moment when he or she could take care of him/her self and start working in the farm, usually around age 7. Again purely survival mechanism.

>>15800325
There too many replies, can you just tell me?

I remember hearing about this sci-fi/fantasy novel set in a future where there this fantasy world that people get teleported to, and the people of Earth know about this and watch it on TV, or something along those lines. It sounded kind of interesting but I can't remember the name of it to save my life. Hopefully someone on here knows what it's called?

>>15800390
Caesar had a falling out with his close ally Crassus after his daughter who was married to Crassus died.
If the hyper-machismo top ranking militaristic Romans cared about their daughters like this you can bet your ass regular people cared about their daughters too.
Like the other anon said, stop sniffing your own farts and read a book for once in your life.

>>15800390
>Was it same with female children?
Yes. Of course the importance variability pendent on sex largely changes based on culture, but as a general rule, nobody like seeing their children die
>The love for the baby would end the moment when he or she could take care of him/her self and start working in the farm, usually around age 7. Again purely survival mechanism.
How little do you know about farm work that you think you can just trow a 7 year old into the field and expect him to work whit no help?
And why are you assuming emotions were invented in the 20 century?
Humans are more than creatures simply relying on instincts, everyone knows this.
For fucks sake, human are empathetic as fuck, there are hundreds of poems about the despair knights feel while loosing their horses, because they bonded with them. There are stories of them becoming unable to fight or even fight because of the feeling of loss.
And that felling also, of course, applies to humans, even more so. Especially if you want to base actions an emotions on the "survival instinct of the species".

>>15799107
Literally me

>>15800431
Do you mean Julia who was married to Pompey? A political marriage intended to forge an alliance between Ceaser and Pompey?

>read a book

>>15800494
>Humans are more than creatures simply relying on instincts, everyone knows this.
>For fucks sake, human are empathetic as fuck, there are hundreds of poems about the despair knights feel while loosing their horses, because they bonded with them
Hundreds of poems about lost horses? Given how common was death during childbirth or the first year or two of childs life how many poems are there about despair of men and women losing their young children?

>>15800617
>Given how common was death during childbirth or the first year or two of childs life how many poems are there about despair of men and women losing their young children?

The are several but much less than you want as some sort of proof BECAUSE THE FAST MAJORITY OF PEOPLE WERE NOT IN POSSESSION OF THE MEANS AND ABILITY TO HAVE THEIR WORKS PUBLISHED!
Just because jimmy the peasant lost his children in a land slide and was stricken with grieve does not mean he is suddenly able to write poetry and has resources to spare to buy paper and ink in order to do so.
That doesn't make his pain any less real and visceral.

>>15800670
Are you a woman or a fag? Why are you getting emotional?

The fact is that there are hundreds of poems about despair of losing a horse but much less about losing a child. Did knights not have children? I am sure they did and many have died at young age.

>>15794729
Imagine thinking writing bs about voodoo gods that are literally just ai is deep. Books 1 and 2 blow. Shame too because both start out good. I really wish theyd been done right cause theyd top most things in the genre if they did

Enders Game was good, is it worth reading the sequels?

What a stupid fucking "conversation"

When are we getting publisher pack 2?
Does podium have a coming soon newsletter or something?

>>15789562
yes

>>15800723
Am I being baited? I must be, nobody ca be this stupid, miss the point this hard, be this retarded, have this little knowledge of history and assume his private theory on the workings of the world is right.

I will just leave you with the needed info that the middle level aristocracy rarely had the same problem of the early death as the peasantry had. And even those numbers are not as big as modern media seems to make them.
AS well as the fact I only know of some such poem about the loss of children because the subject doesn't interest me. There might be more or less. I don't know, neither do you. And whatever you are trying to say or imply is based on assumption made on assumptions.

>>15800723
Are you even self-aware?
'Modern people invented love for their (female) children just recently' is an extremely hot take
Bothering to try dismantle that is just walking into a pitfall

>>15800829
Never said that. Modern people can and have opportunity to express their love due to fewer pressures in modern society. Ancient people weren't genetically different from us and were capable of the same many things. But due to the nature of their time period they could not afford to do that. Life was much harder back and different, children weren't shown as much feelings (of love) and emotions as children are today.

>>15798994
This

>>15800983
>But due to the nature of their time period they could not afford to do that
You show no proof of that.
>Life was much harder back and different,
https://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_workweek.html
how the fuck do you think people lived?
> children weren't shown as much feelings (of love) and emotions as children are today.
You are taking this straight out of your ass again and you are essentially just rephrasing that love for children was a modern societal invention.

>>15798624

He is popular and he is not an art-house writer.

4chan people are mostly find himself too art-housy and call every normal food the fastfood one.

>>15799739
"The problems of the human heart in conflict with itself... alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat." - William Faulkner, Nobel acceptance speech.

Literally every single good story, whether action or political, whether fantasy or literary is actually about human beings and their relationships to others or themselves. I know this because when it is not present we do not care about the characters at all. We are fundamentally social creatures. From He-Man to the Odyssey, it's the social and existential relationships that engage us.

Please gives me examples of good fantasy adventure stories without inter-personal relationships and everyone here will gladly mock you together for not realizing that it is actually about the friends they made along the way, you absolute imbecile.

>>15800024
jesus this is depressing

>>15800390
Lmao imagine believing this shit. In pre-industrial brain the average age people got married was like 27. We have a wealth of evidence of toys for children well into puberty, of parents humoring their teenage students who fucked off instead of doing their studies, of kids who rebelled but then returned to excited fathers and mothers. Things were remarkably similar to now; but the world was harsher. The idea that the age of 7 was a kind of adulthood is just not true. People who lost 6 children in the Plague, even if they were adult children, seem to have been as fucked up as if that happened now.

>>15800431
Yeah while you meant Pompey this shit is absolutely true. We have records of fathers who really loved their daughters and would provide for them to escape a shitty marriage or let them live at home even into adulthood. Even in the Ancient Near East it seems like dads' could love their daughters and want them to be happy.

>>15800494
Correct

>>15800723
3.5/10 bait. Love the "losing an argument so badly that I have to call them emotional" tactic when everyone can just tell I'm a fucking idiot.

>>15801033
What proof do you require? Is it not self evident that medieval, middle ages and dark ages were difficult times to live.

>>15801080
>Yeah while you meant Pompey this shit is absolutely true
How? Pompey was 30 years older than Julia, and it was purely a political marriage, why did Ceasar allow such marriage instead of letting his daughter find someone who she really loved?

>>15801047
>without inter-personal relationships and everyone here will gladly mock you together for not realizing that it is actually about the friends they made along the way, you absolute imbecile
Nice ad hominem. This whole argument started about sex in stories, what I mean by omitting interpersonal relatoonships is omitting sex and romance and any relationship between individuals that will lead to it. Why there are so few stories without such relationships? I honestly don't know, it seems every single author without exception is seeking validation and sex from opposite gender (and sometimes same gender), it is pathetic.

>>15801080
>expecting me to read all this shit
nigga i don't read get off my IMAGEboard

>>15781105
my copy looks like pic related, very good and the graphic design is ahead of its time I would say

>>15801192
>Is it not self evident that medieval, middle ages and dark ages were difficult times to live.

>yo times were though so parents just yeeted their children out into the wild once they turned 5 or 7.

>>15801192
>What proof do you require?
Any sort of writing that directly both invalidate the records of parents caring for their children, ye even the female ones, as well as showing that people didn't love children as you claim.
For fucks sake most state already had laws about the protection of orphan in the middle ages. Of course they cared about children.

>>15799400
>>15799417
>>15799495
>>15799527
>>15799667
>>15799713
>>15799739
>>15799780
>>15799780
>>15799994
>>15800024
>>15800111
>>15800188
>>15800270
>>15800284
>>15800289
>>15800298
>>15800325
>>15800390
>>15800431
>>15800494
>>15800617
>>15800670
>>15800821
>>15800829
>>15800983
>>15801033
>>15801080
>>15801192

Shut the fuck up, you fucking niggers

>>15791682
Here you go bro, the woman of the cover is a mom and she gets fucked.

>>15801205
spooky

>>15801244
>https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maiden_Tribute_of_Modern_Babylon
>https://attackingthedevil.co.uk/pmg/tribute/index.php
This details fairly recent time period, 1885 England I think, it is about rampant child prostitution and how such children were aquired (often just sold by parents) At the moment I have no sources on middle ages but personally I think situation was much worse for chidlren in every aspect of life.

>>15801257
finally some common sense in this thread

>>15801315
You do realize child prostitution is still a thing right? and that selling children still happens somewhat frequently in certain parts of the world. And child trafficking happens in most of it.
Not only that you are giving yet another example of the post industrial society right after the industrial revolution Happened.
That is akin to looking at the government right after the french revolution but before napoleon as an example of how "the ancients" lived.

Hoyle fucking shit you really don't know anything abut history do you?

>>15801404
Ok. Let me admit, I was wrong, life in middle ages and dark ages was good, families lived happy lives, loved each other and loved their children even more than they do now.

>>15789430
This adaptation changes a lot of stuff in the story and much more is omitted, the melniboneans for example look like something pulled straight out of a Clive Baker story.

>>15800417
Acts of caine

>>15801281
By the cat? :3

The sex crazed/ love seeking anons killed the theead.
We on page 8 make a new one.

>>15802080
I will later when I've finished what I'm doing, or someone else can. Either way.

>>15801447
HOLY GOALPOST
Are you incapable of arguing with integrity?
Nobody claimed life was "better, except conceivably the -people had more hours off work
Your initial claim was that thing somehow was so bad that the relationship between parent and child, could not be called love, which is a huge fucking claim

Oh god /sffg/, I fucked up. I fucked up bad.

Just when I thought I finally figured my characters for this arc out I realized I unintentionally made one of them a 9-11 inspired Chick Tract against the middle east. If I don't find a way to turn this guy into a Bush allegory fast it's going to be a disaster

NEW THREAD
>>15802567
>>15802567
>>15802567
>>15802567
>>15802567
NEW THREAD

>>15802080
>>15802128
Thread will archive in less than 10 minutes.

>>15802589
35 minutes later and counting....