/lit/ - Literature

did my butthurt tolkien fanboyism make it up or did people at some point positively compare AOIAF to LOTR for being comparatively low fantasy?

>>18477089
LOTR is low magic at worst

To indulge it is to breed it. To punish it is to feed it. Madness knows no bridle but the knife.

>jasnah threw the thrill into the ocean
Why didn't they just feed it to nightblood?

>>18477055
>Discord
https://discord.com/invite/KWPCM7m

>Book Club Selection
Black Stone Heart
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50336223-black-stone-heart

> A broken man, Khraen awakens alone and lost. His stone heart has been shattered, littered across the world. With each piece, he regains some small shard of the man he once was.
> He follows the trail, fragment by fragment, remembering his terrible past.
> There was a woman.
> There was a sword.
> There was an end to sorrow.
> Khraen walks the obsidian path.

>>18477183
What's up with fantasy and the words "obsidian" and "crimson"? Everything is obsidian or crimson.

>>18477203
theyre great words, i use them too much as well. sometimes somethings are just black or red

>>18477203
Obsidian and crimson are often associated with edgy.

>>18477203
>>18477209
I mean, the book is called *Black* Stone Heart, not Obsidian Stone Heart, so yes sometimes things are just black.

Are there any good fucked up horror sci fi books about unfathomably gigantic creatures? Aliens, sea creatures, gods, so on. However, nothing by Lovecraft, nothing in the Cthulhu mythos.

>>18477256
Solaris by Lem

>>18477180
he probably couldn't absorb an entire unmade, just look at what happened when he tried ishar and odium

What are some fantasy books with healsluts?

>>18477277
It is not really about what that person is asking for, but it is a good book with very interesting elements. Skip the dull 20 pages of descriptions in the middle, you’ll know what i’m talking about when you get there.

>>18477089
They both have themes about magic dying in the world, though in ASOIAF it's returning.

>>18477289
Nightblood managed to chip the honourblade, it probably could have eaten Ishar given that Moash's tiny knife managed to steal Jezrien

Are there any other fantasy books of this caliber?

>>18477587

>>18477601
>sizzling prose
How good is the prose, really?

>>18477601
Doesn't even hold a candle to Bakker's degeneracy.

What would people recommend for a book about alien contact?

>>18477742
Three Body Problem

Is GRRM the most overrated fantasy author?

Are there Dark Souls-like postapocalyptic fantasy books? Besides Bakker ofc.

>>18477828
>The Dothraki Lake
I'm in fucking tears

>>18477828
Dam this is one bad fantasy map.

>>18477828
A long time ago, back when I stilled watched GoT on an actual telly-nelly, they had this kind of aftershow that came on right after the episode where people would talk about it. I remember, and it still makes me angry thinking about it, the host comparing grrm to Tolkien and pressing this female guest to say who was better (he of course thought grrm was) and she said it was grrm.
I'm really glad GoT has completely vanished from pop culture.

>>18477828
>Spooky Plains
>The Tooth, Mysterios

Am I the only one who thinks Silmarillion has terrible worldbuilding? I can't really envision Beleriand.

>>18477828
>AUSTRIOS
>Brysbane

>>18477828
>DeTroyt
This isn't real is it?

>>18478019
Congratulations Anon, you are only half retarded.

Sex Books

>>18477829
There's cuckoldry in Dark Souls?

>>18478216

>>18478242
did Bakker write for this game?

Started the Black Company. Absolutely loved the first one for too many reasons to list them but I'm through the first half of the second one and absolutely hate the experience. It feels like the first one was this abstract stamp of the author's whole being while the second one is your typical serialized work in a grimdark genre full of exposition and retards.
Does it get better? Will the series take risks later on?

>>18477742
Contact
Blindsight
Solaris

>>18477828
>Sothoryos men are described as brindle-skinned half-men...Sothoryi women are said to be unable to breed with men from Essos or Westeros, only bringing forth stillbirths or malformed offspring
How did he get away with this?

>>18478401
Nobody who would try to get him cancelled reads lore.

does liking mouse guard and redwall make me a furry

>>18477055
Currently reading Guards! Guards! and frankly I’m a bit dissapointed. I saw some good reviews for it and how funny it was but most of the humor up to where I’m at, ~100 pages in, has just been
>haha you’re dumb
>shut up idiot!1!1!!! LOL

Literally bazinga tier humor. Not to mention the story isn’t interesting in the slightest. I’ll keep reading for now since I’ve got a lot of book left but curious if anyone has similar thoughts

>>18478474
why do you think Redditors like it so much, huh?

>>18478474
>Not to mention the story isn’t interesting in the slightest.
Want to elaborate a bit on this, but essentially everything in the book the characters set out to do has gone according to plan. I think good storytelling is in subverting expectations in some shape or form, and forcing the characters to be human and adapt to the new situation. Like a good example is when In LotR when the fellowship splits up upon boromir being killed. Up until that point they had done everything that they thought was the right decision. They weren’t dumb on purpose, or mad obviously bad moves forced by Tolkien to put them in that situation. They were human and fallible and messed up, and now have to deal with the consequences of that situation. The expectations that they would stay a fellowship for the rest of the story was subverted, and the characters continued on their quest but ultimately with a different path then originally intended and had to grow to still make the original goal succeed. Whether that’s a change in mindset, attitude, or goal entirely, the expectations set up by the author at the beginning must be subverted in some way in order for a story to be compelling, because now things have an aura of mystery, and it’s done best when the characters have tried their best but still fail and the subversion occurs. And maybe I’m looking to deep into a meme book but so far it’s just utterly predictable and uninteresting, and I have not been subverted yet.

>>18478474
I've never read comedic fantasy, I only read grimdark, the superior genre

>>18478524
I honestly don’t know what I expected consider I definitely saw it reccomended there and Sanderson is on the top of their list. I need to really stop using them as a resource to find things, or at least take it with a grain of salt.

>>18478536
So far I’ve stuck to more serious stories but wanted to try breaking out just to explore a bit.

>>18478534
>I think good storytelling is in subverting expectations
What utterly awful taste.

>>18478432
Only if you touch yourself while you read.

This series ended up being pretty good after a rocky start. Started book 3 earlier today. I don't like the cuckoldry though. At least it hasn't happened to MC so far.

>>18478524
I think people on here are often too insecure about enjoying things just because Reddit likes them. A thing can be enjoyed by Reddit without being itself Reddit. I will never use Reddit so why should I care?
>>18478474
I liked Guards! Guards! It was the first Terry Pratchett I read, but every successive book of his I've read I've enjoyed less and less. The last one I read was Witches Abroad, I put off reading it for ages and then it was just barely entertaining enough to keep me reading it. I don't know, I can't really explain it.

>>18478636
>I liked Guards! Guards! It was the first Terry Pratchett I read, but every successive book of his I've read I've enjoyed less and less.
Same, except it was Going Postal for me.

Grimace

>>18477055
The Birthday of the World and Other Stories - Ursula K. Le Guin (2002)

These stories are about sex, relationships, and society.
Please read Paradises Lost, the story at the end. Thank you.
Although this says Hainish Cycle #9 it can be read on its own without having read anything else.

Coming of Age in Karhide (1995)
On the planet Gethen, the setting of The Left of Hand Darkness, the people are sequentially hermaphroditic. This story provides details about kemmerhouses, which is where many orgies occur when they're in their monthly heat. The protagonist is anxious about having reached the age where it's time for their first visit.
Enjoyable

The Matter of Seggri (1994)
Women outnumber men 16:1 and control everything. Men are relegated to their castles and are only allowed out to visit fuckeries. In the fuckeries men are paid by women in the hopes they will be impregnated. Men are not allowed to do anything else, as it is believed that education would drain the blood from their testicles to their brain and they would become impotent. A man who cannot impregnate a woman is a living sex toy. A man is for sex only, as love can only happen between two women. Adult men having sex with other adult men is disallowed.
Highly Enjoyable

Unchosen Love (1994)
On Planet O marriages are between four people, two men and women from each part of their bipartite society. They're all married to each other, four pairs, two heterosexual and two homosexual. All four must be in a marriage for it to be valid, though others can be added on. The protagonist wants to marry his lover, but has no feelings for the other pair.
Enjoyable

Mountain Ways (1996)
This is also Planet O. Everyone is expected to be bisexual for the marriages to work properly and it's strongly frowned upon to be exclusively hetero or homo sexual. A homosexual and heterosexual pair plot to trick everyone and marry each other with no intention of being anything more than monogamous and having sex with only their preferred partner which goes against everything their religion and society stand for.
Enjoyable

>>18478673
Solitude (1994)
While I am someone who enjoys solitude, the version they practice in this anarcho-primitivist society would be intolerable, if only because of the societal limitations it imposes. The women and children live near each other and each adult man lives by himself in his claimed territory that he must constantly defend for breeding privileges, because without a static location however will the women know where to find him?
Ok

Old Music and the Slave Women (1999)
Old Music is one of his names, but he primarily goes by Esdan. A civil war over slavery is underway and he's bored because he's been in the embassy for far too long with nothing to do. So, he leaves its sanctity and quickly discovers the difference between imagined and actual experience. It doesn't go well for him. The story explores the limitations of both pacifism/non-intervention, the Rwandan Genocide was contemporaneous, and violent revolution, which seems prescient about the outcome of the Arab Spring. This story also seems to be in part a commentary on Iran at the time, though it's still relevant today. It's also strongly against the US "liberating" and "bringing democracy" to other countries.
Enjoyable

The Birthday of the World (2000)
Brother-sister marriage, civil war, and aliens.
Meh

Paradises Lost (2002)
This standalone novella is about the the voyage of a 200 year generation ship and the daily lives of its people. I wasn't initially impressed, but by the end I was astonished. It's one of the best novellas I've ever read. Many of the novellas I've read aren't shelved in my profile because they're in magazines, collections, or anthologies. I'm certain that if I read all of Le Guin's work this would be among the best. This needs to be read.
Highly Enjoyable

Rating: 5/5

>>18478662
I think the pronunciation gri-MACE is superior, but I didn't learn about it until I was adult and always thought it was GRIM-uhs, and I've never actually heard someone say gri-MACE, so it sounds wrong to me even though it isn't.

>>18478556
Give me a single story where things go exactly as planned and it’s interesting to read.

>>18478556
A predictable story is a bad story. For example look at the shit that passes for fantasy in Japan.

>>18478743
Oh, you're one of those who thinks "lul so randumb XD" means it's good.

>>18478679
It's GRI-MUS

like the kings of númenór, each /sffg/ thread has just gotten worse and worse

well it was once a pleasure shitposting here with you guys. no longer… no longer.

>>18478880
See you tomorrow, lad.

Book of the New Sun is one of the rare occasions where I love both the ideas and characters. Is it just me or does it seem like not a lot of sci-fi writers can develop characters well much at all? They all feel kind of bland and just part of the scenery. One of the reasons I think fantasy is superior since it is bigger on character development

>>18478940
A lot of sci-fi writers tend to be a bit autistic and get more hung up on the world building than the characters themselves in my experience.

>>18478880
That's been the case since the first thread was created.

>>18478842
You're a retard.

>>18478678
>Brother-sister marriage
I don't remember that book being so based. Which story was it?

>>18478854
Tell that to Steven Pacey

>>18477129
>To indulge it is to breed it. To punish it is to feed it. Animeposters know no bridle but the dilator.

>>18478989
It's a collection of stories. It's the one it says it is. These all are all in the same book.

>>18478988 You seem upset.

never reading another unfinished litrpg ever again
jesus
it just kept dragging on and on and on and it's somehow still not finished
this is what I get for giving webfic a try

How does one get into writing webnovels? I heard (and this may be bullshit) that in China and Japan it's common to write them just to wind down with no expectation of them being sold or even really read that much, which sounds comfy

>>18479288
Which one?

>>18479320
Worth the Candle since someone suggested it

>>18477055
>Me: Oh good, no anime girls this time
>Looks closer at the symbol on the sign
>It's an anime catgirl
You have the WORST taste. Honestly, otakus/weebs are the absolute WORST. You can't enjoy anything without the presence of mewling anime bitches. It's so pathetic.

>>18479423
Does it trouble you?

>>18479288
ARRRGH
IT'S ACTUALLY PISSING ME OFF NOW THAT I'M THINKING ABOUT IT
I WANT MY FUCKING TIME BACK

>>18479446
It is rather obnoxious to enter a space that is framed by anime girls, yes. It's like when I was a kid, and I had to go into my sisters room for whatever reason, and she had all this pink girly shit everywhere. It's very unpleasing aesthetically.

>>18479423
instead of shitting thread you could contribute.
Shitters are worst kind of posters in any thread in any board. You contribute none, literal twitterposter who moans hardest in crowd.
>>18478673
>>18478678
Are these books only about sex or is there more to it? They sound interesting for sure but all of them seem to come from this weird feministic point of view trying hard to show different world where women are hurr durr strong or force everyone to be gay for sake of being politically correct.
>>18479463
that sounds like personal trauma, i feel sorry for you man.

>>18479463
Man, I wish I had a sister growing up...

>>18479463
Maybe you should consider that when you come to an anime website

>>18479463
if you wanted to fuck your sister, you should've just said so

Recently got into Blake Crouch!
Dark Matter blew my mind (shame about the generic title though), and Recursion is currently blowing it even harder.
What to read when I'm waiting for his next one?

>>18479472
>instead of shitting thread you could contribute.
I contribute to the thread all the time. I just posted my opinions on a book in the previous thread and nobody replied. Fact is, you guys are more motivated by negativity than positivity. So this is the post your respond to.

>>18479482
She was kind of dude-ish. Burping and farting and threatening to rub boogers on you. And then she became an "I hate my dad" teenager and constantly argued over everything. 3/10 would not recommend. The 3 points are for being pretty.

>>18479488
There are different aesthetics among Japanese art. Many of which aren't focused on "kawaii" features. You just have bad tastes. Being an anime fan doesn't mean every aspect of your life should be decorated by cute girls.

the mortal coil is just so mundane
you can only take so many twist and turns until the struggle and conflict itself loses meta narrative appeal...

>>18479463
I don't like it either, but not for the same reasons. I used to be a weeb and over the years I gradually ended up detesting it. A few of my favorite pieces of media are still Japanese, but I don't engage with that culture anymore. That being said, it's almost unavoidable on imageboards, no matter which one you go to. As long as it doesn't derail the thread I don't think it's worth getting upset about since there's no way to get rid of it.

>>18479545
Well it's not ruining my day. I wouldn't normally comment on it. But this time I thought there was an ounce of humor in the fact that OP managed to sneak in an anime girl via the symbol on the sign. It's annoying, but also humorous.
I don't really need a reason to complain though. If I think something looks ugly, I'll call it ugly. And if you guys don't like that, well then, as you said "it's worth getting upset about since there's no way to get rid of it." You should just get used to me bitching.

space sex

>>18479568
I just told you I'm not a weeb and that I don't like it either, so you don't need to be confrontational with me about it. It's just that I used to share your attitude and it did bother me until I realized it's pointless. You're free to ignore my advice and do what you want, of course.

>>18479568
Oh lighten up.

>>18479534
That's why you have to join the eternal, nigh impossible struggle to create something that is original.

>>18479534
I've always wondered if this was simply inevitable for stories that go on too long or relied on conflict too much, or is it the authors fault for failing to make the reader care for the characters, that then leads to this disconnect between what the character is going through what the read feels about the situation

>>18478627
oh boy

>>18479719
Those parts are fun to read and a nice reprieve from the doings of King Rape and King Cuck.

Fuck E william Brown
Fuck No Releases
Fuck Delays
Fuck Pay Pigs
Fuck Pay Walls

>>18479719
I dunno, I found almost all of the jokes in the books cringeworth and they were the reason I never finished the series. Different strokes I guess.

can I get away with pic related and still get published?

>>18479859
I don't see why you wouldn't be able to get away with literally anything these days

I read on tg a long time ago about a book with 4th dimensional aliens. I think they were called something "bird".
Any of you nerds know what book that is?

>>18479488
You weebs have like twenty boards to yourself.
Leave /lit/ alone.

>>18479908
every board on 4chan is anime
no exception

>>18479913
Literally kys

>>18479933
cry about it

You guys got any recs for environmental science fiction like the mar trilogy?

I miss when Japanese shit was just kind of a hobby you might have alongside other western interests, before it consumed your interests in totality and made people "weebs" who obsess over moeblobs and worship anime pussy.

are there any books with a male MC that deals with incest?

>>18479976
>Lafcadio Hearn

Expect he wasn't a degenerate like most weebs who only care about shitty idol games and moe cartoons. He was in to the true Japanese stuff.

>>18479987
you're not gonna find it
especially not with a male protag

>>18479719
ohnono we've got a live wire here boys.

I think they write that joke in christmas crackers

>>18479987
do people actually enjoy Reading porn?

>>18479987
Oedipus Rex

>read book
>"bloody hell !"
>close book

>read book
>"bloody hells!"
>close book

>>18480219
you can't type that!
you'll summon the br*ts

>open book
>close book
>spend rest of day shitposting

>>18479595
Yeah, but you're trying to give me advice on how to behave. Even if you did couch it in a tone that you *think* sounds casual. Still sounded like finger wagging to me.

>>18479976
I miss when western countries actually had authors that made interesting works. Now it's either all the same or cringe, with occasional exception.

>>18479987
now that I think about it
we really need more incest in these genres

>open book
>don't read book
>close book

>>18477828
I didn't realize this was a shitpost until i got to Australia.

>>18479987
What about a mature woman and younger male?

>>18480408

>>18480408
hmm...
that depends
because then you'd have to write from the females perspective
because I doubt you'd have a lot of fun seeing the world from a young, naive, innocent little boy'd perspective

>>18480360
>"Today I work on my craft"
>open text editor
>do literally everything else but type in text editor
>close text editor at night
>"Another day well spent"
>cry in bed

>>18480408
>>18479987
>>18480418
I was asking if you were okay with that as a substitute. As straight up Mommy Milkies are hard to find.
Robert Heinlein had mommy issues too.

>>18480418
Or you write from God mode, instead of a POV.

>>18480466
I've always felt writing from 3rd person just detracts from intimacy

Anyone heard from the desert anon that was building a library in a shipping container? I didn't hear anything from the project for a long time.

>>18480466
>>18480487
The two most common POVs used nowadays are 'third person omniscient' or TPO ("God mode") and first person singular or FPS (normal POV). TPO is much more traditional and also much more expressive, but also harder to do skillfully; "lack of intimacy" is often a common complain but most skilled authors will use what Woods calls "free indirect style" where the line between the author/omniscient narrator's voice is basically interspersed with the characters thoughts and emotions. FPS is more recent but also easier (in the sense that its easier to reveal the character's thoughts/observations) style of writing

>>18478019
Idk, what is “real”?

I was going to make this thread before the anime spammer got ahold of it but I fell asleep and the old one died in the night. Anyways, dumping some of the art I was thinking about using

>>18480886
Glad you're late. Your sexist "art" has no place here.

>>18479472
Again, these are not books. This is a collection of her short works, except for the last which is a novella.

>>18477089
You don't know what "low fantasy" means.

>>18480415
>alissa nutting
>nutting

>>18480430
I don't remember posting this, yet here it is.

>>18480636
This is hilarious. I want to know more about this too.

>>18478708
>>18478743
Fundamentally speaking, subversion is a gimmick. It is not inherently stronger than playing something straight. It goes back to basic thesis/antithesis stuff as described by dialectics. An antithesis will often appear inherently stronger than a thesis simply because the antithesis contains the thesis within it, but that's just an illusion, smoke and mirrors. The thesis has to stand alone, but that does not make it weaker.
In this context, the thesis/antithesis is "expectations played straight' vs "expectations subverted." Many will instinctively think that the antithesis, subverting expectations, is stronger simply because it contains the thesis within itself. For example, "The hero kills the Demon King and lives happily ever after" (thesis) seems inherently weaker than "The hero is defeated by the Demon King, actually, and now there's problems" (antithesis) because the antithesis contains the thesis (the idea of a hero winning the final battle) and rejects it, whereas the thesis does not contain nor reject the antithesis, it simply stands alone.
Now, the reason this is a gimmick should be clear if you think about it. Ultimately, subverting expectations is just a trick. It's a basic reversal. You take the thesis and reject it. That's it. The actual act of subversion is effortless, and has no weight to its own. It's easy to do. A child could do it. All you need to do is conceive of the concept of rejecting something rather than embracing it.
Obviously, as any thinking adult will readily agree, what matters is not whether you play something straight (thesis) or subvert it (antithesis), but whether you do it well. What matters is the details. The things that aren't gimmicks. Whether the plot is involved and well-realized, not whether it subverts something. Whether the characters are enjoyable or interesting, not whether they reject some cliche. Etc.
Now, naming a specific example will run the risk of people ignoring this argument just to insult the work in question, but I think the Wheel of Time's approach to this is brilliant. Robert Jordan is well aware of the hero's monomyth and how many stories play out similarly. He introduces this into his own story as the guiding force of the world, the Wheel of Time, which spins the same pattern (the story) over and over etc. And with this established, rather than trying to subvert the pattern and contradict the monomyth, he embraces it head-on, and just tries to write a damn good story within this context. His focus is writing something good and involved, not subverting what he knows to be traditional. Hell, there's a character which outright spoils future events since she can "see the pattern." She immediately spoils which 3 girls the protagonist will marry. But it's fine. What matters isn't whether we're surprised by this or not. Subversion is just a gimmick. What matters is that we like them and their relationship. The story they're in.

What do you think fundamentally draws you to fantasy and/or scifi? Is it escapism or what?

>>18478432
No

How do I start with Gene Wolfe? Also, is it worth read it?

>>18481873
I jumped straight into the Book of the New Sun and enjoyed it. It's difficult but very rewarding. Keep a dictionary at hand, note that the structure is intentionally confusing, and you should be fine. Wolfe intended his work to be read more than once to be fully understood. Hope you enjoy it anon :)

>>18477742
Player of Games - Iain M. Banks.

How do I properly into Wells and Verne? I'm vaguely aware of their stuff via osmosis, but what should I actually read?

>>18481873
I started with The Fifth Head of Cerberus and had a good time.

Unless I'm doing something wrong, zooming in with the little bar in the mega images makes it pixelly

>>18480430
post excerpt please

If I'm retarded at mathematics would I still understand Foundation? I heard it's amazing but also incredibly high IQ.

>>18482224
Don't see what math has to do with Foundation. Characters are pretty bad, the speculation can be pretty stupid, specially in the first book where radiation is this magic thing that does everything.

It's still amazing, because when the speculation's good (psychohistory) it's great. And I don't think you need math to understand psychohistory.

You would need math to understand irl psychohistory (Turchin's cliodynamics).

>>18482415
I heard math was a huge part of Foundation somewhere
But thanks, I'll check it out

Any good post apocalyptic dystopia fiction?

>>18482420
Psychohistory is built on a statistical understanding of the electrochemistry of the human brain. But it's not like you are presented with math at any point that would describe what these stats look like.

>>18482430
The Passage
Wool (Silo series)
Those are 2 relatively new trilogies that fit the bill. Entertaining reads and decent takes on how humanity will end, if a little bit cheese.

So apparently the Redwall books are all standalone. Which ones are considered essential?

>>18482822
Aren’t they for kids, anon?

>>18482822
You definitely want to read Redwall, Mossflower, then Mattimeo since they're the chronological original trilogy. You then absolutely have to read Martin the Warrior, since it's the best (imo) book in the series and the chronological start of the core plot of the series. From there, people have varying favorites and stuff, but I don't really recall any I would specifically recommend. Maybe Lord Brocktree and Salamandastron since badgers are based in Redwall.
>>18482958
It can be fun to read children's lit sometimes, maybe. I haven't read Redwall in like a decade+ so I don't know how it holds up as an adult though.

>>18482958
what are we, but children of God

>>18482822
>>18482968
>>18482971
>the first red wall novel was published in October 1986
>the first appearance of Skaven in Warhammer was Spring 1986
>Tfw Brian Jacques ripped off warhammer for children’s books

>>18483021
>warhammer invented rodents doing people things

Are you guys excited for the Tolkien Society seminar this year? 1/2

>>18483263

>>18483263
>>18483275
What the fuck is their problem?

>>18483275
>Pardoning Saruman
obviously im not gonna watch this drivel but is the implication somehow that had Saruman been coded as an alphabet person he'd have to be excused for his crimes??

>>18483263
>>18483275
This really reads like an unsubtle joke from barely 5 years ago.

What are the coolest names for characters you've read about?

>>18483497
EDGE MAVERICK

Any sword&sorcery adventure with non-human male mc and human female mc? Trying to get the right tag on goodread is difficult for me.

>>18483545
try literotica and AO3

>>18483545
>>18483549
There really is an ungodly amount of femMC on original English web fiction. Royal Road is swarming with them, and English web fiction kind of bloomed with Worm, which had a female protagonist.

It's honestly kind of weird to me. I don't really understand it. The bulk of these authors are definitely male. I'm not sure what inspires them to try to write the perspectives of women. I don't mean to be judgmental, it's just confusing to me. Seems unintuitive.

>>18477828

>>18483263
>>18483275
ayylmao

>>18483582
Fetish thing., it's probably their waifu. Which is fine desu, but you should make your warrior mage female mc be either magically gifted or non-human. Superhuman elf would work.

What's the reading order for Dune? Trilogy, first six, or something?

>>18483680
Dune
Dune Messiah
Children of Dune
God Emperor of Dune
Chapterhouse: Dune
Father of Dune
The Living Dune
Uncle Grandpa Dune
Hitchhiker's Guide to Dune
Dune 2
The Shadow of What Was Dune
Fear and Loathing On Dune

Threadly reminder that the Elves would have triumphed over Melkor in the Battle of Unnumbered Tears if not for the treachery of Man.

As I understand it /sffg/ has a pretty damn ambivalent opinion on the wildbow body of works but since Pale is about to reach it's climax...

Carmine beast murder. Last minute theories?

>>18483021
It takes time to bring a new faction to life, do the designs, etc. And we had talking animals in stories way before either of those. Sorry anon, but you are retarded.

>>18482218
>

>>18483582
Women like reading stories with female protagonists. The vast majority of readers are female. It only makes makes sense that they would be. Now that the minority of men who do read and write no longer have have majority status in these genre fields they never will again. The Hugos are popularity votes. The vast majority of the voters are women. Therefore women will always win now. It's really that simple.

>>18484033
Wait, what? Why do you think the vast majority of readers are female? I see some percentages of women reading marginally more than men, but nothing that would make me think the vast majority of Royal Road readers (for example) are women.

Are there any good post-apocalyptic works where one of the factions has actually gotten their shit together fairly well and formed a somewhat functional government? It seems in most cases you just get a few small settlements at best.

>>18481873
minority opinion but I like his Latro books best. It feels a bit more grounded, I guess

>>18483287
He wore a rainbow robe so that means he was a proud member of the LGBT community, didn't you know?

what is it called if the setting is future but the author made no attempt explaining or getting into the detail of the science behind it
and just hand waved it away going " it's Future Technology~"
besides calling it shit sci-fi

>>18484293
space opera

>>18479859
>"Please," came the plead
Fucking kek

>>18481829
Escapism/freedom I think. You can really tell any story in genre fiction, adding made up stuff to make the tone and themes more effective.

>>18484293
Fantastical fiction? Also, sci fi doesn't have to get into the details of its science, it has to show that science's consequences of humanity and the world as a whole.

>>18484293
I like to describe it as science fantasy, but the term is probably already taken.
When you write stories about goblins and elves you don't explain why and how goblins and elves could actually exist, goblins don't exist in real life, its fantasy. You apply the same thought process to scifi; FTL and time travel doesn't exist in real life, so don't tie yourself into a narrative pretzel and bust out the pseudo science trying to pretend it does when you're just writing fantasy.

>>18484293
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_science_fiction
As opposed to
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_science_fiction

>>18484713
>Successful hard sci fi, written only by people with several PhDs or at least extensive engineering knowledge.
I think this distinction diddamage science fiction, as it lead many newer writers towards writing science fiction as contemporary with gimmicks.

>>18484293
a based genre

>>18484711
What if you wrote a fantasy story about goblins and elves and included a thorough explanation of their biological development?

>>18484968
The goblins can be descended from Warwick Davis and his abominable midge children.

>>18485008
Goblins are descended from a dark period of ancient history in which all human males 5'9 and shorter were banished from society and forced underground, where they gradually mutated and adapted to their new environment.

>>18485027
Guess I'd better start coming with some good recipes for cave mushrooms.

does technomancy count as scifi if it's advanced enough?

>>18479940
Everything by Paolo Bacigalupi

>>18485027
>5'9
5'11/180cm is the non-meme cut off, everything below is an abhuman by Imperial standards.

Why is it always male rapists? Where are the female rapists? I demand equality.

>>18485673
In fiction or real life? I swear every week there's a story in the news of some qt pedo teacher having sex with her male student. It's not fair.

>>18485673
it wouldn't work, at least not as wank material
because if a male was raped he then has to be unwilling and traumatized, otherwise it'd just be normal sex initiated by an aggressive female
and if he was traumatized then you the reader, would then find him dealing with this traumatic experience annoying

How is the new Valdemar novel? I want to like it, but it doesn't have any shiny magic horses and the rant at the beginning about Covid profiteers seems really SJWish. I mean, I agree with it, but I read books so I DON'T think about those things for a while.

>>18485027
Goblin height varies but is always small. Even the tallest goblin observed was a diminutive 5'7, capable of moving beneath human line of sight undetected, making them effective at thievery and stealth.

>>18485768
Tolkien described the Uruks as almost man-high, depends on what one considers to be a man.

>>18477828
The first three books are enjoyable, and once you get to the fourth book you relize how big a circle jerk the rest of the series is going to be.

>>18485843
>you realize how big a circle jerk the rest of the series is never going to be.
ftfy

>>18485831
A provisional comparison of heights.

>>18485699
Yep, any sort of realistic trauma derails a plot, unless the plot is wholly about that trauma to begin with.

>>18485699
that's assuming that we're seeing the events through the males perspective :^)

>>18484089
Because they are and it's easily verifiable. Royal Road is still yet a hold out, but for how long? Other web fiction websites, like wattpad and others, are almost exclusively females. The owner and founder of Royal Road, Maria Nassar, is an Israeli woman and a quick look shows the site is very focused on drawing in more female readers, maybe they've already succeeded.

girls like reading
there's a reason male MCs are dropping in numbers as time goes on

>>18485931
>there's a reason male MCs are dropping in numbers as time goes on
Yeah, its called war on toxic masculinity.
Non masculine male MC are not attractive.

Did the LITRPG trend die? They used to pop up left and right but now they just basically don't exist. And the already existing ones seem to have just given up.

>>18485931
Here's your contemporary YA fiction. Just look how many women of colour there are on the covers.
https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/2090?rto=x_gr_e_nl_sff&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sff_newsletter&utm_campaign=May2021SFF&utm_content=YA.SFF&ref_=pe_3652430_584679880

>>18486022
I think I threw up in my mouth a bit. But yeah, YA Fantasy in general has been overtaken by a certain type of crowd. And if you write anything that doesn't blatantly pander to these types it just never gets promoted.

>>18485931
>girls like reading
Correction, girls like reading shit that's like a decade below what should be their reading level, it's weird how many chicks in their mid to late 20's are still reading shit like Harry Potter and Hunger Games

>>18486083
You're not wrong. My wife doesn't read at all, she just listens to her Harry Potter audiobooks over and over again. They're the ones read by Stephen Fry, I pirated them for her. She has also listened to The Hunger Games. And when she's not doing that she watches all those lore/fan-theory videos on Jewtube.

>>18486478
Why won't he straighten his fucking glasses

Just finished this. Probably the one of best science fiction stories I’ve read. Are the sequels worth reading? I heard that they don’t hold up as well as the first book.

Also, what were your favorite tales? What were your takeaways from them? How would you rank them?

>>18486595
he wouldn't be able to pull off the smug smile without it.

>>18486050
Can hardly blame them, they're promoting books to people who actually buy new books. It makes sense from a publishing perspective. It's hard enough being a publisher without making your core demographic a bunch of unpleasable nerds who mainly just circlejerk the same half dozen authors for decades. That's why authors like Sanderson are probably going to be the main influence on who gets published in the next couple decades. People who read Sanderson buy lots of books, those are the types of readers driving the publishing business, not wannabe critics with unachievable standards of perfection.

>>18486595
Low, slightly askew glasses is visual code for "why yes I'm an aloof genius how could you tell?"

>>18486799
This entire post sounds like pure bullshit. The types of people who wank themselves over "inclusion" don't buy books either.

>>18486799
>>18486833

You are both wrong and I just don't have the energy to explain why, just shut the fuck up.

>>18486833
Publishing is a business and there's nothing propping it up if the books they promote don't sell. Advertising campaigns aren't free in more ways than one. It costs money to promote somebody, and you can only promote so many authors at a time, so it's both a monetary cost and an opportunity cost. Picking who they want to promote isn't done lightly because too many duds in a row can put a publishing house in the red very quickly.

>No longer but any books that are traditionally published
>Buy self-published books and read web serials novels
Feels pretty good right now. Hope you cucks aren’t giving money to the sjw publishing houses.

>>18486927
If you don't buy the books you like from publishers what incentive do they have to publish more like them?

What do you guys think of the Culture Series? I'm having a blast (currently reading the third book), but I don't hear anybody talking about it.

>>18479859
>"You will never be a woman.."
fucking kek

>>18483545
the real unicorn stuff is male human mc+ non human female romantic interest/companion

>>18486001
theyre mostly trash anyways

>>18485027
Tell me, is it hard being 5'10''?

>>18487068
I liked Player of Games but dropped the first book, it felt very "first published work", it didn't grab me and I get distracted by potentially better books. I really liked The Bridge, which isn't part of the Culture books.

>>18486644
I'll always defend Fall and reccomend reading it, I think Dan's world/characters/plot is good enough that it's worth it to read it as the conclusion and be done with it. As others have said, the first has the more novel written structure, but in no way is Fall shit next to it, definitely worth reading

>>18485926
>Because they are and it's easily verifiable.
Now, I'm not going to accuse you of speaking out of bias with no evidence, but I really don't think it's easily verifiable at all. I did some research and all the hits I found were dudes asking how to get more women to the site.

>>18477828
>Austrios
Lmao

>>18486644
>>18487387
Seconding this, Fall of Hyperion is based and concludes the plot set up by the first novel, so very well worth reading.
Endymion and the Rise of Endymion definitely live in the shadow of the Hyperion duology, and feel almost like they're from an entirely different series. It's unlikely you will enjoy them as much since they get very weird. However, I actually have a soft spot for them, since they heavily incorporate Zen Buddhism concepts (respectfully, without westernizing them like the motorcycle maintenance book did). It was my first exposure as a teen to Buddhist concepts in this way so even now the book sticks out in my memory. There's also some extremely memorable setpieces. I wasn't interested in romance when I read it, but looking back the male MC's relationship with the qt3.14 heroine is pretty nut.

>>18486927
Been a while since I've seen this much cope in a single post.

>>18479859
>he doesn't know the difference between breath and breathe
ngmi

>>18479933
cope

Stupid question but is there any sci fi that has genuinely good world building, good characterisation, and a strong central plot? I can’t seem to find anything with all 3, typically stuff only has 1 or 2 of those things.

>>18477256
Was actually about to ask this myself. Looking for stuff with literally unfathomable beings in space.

>>18487948
Beggars in Spain

>>18478940
What did you like about the characters anon? I’ve just finished shadow of the torturer and I really can’t get a feel for any of them at all. Even Severian seems a little bland to me.

>>18478378
> Blindsight
Too bad the prose is autistic.

>>18486799
I disagree. I think think this is a case of politics before profit — many such cases.

>>18487948
revelation space

>>18487973
Not that person, but it will all make sense in time, you need to read the rest of the books. I don't want to say the side characters subvert expectations, but they unironically do subvert expectations. And I actually really liked Severian as a MC.

>>18487019
At the end of the day, that's not my problem.

>>18488043
Baldanders and Talos are great in Sword
Agia's the only one I didn't get a bigger appreciation for on the second read, honestly
I got that she's supposed to be a Fury, but I got that the first time around and I didn't feel like there was much more to her than that

Is Ada Palmers Terra Ignota series good? Don't want to get suckered in to some Nebula/Hugo award crap.

>went to a bookshop
>found a Wolfe book I had never heard about
About to read Interlibrary Loan :D

>>18488043
Okay thanks anon. I’d planned on reading the rest anyway but I’m glad to hear they flesh the characters out a bit more. I really didn’t mind severian, I just felt like shadow was (understandably) ,ore focussed on world building than characterisation and the portrayal of severian suffered as a result.

>>18488192
Unironically best /sffg/ released since BotNS. I honestly don't remember last time I was as hyped for a book as I am for Perhaps the Stars.

>>18488218
As a third person, the characters are already fleshed out. You just won't realize it until you spend some time discussing the books, or rereading them.

>>18488192
I think it's better than Dune but worse than BotNS

>>18488199
Heard it's dogshit but report back if it's not

>>18488229
>>18488241
Cool, i'll pick it up then, thanks.

>>18488241
Fugg :DDDD
I honestly wonder if I would be able to notice that a book by Wolfe is bad. I hold him in such high regard. Worst book by him I've read is probably There Are Doors, and even it improved quite impressively upon rereading it.

>got a friend reading Art of the Adept
>on book 4 and hates everyone but the goddamn cat
HAHAHA SOMEONE ELSE SUFFERS MY PAIN

Why are Bakker critics so obsessed with cuckoldry?

I was memed into reading Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by some people and now i'm seething.
What was the purpose of introducing cuckery and ntr. The love interest becoming used goods as the mc takes her back is disgusting

>>18488551
Why is Bakker lmao

>>18488575
We accept your cuckold fetish.

>>18488575
What about having other men have sex with your ex makes you so excited? Genuinely asking.

>>18479893
Goblin Slayer.
I know the actual story but this is a gay anime general.

>>18482430
canticle for leibowitz

>>18488553
Sorry anon but princess is the mc. That’s why she gets the grrl power moment at the end.

>"Oh Blimey!"
>*burns book*

>>18477742
Lem's Fiasco
>>18487956
Lem's The Invincible (don't read synopsis )

>>18487158
No? There are tons of human male mc with monster girls/elves/demigods love interests/companions books. Unless you mean actual monsters without a humanoid form.

I saw Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir at my local library so I read it because I thought the Martian was decent when it released.
I should've known better after not being able to get into his last book Artemis.

What a piece of shit.
All over the place, somehow underwritten and overwritten at the same time, science stuff written witha clear "I'm a fucking genius" characters with no depth, parts clearly written as filler probably to satify a contract, and the ending is fucking stupid.
The science references were so self-flagellating that I thought of Ready Player One and its cancerous references.
Andy if you skulk around here be aware I'll kick your ass for wasting my time with this pile of shit.

>>18477129
Is this what being a pedo is like? Seems like a lot of them legit want to get better but are unable

>>18478636

Pratchett's humour is mostly in the language and concepts in the world. Once you get past the Rincewind books, they're very simple stories where the good guys win without ever suffering very much and the bad guys loose, without having killed anyone who matters. Which is supremely ironic given Pratchett's pretensions to humanism and equality.

I say this as someone who has read and enjoyed most of his books. Because Pratchett was great at a turn of phrase, and was great at populating his world with amusing concepts and characters. But that can wear incredibly thin.

It's also why I'm going to be interested to see the relative durability of Pratchett and Douglas Adams. I remember being mildly offended by a quote on one of the Ringworld books to the effect of "If Pratchett had been published first, Arthur Dent would be unknown". First because, no, and second because I think that Adam's books are better, fundamentally as stories and novels than Pratchetts.

>>18489481
Adams is better than the first half dozen discworld books, but that's about it. I don't think he was a good narrative writer. His books are largely a collection of funny individual scenes strung into some kind of order but without much in the way of real plot to hold them together. I don't even think he would have denied this characterization, Dirk Gently is basically built upon the idea. No matter what Dirk does or where he goes it will always end up being plot relevant, so he can basically just do whatever the fuck he (and Adams) wants and we'll still at some point reach the end of the book.
Pratchett's early work is a lot like this, too. I think Rincewind's books are unpleasantly pointless. The humor can only cover for so much that's lacking. But then I go back and reread books like Night Watch, Monstrous Regiment, and Going Postal, and I get the chance to see what writing dozens of books did for Pratchett's ability, and I think it's clear that his peak of writing ability is a distinct tier above Adams.

>>18486001
i sure hope so

>>18489438
>self-flagellating
Did you mean fellating?

You guys got any good horror-fantasy recs?

>>18477828
>Land of Always Dead

>>18477363
>"I want fucked up horror about a giant creature"
>gets recommended book about a planet spanning sentient ocean creating zombies of a loved one to astronaut slowly driven to the edge of insanity
>"not what he was asking for lulz, skip the booooring part!"

The absolute state

It's so hard to find cyberpunk that has deeper themes and far out concepts elaborating on cutting edge tech and science like William Gibson's stuff was in the 80s. Is there contemporary cyberpunk that has the gritty near future high tech lowlife, dystopic vibe combined with non YA writing and actual ideas?

>>18484968
You could do that, you have the power.

>>18489548
Aren't they both YA authors in the end? I loved adams as a teenager and thought it was really funny, but as a grown up it's mostly cringey to me.

>>18485027
>dark period
>males 5'9 and shorter were banished from society and forced underground
>dark period
What, as opposed to being smothered at birth?

>>18488181
>I got that she's supposed to be a Fury
Wait what.
Was Agia a manifestation of Severian's punishment for breaking his oath as a torturer?

>>18488763
this is the best one by far.

>>18489918
cyberpunk is a tired old horse that has nothing left to offer

>>18489960
He did several things worthy of the attention of a Fury, so take your pick. But given the fact that she was after his sword, that seems like the primary one.

>>18489918
>>18489988

It definitely seems so. Still, there must ba some kind of scifi that regards the implementation of future technology into the life of people who are not scientists or star Lords or whatever. or is there really no one out there writing that stuff anymore?

>>18490120
There are people writing it. But they are either obscure, saw that there's no money in fiction and went to try and implement their ideas irl, or live in Asia and their works, be it LNs, manga or anime, are often behind language barrier.
For example, I recently watched Chinese anime, Metaman, that talked about where the Big Brother government could eventually lead. And the recent Godzilla anime had a well written quantum physics plot while keeping the focus on characters.

>>18490284
Figures that it would be found in Asia now that I think about it. Got some recs regarding creators, to get me on the right track?

>>18490384
Honestly, I don't know either language so I can only recommend some of the works, not authors. And most of them are not books.

Do I need to read to write? I got some wack ass ideas and I'd like to pump it out on like the internet or whatever, but the only shit I read is like classic fiction and black library, with the occasional philosophical works(just finished Plato's society, still wrastilng and contemplating it).

What's the comfiest editions of the Lord of the Rings to get?
I have a hardback set of the LOTR by harper collins green paper cover, glued signatures and about 15 by 23 cm which I don't like that much
Are there any with a proper cloth binding and smyth sewing?
What size do you think is the best?

>>18490403
That's fine, I'm open to anything to scratch that itch

>>18490433
The only way to get better at writing is taste and practice.

>>18490433
I don't quite understand the question. Yes, reading is a prerequisite for writing, but you do read , so what is the problem? Are you asking wether you need to read SFF to write SFF?

>>18490433
Read Manga and watch anime, all the writers on /wg/ do it

>>18490453
Fair enough. Practice makes perfect.

>>18490460
I suppose yeah. I reread On Writing by my boy, the man/myth/legend/cokehead Stephen King and he says that having a voracious appetite for reading is necessary. Then again he says that the majority of people can't hope to write themselves out of a paper bag and that a miniscule few will work their lives to write passable work, so he might just be being pretentious.

>>18490471
Hell yes dude. I watch old movies and old anime and read horror comics and Conan comics so I'm ripping to go boy

>>18490476
You're going to make it, anon.

>>18477871
bruh

>>18477871
>I'm really glad GoT has completely vanished from pop culture
You should be saying your thanks to D&D for fucking up so immensely.

>>18490476
What types of old movies and anime? And also horror comics.

>>18478347
Eh, for me it got worse, generally speaking.
Soulcatcher a waifu.

>>18490441
There's Psycho Pass novelisation. I've no idea if it's translated into English though. I don't really care for High tech low life aspect, so there should be more that I don't remember.

>>18490558
>Psycho Pass novelisation
Aren't those prequels?

>>18490564
That's the visual novel, I think. The novelization is done by one of the anime scriptwriters.

>>18490558
>Psycho Pass novelisation
Psycho-Pass: Inspector Shinya Kogami is in english

New thread
>>18490579

>>18490484
Thanks dood

>>18490530
You name a movie, I've probably watched it or plan in watching it. I'm very fond of horror, suspense, SciFi, dramas from the 30s to about 2010s, then from there on to current day things are very hit or miss for me. With anime, it's much the same: a little bit of 70s, but mostly 80s and 90s, and I like SciFi, fantasy, and dramas. I would love to get into shounen but goddamn dude, who wants to waste five hundred episodes? I know that "oh, you can skip the filler episodes" but I feel I won't get the full E X P E R I E N C E if I do.
With horror comics I only just started to get into them, and there's some wild and daring stuff in them. You think these stories are in the public domain now? They'd make for some cool movies. Pic related is probably my favorite comic host for... Obvious reasons.

>>18490595
who is pic related?

>>18485724
Never mind, the Amazon sample came out. Really don't want to read about horses farting, so.
>inb4 "but it's realistic!"

>>18490595
You're such a poser.

>>18489329
you got me

>>18491496
wtf?? also source?