/lit/ - Literature

first for Kim Stanley Robinson

>>17295900
>>last book read
The Thousandfold Thought
>>book your currently reading
The Judging Eye
>>next book you plan to read
The White-Luck Warrior

>>17295900
Warrior-prophet
Thousandfold thought
Whatever the name of the next one is

>>17295900
>>17295974
>last book read
The Unholy Consult
>currently reading
Cannot read because catatonic and stupefied at the ending
>next book planning to read
The No-God

5th for

>poll OP
what a terrible way to start a thread

>>17296025
The Meat is to shitty street crack as Qirri is to fine uncut Columbian cocaine
I love how Proyas’ seed turns black when he’s in the throes of the Meat. That was such a macabre and fucked up touch.

Fuck E William Brown and his horrible marketing.

>>17295900
>last book read
I finished A Wizard of Earthsea about 9 days ago, The Poppy War on Christmas day, and Unsouled like 2 days before that
>book your currently reading
C.Yu's Journey To The West translation
Watership Down
In Heaven, Everything Is Fine
also a compilation of Chinese mythology
>next book you plan to read
I haven't thought that far ahead yet, maybe Ender's Game or The Ronin if I'm still pining for chinkshit

>>17295900
>last book read
The Warrior Prophet reread
>book your currently reading
The Thousandfold Thought reread
>next book you plan to read
The Judging Eye reread

Some anon in the other general really seemed to hate Miéville. I think most of his books are great, and especially The City & The City stands out. The Bas-Lag novels are great too. What do you think? Is he a try-hard political fag, or is a cool New Weird guy?

>>17296224
>Is he a try-hard political fag
yes and he hates Tolkien to boot

Hey Bakkerfags, what scene in the books should I meme next?

>>17295900
Any recommendations for a novel with a fantasy hero like Aragorn? ignoring the film adaptation, he's completed his growth arc by the time the story begins, he already has the skills and will to do what he must, he's also excellent at rousing others to acts of heroism.

>>17296224
I have only read The City & The City and yes I agree with you, that was neat and novel. I own Embassytown but haven't started yet. I don't know anything about this politics, I frankly don't care, and I don't know anything about New Weird / Urban Fantasy stuff. Also what's his beef with Tolkien? Tolkien started all this shit so..

>>17296338
I'm not sure what you've "memed" but anything to do with the nuke in the Great Ordeal would be cool.

>>17296354
Fuck knife ear faggots.

>>17296418
>Also what's his beef with Tolkien?
There isn't much of a beef. He's famous for saying that Tolkien is "the wen on the arse of fantasy literature", but he has later said that it was a silly comment and has published writing on how great and important Tolkien is.

>"Frankly, we feel there’s nothing more potentially explosive than a society in which psychotics dominate, define the values, control the means of communication. Almost anything you want to name can come out of it—a new, fanatical religious cult, a paranoiac nationalistic state-concept, barbaric destructiveness of a manic sort--[...]"

>"It’s entirely possible that in twenty-five years a society of mentally ill people may have come up with technological ideas we can use, especially the manics—that most active class.” He pressed the elevator button. “I understand they’re inventive. As are the paranoids.”

>Poor Chuck, she said to herself, you don’t stand a chance, once I get you into court. You’ll never know what hit you; you’ll be paying out for the rest of your life. As long as you live, darling, you’ll never really be free of me; it’ll always cost you something.

>Joan roamed about the conapt. “Are you going to move a lot of personal things in? Or are you going to live just like this? I’ll help decorate it for you, and Lord Running Clam will, too, to the extent he can. And down the hall there’s a molten metal life form from Jupiter called Edgar; he’s hibernating these days, but when he comes back to life he’ll want to pitch in. And in the apt to your left there’s a wiz-bird from Mars; you know, with the multicolored headdress… it has no hands but it can move objects by psychokinesis; it’ll want to help, except that for today it’s hatching; it’s on an egg.”
>“God,” Chuck said. “What a polygenetic building.” He was a little stunned to hear all this.

>>17296041
Player of Games was great

>>17296553
I disagree.

What you faggots looking forward to reading in 2021?

>>17296495
He's still a nofun commie faggot

>>17296593
What exactly did you dislike about it?

>>17296613
He's just an academic.

>>17296624
OP here. You think your hot shit talking about him that way you fucking pussy turd? Nobody has the rifht to talk about someone like that and you know what i fucking hate you fuck you fuckhead fuck i fucking hate you kill yourself its a great book fuck you fuck you go write your own goddam book and i'll shit on you for it huh you like that bitch i'll fuck you up when i see you fuckhead i'll get this posted on a tshirt and walk atound your city until you see me and tell me who you are you fuxking idiot i'll punch your mouth so your teeht will go in your throt and youl shit teeth for a long time do you know who the fuck i am asshole this book is fucking great and im not gardner can you fucking stop or il kill you fuckhead whats your fucking problem homo call of the crocodiles is great fuxk you fuck you fuck you

>>17295900
>Last book read
Will save the galaxy for food
>Current and next
No idea

>>17296609
Famous obituaries

>>17296609
As in books releasing in 2021?

>Last book read
Gardens of the Moon
>Book reading now
The Darkness That Comes Before
>Book going to read
Words of Radiance

>>17296609
The 4th Senlin/Babel book.

>>17296609
My novel, when I complete it.

>>17296750
Are you really only reading the first books of those series before reading any others?

>>17296908
WoR isn't the first book in SA.

This book is great.
Black guy goes back in time and fucks up the cia destroying black wallstreet and uses futuristic automatic assult rifles to kill the kkk.

Who do you think is the most useless character in Fantasy? My choice is Ghân-buri-Ghân. His whole purpose is to give Theoden directions. That's fucking it. They are so irrelevant to the damn story that when the war ends (Which by the way the Drúedain don't even participate in), that Elessar basically says "Nobody goes into their forest without express permission by the Drúedain". But because nobody actually bothered to give a shit about them, they never showed up ever again. Tolkien writes that they drifted away into myth and legend because they were that inessential to anything else in Middle Earth. Why Tolkien thought this was needed is beyond me.

>>17296618
I think Banks is an obnoxious and preachy hypocrite when it comes to his pet Culture. Typed this up when I'd just finished >>16268496
forgot to mention in that post that the first woman (and one of the very first people) that he meets in the empire right as he arrives is a 20th century transplant wanting to defect. Not a touch of empire in her, nor culture, nor of the kooky race he cooked up. It's like he just up and grabbed someone off the street. He lays it on so thick it's smothering.
Bummer, because Feersum Endjinn was a really nice book.

I'm gonna write a fantasy novel about a young witch pining over warlock cock with my self-insert as her kitty cat familiar

>>17297171
Tom Bombadil :^)

>>17297348
Mine's better. My comic is about a wizard's kitty cat familiar falling in love with him and lusting over human cock.

Goodreads most voted fantasy books of 2020

>>17297434
How is VE Schwab anyway? Worth a try? I see a bunch of his/her books and I've been tempted to try but there's just so much shit I still have to read.

>>17296914
By "those series" I meant Malazan Book of the Fallen and Prince of Nothing. Sorry for being unclear.
Though why are you reading the first books of Malazan and PoN before moving on?

Bakker a misogynist hack

>>17297171
Every culture has their forest men/green man myth, its a nice little touch.

>>17297769
Having forest men isn't the problem. Having them be practically pointless is. They are there just to be there

>>17297716
Wait till you get your hands on Gor and Xanth

>>17297716
Misogyny is the natural state of being.

>>17297716
What matters the hackiness of a man, so long as he is BASED?

>>17295900
>last book read
The Sleeper Awakes by HG Wells
>book your currently reading
The Island of Dr. Moreau
>next book you plan to read
Either The Mysterious Island or Stranger in a Strange Land. I’m a little hesitant to do SiaSL because it’s long as hell and I didn’t love the previous Heinlein I’ve read.

>last book read
Tigana
>currently reading
no sffg
>next read
going to finally reread Hyperion after about a decade

>>17297816
Just speculating, but it might've been just a little reprieve between battles.

A lot of people think return of the king is long because of the endings (thanks, moviegoing audience) but I a little less Shelob/ Frodo in the tower and more setting up the allies of war would've benefitted the book imo. I know, I know, It's the crucial point to show that Sam is also brave and dependable but we kind of get that for all hobbits in the Scouring of the Shire.

>>17297993
>it might've been just a little reprieve between battles.
I think so too. I also think it was Tolkien getting carried away with his work. I understand that.
>a little less Shelob/ Frodo in the tower and more setting up the allies of war would've benefitted the book imo.
I agree. I think there should've been more focus on the War in the North since that campaign has such a big impact on everything. Have it be more connected.
>I know, I know, It's the crucial point to show that Sam is also brave and dependable but we kind of get that for all hobbits in the Scouring of the Shire.
I've always wanted a live action version of the Scouring of the Shire. Just that entire sequence. Although I'm Team Isengard, It's such a patrician moment.

>>17298122
>Although I'm Team Isengard
I take it you enjoy Jackson's decision to give Saruman more screentime?
I saw the movies as a kid, I was very surprised on how relatively weak Saruman's voice felt given his reputation. I guess there was no other way to do it since at that point he had already "fell" in the angel sense.

>>17298164
I have mixed feelings about Jackson's take on Saruman. Christopher Lee is god-tier though and he plays the role far better than anyone else could. But the decision to make him a servant of Sauron baffles me. I get there's only so much you can put in to a movie but Jackson took away a lot of Saruman's eccentricities

thoughts on this? would you recommend to someone that liked BOTNS?

>>17298314
i read the first one its great. its not like botns, but it has great prose. id recommend it if you like fantastic characters getting into mishaps centered around a a big castle.

>>17296338
maybe cnauir raping conphas, conphas could have the crying soijack face

>>17296927
What book?

Bakker’s shit is so depressing. Makes me want to an hero

>>17297434
Look at this and tell me there’s a god

>>17299036
the bible very clearly warned us about the danger of women

>>17298314
This is the worst cover I’ve ever seen and the publisher that did this to that wonderful piece of literature deserves to be beaten

>>17299049
Vintage gets really lazy with their covers sometimes

>>17297171
Gawyn from WoT. No contest.

>>17297171
I like Ghan-Bûri-Ghan. It’s a neat window into the primordial past of Middle-Earth. A neanderthalic race of Men not related to the Haladin. Perhaps they’re related to hobbits in some way?
> useless character
I would say Inrilitas. His only function is to get killed to advance a dumb side plot.

>>17295900
>last
And Then There'll Be Fireworks (Ozark Trilogy #3)
>current
Piers Anthony God of Tarot
I read this a long time ago or most of it and it was bad but I'm rereading it to go thru the series if possible. If it's not horrible.
>next
Viriconium

>>17299300
For me, the character I find underrated in LOTR is Halbarad. Such a badass

>>17296609
The Winds of Winter

>>17299474
The reason GRRM has been taking so long is because he's preparing for Mace "The Ace" Tyrell to take the throne

What are some good passages that evoke at least some of the themes/vibes from this?

>>17299493
that art style is reddit af

>>17299503
No disagreement here, it was simply the first decent image for depicting the scene when I searched.

please tell me Shallan dies

>>17296613
I respect proper commies more than neo-liberals and progressives

>>17296354
Most writers miss the mark with depicting experienced heroes.
Same goes for a character such as Boromir who is genuinely compassionate and heroic despite his stumble—the fact he got back up and redeemed himself is the whole point that gets missed hence the wave of muh grey not-heroes.
Tolkien actually understood what really makes a hero.

>>17299554
And the bravest deed of Boromir's was not even defending Merry and Pippin to the death, but freely admitting his mistake to Aragorn.

>>17299509
You don't like this one?

>>17299572
Must've missed that one. Definitely a lot better.

>>17299572
>>17299576
I do like how Dawn is shown to gleam brighter than Ned's sword in a subtle way. Honestly they could have at least double downed on the polish for show Dawn. My own sword gleams quite bright, no idea why they couldn't do the Sword of the Morning justice.

>>17299520
>believing she's really "Shallan" in the first place

Recently re-read the Takeshi Kovacs books (altered carbon, etc.), and I've already read Morgan's other works, looking for similar recs if anyone has some

A few months ago i read a Lovecraft story about a writer moving into the woods to finish his book or something. He gets visited by strange creatures at night if i remember right! Can someone here help me find this story again? Sorry for being so vague in my describtion.

>>17299690
It sounds to me like you're misremembering the plot of The Whisperer in Darkness

Read the newest book by Andreas Eschbach. It’s fantastic.

Story is about people with wings, living in simple communities on a planet with an everlasting layer of clouds.
The book is science fiction but the focus lies on this strange primitive world and its inhabitants. Each chapter has a different pov (like in The Carpet Makers) and he writes with an ease, that after a few pages you already feel familiar with the new character. Be it the horny teenager, the doomsday prophet, the grumpy lady or a child spying on her big brother.
The story is filled with detailed descriptions of everything. Relationships, the process to create tools, the unique customs of the different people and so on.

It’s easy to be fooled into thinking, that this is a simple utopian hippy dream. Communities living in harmony with nature? Sure,but there is more behind it. But even this secret is not the focus of the story.

It’s about humanity growing up, in big and small ways. From a child’s first step into adulthood, to a society slowly coming to realize the errors in its ways. All woven together in a sophisticated way, which is both incredible complex and simple to follow.
The end:

Hit me hard.
Many people didn’t like it, thought it was boring and a little depressing. But the way Eschbach destroys his so affectionately created world let me in awe. There is no description of mass rape, genocide or deaths of beloved characters. It is a granddaughter proudly telling her grandmother that she started working as a whore for the foreigners. A politician trying to argue against his home slowly being destroyed, knowing it doesn’t matter one bit, but is still happy to at least have made a point for his people. Or Parents going to surgeons to remove they son’s wings, knowing that without them, he had it easier.
It is the loss of innocence in a million horrible ways, done on a few pages.

great book and for people who don’t know Eschbach, The Carpet Makers is worth a read.

Do you guys like speculative fiction that goes 50,000+ years into the future?
So far I've read:
>The Time Machine
>The World at the End of Time
>Starmaker
>All Tomorrows
>Man After Man
>Galapagos (felt kind of cheated in this context but in hindsight it was pretty interesting and worthwhile)
Any other recommendations in this sub-genre?

>>17299584
The whole Tower of Joy sequence is there in the show just to have something flashy going on. It has none of the symbolism and meaning it has in the books. Honestly, in the show they should've just outright put in R+L = J in season 5. Because in the show, Snow's birth didn't fucking matter anyways

>>17296750
I wanted to get a taste of what is coming. I’m planning on reading both series later.

I’m actually reading Alloy of Law, Lord of Chaos, the Darkness that Comes Before and Words of Radiance currently.

I occasionally stop reading Wheel of Time because it tends to get boring. I listen to Stormlight Archive on audiobooks when going to the gym and read rest of the books.

>>17297673
>>17299901

do dogs even exist in bakkaro universe?

>>17300205
A dog dies in first book’s prologue

>>17300205
Also the trapper that saved Kellhus had many dogs.

I don’t care about edgelord Hakker anymore. I renounce!

>>17300333
It is too late, anon. You are already damned.

>>17296224
I couldn't care less about his politics.( Spoilers for perdido station coming up. )
What enraged me the most with perdido shit station, the only book I read from him, was how the entire plotline of the book got reduced to nothing in the end.
All started with birdmans wish to fly again and after we have been strung along hundreds of pages of the author showing his great and magnificent city, the major conflict gets ultimately resolved by secondary characters.
Which would still be ok but then the MC, who just moments ago sacrificed an innocent man to mindrape daemons which he himself set loose, summons a conscience out of thin air when birdmans rape victim shows up and tells him what happened. Yeah well no shit birdman did something stinky. He probably didn't get his wings cut off because an unpaid parking ticket. Who could have possibly guessed? A morally ambiguous MC who lived with criminals and harlots his entire life would know he deals with a criminal.
And just like that the entire plot of the book gets abandoned and thrown out of the window without anymore confrontation. After I've read through 20 pages of secondary characters installing wires in Mievilles gay ass city for literally no other reason but jacking off his ebin writing I just can't look at his fag-face without seething.
Rent end.

>>17296224
I really liked Kraken.
Probably the most fun urban fantasy book I've ever read.

>>17300353
I'm suddenly glad I decided not to get this book after I smelled a whiff of the patented "HUGO AWARD ANCILLARY JUSTICE ANN LECKIE OH MY GOD ITS SO GOOD SIX STARS" smell in the air.

>>17300353
I don't think it got reduced to nothing in the end. It sounds like you simply didn't like the ending, and that's alright

I want to write some fantasy but more rooted in mythology than standard fantasy tropes
can anyone recommend some good sources for research into folklore and mythology?

>>17300507
Where the fuck do you think standard fantasy tropes come from?

>>17300507
Hero with a Thousand Faces - Joseph Champbell
The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories - Christpher Booker

Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_mythology

>>17300537
I was thinking more biblical themes of demons and witches etc.
im aware that that is where fantasy comes from but a lot of the reference material ive found has trolls and goblins and stuff getting in the way
ideally I want something like witches hammer but easier to read lol

>>17296127
Based chink appreaciator. What did you think of Earthsea? It's my favorite fantasy saga

>>17296354
>growth arc
Tolkien did not write anime, fucktard

>>17300571
great thanks lad

>>17300580
>a lot of the reference material ive found has trolls and goblins and stuff getting in the way
Where exactly do you think those come from?

>>17300771
yes I obviously know that all I'm saying is I want something more specific which I have outlined
are you being purposefully obtuse or are you just a moron?

>>17299825
>Do you guys like speculative fiction that goes 50,000+ years into the future?
There's some of it in Evolution, which is both speculative history and future.

As far as gripping sci fi fantasy goes, it doesn't get much better than this beauty!

http://learninghowtothink.net/book

>>17295900
What do i need to know about WH40k if i'm only interested in the Eisenhorn trilogy?
What should i read before and after it?

>>17297434
Just a bunch of SJW bullshit.

I wish there were lists for modern sci-fi/fantasy that didn't include inclusive crap about some nigger, faggot, or woman trying to "find muh place in the world."

>>17301635
That's your modern white man's burden.

>>17301649
How do you cope?

what fantasy books (other than LOTR) have the best world and most interesting/detailed lore?

>>17301415
Afterwards read Ravenor probably. All you need to know about the setting is this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy4CJ4F-epA

Holy shit, the beginning of the "Thousandfold Thought" is really bad for our beloved Akka.

I really feel sorry for him.

>>17301716
Thanks

>>17299036
It's the rotting corpse of post-modernity. You're seeing the Tower of Babel fall in real time.

>>17300272
I wonder if he's in hell too.

>>17297434
There's a reason why 4chan is popular.

>>17296609
Next cradle book

>>17297434
Pretty much as expected

>>17295900
>Of Kings and Killers
>Clans of the Alphane Moon
>Disciple of War

>>17300595
reading it while also reading The Red Book has been a very interesting and comforting experience.The advice given to Ged about hunting his shadow rather than letting it hunt him is a very poetic description of how to manifest courage and why running from our fate out of fear only serves to make the problem worse.

>>17296224
Why does he look like a character from a STALKER game in this picture
Also City & The City was good

>>17301735
in the bakkerverse animals don’t have souls (which is a good thing for them desu)

>>17297434
piranesi is amazing

>>17301082
thank you kind sir, will look into it.

>>17296553
I read Excession and Player of Games both when I used to be a leftist.
Both had some nice stuff, but Banks is morally insane.

It's so utterly clear in Player of Games and excession that the evil lunatic race is in fact evil and lunatic, and clearly presents an active danger to the galaxy, yet people trying to stop them are the bad guys. I remember the main character in the end rides in one of those torture sleds or whatever or plays tennis with the evil lunatics. It reminds me of a liberal lecturing us about pronouns or blackface while working happily with someone whose culture actively practices slavery and are busy genociding their neighbours.

>>17302120
It’s true to our universe also

That you so much for recommending Call of the Arcade. I loved it.

>>17302211
hylic confirmed

>>17299821
Is it in english?

>>17301718
The man who was cucked to death

What was that one series a few people were complaining about a few threads ago? It was something about how gunpowder fantasy never works

>>17302343
the Powder Mage trilogy.

fuck bakker

>>17295900
>>last book read
Son of the Black Sword
>>book your currently reading
A Peculiar Peril
>>next book you plan to read
The Long Mars

How come this thread is suddenly talking so much about Bakker? I love his books and got the recommendation from here but they're pretty old and well known enough that I'd think they're played out until the next trilogy comes out.

On another note, has anyone here read the stone dance of the chameleon books? They seem decent for fujo fodder, but overall very simplistic and superficial in their treatment of world building. I'm two books into the new releases and wonder whether they get better.

>>17302359
cope

>>17302429
People are starved for good fantasy waiting for the next big name to revive the genre (last one was GRRM)

>>17302343
There's multiple flintlock fantasy series that are kind of big. Powder mage, Thousand Names, Temeraire, Guns of the Dawn

>>17297467
I read A Darker Shade of Magic, which I think is the first of a trilogy. The story was predictable, but fairly unoffensive. The prose is a step above her YA contemporaries, not that that is a difficult task. I feel no desire to seek out more of her work, but if I saw it on a library shelf and my hands weren't full I might grab another of her works. Meh.

Recs for fantasy with interspecies romance? Particularly between a human female and non-humanoid male.

>>17302485
I feel that too. I recently reread Bakker, Tolkien, GRRM and Rothfuss. I even read Mistborn and Locke Lamora. I dislike Malazan and WoT.

There just doesn't seem to be a whole lot else that is reputable, let alone good. It's all niche and of dubious quality, at least the stuff I'm aware of. It's even worse for Sci fi where the classics have aged like milk and most of the authors couldn't write an character if their life depended on it, or at least come up with interesting ideas. Heck I read some real autistic stuff just because it is actually compelling on a concept level. It is a sad state of affairs.

>>17302486
Thousand Names doesn't actually have guns or gunpowder, right?

>>17302583
You may not like Malazan, but he doesn't deceive the readers with trash-tier characters. Same goes for Bakker and Martin.

Everything else is absolute trash in my honest opinion.

Why isn't there a horror general, too?

>>17302485
>People are starved for good fantasy waiting for the next big name to revive the genre (last one was GRRM)

Everything about this post is hilarious.

>>17302613
They are true statements however.

>>17302613
I agree.

>>17302630
What's true about those statements? We live in the Woke era, remember? Martin wrote his series more than 20 years ago. Only now did he become famous.

Most people seem to praise this because it doesn't hold your hand. The attraction seems to be based on stroking ones ego and setting yourself apart from the plebs. Is this a good assessment? What does this series have besides a peasant filter?

>>17302613
>>17302642
Only 10 years ago did he become famous.*
I don't think GoT would have been picked up if it was even a couple years later.

>>17302603
Malazan has an awful case of making it up as he goes along. Characters and rules and plots change and shift. It's so annoying to read, I actually dropped it towards the last few books when he tried to tie it all together. His female characters and the way he wrote trauma also greatly annoyed me, but that is probably a personal pet peeve. I wish people would just leave that out of their story if they have no clue.

Malazan does have some fun characters, but also some shit ones, and a lot of copy pasted ones that I liked at first, but that really started to go on my nerves a couple books in.

>>17302665
What are you talking about?

>>17296750
do you really juggle all those series at the same time?

>>17302692
I'd rather have someone making up shit along the way than having an autistic outline like Sanderson.

>>17302665
Most people seem to praise this because it doesn't hold your hand. The attraction seems to be based on stroking ones ego and setting yourself apart from the plebs. Is this a good assessment? What does this series have besides a peasant filter?

>>17302195
The point is to explore ideas and the interaction between different value systems.
Did you read nothing about the culture itself in these books? It's been a a while but I'm sure there were explanations for their behavior that made perfect sense.

The culture is explicitly not an expansionist imperialist power, it hardly is a coherent thing at all beyond its shared values, which include not forcing its system on others against their will.

The 20th century has shown that interventionist world police type activities are generally counterproductive too.

>>17302435
Sauce

Does the Cormac/Polity series get better? I have read Prador Moon, Shadow of the Scorpion and Grid linked but while i find the world fascinating, the tech and AI stuff great, the actual stories, books and characters have all been kind of boring.

>muh grimderp
>muh edge
>muh rape
>muh betrayals
>muh hell
>muh battles
>muh whores
>muh autism
>muh LotR but iNvErTeD
>muh dArK pHiLosOpHy
the recent increase in bakker faggotry can only be attributed to the uptick in underage midwit edgelords on this board

Question for someone who has read The Expanse and never watched the TV show, what is your opinion on the books?
I cant help but feel an asimov or DICK book would scratch my space boner better.

>>17302692
Well, it's literally based on an RPG session of the author's. So, lol.

>>17302761
The twentieth and twenty first century showed that what works for high IQ countries does not work in low IQ countries. Interventionism isn't the problem, it worked fine in Europe, Korea, Japan. European protestants and Catholics did not massacre each other while under Nazi Occupation, nor when the allies drove them off. Interventionism did not work in societies where nothing works.

As far as the books go, the affront are actively belligerent, their values simply cannot work within any framework.
Banks heroes seem more intent on punishing their own people for going a bit to far then an enemy actively trying to destroy the Culture.

>>17302853
Generic as fuck. No novel ideas to speak of. The first had a good noir detective plot. And second had some nice politics.

The action is bad, it was clearly written for TV rather then what works in book format.

>>17302858
same with bakker

>>17302861
Is she the most beautiful woman alive in the world right now?

>>17297434
too many women on goodreads

>>17302861
Not gonna get into your jejune politics.

I suggest you reread the books and pay attention this time, rather than sperg about how it doesn't align with what you think should have happened based on your own world view. Read books to expand your horizons rather than fortify your current ones.

>>17302816
Honestly people think this of ASOIAF but it really isn't. You do have examples of good and idealistic to contrast all of the shit.
Pic related.

Can some fine gentleman post the cool Bakker map?

>>17303103
That character isnt even in the books retard.

>>17303121
He is in flashbacks you fucking moron.

I'm going through Bakker's third book.

Will Kellhus eventually redeem himself, as a character? The guy is a fucking cunt.
I honestly couldn't give two shits if he died or not.

>>17301879
I didn't realize that Cradle wasn't finished

>>17297434
Goodreads is HORRENDOUS when it comes to voting anything in because most people simply go for popularity. Hell, if you look at votes vs ratings some of those weren't even READ by the people voting for them. Also, booktubers.

>>17302665
Nah, Malazan's thing is that it's almost antithetical to the idea of "modern fantasy" which is obsessively character-centric and if you haven't sold the reader in the first 50 pages your book is trash. It's also an uphill battle because Gardens of the Moon is a massive filter for people who want to be lubed up and slowly eased in instead of being told to bite the pillow.

>>17302300
no. probably not for quite some time.
you could try pic related, its his most successful work and only ~300 pages long.

Why are people still butthurt about that one not positive (but not negative) comment on tolkien george rr martin made years ago?

>>17303810
I'm not.

>>17303121
Here's your (you)

>>17302995
>N-no muh based niggers can be trained and saved! the book agrees with me, therefore you don't get it!
Such hypocrisy

>>17303889
Trust me the Affront makes our colored folks look angelic.

>>17303969
>asks you to join her sex cult

>>17302610
horror is just a subset of fantasy, you can post about it here.

>>17304169
You're thinking of blond one. This girl wouldn't even piss on us if we were on fire, let alone ask us to join anything

>>17304251
I think that Kruek actually introduced Mack to the cult but then got out before things got too weird, or /tv/ says

Someone post the "Shallan" theory.

So did Daenerys actually physically meet the Khal at the end of Dance or did she snap and is he and his riders a figment of her delusions? I'm leaning more towards the former since it has been a long time but I remember stuff hinting in that chapter she had actually snapped mentally so it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilities.

https://www.strawpoll.me/42459001

>>17299503
And for that argument I'm sure that you're addicted to reddit.

Call of the Arcade is the greatest scifi novel of our time.

>>17297434
you know amazon owns goodreads right?
it would not surprise me in the least if the votes are rigged to drive traffic to "bestsellers"

>>17302751
This man's art is glorious.

Recs for SF stories that are more grounded/light on the S part? I read a short story today about a scientist that invents an anti-gravity device, and his agent winds up having to sell it out of advertisements in occult magazines because nobody believes in it. Where do I get more like that?

>>17304865
I love pre-movie interpretations of Gollum

>>17302597
It has quite a lot of both. The vast majority of the first book is magicless war in the Napoleonic style

>>17303103
I've only read the first book of Song of Ice and Fire and wasn't a fan.

Is Bakker better or worse?

>>17305064
Have you read the Machine of Death anthologies?

>>17305257
You can barely compare them because their works are almost completely different

>>17295900
what do you guys think of pic related?

What are you listening to while writing?
https://youtu.be/mF6FEj_v1t4

>>17305435
Is this that program for autistically cataloguing
>muh lore
and
>muh worldbuilding
?

>>17305469
Atmospheric Swiss black metal helps me get in the writing zone.
https://youtu.be/qY_uj-fqyrE

>>17303240
>>17303112
https://atlasoficeandfireblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/30/a-spectacular-new-map-of-earwa/
Worth printing for reference imo.

Reading Elysium Fire. Apart from Alastair Reynolds and Peter Watts, who are some other hard science fiction readers I should be keeping an eye on?

>>17305648
>forced to stay awake and conscious 24/7
what a terrible fate

>>17305469
the first 20 minutes of The Wall album, completely uninterrupted

>>17301082
SHIT! This is that book I've been trying to think of for ACTUAL MONTHS! I read this in middle school and remember enjoying it immensely, but outside of the vaguest description of the plot I could never figure out if I was just making shit up. Thank you anon.

>>17305648
Ted Chiang, Greg Egan, Stephan Baxter, Charles Stross, Robert L. Forward, Larry Niven.

>>17302429
>suddenly

>>17295900
>last book
Foundation
>currently reading
Foundation and Empire
>next up
The next foundation book

>>17304267
I think it was the other way round, but you're right about Kreuk getting out prior to the "hold down your sister so she doesn't wiggle while we draw on her with this soldering iron" stage of the program.

>Last Book
StarSight

>Currently Reading
The Devil and the Dark Water (Audiobook)
Six Wakes

>Next Up
Probably Bakker because of this board. Otherwise Salvation by Hamilton or Quicksilver by Stephenson.

>>17297434
Piranesi sounds fascinating.

>>17305877
I’m interested as well.
/sffg/ Piranesi readthrough Feb.?

>>17304281
So every identity Shallan has "made" is insulating her from a traumatic truth about her childhood. The "silent child who keeps her head down and says nothing" wasn't truly christened as another personality, but it's the person she became to shield herself from what she did to her mother and perpetuated the act after killing her father and prior to Jasnah. Then Veil was brought along and we know for a certainty that she was brought about as means to shield Shallan from her first betrayal in killing her initial spren. With this coping mechanism identified, it's basically assured that Radiant is also hiding a secret, likely about her "radiance" that she can't come to terms with. An indication that maybe she had to do something traumatic to become "Radiant" in the first place.

The prevailing theory is that "Shallan" isn't the daughter of the Davar family, but instead a Ghostblood deep agent brought in as a mind-broken child to take the real Shallan's place in whatever chicanery the mother and her lover were up to, presumably tied to bringing the Radiants back. Shallan's mother tried to kill "her" once she discovered Lyn Davar was working with the Ghostbloods and sacrificed the daughter of her body to do so. The Shallan we know has never been the real Shallan.

>>17305814
I hated Accelerando. One of the worst hard science-fiction novels I've ever read.

>>17305899
>implying that, even if this is the case, it justifies having to suffer through her chapters
>"eh, joke's on you kiddo"

>>17305905
Explain? It's kind of cringe at times but it approaches Neuromancer at its best.

>>17305899
It'll be better than whatever Brandon shits down our throats.

>>17305890
It's not on libgen. I might buy it later, but I'll want to ask people about it first.

>>17305961
It was pedestrian at best. The only enjoyable character was Aineko and Charles' take on posthumanism was just flat out shallow.
Maybe because I recently read Blindsight and Echopraxia and Peter Watts made the Vampires and AIs much more believable.

>>17295900
Dragon Wing
Elven Star
Fire Sea

>>17305414
OK, different how?

>>17305989
lurk more, newfriend

>>17305995
How do you like Haplo and the Dog, anon?

I feel depressed if I'm in the middle of reading several books but am no where near finishing any of them; despite how entertaining and satisfying the books may be, I hate "speedreading" just to finish something.
Help.

>>17306024
Idgi. I need to be immersed in an author’s vision. I only read one book at a time desu. Spreading out seems like it might lower the quality of each read.

>>17305242
For some reason I confused it with king killer of all things.

>>17306024
This is a troll post.

>"Could it be? He clutched at her groin, squeezed the haft of her erection-"

I tough you guys were meming when I asked if there were Trannies in Bakker's novel.

>>17306118
TIGER CUB

>>17306076
Not him, but I sometimes read two books at once.

>>17306076
How? High IQ people read multiple books concurrently no problem.

>>17306161
>High IQ people read multiple books concurrently no problem.
Does one really need to be high IQ to do that?

>>17305905
I'm the he guy you responded to. I remember liking the general plot and ideas of accelerando but being annoyed by the characters and how he manages to make his awesome ideas so pedestrian. His best work is the short story "A colder War". I also I liked the Eschaton series , and his Space Commodity pirates idea is pretty neat.

A colder war:
http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm

Space Commodity Pirates:

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/09/books-i-will-not-write-4-escha.html

In any case try out Ted Chiang. Word for Word the highest quality writer I have ever read. But he produces like one short story every few years, so.

>>17302195
wow... talk about completely missing the point of the Affronters

Legion is the best Bandero Sandero Novel to begin with. It's quick, clever and well paced.

>>17306290
Legion strikes me as what he intended for Shallan's multiple personality disorder but had to cut significantly because it didn't fit the setting. They're still really fun little low key modern-setting fiction stories. I really enjoyed them.

>>17305899
Take a look at this: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/367/#e11634
It's kind of too bad since that sounds far more interesting

>>17305495

Thats "yWriter" and "Zim desktop Wiki".

>>17306550
Bah. Hmm. I still think Shallan's been an unwitting ghostblood asset for most of her life and somehow she's the "broken soulcaster" the other ghostbloods came snooping for after she left home. Does make me even more curious how underwhelming the Big Final Secret will be.

>>17306684
There is some other interesting stuff about the Davar family though:
https://wob.coppermind.net/events/358/#e10756
https://wob.coppermind.net/events/332/#e9520
The common theory about this is that they were under the influence of Dai-Gonarthis, since all of the other unmade other than Chemoarish were accounted for.

Which of you made that Shallan cringe thread kek

>>17295900
>Post your
>>last book read
>>book your currently reading
>>next book you plan to read
See pic related

I wanna pull an Edgar Rice Burroughs and start written pulp genre fic to see if I can. These a good and fun way to write? I feel like its a little low brow and strokes the ego.

https://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/93382-plurality-representation/

>>17302761
>The 20th century has shown that interventionist world police type activities are generally counterproductive too.
What, you some kind of nazi?

>>17305989
Absolute state of Libgenfags

>>17306131
I can already tell I'm going to regret having made that up on the spot and having posted it from you using it. Also, I doubt anyone will get it anyway.

>>17304281
>>17305899
>>17305982
>>17306550
>>17306684
You missed another crazy theory: Shallan is
a human-parsh hybrid

Shallan is the daughter of Lin Davar and a parshwoman. She was not welcomed into the house, especially as a half-breed. She was formless, just like her biological parsh mother, until SOMETHING happened. She maybe she had a spren (or unmade) in her gemstone heart that helped restore her missing connection, and then she would sneak into Davar's gardens and pretend she was loved there.
These lies attracted Pattern to her, acquired the ability of Lightweaver (and Soulcast), and transformed into the "human" known as Shallan Davar. Lin and his first wife knew the truth (and maybe Helaran?), But the other brothers welcomed Shallan with no problem, because they were still young,
The theory was based on ridiculous evidence such as Shallan's red hair (sign of an impure lineage), her mother calling her "one of them" and the presence of this dark and unwanted personality called "formless"

>>17300353
Based and redpilled

>>17305814
Greg Egan is and will always be the final boss of hard sci-fi. Start with Permutation City.

>>17305496
fuckin BASED black metal poster.. Im Wald was great. here is some Beverast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70d7Cu5sUE0

Where my Wolfe pack at?

>>17305469
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hD9IdFRu9g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8vBoC015dE
mostly prog metal
>>17307357
pretty good

>>17307350
Looks interesting, I’ll start with his Quarantine first.

>>17307474
Not him but read his short story collection Axiomatic.

>>17305998
Practically everything.

>>17305853
>Dual wielding 2 two-handed swords

>>17307199
You have to start somewhere.

>>17305435
I tried some writing software and went back to FocusWriter.

>>17305435
>>17307950
idk these writing softwares always seemed kinda cringey, i feel like its just a distraction from actually writing in a word document. i just keep a separate document for information and lore and stuff. who knows maybe ill try it for notes and outlining
are they free?

>>17308024
Campfire is not, I haven't tried it. I bought DevonThink then Scrivener. Neither were free or ultimately helpful for me.
FocusWriter is free. It's just a text editor with tabs and is slightly customizable.

How are your novels coming along, /sffg/?

>>17308201
Poorly, I can't write characters for shit.

>>17308201
I was on a streak for awhile but slipped yesterday and today didn't do very much

>>17302732
Yes.

Tbh reading a series in one go isn’t even the way books are published. I find it more interesting to juggle stories. Keeps me more interested

test

Did we get raided by feds?

>>17226889
>>11341501
>>16957110
How could you... I'm so mad right now. How can you in good faith go into a thread and actually recommend both Elantris AND Warbreaker?
You can't. You're trolling. That's the only explanation. You set people up with bad book recommendation. Laughing to yourself as we all waste our time. Between those two books, I've wasted 50 hours of my life. I hope that makes you happy. I hope you keep a record. Count it up. 50 hours listening to this garbage on audiobook.

Fucking hell, Warbreaker was another slog. Just like Elantris, Brandon Sanderson can't help but to explain every little detail of every plot point and character motivation.

What the FUCK is the point in foreshadowing, if when the foreshadowed event finally arises, you're just going to explain the connection in tedious detail? It was fucking mind numbing. I'm so frustrated right now, I can't even begin to convey this feeling through text.

I WANT to like the story. There are some cool idea. The characters are almost likeable. But Sanderson's need to explain everything steps on all of the material. Please, please, PLEASE stop explaining everything like I'm a fucking child.

omg, omg, omg, omg, omg, omg, omg, omg.

Guys... I'm taking one more Sanderson recommendation. That's right. I want to like his material, so I'm giving him a third chance. Either he finally clicks with me, or he strikes out. Which is it going to be. Well that depends on which book you recommend. So I suggest you recommend the best he's go. Give me the top tier Sanderson. Don't fucking hold back this time.

>>17308586
The Way of Kings is supposed to be his best work. Kind of a long book, 60 hours of audio.

>>17308668
>The Way of Kings is supposed to be
No, anon. I'm sick of these third party recommendations. If you are not PERSONALLY enthused about the book, then don't recommend it. Do you personally give a shit about The Way of Kings?

>>17308681
Mistborn or Stormlight, pick your poison.

>>17308690
mm, nah. I'm not hearing much enthusiasm in your post. You're just name dropping.

>>17308681
I liked it. I also checked the the threads you linked. This has been an ordeal where several people have been recommending you stuff.

I confess to recommending you Emperor’s Soul which I have read and I did recommend you Warbreaker based on 3rd party recommendation.

But for real this time, I have read the Way of Kings and it’s pretty good compared to Mistborn.

I’m sorry you have wasted 50 hours of your time though your big message made me giggle in the sushi restaurant where I am currently.

Currently reading Seveneves, my first Neal Stephenson book. What are other good Stephenson books to read next? I was thinking Cryptonomicon.

>>17308704
I choose to believe you.
But "pretty good" is not good enough for me. Not after the other two books. What is pretty good to you, is probably shit to me. Ma'am, you are disqualified from further Sanderson recommendations. But if someone else wants to put in their word, I'm still listening.

>>17308789
Okay then I recommend you Malazan and the Second Apocalypse. You can be sure there won’t be too much exposition and explaining.

>>17308586
You are not going to like Sanderson. Just read Erikson, Bakker, or Wolfe.

Of the ones I have read, I would recommend Legion, but it probably has all the problems you mention, I do not remember. I don't give a fuck about over explanation, I care about the plot. And Sanderson writes interesting cohesive plots that tie up in interesting ways and have surprising twists.

I personally liked the second mistbron trilogy the most, especially in audiobook format. I think Kramer did the best job there out of any audiobook I have ever listened to, especially with a drunk Wayne.

>>17295900
>last book read
Children of DUNC
>book your currently reading
God emperor of DUNC
>next book you plan to read
Heretics of DUNC, maybe

I am enjoying God Emperor, it's kinda fun trying to interpret Leto's wordy bullshit.

>>17301656
Bumping for interest

>>17308586
>>17308668
>>17308681
>>17308690
>>17308692

Let's stop pretending that Sanderson is good for a second.

>>17302861
First off, in Player of Games the Culture indeed topples and destroys the evil empire of Azad, it's just that they do it CIA style instead of straight up invading. And in Excession, the Affront were not a threat to the Culture, they only barely became one as part of an especially machiavellian plot by some Minds intending to destroy them.

The Culture is interventionist, they just don't go around declaring war on anything they deem evil. Maybe you need to read Star Maker.

>>17305435
I like it

>>17308797
I will say this: there was one twist in Warbreakers that actually surprised me. But it wasn't because Sanderson wasn't giving overt clues throughout. It was because I grew complacent with the way things were. So when he switched it up, I was like "hang on, you're doing that afterall?" I was almost impressed. Because it almost appears that is the effect he was going for. But that twist was spoiled by the paragraphs after paragraphs he dedicated to explaining the event. He only uses a very very VERY thin emotional veil, to which he can reiterate events to the reader. By that I mean he'll have characters reflect on what just happened. But the way it's written sounds too much like the narrator proclaiming what happened, rather than the person's inner voice actually addressing their emotions.

I'm probably just going to skip Sanderson afterall. No one on /lit/ is very enthused about him. But that leaves me with nothing to read.
>Erikson, Bakker and Wolfe
You can just say Malazan, The Prince of Nothing and The Book of the New Sun.
Those are the only things that get recommended around here. I might actually have to move on from /lit/, if that's all you guys got.

>>17309035
You just got filtered

>>17309035
You're taste is simply not very common and not many authors cater to your needs. You might try Blindsight by Watts, but I imagine that has been recommended to death as well.

>>17307214
Holy shit that thread is pure gold.

>>17309035
If you're looking for recommendations, The Lies of Locke Lamora is pretty good. Just don't read any of the sequels.

>>17309080
>https://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/93382-plurality-representation/

I’m so confused

>>17309070
Hey, just because I don't like your selection, that doesn't mean my tastes are uncommon. I've never heard of Blindsight before. Gotta admit though, the description on the back of the book doesn't make it sound like something I'd enjoy.

>>17309080
Read it already. I'm the anon with the dumb completion list. And then someone invariably asks me why I haven't read one the three big /sffg/ books. And I give some vague reply about not liking the audiobook narrators or something. And then they berate me for being an audiobook pleb.
Finished:
Dune**, Licanius Trilogy*, The First Law, The Broken Earth*, Memory Sorrow and Thorn*, The Wheel of Time**, Nightflyers*, Book of the Ancestor*, A Memory Called Empire*, The Curse of Chalion 1-3**, Penric's Demon*, Penric and the Shaman*, Penric's Mission*, The Library At Mount Char@, The Farseer Trilogy**, The Elder Empire series(Shadow), Liveship Traders*, The Gentleman Bastard 1** and 2, Hyperion**, Endymion 1, The Dying Earth, The Emperor's Soul, Elantirs@, Warbreaker@

Ongoing:
Cradle(Will Wight)**, A Song of Ice and Fire**, The Elder Empire series(Sea), Vorkosigan Saga**

Skipping:
The Prince of Nothing, The Book of the New Sun, The Black Company, Malazan, The Song of the Shattered Sands@, Borne, The Mermaid's Tale(V.D.Valdron)@, Endymion 2, Lyonesse@

*liked
**liked a lot
@disliked

>>17309137
Peak autism

>>17309147
I just thought it would be cool to allow 4chan to dictate my reading journey. So far, every book I've read has been a recommendation from /tv/, /v/ and /lit/. So my autism is your autism.

Would it be weird to have a real culture interact with a fantasy world?

>>17309137
You know what? You are so unforgettable with your weeping, moaning and nagging that we should give you a name, one that sticks.

From now on you will be called the Karen of SFF. Everyone will recognize your posts.

>>17309171
Harry Potter

>>17309178
I mean like a group of French Medieval guys are thrust into another fantasy world. Would it be silly to do an idea like this?

>>17305223
When I rred the Hobbit at like... 7 or 8, I imagined him as some sort of humanoid angler fish. I was dismayed by the Jackson movies' (which I saw a couple years later before reading the LotR books) interpretation of him as just an emaciated hobbit.

>>17309173
I can hardly argue with that. I DO enjoy complaining. But don't you think "Karen" is due to fall out of favor soon? Feels like that one is already waning as a trend.

>>17305829
>names the third book Second Foundation

I started reading The Way of Kings after three e-begging streamer faggots praised it to high heavens for the narrative elegance. After only several chapters, I find it to be quite the opposite, since Sanderson not only outright tells you how magicks and other world mechanics are used (he does leave out some of it, but still consistently breaks the pacing to flesh out others), he completely ruins the character's motivation and theme of thought for having to stop and explain what he's doing (with binding and other somewhat interesting stuff). I felt like I was reading the exact opposite of Gene Wolfe's style.

"You?”

The dark figure nods. Obscurity plumes and bloats about his edges. The Shroud-of-the-desperate has become his halo.

“My Author.”

“How?” he coughs. “What are … you doin—?”

“Shssh.... my Author... and my prophet...”

Fire leaps through the Canadian writer's wood-paneled home office. The figure hesitates, then raises a hand as great as his father’s, clamps it about Bakker’s mouth and nose.

“Ssssh …” he says with what seems an ancient melancholy. He has pondered this. He has resolved. Convulsions wrack bloated flesh.

“You have lingered overlong.”

His strength scarcely seems human.

“And I will not let the No-God draft go unreleased.”

The Autist-Author of Ontario suffocates. Light and image dissolve. His lungs cramp. A burning flashes from his bones. His flailing astonishes him, for he had counted his body dead.

But then the animal within never ceases battling, never quite abandons hope … Faith.

No soul is so fanatic as the darkness that comes before. This is the lesson we each take to our grave—

And to hell.

>>17308586
I don't know why you're torturing yourself if you haven't read the Mistborn trilogy. Though, "explaining things" is kind of the dude's wheelhouse. I'd say he's tightened it up a lot by Mistborn, but there's really no escaping the nerd's need to elaborate on his Own Personal Universe.

>>17309285
One could ask why the Karen is insisting on reading Sanderson. And dismisses Erikson and Bakker. Either he is out of his mind or a tranny

>>17309239
>since Sanderson not only outright tells you how magicks and other world mechanics are used
Fake and gay.
You haven't read a single line of WoK. Otherwise you would know that small explanations of the magical system are only given well over half of the book.
>Muh Szeth
It's just an action scene. There is no depth in what he does.

>>17309320
It's not nice to accuse me of lying when it's written just as I've said, verbatim, in the opening chapters - which you both confirm and disregard in the second part of your post.

>>17309320
szeth is literally sasuke

and that's a good thing

>>17309104
If I'm understanding correctly, it's a bunch of mentally ill people who think that they have multiple personalities like Shallan.

>>17309239
>>17309336
The magic explaining is only really present in Szeth's one chapter.

>>17309336
Not him, but Szeth and his powers are something of an outlier in that they're the first and most elaborated upon abilities you see. Once they're sufficiently established in the opening scene, there's very little additional technical explanation of powers and abilities. Stormlight is purposely written to get more opaque in regards to most of the in-world lore, at least till book 4. You'll absolutely stroke out if you make it to book 4 because it's basically a long cosmere mechanics textbook with a few action scenes sewn in.

>>17309360
I just said it was inelegant and poorly done, and the important thing is - as you've just said - that it's there, right off the bat. I never claimed Sanderson explains everything, just that he writes poorly.

>>17309367
Seems like Sanderson reads too much manga, then, but even in manga, world mechanics are often written as an infographic before the action itself starts. Reading Sanderson reminded me of deadpan Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.

>>17309338
That would be Moash. Szeth is Itachi.

The problem with Sandaro is that he simply cannot write interesting characters or character interactions.

>>17309316
I've actually answered this a dozen times already. If I'm so memorable, then why do you never remember the answers? It's like they go in one ear and out the other.
I began Malazan, but I didn't like how much it was referring characters as their D&D classes. It felt too much like an roleplaying campaign being set up in the beginning. So I jumped ship pretty early on. Other anons agreed that the first book was basically just the authors D&D campaign But that it "totally gets good in the second book". And I didn't want to invest all that time into a series just HOPING it gets good eventually.

For The Book of the New Sun, it's narrated by Jonathan Davis, who recites the words in as mono of a tone he can produce. He intentionally remains quiet and wispery, and I hate it. It's unlistenable. I tried. I couldn't stand it. Honestly, click this link and listen to the sample audio, and tell me you wouldn't fall asleep in minutes. https://www.audible.com/series/Book-of-the-New-Sun-Audiobooks/B006K1LMZ0
I did track down a version with another narrator. It's the old version before Jonathan Davis. But it's only available via torrent, and no one is seeding it. I'm currently stuck at 34%

For The Prince of Nothing. I kind of forget why I skipped that one. I think that's the book that I found to be just plain bad. But then again, now that I'm listening to the audio again, I can't imagine how I stomached the narrator long enough to even make a judgement on the content of the book. https://www.audible.com/series/The-Prince-of-Nothing-Audiobooks/B008CQW0IY The narrator sounds like droning school teacher, not a storyteller. That's nearly unlistenable as well.

Now, compare those audio qualities to something like The Lies of Loche Lamora. https://www.audible.com/series/Gentleman-Bastard-Sequence-Audiobooks/B006K1SORE The narrator's voice is rich, and he varies the intonation. There's a slight lilt to it. A hint of humor that adds to the charm of the setting of the book. He actually acts out the roles.

A narrator can make or break a book.

What makes a good dystopian future novel

>>17308586
Legion

>>17309413
Karen dismisses Malazan based on 3rd party accounts
Doesnt know why dismissed PoN, blames audiobooks.

The truth is you dont know what you like and you dont even read books.

The fact that you really liked Waste of Time really tells a lot

>>17309434
Yeah because referring to characters as "the sorcerer" and "the rouge" is quality writing.

>>17309413
>audio-books

NGMI

>>17304861
To the contrary, Amazon probably has more incentive to push people towards self published crap that they host

>>17309173
>we
>newfag shit
How about "we" (you) kill yourself?

how many words should you aim for in a chapter?

>>17309501
zero

>>17309419
A love triangle and teenage grills throwing their money at you.

>>17299825
Basically everything on the Dying Earth chart, but if you want stuff like your pic then City at End of Time

>>17309501
Chapter shouldnt be so long as to make the reader go commit an hero. 10 - 20 pages

>>17309501
>imblying /sffg/ actually writes anything
el
oh
el

>>17309501
depends on your definition of "chapter". Do you define it as scene or as act. Do you even know the difference between those?

>>17309501
2800-4500
Comfy as fuck

New thread;
>>17309628

>>17309413
Audiobookbay has the whole gene wolfe collection including Roy Avers narration. And I like his narration much more then davis, the quality is bad. As the his, the crackle and other high pitched noises make listening unpleasant.

In fact yesterday I combined all the files from the second BotNS and tried to remove the hiss in RX8 but for some reason the software cannot open the combined files. And I cannot be arsed to unfuck 32 separate files. for each book.

BTW does anyone know why audiobooks do not just come as a single big ass file but many smaller ones.

>>17309781
>BTW does anyone know why audiobooks do not just come as a single big ass file but many smaller ones.
Depends on who prepared the audio. Big MP3 files are bad for listening though, since apps can't figure out where the chapters are. So if the person is doing it right, then they're split by chapter. Not at random points.
If you see a book cut up at random points. Then I can't really tell you why that is. But I suspect they just have shitty editing software. Or some kind of trial that limits the size of the file they can save. Or perhaps their server side storage only accepts files under a certain size.

But then there is the superior m4a and m4b. Which are audio formats capable of holding extra metadata such as images and time signatures. With m4b, you can make one huge file with chapters marked for whatever m4b compatible app you have. And the file compresses better than mp3. So it will save on file size.

Thanks for recommending audiobookbay. It's actually one of the places I checked already. In fact, that's where I got the 34% stuck torrent. But there was one problem... I was searching "gene wolf". Not "gene wolfe". When you said there was collection, and it wasn't coming up for me, that's when I quadruple checked the search and finally realized I forgot the E.
So I'm going to see if I can download off the collection torrent this time. And if that works, I'll give the book another shot. I don't mind muffled scratchy audio. So long as it's not literally unlistenable.

>>17310034
It's the year 2021. How the fuck have they not started using .cue(s) for single file mp3 audiobooks or whatever?

>>17310199
The fuck is a cue?
Well searching says it's a metadata file. Look. I don't recall seeing any cue files, ok? If the makers of the audio don't include one, then how can I use it? Just scanning some of my files, I'm not seeing any cues.

I've dropped Sanderson so hard the Way of Kings got deleted from my battered Kindle Touch (gen 4). What an awful writer. Sprens? Pffft. Plus probably the worst depiction of mana I've ever seen, felt like a was reading a really bad fanfic of someone who played too much Xenoblade Chronicles.

I put him in the same shit tier that hacks like Jordan, Rothfuss, Abercrombie belong to.

Now back to Malazan.

>>17308586
>>17308681
I hate Sandershit, the only book of his I could finish was Way of Kings. The Kaladin chapters are good, the rest is dogshit, but since the book is mainly about Kaladin its ok (more despite Sanderson than anything).

>>17309501
3000-6000 probably, unless its some lit technique and you want to make it longer/shorter for that.