/lit/ - Literature

>>19162319
I'm reading Empire of Silence right now. Why is it that writers who write in the 1st person insist on having their protagonists get women thrown at them at every juncture?

>>19162308
It's mostly that there's fuck all modern fiction even remotely worth reading so shit like this gets hits, purely because it has big anime tiddies on the cover and it's remotely interesting enough to keep you turning pages.
Seriously, I follow a couple of dozen authors (actual real authors), but they might release one or two books a year each, and I blast through each of them in a day.

Big anime tiddies can sell, but I wish more of these self published authors would take inspiration from older series instead of aping the sterile modern anime trends. I'm a massive sucker for the 90's style series like Kouya Kemono for example.

>>19162326
This though, goddamn we are buried in an ocean of shit.

Although wuxia/ xanxia has kept me entertained atm.

>there are more than 3 races

>>19162338
Malazan did races good. You got people, you got bigger people, you got bigger people with fangs, you got zombie people and you got cyborg dinosaurs.

>the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills

>>19162344
Video game bullshit.

name two (2) interesting characters in wheel of time who aren't predictable and one dimensional

>>19162406
Moiraine
Min

>>19162406
Berelaine, Sorilea.
I always liked Berelaine a lot. She takes the whole femme fatale cliche, then flips it about and pairs it with a whole lot of loyalty, integrity and competence. It's a damn shame Sanderson basically aborted her character arc.

>>19162319
Is there an encyclopedia of fantasy worlds? No plot, no nothing, just pure information on worldbuilding.

>>19162451
Flight of the Dragons

>>19162451
Nice frog

Rundown on the extended parts of Tolkien's legendarium? I have the first Histories book and while it's interesting to note the changes throughout Lotr's development, it's not exactly enthralling. Are the later books more interesting? Having new material rather than alternative material?

>>19162668
There is nothing there that you would be interested in.

>>19162459
That's it?

>>19162816
That's one more than you got, froggy

>>19162825
Zero is equal to zero.

When I was a kid I read a fantasy book with a female MC training to become a spy or something like that (not sure). At some point she has to climb a cliff. In this world they also have a form of poetry that only works when written.
Does it ring any bells ? I can't remember the name.

>>19162828
I gave you one where you had none. and this? This is how you repay me? A pox on you, sir.

>>19162836
Tamora Pierce?

>>19162839
That's not an encyclopedia of a fantasy world. Don't try to fit a square peg in a round whole.

>>19162847
Thats it,thank you

>reading Shadow of the Torturer
>every female character is hot and immediately attracted to Severian
>one hot girl sexually attacks him while another hot girl is taking a bath five feet away
is Gene Wolfe serious?

Would anyone happen to know of a YA novel published in the UK before 2010 back when I was old enough to read YA novels, called Dreamweaver or something close enough for it to have been of notable coincidence to the Macromedia program I was learning at the time, whose subjects operated on the astral plane and I thithink had something to do with the creation of dreams hence the proposed title, with a specific factoid being that their astral forms gave off color-coded auras based on their personality? If not, what's some other lit about the exploration of the greater human condition in the realm of dreams?

I FUCK SRANC

>>19163021
Severian is just a based retard

>>19162451
There are various D&D and other tabletop game sourcebooks that do this, but that probably isn't what you want.

>>19162357
does anyone actually have the patience to read the whole series? I read one, that was enough

>>19162451
try https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/
it's a question&answer site all about worldbuilding

>>19162331
>buried in an ocean of shit

Not only that we’re actively drawn to it like flies buzzing around a decomposing corpse covered in turd.

On the bright side, thanks for the manga rec, I’ll be checking that out.

Rec me a book
Criterias :
>fantasy
>100-150 pages so I can read it in one sitting
>good

>>19163483
Renegade Immortal

>>19163483
You're basically asking for a fantasy novella. Why not also include short stories and novelettes? Read a collection of works by the same author or an anthology, or even a magazine.

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

GOOD LUCK!

>>19162319
Some Upcoming Traditionally Published US Releases
A. DEBORAH BAKER • Along the Saltwise Sea
ADA PALMER • Perhaps the Stars
ALASTAIR REYNOLDS • Belladonna Nights and Other Stories
ALIX E. HARROW • A Spindle Splintered
ANDRZEJ SAPKOWSKI • Warriors of God
ANGELA SLATTER • The Bone Lantern
CASSANDRA KHAW • Nothing But Blackened Teeth
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE • Comfort Me With Apples
CHERIE PRIEST • Grave Reservations
CHRISTINA DALCHER • Femlandia
CHUCK WENDIG • Dust & Grim
CODY GOODFELLOW, ed. • New Maps of Dream
DARRELL SCHWEITZER, ed. • Shadows Out of Time
DAVE EGGERS • The Every
DEREK KÜNSKEN • The Quantum War
DHONIELLE CLAYTON • The Mirror: Shattered Midnight
ELLEN DATLOW, ED. • Body Shocks
ELLEN DATLOW, ED. • When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson
GAIL CARRIGER • Ambush or Adore
GREGORY BENFORD • Shadows of Eternity
GREGORY MAGUIRE • The Brides of Maracoor
GWENDA BOND • Not Your Average Hot Guy
H.G. PARRY • Adonais and Other Stories
JENNIFER MARIE BRISSETT • Destroyer of Light
JOHN CONNOLLY • The Nameless Ones
JOSH MALERMAN • Pearl
K. EASON • Nightwatch on the Hinterlands
L.E. MODESITT, JR. • Isolate
LAVIE TIDHAR • The Escapement
LAVIE TIDHAR • The Hood
MERCEDES LACKEY • Briarheart
ORSON SCOTT CARD • The Last Shadow
PAULA GURAN, ED. • The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: Volume Two
PIERS ANTHONY • A Tryst of Fate
RICH HORTON, ED. • The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy: 2021 Edition
ROBERT IRWIN • The Runes Have Been Cast
SEBASTIEN DE CASTELL • Fall of the Argosi
STEPHEN BAXTER • Galaxias
STEPHEN JONES & DAVID A. SUTTON, EDS. • The Best of Dark Terrors
STEPHEN JONES, ed. • Terrifying Tales
TERRY BROOKS • Child of Light
UN-SU KIM • The Cabinet
VERONICA ROTH & JOHN JOSEPH ADAMS, EDS. • The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021
YOON HA LEE • The Fox’s Tower and Other Tales
ZIN E. ROCKLYN • Flowers for the Sea

http://locusmag.com/forthcomingbooks/
There's also http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/fc.cgi though it includes reprints and other sorts of releases. It has more, but I can't be bothered filtering it.

>>19163569
>ALASTAIR REYNOLDS • Belladonna Nights and Other Stories
neat

>>19163569
Too many female authors for this general

>>19162319
>not!Book Club
now:
the scar https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68497.The_Scar
songs of a dead dreamer and grimscribe https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24611567-songs-of-a-dead-dreamer-and-grimscribe
the dark eidolon and other fantasies https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18143067-the-dark-eidolon-and-other-fantasies

nov 1: assassin's apprentice https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77197.Assassin_s_Apprentice

>>19163021
>every female character is hot
most of the women he sees are either deformed witches or clients that he sees as less than human
>and immediately attracted to Severian
he's like 6'3 in a world where height is a literal status symbol

Suppose I've read the first 20 chapters of The Wheel of Time and I'm still not super invested, would you say it's worth pushing and finishing the book? I thought the Trolloc assault on Rand's farm was pretty thrilling but everything else has felt very underwhelming so far.

Normally I'd just push myself to finish but it feels like a chore, to the point where I'm wondering if the genre is at all for me. I just The Blade Itself, too, and pretty much hated every word in it. I'm so bummed.

Can I get some recommendations for fantasy light novels? No video game bullshit and I have little tolerance for isekai in general. Already read Spice & Wolf.

How's your novel going /sffg/?
You are writing one, aren't you?

Were any of these early science fiction adventure novels set outside of the jungle? Himalayan mountains, arctic, desert, etc.? I've read Rider Haggard's She and pic rel so far, and I have King Solomon's Mines lined up for later.
I think they were more or less contemporary to horror writers like Lovecraft, Benson and Hodgson, who wrote stories set all over the shop.

These Fucking pay pig authors and their paywalls. Just publush the fucking book already.

>>19164197
jules verne brother

Are there any furbait novels with humans fucking dragon- and cat-people and such?
Best I've found is the ringworld series with louis shacking different furry creatures

>>19164184
I'm too autistic to write one

>>19164032
The middle of eye of the world is the worst part. I was in the same boat as you just yesterday before I finished it for the first time. I was planning on dropping the series after finishing it because the bulk of the book was so boring but the last 100 pages hooked me and I picked The Great Hunt up immediately. It's annoying that it takes so long for anything thrilling to happen but I say push through and finish it. If the last act of the book doesn't make you want to keep going to the next then it's safe to say you can drop the series and move on.

>>19164032
Sounds like you only have about 10,000 more pages until you finish the series. Does that answer your question?

>>19164318
Why give money to your publisher when you can milk your fans for free?

>>19164032
I'd say if you're bored there, just drop it. I didn't finish the series though I dropped it as soon as Nynaeve became a POV character

>>19164032
If by "genre" you mean "fantasy" as a whole, then that's really overgeneralizing from these two examples.

>>19164107
What do you mean by you read "Spice & Wolf." How many of them? There's also a spin-off series. My opinion is that in most cases you're better off just watching the anime. Have you looked in the most popular and recommended ones already?

>>19163848
That's simply who is published and how it is.

>>19164097
I'd like to try this but the last xianxia I read was dreadful, do any of these have actual editing or proofreading?

Currently reading Hyperion, and I lost my shit when one of the characters claimed that they used to only be able to say shit like Peepee and Poopoo
I guess my humor is no better than that of a 5 year old

>>19164779
And he became a bestselling writer, whats your excuse Anon?

>>19164719
I believe the last one I read was volume 17, years ago. I plan to reread and finish it, as well as the spin-off, but for now I want something different. I mainly mentioned it so it wouldn't get recommended. I'm not really interested in watching adaptations. I find that they often cut out everything that isn't absolutely necessary for the plot and end up feeling hollow. I've looked at lists of recommended ones, but aside from a few like Nisioisin and Kino no Tabi, which I've both read and don't consider part of the standard fantasy genre despite the supernatural elements, I mainly find the aforementioned video game bullshit or painfully bland isekai.

>>19164779
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________poop______________________________________________

>>19162451
wet and happy lil croaker

>>19164844
My personal opinion after reading a considerable number of light novels is that their best purpose is to serve as raw material for adaptations. Yes, they have problems, but I think it works out better overall.

> aforementioned video game bullshit
> painfully bland isekai
That's what the vast majority seem to be, yeah. I don't think it should be expected otherwise. Spice & Wolf isn't really an exception, especially the further you go into it. It baffles me how I read 20+ volumes and what happened overall.

If you don't have any interest in watching adaptations and you don't want anything that's isekai or video game related, then here are some suggestions that I've personally read, but there are many more. Do note though that I don't think any light novel exceeds being "decent" and most are just awful, for a variety of reasons, and being translated certainly hurts as well. It's likely that you won't like them, as I didn't for a lot of them.
Also, yes, these all have light novels.

Attack on Titan
Baccano
Blade of the Immortal
Book Girl
Death Note
Durarara
Fullmetal Alchemist
Haruhi Suzumiya
Tokyo Ghoul
Trinity Blood

This is more to give an idea of what exists rather than what you'd enjoy. You could also look what popular anime is based off of light novels as well.

>>19163483
the cradle series is made of fairly short books

>>19164940
You son of a bitch.

What did you guys think of the second book? I found it interesting but not as good as the original.

>>19149084
I liked Seized by the System, Library of Heavens Path, Seeking the Flying Sword Path

Not necessarily best three but not names I see much

>>19164844
or just look here:
https://nyaa.si/view/1438964

I just reread Tower of the Elephant again, and while most artistic depictions of Yar Kosha depict him quite straight forward as having a human body with a giant elephant head, I've come to prefer visualizing him more explicitly as an alien that resembles an elephant.

>google a made up word in a fantasy series because I can't for the life of me remember what it was supposed to mean and don't want to flip through hundreds of pages to find where the explanation was
>google search results reccomended questions at the very top of the page are unrelated to my search and yet filled with major story spoilers for the series
>and that was just the question, I didn't even check the answer
1. Fuck google
2. Every book needs to be converted to an epub format and given an attached, easily searchable glossary of all the made up words authors use in it so this never happens again

>>19165159

>>19162406
Moiraine
Mat. I legit thought Mat was going to be that "good" character that betrayed his friends for money and fame but was pleasantly surprised with him

>>19164478
Thank you anon, that's what I was looking for. I will finish the book then and judge from there.

>>19164719
I hope so. I've been craving Fantasy but nothing's sticking. I really hope to find a niche within it that is satisfying for me. So far, besides the two I already mentioned, I've only read the first Mistborn and the Farseer trilogy. I did not care for Mistborn at all and could not get over the magic system; I really enjoyed the Farseer books but the ending completely ruined it for me. I was so looking forward to more of Hobb's books but now I can't make myself read them. Maybe I'm just not too keen on magic overall.

>>19164184
I'm almost finished with the draft of my second novel, It's set a thousand years after the end of humanity and the remnants of animals are fighting the devil who is eating the world piece by piece

>>19162319
Almost done with my first read of pic related after seeing it on here a bunch of times. I thought the first 5-7 chapters were a real slog to get through, but after that the story really picked up and by the end I was glued. So if any of you feel like dropping in the first couple chapters stick with it. That said holy fuck this book is so long. Like I don't mind a long read but this is such a time commitment I could have finished 3 books in the time it's taken to get through this. The magic system(?) is interesting and I like how it interacts with the plot for the main characters. It's not just an energy in the world, it changes and affects the world as well. Dalinar and especially Kalidan had really satisfying arcs, and while I wast as into Shallan's story, I could tell it was more setting up stuff for I'm really

>>19165737
*setting up stuff for the future. I'm really excited to start the sequel

>>19163021
It's important to note that everything you are reading is from Severian's perspective and he tries to make himself look good. If you get to second book there are a lot of things he brings up that may make you question his credibility. While Gene Wolfe is a fan of unreliable narrators there's a lot of arguments as to whether or not Severian is reliable, especially since if you take everything at face value it's easy to think that everything Severian says is accurate.

>>19162414
Min's entire character is that she wants to fuck Rand at all times. She's literally just a female.

Nothing can travel faster than light. Only particles with zero rest mass are capable of traveling the speed of light.

Mankind will NEVER know the warmth of other suns. Man travelling between the stars is by all intents and purposes, impossible.

Cope.

>>19164184
It's alright. I have the outline for most of the chapters done. I'll probably start on the main body later today. The overall story is 'inspired by' (just taken directly) from some greentexts I like, mainly /lit/ and /x/, along with some of my personal experiences. I'm not sure how long it will take to write, frankly. I'll be sure to post excerpts here once they're ready.

>>19165908
That's fine there's a lot of space in the solar system itself
Also generation ships are neat

>>19165894
>>19163021
I think it's also that at the beginning of the book Severian is remembering himself as a seventeen year old with basically no knowledge of the world and no experience with women. Author Severian recognizes that not everyone is going to be attracted to him, but he's writing how he felt at the time.

>>19165908
Bro your wormholes?

>>19166042
Black holes will pulverize you into atoms if even just one of your ass hairs get too close to it.

Dummy.

>>19166042
Wormholes don't exist

>>19166073
Black holes aren't wormholes.
>>19166077
Yet.

can i describe an asian person as having almond eyes in my book or will i get cancelled?

>>19166042
Say there WAS a wormhole connecting two separate points in space separated by say, a million light years.

Who's to say that travelling via said wormhole wouldn't take the same amount of time as just traveling from point A to point B through normal means would?

What exactly makes the wormhole "faster"?

>>19165908
the speed of darkness is faster than light

>>19166110
No, you filthy fucking BIGOT. You are NOT allowed to write a character of a separate race other than your own, that would be cultural/racial APPROPRIATION.

YOU should be executed for even THINKING of doing such a thing. Fucking disgusting cis breeder SCUM.

Don't assume my ethnicity or gender either or I will literally scream rape. You have triggered me so severely, I think I'm going to call the cops on you.

>>19166153
yes. why else would light have to work so hard to escape it?

>>19166153
Darkness is merely the absence of light.

>>19166153
Darkness travels at the speed of light. More accurately, darkness does not exist by itself as a unique physical entity, but is simply the absence of light.

I always imagined Moiraine as Bridget Regan from legend of the seeker and I couldn't stop if I wanted to

>>19166112
The idea that makes wormholes attractive is that they condense space between two points to shorten the travel time. If a wormhole didn't condense space enough to be worth whatever risk entering poses then it simply wouldn't be used.

>>19166208
But wormholes don't exist

>>19166213
nothing exists

>>19166213
everything exists

>>19166216
>>19166218

W R O N G

>>19166157
>cultural appropriation
>bigot
>cis gender
>unironically calling the people who killed saint Floyd to help you

Good shit here’s a photo for people who think exactly like you.

>>19162319
What is the connection between the short stories Seven Day Terror by R. A. Lafferty and It's a Good Life by Jerome Bixby? Just a coincidence? (Lafferty unaware of Bixby work? Of The Twilight Zone?!)

>get hit by a mobile meth-lab going 90km/h
>die instantly
>wake up good as new in what seems to be a crowded market square
>stand on your feet and look around for a second
>everyone seems to be in the early medieval era
>you're wearing beggar's rags and have nothing else on you
>the people are ignoring you so you find a quiet spot to eavesdrop
>hear the crowd discussing nonsense in an odd but legible accent
>overhear "Sweet Sejenus, I can't believe there's going to be a Holy War!"
>think about that for two seconds
Legitimately, what do?

Is Clarke's Fountains of Paradise any good?

>>19166314
>What is trolling?

>>19166503
The consensus of those who have read it say it is.

>>19166484
Commit suicide. Reroll for better existence.

Recently there's been a lot of accounts trying to join the GR group with newly created empty profiles that have everything disabled. I just immediately block them because they don't meet the join requirement and I have no way to contact them. How mysterious. It's really not that difficult to add a single relevant book as read.

>>19166484
open my skill menu and check my item box

>>19163483

>>19166213
Idk, bro, I was in your mother's wormhole earlier today

>>19164740
What did you read?
Regarding 'prose', the first 50 chapters (or 100) were fan translation, later it was done by qidian and improved a lot, it is translated chinese tier but it is the meaning behing mc and his story that is the most important thing here.

What are some good western xianxia stuff? So far I've read:
>Cradle
>A Thousand Li
>Street Cultivation
>Forge of Destiny
>Artorian's Archive

>>19166484
Find a fit skyclvendi to suck and fuck. My little Nayu

AHHHHHH! I CAN'T FIND ANY OF THE VANG TRILOGY BOOKS, NOT EVEN ON Z LIBRARY OR LIBGEN AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

>>19166948

>>19167012
neat

>>19167012
THANK YOU

>>19167041
>>19167063
anything you cant find on zlib will almost always be on mobilism, unless its really obscure

>>19166948
What are you talking about? This is only even the first page of results on libgen.

is the windup girl any good

>>19167085
Bacigalupi's short fiction is much better than his novels to me, but they're fine as well. Everyone in the /sffg/ GR who has read it thought it was at least decent. Some really enjoyed it.

>>19166484
kys = go to hell
try and live a normal life = get raped and tortured by sranc after the great ordeal fails

i'd probably join the holy war and find Kellhus asap, he'd be able to see that I know he's a liar but that I also won't betray him so I would try and become one of his tools and help him fight the consult, best case I end up as some noble or administrator in the post war order if we win

other strategy is try and get as far away from the north as possible and live there and hope that akka etc manage to btfo the nogod

I suppose I could also find akka and tell him to kill kellhus since no kellhus = no kelmomas and no no god, but not sure how that would work causality wise

>>19162325 I don't know that it's more common with 1st vs 3rd person. Surely what matters most is what the other wants to write about regardless. Seems like an illusory correlation to me.
>>19162326 You are the problem you bemoan.
>>19162331 You are the problem you bemoan.
>>19162338 More like species.
>>19163404 Yes, literally 10s of 1000s of people at least.
>>19164032 No, it's never worth it.
>>19164107 /a/
>>19164318 I wish you eternal suffering.
>>19164421 Surely there's a limitless amount of fetish works for you.
>>19165190 Your fault for not having it digitally in the first place. Also, your fault for being bad at searching.
>>19165644 Enjoy obscurity.
>>19165908 You will never know the warmth of another human.
>>19166110 You're cancelled for even asking.

>>19167202
Tranny

>>19167234 (You)

>>19167234
Books where the MCs are the baddies?

>>19167246
There's probably a lot of self-published works where the MC is a wish-fulfillment baddie.

>>19167240
Hey that wasn't (me), wtf is wrong with you?

>>19167297 Here's another (You) for (You)r collection.

>>19165908
Anon, those laws only apply in our universe. Space time is not flat, you can always find or build wormholes. Also your completely ignoring particles that have negative mass. And the hand wavy entangled particles. Fourth or fifth dimensional beings. Also psychic phenomenon, slower than light travel but instantaneous psychic communication is relatively well used. Or here's one I like space ship travels at relativistic speeds, so the observers in the spaceship have a real quick journey, coupled with a time traveling aspect, see now my story is instantly hard sci fi because I included time travel to get around FTL issues. And then there's the body refinement cultivation technique to enhance your chakra so you can fly though space without a spaceship, it has the added benefit of filling out those kindle unlimited page views with utter bullshit lit rpg numbering system and discussing what happens when meridians get pierced or whatever you can really stretch out the story line so no one notices you have no plot.

>>19167331
is this cute? it looks cute but I feel there's some spooky story behind it

>>19167312
Oh thank you so much. Just a few more and I can turn them in for a month of ban immunity.

>>19163021
>write inconsistent book
>tell everyone it’s just an unreliable narrator
>pepesmirk

Would somebody care to summarize the last 10% of Seveneves for me? I don't think I can be arsed.
They met the diggers, memmie and doc are dead, the julian was evac'd by a long tube that reaches down from space (hhahah what the fuck), now kat, ty and "einstein" are chained and the two strong guys are out there hunting diggers.

>>19167346
You can read the /sffg/ discussion or reviews from when it was a group read or you can just read this spoiler, The diggers are the descendants of the underground bunker and the book ends when they find the humans who are the descendants of the underwater civilization that the guy with the submarine went to. They've evolved to be able to swim underwater without breathing apparatus.

>>19167346
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlpFzn_Y-F0

>>19167357
fucking hell, thank you so much for saving me the trouble. I guessed both of those plot developments from neal's INCREDIBLY SUBTLE foreshadowing. argh. I was even thinking of checking out snowcrash next, but fuck this guy.

>>19167388
Snow crash is good, I bet it would have been a lot more impactfull had I read it back when the internet and vr was some newfangled thing in darpa labs. I liked reamde better. His endings are often quite abrupt. Most books have a sort of pasing we all get used to where there is the climax and then kinda coasts down to a nice and gracefull end were you get a chance to bask in the happy about a good thing coming to a conclusion. Neal's pacing is like going 90mph and a deer pops and and he steps on the break but you don't know if you will stop soon enough the end. He get's real but hurt if you ask him about it too.

But I do really like his books. Many authors would take the world building he does for a one off and spin it out to a 10 book series. It's kinda nice to get a good solid book in an interesting well built setting even if you know the end is probably going to be a bit sudden.

>>19167406
I don't think I would mind the abrupt ending if I actually cared enough to arrive at it. But this whole Part 2 of the novel is just so vacuous.. It's fun getting the tour of this elaborate world, but the characters just aren't there.
One really annoying thing for me is this tendency to write plots where *everything* is related. The only 2 surviving colonies under the surface of the earth? One ISS woman's dad, and another ISS woman's husband. Is Rufus the only miner in the world? Is Ivy's husband aboard the only submarine in the world?? for Christs sake.
Oh, and I also had a hard time buying that the seven eves would have such a enduring and static effect on future generations. I buy that the cloud ark saga would become their "epic", but it's every little thing, down to the names of the weekdays. Neal goes on and on about this topic constantly, the 7 races, their stereotypical, immutable traits. Not a single human being did anything interesting for 5000 years, apparently.
I also don't buy that these races would have become completely mixed during the early centuries living on cradle. He doesn't even try to justify that, he just wants his 7 mutant races. Bah!

>>19167445
*wouldn't have become completely mixed.
And sorry for the rant.

>>19167458
There's nothing to be sorry about.

>>19163251
THE MEAT...JANNYSURIMBOR FORFREE HAS BEEN TAKEN BY THE MEEEEAAAATTTT

>>19167459
No you have to suck the authors cock because of all the books he sells so it must be good.

BRB going to buy the litrpg.com domain and call myself "the father of litrpg" and wright a 900 page book about bowel movements while my fans cheer me on as the greatest author ever.

>>19167614
I'm a bit confused. You seem to have replied to the wrong post but the right anon.

>>19162319
How come no architecture in real life has even come close to the size and detail of the main building in that image? You'd think some richfags in the middle east would've commisioned something like that for fun by now. Skyscrapers are big but nowhere near as complex or detailed. Closest thing I can think of is the Abraj Al Bait.

>>19166484
>COMPREHEND THE ONTA SO THAT I CAN LITERALLY KILL PEOPLE BY SHOUTING N*IGGER
>YEP.... IT'S APOCALYPSE TIME

>>19162451
Dinotopia?

need good world building, R rated content, and lots of different races
recommend?

>>19167949
malazan i guess
>>19167655
idk i would pay for an epic building if I had the money, I guess practicality and government laws might make it difficult, some of the planned nazi megastructures allegegly would have had their own weather systems and clouds inside

>>19167949
T'schai has two of three, it's mostly PG outside of some boisterous conduct

is demon princes by jack vance good

>>19167949
>need good world building, R rated content, and lots of different races

>>19167959
I've read nearly half of Vance's work and The Star King is the only book of his that I've dropped

>>19167655
Because oil princes would rather spend their money on washed up whores and tame lions instead of building space elevators

>>19167954
by steven erikson?
>>19167956
I can't stand YA, sorry

>>19166503
If you have enjoyed anything else by Clarke you will almost certainly enjoy it, it's one of his better novels and the ideas explored are pretty neat.

>>19164184
It keeps getting polluted by the different history books I read.

>>19164184
yes, but it's a political satire. I think I have enough ideas for my second chapter so I might type it out later today.
I'd like to write a sci fi or fantasy story but I'm afraid I'm too inexperienced with the genre to do it confidently. If I do write one, it'd probably just be smut.

>>19163569
It's been a very long time since I read Baxter but the premise of Galaxias sounds pretty neat. I hope my library gets it.

>>19167975
yeah erikson, i recommend paying attention to the pre chapter quotes as they provide some useful WOOOORLDBUILDING

>>19167990
looks cool and its free on kindle unlimited
thanks anon

>>19167975
>it's PG so it must be YA

>>19164032
just drop it. people shit on WOT for a good reason.

>>19165836

Based Gene Wolfe reader.

Reading Gaunt’s Ghosts. Any good 40k books that aren’t written by Abnett?

https://i.4cdn.org/wsg/1633348715722.webm

>>19166544
>>19167976
Thanks.

>>19162451
Silmarillion pertains to more than one world of fantasy.

Anyone else get really into Lovecraft after hating him for ages? I wonder what changed in me, maybe I stopped being a pseud.

>>19168376
The Night Lords trilogy by Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Frens recommend me a horror book that can compare to the silent hill games ? i want monsters that represent the human psyche and shit like that

>>19168579
The monsters are phenomena and noumena, the accessible and the unknowable

>>19168376
Nightlords trilogy like other anon said. first 3 Horus Heresy books, although book 1 is by Abnett. from the newer books, i enjoyed the Watchers of the Throne series, and Dark Imperium.

>>19168376
Chris Wraight is the only other good BL author. So long as he is writing about marines and custodes.

>>19163021
Like you wouldn't fuck your own mom and a cyborg-bimbo. Also Thecla fucks him because obvious reasons. The only one that doesn't make sence is Agia, because why would a poor shopowner fuck an upper-class noble? :^)
Also all the occurrences in book of the new sun are definitely organic and noT some crazy global and intrrdimensional conspiracy.

>>19163373
Yeah, comes close when there's some flavor text. I specially like the bestiaries, but you are right.
>>19163406
The closest thing I can think of would be the warhammer 40K wiki on how detailed and similar to traditional encyclopedias it is regarding information. I'm honestly baffled the concept isn't explored more considering how popular that wiki is. I guess you could add wookiepedia as well.

>>19168478
Well the eternal lands and the middle earth are supposed to be different worlds, so I guess you're right.

>>19167932
I only watched the movie my man.

Any good sci fi or fantasy centred on wizards?

>>19168376
Ciaphas Caine's very good pulp fun

>>19167246
Glen Cook's classic "The Black Company"

>>19164421
Destroyermen. Isekai where a WW2 destroyer gets transported to the Island of the Cat-People and has to fight their lizard enemies who have teamed up with the Japs. Author was in the Navy and the intros are filled with quotes from his military pals like "this is great! Good job Jim". Lots of racism + catgirls

>>19169015
Dresden files?

>>19169078
>Dresden files
>Butcher's original proposed title for the first novel was Semiautomagic, which sums up the series' balance of fantasy and hard-boiled detective fiction.
Hard pass.

>>19169015
Face in the Frost
Rhialto the Marvelous

>>19169152
> Face in the Frost
I’m confused by this. Is it YA that inspired Gygax et al to write DnD rules?
>Vance
Thanks, I’ve been meaning to read him.

>>19169015
Cultivators are Asian wizards.

I just finished Shadow and Claw last night. I'm taking it in and maybe trying to do a light read(comparatively light at least) until I start in on Sword and Citadel

I find myself wishing I could explore Urth. The world just really makes me wanna know everything about it, from the wildlife to the ruins to the cities and towns. I'm glad Severian is finally moving on a bit, I liked Shadow but he didn't even leave Nessus and he went in the direction I'm less curious about-I wanna know about the southern part that consists of mostly abandoned ruins

I also wonder if the forests of Lune are populated. I'm saving questions until I finish BotNS at least, or the entire solar cycle

Also I keep picturing Dr Talos as a plague doctor

>>19166484
Attempt to hide somewhere and try to not die for as long as possible hoping that in 20 years Mog kills most of humanity and severs connection to outside so I can die without getting raped by ciphrang for eternity. Seriously TSA world is beyond fucked on cosmic level and Consult win is best case scenario if you lived to see it simply because finite suffering is not as bad as infinite suffering.

>>19169195
>chinese fiction
lol

Anybody here ever done any research into the literary criticism side of fantasy? Tolkien's 'On Fairie Stories,' Le Guin's 'Language of the Night,' Moorcock's 'Wizardry and Wild Romance,' etc?

>>19167694
lmao

>>19167344
I'm so sick of unreliable narrators as a bad excuse for writing garbage. Oh, great, the storytelling just straight up lies to me. That's a valuable way to convey your story. Eat shit.

>>19169192
>Is it YA that inspired Gygax et al to write DnD rules?
it's not YA. it probably did inspire Gygax, at least partially. it's listed as recommended reading in DnD rule books.
it's just about wizards doing wizard things.

>>19169605
I hate how people say that severian is unreliable. He does remember everything but he gives an acount of his old self before all the shit that made him that way. Also gene wolf literally looks like Doctor Robotnik.

>>19167388
NS can't write an ending to save his life. His books are mostly shit, and he doesn't deserve the praise.

>FB employees cannot access datacentres to fix the system because the ID card doors depend on the broken system to work.

Nobody listens to the warnings of SF authors do they.

How do I even begin writing my story imo? It's pretty overwhelming. I keep starting and realizing it's the wrong place.

I've noticed a curious detail. All men in Bakker's books seemingly have banana-shaped penis. Whenever he describes a dick (sorry, Phallus), it's always "curved like a bow" or "touching the belly with its tip". Is this some 2deep metaphor of The Tusk, or Bakker is trying to tell us something about his own equipment?

>>19170878
Because they are as irrelevant as they are alarmist.

>>19171058
why does it matter? stop thinking about the authors penis.

>>19171058
Stop asking questions.

It seems that basically the only horror I can read is SF Horror and little else. Maybe some science fantasy and a bit of fantasy. Horror by itself doesn't seem to work for me.

>>19171193
real life is already scifi horror

>>19171193
rec the best sf horror?

>>19171058
finally an author I can relate to

>>19171261
Not wrong.

>>19171283
I haven't read nearly enough to do so. I'll probably be reading some this month though. I've been looking through a lot.

What about The Urantia Book? I was recently contacted due to a username I use and they urged me to begin my reading of the book, particularly the papers on the afterlife. I'm not religious but it sounds like an interesting scifi read, at least parts, it's a long book.

>>19171335
It's spammed on /lit/ sporadically.

>>19162406
Demandred
Logain
Galad

>>19163483
Nine Princes in Amber

The Illuminatus Trilogy
Foucault's Pendulum

Rate

>>19165908
“When the world was young, or so we are taught, men believed that events were guided by the stars, which dictated the fates of individuals and nations. People believed that the stars were a secret language the future was written in. When the world was older and more sensible, it was believed that the stars were our future. Men made machines to take them beyond this world, did you know that? We peopled the stars with creatures like us, and set out to meet them. Such boundless optimism.” He fidgeted with the telescope’s mechanisms again. “It was all in vain, of course, the machines, the boats and vessels and birds and devices that were thrown up into the night sky,” he murmured. “For the stars are very far away, and however fast our machines carried us, it was not fast enough. The gaps between stars are so great that nothing can cross them quickly, not even light, which is fastest of all. We never found a way to skip between the stars, to meet the people we were sure awaited us there. That broke the back of our optimism. The spirit of man was crushed by the distances between the stars.”

>>19165737
This was originally recommended to me as "Honor Porn"

Its apt.

>>19165737
Is the magic system less of a focal point than it is in Mistborn? Mistborn felt like the entire novel was written to explain the magic.

>>19165836
I just bought a black wardrobe. Recs for learning to be mysterious?

>>19172097
lmao that's not inaccurate
>>19172101
Just finished today, but like I said in my first post I've only read the first book so others who have read the rest may say different. I'd say way less of a focal point that Mistborn, but it does feel like he replaced his focus on the magic system with a focus on the lore. I started going cross-eyed at parts trying to keep track of the difference between a Knights Radiant, surge binders, void bringers, midnight essence, the almighty, etc. That all settles in but a lot of lore can get thrown at you, not to mention there are a lot more locations and countries in this series than in Mistborn where for the most part there really is just a world and a single government.

You still get that fun flavor though from Mistborn where once a magic system has been explained you can see the fun ways Sanderson plays with it. A character called Szeth has some cool fight scenes

any new books with good romance subplots?

>>19172254
The Blacktongue Thief
One Day All This Will Be Yours

>>19172267
one day all this will be yours
may we please see your tits sweetie?

>>19172267
I've read the first one
can you give me a quick description of what One Day All This Will Be Yours is about?

>>19172269
Novella about the sole survivor of a causality war at the end of time who lives on a farm that acts as a magnet for time travelers, who he then ends up murdering and erasing from history to prevent further time fuckery. Really amusing romantic comedy.

Anybody here played Caves of Qud?
Any books with a similar feel for setting?
Like mutated biopunk world except still feeling very unmodern.

>>19172298
CoQ is basically Dying Earth mixed with Book of the New Sun.

>>19172298
One of my ideas is to take Naruto and play it straight: child soldiers, people getting their fucking eyes pulled out for military technology, etc. Sadly I'm a bad writer.

>>19162451
Authors usually catalog stuff like that on their websites. But even then that's the more tech savvy ones. Not much money to be made in lore books

>>19172254
Stormlight archives

>>19172318
Sounds neat. How far have you gone in writing it?

>>19172529
not very at all, still trying to hash out the setting and mechanics but I feel I'm just stalling

>>19172537
If it helps, I was in your situation, I just decided to write and edit anything afterwards.

>>19172309
Plus a heaping helping of Gamma World. The main story quest does feel very cribbed from Urth of the New Sun in particular sometimes.
Also I'd love a straight Vancian Dying Earth roguelike.

>>19172537
>but I feel I'm just stalling
You kinda are. Just write it out and worry about that on your second or third draft?

>>19172543
Do you post on RR

>>19172630
No, but I was planning on doing that.

>>19172009
Sauce? Couldn't find it via search engine

SF about a dictatorship fighting against guerilla dissidents? fantasy is fine too, but I'd expect SF to have more options.

>>19172630
Is there something wrong with Royal Road?

>>19172318
Sounds interesting. I've got my next five books planned and a vague idea for number six, but I'll hold on to this idea for the seventh.

>>19166484
1. Study the obscure gods just because I don't know enough.
2. Become white luck warrior for whichever god seems least likely to fuck me over.
3. Get killed by a toddler.

Alternatively telling Akka, Esmenet or Cnaiur everything like >>19167100 says might work.

How do you feel about pseudo-anachronistic elements in fantasy based on a pre-modern era? I.e. an Amazonian society made of merchant women who sell everything with free two day delivery?

>>19172786
>Amazonian society made of merchant women who sell everything with free two day delivery?
Feels like there’s a book about this already.

>>19162319
The Luminous Dead - Caitlin Starling (2019)
This was a survival horror romance with science fiction and dramatic elements. I liked its voice and how it was written. It had a good bit going for it, but it was so very empty, which was the real horror.
I thought I would would be reading a science fiction horror about spelunking on another planet, and while that's what happened for the entire book, I think its primary purpose was the horrific romance.
There were only two characters in the entire book and only one was present. That was interesting in of itself. This was very nearly a few hundred pages about a single character exploring a cave system. Instead, it was a few hundred pages about a toxic, dysfunctional, codependent, coercive, abusive, exploitative, and manipulative lesbian relationship while traveling through a cave system.
In terms of horror, to me the greatest horror was the plot itself on a meta level, then their romance, then autonomy and then the ability to know what is real. The monster, while terrible, didn't do much for the horror to me.
You probably shouldn't read this. I recommend against doing so. The primary reason not to do so is because it's so empty. At least it was for me. I understand what it was going for on an emotional level, and there are those who can relate, but all I saw was desolation.
I found the ending to be especially repugnant, but also entirely expected. From what I've read I ever increasingly wonder if some LGBT relationships are used to deflect criticism of what would otherwise be completely unacceptable behavior in a heteronormative relationship. Then again, there are plenty of popular examples where they are excused anyway, so maybe not. In this case, unlike several others I've read, the author is a woman but not a lesbian.
The below rating may seem high given what I've said above, but I'd describe this book as an imitation Fabergé egg. It's nice, but it isn't the real thing, and when you open it, it's so very empty. I can't stress that enough. This shouldn't have been any longer than a novella. There are many complaints about it being repetitive, though I wasn't particularly bothered by that.
The greatest compliment I can give is that now I feel like I have the same relationship to it that the characters had with each other.
Rating: 2.5/5 (rounded down)

>>19172878
Once again, another great effort post from you. Keep at it.

>>19172884
As a note, I only post my finished sff "reviews" here. There are many more in the group for stuff I only read partially or aren't sff.

>>19162326
>Big anime tiddies can sell, but I wish more of these self published authors would take inspiration from older series instead of aping the sterile modern anime trends.
I feel like self-publish fell into the same rut as as traditionally published books. In which self-publish authors saw which types of books sold well and try to imitate its success in their own books.

>>19172896
Is the group worth it?

>>19172878
>reading books by women

You done goof'd

>>19172910
Yes, we get it, you don't read anything at all.

>>19172906
I'm the owner/founder/admin/etc of the GR group so I'm probably I'm too biased to give a worthwhile answer.

>>19172902
You could also see the same thing happen in western web novels. They follow other more successful stories, and just saturate the market with it. Can’t tell you how many worm copies are out there.

>>19172916
Post a link to the group, I'll check it myself.

>>19172924
It's in the OP under Goodreads.

Winds of Winter is finally coming out. Never thought I'll see the day. Any expectations?

>>19172935
Is this really true? Are we actually getting it?

>>19172940
No, it's a troll. One that I'm sorely tempted to remove.

>>19172935
>Any expectations?
Just hope we get some Stannis chapters. His are the only good ones. Also fuck Martin for making storm’s end surrender so easily.

>>19172944
Why haven't you already? Seems misleading.

>>19172914
You know as well as I do that that is a baseless, unrelated claim, which, by ignoring my implication, shows that you agree with it, deep down. Therefore, I say BASED

>>19172935
Hope he goes into more detail on the tax systems

>>19172951
Sure, why not, they're removed.

>>19162406
Berelaine
Moiraine

>>19172794
It's the first example I could think of without any real effort, so I wouldn't be surprised if dozens of versions of it exist.

>>19172961
But he already did? The world book indicates that the Crown has a large influence on tariffs, regulating and presumably taking a large piece of that action. - Which does make sense, as you don't want your ports to differ in regard to their levels of taxation.

>>19172966
Ideas are a dime a dozen, at this point in time, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a book about everything if you search hard enough.

>>19172954
No, you aren't based.

>>19172961
>more detail on the tax systems
Are people still seething over that?

>>19172987
Some people live to seethe and seethe to live.

>>19172216

I'm like 80% pirated audiobook because I can listen while I wage slave and it makes the days tolerable. But graphic audio... fuck that shit with a ten ft cactus.

Rhythm of War comes out and I'm like so fucking lost. I typically hate it when the author puts in a huge ass forward about what just happened in the last books and I cant skip it because I'm not supposed to fiddle with my phone at work. But man, I thought my retention was better than this, it was only three years ago I read the last one. Do I really need to read 3.5, I usually skip all .5's (and prequels). Do I need to re-read 3?

>>19162331
>Although wuxia/ xanxia has kept me entertained atm.
I scratch my head at LitRPG/Wuxia stories. Can't seem to make sense out of them.

>>19173000
>thinking you can retain something that you are only paying half-attention to and using as a background distraction to make the days tolerable

>>19173007
You have to train yourself to do it.

>>19173009
Seems you've failed at your training then by your own admission.

>>19173018
Not him.

>>19173024
For you the only difference is a lack of a self-awareness.

>>19173007
Not only that I play it at 2.5-3x speed. I legit have 800gb of audio books and can burn through 40 books a month. Many a terrible book I have cringed through because I couldn't find anything better. I swear to god if you say funnily enough or scarily one more god dammed time I'm going to drive to your fucking house and break all your fingers. Yes, I have issues.

>>19173041
>800gb of audio
Why so much?

>>19171060
'The internet of things is retarded and dangerous' isn't alarmist anon.

>>19173048
Are we supposed to take the writings of YA dystopia as warnings?

>>19173040
No, he was not me, I am me. And I typically do have decent retention.

>>19173041
Why would you do that to yourself? Why not listen to stuff that's worthwhile at 1x rather than trash at 3x? That makes it seem like it's really 100% just for something barely higher than white noise. I don't know why you wouldn't just listen to music at that point or something ambient.

>>19173048
That isn't about IoT though. That's more the perils of centralization.

>>19173047
Data hoarder. If I download it I keep it. I sort it into folders weather I liked it or not so I know to look for more from the same series or author. When it's so bad I couldn't finish it it gets it's own special folder.

>>19173069
>That's more the perils of centralization.
Nothing wrong with centralization though?

>>19168206
>uhhh..."tugs braid" and...uhhhh..."smooths skirt"...?

>>19173064
I often calculate the speed I need to end the book when I get home and I'll bump up the speed to compensate if I had to have a meeting or something. Honestly I cant hardly stand listening at 1x any more. Like regular TV or a movie is just super cringe for the first half hour for me and I only do that if I'm watching with someone else, otherwise I'll just pirate it so I can watch it faster. My youtubes is often even higher 3-4x I found a special plugin because 2x on youtube is way too slow. https://github.com/igrigorik/videospeed

>>19173079
Having everything fail at once is clearly a problem as was shown.

>>19173089
I would think that watching a movie at 3x would cause problems with their movements and would probably miss out a good bit on actions that go by so quickly. Same for anything that has a lot of stuff going on. Waiting for responses must be unbearably slow for you here.

>>19173072
>When it's so bad I couldn't finish it it gets it's own special folder.
Why not delete it at that point?

>>19173112
Not him.
Then it wouldn't be hoarding, now would it?

>>19173114
I just don't understand the hoarder mindset.

>>19162326
>Big anime tiddies can sell, but I wish more of these self published authors would take inspiration from older series
Most of those writers are actually trying to make a living of this. So it’s in their best interest to keep pumping those out.

Zoomers go 3x because they must zoom as quickly as possible to consoom as much as possible. Also, ADD & ADHD.

>>19173132
books?

>>19173130
Wow, it's like you're saying that profits are the primary concern. How shocking!

>>19173135
If you aren't read 5 pages a minute/300 pages per hour, then you aren't really reading at all.

>>19173138
Yeah, except it didn’t have to be that way to begin with. They shot themselves in the foot for the most idiotic reason.

>>19173104
VLC you can turn on a speed slider.

>>19173114
>>19173123
I don't want to accidentally download it again. I really should do a spread sheet but meh.

Also I sometimes seed the torrents when they are dead and someone requests a seed.

>>19173161
Yes, it does, as long as market capitalism exists and they're deriving their primary income from doing so, there can be no escape from it.

>>19173171
>Yes, it does
Not him, but it doesn't. I've seen some semi-successful web novels authors fucking themselves by removing their stories from their website to put in Amazon and fade into obscurity.

>>19173175
If they weren't making money either way and it wasn't worthwhile for them any longer, then it doesn't really matter that they did, since they would've probably quit anyway.

>>19173181
>If they weren't making money either way
Except they were via Paetron or paypal.

>>19173175
>>19173187
Seems some people are just obsessed in printing their stories in book form.

>>19173190
Which doesn't make any sense. Why give up all that money just to say you publish a book? Seems self-defeating.

>>19173195
Because then they could say they publish a book. It’s a ego thing.

>>19173201
This. You see the same shit behavior in published authors.

>>19173165
>I don't want to accidentally download it again. I really should do a spread sheet but meh.
Seems like doing a spread sheet would save you all the effort.

>>19172786
>pseudo-anachronistic elements in fantasy based on a pre-modern era?
It's been done before, so why does it bother you? Honestly, if anything, technological stagnation is overdone and should be replace.

>>19172786
Read TH White, he's constantly complaining about dindus and indians in a story about Arthur

>>19173266
How does that have anything to do with what he wants?

>>19173228
>Honestly, if anything, technological stagnation is overdone and should be replace.
This. Holy shit this. The explanation on why society hasn’t moved is idiotic

>>19173273
>The explanation on why society hasn’t moved is idiotic
More like down right retarded. Seriously, there was a conspiracy about the need to extinguish new technology to keep the status quo in one series.

>>19173277
We talking about a song of ice and fire? Because I’m pretty sure there’s a conspiracy with the maesters for just that.

>>19173069
The IoT doors depended on the same system as whatsapp and FB.

>>19173281
How so?

New thread
>>19173288

>>19173267
It's extremely anachronistic

>>19172968
>But he already did?
that makes no sense. how can he already have gone into more detail about it when the book isn't even out yet?

>>19172786
It happens in literally every single fantasy. None of the "medieval" fantasy stories reflect medieval society on any real level, for example. It's all at best half-assed ideas that come from Renaissance era at the earliest, but are more likely just be pop culture ideas about the past being regurgitated. Art reflects the time it's made in first and foremost.

>>19169344
But 90% of what's there they don't block at all. Is this just going to become one of those polices that only stays in paper?

>>19173157
You've got it backwards.

>>19173007
I'm sorry you have a bad brain anon, but most of us can. I listened to all of WoK on audiobook while driving, working out, working, cleaning, etc. and retained just fine.

>>19174249
stop fighting