/lit/ - Literature

This is now a Fang Yuan appreciation thread.

>>18136305
cool pic
tell me what's hololive btw cuz i'm not going to bother to search for it, but you're still spamming it

>>18136308
>I am a thousand years old and wise beyond puny mortal comprehension
>I will now proceed to alienate everyone I know and make my life pointlessly difficult
Dumb chinkshit

>>18136305
What do you anons think of Heretics of Dune? For me, it is very sluggish moving.

>>18136324
>I am a thousand years old and wise beyond puny mortal comprehension
Would you not change radically if you lived for centuries?
>I will now proceed to alienate everyone I know and make my life pointlessly difficult
In his perception they had been dead for centuries. He did nothing wrong in discarding them, as they once did of him.

Anime posters deserve the rope

>>18136336
If he was so experienced he should have realised that he would be better served playing along in public while furthering his agenda in secret instead of making enemies of everyone he comes across.

>>18136351
But this need to be a loner served a distinctive function. By being a loner he kept his secrets tight to his chest, not invoking others greed as he grew stronger in secret. Remember this is a fantasy world in which the individual wields power greater than the mass.

Secondly, he was a "victim", an "oppressed" clan member that was deemed to have no talent; no future. How was he to acquire resources from which to gain power within a social structure that any resources he gained would have been seen as wasted on him?

>>18136230
it's soulless chinkoid fiction with a somewhat unique idea but entirely empty characters and a shit translation

>>18136328
All Dune is sluggish, only the first book is any good, and it suffers from having the best parts copied ad nauseum by other novels.

>Not everyone can be saved...

Posted this right as the thread died so ill try again.
Ok, so I have this problem where I really want to start a fantasy novel series. I've been building this world for YEARS, every day during meaningless tasks I'll daydream and spin around ideas about this setting. Recently I've been trying to focus it all down to characters and events so I can really pin down a plot for this thing. The BIG problem though is my anxiety and how shut off I can become when these kind of things come up around people. I live with my girlfriend and a roommate and I dread the thought of either of them catching me writing and asking about it. How can I get past this and just get what I want down in writing so I can get this thing started? One last thing, I can write on paper but I'm so heavy handed that my wrist will start hurting; I'm also divisive on going on my main PC in fear that I'll dive into a game or something else. I'd like a dedicated platform to be creative on and have dipped in the idea of getting a Samsung Galaxy Book Flex? The ability to write and draw maps sounds great to me, but I feel I need to show some commitment to this hobby before I start dropping hard money on it. Sorry for the spill but I'd love some advice, Thanks.

>>18136397
It is grand and baroque and, yeah, that can get sluggish sometimes. But Heretics is particularly bad for this. It also doesn't have the grandeur of God Emperor to mitigate that.

I read 'The Darkness that Comes Before' by Bakker. I generally prefer stories more focused on personal conflict than giant political upheavals, so for much of the book I was left a little cold. This wasn't helped by every single character being extremely unlikable - ironically the 'mad emperor trope' Xerius was the only one who actually made an impression on me as a human being (I smiled once during the whole book at one of his acerbic thoughts, directed at his mother), the rest (especially the reptillian Kellhus) acting as little more than human-shaped 'tools', for want of a better word. Bakker needs them to do certain things, and they are perfectly designed for those tasks. Cnaiur is a cunning savage, Achamian is a pederastic old wizard, and both the females are whores. The book has 2 'events' - the battle between the Scylvendi and Ikurei Conphas, which was actually quite good (the violence throughout was described well, I thought, though Kellus' Shaw Brothers kung-fu antics got a little out of hand) and the council at the end of the book, which also did a good job of corralling numerous notable characters together and having them speak. 'Well-controlled' summarises Bakkers' writing accurately and it definitely didn't meander, even though little more of note happened in the book that isn't clearly a plot-thread left hanging for later works. I get the feeling he knows exactly what is going to happen, so I'll probably pick up the next book in the series to see how things shake out.

>>18136420
Self-discipline, anon. All of your problems can be fixed with it, and without it, you'll never finish writing your book. Outline a plot, set small goals for yourself, enforce a "no zero days" philosophy, and just try to get stuff moving. Eventually you'll either give up or find your flow.

>>18136461
Has a specific order ever worked for you? Assuming you write or have experience, my first thoughts where setting > characters > plot outline > draft start? If I'm going for a multiple perspective, would you think sticking with each character for multiple chapters or maybe writing chronologically would be better? Also I know the discipline can help, but input on buying a dedicated machine for writing/drawing/portability? Should I just push past my shyness? I've considered talking with my significant other about all this stuff and seeing if I should pursue it; I just find it easier to ask yall nameless folk first.

what is hololive

>>18136573
>>18136314
fuck off

>>18136420
Not sure if this will help you, but I'd recommend writing a few short stories set in your world. Not only does it help to flesh out and solidify the bones of your setting, but it will also improve your writing and likely make you more confident talking about it irl.

As for what to write on, make sure whatever you get isn't good enough to run the games you play. Then don't have your pc in your bedroom. idk. At the end of the day it comes down to willpower and wanting to write more than game.

>>18136636
I have thought of the short story idea, I have one or two characters in mind who actually are quite older than humans. One of these characters I have a "full" back story for that the plot kind of revolved or was kickstarted from his past actions. I've goofed though and gotten so attached to the story I have in mind that I'd have to kinda search for a part of his past to focus on; though a short story doesn't have to be so long I suppose? Thanks for the input.

just finished red seas under red skies. i'm not sure what scott was thinking when he set up what seemed like a great heist story in the first third of the novel only to abandon it so that through extremely contrived circumstances locke and jean could just fuck around as pirates for the last two thirds. the whole plot after they set sail felt unconvincing and rushed, the ending was anti-climatic and he made the protagonists much less likable than they were in the first novel of the series. should i even bother the third book?

>>18136420
If you really wanted to write a fantasy novel you'd be writing it, not blogposting on a Tibetian thangka painting channel

>>18136812
the third one is really stupid and significantly worse than the first two, I wouldn't bother. doesn't look like the fourth one is ever coming out either

I just really want to read about Roman gladiators fighting Terrorbirds. Novel the idea might seem, yet the meeting of known and unknown in a sandy ring is really appealing to me. A battle between what we understand, the Roman gladiator, facing this antediluvian bird from a far shore. People far and wide hunched about in the stands, cheering as the man enters. Then.. silence... The beast shrieks as it's brought into the ring in a might cage. Hushes, cries of astonishment and then... then the cage opens.

One man.

One beast.

Only one can live.

>>18136813
I really do want to, ill admit I'm stuck either attached to playing a game ( MH Rise at the moment) or when I'm on between games I get stuck in this rut where I launch random shit until something sticks. I'd love to put all these daydreams to life but I struggle with focus and self worth. The typical "why do this, who's going to even read it, it's shit etc just rings in my head all the time. Knowing where to start confuses me and starting itself scares me. I know these are all my own issues and simple confidence could fix it all. I imagine I could post a sort of "concept" here and see what yall think?

>>18136854
That's basically a pretty significant part of the plot of the first book of the Codex Alera series.

so when are we going to move the /sffg/ from /lit/ to /tg/???

>>18136886
>she's one of those people who think listening to audiobooks doesn't count as reading
imagine thinking listening doesn't count as reading.......... ugh........ i hate those snobs
alright i'm off for a walk and a i'll read about an hour's worth of podcasts

>>18136854
"Dinosaur Summer" by Greg Bear has terror bird fights, but not against humans

Anyone finish Battlemage? I’m currently a couple of hours in and I’m not sure if I wanna keep reading. Does the story get better? I’m at the part where the town is trapped in the mountains waiting for the demon army.

>>18136420
>>18136862
I wish there was some function to block whiny pussy posting

Why is it that science fiction books that take place in the future never have the amazon female small male master race that will actually exist in the future??

>>18137221
I was told this was a safe space? Also thanks for 2(two) yous ;)

>>18136854
>I just really want to read about Roman gladiators fighting Terrorbirds.

Why are so many pulp military sci fi books neo-con cope? I read this shit because I like spaceships going pew pew but I could do with a few less stoic space militarymen complaining about dumb civvies and pussy pacifist politicians ruining their efforts against their cardboard cutout alien baddies or blatant soviet expy enemies.
Say what you like about Starship Troopers, at least that was thought-provoking. Shit like Honor Harrington is just retarded.

>>18137391
>Read MilSF
>Complain that it's too much like MilSF

The fuck did you expect?

>>18137391
I agree, whenever I go looking for hardline right wing fashy daddy scifi, all I find is whinging about how all scifi is hard right, which would be great since I could use that whinging to curate a list of shit to read. Except that these people rarely list any books, and when they do, its the most milktoast "'ate war 'ate soldiers luv demcrocy simple as now 'old still while i shoot ya" trash. I don't know if its what you would call neo-con cope, but its frustrating in how disingenuous and brow beating it is.

>>18137391
Because starship troopers was a big inspiration for most MilSciFi and most writers have neither the background nor the writing ability of Heinlein, so just trace the surface level details, resulting in what you describe.

>>18137399
Good MilSF is very cool, like Starship Troopers, Forever War or Ender's Game. Fun trashy MilSF is fun to read, like Old Man's War, Ciaphas Cain or X-Wing.
>>18137415
>these people rarely list any books
Ok, I'll name a few I've read.
I liked Lost Fleet, it was a cool book and I enjoyed the grand tactical focus but the constant muh space commies threatening to nuke their own people was dumb.
I already named Honor Harrington but I'll name it again because it fucking sucks. The entire series is about this OC admiral clapping jacobin cheeks... I mean Peeps, poor sods who get massacred every book by the Royal Manticoran Navy, because supposedly welfare programs have bankrupted the People's Republic of Haven and only conquest can keep it afloat.
There's another one I read as a teen where I kid you not the leader of the good guys was a Margaret Thatcher expy who nuked Cairo to stop the aliens, and the author made a point to mention how "even the muslims were grateful". I don't remember the name of the book, through.
>hardline right wing fashy daddy scifi
I don't know if I would call it fashy through, I mean more like George Bush Iraq War-tier.
>>18137445
Maybe you're right.

>>18137487
I read a bunch of Lost Fleet a while back, every book I was able to stomach went something like this:
>I am admiral jesus, my fleet worships the ground I tread
>There are now dissenters, who are openly and blatantly planning treason
>The vast majority of my fleet supports me throwing them out the airlock
>But that would be immoral, because they haven't technically commit a "crime" yet
>[Said traitors proceed to jeopardize an important maneuver and get hundreds/thousands killed]
>Well that sucks but at least I didn't fall off my high horse
>Oh look how convenient all the dissenters are now dead so I don't even have to take responsibility for my actions (or lack of)

>>18136444
Stop thinking like a woman and you might appreciate Bakker's writing.

What do they eat?

>mfw i have scary, vivid nightmares about inchoroi and sranc

Fuck E William Brown
Fuck Pay Pigs
Fuck Pay Walls
Fuck poor marketing

Does anyone actually LIKE Kellhus?

>>18136444
book 2 is the best imo, book 1 is mostly setup and worldbuilding

>>18137914
in or out of universe and what book are you up to?

yes and it's probably entirely dependant on if you have an "authoritarian" personaltiy which roughly half the population does

I am going to read the Wheel of Time
You cannot stop me

>>18137914
pick cuckold hands typed this post

>>18137978
https://youtu.be/r0lx2GUqFkg?t=225

>>18136305
D E S T I N Y 2

>>18137978
Egwene will stop you.

>The Iron Dragon's Daughter by Michael Swanwick
or
>Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen R. Donaldson

Which should I read first?

>>18138061
having read the whole thomas covenant and deeply regret it, i can't help but recommend the other book even though i haven't read it.
if you do go through with thomas covenant, make sure you only read the first chronicles.

>>18137978
good luck anon. every criticism you've read of the book is correct but i still couldn't help but overall like it and some of the characters. there's a huge slump midway through the series but it does pick up the pace if nothing else towards last four books.

>>18138147
what's the gist of the Thomas Covenant series?

Is the series good?

>>18138162
God bless and thank you, kind sir.

>>18138186
isekaid incel rapes someone in a fever dream or something cos he thinks it was a dream, he's an ACTUAL antihero, haven't read it, oldschool stuff

>>18137869
Is the No-God simply an Inchoroi weapon, or does it have an intelligence/will of its own?

>>18138257
It's a p zombie, and yes it's an "individual" since there is someone piloting it and a conciousness there

>>18138186
just relentlessly depressing. in the first chronicles (book 1-3), the author does a good job of showing the beauty of the world he's created and why it's worth fighting for, has some good messages about perseverence and all that and a decent balance between depressing and uplifting events.
but the rest of the books are just non stop depressing, almost nothing but bad things happen to everyone, the world is incredibly shitty and full of suffering and you're left drained from reading it all. it's like 7 huge books' worth of the road-tier depression. somewhat fitting since they are sort of post apocalyptic.
aside from that the writing can be good but there's also a lot of meandering and purple prose and annoying angst from the main characters which gets tiresome.
the books have their fans so hopefully they chime in to provide a counterpoint but i found reading those books to be a pointless waste of time.

>silver min-uroikas on my college campus kek

>>18138264
but that doesn’t make sense; a p-zombie has no will of its own. the individual piloting mog pharau has no will over the carapace’s “operations,” correct? he’s more like a battery than a pilot in my view

Just finished Suldrun's Garden. I have not read a lot of fantasy besides Tolkien and Lewis (and things like Alice and NeverEnding Story when I was a kid) but I liked it lot.

I confess that I got a little confused about all the mages and stuff, and I felt a pretty big tone shift after the girl hung herself, it became more like a fairy tale all of sudden. I'm excited for the sequel because of the title, and Jack Vance prose is very comfy.

Recently read the Delta Green books while travelling for work and have gotten an itch for G-men conspiracies fighting supernatural horrors.
Any other similar series?

>>18138290
Yeah they aren't "controllling it" they are just powering it and along for the ride, it still has an awareness/conciousness but it can't percieve anything, probably

>>18138186
Man gets isekai’d, thinks it’s a lucid dream, rapes the first girl he sees then deals with the consequences of being an actual rapist
for 6 books.

>>18138199
>New York Times bestseller
>Hugo and Nebula award winner
>Female author
>"Assured, gripping and stylish"
...

>>18137120
I enjoyed it. It was very much cliche for a while but it ended up being a strong solid read.

>>18138282
You have to admit the way in which the Land has been fucked up in the second chronicles is pretty cool.

>>18136397
it's sluggish if you have adhd

>>18136305
OP is the tranny from discord

>ywn rape a screaming sranc

why live?

>>18138545
i admit it. it's exquisetly depressing and miserable

>>18138651
Well don't read his Gap cycle, which is also rapey and depressing. I enjoyed it very much.

>>18138604
based and mich! mich! mich!pilled

>>18138282
sounds like my kind of book

>>18138571
Nigga it's sluggish even if you have autism. The first book is paced slower than Moby Dick

>>18138604
They’d probably enjoy it

>>18137978

>>18138186
whiny incel powerfantasy

>>18136328
Definitely shows that the series should have ended one book before. Personally I think most of its problems comes from making the Bene Gessarit a central force in the novel, there's just something about them.

>>18137978
>>18139559

>>18139559
>>18139593
Where does this come from?

>>18137914
I've enjoyed watching his impact on those around him so far. The only other character who has made me feel similar is Iago from Othello. It’s almost like you can't even hate the guy, since he just keeps on getting away with it and is just unrepentantly doing what he gotta do.

What are the most over the top battles in Sci-fi/Fantasy

>>18136444
Sorry this isn't Harry Potter. Whores exist and people in power arent always good people

>>18139741
this book probably has multiple battles that could qualify

>>18139608
First is Bezosreads.

>>18139559
American Psycho?

>>18140028
Lmaaaao holy shit

>>18139741
Battle of Kiyuth
Battle of Shimeh
Siege of Sakarpus
Battle of Irsûlor
Battle of Dagliash
Battle of Golgotterath

>>18136420
Just write on your PC with a countdown timer. I set mine for 8 hours (9-5) but start with something more reasonable for a beginner, like 2 hrs, and work your way up. Don’t let yourself do ANYTHING ELSE while the timer is active. You can zone out as you think of the story, but not play games/browse social media/post on 4chan. Maybe play some non-distracting music to brighten things up a bit. If you do this for a few days, and don’t let yourself get distracted while the timer is counting down, you’ll feel excellent and energized.

looking for an anime who has a main character that is a lot like Thor
Lady's Man
Arrogant but loved
Preferably blonde

>>18140035
Yeah, yeah. But is Jordan doing it for the same effect?

>>18140529
Fire and sword

>>18140607
He just writes women in a certain way.

Sup guise? Did somebody say heroes journey?

>>18136305
Does /sffg/ read a lot of books that were published in the 40's and 50's? Do they hold up well?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Abides

how do I world-build and make a magic system without falling into a pit of existential dread
it happens every time

>>18140710
host hell

>>18138299
Her death is the most downbeat the entire series gets but there are other moments when it suddenly gets very dark

>>18139741
Some of the later books in the Honor Harrington series have absolutely gigantic space battles with hundreds of thousands of people being wiped out in a couple of seconds by gigantic nuclear missile swarms. Unfortunately the MC has become an insufferable Mary Sue by then.

>>18140910
The good ones always hold up well.

>>18137909
lol poorfag

>>18139559
is this malazan? cause thats definitely malazan
fuck, this is even bakker if add in some rape stuff

>>18140529
anasurimbor khellus the darkness that comes before. one of the main characters. he's a massive mary sue

>>18138199
Of course not.

>>18138199
Just finished it; it's fine straight 5/10 some good parts a lot of cringe, I far prefer a similar book that's better in every way: "Use of Weapons" by Banks

>>18136420
Hey I know this song. "A Worldbuilder Without A Story" by Brand New Writer
idk about your anxiety, you should probably get pills or therapy. You don't need a new laptop, you can write on your phone or in a spiral notebook. You're just making excuses so you don't have to start and find out you're a Level 1 Writer that needs more xp.

what is hololive

>>18141785
gay

Would you read a book about superheroes? I have an idea for a novel, I've written bits and pieces of it, but I can never commit because I feel like a child playing with action figures.

>>18141830
absolutely not
god is there anything more trite and jewish and juvenile than fucking superheroes

>>18141830
>doing market research on 4ch
wtf

>>18141858
Thanks, anon.

>>18141898
Not market research. I just hate myself for thinking about such childish shit, so I came here to make sure I'm not crazy.

>>18141901
Superhero stuff is pretty common for YA. I’m sure there are more adult takes of it out there too. There’s a market for it, don’t worry.

>>18141830
nah. just can't imagine that genre in book form. i've read and liked some superhero comic books so it's not snobbery, i just can't imagine reading about superheroes in book form
idk what this anon means>>18141943
and whether he means superpowered characters or actual costume wearing superheroes but i feel there's a difference. i'd read books about people with superhuman abilities for sure.

Should I read Urth immediately after finishing Citadel? I've heard that it's best to move on to it right away, that I should reread the entire tetralogy first, that I should read Long Sun and Short Sun first, and a handful of other recommended orders.

What do you say, /sffg/?

>>18141954
I mean actual costume wearing superheroes is a common young adult fiction thing.

>>18142014
I found Urth pretty forgettable, I'd say read it if you want to more Severian or more answers than were provided in BOTNS, otherwise proceed on to Long Sun

>>18140710
Not sure why hero's journey is still a thing. Seems outdated. I like arcs like True Detective where the character is a grown man in a dark place.

>>18139787
Are you trying to say that Bakker's characters are realistic?

>>18137857
chocolate.

>>18142018
never heard of this before. what are some?

Is there any other scifi as edgy as Armor?

>>18142014
>>18142055
I read it in order of BotNS -> Long Sun -> Short Sun -> Urth
It worked well, and felt like Urth was a good wrap up to the series by providing a nice emotional climax. Long Sun and Short Sun will probably be a bit of a step back down after Urth.

>>18141627
>You're just making excuses so you don't have to start and find out you're a Level 1 Writer that needs more xp.

IN THE END, THE BLACKEST PILL WAS THE ONE /SFFG/ NEEDED MOST OF ALL

>>18138299
the fairy elements figure quite prominently as the series progresses, the land is like the focal point of all folklore and myths like ogres and word trickery

I feel some mixed feelings here

>>18142697
what is this? some warhamms shit?
can't speak for fantasy but some 40k crap is genuinely readable.

>>18140910
That one does.

>>18142014
This it probably just going to end up being another round of conflicting advice, but I'd recommend reading the entire tetralogy 3-4 times and then deciding whether or not to read Urth after that.

Just copped these. What am I in for?

>>18142938
>the complete robot
a very interesting insight into the mind of a jew and a very interesting insight into the way early sci-fi worked.
the early books are filled with weird anachronisms about how 50s writers thought robuts were supposed to work. and the later books are detective stories about figuring out how jewish logic and talmudry could get around the famous laws of robotics. they're pretty delightful, i brought them with me on a roadtrip and finished like 60% of all of them in the span of two weeks.

>>18140061
wouldn't it be like the 5th battle of golgotterath or whatever? one of the nonman ones was probably more epic tho

consider reading the xeelee sequence

>>18143087
no

>>18143087
Redemption was a letdown as a seeming series finale. Vacuum Diagrams had tons of neat concepts.

>>18143053
Pir Pahal and Pir Minginnial would have been utterly insane.
>thousands of inchies in their prime blasting away with laser weapons
>nonmen quya and ishroi at the apex of their glory flying around on chariots
>millions of sranc
>hundreds of dragons
based

You vill eat ze Meat
You vill worship ze golden man
You vill reject ze orthodox
You vill accept sorcerers
You vill join ze Ordeal
And you vill be happy.

>>18141785
New eastern fantasy series that will change the Fantasy genre forever.

>>18141274
>paying 5 bux a month for one single chapter for that entire month
>paying for shit you don't want to read
>you're a poor fag if you want a book published

>>18145170
Get with the times old man. The day of traditionally publishing is dying. Self-publishing is the future.

>>18145886
All the other authors I follow give you more than ONE (1) Chapter a month.

E William Brown is a cheap greedy fuck. He gives you only one chapter. At the end of the year, you're paying 60 bux for 12 chapters from different books, the book isn't even finished.

I'm sure I read more self published books than you, so don't lecture me about the industry. Brown is a greedy money cuck with bad marketing skills.

William D Arand, Wen Spencer, Marvin Whiteknight, and many others actually use patreon to do self publishing work properly.

>>18146021
>paying to read shit on the computer
Anyway the only reason I've ever even heard of E. William Brown is because of your autism, if you stop posting about him I'll never have to hear about it again. Fuck you, shill.

>>18146213
You called me poor, faggot.

>>18146245
That was a different poster. You can't be poor if you're seething about patreon all day, you probably just make incredibly poor financial decisions.

>>18146261
He probably makes poor financial decisions

>>18144855
I doubt that, but I'll keep an eye on it.

>>18142938
Hyperion - absolute masterpiece.

>>18147580
As long as you don't read the sequels.

>imagine being tricked into reading a web novel and liking it
Mother of Learning isn't so bad.

>>18143985
>>18143053
The nonman battles weren't that big. IIRC the nonman host was numbered in the tens of thousands and I think the early sranc hosts were at most an order of magnitude larger. Nonmen are vastly superior warriors compared to humans, but I doubt they would be able to contest hundreds of sranc per warrior, while also dealing with dragons.
They used bronze weapons, but I actually read that bronze weapons aren't worse than iron weapons. Iron only replaced them because it is far cheaper once the technology is established, as well as more common.

Not much is known about those battles anyway. The inchoroi didn't know about sorcery, so they didn't snipe at sorcerers and wasted their advantage in techne. They also expended their stockpile of nuclear weapons ineffectually against mountain fortresses, when a few tactical nukes used on battlefields would have obliterated the irreplaceable nonman hosts. Far from being in their prime, they were confused and ineffectual (relative to the Ark's actual capabilities) refugees after Arkfall. They didn't know how their own technology worked and were barely able to operate what little hadn't been destroyed. They turned their space ship into a sewer. The inchoroi are just a weapons race themselves, a kind of sranc, bred to operate technology and follow the orders of an AI that likely made a dunyain look like an imbecile child. Without that AI they were lost.

The number of sranc is mostly a property of how many hunter gatherer types can be fed by the land they occupy and the land they had available before the First Apocalypse was small and marginal. As a result the number of sranc in the no-god's army during the First Apocalypse numbered in the hundreds of thousands. The million strong hordes of the great ordeal are a result of sranc breeding freely across half a continent worth of fertile land

>>18139741
Posts like this are why people hate Bakkerfags. No sense of appropriateness, just mindless shitposting. Only the battles against the sranc hordes are over the top. Many of these people are also unable to take criticism, no matter how reasonable. I don't understand how posters like >>18137729 think. Bakker's meaning must go completely over their head.

I've been away from the thread for a year, have anything interesting happened in the S&SF world?

>>18138264
This is wrong.

>>18138257
Nobody knows the nature of the No-God. People have speculated back and forth, but there's some inconsistencies no matter what your interpretation is, and I don't understand most of the more complex ones due to a lack of philosophical education. A lot about it was probably introduced as rule of cool type stuff during the first book, which has a bunch of non-canon things, for example how sorcery works and is taught.

>>18138373
This is baseless speculation. There is no indication that that is specifically how it works and it is far too primitive to be the case. The No God is a complex metaphysical machine operating on philosophical principles that haven't been fully explored let alone explained. There is no known mechanism for sealing souls into the world, and nothing at all on where the souls of newborns come from.
That being said, I think the No-God is a kind of magitech that somehow combines AI technology with a soul in a way that allows the AI to affect the nature of reality. I see the soul as a conduit for linking the machine to the outside in some manner during a successful boot up (A pure machine would be incapable of interfering with anything related to the outside, as it would be wholly of the world. I wonder whether the Inverse Fire served as inspiration to the inventors of the No God, demonstrating a general working principle of that kind of technology) and I'd be surprised if it wasn't rendered "non functional" (whatever that means) during the process. I think an operational soul would be antithetical to the nature of the No-God.

>>18148137
Every day we stray further from the grace of fun

>>18147838
I legitimately quite like SSS Class Suicide Hunter in spite of it's juvenile title

>>18148364
The thread or genre fiction?

>>18148137
I have transitioned to reading machine translated web novels, I can’t go back to pig disgusting western novels released once every three years now

>>18148380
Both. The genre hasn't been good for at least a decade though, so that shouldn't be a surprise.

>>18148089
Only on the third book, but aren't nonmen like Kellhus tier physically? I'm guessing they'd have comparable magic too.

From the snippets I've heard about gnostic dudes later on in the series, and even Achamian, I'd say however many thousands of them there were thats still an utterly insane force. One that could delete any conventional army were it not for the technology/greater creations of the inchoroi.

>>18148446
I kek'd.

>>18148446
hehe chairs funny

>>18147746
INCORRECT read Fall

>>18148665
Nah man. The sequels turn allegory into pornography.

>>18148688
elaborate

>>18148828
not him but his post made me realize what bothered me about thomas covenant's metaphores so much. i couldn't put it into words but it's like they were too discriptive and spoonfeedy
>linden's heart was beating like a condemnation over her being too mean to stave that one time :(
thanks a lot donaldson, i think i get it, she feels guilty

>>18147838
Beware Of Chicken is a way better example of fairly enjoyable webnovel

I'm in a reading rut right now... I can't seem to find anything that hooks my interest. I hate this feeling. I've gotten so picky that if I don't like the prose within a few pages I chuck the book away. What if I'm missing out on a great story? What if I'm not giving these books a proper chance because I'm depressed?

>>18149516
Sounds like you know enough about what you like and want that you can move on from consuming stories to creating them.
Make the book that you would not throw into the trash.

What do you think about books that make no attempt to signal they're part of a series? And how do you feel about the aesthetics of a series with consistent branding and visible numbering?

>>18138282
I'm half way through the first book and it feels a lot like Book of the Short Sun so far. I'm enjoying it a lot.

>>18149694
I only care when the titles of the later books in the series spoil the earlier books.

>>18136305
Any science fiction about sex robots?

I just read this. It was bad. Are any of her books better?

>>18149771
Saturn's Children by Stross

>>18149771
not sure about robots for sex, but there was a lot of robots I wanted to fuck in Tower of Glass by Silverberg

>>18149785
The only CJ Cherryh book I've read is Rusalka, and it was pretty good. I couldn't stomach the sequels though, where it becomes way too obvious its written by a w*man.

>>18149694
If the book is fine as a standalone story then who cares

Made it to book 8 of Will Wight's Cradle series. I'm seriously thinking of dumping this going forward and just read mediocre LitRPG books.

Lindon is still a big fat pussy, even though he's a powerful underlord. The author knows this too and even had side characters comment about this indirectly. Lindon also has a bad case of one-itis for Yerin. As a reader, I don't give a shit about Yerin. Will seems to like her more than Lindon. Also why the fuck would you give a "blood shadow" monster to the female protagonist. Does Will like to fuck his GF when she's on her period or something? Yuck!

I am so tired of the umpteenth description of her losing control of her blood shadow and how it disgusts her. Hopefully book 8 fixed that repetitive shit.

Too many powerful stronk independent female characters in this series. Charity, Mercy, Malice, Yerin, dragon girl villain. It's tiring. I don't care about them, but Will gives them so many pages. Way too many female voices. It's like I'm watching a hallmark movie.

Akura Grace is my favorite female character. She is the proper nerd's female protagonist - minimal dialogue, pretty, noble, and desires MC's dick.

In book 7, the grand tournament was somewhat exciting - minus Lindon's matches where he's still a big fat pussy. Now in book 8, I just want the action to get back to Lindon and his greedy farming for contribution points. But I literally have to skip huge blobs of boring fight scenes in the tournament this time.

Man, fuck modern western fantasy fiction. Truly the greatest stories of all time have the least amount of females characters.

>>18149516
Try reading something different from what you usually would

>>18149798
The concept of Russian fantasy is refreshing. I might try it.

>>18149827
Well the good news for you is that book 8 is pretty solid. The bad news is that book 9 is a giant step backwards in terms of Lindon not being a pussy and is generally a shitty dumpster fire.

>>18149833
It was very unique.

>>18149833
Recommendations? As long as it's not basedboy feminist pussy-on-a-pedestal garbage, I'll give it a try.

>>18149899
Did you mean to tag the post above mine?

>>18148520
Is this book good? I've been wanting to read it, but haven't because I fear it's hipster reddit trash - à la, Snow Crash.

>>18149909
Yea prolly. Just realized basedmods converted s-0--y-boy into basedboy.

>>18149929
It comes across as sarcastic anyway

>>18149899
Hard to give any without knowing what you've been reading so far. When I'm in a reading slump I usually read history, one of my favourite recent reads is pic related

>>18149958
Err, I meant fantasy or scifi. But if this is the prequel to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. I'll give it a shot. When it comes to history I'm more of a war and battles type - Hardcore History style.

>>18149970
stalker = roadside picnic

>>18138326
Head over to /hsg on /tg, they might have something for you.

I stumbled onto the Netflix adaptation of Shadow and Bone this afternoon, and it's somehow worse than what Bardugo usually puts out. Truly a one woman writing disaster

I'm having so much fun reading God Emperor.

>>18149917
>Is this book good?
Yes, it is really good. It was actually the very first book in the Culture series that Banks wrote, but other books were published earlier or are set earlier chronologically in that universe. The two narrative strands with converging timelines are an interesting take.

So, what is some good "alternative science fiction"? As far as I understand the most prominent writers of this genre are Dick, Gibson, Stephenson and Sterling.
Have I forgotten someone?

>>18150582
M. John Harrison, maybe China Miéville. Roadside Picnic, Solaris. JG Ballard. Stapledon has traditional theme but trippy execution. There are more I'm forgetting.

>>18148434
Nonmen are comparable to Kellhus physically I guess, but skill varies between them. Their sorcerers are somewhere inbetween Kellhus and the most powerful human gnostic sorcerers. There's a scene in the second series of books where a nonman sorcerer weaves magic and sword fighting to seemingly effortlessly obliterate hundreds of sranc, but nonmen magi are rare. Still, it's made clear that nonmen really are superhuman, and are justified in their viewing of humans as little more than dumb animals.

>>18150582
Jeff Noon, Matt Ruff, Rudy Rucker

Are there any good cosmic horror books out there? I've obviously read Lovecraft and I've read a few of the usual suggestions such as The Ballad of Black Tom (which fucking sucks) and The Croning (which is really great). The Fisherman was alright, but not incredible.

>>18151032
House on the Borderlands.

Hey, can anybody recommend me some fantasy books? I like the bogatyrs folklore if you can recommend something close to that

>>18151098
The closest I can think of is >>18149798 which draws heavy inspiration from Ruskie folklore but I don't know of anything that actually uses the word Bogatyr to describe its heroes.
Based and Dominions pilled

>>18151098
Why not read about Bogatyr themselves? Their myths are decent fantasy short stories.

>>18151160
>Why not read the thing you've clearly already read
This is a very /sffg/ recommendation if I ever saw one.

>>18151052
how does this compare to the night land?

>>18138812
no even close dude. I read it when I was 15 and enjoyed it all the way through. Same applies to boomers in 60s.

>>18141785
it's what trannies engage with.

>>18148381
but you consume even more subhuman trash

>>18138199
No. The author's use of "she" for all characters is retarded. I would pay good money for a version where all the characters' pronouns are correct so I know who the fuck is who.

>>18151956
>"she" for all characters
what? you have to be making this up

about to read this, is it free from the author's politic beliefs? im just assuming the worst since she's a female nigger

>>18152244
It's 100% soapboxing, literally everything she writes is.

>>18152244
>is it free from the author's politic beliefs?
You have no idea what you're in for.

It's been like two fucking months since I read a book that I really liked, this sucks. I need a better way to find recs

wot

>>18146021
I've never heard of those writers but will check them out. How do you find self published books?

>>18150582
r scott bakker

>>18152244
it's insanely pozzed has disabled black people in wheelchairs and glorifies the MC killing her own kid in an abortion metaphor

>>18139792
This is child abuse. I hate anglos.

How is this series?
Worth a read?

>>18152504
You won't find much new in there. It's a Tolkien rip-off and very deliberately so. It's a fun read though if you're in the mood for some good ol' generic and comfy fantasy.

>>18152504
I think it's extremely dull, but if you're one of those people who can't get enough long meandering tales about magic road trips to save the world you'll probably like it. David Eddings tier

Give me your predictions for what the next Lord of the Rings will do for the genre?

>Reading Lord Foul's Bane

I thought this was meant to be shit?
I'm having a great time reading it.
Thomas Covenant is a prick, but it feels justifiable, and almost relatable, given how he has been treated and everything happening to him.

>>18152688
>I thought this was meant to be shit?
Says who? Thomas Covenant is legit

Hello, is this the best order to read asimov's work?
The Complete Robot (1982) and/or I, Robot (1950)
Caves of Steel (1954)
The Naked Sun (1957)
The Robots of Dawn (1983)
Robots and Empire (1985)
The Currents of Space (1952)
The Stars, Like Dust (1951)
Pebble in the Sky (1950)
Prelude to Foundation (1988)
Note: Forward the Foundation (1993) was then unpublished, but would have followed Prelude.
Foundation (1951)
Foundation and Empire (1952)
Second Foundation (1953)
Foundation's Edge (1982)
Foundation and Earth (1986)

Cheers, have a good day.

>>18152705
Everyone in the past few threads.
Everyone on goodreads.

>be me
>decide to read The Eye of The World
>get to the point where Rand and co. leave the village, liking it so far
>then
>fucking Egwene
>demands to go along
>Rand tells her he's going because he has to
>doesn't believe him
>accuses him of making up "fairy tales"
>is pointlessly rude
>despite the fact his fucking dad almost died the night before
>despite the fact that he's obviously telling the truth

Egwene might actually be the worst written character I have ever fucking seen. Nynaeve at least has a reason for being such a bitch (she's legitimately trying to look out for the villagers) but Egwene is just stuck up and mean for no fucking reason. I know she dies at the end, so I just want to ask: is it painful?

I hope its fucking painful.

>>18152718
The idiots on Goodreads couldn't tell a good book from a fucking phone book. I imagine the reviews are negative because the main character isn't likeable and the idea of a main character that they can't project themselves onto easily is entirely foreign. There's also the rape scene in the first book which I imagine they whine about in their reviews. Fuck 'em. It's a great trilogy.

>>18152640
that was literally bakker, unless you mean the next next one

>>18152688
>>18152718
most people here think the first trilogy's good. i wish i had stopped with it.

>>18152727
>This is the second time I have tried to read the Thomas Covenant story and I just can’t do it. I loathe the character, Thomas is mean, selfish, self-absorbed and has no idea of what he is doing. He was more interesting as a leper than when he was transported to another world.

>main character rapes a young girl very early in the book i didn't read on after that.

>>18152759

>>18152244
It is unbelievably bad, even putting author's political views aside. I haven't read anything that is quite as infuriating as Jemisin's attempt at snarky "cool" characters.

>>18152788
Orogenes more like oroniggers

>>18152737
What did Baaker do?

>>18152725
>is it painful?
Yes she's forced to marry an incel and bear his children. She dies at the age of 89 in a small cottage in a remote village.

>>18152725
Egwene is the worst, which is pretty impressive when 99% of the female characters are dog dirt.

Nynaeve is the best girl. Min is a close runner up.

>>18152887
What was the point of that chapter. So many unnecessary scenes made me stop. Im on Chapter 34 but Im not sure I can bear it anymore. Aa

>>18152900
>What was the point of that chapter
To show that Perrin is a furry cuck, who lost to a hippy gypsy.

>>18152816
wot if lord of the rings was written by a post modernist and nihilistic agnostic athiest and edgelord who liked german philosphy and neuroscience.

I don't think he did that much for the genre tho since he got cancelled, he was on the boderline of breaking out before that though. He went to loads of cons and was on panels with GRRM etc

I guess what he did for the genre is show what happens if you write mature fantasy and real grimdark as opposed to that series with the glotka nigger, at best you end up with a niche audience.

>>18152788
>snarky "cool" characters.
This is peak globo homo. Its sad how due to inclusivity reasons, this is the universal personality writers go with now.

>>18136328
I like it. Sadly, Herbert lost his sanity by the time he wrote Chapterhouse, so in retrospect, it kind of ruined Heretics. But it's a good book on its own.

>>18138199
>reading books written by women

>>18153011
I used to think that /pol/tards were retarded but jesus christ, every book written by a female I have read is awful. The only one I liked was The Lathe of Heaven by Le Guin but her other books are terrible (of those I have read).

Reminder that the 4th book of Terra Ignota comes out in September. I'll reread the series in preparation. The author has a phd in history from Harvard and a special interest in philosophy.
She's an actual intellectual sperg, like Bakker if he was a fujo, not one of these YA authors who have a degree in bullshit and write like your average instagram whore.

>My research on intellectual history, or the history of ideas, is a way of exploring how our ideas affect what civilizations do, build and aim at, and how events change those ideas, history and thought shaping each other over time. The Italian Renaissance is a great moment for approaching this question because at that point the ideas about science, religion and the world which had developed in the Middle Ages suddenly met those of the ancient world, reconstructed from rediscovered sources. All at once many beliefs, scientific systems and perceived worlds clashed, mixed and produced an unprecedented range of new ideas all at once, which in turn shaped the following centuries and, thereby, our current world.

>>18153049
I am intrigued. Can you tell me more in a non-spoilery way? I haven't read any contemporary sci-fi in a while. I usually stick to the usual suspects or the classics.

>>18153049
I call her a fujo because the most unpleasant and manipulative characters are women, while the heroes are men, some of whom love other men.

>>18153011
>>18153049

>>18153070
The world was radically restructured following a cataclysmic war, but now the status quo has grown stale in ways that may endanger the future prosperity and continued expansion of the human race. There's a lot of renaissance philosophy and the exploration of the new social and political order that arose after the conflict. It takes place on earth.

>>18153099
I just read the blurb. It mentions gender, and the author is a woman.

>>18153103
It uses gender in the correct sense (socially and culturally conditioned social roles), not in the tranny sense (conflated with sex and meaning whatever the person wants it to mean in that second).

>>18153103
It's all so tiring. That's why you just stop reading female authors.

>>18153114
>>18153103
For example, a man who cooks and cleans and such is referred to as a "she", a woman who is hyperagressive and violent as "he", and that changes for the same person occasionally, and other characters in the book think the person doing that is weird. The book is written in a somewhat idiosyncratic way, it makes sense if you read it.
I want to stress that none of this has anything to do with troon shit.

>>18153114
Gender is not a deep concept. The only people who think it is are sex obsessed perverts.

>>18153128
Gender identity is bullshit, there's no evidence such a thing exists, but that's not what the book is using. Gender is also not what the book is about, it's just one small aspect of things that are discussed.

>Only men at the Black gate
>No elven or dwarf soldiers
I haven't read the books, what did Tolkien mean by this

>>18153216
(white) men are obsessed with getting blacked

>>18152716
you can safely skip anything not from the 50's with him

/sffg/ i think i just had the stupidest, pulpiest, most generic idea for an alt history of all time

following the defeat of the 3rd reich, the Thule society comes into posession of Victor Frankenstein's notes, and realizing Adam was the living embodiment of their dreams they set to work rebuilding hitler as a nazi superman. however, because hitler's brain was destroyed when he comitted suicide, their plan was a failure and instead of him being the book version he turned out the brainless, shambling movie version.

the main character is a golem whose creator modeled after his son who was murdered by the nazis. the thule society discovered he is actually imbued with a human soul. they hunt him trying to find the name of god that bound a soul to clay so they can resurrect hitler magically instead of technologically

>>18152725
egwene&rand have like 2 interactions in first 8 books where she does not come off as completely vile&/or dumb as bricks.

>>18153554
this is awesome actually, write that shit

Just finished TGO, now starting TUC. Here we fucking go!

>>18153634
based

>>18153608
if i write it, it's going to be a sequel to a cooler idea i have starring the same golem along with his employer who is actually king solomon and a girl with plant powers who is investigating why she witnessed an ophanim burning down a jewish ghetto

>>18152914
god i cant fucking stand glotka from the blade itself. listening to the audiobook. its such a pain to get through

>>18152914
It’s kinda sad how Bakker got tombstoned for writing actually grimdark stuff. Nearly all the bad reviews are from people who don't like sexism (brave&stunning), can't understand what he is saying, or get filtered by Kellhus.

People are always for flawed characters, but only super palatable non-flaws that are slicked back and cool, or easily overcome. They would much rather slurp up puddle deep YA for adults. I do wonder if its due to genre fiction's consumer base becoming increasingly women dominated.

>>18152244
You're in for a great book, 5 stars.

>>18153141
>Gender identity is bullshit, there's no evidence such a thing exists
so you don't identify as male? what a fucking retarded post

>>18152911
Kek.

So guys I read and enjoyed the Riftwar Saga by Raymond E Feist. Any similar series?

>>18154533
>so you don't identify as male
No, of course not, male is what I am, not what I "identify" as. I have no sense of gender identity, like every person who hasn't been brainwashed by the cult.

>>18154556
>I have no sense of gender identity
you identify as male, retard

>>18154581
Male is my sex, not my gender identity. I have no gender identity.

>>18153872
you need to fucking write anon, these ideas are way more interesting than 95% of the schlock on the market

>>18154598
So do you wear frilly dresses and put on makeup, since you don't identify as male?

>>18154609
You have no idea what the terms you use even mean.

>>18154553
Daughter of the empire, it tells the story from the other perspective.

>>18154618
You're the one that doesn't know what gender identity means.

>>18154618
The classic "I can win any argument as long as I get to redefine everything and ignore reality".

>>18154645
You just confused gender identity with gender presentation. Gender presentation is obviously a real thing. People have a sex and cultures associate certain behaviours and such with each sex.

Gender identity is the nebulous notion that humans have an abstract idea of which gender archetype their natural state is, or something vaguely like that. It's a nonsensical concept that falls apart if you even try to define it.

>>18154601
thanks anon. right now though i need to finish the first draft of my current project. its basically digimon with a post-apocalyptic survival aspect.

>>18154690
>Gender identity is the nebulous notion that humans have an abstract idea of which gender archetype their natural state is, or something vaguely like that
Is it a nebulous idea to you that you prefer wearing men's clothing? Concretely, do you own and wear any female dresses?

>>18154468
kellhus is genuinely a frustrating part of the books so far though. everyone goes around going "OOHH man he's so amazing, he's incredible" but he's done nothing to ascertain this sense of awe about him. he just acts like every other noble. he's literally a mary sue and dangerously close to a power fantasy self insert character

Have you guys ever read old pulps?

I've recently decided to start reading The Shadow and Doc Savage, from the beginning. And there is a really weird switch from what I've seen of them in comics. The Shadow is usually depicted as a Punisher like guy that kills criminals, but in the three books I've read so far he goes out of his way to only wound criminals and have them be arrested, with the only deaths being a guy falling out of a tower while grappling and a couple car accidents. Doc Savage on the other hand is supposed to be against killing and preferring to use non-lethal bullets, but so far he guns down people easily, snaps necks like it's nothing and one chase scene in the second book feels like Jason Voorhees going after criminals.

They'll probably change as the books go by, but right now it's weird how they start so differet from the pop culture knowledge.

>>18153126
That sounds like shit. Thanks for warning me away from that author.

>>18155014

The Shadow becomes more of an ironic punishment kind of guy, killing a poisoner with his own poison kind of endings. Probably radio show influence where that's more his schtick

>>18152759
>>18152774
Real world WAS more interesting. After the rape the story was so fucking boring. The book would be better off as either realistic literary fiction or rape smut.

Just finished the 2nd book of the Stormlight Archives. Should I jump into the 3rd book or read that novella about Lift? I can't stand her but if it's really important I'll read it.

Also how are books 3 and 4 compared to the first two?

>>18155720
>Also how are books 3 and 4 compared to the first two?
Read it and find out.

>>18155722
Alright.

does anyone have any litrpg recommendations or is the entire genre irredeemable?

>>18155740
HACK: A LITRPG NOVEL (TOWER OF GATES, BOOK 1)
DODGE TANK: CRYSTAL SHARDS ONLINE 1
THE LAND: FOUNDING (CHAOS SEEDS, BOOK 1)
CROTA (THE GODS’ GAME, VOLUME 1)
BLOOD EYE (LAND OF DREAMS, BOOK 1)
ADVENT (RED MAGE, BOOK 1)
THE CRAFTING OF CHESS: A LITRPG ADVENTURE

>>18155720
bit worse

>>18155740
Ry Royal Road and see from there. Some of the most famous LitRPG come from there.

>>18152244
It's literally only her beliefs.

>>18155853
Are they at least tolerable.

>>18155873
Fuck no. Like all authors who put politics into their books. It’s shit.

What other sci-fi books are there like pic related? Thanks to the anons who suggested this. Creepiest sci-fi book I’ve read in years. I never read anything that mixed cyberpunk, Kaiju and Lovecraftian horror at al once.

>>18154890
>kellhus
He's supposed to be the self-insert for the reader.

>>18155971
Call of the crocodile

>>18155993
Call of the Crocodile isn’t sci-fi.

>>18155972
Is it really good? Or is it all just one big meme.

>>18156002
They all share the same universe, anon.

New thread

>>18156012

>>18155971
Have you read Crocodile? It’s pretty different but it’s still on the same level of weirdness. I don’t think there’s many other books that compare to the meta shit from those books. But if you want a really good sci-fi check out Neuromancer. That’s the original cyberpunk book.

>>18156031
Call of the Crocodile

>>18152500
LONDON

>>18155740
Read the Russians.

>>18155960
When John C Wright spergs out about how anarchism is cool it is at least entertaining.

>>18154408
ok retard

>>18155042
ywnbaw

>>18155971
>>18155993
>>18156002
>>18156011
>>18156018
Just a reminder that this is completely pathetic

>>18153114
gender == sex