/lit/ - Literature

>>16337044
Fuck sodomites, anglos and niggers.

>>16337044
http://booklist.rassaku.net/

>>16337095

First for fantasy is gay and sci-fi is for chads

I'm just gonna take a shit in your tread

>>16337044
Why was that movie a million times better than modern Hollywood shit

Reminder Akka did nothing wrong.

Ongoing poll for 2020 /sffg/ chart:

https://www.strawpoll.me/20897686

>>16337241
Same reason most 80s action movies were great.
John Milius involvement.

>>16337279
>The top 4 are just 3 series with famous adaptations and then BOTNS

Pathetic. We're literally no better than Reddit

>reread short little trilogy part of a greater universe
>series is close to a decade old
>last entry into this universe was 2014
>now have this empty pit of lost characters I grew fond of with no conclusion
feels bad man
i think the author simply wasn't as successful as he hoped and fizzled out

picked this up at a bookstore, pretty cool huh

>>16337217

Based Bulgarian grill

Novelisations of b-movies, based or cringe?

>>16337396
It's more likely the publisher decided to stop buying more books in the series if it wasn't making money anymore. Then it's next to impossible to sell a mid series book to a different publisher.

>>16337044
I want to write a sword and sorcery or sword and planet book. How pornographic does it need to be? Or if I want to write smut, do I need to do that litrpg thing everyone’s taking about these days?

I'm a coomer and downloaded the Gor series when an anon last thread said it was master/slave porn. I'm 3 books in and the porn is very low quality, I found better smut on Ao3. The "slave who loves it" and "modern independent woman who breaks down into a slave who loves it" arc also got stale by the second book, and yet after some skimming I've found it's present in all 36 books. I'm a misogynist but even I got uncomfortable by the amount there was in these books. I rate it 4/10 for fap material, if you're into master/slave, search by those tags on Ao3, there are thousands of stories.

>>16337044
Man! That OP is so homoerotic. That's all you post. You ever realize how homoerotic your posts are?

>>16337566
I too started reading it and also just finished Priest-Kings. Weird. I came for the porn and stayed for the action, but I feel there are better series in the genre for that. I was going to try some Conan instead.

>>16337608
I LOVE YOU FRUITY RUDY

>>16337686
You know, it doesn't make you gay if you think Rudy's hot. We all think he's hot.

>>16337546
Nah it was all self-published. His first major trilogy seemed to do well (maybe?) with ~500 mostly positive reviews but everything else I've taken a look at has maybe 1-3 reviews, if that. Probably an exposure/advertisement deal, who knows. The books are pathetically cheap too so it's not like price was a problem.
There are likely tons of these little gems scattered about but this is merely the most prominent subjective example for me.

>>16337686
>>16337723
Why was it so good, bros?

>>16337774
>Why was it so good, bros?
Undiluted, unfiltered look at the whole mess. Plus guns.
Guns make everything cooler and those tards carrying them were pretty cool bunch to begin with.

If only there were mil sci-fi novels as good as GK.

>>16337044
Kill yourself

Whoops. Nearly too late.
Fuck E William Brown
Daniel Black 5 never.

>>16337330
Expecting anything different is your own fault.

>>16337330
It's almost as if those 3 overlapped with the the top 100 from /lit/ because they're just good books.
>popular != bad | popular != good
Retarded fallacy.

Also why did you pick the top 4 you baiting faggot?

>>16338246
If you are unable to differentiate two groups, they are the same.

>>16338325
No, it just means you're an idiot and need to look more closely. Willing to bet you can't tell me the difference between bugs and flies, but they're entirely different orders, for example.

>>16338325
Hope that one day you'll put more effort instead of typing retarded shit.

>>16337444
Dude, Rad

>>16337330
Hating things because they are popular is just as mindless as liking things because they are popular. You're just as controlled by popular opinion.

>>16338798
You're just as controlled.

>>16337396
Which series was it anon?

How’s the worm ouroboros ? What am I in for in terms of philosophical content and aesthetic quality?

>>16338568
Hope one that day you'll realize that effort is wasted.

>>16339035
As opposed to wasting your time acting and spewing retarded shit on the internet? Cool.

>>16338931
>no u

>>16337044
Am I going to feel empty when I finish the foundation books?

>>16337330
>>16338568
>Reddit doesn't have Conan
Of course, they're faggots

>>16339058
Yes, that is what we are both doing.

>>16339294
You already feel empty. Nothing will change.

>>16339294
Read Asimov's 'The End of Eternity' and 'The Last Question' next after that

>>16338568
Holy shit that is awful

looking for deep space exploration novels, where ancient, dangerous, believable, high-tech alien civilizations are encountered
but no generic space opera stuff, please; any ideas?

>>16338964
>amazon.com//B005N0LPRE/
Read this a long-ass time ago and posted about it a handful of times but I've recently gotten into other stories in the same universe and while it's traditional sword&sorc, it's presented well enough to leave an impression on me.
I think the MC of this particular trilogy is a better noble savage than Karsa too

>>16339472
It isn't linking to anything. Even without the other slash.

>>16339500
Ah whoops.
>amazon.com/dp/1492957879/
What could the 'dp' mean???

>>16339542
Dynamic page

>>16339314
Don't tell me things I refuse to admit

>>16339344
I've the last question. Will add end of eternity to list of asimov to read

>>16339459
The Mote in God's Eye
A Fire Upon the Deep
Legacy of the Aldenata (series)
The Forever War

>>16336454
I did like when they made her crawl everywhere on all four and called her a bitch and kicked her in the tit when she was too slow.

>>16337246
He never did anything that bad warranting you to say he did nothing wrong like he did do something wrong.
You won’t answer but what are you referring to anyway?

>>16339588
Fucking women, I swear
Its like a fucking Shoujo manga

>>16339459
We Are Legion, We Are Bob is sorta like that. It’s about a Von Neumann probe made out of a mind upload, it’s decent but at the same time kinda Reddit

>>16337095
Whoa whoa whoa buddy. You forgot to add women to that list.

>>16337922
Based Conan OP triggering the gays.

>>16339647
The "Bob" books are really just a mashup of sci-fi/space opera tropes awkwardly welded to someone's Star Trek fanfic. Plus a lot of Gen-Xer "humor" mostly in the form of pop culture references.
I read all three books because they were short, and I was at least moderately interested in what was going to happen with some of the storylines. However I'd say it has no literary value, breaks no new ground, and lacks focus or consistency. You can see hints of a "vision" but they get picked up and abandoned like they're nothing, as if you're reading a draft that the writer hasn't finished finessing.
It's very "light" reading, at least. It might be a welcome respite if you've been reading wordy epics and want to take a rest. But it's not "good."

>>16337095
B-based department??

Can someone recommend me a non pozzed, non feminist, non gay, non jew, non non white, straightforward, comfy medieval fantasy?

I've already read Tolkien and Robert E. Howard.

>>16339907
Lyonesse Trilogy
Three Hearts and Three Lions

>>16339907
>this is the person who posts about redditors getting triggered so easily

>>16339907
The Wizard Knight

Any fantasy that's inspired by the Christian worldview of the Inklings?

>>16339964
Lord of the Rings

>>16339942
>>16339954
Thanks White bros

>another John Keats poem
fucking stop

>>16337279
What a shit poll. How are The Once and Future King or the Canticle of Leibowitz not on here? In general it's missing loads of classic sci-fi.

>>16340089
>another John Keats poem
yeah it's kino

>>16340096
/sffg/ doesn't read scifi

>>16340096
>In general it's missing loads of classic sci-fi
if you were the other week you could've nominated stuff for the list

>>16340096
>>16340169
>>16337279
I just hope the dude will make a second poll for the books/series that only got 1 vote/nomination. It's going to be a mess otherwise.

>>16339893
I read them and just could not take the threats or antagonists seriously. Also wasn't a fan of how he immediately got FTL tech, I guess I was under the impression it would be a harder scifi book.

>1500 chapters in and the translator starts using “y’all” constantly

Any horror recs? Just finished Blindsight, it was good but not at all what I have been after. Fantasy horror, cosmic horror, whatever - would enjoy something scary and mysterious. Anything that isn't written by Lovecraft

>>16340595
Who Goes There?
The Last Days of Jack Sparks

>>16337044
>start reading Ubik
>Joe argues with the coin-operated robot-appliances in apartment and they insult him because he's broke and has his own tier of credit rating for being so bad with money
This should be its own book

>>16340595
words can't be scary

>>16340661
>I want a divorce
>I'm pregnant
>Your account is overdrawn
>You'll be a virgin forever

>>16340595
I enjoyed Ghouljaw and Other Stories by Clint Smith recently. It's Lovecraftian, but only in the most general sense. Smith is definitely his own writer with a focus more on the humanity of the characters and their lives. He doesn't throw the horror/weird aspect of the stories in your face like a lot of other writers would which adds a certain level of realism. Did not enjoy his newest short story collection though. It's lacking almost everything I enjoyed from Ghouljaw and Other Stories. Couldn't even finish it.

>>16340359
The whole Brazilian thing was by far the dumbest plotline. It was straight up cartoonish, and I get that it was supposed to be, but there was nothing entertaining about it.
And yeah, it was dumb how he just like, casually discovered FTL because "I'm a computer so I'm smart now." It would have been more plausible if he got it after an encounter with the hive mind aliens.

>>16340670
You can see divorces coming from miles away, if you can see the sign.
The bigger issue is that you have done zero paperwork to ensure your estates stays separate, and then enter a legal nightmare over not being properly cynical.
>pregnant
Bruh
This is only bad if you lack the confidence in your lifestyle. There is a reason why there is LOADS of 80s and 90s film focusing on the fact the lifestyle was doomed in the first place, and a kid is only straining it further
>Overdrawn
Genuinly scary.
Mostly because there are always 10-20 preventative steps
>Virginity
Again: Lifestyle

But you could write about genuinely alienation, because THAT is scary.
The more detail, the worse it bites.

>>16340749
>dude, just do XYZ and then things aren't scary
Such penchant insight, where can I subscribe to your blog?

>>16340820
Bruh
I don't subscribe to insecurity.
Neither should you.

>>16340837
wut

>>16340846
bruh
be prepared in advance and you'll never be scared again, bruh
just be yourself

>>16340846
What is there to Grok?
The only scary thing on that list is Overdraft, because it can seriously mean very scary shit if you lack network to pad the issue. Or even more scary shit if you are stupid enough to ask loan sharks, or lack the time to get a consumer loan.
The rest is insecurities and lifestyle issues.
I get that insecurity is normal as a result of your lifestyle, but there is nothing special about it.

>>16340861
Where the fuck did 'insecurity' come from. That's the thing that has me confused to the point where I'm certain you're just shitposting.

>>16340883
From the context anon.
Its not fucking rocket science.

*Not a big scifi reader.

Is there anything like Foundation but modern? I loved the vast scope of it.

>>16340901
Not good enough. From the context of your post, I am hearing that "all fear is rooted in insecurity," which is a pretty nonsensical statement since death is the most common fear and there's nothing insecure about fearing that. I would like you to explain your thought process. Or if my supposition is wrong, I would like you to explain how it's wrong and what you actually meant.

>>16340934
If that where true, Alienation wouldn't exist.
Alienation exists because there exists true fears outside of the shallow fears.

>>16340951
I legitimately have no idea what you're even talking about any more. So I'm just going to ask you straight - What the hell is your point?

Based Disorganized Thoughts Poster

fuckin philosoraptor ITT

>>16340951
Alienation made me think of aliens and now I want to read something scary involving them

>>16341099
Blindsight

>tfw you finish a book and it will take you at least a week to get motivated to read another one

>>16340951
You mean anomie.

>>16341192
> tfw you read a book every day of the week then feel burned out

>>16341108
Isn't that vampires? I haven't actually read it yet.

My feemale friend keeps telling me to read Wheel of Time but the fact a feemale is recommending it gives me warning signals, should I give it a go?

>>16341222
"In sociology, anomie (/ˈænəˌmi/) is a societal condition defined by an uprooting or breakdown of any moral values, standards, or guidance for individuals to follow."
Anomie seems to be when it happens inside the group. Like Enders Game.

>>16341245
It's not worth reading.

>>16341245
No

best not-viking fantasy?

>>16341245
No. It's literally ground zero for everything that went wrong with literary fantasy.

>>16341340
Space Viking

>>16341271
>>16341306
>>16341372
Is it better than Sanderson and Rothfuss?

>>16341245
Yes. Just be warned that it takes a few books to get going.

>>16341414
>is this turd sandwich better than these other turd sandwiches?

>>16341372
> literary
LOL!

>>16337922
You first.

>>16341440
That's just a meme to engage sunk costs to trap the person into reading more and more.

>>16337044
Finished A Canticle for Liebowitz the other day fellas. Any other thoughful post-apoc novels like this? Is the sequel good?

>>16341443
XD

>>16341440
lol if it takes a few BOOKS to "get going" then it's not worth reading.

>>16341440
>Dude it gets better after 10 hours

>>16341414
If you're so hellbent on reading crappy epic fantasy then at least read Malazan.

>>16341532
I have, it was good.

>>16339964
Tolkien and Lewis single-handedly inspired a whole generation of bitter, contrarian atheist writers (Pullman is the anti Lewis while Martin is the anti Tolkien).

>>16341534
Yikes, anon.

>>16341192
>finish the Witcher which was 7 books
>feel completely empty once its done and I have to live my life again
>I either sit through the emptiness and apathy for a couple weeks or jump into something else, which just feels juvenile and like Im just pushing off the inevitable

I haven't read a long series like this in over 5 years even though fantasy series used to be almost all I read, I mostly got into classic novels

escapism is a goddamn hell of a drug

>>16341582
Escapism is the only thing worthwhile.

>>16341440
god this statement is so fucking insane to me

its not its take a few chapters to get going, its not it gets better after the first half, its it takes a few ENTIRE FUCKING BOOKS just to get going

I haven't read WoT but everything I've heard about it for decades makes me think it really is what started the downfall of the genre

>>16341582
It's 7 books but they're fairly short, maybe try something actually long like Malazan if you want something to get accustomed to.

>>16340749
>Geldarians
D-does she have a dick?

>>16341245
>>16341414
Just read Dragonlance or Forgotten Realms bro

Are the Esslemont Malazan novels any good?

Rec me some hard sci-fi with some gay daddy-types pls /lit/

>>16341724
see >>16341512

>>16341716
I only read the first 3 Malazans but his was my favourite.

>last story involves the MC making a bunch of pleasure slave clones to fuck the guards while he makes his escape with his new waifu who is a defective pleasure slave; and he even ends up with a few extra pleasure slave clones as well
Based

>>16341707
Why? Is Wheel of Time also based on a DnD game?

>>16341593
I don't view escapism as an inherently bad thing, and I dont know if your comment is ironic or not but I do find myself somewhat agreeing with the statement, at least for those who don't have very successful lives and no hope of things changing in that regard. It simply makes me feel very guilty when I overindulge

as in, at the end of a long series or game I'll suddenly feel guilty that I just spent weeks doing nothing but indulging in escapism and I'm suddenly vividly reminded of all the issues or things that could be better in my life that I ignored during those weeks. Thing is, I could've just passed those weeks doing nothing but mindless internet browsing and I wouldn't feel guilty because there isn't that one big moment where it all comes back to you. It's also ignoring that I am legitimately happy?, or at least content, during those binges and should factor that into the equation

the lesson is ofc moderation, but idk, if I get into a series enough to read several books of it I'm not gonna be content reading it 20 pages a night, same with if I find a game I really like

>>16341757
sounds interesting

>>16341757
What are some unabashedly horny without being porny recommendations?

Fuck that. What are some literal porn story recommendations?

God is it coomer hour? I also want some fap recs, I'm tired of flat out porn and reading erotic shit in books honestly sounds more appealing

I remember a scene in Snow Crash where a teenage girl has a orgasm fucking some big muscle chad who doesn't even talk to her and a scene in Wizard Knight where the chicks have to service literal giants or something rather hot. A scene in the Magicians where a chick gets raped by a demigod and can't help but orgasm when he creampies her. I'd take anything similar, where the girl has weird sex can't help but enjoy it

>>16341902
Gor.

>>16341888
>>16341902
>>16341951
Read pic related if you want some weird sex shit. Specifically the story the book was named after.

>>16341951
>A scene in the Magicians where a chick gets raped by a demigod and can't help but orgasm when he creampies her.
That made me diamonds. Especially when her vag wasn't useful anymore. Shame the tv series fucked up the best part.

Does the protagonist ever fuck the rabbit in this? They have been dancing around it for so many chapters, but they never give the goods.

I dont remember exactly how it came to be, but The Once and Future King has been on my to-read list since basically the beginning and I even almost started reading it once randomly but never got to it

I was pondering it for the first time in years today, thing is, I know absolutely nothing about the "Arthurian legend" or even what that truly means. Would it be very stupid to read this without even knowing the story it's re-telling?

>>16342293
It's literally the original story things are based on.

>>16342354
..but it says "T.H Whites masterful retelling of the Arthurian legend is an abiding classic"

>>16342293
The story Once and Future Kind "retells" is a collection of semi-related folktales from 1400s France, themselves a bastardization of Welsh hero-myths that may or may not be based on an actual historical Arthur.
Unless you're the sort dork who insists on reading Beowulf in its original Old English then Future King is the perfect entry into Arthurian literature.

>>16342293
As someone who's read Le Morte d'Arthur and a few other Arthurian romances, but not TH Whites' version, I'd only recommend this source material (which in truth is secondary as it's a retelling of older romances) to history nerds (like >>16342403 said) and people who enjoy "difficult" books --there's the vocabulary and the olde English sounding grammar.
It's difficult and a modern and careless reader, used to Stephen King or fucking Brandon Sanderson, might complain about things such as "shallow characterization" and "poor pacing" (because there are dozens of stories about the other knights) and some fights are over in a few paragraphs.
Le Morte's or Tennyson's poems are good places to start.

If you just want the straight story, told in a more accessible way, from the few pages I read from The Once and Future it looks like a juvenile retelling and it seems to be well respected.
At any rate, you should watch the 80s film Excalibur which is one of my favorite films and one of the few /tv/ memes that's actually a great film with a beautiful soundtrack.

We're two weeks into the new month.
What's everyone read so far for September?

>>16342514
After reading The Last Centurion I started on this and the opening paragraph begins with a 60 kiloton blast

>>16342514
>>16341757
I enjoyed it. I was worried it was gonna be a crappy vanity project since all the stories were written by the guy who runs DMR, but he's a solid S&S writer as it turns out. Prose can be a little too purple-ish at times and some of the stories could have stronger endings, but it's one of the more consistently well-written collections from a single author I've read recently.

>>16342700
>Tolkien: I experienced the absolute worst horrors of war and believe fantasy should be entertaining escapism
>Retards: f-fuck you...

>>16339294
Yes because the end is terrible. And will make you realize Asimov is a hack

>>16339907
Song of sirin by Nicolas Kotar

>>16339562
Thanks just ordered it

So when is Books of Babel 4 coming out? I know it's 2021 but the only specific date I see listed is September on Google, but that's the only place.

How do you prefer reading -- books, e-readers, tablets, or phones?
I got tired of my old Kindle's fonts (total: 2) so I'm thinking about getting a Kobo Libra where you can import fonts. I've been buying a bunch of books lately from used/indie bookstores.

>>16342913
Pretty sure that Google is just giving you a placeholder date from some bookstore. There is no official date or even month of release as of yet.

>>16342950
>actual book
>in me chair
simple as

>>16343024
are you a serial murderer?

>>16343076
No, why?

>>16338568
>top novels
>"Middle-Earth Universe"
You just know these people are the sort to rag on Tolkien's prose and narrative style but praise his """""worldbuilding"""".

>>16343104
that chair tells me you like to collect the toenails of your victims and make necklaces out of them.

>>16343116
It's a comfy electric chair, it looks a bit weird in that photo because of the lighting and angle I guess, also I haven't cleaned up in a while.

>>16342950
ebooks only
pc only
sumatra pdf
???????
final destination

>>16342950
Why would you want to read hundreds of pages in any weird font face that wasn't serif, with a decent font weight which displayed properly on some screen given its resolution and PPI, that showed clear differences between regular text and italics? To me, it sounds as silly as those guys who re-color grade movies or add retarded looking shaders to videogames.
Modern Kindles (starting at least from the non touch 4th gen) have 6+ fonts. I've never used anything other than Caecilia.
Seems like some newer models also support custom fonts.

Main reason to get a Kobo for me would be trying something new, physical buttons and not wanting to waste 2 minutes converting epubs to other mobi/azw3.

>>16340595
>Fantasy horror, cosmic horror, whatever
Clark Ashton Smith's entire corpus.

>>16341245
It's bad but it's also only like 11 books so it depends on how quick of a reader you are.
Imo everything before book 4 is shit, everything after is either filler or badly executed decent ideas.
Most of the enjoyment are the rare chapters with the one genuinely likeable character or chapters where all the terrible assholish heroines get their well-deserved comeuppance.
Also the real antagonists are a joke and the final book and climax are a huge waste of time like most Sanderson-written products-nee-books.

>>16343146
What you should be doing is reading in Carolingian minuscule.

>>16342578
Haven’t read that yet, But The Last Centurion was pretty interesting although I always get the feeling like John Ringo’s Neighbour has some interesting shit that John Ringo wants but doesn’t want to pay for

>>16343146
>weird fonts
On my laptop I was reading Pride And Prejudice in Edwardian Medium LET and it felt very appropriate. (I was concurrently reading Emma in a 200th Anniversary physical edition with a correct font for the era. This is what got me back into fonts.)
I've had this 3rd gen Kindle for 9 years now and I feel like I've been looking at the same book for a decade. I have Kindle on my iPad. I don't like reading on it. Of the 8 fonts, Open Dyslexic is revolting. I'd like to have more flexibility.

>>16343116
It looks like a normal, bourgeois chair.

>>16343233
>I've had this 3rd gen Kindle for 9 years now and I feel like I've been looking at the same book for a decade
I'm glad I don't know this feel considering I've had a Kindle for around the same amount of time.

>>16343183
>It's bad but it's also only like 11 books
>thousands upon thousands of pages of utter shit
>only 11 books

Started reading Wheel of Time. In book 2 Egwene gets slave collared by a wizard handler. There's some serious lesbian domination undertones here, right?
>I won't stop until you tell me you love being damane

>>16344287
>pillow friends

>>16344287
Yes, Robert Jordan didn't have a particularly positive view of women or homosexuals.

>>16342723
There's nothing more reddit than calling something or someone reddit.

>>16344416
Stating this is like a paradox

>>16344429
Reddit expats are paradoxical

>>16342700
Holy shit, does he think his English teacher will give him bonus points for using all those fancy words?

>>16342950
I mostly read during down time at work, and I do audio books too, so phone is just most convenient for me. Especially since I've been pirating a lot more too.

>>16344643
Literally none of those words are fancy.

>>16344959
oeuvre is absolutely fancy

Finally finished Fall of Hyperion. I was spead reading so I honestly don't understand all the time shit like Moneta being Rachel all along (wouldn't a movie or show spoil this immediately by simply showing how they look like?)
Too much Keats, too much Gladstone, too much boring war planning, too many quick jumps between perspectives, super anticlimactic defeat of the Shrike
Overall good book but I'm not sure it motivated me to read Endymion.
7/10

>>16337217
Now this is based

>>16337279
Why the fuck isn’t cradle on here?

>>16338568
Well it’s for malzan and lord of the rings

>>16339459
Commonwealth saga
Revelation space

>>16339907
The faithful and the fallen series

>>16339964
licanius trilogy

>>16345256
Oh, and here's something awkward.
I just thought of how Kassad unknowingly explained to Sol that he fucked Rachel on multiple occasions and she once made him violently cum nonstop

>>16340140
But why dont they read scifi. Only a couple fantasy books are good. Rest are gay trash that spend thousands of pages to build a magic system, and magic is gay

>>16340644
This makes me want read ubik and I'm not a big pkd fan

>>16342578
>last centurion
Is xenophons anabaesis required to read in order to understand it?

How good is malazan? Not really into fantasy, was bored by a lot of it have read (robert jordan, brandon sanderson, george r.r. martin) but I really enjoyed Gormenghast and Book of the New Sun.

Eternally the same questions answered by the same. The Sisyphus of /sffg/.

>>16345557
Read a preview of it and decide for yourself.

>>16344416
You need to work on your reading comprehension.

>>16345773
When I bring fresh shit up to discuss, the dinofags and conanfags always fuck it up.

>>16345799
And what "fresh shit" do you bring up to discuss, anti-Conanfag who won't leave the closet?

>>16345780
It looks interesting, I was just wondering what any of you thought before I commit to that autism project.

>>16345799
Any discussion that isn't of interest to those who discuss, which can probably be counted on one hand, is doomed. That's why it's always the same stuff discussed.

sffg is 80% first timers and irregulars, 15% regular lurkers, 5% regular posters. There's no need for a poll because it'd be entirely inaccurate.

>>16345454
the author fills in main point in story

>>16346284
>That's why it's always the same stuff discussed.
That and the vast majority of new shit isn't worth discussing to begin with.

>>16346393
You mean "any", not just new.

>>16341414
you'll find out when you get to end of the series


amirite Brandon?!?

>>16345557
Just finished Malazan today, really enjoyed the first 5 books, books 6-8 feel like he gets lost in his ass and goes on these long tangents and keeps adding characters, which unfortunately sours the last 2 books cause there's too much going on and the characters you care about probably arn't getting very many pages, by the end he gets a lot right and a lot wrong idk maybe I need time to process this series that took me a goddamn year to read
Mappo ;_; what the fuck he didn't deserve that

Just picked this up.
What am I in for?

>>16347387
An ideological novel that you will believe what you will about it.

>>16347425
...well what did you think of it?

>>16339907
All the Lankhmar books by Fritz Lieber.

>>16342950
I prefer a physical book, but ultimately use a Kobo 99% of the time since it's just more convenient, plus I pirate everything.

>>16347437
That I didn't need to read an extended essay of his personal beliefs.

>>16344287
I like how you called them a wizard handler lol it just has a nice, quaint ring to it. Wizard handler.

Okay, but what about sword and sorcery but on post-apocalyptic earth where the discovery of magic resulted in a cataclysmic event where the earth was split on two?

>>16344287
yes, same as when Nynaeve is running naked through a labyrinth while aginor is chasing her and saying he will rape her.

>>16347387
Fun military sci-fi at beginning and end of book with politics in between.
It's enjoyable enough and depending on what you think you may agree with Heinleins proposed gov. If you find yourself wanting more of man vs bug read armor

>>16342723
>believe fantasy should be entertaining escapism
Tolkien never thought that. You're probably one of those brainlets that's seen the out of context "I hate allegory" quote without the rest of it. He didn't like to think his stories were direct allegories for singular events or ideas in history, but he was very much addressing universal themes around power and hope, and not just writing pure escapism.

>>16347606
>“Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don't we consider it his duty to escape?. . .If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we're partisans of liberty, then it's our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!”

Better luck next time, moron.

Just got halfway through the Phoenix on the Sword, it's entirely dialogue talking about nothing, when does the metal bikini action start?

>>16347641
Xuthal of the dusk or iron shadows of the moon iirc

>>16347641
>>16347718
I'm going through some classics and Conan has always been on my backlog (planned to read one of the REH omnibus editions). Must they be read in chronological order or after some point I can read whatever? Just want to know if I can read a couple and jump to some bikini armor (or some other one, anyway).

>>16347808
There is no real order to Conan. First story Howard he wrote he's king, second he's a young merc in the north.
Aside from brief mentions in one or two stories of others, you dont miss anything by skipping around because it is just various chapters in Conans life told at random. I started with the Hour of the Dragon and had no troubles

>>16347827
Not that anon, but I've always wanted to read Conan too. Is there a good way to find/read them chronologically, either in release order or by in universe timeline?

>>16347846
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074CB1LWY?searchxofy=true&ref_=dbs_s_aps_series_rwt

>>16347846
There's several different timelines floating around that you can go off of if you want chronological
See here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conan_chronologies
If you want it organized by publication, complete chronicles of Conan (black book with gold helmet on front) is organized that way iirc
There's also order written which is how the 3 del Rey volumes are arranged (order is different from publication order because some werent published till after Howard died)
There is no wrong route in reading Conan. Just pick a story that sounds good and go

>>16347876
>>16347894
Thanks a ton. I literally just downloaded a collection last night and started reading The Painted People a few minutes ago. I'll finish that up and decide which way to go.

Applaud their efforts regardless of how effective they are. After all convincing someone to read anything is better than nothing. A book is a book is a book.

>>16345439
Unfortunately sassy coin-operated robots are not a major feature

>>16337479
mostly cringe but god do i have a guilty pleasure /lit boner for them

>>16347548
Isn't that all Heinlein does? He does the same in moon is a harsh mistress. A lot of his personal libertarian beliefs.
>>16347592
>armor
What's this about?
After Starship Troopers I was thinking about reading the Forever War.

>>16348258
Forever War is good too.
Armor is about people fighting to take a planet from giant ants. Planet is barren and enemy deadlier than those in starship troopers. Basically think starship troopers but more violence and less political thought
Main character shuts down when things get bad and his survival instinct (called the engine) takes over. Part of the book though is about a space pirate (it does the back in with main character eventually) and that part is kinda meh

Need to create 4 different fictional races. Aside from appearance, what's the most surefire way to ensure they will feel as different from eachother as possible? Give me examples of 4 way dynamics I can pull from (4 elements, political compass, myers briggs groups, europe/asia/america/africa, four temperaments, etc)

>>16348324
>Aside from appearance, what's the most surefire way to ensure they will feel as different from eachother as possible?
Social structure.

>hivemind(with sentient ruler) or supreme dictatorship
>highly unequal caste based pyramidal hierarchy
>utopian egalitarian communism
>family-centric tribe with room for social climbing based on merit

>>16348324
Orcs
Elves---I---Dwarfes
Hobbits

Its only cliche because it's hardwired to work.

see >>16348373
Orcs >hivemind(with sentient ruler) or supreme dictatorship
Dwarves >highly unequal caste based pyramidal hierarchy
Elves >utopian egalitarian communism
Hobbits >family-centric tribe with room for social climbing based on merit
Like Poetry.

>>16341470
Yes, heartily recommend the sequel. About 2/3 of the way through you can tell where Miller left off and the co-writer picked the story back up, but it's still a decent novel with some surprisingly suspenseful action scenes.
>>16342950
100% physical books

>>16348437
>Yes, heartily recommend the sequel.
Thank you. I think I will buy it.

>>16348456
Would you have done otherwise of they had said otherwise?

>>16347641
once Conan picks up an axe.

>>16348598
I probably would have gotten it anyway eventually. I have many books to read. A strong recommendation tends to make me read a book sooner. If he had said it sucked because it was reworked by some one else or wasn't generally the quality of its predecessor I might not have gotten it at all.

Why does he need to ask such disingenuous questions like ''What was Aragorns tax policy?'', as if he needs to justify writing the kind of fiction he does.

Tolkien was mostly interested in Cosmology, mythos and ethnogenesis. You clearly see this in The Silmarillion.

>>16348708
So easily swayed by some random anon of unknown intent.

>>16348741
Why do you feel the need to defend Tolkien?

>>16348859
Why do you feel the need to shill Martin?

>>16348907
I don't.

>>16348741
Why do you pretend you read that interview when you clearly didn't?

>>16348324
Beings that live in water
Beings that live in the sky
Beings that live on earth
Beings that live under the earth

>>16348842
You're right. He might be part of the plot to sell more Walter Miller books and he played me for a fool. Or maybe he knows the book is shit and he has tricked me into reading a book I already had an interest in reading beforehand. I should probably play it safer here on these internet image boards. I might end up reading a book if I'm not careful.

>>16349281
Hey fren, why don't you try imajica? It's a great book about parallel worlds and finding one's self.

>>16349303
Sounds like shit.

>>16349281
> I might end up reading a book if I'm not careful.
Truly a fate worse than living.

>>16349303
Not falling for this shit

>>16349303
Thanks fren, this was the best book I ever read!

>>16349308
Just like your life, you should fit in.

>>16349371
You fell for Canticle, you're pretty easy.

>>16349702
Canticle is pretty good for genre fiction

Trying to read this but the writing style is so fucking jarring that it makes it hard to follow and even harder to enjoy. The author avoids saying things directly, leaving it clear that some other meaning is implied, but without enough context to safely assume his intended meaning. He constantly name drops new people, places, factions, etc without ever making any effort to introduce them to the reader. This not only leaves entire exchanges between characters meaningless, but it means the goals, motivations, and current objectives of the main group of characters is a mystery half the time. It's as if everyone just reads each other's minds, but the author leaves out any explanation of their unspoken understandings. He often jumps from one situation to the next with no transition at all, to the point where it feels as if entire pages are missing and you have no idea where the characters suddenly are or why.

All in all this book is fucking terrible so far. I have no clue how it got so popular without anyone pointing out any of these obvious flaws. I'm hoping it gets better, because I like the basic premise of the book, but I don't have a lot of hope at this point.

Does anyone else know what im talking about? Does it every get better, or is this just how this author writes? I feel like the only way this could make any sense would be to read the entire book a second time, and that's assuming he actually explains shit later, which I'm starting to doubt he will at this point.

>reading lyonesse
>"your face is coarse. An arena for stupid thoughts"

I love Vance's dialogue so much.

>>16349743
The first book is pretty much a war movie. It's more focused starting with book 2.

>>16349702
Joke's on you, Canticle is great and one of my favorite books (idk what the sequel's title is but I haven't read it)

>>16349743
It's a journal to be perused by the company, so yeah, Croaker is not narrating for your pleasure and he knows the people in his company a lot. You'll get used to or just drop it a few characters after they sail to the North.
I had 2 or 3 false starts because the opening line has some atrocious prose. Muh forkavalaka with black things, fort and barracks and the syndic. Truly a mess and the names are not particularly imaginative. The Books of the South and all that Hindi sounding bullshit certainly did not improve this.

>>16349771
It's crazy he dictated this to a computer because he was almost blind.
I also noticed how he gave most exchanges between two characters a 'ping pong' feel by matching and pacing the "x said, <line>" and "<line>, replied x" tags. Might be accidental, but I caught my eyes focusing on the dialogue itself going back and forth across the page.

>>16349743
that's his writing style for Croaker, he changes annalists throughout the series but if you don't like it then you might as well stop now

I never had any trouble at all understanding what was going on personally

>>16349817
But my problem is how it seems the author is goes out of his way to tell you the absolute bare minimum needed to follow what is going on. And I'm not talking about the lack of descriptions, it's actually refreshing. I don't need three pages to describe a bookshelf. But a sentence or two here or there to introduce new names or provide some fucking hint as to why they might be worth remembering seems like common courtesy. He introduces main characters and plot points as briefly with the same level of effort as passing background details, and it makes it really fucking hard to follow.

>>16349915
you're caring way too much about this

these are war veterans, soldiers are constantly coming and going and it's not worth getting overly attached to most of them. your mistake is in believing every new name IS worth remembering because some just aren't. put yourself in the shoes of a hardened veteran and think to yourself if you would spend time explaining every single new recruit who comes along who might be gone in a week

there aren't really main characters outside of Croaker, just some recurring and long-lasting ones, and you have to be patient, they will absolutely be explored in time

honestly it just sounds like its not for you

I'm free to read what I want now.
What should I read next from this pic?

>>16349932
Because I wasted money and time and I wanted to like it, but it's less fun to read than most non fiction at this point. The only way this book makes sense is by getting a PDF and using ctrl + F to backtrack when they start dropping names they never really clearly introduced. Like this "Limper" faggot. Is he an enemy? An ally? Competition? Or are you supposed to be confused about it? If he's so powerful (when they found piles of melted bodies they implied the Limper was way stronger than they are) but at the same time, they are there to finish the job the Limper couldn't? And they randomly lash the Limper's messenger, and kill some of his men for loli rape. It's just confusing. Plus it's not clear at all what the relations are between the lady, the soul catcher, the limper, or anyone else for that matter. I don't need to know everything about everyone, but a basic idea of friend/foe and hierarchy would be nice instead of only finding out when people start dying.

Which reminds me, the introduction for that raven character was a fucking train wreck. It basically reads like some 14 year old's deviant art fan fiction. I get it, he's dark and mysterious and murders people... In broad daylight, unchallenged by all as if he's royalty or something. It's just dumb.

>>16350011
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ6nI8S7MQs

>>16350019
You don't know how easy that would be with an e-reader.
At any rate, a quick check on the first book shows the second chapter is about introducing the Taken, which are famous wizards. Soulcatcher is one. Lady is one. Limper is one. He's called that because he has a limp, obviously. Limper is mentioned in relation to being an important official and wizard more than a dozen of times throughout this second chapter.

Maybe try reading and paying attention to the words? Maybe try imagining how the top officials in a civilization built on dominion and absolute power (to the point they forced the company to betray their millennia old custom of honoring a contract) have some internal rifts and clashes of power, like what you'd find in the military except a hundred times worse? Read more, complain less. Or drop the book. Who cares.

someone legit got filtered by fucking Black Company

didnt know it was possible to be this much of a brainlet

Im finally gonna give Once and Future King a go after sitting on my backlog for a long time

Im in a dangerously depressed mood from going back to work so I hope this book isn't depressing or I'll be suicidal

>>16349743
Sounds like you're a complete brainlet that can't understand anything but extremely basic third person narratives.

Words are hard. Sentences are diamond. Caring about either is carbon nanotube.

Playing mass effect atm and wanting some sci fi recs. Hopefully more focused on the comfy exploring the galaxy on a sweet ass ship with an interesting crew rather than fighting a universe ending threat. Planetary exploration, finding ancient alien ruins, that kind of thing

>>16350980
Star Trek?

any good new soft scifi lately?

>>16349743
i didnt like it either, but not for your reasons. if the main badguy can just look at a person and make them serve him, why dosent he just do that to everyone he comes across?

>>16349743
I am still on book one and I really like the writing and prose, but as others have mentioned storywise it reads more like (impersonal) journal which is boring.

consider reading the xeelee sequence

Are the two sequels any good my friends?

hi guys, killing myself. thanks for all the book reccomondations except for the shithead who rec'd the expanse, it was just The Stars My Destination but bad and terrible.

Thanks for the good memories, my wrist is already leaking the life blood

>>16351372

ok not really but fuck you expanse rec guy

>>16347634
That's a LeGuin quotation, you absolute fucking braindead retard. Imagine thinking goodreads is a reliable source for quotes.

>>16351351
I didn't like book 2 but I thought 3 wrapped the story up really well

All the collections of Conan i download have books by schmucks other than Howard, am I supposed to read those too?

>>16351351
Book 2 is just a setup for book 3, if you are really interested in the world go for it but book 1 is definitely the best

>>16341569
Dilate

>>16351577
No, read only REH. Get this collection.

>>16347634
t. low IQ subhuman

>>16345920
>conanfag
>not faggot
nice joke. I am not even him btw.

>>16348907
Why are you tolkienfags so insecure?

>>16348741
Go back to /tv/ brainlet.

>>16351372
I hope you succeeded.

>>16351399
>>16351624
Thank you friends

I want to read a story where the protagonist is unfamiliar with the world, not exactly a fish out of water story
I just want to experience the wonder of discovering/understanding and exploring an unknown world/civilization

any recommendations?

>>16350980
Well, Mass Effect kinda ripped off Revelation Space so you could start with that.
>>16351875
Senlin Ascends

>>16351875
A Nomad of the Time Streams

>>16351875
death gate cycle

This is the biggest blue balls I saw for teh year. All that pussy footing around, and HE NEVER FUCKS THE RABBIT.

I'm surprised nobody has written a cyberpunk story about a company who dominates the cybernetic augmentation business being founded and run by a staunch anti transhumanist who has a kill switch built into all his augmentations and at the end he activates it and kills all the cybogs

>>16352724

>>16337095
We don't want your kind in our community. Science Fiction and Fantasy are inclusive, progressive genres. Go read "If you Were a Dinosaur, My Love."

>>16352724
I'm surprised nobody has developed a website about about anatolian cave paintings who dominates the
imageboard business being founded and run by a staunch anti-privacy extremist who has a reveal switch built into all the posts and at the end he activates it and sends all your posts to your government and everyone you know.

>>16351875
Dune

>>16353087
sucks

>>16353087
>le feints within feints within plans within plans within feints within plans within duncan within catgirls within lizard girls within le wormo emperor of the golden path
nah

>>16352826
You will never be a woman.

>>16353399
You will never be with a woman.

Thread Ends.

>>16353637
then make a new one you fucking faggot.

>>16353602
You will never come up with a new insult.

THREAD FOR HOT AND SUCCESSFUL USERS ONLY
>>16353687
>>16353687
>>16353687
>>16353687
>>16353687

>>16353309
>>16353138
trannies getting filtered. Good.

>>16353087
Based
>>16353309
>>16353138
t. drooling retards

>>16353776
>let me samefag anyone who talks down my shit like if there are more than one of me
>t. not the conanfag, I swear ;)

>>16353868
wtf are you even talking about retard?
what does Conan has to do with Dune?

>>16341599
I wonder how many different books you haven't read that you blame the "downfall of the genre" on.

>>16353890
sffg was the downfall of the genre.

>>16353875
/sffg/ has an anon who is a in-the-closet homosexual (I'm not kidding) who gets extremely stressed out and upset whenever Conan is brought up because mental images of Conan causes him to question his sexuality. I'm not making any of this up. He has complained numerous times over the PORTRAYAL of Conan as muscular and masculine and no straight man secure in his sexuality would ever have a problem with any male character being portrayed as such.

>>16353967
I think there are multiple autists like that, but in this case I don't understand what Conan has to do with my post.

>>16353985
You are typing just like the conanfag, faggot.

>>16353967
>it's them who are gay, it's not me, I swear, it's them who are experiencing these things in detail, how I know what they are feeling? It's not that I experience them.

>>16354046
and you are typing like a tranny faggot.

>>16354051
It's not me who looks for books specifically about half naked muscular men on the cover, or for fanart about half naked muscular men. Faggot.

>>16354065
again what does Conan have to do with Dune you absolute low IQ subhuman?