/lit/ - Literature

fantasy is gay

>>15988718
lick my peepee
you're not wrong though. it's kind of lame and gay.

science fiction is leftist

>>15988747
Nowadays yes. Especially.

I'd write Nazi SF but it wouldn't get published so I just read books attempting to psyop me into a worldview I rejected years ago.

Lord of the Mysteries now has a talking dog
10/10
(fuck all else has actually happened yet though)

Would be interested in reading more xianxia that goes away from your standard meridians and cores power systems but I've never encountered any. Even Monarch of Evernight which did vampires and stuff still used the usual system of cores.

>>15988718
based
>>15988747
it's both, but the New Wave was predominantly leftist and that's the most famous era of scifi so that gives the impression that it is only leftist.

>>15988756
>>15988747
Not to say that it's a good thing. But I'd much rather discuss what we're all reading and why it's good (or trash). What have you been reading, anon?

>>15988792
This Asimov's writing is clearly not left leaning and several of his stories put a lot of importance in a "capitalistic" society.

>>15988815
Just Protector by niven. I finished reading the Neutron Star, which i liked a lot, and decided to pick up protector before going to the ring world series.

I bought a book because in the charity shop it was advertised as a "late-cyberpunk masterpiece" and I'm now larping as a cyberpunk because it makes me feel less emasculated by the law forcing me to wear a mask. Is it good?

>>15988815

Last two science fiction books I read were Embassytown by China Mieville and The Jewels of Aptor by Samuel Delany. I guess those are lefty writers lol, but I read pretty widely in SF/F.

Both novels were very good. TJoA was Delany's first novel (written when he was 19!) and the naivete shows a little, but it's still a good read, and the imagery is extremely tight and consistent.

Embassytown wasn't my favorite Mieville novel, but the discussion around language and signification was really interesting, and the story and worldbuilding were solid.

What about you, anon?

>>15988830

FWIW, Asimov was generally progressive and opposed to nation-states. He was investigated by the FBI because the Communist Party of the USA thought he was cool.

>>15988859
alright can we ban this faggot, he's obviously intent on shitting the general up in every thread with his political baiting

>>15988882

that was a good faith post about two well-known science fiction novels. We don't have to talk about them politically, anon. They're just actually the last two SF books I read and the other anon asked.

>>15988874
Lets not start with this because nation states are also despised by right wing ideologies like the ancaps and we could argue endlessly about it. But if you want to say that the creation and exploitation of a sentient slave race makes him endearing to commies I will Agree with you.

>>15988904
Not him and i don't think you should be banned but you were clearly baiting.

>>15988882
>Wtf he's talking about books in /lit/ someone ban him!!

>>15988777
Warlock in the Magus World has a different level system.

>>15988913

>anon gives his opinion on two science fiction novels in the science fiction general
>his opinions don't relate to politics
>"stop politics baiting!!"

come on people

>>15988934
He ruined the last thread with his baiting, and he's trying to do it again

>>15988938
if it's the "scientist with an ai" one that didn't sound appealing to me because of the edgelord protagonist

>>15988951
Ordinarily that wouldn't be the case, but taking the last thread into context, what was being talked about, what lead to said discussion, and how new this one is i can't see it otherwise

>>15988852
>Just Protector by niven
>Belters
Huh, doesn't James S. A. Corey use that term with The Expanse? Or was that just a thing they used in the TV show? I wonder if Corey got it from this... In any case, it sounds pretty interesting. How's the Ring World Series? Pardon my ignorance; I'm fairly new to sff

Just saw Rothfuss' editor dishing out on him, howling rn. Even made the trip over to Reddit expecting to see all the cucked rothfuss apologists, wasn't disappointed.

>>15988859
>China Mieville
I've never read any of his stuff, but he looks like an edgy faggot lol
Kinda like how Patrick Rothfuss looks like he never cleans that disgusting unkempt beard. Still, I suppose I can't completely knock them on their appearance, as they get to make such a decision due to their (assumed) success as authors.

>>15989005
Got link(s)?

>>15989016

Perdido Street Station is really a genre-changing fantasy novel, I'd recommend it if you get a chance. The other two Bas-Lag books are good too.

>>15989041
>genre-changing
Get the fuck out of here, that nigga Mieville just wrote out all the shit he thought of about the world he created for his campaign and then shat a really lame story into it.

>>15988999
Yeah it's used in the books as well. But to be fair it's not a competently original naming sense. People on the asteroid belt are belters, that is like calling people in the ocean the oceanics, not really something someone can steal.
I haven't got the the proper "series" yet, I decide to read a few of the lone standing "prequel" books (released before the main series) that give a bit of context to the universe before going into the main thing. but the short stories compilation that is the neutron star had some misses but also some absolute incredible gems.
It really made me want to keep exploring the universe and protector is been very good so far but I have just started it.

>>15989048

all i'm saying is that no one was writing fantasy novels like that before him, and then a bunch of people did after him

if you didn't like it that's cool though

>>15989074
>nobody was writing out their dnd campaign before china mieville did it
Even if that was true it's a fucking terrible thing to have happen to fantasy, on the same tier as Tolkien clones.

>>15989041
>Perdido Street Station is really a genre-changing fantasy novel
Then why has nobody ever once sited Mieville as being a huge influence on the genre?

>>15988713
Due to lack of nominations and the current state of the thread, discussion in the thread has been cancelled.
>implying there would have been any
Instead it's now:
August 2020 Book Selection
Each book was selected from the to-read lists of participants from July. One from each member. Voting is anonymous. Feel free to change your vote at any time for any reason. The top two vote getters will be the two books for the month. The one with the higher number of votes will be the first book of the month. Discuss the poll using the comments and details of the poll itself. Ties will be broken by members changing their votes as they please. If this results in a complete stalemate, then I'll just choose the books.
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
Ancillary Justice
Ship of Fools
Armor
The Rage of Dragons
The Lathe of Heaven
The Drowned World

Voting ends at the end of the month and is only open to group members.

>>15989099
Because they tried to write anything based on it perdido got lost in their memory.

>>15989114
Make it either Dirk Gently or Armor because I already have those and need a push to actually at least start one of them.

>>15989099

>I know everything anyone's ever said

i'm not sure what your metric for influence is, but it won enough awards to be considered an influential novel, even if you don't like it

>>15989099
My uni lecturer with a shaved head, a nontraditional first name and an interest in writing urban fantasy would disagree

>>15989127
The Drowned World 7
Armor 5
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency 5
Ancillary Justice 2
The Rage of Dragons 1
The Lathe of Heaven 1
Ship of Fools 1
22 total votes

I am here to shill Books of Babel, the Chathrand Voyage and Parker's new pseudo-Roman that's not really fantasy but whatever book.

>>15989176
none of these are sci-fi therefore i'm not interested thanks for the recs tho.

imagine naming your son China

>>15989176
I enjoyed the Senlin books. Sell me on the Chatrand as if I didn't like Sanderson, Rothfuss or YA crap.

>>15989060
>It really made me want to keep exploring the universe
Man I really love when a book or series can do that to you. I had that happen with BotNS and I'm hype to check out the rest of the Solar Cycle.

>>15988713
What are some books that capture the feel of 70s/80s/90s cover art? Preferably hidden gems that I can order on the cheaper side. I'm in Japan so getting English books costs a bit more.

>>15989358
Lyonesse

>tfw reading a book about the history of Sword & Sorcery and it brings up a horror story Karl Edward Wagner wrote about a S&S writer writing S&S when it was on the decline and epic/high fantasy started becoming the new popular dog on the block
God that had to have been depressing to write. Wagner basically writing about himself and how his favorite brand of fantasy was no longer wanted by publishers or readers at that time. Think I'll read that story tonight.

Ahem.
Fuck Sanderson.
That's it.

Reading the 2nd book of the First Law trilogy and the torturer Sand Dan Glokta seems to have some kind of fucking sympathy for the brown masses in the Dagoska lower city being held down by the Whites in the upper city.

This man is an aristocrat who tortures people and himself was tortured for 2 years by the Gurkish.

Why the fuck would he suddenly feel this situation was wrong? Jesus Abercrombie I'm close to giving up.

>>15989919
In The Butt!

>>15988747
I read 'Walking To Aldeberan' on a recommendation from here recently. The poz made it intolerable at times. You could tell from the writing that the author was some university dweeb, a stereotypical detesticulated brit.

Anyone have any good sci-fi recommendations that don't devolve into pozzed idiocy?

Thanks, mgmt.

I have to confess, I have read quite some fantasy books but I haven't touched Tolkien's.
I know he's the godfather but I'm afraid that I would be let down. Is it worth the hype?

>>15989951
LOTR is rather beautiful and a mostly fun read. Definitely worthwhile, even if only to understand its literary and cultural significance.

>>15989114
1 vote for Armor.

>>15989951
His prose is somewhat dry but you will not be let down by the world building or plot.

You owe it to yourself to read the Lord of the Rings.

>>15989967
>>15990008
Thanks I'll give it a try.

>>15988747
Science is inherently right wing

I hate reading fantasy because every time it ends I feel I die inside a little bit.
Escapism is one hell of a drug.

>>15989989
That isn't how it works.

>>15990059

what could this even possibly mean

Wheel of Time or Malazan?

Malazan is 10 books WOT is 14...

>>15990115
Neither.

>>15990115
Malazan

>>15990115

Malazan. Plus Deadhouse Gates is the best of the series imo, so you'll know pretty early on if it's something you're into or not.

>>15990115
Wheel of time because Brandon Sanderson wrote the last few books so it's good.

>>15990145
Dunno if I can handle the 4 book slog that is meant to happen

>>15990120
>>15990128
>>15990145
>>15990150
See: >>15990118

>>15989951
His world building is spectacular not just because of the material but because of the way he does it. He never does that stupid thing where a character will randomly explain a concept or term in the middle of the conversation even though it makes no sense to do so. He'll name drop something but not explain it, and you'll usually figure out what it is over the course of the story.

>>15989951
One could say it's a must read but it's also kinda bad. It's dull, the dialogue is awful in that Sienkiewicz way, the pace is slow as fuck and the prose is honestly mediocre. Couldn't finish it and I made it all the way to RotK.

How come no one here discusses the Warlord chronicles? Do we ban discussion of historical fiction?

>>15990059
But left wingers are masters of fiction.

>>15990059

>>15990234
>Couldn't finish it and I made it all the way to RotK.

Heh, Frodo couldn't finish the task either

>>15990242
I've read this trilogy probably half a dozen times and I've brought it up before.

>>15989762
I blame Gor for this shit.

The Shadow of the Torturer. What is it about?

>>15990282
Nah this book breaks down how it was a number of things; number one being the genre just grew stale and number two being there was more money to be made in fantasy SERIES so that's the direction the publishers went.

>“But we somehow write what the public wants from us instead. Or do you get off by being followed about by teenage fans in farcical medieval drag with plastic pointy ears begging to know whether Wyndlunne the Fey is going to be rescued from Grimdoom’s Black Tower in Book Four of The Trilogy of Trilogies’?”

Epic Fantasy will never recover from this.

>>15989951
Watch the movies instead.

>>15989281
It's actually good.

>>15988713
Where do I shill my own shit? I made and thing but no one is reading it.

>>15990434
Unironically reddit. They tolerate shilling as long as you try to be humble.

>>15990369
sauce?

Where should I go for feedback? Please don't say reddit desu ;(

>>15990460
Why?

>>15990464
You deserve leddit just for using >;(

>>15990464
Post it here

>>15990473
I wish to read anything else accompanied with this quote bro. I thought it was a funny statement and they're onto something.

>>15990481
It's a short story called Neither Brute Nor Human by Karl Edward Wagner and it's basically a satire of genre publishing and fandom from the era it was written. You probably shouldn't read it without a little bit of research first: Wagner preferred writing, and was a fan of, the type of fantasy and horror that was going out of style at that time which was being taken over by more mainstream horror and epic fantasy series.

>>15988747
Have you read the Three-Body problem?

The first part of the book is the author (who is chinese) shitting on marxist retards for being retards

Well well well.... Another day, another thread.

Bow down to your GOD /sffg/.

Give thanks you were able to exist in the same timeline as the single greatest writer of fiction to ever grace this earth.

>>15990578
Wait how is he not getting lynched by the CCP yet? Isn't he Chinese?

>>15990592
If memory serves, he has made clear that although he hates marxism, he hates western democracy more.

>>15990604
AKA says standard required ccp statements publicly so he isn't publicly executed.

>>15990578
Shitting on the Great Leap Forward and the purges isn't taboo in China anymore. It's Dengism and anything since that you can't say anything bad about.

>>15990590
His work is generic and shallow.

Does anyone know why The Killing Star has been out of print since its first edition? I find it incredible a novel with such a strong concept doesn't even have an official Kindle/pdf version, but plenty of obscure shit from the same era does. All I've been able to find is an old audiobook version that sounds like it was recorded in fucking cassete tapes.

>>15990647
What the FUCK did you just say to me little boy?

How's the Asimov robot detective novel titled Caves of Steel?

>>15990350
a torturers apprentice's coming of age in a dying world

>>15990350
no idea but the words are pretty

>>15990510
Hey thanks man. I'll look into it and then check it out once I have some more information. Much appreciated.

>>15990590
Who would win in a staring contest between Goodkind and pic related?

Is modern fantasy really that bad or am I too cynical?

>Mechanical in design - Magic systems, world building rules, conlangs, everything else that essential is a guide
>Magic Systems being the main draw, rather than the story itself
>80%+ Tell, 20% if any at all Show
>Higher than basic comprehension level prose is often regarded as 'Purple Prose'
>Massive page counts, in a planned one-story series.

Pretty good I guess.
Didn't like it as much as Rifters or Blindsight, but it was still fun. Lian was a fucking idiot though and I can't imagine anyone ever joining her.
Only redeemable characters really were Viktor and Chimp, even Sunday became pretty annoying about halfway through.
How brainlet is it to think that the previous missing 3000 people were just another rebellion put down as easily, or was it as simple as Chimp said? If Viktor know about them then shouldn't he figure out that the mission wouldn't go for as long as his "epic quest" needs?
I wish we got to know more about what happened to the humans back on Earth or what the fuck those weird things were that once in a while showed up from the wormholes.
Oh and what the fuck was up with those "hir" and "se" pronouns with one of the characters? Watts never struck me as one to go along with all that tranny faggotry.

>>15991138
>I wish we got to know more about what happened to the humans back on Earth
They're dead for millions of years.
Read short stories too.

>>15989022
>https://twitter.com/search?q=Rothfuss
here you go bb. also check out plebbit fantasy via removeddit.

>>15991230
>Read short stories too.
Just finished the story from the link in this one and was going to read Beyond The Rift next. Does it include most of Watts' stories from his website or do I have to go digging there as well at some point?

>>15991077
Some of the self-published books you see people shilling on reddit are like that. Filled with wish fulfillment self inserts, obvious complaints about modern politics, muh diversity, magic "systems" barely a step above litrpg, horrendous pacing where something dangerous has to happen every chapter, etc.

I'm thinking of reading asimovs foundation series. Is it any good or is it dated. I read I robot and i liked it.

>>15991077
It's too established as a genre with set tropes now. Nobody tries to do anything interesting with it.

>>15991907
It's quite dated in technology, but at the same time it's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in far future so decline in technology is plausible.
Just like Dune can't be dated cause of represented world.

https://pastebin.com/MDBFB6SN

Can you guys please critique my fantasy short story? I spent the past year and a half polishing it so it's perfect.

>>15991964
>Grignr
>Ha, Ha Ha, Haaaa...
Polish it more, friend

I am so sick and goddamn tired of MUH STRONG WOMYN character.
>Character is a dragon
>A dragon king
>Most powerful mortal on the planet
>Regularly resists the second most powerful being like an angry teenager, despite this second person being a subordinate
>Picks up some random girl who is weak
>Makes her head of his personal guard
>He is doing something minor
>She yells at him to stop
>He fucking listens to her
I am tired. Not even going to bother ranting about how his personal guard is a bunch of teenagers stronger than experienced and well disciplined veteran soldiers because they want to live in a unified world with humans. And the veterans of the wars are retarded for wanting to stick to their own people.
Fantasy sucks dick

What book series has the best title convention?

>>15990727
Good. In some ways it's very dated, but it's a solid detective novel

>>15992191
Muth'fuggin Deltora Quest

>>15992088
Stop reading YA fantasy.

>>15991964
It's sad how this used to be ridiculed when it is better than most fantasy these days

>>15992399
oh god just shut the fuck up

>>15991964
I was going to post a critique but I knew something was off because it was poorly edited (like an text OCRd from a pdf) and it read like a poor imitation of Jack Vance, so I had to google it.

>>15989940
A Princess of Mars

>>15992412
Don't make me summon my awesomeness

>>15990115
Either/ or. Both are great, Malazan has a quicker tempo of 'cool stuff' happening quicker. >>15990128
House of Chains > Deadhouse
but thats only cause Trull and Onrack are based
(Karsa Orlong is pretty solid as well.

>>15991077
>Higher than basic comprehension level prose is often regarded as 'Purple Prose'
Plodding inefficient syntax litered with gramatical redundancies is a feature of science fiction writing, not a bug

Gene Wolfe is my hero

More like this?

>>15990791
Not a contest.

Conan or Kane first?
Not so much what's the right order, but what would be the better entry for someone that hasn't read S&S.

>Yes. Wolfe misleads us systematically, and clearly Severian is not a reliable narrator, but then neither is Proust’s narrator either. I think that if you really want to understand where Wolfe comes from, it really is Proust. His writing style is Proustian. His concern with time, with how it is that time works, is quintessentially Proustian. And you don’t look to Wolfe any more than you look to other science fiction for characterization. I don’t think that’s the particular strength. What you do look for is a kind of a sense of the world. And in Wolfe, in particular, he provides this real understanding of how it is that the workings of society, and interestingly, conservative understanding of the workings of society. I think of him almost as being Proust in reverse. Proust is describing a world in which the modern world is overtaking aristocracy. And that clearly is one of the great problems of Proust, what is happening on the social level. You have all of these aristocratic understandings: the Merovingian, all of these histories, all of these castles, all of this wonderful art, and they are being replaced by the modern world with its telephones, with its electric lighting, and so on. And how do you think about this? How would you try to preserve what was happening in the past? What Wolfe does, which I think is an extraordinarily interesting thing, which would be impossible for anybody who is not a science fiction writer, is to take that and to reverse this and to imagine a world in which modernity has disappeared. So it is at the other end of the telescope. It is this tiny image which is barely discernible if you look through the telescope the wrong way. It has been surrounded and replaced and, to some extent, supplemented by medieval ways of thinking, medieval ways of organizing the world, and what that looks like. And it’s very, very interesting. There’s this beautiful image. One of my favorite images from The Book of the New Sun is of the famous picture that was taken, not by Armstrong himself, but of Armstrong in his helmet on the moon — with Neil Armstrong, with the flag in the background, and the reflection of the other astronauts. Wolfe has that as a picture which has been preserved for thousands of years, perhaps, in this art gallery, which is maintained in this forgotten citadel. It gives you this wonderful sense of what it would be to have an image like that taken and ripped entirely out of context and seen through an entirely alien set of eyes. And that’s what science fiction does when it does it well, is to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange in the Novalis sense of the word. And that’s why, for me, Wolfe is a head trip.

>>15993126
Conan, then Kane. Then go for Fritz Leiber if you liked Conan.

>>15991077
This is all true, sadly. Fantasy is a stagnating genre, and barring any abnormaly, it will continue being so until mediocre derivate trash stops topping the selling charts in the USA and force writers to make an effort.

>>15993164
>Fantasy is a stagnating genre

What if I told you it was already dead?

>>15990118
Faggot

>>15993179
I would believe you

>>15993136
based

>>15993179
I'd say that's an exaggeration. Right now, it still sells a lot, is talked about a lot, and spills into over popular medias like tv shows, movies, or video games. It's very much alive.

The 2000's writers tried to give another breath to the genre by going against its tropes, surprising the reader's expectations, etc... It's a step, but it led to nowhere. It should have freed the genre, but it didn't. Hower, I believe it'd only takes one or two great writers making a leap to change the sad, current status quo.

Is there as consensus as to what is the best work of science fiction written in the last decade?

>>15993244

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jamesin

>>15993226
I think what he meant is that Fantasy is stagnant artistically, commercially yes fantasy is more popular than ever

>>15988882
you are no better then discord faggots. End yourself

Fuck E William Brown

>>15993327
dilate

>>15993342
nice argument tranny. Now go back to your discord

>>15993344
seething tranoid

>>15993369
n-no you are tranny
Nice try faggot but you discord is calling.

>>15993376
stop projecting tranny, I can smell your rotting hole from here

>>15993389
no that's your rotting hole, you are in the need of dilation

>>15993397
no it is YOU who are need of dilation

>>15993431
I have this single instruction for you: Less seething and more dilating

>>15993442
>>15993431
>>15993397
>>15993389
>>15993376
>>15993369
>>15993344
>>15993342

what the fuck is wrong with you people

>>15993442
>>15993459
shut the fuck up trannies

>>15993459
Sanderson's Zoomers or Goodkind's Coomers.

>>15993509
I'm a Wolfechad and a Lovecraftbro

Why is Charles Stross such a leftie faggot ?
https://twitter.com/cstross

>>15990234
Fuck you, Sienkiewicz's dialogue is what makes the Trilogy so comfy.

>>15993318
Artistically all fiction is stagnant these days.

What is the best edition for a complete Lovecraft work ?

>>15993284
>I enjoy guzzling copious quantities of trannyniggercock
what did (You) mean by this?

>>15988718
i regret making this post, it's kind of mean. sorry everyone

>>15993592
twitter rots the mind

>>15988718
anon just because you have gay fantasies doesn't mean all fantasies are gay

>>15988713
>Stick to the Thread Edition
op started the thread so hopeful

>>15993318
Well I won't argue that.

We still talk about books here right?
Anyone else read the Fire Watch collection by Connie Willis?
After I finished "All My Darling Daughters" I didn't much feel like reading books anymore.
Curious if anyone had thoughts.

>>15993244
Most people will probably say the Three Body Problem.
>>15993284
That's fantasy you absolute brainlet.

>>15993318
Black and white moralizing, an emphasis on "magic systems," dumb plot drivers and overall masturbatory "chosen one" type characters have yielded the most devoid literature genre of all time.

Everyone I know who only reads fantasy is a manchild, upset that magic school isn't real.

>>15993876
>the most devoid literature genre of all time.
Cool hyperbole. It would be true if mystery and crime fiction wasn't a better fit for that definition.
After hard boiled fell out of style, all they've done in all these years is sucked on Doyle, Christie and Poe's dicks. It's literally been the same stupid game for years and years, which hasn't stopped them from putting out literal thousands of trite books.

>>15993935
Gillian Flynn writes crime fiction and she's better than any modern fantasy writer lmao

>>15993945
>some detective series are around book number 59 and one counter example somehow proves me wrong
lmao

>>15993956
>some fantasy series are around book number 59 and no counter examples somehow proves me wrong
lmao

>>15993963
Which one I want to read it

>>15993977
guin saga

>>15992687
I like deadhouse because of coltaine and wild shit that goes on in the chain of dogs. For me, I like reapers Gale. I thought the invasion was cool with plenty of feels

>>15993506
t. assblasted tranny

>>15990480
Tear me a new one but go easy on me
fanfiction net/s/13620869/1/Aurea-Puellae

>>15993983
I appreciate the response but am hampered by my inability to read the moonrunes.

>>15994028
dial 8

>>15994035
try Wheel of Time or Malazan, pretty sure they're both longer than In Search of Lost Time

>>15994038
dial (9-1)

>>15994058
take your hrt freak

>>15994065
clean your pus-filled hole freak

>>15994076
seethe

Have you made Bakker proud and fucked your mom today, /sffg/?

>>15994081
cope

>>15994090
cringe

>>15994102
yikes

>>15994088
didn't he get cancelled for fucking his fans or something

>>15994115
No idea, did he?

>>15988713
>>15993814
i don't think discord matters, some people are just obsessed with calling everyone a tranny and will bring it up in any context.

>>15994197
I might be confusing him with Scott Lynch

I read Book of the New/Long/Short Sun this year. As a lifelong atheist, I don't think anything has made me more interested in God than those have.

>>15993680
the most complete is probably the necronomicon edition. that being said it does miss some minor stories. there isnt a single complete one commercially available i think. an anon from /tg/ actually took the ebook version of the necronomicon and added all the missing letters and small publications and short stories and drafts to it but its hard to find.

Anyone know where I might download Ashton's Zothique collection of stories in .epub format? I looked it up on Libgen, but there's nothing in English there. And the archive version is available in CBR/PDF format.

>>15994489
b-ok.org bro

>>15994540
Thank you, but unfortunately, same issue here. Nothing available in English.

>>15994489
It was a pain for me just to find it in paperback. How does it compare to Tales of the Dying Earth?

>>15994489
>>15994572
I don't think that collection was ever released on ebook

best collections on libgen are "The Dark Eidolon and Other Fantasies" or "The Return of the Sorcerer: The Best of Clark Ashton Smith" which contain some of the stuff from Zothique

>>15994601
No clue, that's why I'm looking for the ebook version, because I'm not really ready to shell out over 36 pounds if buying from UK or $70 if buying from the US, without knowing if I'd like it or not.

>>15994489
Some of those collection's stories are here
https://book4you.org/book/4218015/b61452
And others are split into different "collected stories" volumes. Sometimes the titles don't match exactly, so have fun putting it together or buying it.

>>15994623
The Emperor of Dreams has nearly all the Zothique stories

>>15994489
#ebooks

What are some comfy books like pic related?

>>15994721
Oh shit forgot pic

>>15994732
many like it, but they're all pale shadows

I've literally just started reading Garden of the Moon, from Malazan, and has the author literally wrote a 5 page preface talking about how shit this book was received and he wishes he did things different? It's not inspiring me to continue if the author is literally doing damage control from the beginning.

Re-read A Game of Thrones for the first time in a decade, not gonna lie it's still a great fantasy romp. It's a shame the fatman is too lazy to write.

>>15994452
In term of paper and quality, is it great ?
I just saw that the barnes edition is basically crooked and the chartwell one looks cheap.
Do you know about it ?

>>15994836
This one? It's okay. I got it used and it isn't falling apart or anything. I'm not well versed in his stories, so I couldn't tell you if it has everything.

>>15994836
no idea about the physical copies but this one looks nice.
i only have the ebook version.

>>15994836
1st edition barnes is a typo trainwreck. 2nd is supposed to be good.

>>15994953
Apparently even the second one has many mistakes.

>>15992664
>summon my awesomeness
I shall hate you forever for reminding me of that shit.

>>15991138
>Watts never struck me as one to go along with all that tranny faggotry.
Tard. From his blog:
>Because I did not introduce “se” and “hir” to make any kind of political point. I wasn’t being politically correct, and I wasn’t trying to sneak in any pro-fluid diversity subtext. I used those terms because it’s a statistical certainty that out of a crew thirty thousand, some are going to live off the peaks of the bimodal distribution. It just makes sense to have a pronoun for that. To draw explicit attention to those pronouns— to cite it as “inventiveness” or a “great idea”— is like praising someone for describing a character’s height or eye color.

>>15993244
The Three Body Problem is the normie answer. It's good, but I don't know if I'd call it the best one.

>>15995086
There no such thing as being neutral. Allowance of the existence of something is being a supporter of it.

>>15989016
>Putting Miéville and Rothfuss in the same sentence
Back to the other retards you go

YOU FAT FUCKING MORMON FAGGOT. WHILE YOU DROPPED OPIUM ADDICT TEFT ON ME AND RESOLVED IT AND HIS SECOND OATH IN ONE PARAGRAPH I HAD TO SLOG THROUGH 2000 PAGES OF SHALLAN BEING AN ANNOYING CUNT. WHILE YOU MADE KALADIN FACING ROSHONE AND AMARAM AGAIN FEEL LIKE A RUSHED STICKY FART I HAD TO BE DICK SMACKED WITH SHALLAN ALMOST KINDA REMEMBERING SOMETHING AND GETTING FREAKED OUT FOR 6000 PAGES. WHILE YOU RUSHED THROUGH SZETH BECOMING A SKY BREAKER AND JOINING THE GOOD GUYS IN 2 CHAPTERS I HAD TO BE PEGGED TO DEATH WITH 13 CHAPTERS OF SHALLAN TRYING TO BE SOLID SNAKE ROBIN HOOD. YOU FUCKING RABIES INFECTED RACCON OF A SHIT. NOW AS I JUST WANT TO WATCH KALADIN DBZ FIGHT IN THE AIR WITH EVIL NIGHTCRAWLER AND CUT OFF HEADS YOU MAKE ME SIT THROUGH THIS GINGER CUNT ARGUING WITH HERSELF AS 3 DIFFRENT PEOPLE. YOU DAMN WELL KNOW YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE 80000 PAGES OF THIS HATCHET WOUND DOING THIS. YOU HORRIBLE ASSHOLE. HOW DARE YOU.

>>15995168
They're both dumpsters.
>>15995223
You deserve it for reading anything this faggot puts out.
This is the most plebbit thread on this board. You should all kill yourselves for being so inept you can't even hold a conversation about the shitty genre you like.

>>15995246
Not her, but Rothfuss is a fucking hack in ways Mieville is not.

I heard Mulan was based on true events from a book? Was she savagely raped in the book? I mean those bugmen love to rape, and I'm sure finding a woman in their midst, they would ruin her vagina.

>>15995108
Tell me how I can disallow your existence.

>>15995274
The Poppy War is a YA fantasy about the rape of Nanjing, you can also read an actual history about it for rape rape rape.

>>15995346
Nanking is fiction

I love the Kingkiller Chronicles, there I said

>>15995441
Go back writing, Pat.

>>15994015
Yeah the feels in Reaper's Gale were solid. Toll the Hounds is the most feels heavy book for me because of Anomander

>>15994920
My physical copy has taken a beating from reading it so much but the paper quality and binding are fantastic. It is a shame that they don't have those smaller stories though.

>>15988713
Just finished this. Agia is a dumb whore

>>15993136
very nice quote. i've been reading BOTNS for the first time recently and the thing that's struck me the most about it is temporally messed up it is - everything feels so distended and confused. definitely unlike anything else i've ever read

>>15995346
When is the next WW coming? I want to lose my virgin when we rape and pillage a town.
All those girls that wouldn't even look in my direction will be lining up to get my dick, in hopes that I would spare their lives.

>>15995563
Silly anon, in the next WW, China is coming here. Hope you like Chinese dick.

>>15995634
>China is coming here
>implying that they don't already have millions of agents and forward observers strategically placed around the world

>>15995538
Must be nice as an author to reach the level where being unstructured and inconsistent is seen as genius.

>>15993136
>The picture he was cleaning showed an armored figure standing in a desolate landscape. It had no weapon, but held a staff bearing a strange, stiff banner. The visor of this figure’s helmet was entirely of gold, without eye slits or ventilation; in its polished surface the deathly desert could be seen in reflection, and nothing more.

>This warrior of a dead world affected me deeply, though I could not say why or even just what emotion it was I felt. In some obscure way, I wanted to take down the picture and carry it—not into our necropolis but into one of those mountain forests of which our necropolis was (as I understood even then) an idealized but vitiated image. It should have stood among trees, the edge of its frame resting on young grass.

>>15995926
What does Pynchon have to do with this?

>>15993126
For S&S newbs I would actually recommend Kane first since the the writing style is more "modern" compared to REH. But definitely read the collection Night Winds before the other Kane books. Those are the best Kane stories.

>>15994489
All of Klarkash-Ton's stories and poems are online for free by the way.

>>15995223
pure autism, I kek'd

>>15995964
>It should have stood among trees, the edge of its frame resting on young grass.
So it seems in the new Urth, Severian would also like terraforming Green, just as ancient humanity did.
It's weird to make it into a memory of the human species of sorts because I've never looked up at the moon and though 'Hey, that place could use some tropical forests'. Lune, pallid and desolate until the end of times would sit perfectly fine with me.

>>15989940
Fkashback by dan simmons. Just read 5 reviews for it on goodreads. Everybody kvetching. I liked it so much for its constant oozing of baseddom

>>15994088
I wish my mom was a hot alien milf tranny kung fu master

>>15988747
see IAN BANKS

>>15995106
What’s the chad answer anon

>>15990242
Phenomenal series

damn, i used to picture Dianna Argon from glee as the girl in kkc books, it's been that long ago

>>15991907
just finished foundation and liked it

>>15994810
1-3 were, there was a dip in 4 for me even before the gaps

Where can I go to get some free ebooks? I would like to read some books that I own physically on my ereader as it's easier to hold while lying in bed.

>>15996634
https://libgen.is/ or https://forum.mobilism.org/

>>15993136
I know that Severain is an “unreliable” narrator, at the very least he contradicts himself when it comes to sleeping with Thecla- although that contradiction is provided by Severain himself.

Here’s my question for /lit/, with Severain as an unreliable narrator, how do you decide what did or didn’t happen, or what’s really the truth? What other lies do you think Severain told? Such as I’ve heard theories floated that Severain fakes Thecla’s death warrant after she called him a boy. Personally I read it straight unless there’s something to contradict it later, although I want to do another reread to looks specifically for inconsistencies.

>yfw Book of the New Sun would never have existed without the pulp magazine Weird Tales

I am seriously considering starting WOT

>>15996634
Who cares if you bought them. Information is free.

>>15997341
worth it

what does everyone think of this book?

>>15997806
>"her"
>"she"
>gook writer
You already know what we think.

>>15994802
The second book he wrote is the best book in the series so if you can stick it out for that, try.

Some anon recommended "Mask of the Sorcerer" by Darrel Schweitzer to me a few months ago, it was great, thx anon.

Do any of you read GRRM or is it considered plebby? I have recently started reading the thousand worlds series,, they are neat little stories.

>>15988713
Can we discuss this cover, Wolfebros?Specifically, what the fuck are those gold things on the top of the mask?
The first time I looked at it, I thought it represented a bony hand (like Death's) posed atop the head of the torturer. Sort of like guided by death, or an instrument of.
Based on the size of each finger it would be right hand but it's weird you can't see the thumb which is what's driving me slightly insane.
The eyes, mouth and the rest of the features on the face place are probably inspired by medieval armor, the grotesque or Savoyard helmets from the 16th and 17th centuries.
The background looks like the ceiling of the Roman Pantheon or a similar round structure. It's out of scale, or maybe I'm forgetting of such a scene in the book (a huge head looking down from the ceiling of a big building). A nice detail is how the sculptures aren't just wise men in robes. There's some soldiers in armor with some pretty badass looking weapons.
Anyway, those gold things are unnerving.

>>15998008
That thing on the left looks like a hamburger with legs

>>15998124
>wolfebros

>>15996877
Can we get some more BOTNS memes?

>>15995108
That's gonna be a yikes for me, anon.

>>15998128
lost

>>15993719
>Being mean on 4chan
Why would you even do such a thing?

Want to pick up reading...can anyone rec me some books that would give me some form of escapsim? Something to make me think about life and maybe give me a sense of optimism??

>>15998349

>>15998387
middle school broo

>>15991138
Are there any books similar to Blindsight? I've become obsessed with the ideas in it.

>>15997912
Ok, but what do non-retards think about it?

>>15993244
A Borrowed Man

>>15998528
Wrong place to ask.

>>15995106
It's normie but at times it felt like I was reading Chinese Asimov or something (has that classic feel to it) and I personally haven't read anything in the 2010's that surpasses it.

How bad does Rothfuss smell on a scale of 1-10?

>>15998349
>>15998387
Unironically Harry Potter as this anon suggested.

It's easy enough that for your first books you won't struggle if reading is something newer and it is Escapism/Optimism The Series so you'll enjoy it.

>>15995538
>the thing that's struck me the most about it is temporally messed up it is

One thing that strikes me is just how far in the future the setting is in. People have calculated it. It's more than just a few thousand years. Much more.

>>15998124
It's just a fan cover. I also see it as a skelly hand. Could be the thumb is just out of view. I like your take on it, """wolfebro"""

Is this kind of wear on read pages normal? Been a while since I read longer books and don't remember it getting so clearly dirty at the edge.

>>15999128

Paper quality has gone done in recent years.

>>15999140
Ah, it is pretty poor, didn't realize that affected it. Got a nice copy of Tales of the Dying Earth so guess I'll see the comparison when I start that.

I'm looking for a science fiction series to waste some time with at work. Anyone got anything in the vein of Halo? I want space and war, preferably a series so I can get through the week pretty quick.

>>15999200

Look into Galaxys Edge maybe.

>>15999221
Will do, thanks friend.

>>15991907
I finished listening to the audiobooks a few months ago, Scott Brick does them wonders.
>is it dated
I don't think so. The language can sound like it's your grandfather talking, but I think it adds to the experience.
Fair warning: some people call them the Foundation trilogy for a reason, as the last two entries weaken the story. While the second to last book, Foundation's Edge, takes away from the overall experience, it's still a very good book. The final book, Foundation and Earth, is not only the weakest book, but it has a different narrator which really kills the momentum.

>>15999200
Undying Mercenaries

>>15997958
That was me and you're welcome.

>>15998528
I guess you should ask yourself then.

>>15988934
>i hate niggers, books for this feel?
>dumfuck lowiq niggers, i hope they all die, books for this feel?
man i love talking about books

>>15995108
>The Earth exploded and every human alive died.

Does this make me a supporter of mass genocide?

Why all these dumb bitches writing fantasy for teens feel the need to kill someone off right before the end? It's never earned or set up, they just kill them to add a tinge of bittersweet to their ending, and it ruins the whole thing for me. I've already forsaken my elitism by buying into your cotton candy romances, what's the point of breaking one apart right before never writing about book about these characters?

>>15999128
No. Have you ever washed your hands or showered?

>>15999716
I wash my hands often, and it seems too consistent to be from the times I read while eating or whatever.

>>15999712
generated drama and controversy so more people buy product.

>>15999712
Because they watched GoT and decided to copy one of the stupidest aspects of it

>>15999712
Blame yourself for reading fantasy for teens

>>15995223
Spoilers lad I'm halfway through book 2 and I'm not going to make it to book 3, this prose is ass and Shallan is painful to read

>>15998349
How about you try Guards! Guards! or Small Gods or something.

>>15993680
The variorum edition.

>>15999128
I used to get that back when I read physical books (switched to an ereader) but it would only happen with cheap mass market paperbacks (which is what the book in your picture looks like).

>>16000472
Point being, I'd guess it's something to do with cheap paper quality.

>>15998349
I just got back into reading with Mistborn. Plenty of haters here and it's not high art, but I think it's great escapism. Pretty focused on worldbuilding, magic and the mysteries therein, with optimism at its core but doubt along the way so it doesn't feel unearned if that makes sense. Very slight spoilers: the protag is a distrusting thief who slowly learns to trust and like people.

>>15998401
Probably Echopraxia and some of his short stories. At least they scratch the same itch for me, although the ideas are generally different from Blindsight.
Haven't really found anything else similar though.

>>16000940
I didn't like Echopraxia nearly as much.

Starting to read SF and finding everything wants to ram it's left wing cock down my throat. Give a noob a non cucked recommendation, or should I just give up

>>16001245
Most stuff before 2016. Anything before 2008.

>>16001245
Starship Troopers

>>16000821
I remember the first book to be tolerable, with a plot rather tight and a pleasant twist at the end.
After that, 2/3 of every book is telenovella levels of teenage romance and drama. Had to drop it in disgust.

>>15989089
>china mieville is a terrible thing to happen to fantasy because he birthed dnd clones
>tolkien was a terrible thing to happen to fantasy since he influenced the clones

>>16001245
Ender's Game

First time posting on /lit/. I want to read Roadside Picnic whats the best English version of the novel?

>>16001353
Ah, I just finished the first book so that might be right.

>>15995441
Here's something that hit me when I reread the series. Much of the story's plot revolves around K not knowing where Denna is, because she's a mysterious free spirit migratory bird or whatever, right? But with one of her hairs you could use the world's voodoo magic to easily make a compass that always points towards her, completely invalidating the forced drama.

>>16001433
Supposedly this one. I doubt many people have read more than one in order to compare (I haven't).

>>16001245
Try Blindsight.

>>16001717
>foreword by Ursula K. Le Guin
Yikes.

>>15998528
As king of the non-retards, I do not read books written by, for, or about women.

>>16001870
we pledge ourselves to your banner

>>16002005
reeee forgot pic

>>15998784
hey thanks for the suggestion but I've already read all of the Harry Potter's in middle school D:

>>16000372
>Guards! Guards!
ty, will check them out

>>16001870
>As king of the incels
ftfy

>>15997912

say something nice about her

>>16001390
Yes.

New
>>16002424
>>16002424
>>16002424
>>16002424
>>16002424

>>15998349

>>16002710
>"how about some alternate history?"
>why yes, I'm a revisionist myself, how could you tell?

>>15989138
Yeah, but does he have forearms like twin novelty dildos? No? Guess Mieville isn't as influential as you thought.
>>15989338
They may not be as related as you hope, there's no real connection besides the backstory. They are great though, BotSS especially and it's worth reading BotLS just to set it up.
>>15990481
There were some great fake book posters that covered the windows of Uncle Hugo's, like "Talking Cat Chronicle trilogy: Book 7: Journey to Cliche Castle" or something. I had forgot about those and now I'm a little sad.

>>15993843
Is that the one where all the chads own rapehamsters? Yeah, that'll put you off your feed. Last of the Winnebagos is the best thing in there and I don't even like dogs.