/lit/ - Literature

What would he think of Patrick Rothfuss?

>17145777
>17145777
>17145777
I RENOUNCE HAKKER

Test

SFF published in 2020 and read by /sffg/
Group Members: 293
Members Who Read At Least 1 2020 SFF: 42 (14%)
Unique books read: 79
Only 1 Read: 64/79 (81%)
Total Read: 124

Top 5 Published In 2020 SFF Readers
Anon1 18
Anon2 14
Anon3 11
Anon4 6
Anon5 6 (private account, may be more)

Top 5 Most Read Published In 2020 SFF Books
Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive, #4) Sanderson, Brandon 8
The Trouble with Peace (The Age of Madness, #2) Abercrombie, Joe 7
Peace Talks (The Dresden Files, #16) Butcher, Jim 7
Wintersteel (Cradle, #8) Wight, Will 6
Dawnshard (The Stormlight Archive, #3.5) Sanderson, Brandon 5

For full details: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/21822072-sff-published-in-2020-and-read-by-sffg

Top 10 Most Read For The Year (Of my friends list, which is ~1/2 the group, and I didn't look what the "books" were)
... has surpassed his challenge of 100 books by reading 174 books.
... has surpassed his challenge of 100 books by reading 135 books.
... has surpassed their challenge of 100 books by reading 130 books.
... has surpassed his challenge of 100 books by reading 107 books.
... has read 99 of 100 books
... has read 97 of 100 books.
... has read 94 of 100 books.
... has surpassed his challenge of 52 books by reading 93 books.
... surpassed their challenge of 80 books by reading 90 books.
... surpassed his challenge of 30 books by reading 86 books.

Lastly, has Bakkerposting had an effect on the group?
3 read the first book this month and rated it 5 stars.
1 read it and didn't rate it.
1 is currently reading it
2 added it to-read
So, I guess it has. 13 had already read it, so 4 more in a month seems to be an effect.
This isn't unexpected, as seen from Cradle being one of the top read 2020 books.
Constant exposure (spamming) does seem to have some effect, as I've noted before.

>>17148020
Is it normal to want to become a sci-fi and fantasy author, and yet have zero interest in reading other people’s sci-fi and fantasy books?

>>17148594
Probably not, most writers read a lot. Usually in their preferred genre.

>>17148594
That's because you're a narcissist.

>>17148783
yes and...?

>>17145777

TRUTH SHINES

Just finished Use of Weapons. I liked Consider Phlebas and Player of Games more, but the structure of Use of Weapons kept it fairly interesting. I think the culture series would easily make a better tv series than the foundation trilogy.

>>17148783
>narcissist on 4chan
Whoa, no way!

Basically every poster on this site is narcissistic.

>>17149571
why is that?
we have nothing to feel superior about?

>>17149585
I don't think narcissism is inherently rational, anon.

>>17149694
>rationalists can't be narcissists

>>17149707
retard

I enjoy "rationalist" fiction, but strictly ironically.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXARrMadTKk

>>17149754
hpmor was unironically a great though

>>17148037
Would think he's a faggot.

>>17148594
ngmi

>>17148490
Thank you, data anon.
The increase in bakkerposting may be attributed to the two /tg/ bakker threads from a couple of weeks ago and a subsequent increase in crossboarders. Trust me, i'm one of them

>>17148020
https://www.deviantart.com/uthp/journal/The-Legend-of-Twilight-Zelda-Princess-part-I-348420007

I'm embarrassed that it took me ~80 pages to realise this was YA.

>>17150105
This is the ~48th time you've posted this, this month. Stop spamming.

>>/lit/?task=search&search_text=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.deviantart.com%2Futhp%2Fjournal%2FThe-Legend-of-Twilight-Zelda-Princess-part-I-348420007

>>17148490
i also read cradle because of this general and as a result left the general for many months, concluding (correctly) that the recommenders had shit taste.

Fuck E William Brown

>>17150338
You shouldn't have returned.

>>17150319
I thought it was a meme to post this every thread

>>17149982
>>>17148037
>Would think he's a faggot.

A cucked faggot that can't get shit done. He still hasn't finished his third book, which he already completed a manuscript for. He lacks the confidence to release what he has. He is also a confirmed cuck which is why the main character is in love with a prostitute.

>>17150474
>He is also a confirmed cuck which is why the main character is in love with a prostitute.
would you feel differently about his books if he wasn't a cuck?

>>17150488
why would I want to consume cuck media? Its the same thing about orcs in media. I want people like me in the media I consume. Let the orcs and the cucks support the degenerate media.

The king sits atop his throne.

>>17150573
>why would I want to read a book about murder? I'm a good upstanding citizen who respects the law and human life
if it weren't current year I'd dismiss this as bait easily. I really feel like I'm losing my grip on reality lately.

>>17148037
Would think he is a crappy author like everyone else

>>17150599
One can be interested in books about crime without having criminal desires, but unless you're a cuck you won't like reading about cuckoldry.

>>17150578
damn, sloots really love bakker, eh?
if i start writing perverse grimdark novels will i get a nerdy goth gf too...?

>>17150578
Do you think he had a 3sum with the two to his right, forming the basis of the “Esmenet joins Serwë and Kellhus in bed” subplot in TWP?

>>17150661
>>17150695
http://ofblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/wotmania-files-interview-with-r-scott.html
>That pic
>You just know

>>17150338
Cradle is rec'd not because its actually good but because its one of the relatively better chinkshit novels.
That being said, fuck you for not enjoying Wei Shi Lindon's Incestous Hero's Journey

>>17150380
from the few days i've been back it doesn't seem to have improved, maybe i should dip out for a few more months to put some more distance between sandersons latest gigantic dump of a book. i kinda hope bakker is confirmed alive so everyone shuts the fuck up about him, or dead, i really don't care.

>>17150791
he's not on a hero's journey, he's set up as a clever manipulator type of fighter and then successively fails, over and over, while the mary sue takes care of every problem, or the other god-like figure. if it was actually about the main character and wasn't written so poorly it might be decent, as is it's like a 4/10 in a genre that is an ocean of 1/10s, so i guess it's exceptional in that regard. still shit.

>>17150578
This picture makes me sad for some reason.... like it was one of his fleeting moments of happiness. He's probably dead now (???) or else he cut himself off completely from the world for whatever reason. In any case, his days of being a hot, talked-about author are likely over. So it's melancholy to see this picture and think of the good times gone by.


"Does it trouble you, Proyas?"
"D-does what... what trouble me?"
"To know that Bakker burns in Hell."

>>17150653
>>>17150599
>One can be interested in books about crime without having criminal desires, but unless you're a cuck you won't like reading about cuckoldry.

yeah cuckoldry is worse than murder. Orcs are worse than murders. Its pretty simple to understand.

hey /sffg/, its been a while since I was a regular. What's going on, is everyone still sandershitting and praising the pringles-maker?

>>17150907
it's general caner, what do you expect? this time around next year there will probably be 5-10 more of these on /lit/, making up 80% of the boards traffic, and they'll all be horrible.

>>17150930
hm, I'm not going to deny that the rest of /lit/ has metastasized but it doesn't look like the problem is /sffg/ related. The cancerous shit I've seen lately has been the shift from elitist discussions of literature and philosophy to poltardation and religious fundamentalism that has nothing to do with literature.

>>17150930
This general has been around for years and it remains the only dedicated genre general on the board.

>>17151001
>elitist discussions of literature and philosophy
This hasn't existed on /lit/ except arguably near the start of the board's existence. Actual elitists stopped coming here when pseuds and instagram faggots took over the board.

>>17151001
those kinds of problems come and go, but once you have a right wing lit general, a catholicism general, a communism general and so on, fotm becomes permanent. as new fads come and go they keep piling up.

>>17151012
you could always just make a new thread whenever you have something fantasy-related you want to discuss. that's how imageboards are supposed to be used.

>>17151024
pseuds are just what we call elitists who are smug about literature and academics. there's no distinction to make because elitism never left, it's permeated 4chan since its inception, because this is the only environment that's toxic enough to allow it to exist in every rung in the pecking order

>>17151102
wrong, pseudism is empty posturing, talking out of your ass and hoping you get away with it and impress someone. elitism is making sure people don't get away with being pseuds while in your presence.

>>17148020
Icehenge - Kim Stanley Robinson (1984)

This is a fix-up novel in three parts and it suffers from it, though not by much. As was typical of the time, the Soviet Union plays a role. Much like imagining the end of capitalism*, it was conventional wisdom that the Soviet Union wouldn't collapse, until it did. Although the text wears its influences proudly through its references, one would need to know what its referencing, either through personal experience or research. I found it to be interesting that the book is ambiguous on whether it's metafictional or a fictional historical account of the future and leaves up that entirely up to the reader's preference. If it seems reminiscent of Ursula K. LeGuin, it is to me, that's because KSR presented this to her as a rough draft for a writing workshop she taught. The relationships between authors is something I find fascinating, but not enough to make even a casual study of it.
In this society, the story of which begins in 2248, people expect to be able to live a millennium, though by the end the oldest alive are in their 500s, and they begin to doubt that sort of life expectancy. Many pages are spent musing about the nature of memory and the self and how the limitations of both are revealed as the centuries pass. This is an age where most write autobiographies now and again to inform the strangers that are their future selves of the people they used to be.
Part One is an entirely standard and solid science fiction story of a female space engineer thrust into dramatic events of dire consequence involving an asteroid mining vessel and the Martian government. Its primary purpose is for the benefit of the second and third stories.
Part Two is about a Martian archeologist concerned with the events of the Part One. It becomes rather existential and alternates between self-reverence and self-abdication. The nature of the creation of history as an active process is also discussed, mostly about its fallibility. Several pages are spent describing his daily bathhouse orgies, which I have to wonder if they were included due to LeGuin's influence from The Left Hand of Darkness. These are by no means the only relationships of his described.
Part Three features a descendant of protagonist of Part Two whose life goal is discover the secret history that his forefather declined to pursue to its end. This displeases the forefather. This part is concerned entirely with the ultimate unknowability of the past and that what we consider as history is simply a succession of preferred narratives, if not outright lies and fabrications.
Ending Quote: "We dream, we wake on a cold hillside, we pursue the dream again. In the beginning was the dream, and the work of disenchantment never ends."
All too true, unfortunately.

Rating: 3.5/5

The cover has an endorsement by Gene Wolfe.

*Imagining the End of Capitalism With KSR
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/10/kim-stanley-robinson-ministry-future-science-fiction

>>17151123

>>17151102
An elitist is somebody that can hold a conversation about literature because they actually read, but you'd rather not talk to them because they're insufferable. A pseud cannot have a discussion about literature because they don't actually read anything, and instead they talk about their own status instead.

>>17151134
kys newcancer, get off my board-lawn

>>17151102
>pseuds are just what we call elitists who are smug about literature and academics
Wrong. Pseuds are not elitists, they are poseurs pretending to be elitists. Elitists might be obnoxious cunts but they are at least well read and have an actual intellect to stand on, pseuds do not even have that.

>>17151146
have sex incel.

>>17151140
>>17151148
this is a distinction I can get behind. The elitist intentionally withholds or obfuscates the knowledge they possess to lord it over people and make themselves feel important, while the pseud witholds or obfuscates to hide the fact that they don't know shit.

>>17151202
and what of the shitposter who neither obfuscates nor pretends, but rather posts senseless non sequiturs ad nauseam in order to confuse, amuse, and infuriate others?

Is The Wheel of Time the best high fantasy series?

>>17151248
that's just a troll. An actual troll.

let's be honest, the word troll has lost all purpose at this point. People use it to mean anyone who's an asshole when it just used to mean "someone who goes out of their way to confuse or annoy people". Now there are people stuck in the mindset that anyone deemed a troll is just trying to get a reaction when most are legitimate psychopaths with no standards who deserve to spend the rest of their lives in solitary

>>17151271
Is the Wheel of Time another name for Twilight? If not, no

>>17151248
They are the Absolute.

>>17151271
No. Bakker.

t. Canadian Black Sabbath fan

>>17151321
please tell us you're still alive there, buddy

when is the No-God coming out?? you've had all of quarantine to write it. if the (((publishers))) are still being dicks, just send me the pdf and i promise i'll venmo you your weed money directly.

*Subtle quickening of the pulse; an increase in heart beat. Sweat slowly built upon his brow*

"You speak in the way of a Disney villain" the Sandersoy said, "you speak like a neck beard."

"Not true!" The Bakkerfag licked his lips, "I speak with the divine prose of The God, The God! Don't you see? Sanderson's prose is capeshit drivel!"

"No." Sandersoy boomed, his voice powerful, as if the whole of the Cosmere could not contain it, "you speak only for yourself, anon. You see in his autistic writings your autism reflected. This is truly why you hate Sanderson."

Sandersoy paused. The crippling blow had been placed, and insight struck with more force when it clarified confusion. It was only a matter of timing.

"W-what nonsense is this?!?" The Holy-Shill screeched.

"You thought to exalt yourself by raising Bakker as a god. You post his passages and play them off as transcendent. You must elevate his autism to suffer your own. Only when Sanderson is posted, is the truth revealed. Your weakness is exposed with nothing to hide it. It is reflected back at you, and you hate. You do not truly hate Sanderson, you hate yourself."

Fully, and utterly undone, anon wept in the glory of the Mormon shill.

/sffg/, what seems like a more interesting science-fantasy premise for a setting?

>shit is getting weird because the fabric of space is cracking as it and the laws of physics undergo a phase transition
>shit is getting weird because an eldritch fetus enclosed the setting in an even horizon and trying to digest the laws of physics within the sphere as if it's an egg yolk


>>17150272
who gives a fuck if it's YA? the point of reading SFF is having fun, not being a smug bitch about it

>>17151321
I’m honestly kinda turned off by the cover of the Bakker books. But if they’re good I’ll look into them

>>17151373
kek

>throws shit at your general

>>17151394
You don’t like the saga of men trapped in dinner plates?

>>17151373
based

>>17151271
I enjoyed it a lot. Really comfy series tbqhwyf.

Tell me about this so called "chinkshit"

>>17151957
Chinese mangos.

>>17151390
egg

>>17151957
it sounds like a pokemon. A steel type resembling the retarded chicken from moana in a suit of medeival plate armor. Maybe it evolves into a cockatrice that's an equal mix of castle and dragon called bastilleisk

>>17152009
Wait, I thought I was reading books this entire time!
>>17151390
>who gives a fuck if it's YA?
Me, fuck YA and fuck teenage romance

> “Those times, in his youth, when she had awakened him in the heart of night, stroking his cock, tormenting him with pleasure, cooing into his tongue-wet ear: “Emperor Xerius . . . Can you feel it, my lovely, godlike son?” She had been so beautiful then.”

Bakker wtf dude?

>>17151957
'Bugman fantasy' does a pretty good job of summing it up. Fantasy written by the bugman stereotype, and everything that comes with it; autistic dialogue, powerlevel-shit, blatant stacking of the deck for the protagonist. Usually just collecting jutsus while refusing to fuck a female that loves you (because you act like a mentally stilted spastic around her for like 20 minutes).

Low quality goofy shit basically, only with none of the redeeming funny autism a lot of Western authors have (using Bakker as an example here).

>>17148594
All the best writers were voracious readers.

>>17150578
So... that's as good as it gets huh?

>>17152274
Imperial mommy-son oedipal fun is about as wholesome and consensual as Bakman gets desu

>>17152320
Arthur Schopenhauer:
When we read, another person thinks for us: we merely repeat his mental process. It is the same as the pupil, in learning to write, following with his pen the lines that have been pencilled by the teacher. Accordingly, in reading, the work of thinking is, for the greater part, done for us. This is why we are consciously relieved when we turn to reading after being occupied with our own thoughts. But, in reading, our head is, however, really only the arena of some one else’s thoughts. And so it happens that the person who reads a great deal—that is to say, almost the whole day, and recreates himself by spending the intervals in thoughtless diversion, gradually loses the ability to think for himself; just as a man who is always riding at last forgets how to walk. Such, however, is the case with many men of learning: they have read themselves stupid. For to read in every spare moment, and to read constantly, is more paralysing to the mind than constant manual work, which, at any rate, allows one to follow one’s own thoughts. Just as a spring, through the continual pressure of a foreign body, at last loses its elasticity, so does the mind if it has another person’s thoughts continually forced upon it. And just as one spoils the stomach by overfeeding and thereby impairs the whole body, so can one overload and choke the mind by giving it too much nourishment. For the more one reads the fewer are the traces left of what one has read; the mind is like a tablet that has been written over and over. Hence it is impossible to reflect; and it is only by reflection that one can assimilate what one has read if one reads straight ahead without pondering over it later, what has been read does not take root, but is for the most part lost. Indeed, it is the same with mental as with bodily food: scarcely the fifth part of what a man takes is assimilated; the remainder passes off in evaporation, respiration, and the like.

>>17152345
This is why you should engage critically with what you read and try to integrate it as a living component of your understanding of the world.

>>17152345
>just as a man who is always riding at last forgets how to walk
Check out Big Brain Art over here; thinks people forget how to walk if they got a nice ride. Completely at odds with any current neuroscience (and with the increasingly relevant analogy provided by machine learning). All truly great writers were voracious readers.

>>17148020
Bridge of Birds is great.
Sequels were good too.
Such a bummer he never wrote more.

Am I a chinkshit eater if I enjoyed Unsouled and The Poppy War?

>>17152499
Yes, because that's what you want to think about yourself.

>>17152507
>, because that's what you want to think about yourself
Please explain/psychoanalyze me on this

>>17152499
The Poppy War sounds like ass but you might like A Thousand Li.

>>17152499
Unsouled is written by a white guy, so no. Poppy war though....

>>17150474
>he is also a confirmed cuck
Source?

>>17150578
Those bitches are ugly as sin

>>17150818
I don’t think you’ve read cradle. Or maybe you just didn’t understand it. Either way you sound like a massive faggot

I just reread the entirety of cradle in the last two weeks give or take.
Ask me anything.

Also, I admit I was wrong about Yerin skipping advancement. Sages and Heralds are more of a title than an advancement. And Yerin and Lindon earned their titles respectively. The the book doesn't exactly spell out what Lindon is. Only that he manifested the void symbol.

After rereading the series, I noticed just how far back everything was foreshadowed. Now I suspect that Will Wight actually had most of the story figured out since the very beginning. Because the foundation he laid for this story is incredibly solid.

>>17152904
If you read his blog he says he ha not idea this would be popular and that he didn't have any idea past the first book at first.

>>17150578
The second one on his right is a doll.

>>17152345
Schopenhack a fag.

>>17150578
Why is everyone dressed the same?

>>17150771
>Derrida in the early days - I spent several years as a 'branch Derridean

kek

>>17153222
it was the style at the time

>>17153068
Really? Certainly fooled me. It all fits together so well. The one thing that feels a little off is Mercy's character is kind of floundering without any real motivation of her own. It kind of feels like Will Wight was setting up a love triangle, then backed off, and now doesn't know what to do with her. So she's just kind of vaguely infatuated with Lindon, but that's not going anywhere. And she was supposed to be the strongest in the party, but now she's behind in advancement. So she's lost her identity.

But perhaps as she advances to overlady and archlady, she'll learn more about herself and her place in the world. Right now, there is a potential rivalry between Mercy and Malice. They could go that direction. Or they could show how someone as sweet as Mercy eventually turns into someone as sour as Malice for the sake of the family. Or maybe something else I haven't thought of. I just want her to do something already.

Since the next book is titled bloodlines, I suspect that it's going to focus a lot on family, and bloodline powers. Which is something that hasn't really been explored, despite being mentioned so frequently. Aurelius with their sight. Akura with their armor. The Jai clan, which I suspect have some kind of latent power. Because remember how Jai Chen was creating realistic dragons? That's another mystery unsolved. How was she so skilled at such a thing? Jai Long and Jai Chen are now teaming up with Kelsa and Orthos. So I think we're going to see more from the Jai siblings. And we might even see what Kelsa is capable of eventually. She'll manifest whatever ability her bloodline is capable of.

Since the Wandering Titan is headed for Sacred Valley, I feel like a lot is going to happen there next book. This is a pretty wild prediction. But I think the giant script circle that suppresses the power in sacred valley is not only keeping whatever sleeps below the ruins in check, it's also suppressing the bloodline ability of the sacred valley. I think something is going to happen to disturb the script, and a powerful ability will awaken amongst the people of the sacred valley. Enabling them to at least put up a fight in trying to protect their homes.

The dreadgod known as the Silent King sleeps there. And it's said that he's the most subtle of the dreadgods. And it makes sense that a bunch of dream artists specializing in illusions would be the ones who worshiped such a being. They were probably isolated there along with their god, so as to keep him asleep. Or conversely. They chose such a prison, in order to protect their god from being bothered, while it waits for the right time to come back.

I'm sorry for rambling. I'm just excited about the possibilities.

>>17153211
I thought so too. I picture Esmenet looking a bit like her.

>>17150578
I think this pic is from like 2004-5, his golden years. I think the chick on his shoulder is his wife. God knows what happened to him, I think he's like 53 now. His blog is filled with long-winded miserablist philosophy and neuroscience rants, some of which he's published in philosophy journals. His last update was February 2020, hope the covid didn't get him. Or maybe finishing TUC took so much out of him that he's entered a post-creative catatonia.

If you're out there Scott, hope you're alright, hope the Dolour didn't take you. Your Zaudunyani await your return.

>>17148594
Most of it is shit.

>>17152359
Artie was an autistic weirdo, not much better than some more verbose or less retarded posters here. He should be ignored.

I need something new to read but I can't remember the last time I really enjoyed picking up a new series or standalone.

Sanderson, Pratchet, Dinoshit, Literally Whos, all of them just bore me. I need something new to look forward to

>>17153359
maybe try kane by karl edward wagner, some of the editions are pozzed tho, like they edit out where kane calls a woman a bitch, gotta check the reviews

Critique my opening?

The ~Lord Sun~ fell, and 513 of his limbs splashed open over the imblued Ilbátine snow.
And they cast down his form he used for meals and for rites, down his sacred doll he had secreted beneath a pomegranate tree (his ancelle knew where it lay), down his truer body yet housing his soul in truth, buried beneath the black-marble floor of his wardrobe (he had told her where it lay), and for good measure they cast down his spares he held for visitations & for excursions, his sphingic & his seirenic & all his others.
And the dolls of the god hung from the million bannerpoles of his mantles, dripped over the earth, and decayed unprecedentedly. His silver bones fell from each other, his holy ankles & his holy wrists, and his lovely limbs quivered, lengthened, & loosened. His synthetic bloods leaked out from his electric flesh like the juice of a bitten citrus. The sweet milk his dusky eyn were now barely still weeping seeped askew down his paled cheeks or up his amber brows to his damp blue hair, fell in streams & droplets, and solidified among the snowflakes.
His fourteen-wingèd seraphic bees, the honeycombs they worked & the bitter plants they fed upon, ornaments of his scarves & gowns, were shattered under the cruel gaunt air. And the lamps of his crowns suffocated, the robotic arms from his helms in the fashion of Laníc writhed & died, and the down dripped from his royal cidars.
From the dayship they shot down adamantine bullets and unfolded javelins at him & each of him.
And then they went down and cracked the Tiercel’s sacred spine with bayonets. Out leaked his inhuman seed, and it killed the breathgiving algæ that resided in the frozen waters & milks below.
The dec*y of the god adored at each hour, ~Ríddu Ëttámo~ hight of the Earthmen ~Atom Pray~, he who had erected blush ~Sighmíd~, and princely ~Sháo~ & ~Tifúníd~ and all the Joycen-gods save ~H’áru thyl Lúsác~, he who brought breath & water to the plains of the night, who drafted first the ships & towers & sides of the Spacemen, who concilated to us Stars & Planets & Moons, he who would wed himself to Black Space like God—
The work of the Earthman, Frederik Absalon, the Scythian.

>>17153454
Terrible bait.

>>17153454
Eighty-seven years later ~Suyíll~ came to the capital system. This is the secret message he spoke from the Nightship Years Sempitern, to each of the gods around our Áwinn Ancúri. He uttered their hidden verses of authenticity to each, a voice crying out from the radio within the golden flower with a dragon’s face:
//Afgod ~Suyíll in Nightship Years Sempitern, in the House of Pillars, in our Western Heaven. I speak to dear gods, to Adder & to Tiercel, and not to grave or mortal shiplord, and least of all to a Nightling.
//A harrowing of your holy hearts.
//Space King ~Ríddu Ëttámo~ hath proclaimed himself dired, proclaimed himself as if he were dired. An unprecedented alarm in three tongues & five quasi-tongues avers this; in the very tongues & quasi-tongues of ~Ríddu Ëttámo~, Deathless. And I with my very six eyn have seen the true corpse mangled upon the snow.
//His ships came to the orbits of Lady Sun Sapt’íd upon year 26,246, in his name of the Duke of Milk. He came to give garment & nutrient to the houses on Ilbátíd, came to conjugate there with the Greenduke. And he did these things.
//But there was a ship orbiting there. It had came from your Great Earth, embassying there & awaiting him. ~Lúsád~ had seen it, but she had not touched it. It was held by Scythians in the name of an unknown Son of the ~Sun~. And the ~Lord Syntheosis Sun~ met their captains above Ilbátíd, within the dayship of his Myriad Centuries.
//One of these Earthmen did seize upon him, somehow. He defiled the ~Lord Sun’s~ image-bodies, somehow. And he despoiled the king’s secret body, Deathless, somehow. An alarm in three tongues & five quasi-tongues has avered this; his own tongues & quasi-tongues. With mine own six eyn I have seen his true corpse mangled upon the snow, and the fluid of his foreign spine there spilt.
//And this Scyth then betook himself up to the nightship of Myriad Centuries. And there he was safe, for he brought with him bodies of the Tiercel. This ship of the ~Lord Sun~ could not shoot where its lord’s organs pulsed—the slayer was sanctified by the sanctity of his slain.
//I gave Lady Sapt’íd her requisite honey, and I shot the Lady Night her necessary rams. I raised the fusions and I have journeyed for eighty-seven years to this our Lady Rímiád Ríamoác and to her Áwinn of the gods, to tell these things to you.
//A harrowing of your holy hearts.//
Further details were subtransmitted. And then ~Suyíll~ went silent, and long occupied himself walking in circles, drinking hot drinks & libating hot libations.

>>17153462
And Tiercel ~Sháo~, Lord of Adder ~Tifúníd~ and of her Miu Miríc, was in his dayship within the atmosphere of Áwinn, alit upon a tower in the green mountains of his country there. The pillar-windowed garden-hall was flooded on three sides by the light & wind of the sea-white midday, and he was arrayed with his green-tunicked patricians and the blue-lipped cantrices of his shiprace, and his white-masked nanservants craned their backs there as well. When ~Suyíll~ had hailed, ~Sháo~ leaned from his throne, intent with a black-stocking’d leg advanced. And when he had heard what was said, he covered his face with both his hands and the lunar lamp of his crown covered itself with its hands as well.
The song of his presence became like a shriek or a sigh.
I turned my head north, and I was blinded by the sun Rímiád’s light . If I ran back to my bedroom, still I would see dear ~Ríddu’s~ little hebene idol at the peak of my shrine. Thus I knew there was yet a ~Ríddu~ in the deep, as there had been in the days of Dead Westernesse.
But as for the livinger image of that distant god, that beautiful sweet electric-fleshed amber-crowned azure-haired sovran wreathed with lovely light who spat out our sanctities & ejaculated out our law—I had known, or rather I had been told, that he existed in another ship, around another sun if this was indeed not the only sun, a hundred or three thousand years—eighty-seven, it now seemed—so many years away even with all the fusions of a Joycen-god’s ship aflame. I had never seen him. And now a god said that he had been lost, lost like a darling ewe drowned in a wild river, as it is said to happen on old worlds. This was all very strange.
Across the hall that golden image & scarf-sigil of the Afgod ~Suyíll~ had by now folded away.
The ~Lord Void~ then uncovered his face. Milky tears were streaming down his cheeks. He extended two fingers and gently swiped the tears up, and presssed their moisture to his lips and tongue. He did not spit.
“Are these then the same tears my Father has wept on Ilbatíd. Is he longer able to weep them there.” These were things he said, not asked.
“It will be not be accepted. I will give no alteration in dear titlings or holy rites. Certainly I do not believe our Father would not fall like so. He’s merely tricking his enemies for some hidden will. Or he’s tricking us his children among the gods. Or some of us.
And I shall obey that will of his, though its end is not discerned. I will feign before all and act as I would were he so weakened. Which is to say, I will pretend as if I had heard this claim not at all, and thus I will divulge & promulgate it not. But also, I will prepare as if it were true. What else is my piety.” And he shivered.
With this he justified himself. Machine-arms descended from his crown and tapped at keyboards.

>>17153467
After another moment: “And so I will swear: As ~Ríddu Ëttámo~ lives for us, lives for all life of our black seed and for the life of other seeds as well, I will swear: Against veins of ghislin, I will swear: I will not indicate this claim of ~Suyíll’s~ outside of this my own holy ship, not to kinsmen, nor to comrade ships, nor even to a Joycen-god yet unknowing, and least of all to Nightl*ngs. And as for any god or captain who lets it tell beyond their own house, against them I will take my spear. As ~Ríddu Ëttámo~ lives for us.”
He had someone fetch a great sacramental, teeming with twelve cloned spinal cords of traitors, surmounted by the saker of the grave. He grasped the curse-thing and dedicated it there, in the midst of the gardens, under the free white air, impaling it deep in the green earth. And I saw him make the oath. The wind that is his fluttered my hair and chafed my cheeks as he trembled. He kneeled down high under the liquor-dripping vertebræ, and they scraped his shoulders.
My name then was Áwainád-17 in Salivas Encompassed. I had breathed for 22 years in the span of 22 years, and there among the ~Lord Void’s~ hauntern I was a cantrice of the gods.

give me fantasy that's legitimately funny but is also good lovecraftian fiction in its own right

I've already read the John Dies at the End series, Johannes Cabal and the Library at Mount Char

>>17153482
Discworld.

>>17153489
other than discworld. I like every one of Pratchet's ideas but his execution never does it for me

>>17153474
fat infodump

>>17153521
Gaiman but he suffers from the same issues.

>>17153474
Absolute garbage.

>>17153461
Either that or a serious meme attempt to ape Bakker.

>>17153482
>I've already read the John Dies at the End series
You fucker, that was gonna be my rec.
Revival by King is a solid lovecraftian jaunt, but it's more horror than humor because, well, King. And all that that implies. It's a really specific niche you're shopping for, I wish there was more. Color me an edgy teenager, but JDATE has always been a personal favorite.

wight is taking a break so no cradle for a few extra months. maybe ill read the last 2 finally

>>17153711
>Color me an edgy teenager, but JDATE has always been a personal favorite.

For a minute I forgot the we were talking about John Dies At the End and thought you were suggesting that the funniest way to experience unknowable cosmic terror was to seek out desperate single cougars who look and sound like Fran Drescher and want to marry a doctor

> Tell me about Kellhus! Why does he wear the halo? Lotta loyalty for a False Prophet!
> Or perhaps he's wondering why someone would salt a man, before throwing him off the Upright Horn.

>>17153708
I've never read Bakker and I've found the samples of his prose I've seen disorienting. He seems to have ideas-centered dialogue with no attempt made at easy clarity (somewhat like Dune though moreso). If my writing is ornate, which it is, it comes from an emphasis on physical sensual imagery and pleasing (to me) prose per se, not on ideas or plot; I wouldn't compare it to any writer I know.

>>17153786
if you are >>17153454
>>17153462
There are some kino images like
>His synthetic bloods leaked out from his electric flesh like the juice of a bitten citrus
>Milky tears were streaming down his cheeks. He extended two fingers and gently swiped the tears up, and pressed their moisture to his lips and tongue. He did not spit.
But overall it's incomprehensible and comes off as utterly self-absorbed schizo rambling, sorry. Way too many imagistic descriptors, WAY too many made up words (comes off as trying to seem clever and confound the reader) but with very little meat on the bones. It seems like you're inspired by McCarthy (and Bakker, I agree, though you may not think so) in trying to create a psychedelic, vivid, highly symbolic prose. But you really need to step back and learn to edit yourself. This makes little sense, has no structure, communicates very little, and overall seems like the ramblings of an acid-tripping teen scrawled into a composition book. Needs a lot of refinement. Strip it down, see how much you can cut away, see if you can make a scene work with the bare minimum of information.

>>17153735
The confusing acronym is part of why I love it.

>>17148020
me in OP's pic :3

>>17153822
Most of your criticisms are more like encouragements, since the intent is to be arcane, ornate &c.
>It seems like you're inspired by McCarthy (and Bakker, I agree, though you may not think so) in trying to create a psychedelic, vivid, highly symbolic prose.
If there are any writers I'm trying to emulate, it's Virgil or Dante- and not so much them, but the impression of reading them without annotations, of abrupt submersion in the literature of an alien and highly religious culture.
>WAY too many made up words (comes off as trying to seem clever and confound the reader)
There are some obscure words like tiercel, cidar, ghislin &c. but I think that the functional meaning of those should be clear enough in context- a tiercel is a sort of god-king thing (precisely, it's a title for a male god), a cidar is a crown, ghislin is something unpleasant that goes in your veins.
I don't think it should be too difficult to tell what's meant by "bannerpole" or "nightship" either.
There are of course foreign names of persons and places, but these are unavoidable. (And these aren't in a made-up language per se either, it's a reconstruction (with some creativity) of Old Kingdom Ægyptian.)
The only properly made-up words are Laníc (which is a place-name, obviously, and that's all any reader should understand at this point) and nan (but it should eventually become clear that Nortal Nen are a race like Mortal Men are).
But I mean yes, the intent is absolutely to confound the reader, but not in an unfair way. There are some places where I think I have been a bit unfair- for instance, I should make clear when a deity is a star versus when they're one of the "Joycen-gods"
(I suppose Joycen, along with hauntern, doesn't fit in the above categories- they're terms leftover from an earlier paradigm when the linguistic games were even more complex. I haven't figured out how to render the concept yet in the paradigm yet.)
> This makes little sense, has no structure, communicates very little.
The structure is this:
*The god-king is dead on planet Ilbát. [It looked like this]. He was important and made the other gods and ruled the spacemen; he was killed by an Earthman.
*Some time later, one of his companion-gods reaches the capital system and gives a straightforward account of what happened.
*The god-king's son [in his estate on the capital planet with all his men] is SHOCKED when he hears the news. The narratrice tries to reconcile the death of the sun-god theologically. The son announces that he thinks his father is faking this for some sort of plot, and swears an oath where he threatens everyone else to keep this a secret (this amounts to everyone acting as if the god-king is still alive). The narratrice explains who she is (she's one of his hereditary retinue).
I should say that I have no intention of ever trying to publish this particular work; it's meant to cater to my tastes and no one else's.
I appreciate your engagement though!

>>17154019
>The structure is this:
If you have to explain what you just wrote in this way, it means your writing isn't communicating the necessary information.

Yes, you can say it's "supposed" to be obscure, but unless you're prepared to add a bunch of footnotes (which would defeat the purpose of your attempts), or have people disregard your story entirely, I recommend thinking a little more about actually communicating to the reader.

>>17154043
>>17154019
He said he doesn't care about the reader and his spewage is simply for his own masturbatory pastime; and yet he goes and posts 4 giant textwalls on /sffg/ asking for advice.
>palapatine_ironic.jpg
I also gather from his spelling and grammar the anon is underage and/or poorly educated and/or has some kind of drug habit.

>>17154052
He definitely picks up as as younger anon, and an enthusiastic but immature writer. I was the same way a long time ago, so I'm just saying my peace so he can get past that learning curve faster.

>>17154043
>If you have to explain what you just wrote in this way, it means your writing isn't communicating the necessary information.
I do agree that there are unwanted obscurities, especially in the second scene, which even I find terribly overcomplicated and difficult to follow.
Now that I think about it, I think the best course of action there is to remove the second scene altogether and rewrite the third scene so that it begins with a far clearer introduction to the narratrice and where & what things are, before showing the transmission from her perspective straight through. The playing with perspective I'm doing there is a bit much and is messing with my technique, and such games are alien to the literatures I'm emulating anyway.
>>17154052
I was more asking for reactions (with no small element of baiting), not actually expecting advice, I confess.
The reader I care about (and I do care about this reader, even though they must be decidedly rare) is one who finds this sort of thing interesting, not the pleb on the street.
>I also gather from his spelling and grammar the anon is underage and/or poorly educated and/or has some kind of drug habit.
All wrong, and I'm perplexed at where you're seeing much in the way of spelling & grammar errors.

>>17154150
I almost want to like you, but you seem exceedingly full of yourself and somewhat delusional. A little humility could help you a lot, anon.

>>17154158
I'm just unapologetic about my artistic intent.
I admit that I was baiting in posting it, what else can I do?

>>17154199
Just stop being an obnoxious cunt and post in the writing general if you want legitimate feedback.

>>17153767
You're a big Dûnyain

>>17154206
>post in the writing general if you want legitimate feedback.

>>17151271
High fantasy can't be THAT bad.

>>17150791
All books are good except Wintershit.
>boring gladiator-style battles that you can skip to their end without missing anything from the story
>lindon sad about not becoming uncrowned, like ALL THE FUCKING TIME
>lindon finds "smart" ways to becoming ultra stronk while all the other characters just work to get better
>mah 1000000000 simulations in lindon's head so that he knows exactly what his opponent will do

>>17152904
>Sages and Heralds are more of a title than an advancement
They're advancement ranks but most people nowadays in-universe are misled and believe you can only achieve one of these later in your ranks (after Archlord/Lady).
You have to advance to Herald to become a Monarch regardless so Herald isn't a mere title.

>>17154459
I would normally be the first one to criticize tournament arcs. Because they're the worst parts of Shonen. But the book really does a lot outside the tournament, as to make the fights only a portion of what is going on. They also explain a lot about various paths during the fights. Information that you haven't gotten elsewhere.
Not saying they were optimal storytelling. But they weren't bad.

Lindon's entire character is about feeling left out, or inadequate, or never quite good enough. So there's no real surprise that he was sad about losing the tournament. But he wasn't truly sad all the time. Just a normal amount of sadness one would feel when their friends are doing awesome shit, while he's been sidlined.

Lindon finding an alternative way to become stronger is *also* his entire character. So I don't know why you're saying it's bad now. When that's all he's been doing the entire book.
And all the other characters didn't only need to work. Sophara took in so many treasures that it shortened her life. Betting that after she wins the tournament a monarch would gift her by repairing her body.
Mercy despite her best efforts failed to become adequately strong to defeat Sophara.
Eithan was always holding back and advanced off-screen by taking all the resources he negotiated off Reigan Shen.
Yerin needed some special blood thingy from the blood sage, an instant teleportation device, and a fucking hyperbolic time chamber from Northstrider to get good.(Among other gifts) She still failed her sage training. And ultimately had to take the path she was afraid to take in order to advance. Combining with her blood shadow.

>mah 1000000000 simulations in lindon's head so that he knows exactly what his opponent will do
That's actually cool as fuck. And if you don't like that, then I'm sorry but you have the shittiest, fuck-ass tastes ever. That was also a help to Yerin. As Dross ran Ruby through a bunch of trials against Sophara. So when Yerin combined, she got Ruby's training. I mean, Yerin would have destroyed Sophara anyway. But still...

>>17153294
Subject Zero is what the script in Sacred Valley is guarding and keeping imprisoned. The Silent King is one of the four Dreadgods already known and lurking about.

>>17154613
>They're advancement ranks but most people nowadays in-universe are misled and believe you can only achieve one of these later in your ranks (after Archlord/Lady)
They're not really advancements in the traditional sense, because Yerin only has the power of an overlady. Despite whatever her herald powers are, she still had room to advance to archlady. She's not going to go from Herald 1 to Herald 2. I assume it's the same case for Lindon. He's probably only overlord equivalent now.(Or maybe not. They kept skirting around the subject, only calling him a sage.)

>You have to advance to Herald to become a Monarch regardless so Herald isn't a mere title.
Monarch is only a title actually. The combination of a sage and a Herald. And someone who chooses to stay and rule on Cradle, rather than ascend to the heavens. I *think* a Herald can ascend if they wish, skipping the Monarch title. But I'm not 100% on that. But I think a sage is still limited to Cradle. So in a sense, a Herald is a rank that brings one closer to ascension. But it's still only a title, because you can get it early, without the power to really back it up. Like, Yerin is not on equal footing with Fury.(Pre-icon Fury)

>>17154632
Right, right. Now that you say it, that makes sense to me. I was trying so hard to retain information this read through, but 8 books is still a lot.
I probably got confused, because when Lindon touches the wandering titan, he hears the titan refer to the person under the ruins as his brother. And so, in my brain, that says that whatever lurks down there is equal to the titan. And I already assumed that subject zero was greater than them. So then the only one who would be equal that we haven't heard much from so far, is the silent king.
And all the legends talk about 4 dread beasts, not 5. So again, I'm thinking 4 equals, not 5. But it's totally possible that subject zero is just a 5th dreadgod that's long forgotten.

>>17154684
I was half wrong about Sage:
>“In those days,” Eithan went on, “Sage was not considered its own rank, but rather a separate mark of distinction that some Lords and Ladies achieved. Different materials were used for different cultures, but often Heralds wore badges of red and Monarchs of blue.”
>“Later, when the concept of a Sage became popularized as a stage of advancement in its own right, [...]"
Advancing to Herald still represents a quantifiable, measurable change (i.e., merging with your spirit).

>Or maybe not. They kept skirting around the subject, only calling him a sage.
>"[Lindon…] Dross said. [You’re not an Overlord.]"
"A black hole swallowed the sky. Directly over Lindon’s head."
So with that, I'd wager a rat's tail that Lindon is still an Underlord (Sage), and of course, we know Yerin is the first Overlord Herald. I agree she won't go Herald 1-Herald 2.

>I *think* a Herald can ascend if they wish, skipping the Monarch title
>"When Sages and Heralds refuse to ascend, [...]."
Hell, Yerin and Lindon could ascend right now if they wanted. Didn't think of that until just now.

>But it's still only a title, because you can get it early, without the power to really back it up
Yet it is still, again, a quantifiable change and power increase, designating the double name that Northstrider gives her, Overlord Herald. She may not be /as strong/ as a 'traditional' Herald, but she is still a Herald in SOME capacity.

>>17154614
nah dross is cringe and cheating

>>17154813
>>"[Lindon…] Dross said. [You’re not an Overlord.]"
Aw fuck. I remember that. But in my brain, I processed it strangely. I heard "You're not an Underlord". But I didn't take that to mean anything literal. I took it as Dross saying figuratively that Lindon has done something greater than what an Underlord can do: touch an icon. But if Dross actually said Overlord there, then yeah, I'm thinking Lindon is still some Underlord-Sage hybrid.

>>"When Sages and Heralds refuse to ascend, [...]."
OK, I remember this too. But somehow my brain blocked out Sages there.

I thinking about getting the digital text versions of the books, just so I can easily reference it. That'll be a first for me. But it would be nice to ctrl+f and go digging for information.

>Yet it is still, again, a quantifiable change and power increase
That's true I guess.

I don't read sequels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xPiecihCys&ab_channel=SlowlyRed

>that moment when he says fuck it, it's the best fantasy he's ever read

yeeessss!

>>17155067
>>that moment when he says fuck it, it's the best fantasy he's ever read
>yeeessss!
pic related, its you

is it going to be too eyerolling if my alternate history novel involving plague warfare has the protagonists and general public wearing nose-mouth masks for the majority of the time?

>>17155693
Sounds unbelievable desu.

>>17155705
well, I mean it would be more or less like it is now with some being forced to wear them dependent upon job but others refusing to

Just finished Part 2 of Rhythm of War. Lirin is infuriating to read, and I have a terrible suspicion this book is going to end up feeling like filler aside from whatever developments happen in the last fifty pages.

>>17155800
Filler is subjective, but that's the prevailing opinion.

>>17155820
Burn me, does Kaladin at least stay pure for Syl?

>>17155839
So far.

>>17153311
checked, is bakker still alive? even the second apocalypse fan forum has been dead for months. it's just us and reddit keeping the inverse flame alive.

What books you looking for in 2021?

>>17156357
Winds of Winter, if that somehow happens.
Thorn of Emberlain maybe, but everything after Lies was mediocre so I don't have high hopes for quality.

>>17156370
>Winds of Winter
You need to give up hope, and allow yourself the possibility of being pleasantly surprised. Besides, besides, for a 2021 release, it'd basically need to have a finished manuscript in three months...

>>17156357
William D Arand Releasing a good book.
Sanderson actually finishing the Mistborn, Warbreaker, Elantris and Rithmatist books instead of the stupid Stormlight shit.

Has anyone here read this two-time Hugo Award winner and 2020 MacArthur Genius Grant recipient? Please keep the racism down, I'm genuinely curious what Jemisin's best books are and if she's an author worth getting into.

>>17156596
>if she's an author worth getting into
She's not.

>>17156357
I don't read new books

>>17156357
god is not willing

Books like scythe?

>>17155723
>Le topical fantasy

I'm reading Le Morte D'Arthur, and I've noticed the summary of books on Wikipedia differ from the books inside. What could be the issue there?

>>17156829
its not meant to be topical but it would make sense with the setting

>>17156848
I looked into it and saw that the books are just ordered in a different way.

should I mention my female protagonist's nipples if the setting is a cold room and she's topless for a medical exam?

>>17157110
ngmi

>>17157110
coomers get the rope on the day of judgement

>>17157122
what would Bakkar-san do?

>>17157110
Absolutely

>>17156357
More revelation Space. End of July.
Terra Ignota 4, Perhaps the stars. Holding off on reading the third to consume them back to back.
And it's too late: I'm a all-in on the Cosmere wank, if we get any.

>>17156596
Read the Broken Earth books, they were interesting.

>>17156596
N

>>17157172
He would also mention the massive size of a male character's cock. Fucking Ilyum/Olympos had some real depraved sex acts.

>>17157300
.K. Jemisin

>>17157165
Get pussy. He'd fuck some chick and use his post-ejaculation clarity to write whatever he wants.

>>17156558
>Sanderson actually finishing the Mistborn, Warbreaker, Elantris and Rithmatist books
He asked for books coming out in 2021, not books that will never be released.

>>17157360
>never be released
I can see how you'd say that about WoW, but Sanderman writes because he actually enjoys it. He'll get around to it all barring something tragic.

>>17157494
>all barring something tragic

Come on man, he's a hack, but a lovable one, don't jinx Brandon

>>17157494
But none of that is coming out in 2021 despite your baseless claims, and you will continue to receive more YA nobody asked while the Cosmere will never be completed.

gonna start my reading my first fantasy book since LotR when I was in 11. Should I start with Jonathan Strange or Name of the Wind?

>>17157580
well according to /sffg/ they're both shit

>>17157580
Something better.

>>17157594
>>17157600
these are the only two readily available for me at this moment

>>17157580
Name of the Wind is more generally well-liked, so I'd recommend going with that.
Strange is fine but the footnotes are annoying.

>>17157860
>Name of the Wind is more generally well-liked

It's puerile drivel.

There is a head on a pole behind you.

Looking back i still don't understand what this means. Something to do with the decapitants?

>>17158070
Bakker literally saw a reflection of a head in the window while writing at a restaurant and thought it sounded creepy and cool.
He was right.

“Scavenge what strength you will," he said, striding from their midst to reclaim the ritual heights. "Ponder your wives, your children—ponder your soul. Fear not the spectre of thirst, for soon the Neleost, the Misty Sea, will heave dark before us. And fear not starvation..."
He turned, taking two pillars as his frame and the enormity of the Great Ordeal as his beyond, the hundreds of thousands streaming and milling across all that could be seen. He burned as a beacon before it.
The breeze trilled through the plaited flax of his beard. The chutes of his gown swayed.
"To suffer is to bear evil," he said, "and we must suffer to see our World saved. No matter where it delivers us, what madness, what evil, we must follow the Shortest Path..."
The Holy Aspect-Emperor of the Three Seas walked, luminous among the doubtful and afraid. He acknowledged each of them with the simple, loving profundity of his gaze. He gave them heart even as he appalled them. For they understood what he was about to say, the truth they dared not whisper even in solitude.
"Henceforth, our very foe shall sustain us..."
The dread command had been given, at long last.
"Fire up the grill, boys. Sranc's back on the menu."

I’m half way through “The Darkness that comes before”. These are my thoughts so far:
The man definitely knows how to write. I will be the 1st to admit that I’ve tried to read him many years ago and couldn’t get into his prose. After reading a lot of books in English, I finally broke his prose filter (I’m an ESL).
As I said, the prose is subliminal. Even if a little bit exaggerated at times. Only flaw is the lack of description. A little more detail would be appreciated.
The story feels real. If feels good to finally immerse myself into a story where political conflict actually means something.
The characters feel real. He’s not afraid of going full GRI.
I never once felt bored reading it. I hope that I get to see Kellhus on the second half.

One of the downsides would be the sheer amount of characters and names that are thrown at you all at once. Not much else I can add to that,

>>17158182

> “The golden coin fluttered in his hand, bewitching her with its glitter. He held it above her and let it slip between his fingers. It plopped on to the sticky pools across her belly. She glanced down and gasped in horror.
>His seed was black.”

What the fuck Bakker?

Why is the seed black though?

>>17158942
Because he covered himself in oil

>>17158942
Lot of loyalty for a hired skin-spy

I'm looking for books that try to tackle unknown things, like Quantum Thief. My main focus right now is encountering new concepts and ideas, as I feel everything is stale. Already read Solaris but felt like it was too abstract.

I really enjoyed the Quantum Thief and how it explored a sliver of a post-singularity society with various tech and their challenges.

Any recs? Hope it's not too vague

>>17158331
Gets so much better on the second, and third reread. Its insane how much he weaved into the narrative that has payoffs and callouts in books a decade later.

>>17158699
>>17158942
Yours isnt?

>>17156596
Angry nigger sheboon subjugated by leftism to blame all her problems on white people. No thanks.

>>17148020
December Reads
26 books read, 9385 pages.
I thought about going for 10k pages for the month, but seems I won't be doing so.
I continue to surprise myself with how much I've been reading.

I love women so much, bros

>>17159648
same and I especially love Nausicaä

nausicaaposting fwiw

>>17159727
Post the page with her tiddies

>>17159648
What's up with her nude-colored pants. What a tease.

it is just beautiful desu

What the hell is going on here???

for me it's princess kushana

>>17159929
the battle sequence in volume 2 is up there with the best of them

>>17159920
Have you never read or seen Nausicaa? You're really missing out, even if you're not a weeb.

>>17159994
nausicaa spammer here, i'm not a weeb, i don't watch anime or read manga outside of miyazaki. i just see nausicaa as a beautiful scifi/fantasy story with a unique setting, great characters and depth. the ecological messages are really interesting, as are the factions and worldbuilding.

>>17159920
Sudden retard swarm idk

>>17159865

I thought Nausicaa was part of Earthsea for the longest time for some reason.

>>17160046
Yeah - it's got that combination of setting + character + story that's the holy trinity of genre fiction. I read all kinds of genre trash and like to find the good and overlook the bad but with that one it all just hits and gives so many heart-in-your throat moments.

>>17159648
>I love women so much, bros
That is a child

>>17160313
>old enough to go to war, old enough to __

>>17160313
at least its not Kiki

>>17156596
>Her fiction includes a wide range of themes, notably cultural conflict and oppression.
Pottery

>>17157551
>literally says he'd burn out completely if he didn't have non-cosmere and/or YA side-projects
Not even mad.
I enjoyed the Syward novels anyway :^)

>>17156596
>the millionth monkey

>>17151390
the cracking one. earth being an egg is about as retarded as you can get

>>17160604
>unfinished Cosmere + YA
>unfinished Cosmere - YA
Lose lose for anyone who has aged beyond a young adult.

>>17159966
>>17160046
What's up with these shit scans? Do you stream manga, newfriend? Go lurk /a/ and find the thread by anon with some disability who used his disabilitybux to buy some sealed Nausicaa set, then unsealed it to upload it all in super duper fucking HQ..

What western scifi/fantasy novel is the most anime-esque AND is of decent enough quality? I want an easy read this next week.

How is the Elder Empire series, now that it's finally complete? That's next up on the ol' backlog. I barely see it discussed compared to Cradle.

>>17160830
sandershit is what you seek

>>17160889
I've already read the mistborn series and the stormlight series or archives. Stormlight was interesting to me but at that point I already read enough Sanderson to get bored of his style. Mistborn was a fun read though. Wouldn't call it a great series but it was fun. I liked the weird metal magic.

>>17160933
Did you read all of Mistborn or just through The Hero of Ages and the first era? Era 2 is similar in tone but with a turn-of-the-century cowboy setting And personally I enjoy Wayne more than almost any character in the first era.

>>17160604
The first Skyward book was meh YA. The second book was garbage.

>>17160933
If you're looking for Sanderson stuff, The Emperor's Soul is good.

>>17160985
I only read the original books for it. I'll check out the rest
>>17161008
Maybe I'll check this out too.

Sanderson wasn't even really trying. Just a few years before he did his stuff another fantasy series did the same thing with gemstones rather than metals.

>>17161199
You not gonna post it then?

>>17148020
Are there any actually good chinkshit webnovels out there? Either with minimal autism, or autism played to the hilt

>>17161199
desu I don't see the point of elaborate, thoroughly logical magic systems. it's just a gimmick that allows you to choreograph interesting battles, where magic should be more of a symbolic, metaphysical force tied up with spirituality and ones sense of values.

Anyone read this series? Looks pretty good ngl

so is there anything that comes close to martin in terms of characterization and intelligent political intrigue?

>>17161260
Fuck, forgot to take my /a/ shitposting name off

>>17161335
you have to go back
forget about the chinks. read hooky, it's genuinely fun and soulful.

>>17161333
>comes close to martin
I'll upload a pic next time I take a shit.
>>17161335
faggot

Reading the Bone Hunters by erickson.

There are too many fucking characters. It makes it difficult to give a shit about them.

>>17161407
Hard filtered, Bonehunters is even where the overlap with the previous slates of characters start happening. And if you can't fucks with Fiddler I can't fucks with you.

>>17161260
I'd be interested too. So far cultivation shits up every book it touches but maybe if I sit at the center of the sun for a bit more it will pay for all

>>17161335
Retard

>>17161362
If you use a little bit of intelligence, which is hard for formulaic one piss fans, you'd have either guessed or just saw by searching that he was also insulting HxH

>>17161449
>Fiddler
God I need to re-read Malazan

Bakkerfag here. Tell me..... What do you see me reading next?

>>17161592

entrails

>>17160830

Pat Cadigan is way too good for you tbqh. Contemporary of/better than Gibson.

>>17161267
Literally what series has ever done that sort of magic system.

>>17161702
both bakker and sanderson have elaborately coded, highly regulated magic systems—but at least bakker's is intrinsically tied to his philosophical exploration of his setting's metaphysics. i haven't read sanderson, seems like it would be marvel tier desu

I didn't read a single sci-fi or fantasy novel this year.

>>17156370
lies was the best but red skies under red seas was pretty good if you're into boat stuff.
the third book that finally introduced sabetha and revealed her to be the most irritating character since shallan is of course trash, so i'm not sure i'll read thorn of emberlain unless she's 100% not in it whatsoever.

>>17161407
how did you get this far while not being able to connect with the characters?

>>17161812
In retrospect I'm not sure how to feel about Seas. It had some good parts, but I didn't really care about most of it. The main issue with it was the contrast with Lies IMO.

Sabetha was pretty cringe iirc. I can't see her going anywhere though, considering how much she's been hyped up.

>>17161776
Congrats!

was the last classic /sffg/ you read that made you say "holy shit, this is good"?

>>17161702
Lord of the Rings for a start, genrefag. Then there's The Last Unicorn, The Neverending Story and to a lesser extent Lord of Light as well.

About to get my hands on some huehue scifi novel.

>>17162048
Tell me how it is. I like the cover.

>>17161723
The issue with any deep read of the cosmere metaphysics is that it's simply not fleshed out *yet*. Bakker's done in 7 books what Sanderman is attempting to do through 7 or so actual differentiated series of interwoven novels. The most we've even seen of the metaphysics so far is RoW and half of that or better was just catch-up info for the singular Stormlight people

So I only got about halfway through pic related before I dropped this series altogether. Fuck it was bad, all that super ham-fisted tranny shit and pronoun crap god damn everywhere and super schizo plot that jumps all over the place, jesus. How did he go from the absolute peak kino of Pandora's Star to this? Are sci fi writers being assfucked by their publishers into including 500 pages of progressive garbage in any given book?

>>17162061
I don't know much about it but I know the author is some old chum who used to write stuff for Dragão Brasil, main rpg magazine for a long time, and it's also connected to that one softcore porn comic with the dinossaur ladies.

>>17161910
Le Guin - Caves of Atuan
Tolkien - The Fall of Gondolin
God Emperor of Dune

>>17157551
I wish he'd stop putting off Wax and Wayne 4. How many times has he pushed it back now?

>>17151373
"cRaShSpAcE oF mEaNiNg!" - bakker, probably

>>17162189
> ooOoOH muh big brain edgy contrarian take on some niche mundane speculative neuro"science" theory via Heidegger dark materialist blogosphere

Bakker b-bros.... is our Holy Author a pseud?

https://rsbakker.wordpress.com/

>>17156596
i tried to read her due to all the hype i'd read and sounded like some of it was deserved and not due to the color of her skin.

then i realized on the first page that it's told in third person present. immediately stopped reading that shit.

that's such an unnecessary gimmick, it pulls me out of whatever i'm trying to read. same reason i can't read the wolf hall series

>>17156783
but is it really going to be as good as the first 10 books or is it going to be an even worse slog than the karkanas trilogy?

if it's just like toll the hounds 2: electric boogalo, count me out

>>17157860
this is wrong on so many levels. those footnotes are a key feature of that book, sorry you read something that made your brain work a little harder than the sandershit/gaiman/rothfuss drivel it's used to

>>17161584
always a good choice

>>17161723
the thought experiment behind his magic system is interesting, but he abandoned it pretty quickly by TTT. the most interesting parts were all in DTCB when akka is describing why mages are damned for altering reality and how he escapes from the scarlet spires.

doesn't help that bakker shoots down things that would make sense like the psukhe/fanim interpretation of the gods/reality ("most incorrect religion in 3 seas") or that the entire aspect-emperor series he just decides to do that xhibit thing with gnosis-inside-your-gnosis

>>17161812
>>17161860

feels like he prematurely shot his wad with Lies when he kills the entire gentlemen bastards other than locke and jean . i would have read dozens of short stories about their hijinks and capers. instead i got 1 excellent story and then 2 unnecessary follow-ups.

to say nothing about the how much the author's personal life invaded his writing...

>>17162376
I think all the sorceries in Bakker are different expressions of altering reality through language. I'm intrigued by the mechanism of making the onta (noumena) conform to subjectivity/speech via the expression of a paradox and the absolute damnation acquired by this act. Since Kellhus is so intelligent, he discovers how to enact a triple paradox, the inutteral. As far as the Pshûke, I see it more as Bakker's interpretation of qi/prana, 'energy' in eastern philosophy. And it's also interesting tot think about the Tekne as an example of advanced tech functioning as magic, ie being able to peer into hell via some kind of quantum-HUD. I enjoy seeing Bakker apply his philosophical skepticism to the metaphysical mechanics of his world. Awful bleak, though.

>>17161841
Not him but on bone hunters as well and a feeling same . Lot of the characters are just shit . Fiddler and Karsa are ok . Everyone else sucks

What are some shorter novels, side books or short stories that could help me ease into Erikson? I picked up Gardens of the Moon a few years ago and found it hard to get past the first few chapters.

>Protagonist is born in freak storm unique to the plot's primary city and only the city
>Mother seems to have been a victim of human trafficking that died in childbirth
>Put in a foster care system he runs out on into the streets
>For most of the setup chapters, he's the most mysterious person in the story capable of strange things until someone previously mentioned he goes to for advice is obviously mystical
>Plot kicks off when he steals and activates a seemingly harmless heirloom in a B&E
>BBNotthatEG sends familiars, apprentices, and the like
>Other people start getting involved, totally fucking alien beings as well
>Protagonist and crew turn from fighting and running to confusing, deceiving, and manipulating everyone else against each other
>Ending is basically them watching the Storm from the beginning on steroids with fire, shadows, madness, and protag's confidant asking them how the fuck they managed to screw things up
I have no idea why I came up with this. I wanted to go for kind of a mystery thriller when I started writing but now I have this plot structure in my head. Now I have to write it.

Real question is if anyone would read it though.

>>17162433
I forgot about The Errant. Didn't he try to act tough until Bugg got tired of his shit and teabagged him?

>>17162433
To this day I don't think any character interactions in a novel have made me laugh as hard as Tehol and Bugg's did

>>17162465
yes

>>17162433
the black company. the first one is short, sweet. similar writing style to first couple malazan books.

>>17162465
A literal teabagging?

>>17151431
Just read this scene. Fucking crazy.

>>17162294
>TTH
>Kharkanas
>Slog
While I'd want a Malazan sequel to be more in line with the main series, or something as different from Kharkanas as Kaharkanas was from Malazan, Toll The Hounds and the prequels were the best shit he's written

Which WH40k book has pic related vibes.

if you can give a me a 1-x list that’d be sick.

I’ve never read any btw.

>>17162493
No unfortunately but considering Malazan, that fucker Erikson could have made it happen.

>>17161910
I read The Great Divorce last week

>>17162048
bug evangelion?

>>17161333
hyperion & fall of hyperion

>>17162075
Yeah i enjoyed Salvation (3/5) but Salvation Lost was all over the place, even by Peter F Hamilton standards.

Is Pandora's Star that good?

I've just finished Reality Dysfunction which varies between decent and amazing throughout its 1,000 pages

>>17162786
Yeah Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained are absolutely phenomenal.

>>17162797
Damn sounds like I started with the wrong series. Have you read the Night's Dawn trilogy?

>>17162294
I really love kharkanus desu
>>17162424
If that’s how you feel I don’t think there’s anything I could say to sway you >>17162433
>mappo and icarium
As much as I love Erickson I will admit to not getting half of what was going on with them

>>17162815
Yeah those first two commonwealth books are by far his best stuff. I enjoyed nights dawn too although the whole series is similar to the first book with a lot of great stuff and a lot of fairly dull stuff. It definitely picks up steam in book two though.

>>17159153
Anyone?

>>17162096
>that one softcore porn comic with the dinossaur ladies.
I would like to know more.

>>17163055
Pic related. It's boring, you can see all on e6 if you are curious.

>>17159153
Maybe Greg Egan is your style. I loved his short story collection Axiomatic.

All of the stories are ideas focussed, but rarely abstract. They're explained clearly and explore the consequences of 'what-if' scenarios.

Arthur C Clarke's The City and the Stars also explores a far-future post-scarcity society and it's one of my favourites. It's also a mystery so you spend most of the time trying to work out how the world ended up like this.

Space, and Time, by Stephen Baxter explore a lot of different scientific concepts. The books are unrelated so you can read either one first.

Got any similar recs yourself?

>>17163079
Thanks man, I'll look into them.

Sadly no, other than Quantum Thief and the 2 sequels, I feel like most books I read today just reiterate the same ideas. It rarely becomes about exploring the tech or what impacts it might have, but rather mostly interpersonal drama.

>>17163099
And even Quantum Thief is guilty of that to some degree.

>>17163099
Also maybe Stories Of Your Life And Others by Ted Chiang.

Similar to Greg Egan except Egan focusses on conciousness and determinism whereas Chiang seems to be more interested in linguistics and math.

Is Quantum Thief a difficult read? My preference is difficult concepts explained clearly like Clarke, Egan, Baxter.

>>17163099
Just had a thought for Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio/Children. It deals with the rise of a type of disease that triggers advanced genetic mutation in pregnant women's babies and the proceedings fall-out as society tries to cope with a new branch in human evolution.

>>17163107
>Several centuries after the technological singularity largely destroyed earth, various posthuman factions compete for dominance in the solar system. Though sentient superintelligent AGI has never been successfully developed, civilization has been greatly transformed by the proliferation of Hansonian brain emulations (termed "gogols" in reference to the author of the same name's work Dead Souls). An alliance of powerful gogol copies rule the inner system from computronium megastructures housing trillions of virtual minds, laboring to resurrect the dead in religious devotion to the philosophy of Nikolai Federov. This alliance, the Sobornost, has been in conflict with a community of quantum entangled minds who adhere to the "no-cloning" principle of quantum information theory, and so do not see the Sobornost's ultimate goal as resurrection, but death. Most of this community, the Zoku, was devastated when Jupiter was destroyed with a weaponized gravitational singularity.

>Among the last remnants of near-baseline humanity exist on the mobile cities of Mars, where advanced cryptography and an obsessive privacy culture ensure that the Sobornost cannot upload their citizens' minds. The most notable of these cities is the Oubliette, where time is used as a currency. When a citizen's balance reaches zero their mind is transferred to a robotic body to serve the needs of the city for a set period, before being returned to their original body with a restored balance of time.
Sounds like a mindfuck

>>17163123
It's unironically one of those stories you get all the way through and still feel like you barely have a basic understanding of the societal mechanics. It's a really interesting read though, and the actual plot isn't bogged down by the setting not being explicit enough.

>>17163123
A tad difficult. I'd argue that having some insight into how code branching works, and various other software development related things, is needed for complete understanding of how the plot comes to a close.

>>17163221
>>17163188
Better or worse than Diaspora? Where he invented new physics or some shit
>An appended glossary explains many of the specialist terms in the novel. Egan invents several new theories of physics, beginning with Kozuch Theory, the dominant physics paradigm for nearly nine hundred years before the beginning of the novel. Kozuch Theory treats elementary particles as semi-point-like wormholes, whose properties can be explained entirely in terms of their geometries in six dimensions. Certain assumptions common to Egan's works inform the plot.

>This novel's setting is a posthuman future, in which transhumanism long ago (during the mid 21st century) became the default philosophy embraced by the vast majority of human cultures.

>Most of the characters choose a neutral gender; Keri Hulme's gender-neutral pronouns "ve", "vis", and "ver" are used for them.

>By 2975 CE (Universal Time), the year in which the novel begins, humanity has "speciated" into three distinct groupings:

>fleshers, biological societies consisting of statics, the original, naturally-evolving race of Homo sapiens, and a wide variety of exuberant derivatives, who have modified their genes beyond the static baseline. These include enhancements such as disease-resistance, life-extension, intelligence-amplification, and the ability to allow selected transhumans to thrive in new environments, such as the sea. There even exists a subculture (the dream apes) whose ancestors bred out the capacity for speech and some of the higher brain-functions, apparently in order to attain a primal innocence and rapport with nature. In contrast to 21st-century society prior to the novel's "Introdus" event, the vast profusion of qualitatively different types of fleshers has made any sort of global civilisation impossible. This divergence has prompted the development of a culture of "Bridgers" who modify their own minds to form a chain of intermediates between exuberant strains.

>>17163239
>gleisner robots, individual software-based intelligences housed inside artificial anthropoid, or flesher-shaped, physical bodies (from a design by a corporation named Gleisner[1]) who interact with the world in flesher-paced "real time", a trait which they regard as important, as they consider the polis citizens too remote and solipsistic. The gleisners live in space, mostly in the asteroid belt, and in various other places in the Solar System; Egan implies that they long ago agreed to leave Earth to the fleshers to avoid conflict. They eventually implement a program of interstellar exploration using a fleet of 63 ships, targeting the nearest 21 stars.
>the citizens, intelligence as disembodied computer software running entirely within simulated reality-based communities known as polises.[2] These represent the majority by far of "humanity" in the novel, followed in a distant second place by the gleisners. Together with vast networks of sensors, probes, drones and satellites throughout the Solar system, they collectively make up the Coalition of >Polises, the backbone and bulk of human civilisation. They interact primarily in virtual environments called scapes, through the use of avatars or icons. The citizens of the Coalition view the gleisners and their colonial aspirations as puerile and ultimately futile, believing that only "bacteria with spaceships. . . knowing no better and having no choice" would attempt to deface the galaxy with mass colonisation, especially if virtual realities afford limitless possibilities at a small fraction of the total resource-consumption.
>Diaspora focuses in large part on the nature of life and intelligence in a post-human context, and questions the meaning of life and the meaning of desires. If, for instance, the meaning of human life and human desires is bound up with ancestral human biology ("to spread one's genes"), then what meaning do lives and desires have, and what serves as the basis of values when biology no longer forms a part of life?

>>17163221
I'll have to pay better attention for that. I read the whole trilogy for the first time several years ago, and I know there's a lot of odd technical jargon I didn't quite understand that kinda got glazed over. On the plus side, I started re-reading the first book and it's honestly almost like reading it for the first time all over again. I wonder with the author being Finnish if maybe there's some internalized cultural stuff going over my head, but since a large proportion of Finn's probably speak English better than my friends and neighbors I'm betting it's mostly technical.

>>17163239
As someone with a thin background in high level physics, I can't say QT is actually just riffs on genuine science. But it's nothing retarded as all that imo.

>>17156357
fugitive telemetry but it will probable be shit as the previous book shit the bed
also apparently the 4th demons of astlan book

>chapter 20
>chapter 21
>chapter 20
>chapter 25
Does SFF just not have any quality control?

>>17163402
what are you talking about

>>17161260
>>17161455
I have heard that Lord of the Mysteries is good BUT I haven't tried it myself because I refuse to read anything not in paperback.

>>17162537

toll the hounds was mad boring bro

How is Michael Moorcock?

>>17163425
Books printed like shit, obviously. No other genre is nearly this bad for it.

>>17163564
Yes.

>>17163952
New thread.
>>17163952
New thread.
>>17163952
New thread.

>>17162433
You don't really ease into him, that's part of his appeal. You hit the ground running. His series is written on a scale where several books are needed just to introduce all the characters.

>>17162471
Some of the best comedy I've read in fantasy has been from Malazan. Tehol and Bugg were great for it, but also Iskaral Pust. I've read the series twice and I still can't figure out if he's actually insane or just faking.

>>17163959
>creating a new thread when the old one is only on page 7
yup, that's what makes you cancer

>>17163079
Seconding Axiomatic. It's easily my favorite sci-fi short story collection. Luminous was another good one, also by Egan.
Baxter's Vacuum Diagrams is a Xeelee short story collection that presents many different things happening in different stages of its chronology.

>>17162152
>Le Guin - Caves of Atuan
I was thinking of the first Earthsea book when I made that post, based

>>17162445
>over 9 hours without a reply
Guess you've got your answer.
didn't read LOL