/lit/ - Literature

Does he comb its mane? That'd be cute to see.

>>20645155
If you plan on reading the Halo books, I would only recommend the Eric Nylund books which are Fall of Reach, First Strike and Ghosts of Onyx. The only other good Halo books are by Joe Staten (who was the writer for most of the original trilogy) and he wrote Contact Harvest and Shadow of Intent. The other Halo books and especially the 343 era ones are really bad

I'm really enjoying this. I'm about halfway through.

>>20646547
>>20646536

Quite the badonkadonk.

Are LNs and web novels worth reading if I want to produce trashy smut?
A friend called a lewd story I wrote "bordering on erotic fiction," which was both flattering and not at all what I was going for. I wanted to write porn.

>>20646598
First, you can't trust just 1 friend. They may have shitty taste.
I would write what you want to read instead, especially when it comes to something like smut. It will come off better, read too much badly written smut and you might just ruin it for yourself, since most of it is shit, you could feel pressure on yourself to oppose it.

Now that the dust has settled, did Kellhus job to some random skin-spy or not

>>20646676
Yeah technically, but it was mainly because of his son.

need a reading chart/guide to reading Moorcock novels please. Google isn't helping me at all while trying to figure out which first novels to read about elric of melnibone or any of his other novels.

>>20646676
There's an entire scene in the appendix where he repeatedly swaps his own head That seems pretty fucking clear.
Combining that with his other actions and it's possible he wasn't even on the campaign at all

>hot thick dunyain wisdom flowing into your soul

Where is the link to the colossal fantasy torrent collection?

Why is every single fantasy female love interest the same snarky and independent character?
I'm utterly sick of it.

>>20646750
stop reading soifantasy

>>20646570
I purchased the Illustratated editions for the first three books and started reading the first two days ago. Gotta say I'm loving it right now and looking forward to the next two.

>>20646750
>Tfw you will never have an autistic and needy nepenthe sitting at home worrying about you while she fails to take care of even the most basic house chores

>>20646570
>>20646762
based hobbchads

Just finished this series. Seems pretty overrated to me. I expected way more from something rated 4.50 on goodreads... It was entertaining I guess but the plot, characters and world were all pretty plain.

I can't read any novel with a female protagonist.

>>20646813
Fucking forgot picrel

>>20646816
The best thing about Tolkien is how few women he includes.

>>20646821
But when he does include them they’re stunning and brave.
Bitch-King of Angmar btfo.

>>20646821
True. I also don't read any novels written by women. Maybe I'm misogynistic but I can't help but think that women can't write morally complex characters.

>>20646750
why aren't there any kobeni tier heroines?

>>20646750
Best love interest would be compassionate male transformed into a hot female body.

>>20646853
Instead of just a normal and kind girl you really had to force your homosexuality in there huh?

>>20646856
Normal girls are boring and bitchy and needy.

>>20646726
Interesting possibility. Sadly Bakker's in hiding atm so we won't find out any time soon.

>TWI 5.50G
i find it a bit hard to swallow that the goblin lord is portrayed as kind of a good guy, considering all the villainous shit he did (killed mrsha's entire tribe, crippled ryoka, killed zel, esthelm etc.).

>>20646726
Also if this is true, then who was Ajokli possessing at the end, and who was using metagnostic shit to zip all over earwa transporting his family to the Ordeal? Also what would Kellhus's motive be there and what was he doing instead. Not saying I don't believe that your idea's a possibility, just wanna hear what you think .

Can anyone recommend something that has a fantasy world that's actually interesting. As in not something I could just find on earth 1000 years ago except you added magic.

I want totally bizarre alien landscapes full of interesting places to visit

>>20646816
What about Friday by Heinlein? Or Podkayne of Mars.

Heinlein writes the best women, it's just what he would be if he was a hot chick

>>20646750
>he hasn't read Book of the New Sun

>>20646890
Stormlight, unironically

>>20646818
Yeah. Terribly bland. Possibly considered a decent "comfort read".

>>20646890
Jack Vance's Dying Earth.

>>20646915
Never heard of it, will check it out

>>20647022
Second one is probably better even though it's technically YA

>>20646970
Thanks, I'm not reading it til it's finished tho

>>20646997
I've had that on my TBR for a while, love the cover art. Gonna bump this up to the top. Thanks

>>20646818
>X of Y
>Cloaked guys on the cover
>War scene cover
>Castle on a cliff
Wow that is painfully generic-looking.

>>20646871
Not portrayed as a good guy, just a person with his own agenda that had to compromise his morals. He just steeped in when there was no one else. If anything that makes him tragic.

>>20646718
sorry for the retarded google cache link but multiverse.org is kind of down right now so...
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:JPUM-RyC2TUJ:wiki.multiverse.org/index.php%3Ftitle%3DChronological_List_of_Elric_Stories+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=it

anyway the """main universes"""" with their champions and first story are i think (TAKE WITH A GRAIN OF SALT), in no particular order:
1)OSWALD BASTABLE with THE WARLORD OF THE AIR
2)EREKOSË/JOHN DAKER with THE ETERNAL CHAMPION
3)CORUM with THE KNIGHT OF SWORDS
4)HAWKMOON with THE JEWEL IN THE SKULL
5)BLOOD: A SOUTHERN FANTASY
6)JERRY CORNELIUS with THE FINAL PROGRAMME
7)ELRIC OF MELNIBONÈ with ELRIC OF MELNIBONÈ
there are other books with different protagonists like DANCERS AT THE END OF TIME, THE ICE SCHOONER, THE FIRE CLOWN (aka THE WINDS OF LIMBO) etcetera... but I still have to read them or didn't finish already

>>20647381
AH Also try "GLORIANA or The Unfullfill'd Queen and Moorcock's interwar period books. Also the Mother London books
>but I still have to read them or didn't finish already
and I don't know if they are a part of a series...

>>20646871
I hate TWI goblins so much. They are unironically the strongest species around. They have more racial traits and hax than fucking dragons. I suppose they need all that to still have a sizable population in a world that actively hunts them down. But you know what's most infuriating? How competent they are when compared to everyone else.

Laken had notes from Ryoka, dedicated [Engineers] working on it and had to order special materials. It still took his people 3-4 months to create the first trebuchet, Rags made some from the burning wrecks of a city after seeing one in action during an active siege with help from wounded and tiered goblins in her group. And all that in less than a few hours.

If they can somehow get around the Goblin Kings curse they will be the dominant species on the planet. I love TWI but the goblin wanking gets tiersome.

>finished DCC 4
Fucking brilliant. I haven't read a series that kept up such an organic cadence in I don't even know how long. I'm not looking forward to the gay shit that is pulled based off what happened with the epilogue but I am definitely excited to get into book 5.
>chapter begins with a cookbook passage
I get the gooseflesh and I know this shit is gonna be good.
>author mentioned some girl who sent him feet pics and some random dude who sent nudes in the acknowledgements for books 4 and 5
heh

>>20647370
what i mean is he is shown to be a somewhat ethical guy now, but that doesn't fit with his previous actions where he slaughtered (and raped?) cities full of people. same with the "i care about goblin lives" schtick when before this i had the impression that he blew up his undead among his own living troops. but maybe not.

>>20647445
cute gobbos.
dunno what the curse is yet tho

>>20647445
It's not as much Goblin wanking as Pirateaba being utterly incompetent in anything outside of writing. Even counting number in any reasonable way is beyond him. Ignoring any number associated with mass, distance or size is a must for reading TWI. It's a great story, outstanding in many parts, but it has flaws, sometimes truly annoying ones. You just have to put it down to Skills or something in your head. As far as flaws go, this one is rather mild.

>>20646570
>>20646762
I just spent the rest of the day finishing the book, it was really amazing.
Very well written and not some YA shit I was originally expecting.

Finished Dying Earth, most of Wolfe, and Viriconium. Any other stuff inspired by Vance I should pick it up? Reading Gormenghast right now.

>>20646818
These books fill the same niche as stuff like the Belgariad, I think. "Aggressively generic plot, world, and characters, but executed well enough to be an entertaining read." It makes sense that it got popular.

Though Belgariad did a much better job, I think.

>>20647559
>Gormenghast
very based

What SF/F books have the best girls? They don't need to be protagonists or anything, and feel free to interpret this as "best written" or "best waifu" or whatever you want.

If Soulcatcher spam anon is still here, no need to say Soulcatcher, your love for her is already well known.

Three-body problem is the best hard sci-fi book ever. If you disagree you sir are a faggot.

>>20646828
As wrong as it sounds it's likely true.

Are there any Runequest novels? Like set in Glorantha?

>>20646750
Read more fantasy that's over a decade and a half old. You'll still see those but there's a little more variety. The reasons it's so common are:
>Snarkiness in general is a wildly overrated trait in late 90s-onward 'nerd culture', the media swamp most current SFF writers have been immersed in since childhood. It is a lazy way to make characters "cool" to the average genre fiction reader
Male writers:
>This is how they perceived the 6/10 queen bee of their nerd social circle in high school
>This is an easy way to write a love interest who probably won't get you raked over the coals for 'pandering to the tradwife fantasy' or some similar complaint
Female writers:
>This is what they grew up wanting to be because of I don't know, Buffy the Vampire Slayer or something.

>>20646773
Literally who?

>>20647728
>What SF/F books have the best girls? They don't need to be protagonists or anything, and feel free to interpret this as "best written" or "best waifu" or whatever you want.
The Wandering Inn is known for having overwhelmingly female cast with very well written characters, if that's what you are looking for.

>>20647728
unironically Lord of the Rings has the best waifus. It is only lacking in evil waifus, unless you headcanon shit about Berúthiel or embrace that one video game's slinky black dress shapeshifter slut Shelob.

>>20647807
I appreciate the rec but I'm not sure I have it in me to start a 10 million word long web novel. I struggle to imagine how the pacing could be anything but awful. That's something like 20 times the length of LOTR, twice as long as even the bloated monstrosity that is Wheel of Time.

>>20647834
Webnovels are different kind of beast, you are not supposed to just binge them like a book, so they have a different kind of pacing. Honestly, they are not for everyone, they are to books what TV serials are to movies, a similar yet different medium. For me the length is an asset, because when something is good I just want more of it. The Wandering Inn, as a story 10 million words long, is better than anything this long should have right to be.

>>20647728
I really like the way the fiance/wife was written in the second mistborn trilogy. I forget her name. She starts off as seeming nothing more than a bimbo but as it progresses slowly we see how she's not actually retarded and warm up to her as the MC does.

>>20647791
>He hasn't read the dread empire

>>20647856
TV serial sounds like a good comparison. I don't think they're for me, as a medium. Perhaps if I caught one right as it started, or if it was a completed one with a total length comparable to a novel series. But ongoing behemoths? Not my thing, I think.

>>20647921
>he can't spell Nepanthe

Why do you consider sci-fi and fantasy to be the superior genres of literature?

>>20646773
Doesn't she cuck her love interest with his own dad or something?

>>20647935
She cucks them both really
The son cucks the dad initially, but then she makes an agreement with the dad to be with him when the son dies, then the dad takes care of her and his grandson

>>20647930
I don't. However, the overwhelming majority of books are not good in general, and barely any are truly great. SF/F is more likely to at least be enjoyable if it's not great. Meanwhile not-great literary fiction is generally pretty banal stuff I could experience or encounter in real life, like some academic being disappointed in his career and having an affair or something.

Separating the wheat from the chaff is easier in genre fiction as well. I wouldn't touch any literary fiction less than 10 years old at all, and nothing less than 20 years old without a solid recommendation from somebody I trust. It takes a lot more to determine what will stand the test of time and what's just trendy shit that's been overhyped by a bunch of women.

TL;DR: They're not the supreme literary genres, but a merely 'ok' SF/F book is still worth reading while a merely 'ok' piece of literary fiction is not.

>>20646818
Those covers are garbage. I will never read this.

>>20646829
>le quirky girl
reddit tier taste.

>>20647948
Vile stuff. Why do fantasy authors have the uncontrollable urge to write cuckshit?

>>20646570
very good, keep reading and you'll watch fitz be cuckholded, embarassed, made retarded, and his entire journey made useless by a couple of xir freaks from the jungle!

>>20646970
cookie cutter bullshit

>>20647963
It's not really, I think. Mocker doesn't know that varthlokkur wants napenthe when he falls in love with her. Their situation is tragic and far from the cuck fetish bait you see in other stuff like the second apocalypse.

>>20647985
That's a little better I guess. Still wary of it but I will trust you, anon.

>>20647277
that will be around 2035

>>20647559
planet of adventure
emphyrio
cadwal chronicles

also inspired by vance's writings, you can try some of grrm's books
and seven times never kill man
sandkings
dying of the light
windhaven
a song for lya
the lonely songs of laren dorr
tuf voyaging

>>20647728
Malazan. There are too many to name. Though I like Hellian's drunken pub crawl through the entirety of Reaper's Gale.

>>20648201
>the entire ruse about spiders
fucking women i tell you what

>>20647918
Full-on autistic wife. Sanderson wrote some surprisingly good characters in Era 2 Mistborn. Wayne may be his best one.

>>20645264
Well fug

>>20647834
>as even the bloated monstrosity that is Wheel of Time.
kill yourself

>>20648283
You will never be ta'veren

>>20648283
nta but you must admit the series could be half its length with no loss in quality

>>20648283
/sffg/ truly has fallen far if people are denying WoT is bloated

>>20648283
lol after rand takes Cairhein the series passing slows down to a fucking halt, how many god damn books did it take them to get the fucking bowl of wind. I like WoT but it could easily be >>20648423

>>20647807
Are there any sassy sluts in the Wandering Inn?

>>20648423
>>20648686
you just have the attention span of a 5yo

>>20647930
I don't, but I definitely like sci-fi more. sci-fi has the capacity to delve a lot into philosophy and thought experiments around philosophical ideas and technology; what if's. Greg Egan's Permutation City is a good example with respect to mind uploading.

t. STEM sperg

>>20649007
you are just a victim of sunk cost fallacy

>>20648783
Ceria

>>20648783
>Are there any sassy sluts in the Wandering Inn?
Hmmm, there are female characters that are witty, sassy and have probably the most sex mentioned in the story, but they are secondary characters.

ATTENTION, MARTIN MADE AN UPDATE!

Still no book, though, although it's the biggest straight up update in years. It's almost...optimistic in its wording. Saying that a lot will be different in the book compared to show, especially mentioned Euron being different (you can smell the salt coming out of these words).

https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2022/07/08/a-winter-garden/

>>20649078
lol

>>20649102
XD

>>20649078
nah, it just read like cope and him confirming that he is definitely changing the ending from the show. Even if he somehow (unlikely) releases winds of winter. there is no way in hell that dream of spring comes out

>>20649007
lol, you probably love the stormlight archive

>>20649078
>no lady stoneheart pov

Any good fantasy books with a monogamic married couple like throne of magical arcana?

>>20649111
I'm starting to think this is his master plan. If he breaks the TV show ending, eats all his own notes, then dies, it'll achieve maximum tragedy to everyone involved.

>>20647559
Gormeghast as a series or you meant the second book? I still have to start the second book

>>20649211
> turns out the real final twists was not even finishing the books along the way

>>20649078
>Saying that a lot will be different in the book compared to show
yeah the show exists and the next book never will lmao
>this fat fuck having any kind of a 'master plan'
haha

>Moorcock, a 100+ year old hippie that writes on acid, has finished a new Elric novel and is set to release this year.

>Still no TWOW by Martin
>Still no DOS by Rothfuss
>Still no new Gentleman Bastards by Lynch

>>20649275
that is what seperates the true hack from the artist, being unable to actual release something despite having the ultimate circumstance to facilitate it. remember when old gurm said he would have the book out by 2021 or they could lock him up

>>20649275
>>Still no new Gentleman Bastards by Lynch
Who waits for it? Every book after the first was worse and worse. The third was shit with horrific ending that made me laugh outloud and regret to ever continue reading past book 1.

>>20649275
>a 100+ year old hippie that writes on acid
i wish we had gotten another decade of PKD at the bare minimum

Why is Harlan Ellison always out of print? Everyone has heard of I Have No Mouth; However, I Would Like to Scream.

read cradle

>>20646750
The Turquoise Serpent (Ashes of the Urn Book 1) has a lovely female love interest. The writer is conservative so it's like he purposely wrote her to be the opposite of the snark cunts that have become the norm in fiction.

>>20646890
>MUH WORLD-BUILDING

I listened to your critique and went with less images than usual.

>>20649275
he's just 83 tho

>>20649275
he has been always a story machine anyway does he tend to write shorter books than others? on another note i've read that he was writing the two sequel to the wispering swarm

>>20649364
Because all the good stuff is out of print, bookshelfcels will never admit this

>tfw accidentally become Christian while doing research on Arthurian xianxia
Unfortunately it means my work is heretical

>>20647728
Dejah Thoris is the best girl

>>20649690
stop being christian then

you know, I think the book would have been far more entertaining if it had just been about the heists and scamming people, I wasn't entirely fond of the gang/nobility politics or the Gray King revenge plot
world building was decent but some of the dialogue feels like it was made for tv/movie and felt a bit unnatural
and why constantly bring up a love interest only for her to never appear?

>>20649738
The concept of "Arthurian xianxia" is only interesting to me if I can meld Daoism with the contrasting natures of Christianity and Celtic Paganism among post-Roman Britons

>>20647954
This is pretty much how I feel about it. I don't exclusively care about science fiction or fantasy as a genre, but it's way easier to find quality genre fiction because it seems like a lot more people talk about it and review it. I don't trust anything new and even in fantasy I've been really disappointed by some of the series people recommend. Time will always tell.

>>20649007
Please just let WoT die a natural death anon. I was there when I all began. It's not a good series. I've read it. Stop pretending like the zoomers are wrong when they tell you it's shit. You know it's true.

>>20649784
zooms zooms are ALWAYS wrong

>>20649013
The problem I have with sci-fi is that most of it isn't any more believable than magic in space. The idea that we'll ever get off this rock for any significant amount of time is a premise I have zero faith in.

>>20649364
He's probably still suing people from beyond the grave.

>>20649795
lmao

>>20649758
She doesn't appear until the third book and it goes badly.

>>20649275
I didn't even know he was still alive what the fuck.

>>20647728
RI, so long as you don't mind them having been forcibly transformed into women by magic.

>>20649767
Daoism fits perfectly with esoteric christianity, look into the gnostics and jewish kabbalah. Saints have all sorts of magical powers historically. Plus understand that most "christians" were actually following germanic or norse paganism with the names changed, both of which also fit pretty well into daoism.
It even neatly splits into righteous and demonic sects. Righteous sects seek power through prayer and divine enlightenment, demonic sects just want magic powers. And the sects can be allied against the demonic cultivators but still against each other because they all think everyone but them is a heretic.

>>20650188
Pelagianism was really popular in Britain at the time and would slide into a revised Daoist religion fairly well. But it's still heretical and I understand the reasoning why.

>>20650188
Any gnostic progression fantasy?

>>20646570
I hate this book. It's just some boring guy going around getting put down and beaten up by everyone.

>>20649275
More like Lesscock

>>20650232
First off, consider what exactly "heresy" is. Hint: it's not disagreement with some particular group or church.
Secondly, why is it an issue for your story to be full of heretical sorcerors claiming to be devout believers in god? Seems like it would be an interesting part of the worldbuilding.

>>20650282
It would given an entirely new context to Arthur's continental adventures. In one tradition, he attacked Rome and claimed the Emperorship himself. In most tellings, he simply waged war against Lancelot. In either case, I would see it as more a battle between Pelagianist Arthur vs some Augustian opponent via xianxia DBZ battle

I quit. I keep putting off reading because this book is so boring. I at least wanted to make it to the end. Sandersoy should of titled it "the way of slog". The back of this book should say "people walk around and say stuff". Everyone says the end makes up for it, but that means you need to read 800-900 pages to get to the good part. That sucks.

explain to me why he fucked his grandmother?

/sffg/ doesn't read the classics that's why /sffg/ has such a bad taste when it comes to sci fi.

Is Heinlein cringekino?

>>20650306
He fucks (or tries to) just about every woman he comes across, and he didn't know she was his grandmother

>>20650299
>The only good part is the action

Capeshit may be more to your taste

>>20650306
She's hot. No virile male needs any other excuse. As for thematic reasons, incest in variety of ways is used to highlight the degenerate and spiritually barren condition Urthian civilisation.

I still think it's a pity that Will Panzo never wrote anything after The Burning Isle. I was really pleasantly surprised by that book, not perfect but any means but a good debut.

>>20649078
Do the Taena x Cersei ship, GURM.

>>20649275
This simp is against Gor books, doesn't know that women actually like them, lmao.

>>20650157
>RI
the what?

>>20647728
Soulcatcher.

>>20647728
>>20651065
I prefer lady.
Soulcatcher was a total schitzo, literally. Absolutely unhinged.
Lady, especially after her book, is the woman for me.

>>20650306
>his grandmothers*

Read Nolyn today. Pretty bad, all told. Pacing is fucked, story should have taken place over at least a year but it's all compressed into two weeks. I legitimately struggle to take seriously that our 800 year old half elf protagonists can be this fucking ignorant and incompetent. The whole thing is apparently mostly worldbuilding for some other series the author wrote that I've never read, and it feels like it. So many small moments that feel like bizarre tangents, until you remember, oh yeah this must be another reference to some landmark in a different book. There was approximately one twist I was predicting that I thought was going to be pretty clever, but it never actually panned out. In the afterword, the author's wife reveals I was right about the twist in the original script, but she didn't like it and convinced him to write it out. 4/10 for me, lads.

>>20651061
see >>20651142

>>20650346
what are the classics? can you enlighten me, Mr Classics Enjoyer?

>>20651149
That's just later books were cook is biased for his waifu.

I got a few weeks of Kindle Unlimited left, anything I should cop?

>>20651385
A Christmas Carol.
Check out Cradle for me too.

>>20651392
This the one? https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Boner-Charles-Dickens-ebook/dp/B00HGITB0E

>>20650157
bai ning ching bai or whatever the fuck his/her name was is only a relevant characterfor the first arc and then becomes a background character on the same level as MCs brother; he only exists to occasionally show up with some random power ups and be shocked/pissed/whatever that he's still not better than fang yuan

>>20649700
>martians wear jewelry instead of clothing
BOI

>>20649784
WoT was simply in the right place at the right time. Yes, it's mediocre as fuck otherwise.

>>20649700
Those official comic covers with naked booba tho...

>>20651400
wtf lmao

Why isn't the Long Sun discussed here at all? I thought we all love Gene Wolfe.

>>20651528
Incandescent

>>20651528
I've gathered that people think Long Sun is the weakest part of the cycle, a giant long setup for Short Sun. I agree that Silk being a perfect messiah figure makes more sense in the context of Short Sun, but I think it stands fine on its own.

Are you reading it? What's on your mind?

सूत्र

>>20651528
I just finished it a couple days ago. haven't read short sun yet, but I know it's a sequel.

the tunnel spelunking drug on forever and the trivigauntis were an odd choice.
it felt like their only purpose, plot or otherwise, was to provide a literal vehicle to reach mainframe

>>20651667
ayy lmao to you too

>>20651662
I'm on book 4 as of now. Its start is so weak I had switched to reading Confederacy of Dunces and Dying Earth. I am yet to pick it up again. The thing is, I loved the 2nd and the 3rd book. For unexplainable reasons, the current one just makes me hate it. You know that feeling when you're served your favourite dish and it just doesn't sit with you? That's what Exodus feels to me.
>>20651685
I have no idea why such a large portion of the series takes place there. The pseudo-Muslims feel like an asspull and I hate Silk more and more with every chapter. He goes from being a priestly Sherlock Holmes to a simp for no obvious reason. I mean, why does he like Hy so much? She's just a reskin of Jolenta.

ध्यान

>>20648283

benefitt

>>20651528
Im pretty sure I posted once or twice about it a couple months ago when I read through. It's excellent, maybe my favorite part is the beginning of book 3 when they do the big sacrifice and Echidna tells them to destroy the Ayntamiento, "the crowd became a mob" and Mint jumps onto a white horse and Silk throws her the azoth. After that the narrative becomes very chaotic and fractured which definitely makes it harder to read like >>20651752 says.
>Hy so much? She's just a reskin of Jolenta.
Whuuuut?? They have nothing in common bruh come on what is this npc shit opinion dropped, opinion discarded.

I understand how vacuum tubes work but why exactly would you need to use one? It just seems like a more complicated alternating light switch.

>>20651813
That's exactly what it is, it serves the same purpose as a transistor or a relay: electronic switching.
So it serves as everything from analog and digital signal processing(radio frequency de/modulation), to analog and digital logic(computers, especially military sensing and fire control), to power electronics(conversion between AC/DC, switching high voltage lines, etc...)
Basically anything involving amplification or alternation, and they replaced mechanical versions which had the obvious disadvantages of size, weight, lifespan, durability, power capacity, and switching speed.
The first usage was in radio transmission, where their ability to de/modulate high frequency signals at both very high and very low current(transmission and reception) meant a massive increase in bandwidth, signal strength, and portability.

For an example, the previous version of a radio transmitter involved spinning a giant steel disk at thousands of RMP, and could be replaced with a single vacuum tube.
Actually, we still use vacuum tubes a lot in radio, they're just a lot more advanced and usually involve microwave frequencies.

>>20651528
Also I'm reading Sorcerer's House right now and god damn this might be his most accessible novel yet. All his novels after Short Sun I've read seem like he loosened his tie and is just having fun.
Speaking of which I just bought limited edition signed copies of Home Fires and The Land Across from ebay. The covers are so much nicer than the super generic shit Tor put out for them.

>>20651854
That's crazy. I love simple technology that gets used in insanely innovative ways the original creators probably never even thought of.
Since vacuum tubes (on a really basic fundamental level) are just lightbulbs with anode plates, could they be used in a cost cutting method in place of normal lightbulbs?

Messecar

>>20651812
Come on, she's just black haired version of Jolenta. She's the same kind of genetically enhanced bimbo.

Which font do you use for your ereader sffgros ?

tımav
kolonna
çorap
patates
boğça

>>20651928
just use a serif font, it is more readable

>>20651928
Times New Roman, always.

>>20651895
They are, and predated the incandescent. They're called arc lamps. They're extremely high power and wear out rather quickly, and are also much more expensive than incandescents, which people are already moving away from.
And it's not like vacuum tubes were an accident, they were specifically invented for their exact usage, as were transistors which largely replaced them.
As a side note, all fluorescent lights are basically vacuum tubes and can be easily used as one with minor modifications(basically wrapping wire or foil around the bulb) though obviously there's very little incentive to do so.

What comes next after current transistors is even more interesting, essentially the current idea is biological ion gates modeled after cell membranes which would basically be vacuum tubes that use salt water instead of plasma, and also be nanoscopically small. The obvious goal is direct connection to nerves, which already use this exact mechanism for communication,and also the extraction and storage of electrical power in salt water.

>>20650385
kek, oh the irony

Any nice and comfy fantasy books that allow me a few hours of escapism? Maybe something whimsical or such. I've already read the Last Unicorn

Are there any good Warhammer novels?

>>20652079
Myth Adventures by Robert Asprin maybe, I would consider them fantasy comedy.
>>20652181
No, read armybooks instead.

>>20652181
If you mean the space variety of Warhammer, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Peter Fehervari's "dark coil" stuff. He seems to be their only author who isn't allergic to complexity and doesn't come across as blatantly advertising a plastic miniature. Especially in the way he portrays Chaos, as genuinely strange and dangerous without recognizable "units" like a Suggmuhdik of Tzeentch, available for $159.99 wherever miniatures are sold. Fire Caste, The Reverie, Requiem Infernal, etc.

>>20652292
>Myth Adventures by Robert Asprin
Hmm. I've read the first volume of Phule's Company by Asprin and liked it a lot. Maybe I'll give them a try, thanks anon.

>>20652079
Speaking of, how are the Dying Earth books in that regard? I've read Stories (Tales?) of the Dying Earth and found it a bit hit and miss, are the novels better?

Need Dying Earth reading guide plz, I like novels set in weird worlds with weird animals and cultures

>>20652370

if zlib and libgen only have copies with bad formatting and MTL is there any other option?

>>20652437
thanks sieur

>>20652461
mobilism and bibliotik although the former is better for new releases and not so much older stuff while i don't believe anybody in here even uses the latter

>>20649784
Another zoomer filtered. It's kinda sad desu.

>>20652079
the princess bride?

>>20650299
Honestly if you struggle getting through The Way of Kings, you should probably quit reading fantasy entirely. There's no complicated language. It's a quick read.

>>20647728
unironically asoiaf

>>20646890
China Mieville's Bas-Lag books

>>20652545
I'm damn old for a zoomer. WoT is shit. The only reason we liked it back in the day is because we were comparing it to Terry Goodkind's trash-tier books. Anything looks good compared to that.

>>20652565
By William Goldman? Have that on my reader, but it seems a bit weird with those injections by the author or whatever that is.

Hey anons, what are your fave "easy read" novels? Fantasy or science fiction. You know books like Ender's Game, The Hobbit, or Jurassic Park. Not that they have to be bestsellers.

>>20652585
Whatever you say zoomer

>>20652661
fukken gottem fellow 2016friend :DDDDD

Only autists liking WoT confirmed. Maybe reread it for the 20th time instead of shitting up this thread.

>>20652671
>seething
It's okay zoomer.

>>20652661
based

>>20652707
maybe stop being an aphasia subhuman

>>20651800
There is literally nothing wrong with bosom-mentioning.

>>20652713
Nice to see another fellow 2016 Redditor here! Be careful out there :D

>>20646570
That endorsement by GRRM puts a stain on this book.

>>20646598
For writing trashy smut, you're better off reading haremlit or erotica marketed towards women as inspiration.

>>20652461
#bookz

What happened to thos place? Pace of posting and quality of discussion have both taken a nosedive since I was last a regular back in 2018 or so. Back then the worst we had to worry about was that one anon spamming Masters of Rome recs as an answer to every question. Not even a bad series, just not SFF.

>>20652961
try the wandering inn

>>20652961
There have been some reasonably in depth book reviews and actual long sun discussion in this very thread, anon. Not that different at all from 2018 and earlier. If anything there's less retarded chart shitposting now. Slower posting rate is good, have you seen high-post-rate boards and threads?

>>20652984
>there's less retarded chart shitposting now
Yes, the mega has served that purpose well.

Thoughts on this series? Thinking of starting it, and I read the Mistborn trilogy but thought it was just okay.
Am I ever going to find a series as good as Malazan...

>>20653054
>Thoughts on this series?
Check Warosu for people's thoughts.

tigana

>>20653072
I'm trying to decide between Tigana and Wetware for my next read.

>>20653096
Tigana is aggressively average

>>20653054
If you found Mistborn just ok, I would not bother with Way of Kings, honestly. I enjoyed Mistborn well enough for what it was, but DNFed WoK.

>>20649690
>Arthurian xianxia
Teleologically insulting. Absolutely fucking evil, actually. This misses the point of both and tries to conflate them in an ostensibly innocuously whimsical but actually thoroughly debauched way. Honestly? Just kill yourself. Neither civilization requires your effort or appreciates it in the slightest. I'm sorry for this strong reaction, but what did you expect? You presume the literary fabric of the greatest culture(s) on earth as your playthings; no punishment can ever fit that crime.

>>20653123
Just ignore that retard. He's been saying this shit for months now, he's only doing it for attention.

>>20650282
>First off, consider what exactly "heresy" is. Hint: it's not disagreement with some particular group or church.
It unironically is, even etymologically; to choose a (wrong) ecclesiastical sect. If you don't want to be Christian, that's okay, but don't pretend you're more than a random schizophrenic cultist a la Meister Eckhart.

>>20653123
The xianxia side of things does not deserve such passionate defense. As a genre it is is near the bottom of the barrel when it comes to Chinese cultural output.

>>20650293
>a battle between Pelagianist Arthur vs some Augustian opponent via xianxia DBZ battle
Did you consider a based Charles II cameo? This sound so fucking epic, anon, I can't believe you figured out what Arthurianism so desperately missed: DBZ fight scenes!! Fuck yeah! Edit: Gold for you, stranger :)

>>20653143
Comparatively? You're absolutely right, but on its own, xianxia still reflects an atavistic Chinese teleology; the hero-quest of increasingly ridiculous scale and stakes. Of course it's shit, but it's authentic. Japanese woodblocks are shit too, but that doesn't mean I want some fucking retard to whittle them down into little Funko Pops.

>>20653054
it's not like Mistborn at all. It feels like Sanderson grew a lot between Mistborn and Way of Kings. It doesn't feel YA like Mistborn. I recommend Way Of Kings. Great characters and storytelling. Great world that isn't a medieval europe and tolkien clone. I like the magic armor and sword thing that's a part of the world. Malazan is my favorite too and I think SLA is just as good.

>>20653143
kinda ironic, considering it's just chinese fantasy

>>20653164
You know what? Good point.

>>20653139
All churches are heretical.

>>20653123
>You presume the literary fabric of the greatest culture(s) on earth as your playthings; no punishment can ever fit that crime.
>implying culture and literature have any value
>implying either of the cultures in question even exist

>>20653312
''Church'' is etymologically (teleologically) the house of God; it is the Western tabernacle. Would any of you Christian LARPers to actually fucking read anything that isn't a Twitter feed or blog post for once? Fucking neck yourself.

>>20653328
>church and church are the same thing because they're the same word
Learn english before responding.

>>20653323
>implying tactical nihilism
Cool. So we're adding Stirner to the DBZ-Wuxia Arthurian fight scenes? Fucking based and trad-pilled epic.

>>20653343
Stirner is practically the posterchild for xiaxia protags.

>>20653355
Is the Dao a spook?

>>20653339
Literal dog-fucking ESL, it's a transliteration of Greek. Stupid fucking invalid; ''church'' doesn't refer to some Thomistic invisible neo-platonic nonsense. It's just a goyism tabernacle. Get fucked.

>>20646536
What would you faggots recommend someone who has read every online webnovel under the moon from trash to good who'se read hundreds of litRPG transmigration. I am a the point where there are no webnovels to read anymore kek.

Give me some romance and non faggot MC.

>>20653369
Read slower pokey, your eyes are malfunctioning.

>>20653371
I meant give me something to transition into normal novels instead.

>>20650299
The characters are utterly trash.
God, this one character reads like what a 14 year old would think the most coolest guy in the world would be like.

>I'm so competent and skilled at war they had to remove me from the army.
>I'm so against authority that when they tried to make me a lord I rejected the offer.
>My tactics in battle are so advanced that they disrupted the entire battle

Like Good Lord Almighty the absolute level of angst in this book, is it meant for children?

>>20652510
tysm c:

>>20653437
>Like Good Lord Almighty the absolute level of angst in this book, is it meant for children?
It is fantasy.

>>20653062
If I wanted your thoughts last week I would have asked you last week.

>>20653096
I've started Tiogana twice already and always lost interest at one point. It seems like an interesting setting, but somehow... eh.
I liked the Lions of Al-Rassan a lot, though.

>>20653355
Imagine a Xianxia isekai with Stirner in the same vein as that one with the no longer human author

>>20653515
Were you filtered by it?

Bros, I just wanted Kaladin to fuck Shallan, why does he have to be such an autistic incel?

>>20653754
By Tigana? Not sure. I think I've just tried reading it at a time where I had problems sticking to reading anyway. I started many books that I didn't finish over those years. Now that I'm back in the groove, I should start another attempt.

>>20653776
Kaladin is supposed to be a self-insert for the reader, Sanderson is merely trying be realistic.

>>20653821
I can see why /sffg/ hates him then.

>>20653754
Not him, but I probably wouldn't have finished it if I hadn't been listening to the audiobook while I worked. Although, I'm looking back at my personal review of it just after finishing and apparently liked it more than I remembered. Seems like, at the time, I was mostly just annoyed by the way Kay felt the need to over explain his thematic choices instead of just letting them stand on their own. Really dumbs down an otherwise good book.

Rec me some sci-fi and/or fantasy that gives off pic related vibes.

>>20653054
I would recommend that you read the first two books and ditch the series after that. I've never been so disappointed in a series. I seriously doubt you're ever going to find another series as good as Malazan. Nothing on that kind of scale anyway.

>>20653907
no

>>20653907
You will never rule supreme

Let's try to conjure up a discussion here and see if threads could stand to suck less. What's your favorite magic system in a fantasy series, lads? Do you think there should be heavy rules behind it or a certain level of mysticism that keeps it a wondrous act? I know some of you are Royal Road fags or self-pubs - do you know everything to your system, then reinterpret it along what a character would understand or is there a different vehicle for explanation in your story?

For a talking point, do you think particular authors like Brandon Sanderson who do full lectures on his 'laws of magic' influence new authors away from innovating? Do you think LitRPG and Cultivation series do the same providing templated approaches to magic, whether that be game stats or derivatives of Chinese mysticism?

>>20653933
Magic systems aren't real magic, they're science in a universe with different laws of physics

>>20650385
I'm not looking for action. The character writing is bad. Nothing interesting is happening. In fact the action I have read in Way of Kings is written poorly. It's like reading the battle text in an mmorpg.

>>20653933
>magic system
Jesus christ, don't you faggots ever get tired of this shit? It's always the same arguments and counterarguments.

>>20653961
I’m honest to god convince its bots at this point.

>>20653198
This book does in fact read like ya. It's literally written to be as easy as possible to read so even low iq brainless can follow along. The characters are boring and uninteresting.

>>20653959
Well, we told you that sandi rage and scream until he blows steam, we told you that everyone knows that he blows, we told you that he drools, and how he is only read by fools, it's on you that you at this point.

>>20653971
That's only because you still have faith in people.

Sandi Magic System

RAGE -> SCREAM -> BLOW STEAM

I see the spammer is still wasting his life shitting up a general meant for discussing books.

>>20653933
Magic systems are catnip for useless idea guys. They have nothing to do with whether a story works. Even if you're writing pure litRPG autism, it doesn't matter whether you use 2nd Ed AD&D rules or Sandersonian phalloturgy. As long as you spend every 5th page stat wanking, it all works the same.

>>20653923
>>20653931

>>20650385
Let me explain my issue with WoK by comparing it to Eye of the World. In the first 150 pages of Eye of the World we're introduced to the main characters but things are kept vague. We don't really know the intentions of Morraine or the other Aes Sedai. It's intriguing. Then the trollocs invade the Two Rivers. Afterwards the leave the Two Rivers with Lan and Morraine to go on am adventure.
Compare that to the first 150 pages of WoK. We are still being introduced to the main characters. Nothing has happened. People have just walked around talking about spheres. After 150 pages I still couldn't tell you what the book is about except that some girl wants to save her families wealth and and some guy is a slave.

>>20654005
Is searching on your own really that difficult, you stupid frogposter?

>>20654019
>After 150 pages I still couldn't tell you what the book is about
It's about some girl that wants to save her family's wealth and some guy is a slave

>>20653971
Judging by this, you may not be wrong.

>>20654057
And this.

>>20654057
>>20654063
Honestly, just checking Warosu is more than enough to see it’s bots.

>>20654057
>>20654063
The dead internet theory is real.

>>20654037
Do you not know how recommendations work?

>>20654041
Man, this book sounds really exciting

The Sandi Dilemma

>>20652649
I'm embarrassed to admit it, but Ready Player One

>>20654108
It really is.

>>20653907
Death's Head by David Gunn

>>20654095
Are you that lazy?

>>20654123
>multiple pages just listing pop culture names
>extended sections of just reenacting a movie
>author gets distracted and goes on long tirades about "god not real" and "masturbation is good actually"
What is actually the appeal of this book?

>>20654168
There’s no appeal unless you’re an 80’a fag. And even then, that might not be enough.

Writers of fantasy similar to Vance in tone and prose?

I was looking for audiobooks to listen to on Youtube, and found one of the Three Body Problem. I'd heard much about it, and YouTube had already done a good job of presenting people's hyperbolic video's about it, with titles such as "hard science fiction at its best". It'd been on my "maybe" list, so I figured I'd take advantage of the opportunity. There's just one problem, though.

I hate it. Not in a visceral way, but it presents a few problems I generally dislike in a lot of (modern) fiction. I find it to be boring and meandering in a way that a novel that's carrying away accolades by the Uyghur-slave-filled wagonload shouldn't be. But then again, it's so popular, and so enthusiastically pushed by so many people that it feels fake. So maybe it is. Of course, I never expected anything groundbreaking from a Chinese author who isn't living in exile, but after getting about a third of the way through I'm seeing nothing that sets it apart from all the other wallpaper novels that are vomited onto the market every year. Case in point: The main plot as yet to start in earnest. It can barely be called science fiction at all for a major part of its length.

A lot of its praise seems to come down to it being about the Dark Forest explanation for the Fermi Paradox. Which makes me think most people praising it simply never read science fiction, and never even think about it.

>>20654197
Check the charts in the OP.

pic related reads like a fan fiction by a horny teenage girl who's into morbid documentaries and Nicholas Sparks' novels
it's well written, but I can't recommend it

>>20654235
>it's well written, but I can't recommend it
Why?

>>20654235
>wildly talented writer publishes their fetish novel
I'm in.

>>20653198
>It doesn't feel YA like Mistborn.

>>20654237
because of the plot, which reads like a fan fiction by a horny teenage girl who's into morbid documentaries and Nicholas Sparks' novels
the protagonist is a blatant self insert of the author, the love interest is stereotypically good in every possible way that matters, his negative points having no effect on the plot at all as they're mentioned but then only treated as oversights or jokes, and the way they get together at the end of the book is so rushed and devoid of content it's hardly even entertaining
then again, if that sounds appealing to you you're in for a fun few afternoons

>>20654260
Sounds fun, don’t know why you hate it.

>>20653933
Magic systems suck ass (and I miss when they were just called power systems, a far more agnostic and widely applicable term), and are the least imaginative thing possible. They all read exactly the same, because they all share the exact same foundational premises and assumptions about how reality works. Hacks use them because they can't come up with actually interesting and original ideas, distracting autists with minutiae to hide just how garbage and lacking their writing is in every other respect that actually matters to writing a good story.

>>20654260
Seems to be top-tier, don't know what you have against it.

>>20653933
magic from elder scrolls

>>20654270
I think some people literally just want to read a video game. I don't get it.

>>20654214
I agree that it's overrated but lmao@ your burning need to insert "muh uyghurs" and "muh non-exile author". As if authors in English-language publishing don't also have certain lines—just less official and clearly codified—they must toe, ones which are comparably restrictive except when present-day China is itself the subject of the book.

>>20654285
What’s not to get? Some people just want to read for fun.

>>20654276
Probably because its not literary in his eyes.

>>20654325
Ah, what a pointless measurement

>>20654248
Same. Seens fun

>>20654268
I don't hate it, but I can't recommend it
>>20654276
I'll try to sum it up more briefly
the plot isn't any more thick than a cliché-filled romance novel, to the point that the ending feels rushed
to get a sense of whether you might like it you can read Dreamweaver's Dilemma, and if you liked that, and on top of that if you like the idea of reading something written in the same style but with a plot seemingly thought up by a horny teenage girl that delves into a space opera in the following instalments of the series, this is the book for you
unless that sounds like you, I can't recommend it

>>20654295
If only there were methods to publish your writing that weren't beholden to either the government or the whims of the publishing houses

Is there anyone writing the sort of gothic fantasy horror like Clive Barker used to write. All of his new stuff is so shitty. The guy looks like a 90 year old man too.

>BUT HIS WORK RATE
>"main reason his tv and film stuff"
>"this is the year hollywood came calling"

>>20654332
So, a wildly talented writer publishes their fetish novel, sounds fun, and you hate it because it's not for you. Got it.

>>20654340
You might enjoy the works of Matthew Pungitore.

>>20654340
The Great and Secret Show read like Stephen King to me

>>20654235
>a horny teenage girl
Go on...

>>20654197
Sky Hernstrom.

>>20654355
Yeah

>>20654154
Thank you, my White Friend. I doubt I will ever read it, but at least you gave me a rec.

>>20654248
>wildly talented
proof?

>>20654295
You also chose to seethe, my friend. I don't give a fuck about the Uyghurs, but the contrast between Western woe-is-me-ism about them while also sucking China's dick in the cultural sphere is odd, you have to admit. But my mistrust of anyone who has the CCP's approval has nothing to do with the state of Western fiction, and a rejection of vapid Chinese propaganda is not automatic endorsement of Western pressure to churn out similar vapid propaganda.

>>20654372
You never read Lois McMaster Bujold before?

>>20654372
Read Chalion is all time top tier fantasy. Paladin of Souls is a masterwork

>>20654385
Man I fucked up that first sentence

>>20654366
NTA, but the series stopped rather abruptly at book 3. It's been speculated that David Gunn is a pseudonym of an established writer doing some guilty pleasure type stuff, so I guess he found other shit to worry about. I only read the first one, but I did enjoy it. Just beware that if you do get into it, there are only three books and nothing else under the same name.

>>20654336
So, rather than it being "non-exile Chinese" that's the factor preventing them from being groundbreaking, you acknowledge that it's the rather broader "not being entirely self-published AND miraculously better than the fanfic-tier and/or litrpg harem garbage that is 99.999% of self-pub". If you have any meaningful quantity of truly groundbreaking self-pub sci-fi to recommend, I would love to hear about it. It's certainly nothing that's shown up in /sffg/ self-pub recommendations. That's sincere by the way, if you're sitting on a treasure trove please do let me know.

>>20654392
Is this first book self-contained at least?

>>20654295
>Chinese author who isn't living in exile,
it's extremely funny that this cuck thinks self-hating chinese who live in the west could ever be original. holy fuck, how delusional can one faggot be

>>20654375
I guess my point is mostly that expecting anything groundbreaking to come from anywhere is a fool's errand at this point,l. I genuinely wasn't seething, just perplexed by what appeared to be total blindness to the fact that China's stifling of creativity is hardly unique or even that notably severe compared to anywhere else provided you are not writing about modern China. Mostly stuff which has little bearing on the ability to be groundbreaking in sci-fi unless it's sociological in focus like Le Guin's stuff. Some people get a bee in their bonnet about China and chimp out about stuff they let pass for any other country.

>>20654404
Not from China, obviously, but Korea has a few great webnovel authors off the top of my head. Farnar, Sing-Song, and Shin Noah are distinctly talented.

>>20654409
Yeah, pretty much. There's some obvious setup and hinting at greater things to happen, but it don't remember feeling cheated by the ending. It helps that it's all rather punchy, and I think I finished it in two days. It's pretty typical big man doing big man things with lots of blood and the occasional forward woman grabbing for his dick.

>>20654422
exile Chinese writers are mostly firmly attached to the American-mainstream-politics teat, they know who their benefactors are. I can't blame them, but yeah they don't tend to produce anything of value. At least the non-exile stuff can be interesting because it's pandering to a different set of norms and values, rather than something too familiar and boring.

>>20654427
I will check them out. Appreciate the recs. Not generally fond of webnovels because of their serial pacing, but I'm willing to give them a chance.

>>20654436
>It's pretty typical big man doing big man things with lots of blood and the occasional forward woman grabbing for his dick.
So it's about me.

>>20654442
No, since you sit on your computer all day doing nothing.

>>20654448
I phonepost

>>20654454
Even worse.

>>20654441
Farnar is a satirist playing with the cliches of Korean webnovels, so he's probably not worth it if you aren't already familiar. Sing-Song like to get deep into the weeds of how narratives shape self identity, and can be off putting if you're not into that kind of philosophizing. Shin Noah, I think, is fun regardless, but his work is a lot more substantive if you go into it with a basic contextual understanding of Buddhism.

>>20654425
I've learned to not expect anything groundbreaking from modern fiction. I've tried looking for stuff and found nothing. Part of the problem is that opinions can't be trusted. You get people praising stuff like it's the best thing to hit paper since powered flight, and it turns out to be shit. This does fall into that sort of thing. It's boring. And while I no longer expect greatness, I do still at least expect entertainment.

I.m new to this but here's a new thread
>>20654689

>>20654691
jannies sometimes get uppity if a new thread is made before page 10

>>20654741
then they shoudlnt let threads get routinely archived before a new one is made.

>>20654757
sometimes i wonder what this general did to offend them, previously if a new thread was made at bump limit it would be ok but sometimes new threads get nuked if we don't make it to page 10
very inconsistent

>>20654741
No they don't.

>>20654767
Good lord, you already know why they delete the threads. Stop being a retard.

>>20654691
New thread is shit.

Sticking with the cool thread.

>>20654879
Believe it or not, it’s extremely difficult to discuss books on /sffg/.

>>20654887
Feels good to be a Donut Hole.

>>20649700
good taste brother

>>20654963
IT'S PRINCESS POSSE CARL