/lit/ - Literature

What happens when the MEGA gets taken down? How will I find my outdated lists?

>>21983375
You can download it and have your own copy or copy it to some other cloud service. Same as with anything.

>>21983375
strongfeminist subr*ddit will always have your back, anon

terrible fucking thread

>>21983383
This guy gets it. Why should anyone care that a thing is similar to another thing? Often even a thing that they already like.
When I like a thing, the first thing I do after finishing it is look for things that are like the thing I just liked.

I read Blade of Dream, Kithamar #2 a few days ago, which the sequel to Age of Ash by Daniel Abraham. It won't be out until July 20th and once again it came with a suggestion not to post about it until two weeks before release. For me it was a 5/5. Not by much and probably not anywhere as good for many others, but I don't mind that.

I said last year that I wouldn't be posting anthologies, collections, or similar again here. For the most part that's what I've done. I'll be making an exception this month for the relevant Asian month stuff I'm reading though.

So is a kung-fu girl, a negro, a lesbian and a jew the 2020s version of an elf, a dwarf, a halfling and a human?

>>21983476
Nothing new under the sun and all. I can really appreciate a thing that isn't really trying to be anything new, but just does something established but does it very well. Fuck, that's why I like Cradle as much as I do, it is blatantly not trying to be much more than it is and I appreciate that, because it does what it does well.

>>21983306
Nothing but crabs and haters.

Fuck /lit/

I'm going to risk asking this one more time, damn the consequences.
Are there any stories about talking horses? At this point I'm willing to accept zoophiles because it doesn't seem like there's anything SFW and platonic on the subject, but I'd prefer normal talking animals (or anthros) that are actual characters within a convincing narrative and not mere erotica.

>>21983707
>/sffg/ - Science Fiction and Fantasy

>>21983727
Talking animals are fantasy, you think The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is non-fiction?

So I just noticed this faggot got over 29k buyers for the audiobook.
At 52 bux a pop, that is over 1.5 million buckeroos in his pocket. I don't know what is the share ratio with podium, but he is still pocketing a couple hundred thousand no matter what.
This explains why he milked those three earth books so hard.

>>21983738
Most people use credits for Audiobooks anon.

>>21983738
Audible takes 75%, unless it's exclusive, in which case they take 60%. His publisher will take something like 50% of the rest (I know that's Soundbooth's cut). And as this guy >>21983742 says, most of that is in credits. But upside to him, certainly less than 10% of people will leave a rating, so maybe it all works out.

>>21983738
Jeeze. How does he manage to write so well?

>File deleted

>>21983738
Peak performance. You may not like it but progression lit audio books is the future

/SFFG/ Recommendations:

Read Reverend Insanity, Lord of The Mysteries, Neuromancer, Hyperion, The Prince of Nothing

Also read The Wandering Inn, Between Two Fires, Mother of Learning, Cradle, I Shall Seal the Heavens, A Song of Ice and Fire, The Poppy War.

>>21983707
Realm of the elderlings

>>21983707

Night Mare by Piers Anthony

Battle Mage Farmer (Book #1: Domestication) by Seth Ring

[Synopsis]

John Sutton has been stuck in this world for 10 years, serving 8 on the front lines of a brutal war against a ruling class of ultra powerful mages. Earning his commission from the Empire, John has received a parcel of land and a farm on the outskirts of civilization. With his stat menu only showing Doom Points and a single quest, he embarks with the hope that removing himself from conflict will help stem the end of the world. The system seems to agree with his train of thought and awards him with his first quest since arriving: Retire.

Upon arriving in town he's met by an overly forthcoming mayor's son, who leers at the prospect of his money. He guides John to his farm where they witness a young lady and her brother being harassed by bandits. Learning from the young boy Ben that these bandits stole his cattle, John gives them 3 days to return his cows and a single bull (per his contract) or else. The young woman Ellie informs John that they lived on the farm with the previous owner and worked as hands. She means to impose on him and continue the arrangement which he does not protest, much to her delight.

In truth, John doesn't know a damn thing about farming.

That and he himself is a mage, capable of tempering his body with mana and exude high level fire magic. He's one of the most powerful people on the planet with one problem: each time he uses magic another Doom Point is accrued, bringing the world one step closer to the apocalypse. When John is forced to enter a bandit hideout to recover his cattle, he accrues several of these points... but effortlessly wipes out the gang. Using condensed mana to entice his irate bull home, he's able to pen the cattle and complete his first quest. This reduces his doom points by 3, as does simply... co-existing with Ellie and Ben.

Unfortunately, life is rarely that simple.

[Thoughts]

The entire book exudes the energy of a Clint Eastwood movie, with an uber powerful soldier fresh out of the war just looking to live a simple life without any conflict. Unfortunately the many bandits, snake oil salesmen, and profiteers around him don't want to make things so simple. What starts as homesteading and animal rearing quickly turns towards dungeon diving and the mysteries of the mages of this world. This book is pretty light on litRPG mechanics but still follows the idea of adventuring parties, guilds, etc. so John quickly becomes embroiled in the affairs of a malicious group of adventurers. This all leads him to uncovering a reverse tower with the lost secrets of magic to this world. Something that John personally helped snuff out.

Interesting concepts to be sure and it nails its tone, but some of the character reveals at the end were tacky and forced on. I didn't care for Ellie and Ben's developments but it's a perfectly fine book. I stand by a previous statement that it's just the litRPG version of 'Beware of Chicken'. Ergo...

6/10

>>21983306
Horny Conan

>>21984135
Parsed for length but since I have some space here, I'm going to continue. The author makes several farm animals cognizant after John introduces mana into their systems, turning them from Animals into Beasts. This is an affectionate term for spirit animal, which is why I keep harkening back to Beware of Chicken. While the animals are endearing I think that Beware of Chicken helps to set their power levels and presence on the farm far better. That and the female characters are written to be more than just rape bait for any tertiary male in the cast.

Overall... not much to say. Perfectly FINE book, cool concepts but sloppy execution.

10 more titles until I'm free.

>Currently Reading:
The Human Emperor by Huangfu Qi (Still. Someday.)
>Currently Listening:
The Primal Hunter by Zogarth

I'm already pissed about Primal Hunter. Pretty much the same shit as Azarinth Healer in terms of setup except made worse in that I have to listen to fucking Baldree narrate it for 19 hours.

>Lord of the Mysteries by Cuttlefish – 9/10
>Dungeon Crawler Carl Series by Matt Dinniman - 9/10
>Cradle Series by Will Wight - 8/10
>Worth the Candle by Alex Wales - 8/10
>Mother of Learning Series - 8/10
>Ave Xia Rem Y by Mat Haz - 8/10
>All The Skills by Honour Rae - 7/10
>Iron Prince by Bryce O'Connor and Luke Chmilenko - 7/10
>Chrysalis by RinoZ - 7/10
>Forge of Destiny by Yrsillar - 7/10
>A Thousand Li by Tao Wong - 7/10
>Retribution Engine by Akaso - 6/10
>Beware of Chicken by Casualfarmer – 6/10
>Sufficiently Advanced Magic by Andrew Rowe - 6/10
>Wandering Inn by Pirateaba - 6/10
>Virtuous Sons by Ya Boy - 6/10
>Bastion by Phil Tucker - 6/10
>Heaven's Laws by Apollos Thorne - 6/10
>I Shall Seal The Heavens by Er Gen - 5/10
>Reverend Insanity by Gu Zhen Ren - 5/10
>Battle Mage Farmer by Seth Ring - 5/10
>Soulhome by Sarah Lin - 5/10
>Soulship by Nathan Thompson - 4/10
>Azarinth Healer #1 by Rhaegar - 3/10
>Reincarnation: Threads by Michael Head - 3/10
>Portal to Nova Roma by JR Mathews - Dropped
>He Who Fights Monsters by Shirtaloon - Dropped
>The Elevation Chronicles by Captain Capslock - Dropped
>Last Ship in Suzhou by Lungs - Dropped
>Defiance of the Fall by J.F. Brink - Dropped

>Still Reading (Cultivation)
18. The Human Emperor
19. Way of Choices
20.

>Still Reading (LitRPG)
14. Re-Start (Level Up Series)
15. Dissonance
16. The Primal Hunter
17. Infinite Realm
18. The Perfect Run
19.
20.

>>21984154
Where do you find books to read? I saw that Primal Hunter shit when I typed in RoyalRoad. Do you get the same recommendations?

>>21983707
I've only read the first book of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series but there has to be talking horses in the later books. Book 1 Arrows of the Queen sets up the horses as having psychic bonds with their chosen riders and the other horses so logically there will be developments. (Book 1 starts off as YA, she tries to have sex later in the book and fails, but again, natural progression, I'm sure it gets more adult.)

>>21984154
Eh, list meant to have Battle Mage Farmer as a 6/10 beneath Bastion but I'll update it for next time.

>>21984170
I've referred to charts here a few times or ask for recommendations from anon. Also have a friend who's begun publishing on Royal Road, so he keeps me apprised of anything impressive. Unfortunately my tastes are a bit too critical for his liking.

>>21984135
>>21984154
>>21984179
your """reviews""" are SHIT
FUCK OFF

>>21984179
>Unfortunately my tastes are a bit too critical for his liking.
Nothing wrong with that. More people should listen to a critical voice to get better. I've now posted on RR but don't really care if it gets traction. Just like the idea of forcing myself to write every day. I obviously don't edit half as much as I would usually, though.

Gonna write a grimdark novel dedicated to R Scott Bakker called "Grimdarkheim"

>>21984175
I read Arrows Trilogy and it wound up as whoredom and rape and the animals never actually talk, they just have telepathy

>>21983738
>$52 for a 28hr audiobook
I don't even think 50+ hour ones go for that much Jesus fuckin christ

>>21984482
No one's intended to buy it at price. It's a marketing tactic. It's make you think that the subscription price is an absolutely great deal.

>>21984152
Coomer Conan.
>>21983306
Why is the OP image deleted?

>>21983738
> 29k buyers for the audiobook
That's not how those numbers work. Ratings come from all sales, primarily ebooks.

>>21984521
It was Bakker fighting a crocodile, grimdarkly. Which is too extreme even for infamous 4chan.

>>21984540
Poor croc...

Where do whores go?

>>21984707
Where the money is.

>>21984154
Is Dungeon Carl Scrap Scrawl supposed to be a comedy?

Do I need to have read the other books before reading this one? It's on sale for £1 on amazon.

>>21984931
>moorishcock
pass

>>21984214
my favourite ritual post

I'll be the next literary master of power fantasy with chiselled chads fucking alien babes, you'll see!

Readers thoughts?
>>>/v/636046186

How important is Darkness That Comes Before in the first trilogy? Is it the best in it? I only have it in ebook but thinking of getting physical, since I copped the last two books which were cheap.

>>21985301
What kind of complexity do you need? If it gets really complicated then it might be that warfare in Halo (and most sci fi in general) doesn't make sense to begin with.

>>21983306
Ooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhh mmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyyyy................

>>21983306
FUCK he is good.

>>21983476
>>21983542
Webnovels are case study in the phenomen of authors writing the same one story all the damn time. You know why? Because every one of them is deeply flawed in some way. Stupid characters. Lack of compelling story and power progression. Boring world-building. Lack of theme or topic to bring it all together. Unoriginality.

People keep writting the same one story not because they are good, but because all of them are bad. They want that ONE story that will be good, in all of its aspects.

Why do you think Mother of Learning didn't spawn dozens of imitators? Oh some tried, few cases, all unsuccessful. Because the ONE story of this idea is already written and is great or at the very least average in all of its aspects. There is nothing you can genuinely improve upon in a visible way. So there are no copy-cats. The idea has been exhausted, every attempt at imitation ends with visibly vastly inferior story.

The same with 'Magic School' idea that has been around for decades. I've several dozens of books based on that, none of them getting it quite right. I don't know if the concept just died off, forever unfulfilled, or there was one great Magic School story that was the one story to end them all. But it's likely.

>>21985528
Webnovels aren't a case study in badness. It's just that they're usually in the realm of progression fantasy, litrpg, and isekai copycats which are all dumpster-fire genres filled with people who can't write but want to make a story just like their Japanese animes.

>>21985528
Webnovels are shit because authors are garbage who don't put too much effort into writing them in serialized format, authors who publish books have a lot more room because they can write and rewrite any chapter at any time before book publishing, webnovelists are just random people who release chapters, many do it as hobby and aren't too serious about it and it reflects in their work, generally a webnovel chapter can't be rewritten once it's released.

Now your post is trash because all you are doing is promoting that trash known as mother of learning, it is the shittiest garbage there is, it's only popularity comes from mc being an insecure, immature retarded beta and side characters being not much better(everyone is pretty much a stereotype from some kids/ya story, the only exception being that other cool kid who travels back, at least he seemed to be a fun and likeable character), the retarded reddit crowd who are incapable of reading actual books (adult themes makes them seethe, due to short attention span long sentences and standard prose in books targeted to adults too difficult to read and understand etc) are all over it because it's a shitty self insert for 12yo written in a style of 12 year old with retarded themes that only a sheltered 12yo with no social skills might want to self insert in.

>>21984154
Primal Hunter is a weird beast. Progression/ LitRPG elements are below average. The World-building is barely decent, a cheap knock-off of rich and colorful Defiance of the Fall that PH tried to imitate. What it succeeds at, however, are characters. Funny, easy-going and interesting to read about. The story isn't that bad either, especially the author is so comitted to his vision that he wrote, like fw hundred thousands words of the story BEFORE starting to publish chapters on RR. When people rebelled at a certain plot events, he straight up told them this is his vision and it's going to play out his way. I was mad as fuck at what happened in the plot, but the author was genuineyl based.

I think the story has managed to improve since the first book, with more characters, fun arcs and overall enjoyable story. It's not a great webnovel, though. Definitely below DotF, but some people put it above it. To each their own, I guess.

--------------------------------
I've noticed you added The Perfect Run to your list. That's...not a bad story, but definitely not a LitRPG. It's a post-apo super-hero story. Not even a Progression story. I recommend it in general, I'm surprised it's listed here.

By the way, you might consider adding one LitRPG Harem to the list, just for the comparison how the genre looks in comparison to other LitRPG books. And for some laughs. Dungeon Diving by Bruce Sentar might be a decent choice.

>>21984154
You rated Battle Farmer 6/10 but the list rates it 5/10, a typo or change of mind?

I just want a male human female vampire romance

Anon this story turned very interesting. The story is done isn't it? Nothing feels like it's written on the fly. Clearly edited. Adah is an interesting character. That said, this isn't going to succeed on Royal road. It's far too different from the progression, litrpg stuff there. Your first chapter could probably be changed to be more engaging but it works

>>21985695
Even if the story isn't a progression, it could easily be rewritten as a soft LitRPG. It doesn't even need to be invasive, just assign numbers and either in-world or system way of measurments of powers.

Normally you wouldn't have to do it to get your story read, but this is RR. You must give them a carrot.

>>21985695
>>21985707
yuck
leave the numbers out of the book

>>21985695
>female protag
ew
probably written by someone preparing to transition

>>21985719
Or a pervert. Nothing is more enraging than an incompetent male. But an incompetent female is perfectly fine.

>>21985719
epic crossboarder post, newfriend :DDDD

How is kvothe so overpowered but so pathetic at the same time?
>Hurrr I'm so weak and pathetic because I'm so perfect

>>21985690
Then go to romance threads and ask for recommendations there

>>21985690
Dragon's Justice book 3, but you gotta be okay with Harem.

>>21985803

>Just finished Dune pt 1
So, I'd like to get into this universe now. Where do I begin? Obviously at the first Dune but I'm confused on the other books.

>>21985809
You read Dune 2. What kind of literal retard, comic book reader question is this? What next, are you going to start asking about chronological order? You're a fucking adult. Read the books.

>>21985821
No. Spoon feed me

>>21985683
Yeah, that's generally my view on Primal Hunter as well. It's reasonably competent overall, but its main draw is that Jake is an actual character. He's not the most memorable or deep one, but he's well-realised enough as a far-too-serious socially awkward dipshit. Like, if I compare to Unbound, Unbound has a more interesting story and world, but Felix is a completely nothing protagonist. I just feel nothing about him one way or the other.
Meanwhile Defiance of the Fall I feel negative apathy towards Zac, because the author shows he CAN write interesting characters and then continues to write the most empty character in existence as the focal one.

>>21985804
>>21985683
Genuine question, how is Bruce Sentar? I've yet to actually pick up any of his books. I've read some harem stuff, most of it is middling (Marvin Knight I've found is the best because he wholeheartedly embraces the over-the-topness, especially for his Paladin series, and Cebelius is probably second place because he's got some good characterisation chops compared to the one-note characters most of these other ones have). I sort of mentally lumped Sentar in with Dante King and Eric Vall and Logan Jacobs, but I feel that's probably doing him a disservice. Sentar's books at least don't SEEM to be just hastily written nonsense.

>>21985518
dank kush

>This entire thread, every single time.

>>21984931
Pls respond

>>21986087
Yeah

>>21986103
Thought as much, I'll pass. Not like I don't have plenty of books to read anyway.

>Why yes I think Bakker isn’t good, how could you tell?

>>21986227
>t.

>>21986262
Truth shines

>>21985707
He should find another platform to post it on. RR isn't the right place for this.

babelbros we got a release date and cover((?) only on the goodreads page currently)
september 26th

>>21985959
Bruce Sentar is fun. Genuinely entertaining and decently written stories, especially his Saving Supervillains is good, both as harem erotica and a story. I was actually more interested in the story than the erotica parts when I started reading it, it was just that compeling.

If you want decent harems go straight to Bruce Sentar. Dragon's Justice is solid, Saving Supervillains almost great, Dungeon Diving 101 is a soft-litrpg and his recent hit. I've seen some Dante King stuff and trust me, Eric Vall or Dante King are scrubs compared to Sentar. Their trash levle of writing doesn't compare at all. Still, the best harem writer is still Randi Darren / WIlliam D. Arrand, especially his Fostering Faust. You can also try his recent 'System Overclocked,' although harem and erotica elements are barely existant in it. The book itself is decent, though, as it's a sci-fi with humans acting as pets and toys for strange advanced aliens that travel through space in a giant space ship.

Mind you, all of these writers have problems with harem numbers rising way too fucking fast, but it's a common flaw among all harem writers.

>>21983306
Adventures in Space (2023)
Edited by Patrick Parrinder and Yao Haijun

As you'd expect from the title all of these stories involve being in space, or having space come to them. Seven were written in English and six were translated from Chinese by Alex Woodend. Five of the English-language stories are reprints and two are new. The six Chinese-language stories appear here translated for the first time.

Alex Shvartsman - The Race for Arcadia (2015)
This is a mildly amusing and severely critical story of a deeply embarrassed Russian government that is desperate to prove that they still matter. I don't believe it to be satire because this story seems entirely plausible within the context presented. The protagonist, whose death is imminent from a terminal illness, is blatantly told that he's being sent on a suicide space mission for the purpose of propaganda. If they're willing to admit that much, what aren't they admitting?
Meh

Chin Zijun - Shine (2016)
Qi Fengyang is in despair of never being able to achieve his dream when the extremely wealthy Huo Changao offers to fulfill it for him. All he has to do is accept what may a suicide mission to rescue Sun Shi'ning from a failed Europa expedition. She's the former's ex-lover and the latter's wife. The rescue will take the cooperation of the world and much science, though that's nothing compared to their passion and determination. However, neither one is being honest about their motives, so what's this really all about?
This reminded me superficially of a mix between 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Martian, the former of which is explicitly referenced in the text, and the latter if it was told from an Earth-side perspective. I continue be amazed how often Elon Musk is included in such stories, as he's mentioned here in passing as Alan Musk.
Meh

Leah Cypess - On The Ship (2017)
This is the sixth story by Cypess that I've read and I've enjoyed them all. I believe this is the first science fiction story I've read by her. Generation ships are a setting I tend to like and this one more so than usual because it reminded me of Philip K. Dick. That's both all I want to say about it and all I think needs to be said.
Enjoyable

Wang Jinkang - Seeds of Mercury (2002)
What an astounding story. It started out enjoyably and by the end it became one of the best translated works of short fiction I've read and possibly one of the better ones I've ever read.
Chen Yizhe has a blessed life of comfort, wealth, and familial bliss. One day He Jun, a lawyer, informs him that his aunt Sha Wu has died and she wants him to carry on her legacy. She's created a new life that can only prosper on Mercury, hence the title, which would be the seeds of a new civilization. The parts of the story that take place in that civilization are an utterly delightful exploration of Mercurian society, science, and religion.
Highly Enjoyable

>>21986571
Eleanor R. Wood - Her Glimmering Façade (2016)
There's just something about someone waking up alone in a mysterious location with no idea of their situation that appeals to me. That allows me to entirely overlook that it's entirely conceptual and nothing else. Saying what the concept is would spoil the story.
Enjoyable

Han Song - Answerless Journey (1995)
Creature wakes up in a location with no memories and meets Same Kind, who has the same condition. It's an allegorical existential comedy horror, but I'd only be guessing about what. The title is overly apt. This is the seventh story I've read by Han Song, though it's only the second that I haven't assigned my worst rating to. He writes in a way that I strongly dislike.
Meh

Ronald D. Ferguson - Cylinders (2017)
Jerry is a robot guardian for Rachael, a teenage girl, and is modeled on her deceased father. They live in a cylindrical space station that is developing a technology that will revolutionize humanity and exploration. Saboteurs on board try to stop them. Mostly the story is Jerry watching Rachael's day to day life as his upgrades have him becoming increasingly similar to her father.
Enjoyable

He Xi - Life Does Not Allow Us to Meet (2010)
Humanity desires to settle many planets to avoid extinction, but many of them have conditions unsuitable for standard humans. Many different pioneer species were designed to settle these planets. They only have provisional status as humans. A team has been sent to judge whether the settlers qualify as human or not.
Ok

Allen Stroud - The First (2023)
Two astronauts arrive on Mars believing that no humans had come before them, but they were wrong. Those before them were the earliest humans, though they weren't The First on Mars.
Meh

Zhao Haihong - The Darkness of Mirror Planet (2003)
An allegorical story that I didn't like at all for what it was saying or how it was said. Mirror, the protagonist, wants to join the mission to Planet Dark, which requires leaving her husband Lack and passing a psychological test.
Blah

Amdi Silvestri - A Minuet of Corpses (2018)
This was meant to be a creepy horror story, but it didn't do anything at all for me. A spaceship comes across what me be a rouge planetary graveyard or something more sinister and spooky stuff happens. Not my kind of horror at all.
Blah

Bao Shu - Doomsday Tour (2013)
A 2012 end of the world story. Alien disaster tourists want to make sure their money was well spent. A galactic travel agency want to ensure their profits continue unimpeded. Corruption is an universal ideal.
Ok

Russell James - The Emissary (2023)
Shane always wanted to be an astronaut. After the Apollo missions ended in 1972 he thought that chance had passed. In 1976, he's kidnapped by the CIA at the behest of NASA. They tell him that he's their last chance. The truth of Apollo 17 is revealed.
Meh

I received this eARC from Flame Tree Press through NetGalley.

>>21986571
>>21986579
your """reviews""" are SHIT
FUCK OFF

>>21986740
At least someone reviews books intead of saying the same old shit.

>>21986768
It's a known chatbot; don't interact with it.

>>21986768
your reviews are shit and the books you review are shit
if you read chinkshit litrpg trash you are subhuman
>>21986802
cope reviewfag

Is the current version of the dune audiobook on audible really as bad as some of the reviews say?

>>21986812
Nta, I have only read Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God and and it was ok, only dropped it towards the end.

>>21986812
Nobody reads non chinkshit litrpg though. Name the last fantasy book you read that came out <2 years that's not progression litrpg etc

>>21986525
One I've read that seems not THAT bad is Atlas Kane. He seems to do more blatantly anime-style ones, even having illustrations like a light novel. Very basic and trope-y, but well-executed for what they are. Also tends to keep the numbers constrained pretty well (his longest series is 7 books and has 6 girls in total). I personally don't mind that notion too much as long as it doesn't mean some characters get sidelined. Marvin Knight actually has a problem with that in his Spellheart series (less so in the Paladin one), where a lot of the early girls, even the sort of "main" ones, just kind of get ignored. For example, the second-latest book had a major focus on one girl, and then the latest book she's almost entirely absent.

>>21986828
Don't care
You read swill
>>21986839
>Name the last fantasy book you read that came out <2 years that's not progression litrpg etc
Dragonlance (among others)
because i'm not an internet brained zoomer insect
because if you find litrpg trash entertaining you need to kill yourself

>>21986846
>Reading femshit 2022 dragonlance
Disgusting

>>21986885
Don't care
it's shit
but still better than litrpg swill

>>21986846
>Dragons of Autumn Twilight is a 1984 fantasy novel by American writers Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, based on a series of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) game modules
>litrpg written by two females
Kys you damn coomer garbage

>>21986901
Tracy Hickman is a guy you fucking idiot

>>21986956
*was a guy

>>21986964
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracy_Hickman

>>21986985
>arguing with newfags obsessed with trans

NO GOD COMFIRMED

https://youtu.be/bDuwX8NWskk

EAT SHIT HATERS

>>21983306
Im about to reread Bancrofts Babel-series. Any Anons down for a little readalong? Its gigacomfy

>>21987043
I don't like it, cucky vibes

>>21986985
>On his website Hickman states that he is a devout member of the LDS Church.[45] He has stated that he likes writing in the fantasy genre because it "is about ethical and moral choices—the questions of good and evil" and because it reflects "the story of all of us on our journey through mortality and our seeking to return home to Christ"
If it isn't some strong roastie feminist then its a christfag pushing his christfaggotry

>>21987082
Mormons aren't Christian, but they're still better than you you dumb gay retarded faggotron atheoid BLACK

>>21984214
Thanks man.

>>21984313
I'm forcing myself to write more too. All these cultivation systems compelled me to make one of my own, unfortunately. Post your story.

>>21984821
Yes. I recommend the audiobooks as the narrator matches the tone and comedy beats perfectly.

>>21985683
The character interactions are interesting so far but I'm not far enough into the story for it to really kick off. They just met a secondary group who's trying to take their healer. I prefer solid characterization and banter writing to anything else though, so I'm cautiously optimistic after your post.

As for Perfect Run, I had a friend recommend that to me on the basis it had a light litRPG system similar to Battle Mage Farmer. I'll take a closer look at it though.

My #19 spot will go to a litRPG harem story then, god help me. Any other recommendations besides Dungeon Diving 101? If you could only recommend someone ONE litRPG harem story, what would it be?

>>21985688
Typo. It should be a 6/10 beneath Bastion in terms of my overall ranking.

>>21987127
Fuck it, I'll recommend Marvin Knight again. Paladin of the Sword. It's very deliberately schlock-y/pulp-y, so might not necessarily be to your tastes with regards to progression (protagonist basically only ever loses one fight per book and is otherwise nigh-unstoppable) but it's fun for what it is.

>part in Player of Games where Flere-Imhaso shows Gurgeh the encrypted television transmissions
That got awfully real.

>>21987127
>ONE litRPG harem story
Sengoku Rance

If I'm going to read about video games damnit, I'm reading some video games

I'm reading book 1 of this.

>>21987127
>The character interactions are interesting so far but I'm not far enough into the story for it to really kick off. They just met a secondary group who's trying to take their healer. I prefer solid characterization and banter writing to anything else though, so I'm cautiously optimistic after your post.

16 hours in and that's where you are? Damn, the tutorial must have been waaaaaay longer than I remember. It's hard to judge PH by its first book, or even the second as from what I've seen the amazon releases take two books just for the 'tutorial.' You've seen nothing of PH yet. Jake and Villy's banters are, like, half of what makes this story entertaining, but I think it only starts for real with book 2, thought I'm 90% sure they start talking in Book 1. Witty banter is one of PH's biggest strengths, if not the biggest.

>My #19 spot will go to a litRPG harem story then, god help me. Any other recommendations besides Dungeon Diving 101? If you could only recommend someone ONE litRPG harem story, what would it be?

Fuck, that's a tough one. There's Erogamer, but that story is fucking amazing and worthy of being called Literature, although calling it a harem is a stretch. But it's a web quest published on a Questionable Questing forum, so you are not going to read it. I'd definitely recommend it as an optional read. Aside of that, we have relatively small choice of quality LitRPG Harem:

[I've spent some time writing it, but eventually decided to just pick three different options.]

1. Dungeon Diving - A young man attends the academy for dungeon delvers. Definitely a decent book, distinct characters, entertaining story, a solid Bruce Sentar book that's the effect of him having 20+ books of experience. Nothing to write home about, though, but that might be me being somewhat tired with Harem stuff as of late. Considered to be something of a hit.

2.Prism Academy: Inferna - Solid post-apo super-hero story of a man strange past and ambition to make something of himself, being granted an opportunity to climb out of a slum and become a super-hero. The LitRPG element is diegetic, but it's strong enough to justify calling it LitRPG. A well-rounded story, that tackles the issue of sexuality more than just power fantasy. Story's some lassic conflict between Light powers (good, love, positive emotions) and Darkness powers (hate, malice, negative emotions). A slightly above-average fiction book that for some reason works out better than you would assume.

3. Herald of Shalia. Oh boy. Written by a woman, if you could belive it. It's not a serious book. One man. A village of horny and unhinged Elf women. Misunderstandings. Elves acting hysterical to get with a human stud. Women being women at their worst, in the way only a woman could write. Hilarious situations. Full-on harem erotica comedy. If you want a serious book with a serious thought-out story, this shouldn't be your pick. If you want fun and character-oriented light story, pick this.

mention books with picrel's vibe

>>21987127
>>21987310
Actually, I VERY tentatively inform you of the fourth possibility:

4. Apocalypse Gates: Rapture - A man's world is turned upside down as he is digitalized and forced to serve as an entertainment for other people in a virtual, post-apo version of Earth with zombies, fantasy monster and LitRPG system. The viewers observe his every step and his performance and entertainment-value will result in his further survival. A snarky AI. World full of bugs and incompetent developers patching stuff on the fly as the players abuse the shit out it.

Sounds familiar? Yeah, it was published three years BEFORE Dungeon Crawler Carl. A funny coincidence, ain't it?
It's not an amazing book, but a decent read. No harem in the first book, though. The protagonist is full-blown sociopath that gets himself a pudgy young Goth pussy that's no less socipathic. Funny read, goes to shit starting with the second book. Good enough for a single read, I guess.

I believe the first three options are better, though.

>>21987360
>The protagonist is full-blown sociopath
>that gets himself a pudgy young Goth pussy
Sounds like some fimbulwinter tier garbage

>>21986525
Eric Vall and Dante King are both ghost author farms who are rumored to be funded by Michael Scott Earle.

Currently reading A Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay.

That Kay decided to represent the Albigensian Crusade as a conflict between some kind of idealized southern-french matriarchy and a patriarchal northern french kingdom should have alerted me about the contents of the novel. For all his good prose and grasp of the historical importance of art, Kay suffers from the same predilections and prejudices of his liberal canadian brethen, and it becomes quite clear that much like Lions of Al-Rassan, A Song for Arbonne is no exception: It is rather difficult to take a villain seriously when he is presented literally recieving a fellatio in front of his court by a poor maidservant, even more so when in that same chapter the phrase "women do not matter in this kingdom" appear. It is such an absurd caricature, such an infatile contrast with his heavily romantic, matriarchal "Arbonne", that any expectation of the nuance that the actual conflict he is copying had flies out of the window.

While I said before that Kay writes like a woman, that isnt something negative on itself nor a critique. The actual critique is that he writes like a wine aunt in her thirties missing her teenage years, and the way he seemingly uses this very weird pseudo-historical fantasy world to make the most manichean, run of the mill point about femenine agency and toxic masculinity only drives the point further. It is hard to read his stuff without remembering that he is, indeed, a canadian throught and throught.

>>21987490
What about Logan Jacobs and Simon Archer? Or are they just that bad like Eric Vall and Dante King?

>>21987504
From what I've seen, they are both just as bad.
Simon Archer's 'Call Me, Beep Me' is hilarious, though.

>>21987320
Realm of the elderlings

On the topic of haremlit, I find Neural Wraith to be quite good, maybe of the best running series. Peak steampunk kino.

>>21987529
*cyberpunk, I meant cyberpunk.

>>21987490
Yeah you can easily tell which authors are simply fronts since they output two or three books a month. You can even tell which ghost writes each book as they don't even try to imitate each other.

>>21987529
For so called smut it's an incredibly tame series. The MC doesn't even to want to fuck any of the hundreds of bots thirsty for him.

>>21987529
I'm a big K.D Robertson fan but he's having trouble lately do to Amazon fucking with algorithms/recommendations.

https://www.kdrobertsonbooks.com/posts/hla0s3vy5nwzwbaqn51vnr50k7pfg9

>>21987540
Because it is not smut: there is a ton of styles in the genre and K.D. Robertson is first and foremost about serviceable stories and characters, rather than erotica. That said, the MC stills comes around to get in bed and wife up the main thirsty androids

>>21987526
I was asking if they are also ghost writer author farms for Scott.

>>21987490
>rumored to be funded by Michael Scott Earle
seriously? didn't he get banned from KU for dodgy shit?

>>21987548
Well I didn't like his Neural Wraith book one, so why would I read book 2 and three? That is probably why he didn't see the numbers he expected, people dropped the series like I did.

got my kobo libra 2 a few days ago. it's pretty comfy.

>>21987574
Is not only him: other authors are complaining about the algorithms making their books vanish in just a matter of days. Other niches (like women's romance) are also reporting the exact same.

>>21987580
I'm still using my kobo forma
I wish there was a bigger screen version without stepping into android tablet territory, I just wanna read books with a big e ink screen

>It's a japanese story about a girl who reincarnates as the villainess from an otome game
>It's a chinese story about an empress who was betrayed by her husband and is reincarnated to get revenge

>>21987548
author known for writing smut wonders why his readers don't like a series marketed as smut but which barely has any.
> surprised pikachu.jpg

>>21987504
Logan Jacobs is most certain ally part of the ghost writer cabal.

>>21987580
I'm a paperwhite enjoyer myself

>>21987127
>Post your story.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/67893/the-god-of-the-spark
New chapter coming in five minutes from this post. Thanks so much for checking it out.

>>21987606
asian power fantasies are so shallow after you read a couple of them
they have no individuality and basically want the same thing
and all their wants and needs are so primitive and basic you can almost smell the savage primate throught narrative alone

>>21987735
Maybe I'll get tired of it, but the thirst is what I love about Solo Leveling. The character is of course above it all, but on his behalf the author craves respect from peers, the family, the workplace, the government, the Americans, the Japanese, it just goes on. Things I never even thought of. I find it delightful. But I guess if they're all like that it would go stale.

What're some fantasy themed murder mysteries?

>>21987768
Name of the Rose comes to mind, but it's not "fantasy" really. I remember hearing about some self-pubbed detective story in some medieval fantasy setting. I remember seeing it on Litopia's channel.

>>21987768
https://www.weirdhousepress.com/product-category/sherlock-holmes-adventures/
There's also Lovecraftian Sherlock tales, if you're into that.

>>21987779
Fantasy or no, everybody should read Name of the Rose, and that goes double for fantasy readers. Great story, characters and worldbuilding.

>>21987768
evelyn hardcastle and the 7 1/2 deaths

>>21987606
>>21987755
I highly recommend reading Journey to the West which is one of the great East Asian classics and where a bunch of these power fantasy stuff is drawn from, except it's actually good and has decent humour

>>21987735
Traditional asian fantasy and scifi lit is lacking in quality and even quantity however asian web literature which is mostly power fantasies even if shallow is of much higher quality than western web literature.
Traditional western literature used to be good but nowadays it's mostly garbage.

>page 200 of deadhouse gates
we get it, erikson, you're an archeologist anthropologist. some type of historical theme going on. 2 of the main characters are literal historians. in the first book there was also a historian character.

there's a part where a character is walking on a "tell," an archaeological term I learned from this book, and the narration explains the full on history of the city settlement that was underneath the ruins.

>characters walking through the catacombs of a tower
we get a historical explanation of the different types of rock/limestone it's engulfed in. what the hell is going on here? are the rest of the books like this or is it a theme of deadhouse gates? don't remember this type of stuff in Gardens of the Moon.

>>21986274
I like Bakker but would never get a Bakker tat. Earwa is not a world that I would flaunt on my body

>>21988180
Pussy

>>21988014
Historians are canonically used to rewrite history, literally mandated by kellenvand to have historians accompany the army to make him look good. It shouldn't be a surprise there are multiple historian characters.

>Grimly, Gothamere snarled with his curling fangs at the child. Menfolk were so weak, thought Gothamere, the Vampire Emperor of Darkheim, yet so tasty. He sucked out the infant's lifeblood with a great slurping sound of satisfaction and dashed the drained baby's brains against his wall of Gothic architecture.
>"It is time," Gothamere hissed. "To post about Bakker on the world's most nefarious website, 4chan!"

>>21988226
Or, in the words of one wise sage: Dattebayo

>Jonathan-san rose slowly from his large golden framed bed. Glancing around at his new found 'friends' scattered over and under the new silk sheets that were freshly shipped in from his last conquest into the demon realms. There had been many changes since being summoned to this world, but none were more satisfying than his near infinite harem thanks to his SSS Rank social skill. With a yawn his flipped open his laptop.
>"It is time," Jonathan-san exclaimed. "To post about Bakker on the world's most nefarious website, 4chan!"

>>21988180
>too much of a pussy to get nonmen fractal sculptures covering his torso
what a bitch

What makes a good fantasy novel?

>>21988510
>1. grimdark, this is a MUST
>2. written by a liberal yet morally grey MAN, this is important
>3. reigns supreme

>>21988518
what's with fantasy nerds insisting on needing a male self-insert as the MC?

>>21988671
Fantasy is a continuation of stories men told each other throughout all societies to glorify male virtues; courage, valor, strength, cleverness, etc.

>>21988732
This. Heil Odin Sire!

>>21988510
Ask yourself what makes any other novel good and it applies to Fantasy as well.

>>21983306
Bitch ass millennials want a trigger warning?

>>21988932
Lmao, trigger warnings for Worm? It would be easier to point out which ones DON'T apply to Worm, it's fulled with dark shit.

>>21988941
That's how I like it: dark.
If it's also grim, count me in...

>>21987540
>>21987551
>>21987574
I'm baffled by popularuty of K.D. Roberts. His Heretic Spellblade was likely the worst Harem book I've read to date, full of cliches, barely servicable writting and uninetersting, shallow characters. People actually like this shit? Bad as a fiction book, not titilating enough to pass as good harem. I assume Neural Wraith follows in the same footsteps. No wonder people don't buy his books, they are fucking bad.

At least Dante King/Aaron Vel/other copy-paste writers are capable of mildly entertaining schlock. Prism is better anyway.

>>21988980
And by the way, Logan Jacobs mogs eveery other harem writer with his covers. Incredibly rich and brilliant arts.

I really want some fucking cheetos

I kept thinking of Pynchon when I was reading this. Turns out he was interested in making an opera out of it. Funny.

>>21989018
I remember hearing about that. He had some weird draft for some play or opera where some guys on an island were getting fucked over by Big Company Inc. or some shit. It sounded funny.

>>21989013
I really wanted some wine, even though I'm trying to quit alcohol. I'm just going to listen to music and read The Count of Monte Cristo and The Broken Sword interchangeably with each chapter.

>>21988997
does it have cuck shit?

>Dude read Terry Pratchett its super good fantasy

>Everything he write seems to be satire
>Very dry humour
>protag is a british dude with his british wife
>they take vacations in a manor, filled with domestics, and they walk in an english garden
>What do they drink ? Tea of course

>fantasy

Maybe I picked up the wrong book ? It's part of his discworld though.This dude is unironically fucking bad. Why is this shit shilled so much ?

>>21989058
>Fantasy is when no tea
Oh my, you really are a retard sweety, aren't you? 95% of fantasy books are heavily inspired by specific cultures, probably 99%. Aversion to british is natural and understandable, but in fiction? Laughable.

>>21989058
It is British humour, Americans wouldn't understand. It's like minty python and that sort of thing.

>>21989063
>95-99% british
Then sorry it's not fiction. It's just bad worldbuilding. At least harry potter didn't pretend it wasn't the UK.

>>21989064
I'm not american but I love monty python. The difference is that they're actually funny and don't pretend to be what they're not.

>fell for the /sffg/ bakker meme
>read the darkness that comes before
>it's legitimately horse shit
remind me to never listen to you bakkerfags again. fuck you all

>>21989124
It gets good in the third book. You fell for the meme of reading one single title.

>>21989147
>It gets good in the third book
no i'm not falling for it

>>21989147
>it's a pyramid scheme

>>21989124
Let it go if you didn't like it. It's going to be waay darker and more violent in the upcoming books.
To me, every single fantasy I tried to read after Bakker was either uninspired or just straight up weak, so it's annoying.

>>21989174
Read the broken sword. It reigns supreme.

The Deep by Crowley is filtering me lads

To the poster of the shelf that saved /sffg/ if you're lurking: have you updated your collection? Everything on your shelf that I hadn't read ended up being good. Every time I ask for recs ITT I get told to read Cradle, Bakker or some dumb wuxia shite

>>21987580
were you the phonereader asking if an e-reader is worth it? either way, enjoy.
kind of want to upgrade from my ancient pw2 for a bigger screen and higher res but there's nothing wrong with it really

>>21989147
>bro just read the first two 800 page volumes and then you'll enjoy it
I'm a Bakker fan but this is very stupid

How do I get into Dunsany's back catalogue? I read the King of Elfland's Daughter and absolutely loved it. I see he has a whole setting which he writes in - is there a good reading order online, or a decent omnibus somebody could recommend?

>>21989283
That's because people find reading a chore rather than art. Even if something is shit, I learn from it.

>>21989286
I got this one which includes Gods of Pegana, which I like. Otherwise, get this one:
https://www.hippocampuspress.com/mythos-and-other-authors/fiction/the-ghost-in-the-corner-and-other-stories-by-lord-dunsany
As far as I know, Dunsany can go out of print at times. Might have to look through Biblio for some old tomes.

>>21989287
>stare at a painting for a few minutes
>I can now formulate a reasonable opinion on this piece of art and can decide if it's to my taste or not
>spend a dozen hours reading an 800 page novel
>apparently that's not enough to judge a series and if I decide not to read on its because I "don't appreciate the art"
?

>>21989300
>>stare at a painting for a few minutes
Except that's not what art critics do, do they? They know the history of art and read philosophers on the topic, or know about the institution of art throughout different contexts.

>Anon: You're writing is too hard to read
>Bakker: No, child. Only men make it hard in their minds to read for they think it so.

>reading book that has a fairly interesting story
>but all the characters feel weirdly off
>they don't react how i'd expect a human to react
>search up author
>he's autistic
Now i'm not trying to be rude or anything and i did enjoy the book.
It was just interesting how i could feel that something was strange without knowing anything about the author.

>>21989333
You can tell a lot about an author based on extremely mundane writing. For example you can intuit someone political leanings with a reasonable degree of accuracy just by paying attention to how they structure their sentences. You can tell if someone is male or female based on a couple of written sentences quite easily most of the time.

>>21989333
>>21989340
I concur. Any experienced reader can infer a lot of details about the author's beliefs, sex and perceptions just from the way they write. People who claim otherwise don't read. The perception is a bit skewed, though, as most of the writers are more or less on spectrum. After all, what normal person would write in an age where word-medium is niche?

>>21989348
>most of the writers are more or less on spectrum
false in every sense of the word

>>21989340
>You can tell if someone is male or female based on a couple of written sentences quite easily most of the time.
I can tell.... that you're an autistic male 4channer. Did I get that right?

Would you trade your life for Shirtaloon's? He gets ~ $250,000 a year but he's got that hairline.

>>21988180
>He doesn't carve Swazond into his flesh
ngmi

>>21989365
all i know about this guys books is that his main character is absolutely hated by tons of people

>>21989381
It's because his MC is an anti-authoritarian Aussie battler and larrikin with a heart of gold.

Scifi other than Downbelow Station that fits the vibe of filk?

>>21989384
His MC is a M*lbournite shitstain, the absolute polar opposite of Australian and of anti-authoritarian, who complains about being discriminated against for being half asian while he lived in a city that is itself half asian. His protagonist acts like a typical pretentious M*lbournite cockhead, and that's why nobody likes him. That city is the Australian equivalent of San Fancisco with a dash of Chicago thrown in to make it even shittier. We need to build a wall around the place and set it on fucking fire.

>>21989381
Because he is a hapa I always picture him as the Supreme Gentleman.

>>21989365
with 250k a year all you need to fix this hariline is one visit to a doctor and few motnhs to wait for the effects. He's ugly because he accepts that, not because he cannot change.

>>21989365
i tried reading his book

jason (stupid fucking name) got into a discussion with the lion guy about the best world, his final argument was that they had porn, insta dropped the book, not gonna even talk about the stupid pop references he spammed all the time to people that didnt know about that shit, fucking retarded

>>21989456
azarinth healer had the same problem with ilea saying ''I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with me!” while fighting some random, cringe af

>>21989412
Why does Melbourne make people so histrionically upset? It's no different to any other big city, you fags act like it's the only place on planet earth with posh inner-city hipsters.

>>21989537
Because your brand of inner city yuppies refuses to acknowledge that they're culturally different from the rest of the country. You basically engage in Australia-Blackface constantly and everyone else thinks you're fucktards, and because our population distribution is so skewed you have a disproportionate amount of influence over the rest of the country while also receiving a massively disproportionate amount of tax revenue.

Essentially, the rest of the country would be better off if that place didn't exist.

>>21989537
>>21989576
>>21989412

>>21988980
I keep trying to read David Burke but I genuinely hate that the books have double-spacing between paragraphs.

>>21989467
>>21989456
I find I don't mind protagonists making references to their old world or whatever, especially if it feels like the protagonist is the kind of dumbass that would (and Jason and Ilea do feel like that). My dislike of Jason largely comes down to the fact that it initially seemed like he was supposed to grow and change and stop being such a mouthy dipshit but then the author never actually punished the man for his major character flaw and all Jason did was become emo.
I haven't read enough of Azarinth Healer to form an opinion on Ilea besides "she's basically Goku except horny so probably the author's waifubait".

>>21989718
>I haven't read enough of Azarinth Healer to form an opinion on Ilea besides "she's basically Goku except horny so probably the author's waifubait".
There's a scene in early AH, around 200 chapter I think, where Illea takes a semi-autistic classmate of hers into her house, then seduces him and takes his virginity, saying things like 'you can touch my breasts now' and guiding his anxious ass through every step. Shit's wild. I cannot imagine it was written for any other purpose than to provide self-insert for the author or the audience to vicariously have sex with Ilea.

>>21989761
I'm reading the published stuff, only onto book 2, and I assume said classmate is Kyrian. I feel like that scene'll probably be cut down to the broad strokes in the edited published version, seems like a fair few things were. Ilea is still pretty much just like "fight, food, fuck" as a character but the horny stuff seems a bit toned down compared to the first two.

truth shines...

>Circle of Inevitability chapters 107-109
Holy fucking KINO, we fucking back Mysteries bros

>>21989947
>this is what "bakker chads" look like
OH NO NO NO

>>21989947
i'm buying velcro sandals

>>21990079
How do you even read 100 chapters of something that goes nowhere

>>21990079
yeah it was nice. now it feels like the story is really starting.

>>21990217
a "chapter" is pretty short with these types of webnovels.

>>21990266
Still. Lets just assume you jam 3, 1000 word chapters together. That'll be a proper chapter. So after 33 chapters you finally have something going?

And people think Sanderson's writing goes nowhere.

>>21990079
Lumian gazed at the mysterious woman, dazed, realizing that the indescribable and inexplicable emotion in her eyes had resurfaced.
This time, he could finally decipher it.
It was pity.

>>21990217
I just read bro, easiest thing in the world

>>21990314
Fair enough

>>21988997
>by the way, Logan Jacobs mogs eveery other harem writer with his covers. Incredibly rich and brilliant arts
No he does. If you look carefully, Logan Jacobs and Eric Vall covers have a same face female. All the females on the cover is the same base model, with some fantasy features added. It's lazy work.

>>21988980
>At least Dante King/Aaron Vel/other copy-paste writers are capable of mildly entertaining schlock
No they are not. They steal someone else's idea (all there stories are knock offs of someone else's work), and implement them poorly. I remember reading his batman knockoff, his [not]joker was shit.

Finished Tress of the Emerald sea, and I'm indecisive about what I want to read next.

Right now I'm looking at Black Company, Gideon the Ninth, Shadow of the Gods, and Best Served Cold. Redpill me on one of these, anons

>>21990526
>Sando
Cleanse that palette with masterfully written Black Company.

>>21990517
Logan Jacobs, Eric Vall and Dante King I just read like one book from each and went "wow I thoroughly don't care". Dante King at least felt like there was some effort put in, but not much. Simon Archer's a similar case, but I never cared enough to try more.

>>21990526
>Gideon the Ninth
It's definitely a book written by somebody who used to write Homestuck fanfic. It has some fun characterisation and worldbuilding but the gist of it is it's a murder mystery wherein the protagonist does not interact with or engage with said murder mystery at all because she's basically relegated to sticking in the background and looking tough. So as a result you get a story about a character just kind of doing nothing while snippets of a more interesting story play out around her.

This guy is still an ugly and fat drongo who took dole despite now being a millionaire. And there’s nothing you can do about it.

>>21990526
Read better books, faggot

>>21990578
Name some. Hard mode: No Bakker.

>>21990589
the faerie queene

>>21990598
Already read it and own the five volume set by Hackett. Give me something more real!

>>21990618
>Already read it
no you haven't

>>21990526
Shadow of the Gods is good.

It is the first book in a trilogy and a bit of a slow burn with the first half mainly being world building and getting to know the characters. It picks up about half way in though and a few things do happen during the first half.

The second book is a lot better with more stuff going on and more action.

I finally finished Player of Games! That reveal at the end did get me.

>>21990635
You're just throwing out an epic poem to someone who studied it at a tertiary level for ages. Of course, I had to read it. It's the same poem for five books. At least there's some cool back and forth with some Saracens ("paynims") for a bit. But otherwise it's the same evil wizard/woman trope with personified virtues as knights.

>>21990737
>You're just throwing out an epic poem to someone who studied it at a tertiary level for ages
No
I'm reccomending it because it is kino
just like ivanhoe

>>21990764
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales are fun if you don't mind learning how to sound out Middle English, although it's largely phonetic. And I like Gawain Poet a lot, particularly the Pearl and Gawain and Green Knight. Much more medieval than Elizabethan poetry.
>Ivanhoe
I've been meaning to read it. I'll have a look now since it's actually in my room (most of my books are back at my parent's house because I have no room).

>>21990635
>>21990737
>thinking the anon didn't read his book
I love when anons think they got one on you, and end up embarrassing themselves.
I got second hand shame from being shown up (with excerpts).

Nobody was going to tell me that Snow Crash was bad, huh?
Dogshit bad. Reddit-tier YA bad. If this is what 4.5 stars looks like then I'm done reading anything but classics.
Neuromancer was at least a fun read, if a bit disorienting and juvenile. Snow Crash doesn't even have a fucking plot at 200 pages in. I should've just forced myself through Ready Player One again.

>>21990985
Go read Count Zero.

what's the general opinion here on the night land by William Hope?
I started reading it and I am already disliking that there's some sort of a romance going on

>>21990079
based... based...

>>21990985
>book where the main character is named Hiro Protagonist is dogshit reddit trash
IMAGINE MY SHOCK

>>21991441
I'm still baffled that's a thing. Like if it were a parodic sort of thing, it'd be one thing, but it's just... There. He's just "Hiro Protagonist".

I'll be sure to obfuscate it a bit when I make my character Hiiro "Puro" Tagonistu

>>21991497
> Like if it were a parodic sort of thing
You really don't think he was in on the joke?

>>21991509
I'm sure he was, but it's not treated like a weird name, nobody really calls attention to it, and it feels a little awkward with how serious the overall story is.

>>21991513
There is nothing serious about the overall story. The whole thing is a straight-faced gag with which the name fits perfectly.

>>21990985
>disorienting and juvenile
Snow Crash is only ever recommended because it's written like YA trash. The audience of Snow Crash literally cannot comprehend Neuromancer on a basic level because they are functionally illiterate and don't understand the concept of a prose style, even if it is just one or two steps above spoonfeeding.

>>21987814
I think the reason is monetization. China, Japan and even Korea have a way to properly monetize web novels, but the West does not. Instead we have things like Amazon's Kindle that just wrecks havoc on the web novel scene. If a novel starts taking off, then it will suddenly get put onto Kindle Unlimited and removed from everywhere else. End result is that the old readers of said novel can't continue reading it and it has to attract a whole new set of readers again.

Do you read webnovels?

I find the quality of writing on Royal Road to be very low, even among very popular fics. There are very few exceptions.

Does the readership just not value good prose/characterisation? Or are the writers just not too good?

>>21991520
whats the /lit/ equivalent of malice@doll

>>21992080
Spend a few hours reading pulp mags. As they appeared, not as cherry picked by history. RR is the same phenomenon - the cost of production falls to where the gatekeepers lower the bar. That's it!

https://archive.org/details/pulpmagazinearchive

>>21992080
You have to realise how dumb the average person is. If someone is posting fiction online for free every day, they are either stupid, naive, or insane. I'm the latter. I do always appreciate prose more than mere plot, but it is hard to balance them. I think most RR writers at least just want to convey their take on tropes and get people to like their quirky characters with pared down style. I personally hate it. So I am the change I wish to see.

>>21992080
> Does the readership just not value good prose/characterisation? Or are the writers just not too good?
Both. It's about the dopamine rush of constant fighting, progression, stats along with base/dungeon/city building. It's literally the mechanics and stories of games and anime in written form.

>>21992117
nta
Have you posted your work here?
I've seen some interviews of traditionally published authors who have taken to writing webnovels and been successful about how it has to be written in a certain way to get any traction on the site. If I understand you correctly you want to try to change their tastes. That won't go over well with people who know what they like. It's similar to those who only read centuries old literature of the canon and then say that they will raise the quality of sff with their skills and say that's what you must like now.

>>21992191
>Have you posted your work here?
Yeah. I've posted it in /sffg/ because they helped form my tastes for writing my SFF. I have other works in actual speculative fiction journals, but the idea I had for this webnovel couldn't be done in tradpub because it's too big. And I want to push myself to write it. New chapter came out just now, and I hope it shows that I've been reading Poul Anderson (although he's much better) and KJV:
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/67893/the-god-of-the-spark/chapter/1202696/chapter-iv-the-forerunner-asp
>It's similar to those who only read centuries old literature of the canon and then say that they will raise the quality of sff with their skills and say that's what you must like now.
Maybe, but there have been many popular SF writers like Vonnegut or Wolfe who talked a lot about Shakespeare or Homer. The SF I lean towards reading is also heavily influenced by Shakespeare. You can find interviews where Poul Anderson describes how important studying Shakespeare is for any writer.

Since I've been reading Bakker, I've been wondering whether he could have framed the story differently. The two prologues were definitely breaking the mould, and I did have a good sense of atmosphere. I just think about whether he could tell less and show more, at least with characters' dialogue. The bit about how Kellhus doesn't know about the world was well executed, but even then Bakker tends to overexplain this.

>>21992080
I tried. I dropped Mother of Learning after reading page 1. I read 10 chapters of Wandering Inn and said yeaa this shit is poorly written slop, several wheel of time lengths to catch up is inexcusable. 1 hour of reading Worm and I'm like this reminds me of Kick Ass and it isn't for me but it seemed decent, again though the length is inexcusable. I'm not big into power creep/anime characters or numbers going up type stuff so litrpg isn't for me

>>21992360
Yeah, worm is the only good one I've read.

I wanna capture readers like yourself who might prefer my writing style, but am worried that none of them survive on RR I might not be able to achieve market fit, so to speak.

>I read almost two paragraphs and it sucked.

>>21992382
I couldn't get past this page. I'm sorry I could just tell straight up it isn't for me. I heard a lot of people love it though so I can't hate.

>>21992391
kirielle is cute

We have to revolt against RoyalRoad and carve there a land for the /sffg/ Bakkerposters, my brothers!

>>21990079
The endless torturous pain of 2 chapters a day is drowning me. I wonder how lumian will act now since apparently a large part of his personality was just him going insane

>>21991277
>mine own baby-slave
Kino

>>21992080
Rarely, much like fanfictio the strategy is quantity over quality.
To truly read WNs you skim through the first chapter of ~100 fic a day and bookmark any decent looking ones to read the first few chapters. Reviews are useless, recs are useless, reputation is useless. All you can do is sift through the shit.
Occasionally you'll find something good, but it's rare. Over time you build up a library of tehs of thousands of trash chapters skimmed through and maybe a dozen or so decent ones that update daily and finally you saturate and can just read your daily updates and not have to descend into the prose mines again until something gets abandoned/goes to shit/ends.

>>21992470
Can you tell if something is AI generated? People say it can write well enough now.

>>21992485
Easily, it doesn't write anything like a human. For one, current models can't write actual stories since they have no memory. They can't even keep track of character names through a single chapter.
And beyond that the sixth sense cannot be beaten, you can read the author through the text, and it'll be obvious if they're not a human.
AI can only do short blurbs, and even then it's often obvious. Anything longer than a 4chan post could never be mistaken for a human, and 90% of those at or below that length are also obvious.

>>21992485
>I'm glad you asked. I can tell if someonething is AI generated because it demonstrates traits common among things that are AI generated.
they write like that desu

>>21992470
Having done the trawling, what do you reccomend?

>>21992550
Reverend Insanity

>>21992576
It reigns supreme.

>>21992485
here's a recent video where an actual developmental editor looks at poetry and prose written by AI and has a laugh as soon as he lays eyes on it

https://youtu.be/5vVEtWBplVk

>>21992470

Oh and can you give me any advise re: where I could market or shill my fic in order to get an initial readership? I'm good at the writing side (I believe), much more stressed about the marketing / finding readers side.

I'd really appreciate it :)

>>21992623
Shill yourself on fanfic forums in the original fiction sections. Shit like dlp/sv/sb/qq/etc... In general use forums and boards with existing populations, probably reddit would also work but I don't use it. In other words, shilling on /lit/ was a decent idea, but there's barely any of us and we're picky. So try with a bigger community with less discerning taste. Search for people talking about books similar to your own and shill yourself "organically", that's what everyone else there is doing too so you won't get shit on too much.

>>21992609
That was funny, actually. I did find the poem nonsensical too, at least aesthetically although never read Malazan. I will have a look at Erikson's work if there's good poetry. I'm sad less people do it, as I love speculative poetry like CAS and Lovecraft.

>>21992641
Erikson has fantastic poems before his chapters that share the subtext of the chapter to come. He said in an interview before he writes the poems before he writes the chapters which I found interesting.

>>21992640
thank you!

I'm really looking for advice here more than shilling. It's too small, as you say.

>dlp/sv/sb/qq/etc
These are forums?

I'll get on there. Thanks :)

>>21992206
I skimmed through it and looked through the archives to see where else you posted it. There's a lot I could say, but as you said, it would be meaningless. All I have to say is that you greatly overestimate yourself and have strange ideals. Best of luck with being satisfied with your story existing on the internet and never anything more than that.

>>21992727
>Best of luck with being satisfied with your story existing on the internet and never anything more than that.
Thanks!

>>21992604
Not sure where you found that translation but pic related is the actual 1st chapter.

>>21993028
Congratulations, this is like reading Chinese characters literally translated into English one character at a time.

>>21993035
Um... that's based actually. If you read the Hackett translation of Records of the Three Kingdoms, it's far too Anglicised. But I do appreciate Pound's poetic translations.

>>21993035
Are there multiple translations?

I just started reading >>21993028 in response to this thread. It does indeed read like a literal translation. There's better?

>>21993028
I seriously don't understand how anyone can read a "book" which has "stop resisting anymore" as the second sentence. Everything doesn't have to be perfect, but if that's the effort they put into the first fucking page, what hope is there? How can you call that reading?

>>21992650
Thanks man. I'll download some now and look at the charts in the Oh Pee for help.

What kinda stuff do you wanna see more in fantasy or sci fi? I personally like unexpected plots and esoteric themes like in Divine Invasion, but I guess people don’t want that kinda weird shit after the New Wave died.

>>21993077
More romance involving mature evil women.
From enemy to lovers trope, preferably.

>“We'd walk out of meetings frustrated, despondent, baffled. Did we really hear an invitation to mediocrity? Sure sounded like it. Well, screw that.Gardens of the Moon. Just to muse on that title resurrects all those notions of ambition, all that youthful ferocity that seemed to drive me headlong against a wall time and again. The need to push. Defy convention. Go for the throat.”
Ummmm.... based? BREAK THE MOULD, ERIKSON CHADS

>>21993056
Maybe you should stop resisting anymore and just enjoy it.

>>21993056
>he doesn't rate the Pidgin Bible
NGMI.

>>21993077
More dark high fantasy, like real dark gritty end of days against demon whords where the world is dying on its last breaths. Less romance and lighthearted jolly adventures.


With sci-fi, books that explore the themes and not just have them as a backdrop. Like what would a world be like post human look like if we transcended and all became consiouses living in an artifical body, that sort of thing.

Some sci-fi books have some good themes but they don't get explored, they are just used as a backdrop for the story and characters.

>>21992080
When you think about it, most books are shit, more specifically they just don't suit your tastes. It's the same for webnovels, but the ratio of good to bad is a lot worse since any retard can upload them to the net. You have to be prepared to shift through a lot of shit to find something good but thankfully you can usually recognize if it's shit from the first few chapters

>>21993123
>More dark high fantasy, like real dark gritty end of days against demon whords where the world is dying on its last breaths. Less romance and lighthearted jolly adventures.
Here, here. I love that shit too.
>With sci-fi, books that explore the themes and not just have them as a backdrop. Like what would a world be like post human look like if we transcended and all became consiouses living in an artifical body, that sort of thing.
I've been thinking people should explore more hybrid human-animal stories. Cyborg stories are okay but you just have the tired meme about being more machine, or being a soul trapped inside a machine.

>>21993129
>most books are shit, more specifically they just don't suit your tastes.
I think taste is one thing, but having something objectively bad in form is another thing. An example is the new meme to make sentence fragments across an entire paragraph or even book. It's objectively ugly to read, since it doesn't follow any real flow or rhythm we'd have from talking, even if we do speak somewhat in "shorthand" during day-to-day talking.

>>21993130
>I've been thinking people should explore more hybrid human-animal stories. Cyborg stories are okay but you just have the tired meme about being more machine, or being a soul trapped inside a machine.
Just using that as an example. There is a book called Tech Heavan by Linda Nagata that explores what the rise of nanotechnology would be like and if humans didn't die. Like overpopulation, lack of jobs, food, cramped living conditions where hygiene and deseases spread and kill quickly with the lack of health care.

>>21993138
>Tech Heavan by Linda Nagata
This is cool. I like the idiosyncratic descriptions already.

>>21983707

>>21988014
>are the rest of the books like this
no, not really. that's not to say there aren't similar passages like that throughout the series, but the quality really does improve from book to book.

>>21983707
>I'm going to risk asking this one more time, damn the consequences.
>Are there any stories about talking horses?
found the furry.
get him, boys.

>>21989155
unfortunately, it's true of a lot of sf/f series

>>21993267
If Unicorns count, The Wandering inn

>>21990217
that type of writing is ideal to read intermittently throughout a work shift. it's inconsequential and easy to pick back up after being interrupted mid-sentence

>>21993077
More old/experienced/villainous/complex main characters. Someone picked because they're interesting, dynamic, and important, not for being relatable audience self inserts. And no redemption stories either, either he accomplishes his ambitions or dies.
We need more Cao Caos and less Liu Beis. Or actually Liu Bei is fine as long as he's written correctly and his true character shines through, not just the image he projected for political gain.
Also note how both of them failed and died, but it doesn't invalidate their stories or make the whole thing "pointless". If anything their failure is an elevation of the entire situation, showing that the only thing they achieved by attempting to seize power, regardless of their intentions, was chaos and strife.

>>21992604
>>21993028
Both of these translations are complete ass. Wtf why do people who can't read the original language even bother?

I swear when tokens for ai will be cheaper i will use them to shorten webnovels. So empty plots will be removed and only plot relevant development remains

>>21993389
>Why even bother?
If you already speak Chinese, don't doubt how fucking difficult it is to learn for us native English-speakers. We also have less cultural pressure to do so.

>>21993408
Chinese is often cited as one of the most difficult and challenging languages for English speakers to learn.

>>21985959
>Genuine question, how is Bruce Sentar?
Getting worse, the more popular he gets like most authors in the genre.

>>21993389
Just wait until AI gets good enough to translate, then a single person will be able to do several chapters per hour, merely adjusting the wording, pronouns and places where AI visibly fucked up. Reading translations from Chiense atm is pointless.

>>21993724
He's still good, ever increasing number of harem members has been a problem since the start, with him and other writers.

Btw, 3-4 members and occasional sexual flings is the most optimal harem structure. gathering women like pokemons is hilarious at first, but gets exhausting pretty damn fast. William D. Arrand is the worst with that.

You can't have solid character interactions or developement if you need to juggle 15 girls.

>>21993804
I think it can be fine if you sort of pare it down to different groups, give them each their own internal dynamics and dynamics with the protag.

>>21993804
Nah, his characters and plots are getting worse and worse.

>occasional sexual flings
No. Wasting time on meaningless sex with non-harem members is an absolutely unneeded addition in any harem novel.

>>21994015
>>21994015
>>21994015
>>21994015

>>21994018
It's page 8 retard. The thread doesn't count anyway because of your shitty pic

>newfag makes a new thread
what a surprise