/lit/ - Literature

First for Gene Wolfe

>>21502227
Based
I have only Soldier series and Peace left from Gene Wolfe and I'll only be left with the few random not as impressive novels no one really reads.

>>21502227
Also I've got a project, my brother is going to start sculpting Severian in 75mm scale and I'll make a diorama with him. Fellas, post relevant descriptions of Severian and give pose ideas.

What was his fucking problem?

>>21502250
Look through the three issue 90s comic they made. It looks like sandman

>>21502282
Why is Severian so jacked in this?

>>21502313
that's just the shitty covers. Inside he is drawn kneel gayman sandman-like

>>21502333
Any chance you could scan them? Using Cam Scanner at least. It would be a good way for my brother to have an idea of what he's sculpting. And I'd know what setting to place him in in the diorama.

>>21502227
I'm Gene Wolfe's top guy, I'm his strongest soldier

Read The Wandering Inn, Read Mother of Learning, Read I Shall Seal the Heavens.

Also read The Prince of Nothing, Neuromancer, Cradle, A Song of Ice and Fire, Hyperion, Between Two Fires, The Poppy War.

>>21502265
In which novels does Kane appear? I only know of him from Armor of Ire from Eternal Champion, fantastic album.

space cats

>>21502227
>>21502238
>>21502282
>>21502313
>>21502367

>>21502474
He also invented Pringles.

>>21502265
being too based
>>21502393
the 6 essential kane novels are the two short story collections night winds and death angels shadow, and then the novels bloodstone, dark crusade and darkness weaves
then there's the Book of kane which features two more stories, misericorde and the other one, and there's a kane+elric crossover story in the collection "Elric: Tales of the White Wolf"
And then you have the kane stories set in the modern age which you can only get from the posthumous wagner story collection but they're pretty shitty IMO

>>21502454
Uh I haven't read this. It's not Alliance/Union right?

>the absolute state of Wikipedia entries

Has anyone read the new Conan book, Blood of thebSerpent?

>>21502474
Perhaps if you recommended the alternatives instead of posting basedjaks people would be more inclined to read them.

>>21502518
Anon, I'm sorry to inform you, but Robert E. Howard killed himself nearly a century ago and hasn't been writing since.

>>21502521
But anon, every Wolfe fan has already read Vance and Smith or is going to in the near future. He's a retard that's trying to create beef between a set of authors the same people like and are drawn to.

>>21502521
The Alternative is RIGHT AT THE TOP OF THE FUCKING PAGE
RETARD
>>21502531
Clearly not since Wolfe fans multiple times have commented that Wolfe invented the dying earth genre
you fucking autist
wolfefag spastic

>>21502474
Yeah no shit, he completed the genre - and then went above and beyond.

>>21502551
Your stupid fucking wojak image only makes me want to read them less, retard.

>>21502531
I see what you mean.

>>21502568
It shouldn't - Vance is genuinely amazing. Lyonesse is probably my favorite from him. Cadwall Chronicle is excellent science fiction. And Dying Earth is a picturesque adventure that's never going to be repeated with so much imagination.

>>21502581
See, that wasn’t so hard. Next time just post that instead of your gay wojak OC sweetie~

I learned about this author from /sffg/. Are her books worth exploring? I'm in awe of her being so prolific, but can't help but to be cautious about a book that's been written in less than a year

>>21502593
Oh I'm not him. I love Wolfe and he's my favorite author in general.

Anyone read some actually decent fantasy books published in the last two years about family drama?

Are there any stories with an underdog protagonist who grows in strength throughout the novel/series? A squire/apprentice would be cool, along with a character with control over a small faction trying to overcome giant odds, but I'd also be fine with a story about a goblin trying to win against great odds or something to the effect.

>>21502598
Start with The Pride of Chanur if you're interested. She basically writes xenofiction.

Looking over the recommended list... does anyone here actually think shit like Beowulf, the Odyssey, and the Iliad are good? Seem like things a pseud would add to a list to make himself seem more cultured.

>>21502614
Practical Guide to Evil

>>21502680
>fantasy novel about a young GIRL
women are cringe. I must follow the adventures of my fellow bros

>>21502637
The Iliad and Herodotus' Histories are legitimately good and entertaining. The Odyssey is preachy and suffers from sequelitis, but it's probably a good book to force on high school students. Fuck Beowulf.

>>21502637
Yes, they are all very enjoyable works. Which is why people have been reading them for 2500 years or so.

>>21502691
>Fuck Beowulf
Should've read Tolkien's prose translation.

>>21502715
>Which is why people have been reading them for 2500 years or so.
Realistically, it's moreso because they're associated with being "classics." Same logic that /v/tards use to put shitty old games on an unassailable pedestal.

>>21502750
Well they are classics for a reason.

>>21502598
Foreigner is a bit weak at times. The plot is basically one human guy on the Planet GigaNigga learning to a) cope with a literally alien way of life and b) become the lynchpin of human-alien relations. You can tell he's pretty stressed.
IMHO Cherryh's best stuff is Chanur (space merchant lionesses!), Cyteen (if you replace the smartest person in the universe with a clone raised from infancy, can you truly control them?) And Downbelow Station (political intrigues threaten a giant space station hovering above a resource-rich planet. Humans and gentle apelike aliens are both in grave danger). The latter haunted my sleep for several days, the suspense of the station just a few steel plates removed from open space really got at me.

Is the Nebula/Hugo award worth anything?

Im looking at the winners list to try to find something worth reading.

>>21502779
A lot like the Oscars, it used to matter, but now it's just for clout

>>21502750
They become classics by being works that transcend time and culture. If you think people have been enjoying them because of status, you are a philistine.

Is Cherryh the only sffg approved female author?

>>21502812
No that would be Based Ursula

>The Virgin Tolkien
>The Bakker Chad

>>21502812
She's not perfect but I will defend Bujold. Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls were both really nice reads, and most people here who have actually tried them seem to like them.

>>21502873
Was there any identity politics in her works?

>>21501782
"Book allegedly about assassins but with no actual assassination" is pretty much a cliche at this point. Two assassinations is probably above average for fantasy assassin books, if you mean actual assassination and not just stealthily killing guards or whatever.

I'd actually be happy with a book about a fantasy assassin which is about one single assassination. From planning, to execution, to immediate aftermath. Even books which have assassinations don't tend to make them the focus like that. I guess the issue is generally that it resembles a heist story with fewer opportunities for complexity, but fantasy changes that if magic etc. are in play.

>>21502885
People have varying levels of sensitivity to such things, but nothing really stood out to me as being like that in the books I've read of hers. You can tell she was a lusty old broad at times though

>>21502812
>honorary man
Ursula K le Guin
>good one-offs
Hope Mirrlees
Mary Doria Russell
>reasonably well tolerated
Tanith Lee
Bujold
Robin Hobb
Ann Leckie
>high meme value
Octavia Butler
Martha Wells

>>21502812
C. L. Moore
reading Jirel of Joiry right now and this shit blows Howard and Lovecraft out of the fucking water, and that's saying a lot since REH and HPL are rightfully considered kings of Weird Fiction

>>21502917
>>>21502812
>>honorary man
>Ursula K le Guin
I will now give Earthsea a try (already saw and loved the anime so it's already looking up).
I hate women (picrel) like any sane person on 4chan but I tried out Windwalker by Elaine Cunningham recently and it was alright (but a little weak at times).

>>21503055
I don’t think Earthsea is what anons would recommend by her. I thought it was boring and it gets shit on a lot in these threads, maybe her other stuff is better?

>>21502873
Fuck yes to Bujold. I’ve reread her books so many times. Vorkosigan’s my favorite, but Penric & Desdemona is fun as heck, and World of the Five Gods is pretty singular. (Anon’s Chalion.)
I also love Joan D. Vinge. The Snow Queen, The Summer Queen and World’s End have been a few of my favorite books since i was a kid, and her Cat books grew on me over the years.
Cherryh is definitely top of the line. I agree 100% with Cyteen, Regenesis (Cy’s sequel,) and Downbelow Station.
James Tiptree Jr’s written some unforgettable short stories that are pretty indescribable. Tepper’s Grass makes you shiver, Elizabeth Moon’s Remnant Population is probably the single most entertaining story I’ve read, on a personal tongue-in-cheek level. I loved Nancy Kress’s Sleepless series, Patricia Wrede, Madeline L’Engle, Mercedes Lackey, Diane Duane, Lynn Flewelling, Robin Hobb and Dianna Wynne Jones in the kids’ books vein are old classics, though that’s moving towards fantasy. There are a bunch more hidden giants, too. Shelley for example, since we don’t really think of her books as science fiction, nowadays.
In trying recent titles, Planetfall and Atlas Alone by Newman were pretty interesting for a new author’s yield— they felt like kid slush at first, but the psychological warping in the minds of the characters felt very vivid and provoked interesting and colorful reflections on their surroundings that I ended up really warming to. I loved the house of reclaimed waste. That idea will stick with me for a long time.

>>21502567
His work is a pox on the dying earth genre
It's trash
fucking shit
Wolfe is a hack
>>21502568
>Your stupid fucking wojak image only makes me want to read them less, retard.
Yeah I don't want any wolfefags reading smith or vance
if you think wolfe is a good author then you will never understand actual good authors like smith and vance. you have been eternally filtered

>>21503160
Cope and seethe retard

>>21502220
new to the genre. looking for an easy to read sci-fi or fantasy type of thing here. Was going through the canonical classics and loving them but need a break.

Just read guards guards and I don't think this Ricky Gervais humor is for me

>>21503166
Filtered wolfefag

>>21503169
Consider Phlebas is like Ringworld only with a better plot

>>21502377

So I read the first 3 books of the Dresden Files and I have to say I'm not imprested. I found them very generic and most of the characters unlikable especially Harry. For a wizard he sure is a dumbass 90% of the time and don't get me started on Murph... Should I continue? A lot of people say that the series gets way better in the later book but is it really worth it?

>>21503244
The problem with Dresden is that Harry is a moralfag, he is also a shit wizard and everyone is constantly shitting on him. Whenever he is facing danger, he does the most lame and stupid things and always comes out on top.
Dresden files is basically a series of books about a total loser with a plot armor.

>>21502513
I learned about this author after hearing a filk song called "Pride of Chanur" and wondering what it was about. I even bought a copy, but couldn't make it past the first few pages.

>>21503107
>>21502873
I've only read one Lois McMaster Bujold novel - The Spirit Ring - and if her other novels are half that good, I'll consider her one of my favorites because that book was excellent (aside from a little obnoxious plot contrivance where the characters were forced to act stupidly, but otherwise it was great.)

>>21503309
so its harry potter but for Christians?

Am I the only one, who only likes fantasy books with a good ending a Mary Sue characters, which are hidden as vulnurable while being "killed" and somehow reborn?

I think the worst thing in a fantasy book is if you have a character you love who then just dies. For example in Sanderson's Mistborne was a famous character that died and that was it about him. Even when I finished the series I was still pissed that a character I liked died forever. I deliberately chose Sanderson and not GRRM as an example of "killing your favorite character", because Sanderson rather tries to keep his characters alive instead of GRRM's rule of "If my characters breathe, they need to die and shart and fart".

Sure, if a series ends, "all characters die in the end", but when I read a book, I want to be certain that those characters I like will be there all the time. That's why I read fantasy books, because I want a story that is making me want to immerse myself in the world.
If I want to see death and destruction that succeeded, or books with no happy ending or no emotional ending, I could just go outside or read scientific books.

Bringing up Kelsier from Mistborn is a weird one because his death didn't actually stick, not really. He's still technically dead, but he's very much a present force, even if we're not getting much of him directly.

>>21503395
Meant to actually reply.
>>21503375

>>21503375
I'm brave enough to admit that I do too.

>>21503361
How is it a Christian story?

>>21503361
yeah, that too
The story which is based in real world was fine with it's magical elves and fairies and vampires but the moment christianity and religion got involved it got progressively worse.

>>21503411
because God is real in the book just line in real life

>>21503423
> God is real
> in my imagination

>>21503423
Based, but also doesn't really answer my question. Was wondering if it's going to be interesting enough to pick up at some point.

>>21503375
>>21503402
I don't care about the ending because it is the first 80% of the book or the story that matters.
In this day and age when authors often bait readers by writing a good first book and then drop quality for rest of the series, ending does not matter. Read the first and the second arc, enjoy it, and if the third arc (final) suddenly drops in quality, just drop it and be done with it.

>>21503244
Butcher has greatly improved as both a writer and a storyteller over time.

>>21503055
The anime is pretty bad compared to the books. I used that to work on my Japanese listening skills because I didn't care about ruining it for myself.

But yeah, the first 3 Earthsea books, City of Illusions, Left Hand of Darkness, and The Dispossessed. All very solid.

>>21503534
Everything I've heard about Elantris sounds like he hasn't gotten any less gay though.

>>21503375
I’m okay with some character death, I feel like it pushes the characters to overcome adversity and to deal with the following feeling of their death. I don’t enjoy characters who lack the ability to self reflect or show a complete lack of empathy. The parts that make any story great is the characters’ growth and sacrifices they make through out the stories. Though I will admit that GRRM kills characters for what seems like dumb plots that advance the and then makes people suffer though lady stone heart chapters after. Something people have to realize as well there is a lot of character foreshadowing, the old grizzled veteran that is overcoming the shadows of his past makes the easy decision to sacrifice his life to save those of his close friends/family is usually one you see quite a lot in fantasy.

>>21503534
>>21503610
Codex of Alera is a quite easy read and it’s pretty enjoyable. Something to just breeze through when in between harder books.

>>21502474
I'm assuming from that image that Zothique is the right place to start for Clark Ashton Smiths dying earth books?

>Read plot summaries of the Culture books
>They're all completely different but extremely stupid and mundane sounding

>>21503630
I've already got a huge stack of furry smut and web novels slated in that bracket.

>>21503632
yes, it's a short story collection.
I think that is actually it for his dying earth work, but not sure

>>21503619
The problem with death in modern fiction is that it is generally used as a crutch, an easy way to score drama points with cheap emotional tricks or to write yourself out of a sticky situation because you forgot what you wanted to do with a character. In other words, it's the first and last resort of bad writers who don't know how to write endings, so they just kill the person before their story is finished and shift focus to a new character that they can kill before their story is finished and shift focus to a new character...ad infinitum to avoid ever having to write the most important part of a story: the conclusion.

>>21503632
yes
they are so much better than book of the reddit sun it's not even comparable
it's like comparing gourmet food to an african mud cake
goes to show that fat people can't write for shit

are there any good Lovecraftian books not by Lovecraft and not by CAS

>>21503759
You looking for set in the Lovecraft Mythos or do you just want cosmic horror?

boys, it's anon from last thread

Fantasy set in not-Japan?

>>21503807
concepts alone don't do anything in comparison to execution

>>21503759
Joseph W. Campbell, Jr. is famous for writing Who Goes There? (Frozen Hell) in 1939 which you might recognize as the direct inspiration for John Carpenter's 1982 movie "The Thing"
Wayne Barlowe's Expedition has a complete alien ecosystem designed in ways genuinely biologically alien to typical human conceptions, and he also wrote God's Demon and The Heart of Hell, which aside from advancing the classical depiction of the Hell of Dante's Inferno into increasingly terrifying and revolting forms, also creates a Hell beneath Hell (the pit of Abaddon) that is so horrific and inscrutable even the demons who run Hell run in fear from it.
Michael Crichton's Congo, and Eaters of the Dead, while not bearing any trace of the supernatural, do bear similar themes to Lovecraft's earlier work outside the Cthulhu mythos, particularly involving racial degeneration and miscegenation.
Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian, Solomon Kane, and Kull the Conqueror have Lovecraftian elements, but they are typically overcome with a minimum of distress and effort, rather than there being any question of the heroes' success.
C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy is functionally Lovecraftian in its portrayal of alien races and their cultures as well as the entities that comprise Christian veneration, but of course from the completely opposite perspective that these supernatural entities generally constitute a very wholesome and generous treatment of humans - with the exception of the bad ones, who make Lovecraftian gods look quite nice and friendly by comparison, and the humans themselves, who are worse.

>>21503807
Sooo... Anywhere BUT Japan?

>>21503807
I think The Seventh Sword series by Dave Duncan is set in a fantasy version of something analogous to Japan, complete with pseudo-Japanese mythology, but I'm not 100% sure on this because I haven't read it yet.

>>21503793
Preferably set in the mythos, but I’m open to anything cosmic. In particular, I like The Shadow out of Time, the Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, and Through the Gate of the Silver Key.

>>21503795
Interesting how the royalty contract says your maximum allowable earnings per month are $400 no matter how successful it is.

>>21503840
poor wording, seems like
implying rather than stating

What is the single most obscure work of science fiction that you can think of?

>>21503831
>isekai
I suppose I get what I fucking deserve.

>>21502794
>They become classics by being works that transcend time and culture
meaningless buzz phrases. you they are enjoyed by bots like you because they're signifiers of being an "intellectual."

>>21503860
An unpublished manuscript written centuries ago that is now mostly rotten away in an old manor.

For a more modern take, an unpublished manuscript on a hard drive under many tons of trash in a junkyard.

>>21503860
Some piece of sci-fi themed erotica that was really good in the sci-fi department.

isekai is such a fucking crutch

>>21502528
Damn, I thought you were memeing but he legit killed himself. RIP

>>21502528
reminds me of the conan dude

Has any good coming of age fantasy books come out recently that aren't poz'd out the ass?

>>21503610
>Elantris
That's Sanderson

it's actually not that bad

>>21503988
What a shitty, off-topic cover

>>21503988
It's better than sanderson and the shit that is put on the "fantasy shelves" nowadays

>>21503988
R. A. Salvatore had writing as bad as this when I read Crimson Shadow

>>21502361

>>21504117

>>21503055
Le Guin's writing is nothing like a man.

Anyone else ever read any of these?

>>21503840
Royalty contract sounds like a good deal for 99.9% of web novel writers. Unless their editorial staff is jeets from fiverr.

>>21502917
>>high meme value
>Octavia Butler
What does this mean? I was thinking about reading the Xenogenesis trilogy.

>>21503169
not easy to read, though its more vocabulary rather than hard to follow (particulalry easy on audiobook), but dying earth is an absolute joy. Vance has a capacity to make everything in the moment interesting. moment to moment its just really enjoyable. I might say start with Eyes of the overworld since its a singular tale adventure of multiple subsections/adventures.

Also, covers both Sci-fi and fantasy.

>>21504137
>he hasn't read

>>21504149
Yeah I haven't, seems like this a vampire novel or something. Is it really bad?

how do we kill isekai forever?

>>21504197
you can't; it'll just reincarnate into a different world

>>21504160
Just based black grandma going way too far because she's going to be dead in a year. I have no idea what her serious work is like.

>>21504197
It'll fade away like every other fad. Most people seem to forget the genre has existed for decades. Being reborn / transports to another world is hardly a new idea.

>>21504197
By going back to calling it portal fantasy and not using "isekai" unless it's from Japan or at least shares the stupid borderline obligatory tropes of modern Japanese portal fantasy. Then by writing immense amounts of western portal fantasy free from the trappings of isekai, while simultaneously bullying tasteless retards who want yet another book about some dipshit being reincarnated to Dragon Quest world with a super strong cheat skill.

>>21504128
Is that the new Tool album?

>>21504197
All isekai written post-LOTM can only be compared to it and found wanting.

The only isekai novel I like is The Paradise War

>>21504197
we don't

>>21502779
Yes read the ones before about the late 90's. A lot of the ones from the 60's are pretty chessy but it was a cheesy era I guess.

Reading the SF Masterworks catalogue is pretty good too

>>21504371
You also like The Wizard Knight

>>21504427
Thanks, I'll check it out.

where the hell can I download books these days?

Is this any good?

Best book with twinks?

>>21504463
libgen

>>21504429
I think you'll enjoy it .There's a nice flow to it.

>>21504475
danke

>>21504296
lol, Fear Inoculum is the greatest album of the last decade or so though

>>21504463
Tons and tons of places. If this is a serious questions, respond with your limitations for acceptable methods.

Guys I put a a small excerpt of Bakker in chatGPT and it recognized it was Bakker and continued it using terms not found in the paragraph. It knew about Chorae and such.

What the fuck. I'm scared.

>>21504624
That just means fags other than you have done it prior to you doing it.

>>21504474
Go to /d/ this is not the place.

Behold, the modern day Tolkien

>>21504732
Shut up faggot. Quit posting the same shit over and over.

>>21504664
>not the various literally gay boards
Do you even know what boards there are?

>>21504746
Shut up faggot. Quit complaining over the same shit over and over.

>>21504197
>isekai
is that an over saturated thing outside of japsloop?
>>21504274
Was it really called that? I always use to call it stranger in a strange world or something like that. Magic treehouse, conneticut yanky, John Carter etc.
>portal fantasy

>Allows for ftl communication through sophons
>Which would break causality under relativity
>Use relativity as a major plot device in later books
The largest plothole in the trilogy. Still love it though.

>>21504642
>>21504624
they just dumped everything that's not obscure from libgen to train that language model

Yall niggas know any fantasy books where they build an elaborate network similar to our internet using magic and shit, and the writer autistically goes into all the nuts and bolts of its implementation?

>>21504836
>Implying all that shit is actually the de facto way the universe actually works and isn't just fucking THEORY.

>>21504212
kek

>>21504836
Not a plothole. Scifi is just fantasy with a science theme.

>>21504867
you just invented a new genre, cyberfantasypunk

>>21503880
If you think reading classics is a signifier you are a philistine, because reading is meaningless for status today. They signify nothing and people gain nothing. The fact that you can only enjoy the most base dreck out there means you don't even enjoy the best sff has to offer.

>>21504197
it's over century and a half old, created the basis for modern fantasy novels, and inspired those that created the bedrock of the genre

the best you can do is wrestle back portal fantasy, but that's too many letters to convey the same meaning, so it seems unlikely

sorry

>>21503352
Leslie Fish (who sings Pride of Chanur) has done a few songs about Cherryh's universe

>>21503880
Dude those are highschool / entry level undergrad reading assignments. Nobody is impressed with that.

>>21505044
No reading impresses people, only the knowledge and erudition you get from it. You can namedrop all that long, but no one gives a fuck about you having read Aristotle, most won't know who James Joyce even was. And as you say, reading things that were required reading in high school is certainly not impressive.

>>21502220
using fantasy as an escapist mechanism is working less and less bros

>>21505054
Then stop watching porn, get a job, go to church and start lifting.

>>21505063
>church
tard

>>21504763
I don’t look at the gay boards, so I wouldn’t know. But you’re probably right there are gay boards the guy could use that are better then /d/.

>>21505130
based

>>21505069
>lifting
He’s directing you to the church of iron pleb.

>>21505054
you might have to start reading science fiction, you can actually become a science fiction protagonist (even if it's in a dystopia)

>>21505133
no he wasn't

>>21505133
No I wasn't.

>>21505133
No they weren't

>not liking female authors
Just say you were rejected in high school and move on with it. Pathetic losers.

>>21505199
I do like some. It's just that only a few ever wrote anything decent. They have a far better track record outside of science fiction and fantasy.

>>21505199
I hope she sees this bro

>>21505199
I want to read a story, not a womans brain full of self doubt and pettiness.

Looking at a woman's writing really redpilled me on how far below us they are

>>21502513
So it’s basically avatar?

>>21502513
If I was a wiki Jannie I'd put [citation needed] after scanty clothing kek

>>21503795

>>21505268
It's more like, Avatar is just a basic bitch xenofiction story like this one. Its value isn't in the plot but the stunning visuals.

>>21505267
This.

Men and women see things differently. Even if both write about the same things, the two pieces always have very different perspectives. I just don't like my stories told from womens perspective.

>>21503795
very nice my guy I hope you write lots of fun mommy sff

>>21505339
>I just don't like my stories told from womens perspective.
You might have just been reading the shit ones. There's a lot of good ones, but not in sff. Well, maybe not a lot. But at least a few.

Sandersonfags... I kneel. The Final Empire is one of the best opening novels to a trilogy ever written. The twist at the end is as iconic as Gandalf stalling the Balrog in Fellowship.

>>21505384
I meant sff, I generally have no issue with women authors outside of sff, because I if I read women I know what to expect (different perspective on irl things)

>>21505430
Le Guin and Mirlees (Lud in Mist) were both perfectly readable. I don't know of any others. Tried a few and stopped 2-3 pages in because of how dreadfully they were written. Robin Hobb was absolute ass.

>>21505296
uh?

>>21505384
the only good book is To Kill a Mockingbird and that was obviously written by a man kek

>>21504797
>is that an over saturated thing outside of japsloop?
It's most of litrpg by default since normally the mc logs into a game world / gets transported to a game world / has a game world imposed on him. Though there are litrpgs where the system is natural and everyone is a native, these are the exception.

>>21505448
Jane Gaskall is apparently good, I'm trying to find a book called A Sweet Sweet Summer which is apparently as rare as the Dead Sea Scrolls

>>21502598
>Are her books worth exploring?
If you:
1. Really like the concept of your regular dude adapting to a strange environment populated with weird beings and then saving everyone.
2. Don't care about the quality.
3. Can't just read monstergirl manga instead for some reason.
then yes, they are worth it. Otherwise no.

>>21502775
>cope with a literally alien way of life and become the lynchpin of human-alien relations
That's at least 85% of Cherryh's books.

>>21504125
>Le Guin's writing is nothing like a man.
Yes - she is better than most man (and all other women).

>>21505484
You didn't even choose a particularly good novel. It's just propaganda for american schools.

I look forward all day to getting in bed and reading webnovels until the sun comes up.

>>21505570
sounds comfy
you aren't sad, are you, anon?

>>21505574
One cold winter's day, a number of hedgehogs huddled together quite closely in order through their mutual warmth to prevent themselves from being frozen. But they soon felt the effect of their quills on one another, which made them again move apart. Now when the need for warmth once more brought them together, the drawback of the quills was repeated so that they were tossed between two evils, until they had discovered the proper distance from which they could best tolerate one another. Thus the need for society which springs from the emptiness and monotony of men's lives, drives them together; but their many unpleasant and repulsive qualities and insufferable drawbacks once more drive them apart.

>>21505199

just finished Roadside Picnic. stalkersisters, it's over

>>21503471
I felt the same way you did with the first 2-3 books and grew to enjoy the rest, though they remain quite schlocky aside from some surprisingly good moments.

>>21504465
i don't know because i've never read it, sorry

>>21503807
i've read a few pseudo-china ones, can't think of any japan ones though.

>>21505647
>everybody who calls you a fag on the internet is a woman
now THAT is incel cope

>>21506056
>everybody
That isn't what that image is saying you neanderthal

This was a fantastic read, definite recommend.

>>21505486
>litrpg
again, is that even a noticeable subgenre outside of japan? I cant really think of much western stuff that do it besides ready player one and some self published porn stories.

In my experience, most Western stuff that deals with rpg (or more accurately rpg settings) tend to be in universe stuff. Azeroth, Warhammer, etc, rather than transported. Hell, even Ultima's premise of some random who getting transered to a fantast world does have some sort of meta knowledge about the place or some great advantage. All his shit in developed in universe.

>>21504848
How is that legal though. Pirating books to train your model that you will make money from?

>>21506124
Are you serious? There is a mountain of litrpg written in the west, and also Russia.

I am in need of the greatest cultivation novel out there

>>21506103
>guy looks like elon musk
>tesla in title
So lemme get a guess on this: elon musk got to Mars, made a colony there, evil Earthican gubmint wants to tax Elon's colony, Elon refuses, Earth sends in a force to capture and enslave the colony, Elon discovers anciet ayy artefacts and technologies and subsequently incorporates them into his tech, Earthicans arrive and are defeated by martian colonists using Elon's marstech?

Alright, how close to actual Xianxia is this: https://zerohplovecraft.substack.com/p/i-was-banned-from-wordpress-for-posting ?

>>21506138
It's not, they just steal shit. A big chunk of the search 'business' has always been selectively enforcing copyright when you think you can get away with it. If people had any sense they would make it intractable to run this stuff on a for profit basis.

>>21505390
Are his early books better than his current ones?I have the books but Iä'm not sure I should bother reading them since I hate his current books.

catching up on beware of chicken book 3 and it's pretty boring so far. i know it's a healing and SOL story but hopefully some kind of plot will get going soon because this is just too aimless.

>>21502220
>check the goodreads
>Out of the Silent Planet
The synopsis is interesting is the book good?

>>21506397
Sanderson's whole career seems to be recycling the original Mistborn trilogy and The Final Empire. They're alright YA page turners. Wouldn't call them must read unless you care about reddit culture value.

What does "weird stories" mean in the mega?
I am looking for some decent books with really interesting endings that leave the reader the one to decide what was really going on. Less like those russian movies where its an ending with multiple theories those are okay but really more like The Thing 1982 where you can literally logic out one real ending

>>21506473
"Weird Stories" means stories you'd find in a "Weird Fiction" magazine from the 1930s, which means stuff like Conan the Barbarian, Lovecraft, that sort of thing.

>>21506437
The Space Trilogy seems really fucking bonkers and infantile when you just read a synopsis of it on wikipedia, but actually reading them is extremely profound. They are very esoteric works, far deeper than Narnia.

>>21506502
>The Space Trilogy seems really fucking bonkers and infantile when you just read a synopsis of it on wikipedia, but actually reading them is extremely profound. They are very esoteric works, far deeper than Narnia.
Ok, yea I was wondering as I said the synopsis is an interesting read but really doesn't tell you anything about the book itself. il check it out at some point.
>"Weird Stories" means stories you'd find in a "Weird Fiction" magazine from the 1930s, which means stuff like Conan the Barbarian, Lovecraft, that sort of thing.
Ah okay then thanks not really interested in that sorta stuff. Not sure what you would call what I am looking for, would thriller be the term? A story that is some what off putting but not "horror" with more emphasis on thought provoking concepts and ideas rather then straight scares, would that be a thriller? Basically John Carpenters The Thing in book for is what I am looking for.

>>21506456
Obsessed.

>>21506265
Mana Master

>>21506512
John Carpenter's The Thing is based off a 1939 wierd fiction story called Who Goes There? by Joseph W. Campbell, Jr.
Most of John Carpenter's films amount to "weird fiction" in cinematic form, at least on a fundamental basis. It's a very broad genre, and can include everything from conventional sword and sorcery and sci-fi to ghost stories and fairy tales, it's just that "weird fiction" typically refers to a fast-paced and action-packed style associated with pulp magazines of the era.

>>21506551
Yea I know that, I just really like how much the details matter in his movies and how small things like how you can hear the keys fall out of someones hands then a few scenes later they find the keys were used to sabotage blood, a casual viewer would be confused by this, or how if you follow the clothing people wear you can tell who is and isn't a Thing, or my favourite how the ending itself is rather fucked up, the Thing goes from the hunter to the hunted unable to comprehend how humans can kill themselves to kill something else how they can hate another thing with so much strength they are willing to die for that reason.
What I want is a book with that level of captivity and trust in a reader to understand the complex nature of the story and the small details such as at the end where neither is a Thing because they drink alcohol a literal poison which would cause the Thing to freak out Its a perfect ending. Once you come to understand The Thing its a very rational living being and all the characters act rationally based off their established character traits.

So yea based off that post any decent recommendations? Genre doesn't matter just the artistic skill and raw story telling matter. Is Who Goes There? something that's fits into this mold?

this new year has been terrible. please recommend me some light fluff to read or some uplifting stories.

Refined the /sffg/ chart.

>>21506529
I haven't read or thought about Sanderson in probably 10 years outside memes people post here, but thanks for playing.

>>21506597
https://www.amazon.ca/Kirby-Manga-Mania-Vol-1/dp/1974722341
You can read it while listening to https://youtu.be/carp5Kou3KA

>>21506600
>Dracula in B
>4 in hard to read
what fucking universe?
Should be 3 and A.

>>21506600
>bakker s 4
>silmarillion s 3
Really?

>>21506614
Also he didn't read Carmilla first.

>>21506634
>Also he didn't read Carmilla first.
I fail to see how that matters, Dracula is incredible.
Also
>Children of Hurin S4
Nigger I read that in Grade 8 its way easier to read then LotR should be a 2. it is an S though

I-is this a shit post just to anger /sffg/?

>>21506614
>>21506634
Thanks for the suggestions I will take into consideration. Dracula doesn't belong in B, it's moving down.

>>21506648
Carmilla makes Dracula easier to read because it spells out 19th century vampire rules, which most people aren't familiar with. Also Dracula is deliberately written in counterpoint to Carmilla. It's like Al Pacino Satan vs Roman Polanski Satan.

>>21506689
I guess... I like vampire lore stuff so I didn't have trouble with it coming in without Carmilla (I read Dracula first). I guess maybe to the average person it would be a bit confusing but still 4? Fuck how is it hard to get into at all?

>>21506695
If that's the very first Victorian era book you've read I can see it maybe.

>>21505763
Now read Snail on a Slope and The Doomed City.

>>21506704
Yea but still I feel that it isn't archaic to warrant a 4. I do think some lines read a bit odd but like they aren't unreadable you might have to re read a sentence here or there every now and then.

>>21506597
Alfred Bester: The Stars My Destination.

>>21503747
I've read acouple of stories only by CAS and they are nothing like Wolfe. Very average pulp. Robby Howard is better.

>>21506757
Im not a racist, does this have a good translation? If so I will read it.

>>21506757
huh, i just saw a hentai today with a crab girl that looked a lot like that.

>>21502917
I don't get how people like Hobb. Latin American soap opera melodrama wrapped in the most mundane, uncreative and unexciting fantasy ever.

Has anyone read Kidnapped Dragons? How was it?

>>21506792
sauce?

>>21506796
I dont read corean webnovels

>Lord of the Mysteries
>Status in COO
>8 Volumes / 1394 Main Story chapters + 36 Side >Stories (Completed)
>2nd Book (March 4, 2023 Pending)
Wtf does the second book mean? Are we actually getting a sequel?

>>21502220
Sillmarillion? more like "Shilled by Millions"!
lmao, this shit sucks!

>>21506763
Cope wolfefag
Wolfe is a trash writer

>>21506895
lol

>>21506776
The first and second books (arcs) are fine. Later it gets worse for a while then improves again.

>>21506776
someone posted excerpts, it's machine translated or close enough to not make a difference

>>21506763
Anon, the thread schizo doesn't read books. He just fabricates contrarian opinions based on Wikipedia summaries and posts chatbot reviews of childrens' books.

>>21506937
I have all of the CAS paperbacks, the night land and the house on the borderland by hodgson and most of vance's work
Wolfe is a hack. You only shill him because he got popular because of meme catholics on twitter and because you're a dumb zoom zoom who doesn't read anything but trite drivel
filtered faggot

Finally getting around to Dune, around 200 pages in. Really enjoying it, but two things are bugging me:
>Still no explanation as to why the Harkonnens and the Atreides hate each other aside from the Atreides are getting popular
>still no explanation as to why the spice is so popular and necessary to life aside from "increases vitality". The glossary at the end also says it helps with precognition but the characters don't seem to know that
Am I an idiot who missed something important or is this shit just not explained yet?

>>21506971
>he got popular because of meme catholics on twitter
Neil Gaiman is a meme catholic on Twitter? Nigga what the fuck are you talking about. Wolfe has been a staple author of /lit/ since its inception. Unironically take your meds, all this seething isn't healthy

>>21506909
thanks, I am pretty proud of it.

>>21507014
Yeah because /lit/ is a shit board

>>21506924
Lies.

>>21507019
Then wby are you here?

>>21507005
1) Ancestral blood feud
2) "Increases vitality" means increased life span, it also gives Guild Navigators their powers

>>21507025
But sometimes that are nuggets of gold within this shitty pseud shithole

>>21504836
reading this book with a physics degree is torment
so many words spent on meaningless sciencey-sounding expodumps that boil down to "magic happened; also I don't know any physics beyond popsci"

>>21503638
>reading plot summaries
why not spend your time more productively and kys

>>21507075
NTA but Culture novels don't deserve anything beyond that.

>>21506397
I rather enjoyed Mistborn and his other early books. Dropped Oathbringer like a hot turd after a couple chapters and lost all interest in Sanderson.
Can't tell you if my taste evolved or Sanderson got more formulaic. Could be both.

>>21507026
got it, thanks

>>21506265
they are all varying degrees of shit

What's the best medieval fantasy novel about adventuring into the unknown and slaying beasts?

I've read the first half of this so far and it's been great but why does it immediately infidelity then?

Gully Foyle is my name
And Terra is my nation
Deep Space is my dwelling place
And death my destination.

>>21507365
The Red Knight if you can stomach some severe fedora tipping.
>>21507443
To show how open minded Kuni is and to set him up to get his second wife so that plot in later books can happen

>>21502220
>Recommended reading charts (Look here before asking for vague recs)
>mega virus link
give me recs

>>21507503
i recommend you learn how to use a computer, anon

>>21507503
not in the mega link , here you go

>>21507503
>virus
>from 2+ year old image files
time to uninstall mcaffee zoomzoom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKgf5PaBzyg

>>21507480
>>21507443
>cuck shit
dropped

>>21507480
I enjoyed Red Knight but have no desire to read anything by that guy ever again. Everyone should read one fantasy book by somebody who actually studied the blade.

>>21507670
No it isn't retard.

>they take away all the coppers guns
>Somebody releases a horde of rancorous baboons into the streets
>citizens are powerless before the monkey-storm
Hmmmm

>>21507753
>'ve read the first half of this so far and it's been great but why does it immediately infidelity then?
>To show how open minded Kuni is and to set him up to get his second wife so that plot in later books can happen
sounds like cuckshit to me

>>21507480
well seeing as it was based on Chinese history I was expecting some eventual harem stuff for the emperor but was not expecting the wife to do something

Mom came through with the Barnes and Noble gift card. Drop the reccies

>>21507898
cardcash

>>21507898
Whatever they have on the #Booktok table at the front and then some funko pops

>>21507955
I use a nook

>>21507503
Warhawk’s Amnesty it’s pretty great.

>>21507898
The Darkness that Comes Before.

Can I get some recs for Fantasy books written by men that actually celebrate manhood?

Google gave me pic related and Reddit only has suggestions for "manly" conan the barbarian mancrate beard oil shit.

I want to read Dr. Adder but holy fuck the used book prices are insane

>>21507005
The spice extends life, the emperor is like 80 years old but looks 30 because he, like the majority of the aristocracy, is a spice addict. It also is an extremely powerful nootropic which allows humans to make precise calculations to compensate for the lack of computers, such as the navigators for space travel and the mentats for encyclopedic knowledge and problem solving.

I wasted an ENTIRE B&N giftcard on the ENTIRE Prince of Nothing and Aspect-Emperor ebooks. These DISGUSTING Christcuck LARPIing cock describing, homosexual rape, cuckoldry TRASH BOOKS.

FUCK YOU FOR CONSTANTLY SHILLING THEM, YOU FUCKING DEGENERATES!

>>21508272
I like them. What didn’t you like about them? Also why would you buy the whole series instead of starting with the first one? Or read an excerpt or something seriously you played yourself bro

>>21507005
Well, for one thing, interstellar space travel would be impossible without the spice.

>>21508276
You are literally gay

>>21508277
Then how did they get to Arrakis where the spice is from? It was AI right?

>>21508294
I don't actually know if Frank elaborated on that actually.. Brian probably touches on that but who the fuck wants to read those?

>>21508294
Yes the precursor to spice was AI which was then banned due to it becoming overly sentient and rose up. Now in the dune books you have spice snorting navigators that consume so much spice that they can see the future and plot safe routes.

>>21508294
there was a different method of FTL travel they used before the system they had in Dune, but it had a fairly high failure rate and you had a good chance of just disappearing.

>>21508294
Before there was the Spacer's Guild, Humans used conventional faster than light travel to spread throughout the stars. Those ships used computers to deal with navigation issues. These ships were much slower than the later Holtzman Effect starships.

There was a huge war that led to the outlawing of the use of "thinking machines" so this did away with conventional FTL travel.

>>21508044
You're not going to get that with Fantasy novels. You're better off reading historical fiction.

>>21508044
The Lions of Al-Rassan. It's set in a fantastical version of Moorish Spain, but really it's about a bunch of extremely smart and talented men - kings, soldiers, generals, advisors, etc. - fighting, bonding, verbally sparring, and being honorable.

It's a lot of fun and very well written.

>>21508578
based

>>21508272
Where were you filtered?

>it's a Derrick chapter

>>21505531
it's good if you don't have to read it at school and can easily see that it's not pro nigger but pro justice

>it's a Eithan Arelius chapter

>>21509106
>In Elder Empire

>>21509106
>Gentlemen, this is a mistake.

>>21508272
if you haven't figured it out yet, /sffg/ doesn't read anything it's all payed shills

>>21509121
>everything i dont like is a shill or a tranny

>>21509131

that is a fair summary but why did you feel the need to write it?

Which titles have you DOWNLOADED this year? So far I've only grabbed Tress, and like the newfag anon spamming the thread about it not being uploaded immediately, I also have not read the book yet.

>webnovel author measures speed for space crafts in mach

>>21503807
Bridge of Birds is China but it is excellent. One of my favorites.

Opened up the Calibre 60s collection, spun the file selector and picked something totally at random. Now reading Gardner F. Fox's Llarn series. Nice, pulpy, obvious John Carter-alike. Apparently not that popular, as there's no fan art of Tuarra, the series' dusky exotic Dejah Thoris-alike. Good ol' fashioned white man pulled to alien world to save the savages from themselves.

>>21502474
I have the feeling that your entire, pointless argument hinges on people not actually reading Vance in order to assert his suppossed dominance. Surprise, fool: I did read Vance, enjoy him a lot, yet he is very clearly inferior to Wolfe in both prose and substance. Above most other genre authors? Sure, but Wolfe also rises pretty high.
Also, is your beef people claiming that Wolfe created the dying earth genre, or his quality? Because if the first, then your nonsense is even more pathetic, decrying the quality of an author just because your chosen pet is forgotten thanks to him.

>>21509304
Dropped immediately, and make sure to flame spray the author anywhere I could.

>>21509500
You've got a lot to learn about replying to söyjak posters, friend

>>21509506
I know, and normally I wouldn't humor him, but after seeing his nonsense in several threads I just grew tired.

There is a deal on a trilogy called “The Cycles of Arawn” by Edward Robertson at my local book store. Worth? Seems interesting. May go back tomorrow and see if I can find the first book laying about and read a few pages.

>>21506971
I read Wolfe after I read Jack Vance, and I think after I read CAS as well.
Like I said, he is nothing like them and writes something completely different to these writers. I got into Wolfe many years ago and I don;t have and have never had a social media account of any kind. Also I'm an atheist.

>>21509513
So instead of just ignoring him, you replied to him, which in his mind, validates him?

>>21509546
Yeah, you are right, and it was very stupid on my part.

>>21509345
That cover looks fucking awesome. What is this Calibre 60's collection? 60's is probably my favorite era, before drugs fucked things up

>>21503795
For real, what kind of fanfic did you write to get this kind of attention?

>>21509671
I wrote about 100k words in a month with minimal misspellings. Changed more than a few key elements of the story.
work ethic, i guess

>>21508578
i’ll check it out

>>21502888
reminds me I always wanted a thief story where the guy just steals everything

>>21503795
make the ultimate gamer, harem, reincarnation webnovel

>>21503795
*skips to chapter 11*

>>21509857
kek

>>21509857
Honestly, do you really want to jerk off to Webnovel smut?

>>21509901
nah man I read them for the charming prose

>>21509583
Prepare yourself.
>>>/t/1171330

>>21510011
thanks fren looks like a cool thread I missed that in the catalog

>>21509583
>That cover looks fucking awesome.
Frazetta cover, naturally. Surprisingly accurate to how it's described in the book, too. Lot of times cover artists barely even get the minimum details right, but Frank gets it spot-on.

>>21510046
cover artists are the worst normally

>>21508044
Psst
Looking for "authors who celebrate masculinity" makes you exactly one of those beard oil types

>>21508044
Read Reverend Insanity.

>>21508044
Outlaw of Gor

>>21508044
The reason you get those results is because no one actually uses the word "masculine" to describe typical male fantasy authors. They're just fantasy authors. Literally any pulp author from the 40s-50s-60s-70s-80s. Pick something at random, like >>21509345, you can bet money on it being about turgid, handsome hero-males who save swooning women and run their swords through screaming savages. Typically, the only time the word "masculine" enters the conversation is when people are specifically citing a CONTRAST to the norm.