/lit/ - Literature

>144,000
Consult are the chosen ones?

>>23257482
Consult are Jews.

>mfw Kellhus was a real prophet the whole time.

>>23257536
>mfw Kellhus is the narrator of the Aspect Emperor series

Read Beyond Apollo

>>23257474
Liberty's Daughter - Naomi Kritzer (2023)

Rebecca Garrison, 16 years old, has lived in New Minerva since her father brought her to the seastead when she was 4. The seastead is located 220 nautical miles west of Los Angeles and was founded 49 years ago. It's an assortment of man-made islands, platforms, ships, freighters, and other vessels. Each collection of these is considered their own country with their own set of laws. What they share in common is a libertarian ideology, ranging from literally anything is allowed to minimal statism. Everyone has to buy a stake to become a citizen, otherwise they're a guest worker and probably soon to be literally sold into conditions little better than slavery. There's no public infrastructure or government services almost anywhere. A significant part of the economy works on the barter system, which is where Beck has found her niche as a finder. She trades favors and items and helps out at the miscellany store. This takes her all over the seastead, which eventually leads to her becoming more involved in its darker sides. Everything that happens here may be normal to her, but that doesn't mean it's ethical. She knows the majority of adults are criminals fleeing punishment, especially the wealthy ones, but she has no idea about why the seastead is allowed to continue existing or that there are secrets here that could change the world.

6 of the stories that make up this novel were serialized in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction from 2012-2015, which is where I read them. The seventh story, the epilogue, has only been published here. I enjoyed them both then and now. I was somewhat disappointed that there's only about an additional 2% in terms of word count added to the first 6 stories. When I did a text comparison I saw the scenes that were added, which surprisingly weren't to better connect the stories together. There wasn't as much reworking of what already existed as I hoped for, as it was mostly word choice and sentence level changes. Two examples are that the seastead's population went from 22,000 to 80,000 and one minor character's name was changed from Kat to Jen. What I had in mind would've made it an easy 5 stars for me, and probably significantly better for others reading it here for the first time. I'm strongly biased towards liking this because it's the sort of near future daily life adventures in a speculative society that I especially enjoy.

What I found most interesting in reading these stories again was how much the context had changed in only ten years or so. Interest in seasteading seems to have vanished relative to charter cities, the covid pandemic happened and changed how I viewed mass outbreaks in illness and how people react to them. Part of this book probably comes off as much more conspiratorial than it was at the time if only because Kritzer wrote what some of the paranoid and reasonable fears were ahead of their manifestation.

Rating: 4.5/5 (4)

>>23257600
>16 years old
stopped reading right there.

>>23257600
>Rebecca
Stopped reading right there.

135 chapters of wizard fun

>>23257600
>Liberty's Daughter - Naomi Kritzer
Stopped reading there.

>>23257611
Reviews are quite positive, the ony thing I am concerned about is (relatively) high number of females in the book. So my question is how pozzed is it? Does the story degenerate into generic male-female coom nonsense or is there something more to it?

>>23257665
I remember stopping this book a while back cause it was pozzed but can’t remember any further info sorry

>>23257611
i enjoyed Between 2 Fires. might give it a go after i finish malazan

>>23257611
>the necromancer's a novel house

>>23257676
Everything is pozzed in some way or another.

>>23257607
>>23257610
>>23257625
Should've stopped reading when you saw the tripcode.

Any books you can recommand that are
>not part of a series
>under 400 pages
>scifi or fantasy
>can be horror but doesn't need to
>not warhammer or warhammer 40k related

>>23257702
Shan't be spoonfeeding, sorry.

>>23257702
A Game at Dinner

>>23257702
The Curse of Chaleon.

>>23257702
>>not part of a series
>>under 400 pages
>>scifi or fantasy
Practically everything Jack Vance ever wrote

Even most of his serialised work reads like a standalone

>>23257702
A Knight of Valora: Serenity

>>23257702
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/s/GsFfuNTpj0

>>23257755
>re**it
lol what is this shit

>>23257702
This hasn't been updated since 2020 when the /sffg/ Goodreads had about 250 members, but it has a page count on the far right and mostly lists whether it's part of a series or not. Maybe I'll do it again once more ever, but I don't know if it's worth the effort.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSIqYUrsZUm9ssjDnDIrTH1C6OEQeYCNFRIz6orzgXBdsGZiB8MNbsfiykqp602ipeEMYFkTpyW6Bwt/pubhtml

>>23257600
your """reviews""" are SHIT. fuck off

>>23257702
Revelations of Zang

>>23257766
>Evelyn Hardcastle has a 2.5 rating
Aw, but I liked that one :(

>another nonsensical story
I want to punch Severian

>>23257808
It's higher than that now since more have read it.
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show_book/1029811-sffg?book_id=36337550

>>23257820
filtered

>>23255788
Real life.
>>23256204
Maze of death is good, valis Timothy and whatever all sucks ass and is just him being drugged out.

I yearn for the day when common-use AI advances to the point where it can rec me more niche book recommendations.
>after eight hundred years I find my Radix books
>the full tetrad except for Radix itself
:<

>>23257968
Again, it isn't magic.

>>23257474
Name 5 books with goblin shamans.

>>23257996
warhammer fantasy book
and thats it

>>23257996
Memoirs of a Goblin Shaman
Grok da Goblin Shaman
Goblin Shaman Path
Green Patriarch
Reborn As a Goblin With Simulation System

>>23257968
based Radix enjoyer. Have you read his Dominions of Irth books?

>>23257996
Wasn't there some western female fantasy about goblina or half goblina warrior or something like that? I have seen it shilled on /sffg/ several times

>>23258017
Afraid not. How are they? I'm much more of a scifi than fantasy man.

Are mecha novels a thing? Are there any worth reading?

>>23258072
yes.
and this has been asked in multiple /sffg/ threads.
use the archive in the OP and read one. then come back and talk about it

>>23258033
good but if you don't like fantasy or vancian style than wouldn't be for you.

this is absolutely dogshit
i genuinely can't think of any redeeming factor, and i tried so hard to like it
>dull and clunky prose style
>completely forgettable characters
>endless drama about said characters
>way over the top supernatural elements
how the fuck did this win an award? the only that explains it to me is that horror books are generally so shit that even this one is somehow better than most of the garbage out there
but, man, what a disappointment

>>23257611
>>23258107
A NOVEL

>>23257996
The Elder Scrolls

Is there any good paladin kino

>>23258121
I don't want to read a novel I want to read THE novel

>>23258121
>The Necromancer's A Novel House

Is Hard Contact a good SW book

>>23257474
Read:
>Fallen Dragon - Peter F. Hamilton

>>23257702
Dune + Dune Messiah + Children of Dune

What's the most retarded piece of fantasy merch you've ever seen?

>>23258107
>Don’t call me Abraham: call me Abe. Though it’s what my ma named me, I’ve never liked Abraham. It’s a name that sounds so full of itself, so Biblical, so…I believe patriarchal is the word I’m after. One thing I am not, nor do I want to be, is a patriarch. There was a time I thought I’d like at least one child, but these days, the sight of them makes my skin crawl.
This is fucking rancid. Beyond dollar store tier copy of Moby Dick's opening. Revolting.

>>23258410
that eragon tent right there. holy shit

>>23258410
Imagine being conceived in that

>>23257748
Good book, but technically part of a series and over 400 pages.

I never read Paladin of Souls and now I feel like its been too long since I read Chalion to read it without rereading Chalion.

Speaking of Bujold, Is she the better alternative to Le Guin? I haven't read anything other than Curse of Chalion and I enjoyed it well enough.

Standalone books seem to be somewhat rare these days. I did have someone recommend Peter Flannery's Battlemage as a good stand alone fantasy book, but I have no idea if I can trust this persons recs. Also, well over 400 pages.

>>23258824
They don't have that much in common,so you don't need to reread.

>>23258824
All the Chalion works are all stand alone, even the Penric series, which are sequential to one another, are all stand alone stories featuring Penric and Desdemona solving a problem/mystery/murder etc.

why didn't you warn me that shadow of the torturer was hard to follow bros? have to reread all over the place

>>23258283
>not part of a series
can't you read, you dumb nigger?

I started reading Art of the Adept by Michael G Manning. First book is great - idiot apprentice is taught magic by asshole wizard until the plot kicks back in. After that every subsequent book is worse and worse. It's genuinely impressive how hard it nosedives.

Just read Roadside Picnic, is russian sff generally this depressing?

>>23259077
Yes, if not more so.

>>23257996
I am unironically reading a series now that has a goblin shaman/wizard.

>>23259110
Any good recs you could give me? already planning on reading everything by the Strugatsky brothers.

>>23258072

>>23258131
Legend by David Gemmell features a group of 'paladins,' but it's not specifically about them.

>>23259127
>Any good recs you could give me?
A Pole wrote Solaris, but it's top-tier slav scifi.

I feel like I'm a Kuranes with how vivid my dreams are. Are the drugs necessary to reach a certain connection to The Dreamlands before I die?

>>23259224
Thanks

Is this place to discuss litrpg/western isekai slop?

>>23259381
Yes.

any series in adjacent genres like horror and historical fiction that you feel are top quality?

>was a very happy boy
>/sffg/ makes me read sci-fi
>now all i do is experience existential dread about alien drones coming to wipe us out or ai taking over and doing away with me
sci-fi is the true horror

Why no smut recommendations in the OP?

>>23258889
The book series is meant to be reread multiple times. We all told you that newfag

>>23257600
https://maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/my-favorite-bit/my-favorite-bit-naomi-kritzer-libertys-daughter/

I was all set to buy/read this book till I realized she wrote it in support of the IWW mindset. Fuck her

>>23259487
>series
stop reading series and take the standalone pill. Read The Dragon Waiting. Or if you must have a series, Necroscope or The Phoenix and the Mirror

>>23259487
Ghouljaw and Other Stories by Clint Smith
The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell

>>23259550
Because we're not women.

Whoever suggested Thirteenth Night, I read like three pages of that shit and I like it.

>>23259550
>>23259573
On one hand, the 'we're not women anon' is right, but the other part of it is that most smut meant to be appealing to men is written on deviantart/furaffinity/occasional odd fetishes like ABDL and transformation shit written and sold on Amazon

>>23259573
Do you genuinely believe all the smut that has ever existed was written for women or something

>>23259593
Yes.

>>23259593
If we're talking about stuff written to market, that Anon is basically correct.
He's wrong in the sense of the shit that has (at least traditionally, since Patreon hates porn now, for some retarded reason) counted non-traditional markets.

>>23259559
So go personal issues.

>>23259130
Is this good

>>23259585
I don't mean pure sex stories (there is literotica for that) just here and there, keep the story spicy.

>>23259424
Is there anything good to recommend?

>>23259610
Yes.
>>23259618
No.

>>23259613
I hear your explanation, I insist upon my previous answer: If you're talking about stories written purely to market, published primarily mainstream, 'we're not women' is the correct answer.

You guys are fantasy fags, so is it beyond the realm of complete retardation to make Dwarves with an elemental association with fire instead of earth?

>>23259741
Lava is fire and comes from the Earth.
Lava Dwarves.

Things within the earth wheelhouse: metal, salt, gas, lava, rocks and dirt, mud, plants

Yeah how come "random sex scenes just for sexiness sake" are all over the place in movies, shows and games, but in books it seems like sex scenes are looked down upon unless it's smut or rape

>>23259788
>but in books it seems like sex scenes are looked down upon
I see you know nothing about Romance novels.
I envy you.

>>23259788
this nigga doesn't even know about romantasy

>>23259795
>>23259905
Basically smut

>>23259580
me. Read the first 3 pages of Tyll next

>>23259741
Bruh, it's literally called fantasy.
https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=1074

>>23259905
>>23259928
the only fantasy normies read

Can any sci-fags give me recommendations about encounters between astronauts and extraterrestrials/the unexplained, preferably on space stations or planetary colonies? Looking for stuff in a similar vein to pic related but it doesn't need to totally line up.

>>23259932
Tyll by who?

>>23260142
im guessing this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyll_(novel)

>>23260094
Rendezvous with Rama
Dragon's Egg

Is there a chrome app that screenshots the full screen and automatically saves the pictures in order? Even better if you can do it by clicking a button on the keyboard to make the process faster. I ask because I'd like to share pic related with anons who'd be interested in it. The author pulled the entire series off Jewmazon and I have no idea how to turn books in my Kindle Library into epubs so the only way to share it is to take screenshots of the pages.

Is Frankenstein unironically worth reading?

>>23260243
I've never read it and I don't think it's worth reading because it's just about an autistic guy being a necromancer.

>>23260219
Nevermind. I just discovered that holding down the windows button while pressing the print screen button will automatically save screenshots. Based.

>>23260209
Thank you!

>>23260272
>>23260219
You'll have to remove the DRM to convert it to anything. Screenshots would have to OCR'D and would have problems. I don't know that many would want to read it as images, but idk.

>>23260295
Well the only way to read this series (unless anons want to spend hundreds of dollars on used paperbacks) is from me screenshotting the pages from my kindle library. And I know an anon or two was interested in reading it some months back when I brought it up.

>>23260308
Beggars can't be choosers.

I exclusively read books written by old white men.

>>23260326
Exactly. But I could turn all these screenshots into a PDF though?

What's good fantasy with emphasis on wondrous forest settings?

>>23260336
Yes

>>23260393
And I just did.

>>23260386
Revelations of Zang

I just finished and enjoyed Mind Burn very much. Its about two detectives solving several cybercrimes in a cyberpunk society where everyone uses Neuralink and it controls aggression in humans so there are no more wars or violent crime, so the government now focuses on hackers who modify their neurodevices without permission.

>>23260659
Sounds wonderfully generic.

>>23260694
More like you got a severe case of shit taste.

>>23260774
I didn't say it sounded bad, you mean ass bitch.

https://ufile.io/v0ispy8m
Password: based

Here it is: the Deus Vult Wastelanders series.
The author pulled all five of these books off Amazon so this is pretty much the only way to read them now.
>What's it about?
Post-apocalypse Earth with Christian knights in power armor and other good characters fighting demons, devils, and evil sorcerers.
>How 'Christian' are the books?
Extremely, but they're full of action and violence. The last book is very different from the rest though and could be read as a standalone.
>Why is the file so big?
Because they're PDFs made from screenshots.

>>23257474
Finished the Bone series by Jeff Smith this week. Don't know if graphic novels count here but I highly recommend that series to anyone here who hasn't read it. Starts out like a cartoon comedy then slowly turns more serious and violent as the series goes on.

Any good 40k books? I've always dismissed novelizations of stuff like that but I read The Icewind Dale Trilogy and thought it was worthwhile so I'm up for trying some more.

>>23260828
https://ufile.io/3exphvbg
Password: alsobased

Decided to PDF another book I've been wanting to share with /sffg/ for a long time and it was also scrubbed completely from Amazon for being a bit too spicy so this is also the only way to read it.
>Imagine if David Cronenberg became a right-winger and decided to write a story about an alien invasion where the aliens could possibly be a not-so-subtle allegory for (((you know who))) while also exploring the CURRENT YEAR topic of trannies in the only way David Cronenberg could.

Just finished this. Surprised at how good it was.

>>23260874
People usually say the Eisenhorn Omnibus is good, but I haven't read it myself.

>>23260874
There are multiple 40k charts in the OP. You can also look up individual books and their ratings.

>>23260828
You can pull kindle books into Calibre and de-drm them. Much small files and actually text them.
Search for "dedrm" for info

>>23260936
Or you could just read the PDFs.

>>23260386
Memory Sorrow and Thorn

Since nobody can use shields on the desert of Arrakis because it drives the worms mad, why do they still use swords?

>>23261014
something something weirding way something ancient prophecy

>>23261014
Because Dune is a very stupid series and significant amounts of the story are shallow contrivances.

How's this? Sanderson is very cucked, so I'm wary.

>>23260989
>>23260497
thanks

>>23261042
Is that a joke? It's one of the highest rated and most read books here. However, since that's a concern for you, you won't like it.

>>23261042
It's basically a Marvel movie. If you like marvel movies and get super excited when your favorite kosher superhero SAYS THE LINE you'll probably like it. However, it will still require you to be able to put up with an enormous amount of padding and repetitive filler nonsense, including characters repeating the same exposition over and over again as if it's a low budget cartoon trying to pad runtime by reusing stock footage.
Also, it's got Shallan who is fucking awful, then apparently in one of the more recent ones Sanderson went on some massive 600 page tangent about muh mental health, but I dropped it before then.

I'm a fan of Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring.

What are some books for me?

>>23260850
Bone is great. Would recommend RASL if you aren't aware if it already.
Anyways I'm over halfway through pic related. It's great, I'm just not always in the mood to read it but it's getting easier to read as I get farther on. Next up is Terciel & Elinor by Garth Nix whenever my next amazon shipment comes in. With that one read I'll have finished all of the Old Kingdom books.

>>23261116
It's one of the most popular fantasy books by the most popular living fantasy writer. I think it's totally fair to wonder if it is pozzed. I also don't think you could call it highly rated here, even if it is widely read. The majority of /sffg/ posters would probably sooner shit on Sanderson than praise him for anything, aside from maybe his indisputable prolificness. It is very much the capeshit of fiction.

>>23261042
Mistborn is like reading a nerd's wet dream expository of a videogame combat system so I'm really hesitant to try anything else by him.

>>23261159
>>23261042
He is, and may Moronoi forgive me, a Fallout New Vegas fan.

>>23261139
Lords of Dyscrasia

Was this ever made in english? I don't wanna learn Polish.

>>23261139
Can't confirm but I have a very strong suspicion that Miyazaki was influenced by the "Dying Earth" sub-genre. If not, then I think he would be a huge fan if he read some of these titles.

>>23259741
Dwarves are famous for two things: digging and blacksmithing. Guess which elements you need?

>>23261150
Oh shit. Didn't know Jeff Smith had another story. Thanks for the rec

>>23261285
>бaйки poбoтoв
фaкинг кeк

why did nobody warn me that red rising is literally just ya slop

>>23261625
everyone warned you constantly every time it was mentioned

>>23261633
thanks i just wanted my opinion to be validated, i only come here infrequently so ive never seen it discussed.

>>23258121
>Hi, do you have any nonfiction about necromancer house? This one says it's a novel

>>23261640
the usual thought is "the first book is hunger games so the author could make $$$ and the sequels are legitimate SF" but I have no idea how true that is

>>23261650
then i will continue on

>>23261625
it’s good YA slop, and the next book is very different

There is no discernible difference between science fiction and space fantasy.

>>23261762
discern this

>>23261762
tropes

>>23261762
Discern deez nuts!

You can have a science fiction novel that is set in the real world but in the future, has advanced technology, space travel, and intelligent extraterrestrials, and doesn’t contain any magic or any supernatural, esoteric or occult themes, with the fantastic elements being derived from the futuristic nature of the world and its advanced technologies and that, and people will still claim it isn’t true science fiction because it lacks some narrative or thematic element that they pulled out of their ass.

>>23261811
>tropes define genres
wow really? thats crazy bro.

>>23261827
It’s only the highly vocal pedants who disagree, and it’s to them that my post was directed.

>>23261829
your post suggests otherwise writelet

Are portmanteaus the hallmark of female-dominated fantasy, branding-wise? E.g. no one calls scifi 'sciection', but there is romantasy.

>>23260828
>Password: based
pass. go back to r*ddit

>>23262280
Why do you think most portmanteus relate to feminine things.
>advertorial
>affluenza
>athleisure
>botox
>brunch
>cosplay
>froyo
>frenemy
>glamping
>hangry
>jeggings
>listicle
>mansplain
>mocktail
>motel
>romcon
>vlog

>>23262280
>>23262297
Also common for fandom "shipping" (Zutara, Dramione, etc.) which is entirely driven by girls and fags.

>>23260874
the nightlord trilogy

>>23262295
>pass. go back to r*ddit

>>23260828
>christian
No thanks

>>23262693
>No thanks

I know I know, we're all tired of the Dark Souls stuff but I'm kinda interested. Has anyone read this?

>>23262760
No but at least it has a cool cover. There was a trend of dark souls themed fantasy books? Can I have a few reccomendations?

>>23261139
>>23262760
>>23262980
I hate you faggots so much. It is called sword & sorcery and has been a thing since Gilgamesh/the Odyssey. A sad man walking the hostile world, cursed by god/gods and questing. Fucking retards

Read Tenebroum.

Any books/stories with lots of good monster descriptions?

>>23263008
The term sword and sorcery dates back to 1961. Its predecessor was the romantic hero, specifically the byronic hero, which was influenced by gothic fiction, and so on. You can't just say it's been a thing since ancient times. All specific literary movements are a product of their time and place. There's nothing wrong with saying something is the descendant of S&S.

>>23263008
sir im sorry but gilgamesh and the odyssey were not sword & sorcery
>a sad man walking the hostile world, cursed by god/gods and questing
not only does that not define the genre of sword & sorcery, it doesnt even describe gilgamesh or the odyssey

>>23263060
ya no shit im just laughing about this new term faggots use to describe something that has been around forever as dark souls.
>>23263064
they clearly are. How does it not define them? It's such a basic description it would describe many stories.

This is how it actually works.

>>23260094
The Remembrance of Earth trilogy.

>>23260884
>Surprised at how good it was.
how so?

>>23263052
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/S5Q/monster-girl-encyclopedia/

>>23261042
Read it and form your own opinion.

>>23263143
Oh, you sweet fool. You miss the point entirely. Sure, they could do that, but they want assurances that it doesn't contain a contagion that will taint them. They wish the retain the purity of their mind by not interacting with unclean ideals. In other words, it's like asking someone blindfolded to form their own opinion of whether a liquid is aqua or aqua regia by immersing themselves in it.

(note: this is wordplay, aqua regia, which means royal water, and way of kings)

>>23263164
tl;dr

>Wolfe, Moorcock, Tolkien, Asimov, Herbert, Aldiss, Tepper, GRRM, Peake, Vance, Le Guin, Blish, Asimov, Powers, Clarke, Niven, Heinlen,Gibson, Tad Williams, Erikson, Bakker, King, Ward Moore, Robert Jordan, Wyndham, Delany, Frederick Pohl, Matheson, Hodgson, HP Lovecraft, PKD, Stephenson, Vongt, Holdstock, Bradbury, Vonnegut, Ballard, Zelazny, Machen, Keith Roberts, M John Harrison.


These are all the authors on my sffg shelf what level would you say I'm at?

>>23263134
Erm....

>>23263192
level 6

>>23263192

I missed out Stanislaw Lem, Arkaday and Boris Strutgatsky, Susannah Clarke, Mieville, Zamyatin, Karel Capek, and Alfred Bester. My mistake

Is "the goblin corps" good

>>23263192
You're at the level in which you require validation by random internet strangers.

>>23263302
For you, quite possibly since you're asking about it. For most others, probably not.

>>23263312
Care to elaborate?

>>23263202

>>23263313
You have presented an obscure book on a niche topic. You intentionally sought out this particular book. Therefore you had an interest in it which means you're more likely to enjoy it than an arbitrary other.

If it were instead some popular book and you were asking the same question the answer would be the opposite.

>>23263333
You need to be throat raped

>>23263302
>>23263313
>>23263344
embarrassing

>>23263344
Threats that can't be carried out only demonstrate your own impotence.

>>23257702

The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula K Le Guin

>>23263383
It wasnt a threat, it was a real prescription

>>23263401
Well then! What is this prescription meant to remedy?

>>23263441
Your heterosexuality.

>>23263624
Not necessarily. Certainly a woman could do such a thing.

>>23263689
>woman
Not relevant.

>>23260386
haven't read it since I was a teen, but iirc there was a lot of forest setting in the Edge Chronicles.
I'd also recommend Walter Moers' Ensel Und Krete since it's great and entirely takes place in a wondrous forest, but it doesn't have an English translation. other books by Moers (13½ lives of Captain Bluebear, and Rumo) also take place in forest settings at times. but not as much.

>>23260850
Bone was fucking great. I remember getting the books out of my school library in the 5th or 6th grade. Now they got rid of all the books in the library and replaced them with Chromebooks for students to use

>>23263766
what the fuck

>>23263766
>Now they got rid of all the books in the library and replaced them with Chromebooks for students to use
What's the name of this book series?

Sorry to drag this in here, there was a r*ddit thread asking for fantasy that isn't samey, derivative bullshit and everyone was bending over backwards to keep from admitting that it was the case. They even tried to suggest all 10 or so alternatives outside that mould. I'll say nothing about that, but I will say I love you assholes because you can point that out up front.

>>23263928
most people here have the exact same taste as redditfags; where do you think they came from?

>>23263928
>asking for fantasy that isn't samey, derivative bullshit and everyone was bending over backwards to keep from admitting that it was the case
that what was the case?
>They even tried to suggest all 10 or so alternatives outside that mould.
what alternatives? you mean they actually had recs, which presumably was the point of the post? I hate reddit but I can barely comprehend what you're complaining about

>>23258027
I'm interested

/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.

/SFFG/ Recommendations: LITRPG Edition

Read Azarinth Healer, Primal Hunter, He Who Fights with Monsters, Dungeon Crawler Carl

Also read System Universe, Dissonance, Defiance of the Fall, Iron Prince

>>23263766
Libgen

>>23258090
Is this kinda like a dying earth book

>>23263192
read RA Lafferty next, start with Fourth Mansions

>>23263928
I think "A Shadow in Summer" by Daniel Abraham was pretty original. the prologue reads like a generic "magic school" story but the rest is nothing like that.

>>23264234
nta, but that's one of my favorite series.

>>23263987
Originality is heavily overrated. Well executed and well developed cliche can be perfectly compelling reading. Making originality your primary pursuit usually just results in authors asspulling shit just to subvert expectations.

>>23264398
the fags on /tv/ can't wrap their heads around this, they stretch and stretch the concept of originality to such a breaking point their hella f*ckin ebic unique worldbuilding comes out as completely incoherent 'dude my sentient plankton that rides out le heckin steeds of pure conceptualized thoughts from dreams in the future'

Anyone read any multiple pov books where the povs are from different points in time?
Was reading a light novel that tried this out with it being a kind of twist when you work it out but although the concept was cool it didn't really work in the text

>>23264507
japanese love this

>>23264507
plenty of hard scifi does this

>>23264507
Was it Baccano

>>23257474
Which hard(ish) science fiction authors have the best prose in /sffg/'s opinion?

>>23257474
Which hard(ish) science fiction authors have the best prose in /sffg/'s opinion?

>>23264507
Everything does this. TV,movies, books, games, and all else.

>>23264578
John Crowley

>>23264507
I read something where it was 2 povs that didn't give any indication that they were temporally different. The book ended with one pov killing the other pov. It turned out it was only one pov the entire time. The one pov assumed the identity of the other pov.

>>23264724
smells like Use of Weapons

Just finished The Rise of Endymion and with it the Hyperion series.
A steady decline in quality through the series but it started from such a high point even the end is decent enough imo

>female and/or black author
I do not read that book.

>>23265219
nased

>>23265219
you didn't need the last two words

Seveneves

So theres a bunch of undeground pale predominantly red-haired redneck/working class prepper descendants and they all are patriarchal bloodthirsty insane wife-beaters

This is all so tiresome

>>23265718
god I DNF'd that book HARD. for Stephenson you can start and stop at Anathem. but please.. try to change my mind. I do own The Diamond Age but I'm afraid to start it

>>23265763
While I haven't read it yet, I own a copy of Snow Crash so I'm hoping for the best too.

In your opinion, does a fantasy novel NEED to be 150k words or more and high stakes (preventing the end of the world or similar) to be successful and taken seriously? Is there a market for shorter, lower stakes fantasy?

>>23265782
>Is there a market for shorter, lower stakes fantasy?
No, people will not pay you money if they cannot get invested in your story.

>>23265782
Yes, but only for women.

>>23265782
>Is there a market for shorter, lower stakes fantasy?
Wasn't The Hobbit exactly that? The fate of Middle Earth shit wasn't a part of the narrative until nearly 2 decades later.

>>23265782
>>23265812
To clarify, a current trend is called "cozy fantasy"
Two examples:
Legends and Lattes 183k ratings
A Psalm for the Wild-Built 103k ratings. Really, anything Becky Chambers does.
There are many opportunities to follow whichever trend, they don't seem to be successful.

>>23265837
L&L got nepotism'd into success.

>>23265853
how so? nta but i'm reading it to see what cozy fantasy is about. was i somehow tricked?

>>23265853
Yet, it's a success all the same and what else matters?

>>23265864
Baldree is a voice actor for a lot of the more popular progression fantasy titles (like Cradle) and is an insipid insiduous FAGGOT who integrated himself into this community before putting out his book.
>>23265866
It's not natural by any means. Like Undertale.

>>23265864
nta, Best of luck with that.

>>23265876
What does being natural matter? Almost anything that claims to be such isn't anyway.

>>23265882
>What does being natural matter?
This. When I see the Hugo's handing out rewards to diverse stories only, I KNOW they won naturally.

>>23265882
>What does being natural matter?
It doesn't lol. Retards like that anon think nepotism is a magic wand that dazzles people into enjoying your output.

>>23265919
Why did you greentext a question and then not answer it?

>>23265925
Because he was agreeing with the premise of the question. You ESL?

>>23265934
>Because he was agreeing with the premise of the question.
No he wasn't, hence the sarcastic backhanded reply.
>You ESL?
Are you? I've noticed that ESLs have trouble picking up on obvious inferences.

>Baldree fan can't stop being obtuse and shitting up the thread
What a surprise!

>>23265952
>obtuseness is when someone doesn't entertain my dishonest bullshit
lol

>>23265782
Novels don't need to be long but paying the price that books cost now for a shorter one feels kinda ridiculous.
Like I did it for Flint & Mirror recently and I'm fine with that since its Crowley but if it was a lesser/less known author I'm probably not happy about buying a shorter book even though I know it's a ridiculous way to view things.
>>23265836
Even before the movies sexed it up the Battle of the Five Armies was still an event with continent wide impacts. Plus it's a traditional fantasy about a quest to steal a dragon's horde, there's really not much about it that is actually low stakes.

>>23265876
It's not nepotism if he "integrated himself into this community" by actually doing well received work lol

>>23265937
Why would the reply being sarcastic change anything? The premise of his post is an agreement, sincere or not. Also mocking the question is its own answer.

>>23266012
Stop being dishonest.

>>23266012
>Also mocking the question is its own answer.
Not if your mockery fails to address the question. You basically just repeated that "unnaturalness" is bad, which we already know you believe.

>>23266021
>stop using logic because it makes me feel bad

>>23265837
>>23265853
>>23265864
>>23265866
>>23265876
>>23265882
>>23265919
>>23265921
>>23265925
>>23265934
>>23265937
>>23265952
>>23265964
>>23266003
>>23266012
>>23266021
>>23266028
>>23266033
all me btw

>>23266033
>stop using logical
Ahahahaha. You know logic has very specific rules, right? You don't get to just say "I am logical, so there."

>>23266048
Your feels don't matter.

>>23266056
And? You aren't even pretending to engage with the conversation anymore. You're basically just typing random words.

>>23265763

Stephenson has always needed an editor to curb his tendency to overwrite, and failed to have one.

Snow Crash and DiamondAge are gems. And then he wrote more and more too long books. Seveneyes is meh.

>>23265866

This attitude is cause of the death of west civ

>>23266078
How?

>>23265882
>t. favorite book is Eragon

>>23266063
Nta.
Your feelings do not matter. These are words specifically directed at you.

>>23266085
>Your feelings do not matter.
What does that have to do with anything?

>>23266078
No, it's the cause of success of west civ.

>>23266028
Wasn't me but sure. In that specific case nepotism is entirely the wrong word, it has more to do with celebrity capital, which calls into question if the acclaim or popularity of a work is deserved. The sense in which "unnaturalness" is bad, is that it draws attention to something for reasons other than its merit. If a famous musician decides to become a novelist, his first book will probably sell well even if it is terrible, because there is an inbuilt audience and it will likely be marketed disproportionate to the authors experience or the book's worth. If every Hugo award is given to the author with the highest literary ESG score then the award loses value as a means to recognize quality. If an audiobook VA integrates himself into a community and then uses his minor celebrity there to draw attention to his own book, then there is a chance that the popularity of that book has more to do with his success as a voice actor than as a writer. It could also just be that he took advantage of the platform he was given. I haven't actually read that latte and legends shit so I have no clue. But the circumstances could easily lead one to be dismissive of its popularity.

>>23266110
Very dishonest answer.

>>23266028
>we
>you
This nigga has a system in his head, like a Sanderson character.

>>23266114
Which part?

>>23266114
Trump's influence on the English language has been a disaster for the semantics of online conversations.

>>23266110
>which calls into question if the acclaim or popularity of a work is deserved.
Only if you buy into the premise that acclaim and popularity should inherently be a metric of quality, which is obviously nonsense and can only happen in a pipe dream fantasy world.
>The sense in which "unnaturalness" is bad, is that it draws attention to something for reasons other than its merit.
It's virtually impossible to define "merit" in the context of art. It's all based on some vague notion of universal perception of aesthetic, which is significantly more flimsy than even the most flimsy soft sciences. In fact, it's not a science at all. That's why they call it an art.
>If a famous musician decides to become a novelist, his first book will probably sell well even if it is terrible
It will sell well among the demographics it was intended for. I don't see how that's a bad thing. That's just a market doing what a market does.
>it will likely be marketed disproportionate to the authors experience or the book's worth
What do these loaded terms even mean? How do you measure disproportionality between sales and the "quality" of art product? How do you measure a book's "worth"?
>If every Hugo award is given to the author with the highest literary ESG score then the award loses value as a means to recognize quality
Awards in the arts have always meant exactly fuck all. The entire concept was created by entrepreneurs looking at sports and saying "look at all the money they're making, let's figure out a way to exploit art in a similar way". Except, unlike sports, art has nowhere near the level of consistency or objectivity in identifying someone's value in performing it. The whole thing is super forced and barely useful to begin with.

>>23266139
Sadly, the 'meta', so to say, of internet discourse for the majority of the past 15 years has been to treat anybody who disagrees with anything you approve of with complete and utter disdain and contempt; all the while heralding your unique personal opinion as the only Truth. /lit/ only existed itself for a year or two before the redditfag immigration in 2011. Trumpshit is another layer of newfaggotry.

First new SF I've enjoyed in a while

I had to drop The Philosophers Stone, it was just going nowhere, really slow. It's going on the DNF list.

I started Solaris on audio book and have thoroughly enjoyed it so far.

>>23266143
Do you really think all creative works are of exactly equal quality? That every piece of fiction is equal to every other because of a supremacy of subject opinion? Is there really no metric(s) by which we can compare one work of art to another? You can make whatever claim for your own enjoyment but I think its silly to act like there is no way to say a piece of art can be any better or worse than another, especially when we are comparing like-things. It is far from a science, but you can't read some shitty web-novel and tell me its impossible to say for sure that Lord of the Rings is better. How do you usually find novels to read if you dismiss acclaim or popularity as good metrics? I'm genuinely curious.
From a publisher's perspective marketability IS all that matters. Eragon is blatantly a case of nepotism, but a publisher (first his own parents) saw the opportunity to push the narrative that some 14-year-old boy wonder wrote it, and despite it being a mediocre retelling of star wars with dragons, was able to sell millions of copies. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but it invalidates any claim that because something sells well it must be because it is good.
For awards, it's fair to say that they aren't helpful to you in identifying quality novels, but that is pretty indisputably the intent behind them. A prospective reader is supposed to be able to see that a novel was recognized for its quality by whichever awards committee and take that as a sign that it might be worth reading. When the people who give that award have their motivations compromised, whether by greed or social justice doesn't really change anything, then whatever value the award was meant to have is diminished.
I didn't say it was inherently a bad thing if a celebrity's novel gets boosted, just that it draws into question if the attention has anything to do with it being worth reading. I think as a reader of fiction when you are seeking out new things to read the quantity of fans or the critical acclaim surrounding the work are usually major markers for there being something interesting about it. But if the interesting thing isn't the book itself, but rather the circumstances of the author, then the appeal is lost.

>>23266212
Seems you didn't mind it being filled with pop culture references, quippy one liners, and all-too-contemporary language.

>>23266262
/lit/ has been full of normalfags longer than it hasn't. This shouldn't be of much surprise. He'll probably chastise you for not revering Jordan or GRRM as your favorite author next.

>>23266262
Yeah, that's why I included the Twitter logo. It took away from the book a bit but didn't suffer from those issues as much as other recent SF I've read.

>>23266268
>>23266262
It's pretty grim. Can't remember the last time I saw an earnest discussion here of authors like Le Guin, Delany, Zelazny, Sturgeon, Disch, etc. It's all lowest common denominator garbage (and tired circlejerking over Lem, Peake, Wolfe, Vance, Strugatskys). No aspiration to read anything bigger. Truly sad.

>>23266298
Le Guin And Zelazny are brought up often; can't say much for the others. Lurk moar. I see most circlejerking over Wolfe and Vance with the others barely mentioned but perhaps you refer to outer /lit/.

>>23266298

>>/lit/?task=search&search_text=Delany
>>/lit/?task=search&search_text=Zelazny
>>/lit/?task=search&search_text=Sturgeon
>>/lit/?task=search&search_text=Disch
>>/lit/?task=search&search_text=Guin
>>/lit/?task=search&search_text=LeGuin

>>23266342
>>/lit/?task=search&search_text=Delaney
Considering how many misspell his name.

>>23266298
There's a guy going on about reading Attanasio at the start of the thread, it just got buried under boring mostly offtopic screeching

>>23266448
>>23266298
>>23264230
>>23264711
No one wants to discuss Lafferty/Crowley/Attanasio because he is too highbrow. People only want to discus YA long series or ai chink harem dogshit.

>>23266298
What's the point in revisiting old discussions over and over again?

>Like Dragonball Z but wish it had a little more hard science fiction in it?
Well, no. What kind of braindead fuckwit thinks that DBZ needs more hard scifi?

>>23265782
>In your opinion, does a fantasy novel NEED to be 150k words or more and high stakes
No but if you don't write that kind of slop you won't appeal to /sffg/

>>23266701
You won't appeal to most of /sffg/ if you haven't already published your novel back in 1985.

What are your thoughts on this series? Worth reading after #1?

>>23266742
I thought the second book was alright. worse but still fine. only if you like nautical fantasy. book three was not worth reading. it has no stakes from the beginning and terminal simping

>>23266715
I wish I lived in your parallel universe where most of /sffg/ read anything <1985.

>>23266742
Even the author being based and beating his wife or whatever the allegations were couldn't save this series from being pretty shit, looking back.

How come slice of life isn't as much of a thing in the west as it is with anime

>>23266742
>SF/Fantasy fans will gobble it up.
I love when they put these back handed blurbs on covers lol.

>>23266815
Because most japs spend their lives enslaved to their jobs so just hanging out and not doing anything is considered a fantasy over there.

>>23266815
Apparently a lot of anime studios and publishers are dying due to really bad financial situation (I know 2 more weeks), but if true I hope all those who released slice of life stuff in the past become homeless bums.

>>23266815
You've missed the entire trend of "cozy" shit, huh. Cozy fantasy, cozy horror, cozy murder mysteries.

>>23266905
There was some recent article discussing how the average anime animator makes the equiv of $7/hour lol

alright, red rising was good ya slop. now to see if the next book is better.

>>23266910
>trusting an articles statistics

>>23266919
>trusting anything other than my personal opinion
Tell 'em, sister!

>>23266910
That's not bad considering the nonjob that they do.

>>23266916
>good
>ya slop

>>23266916
Enjoy it, you pig.

>>23266905
>I hope all those who released slice of life stuff in the past become homeless bums.
why

>>23267023
Because I hate slice of life anime

>>23267027
aw but I love it

>>23267029
I hope you become a homeless bum. You probably like shitty books too fuck you

>>23267027
But how will the studios fund ground breaking anime otherwise?

>>23267029
What a fag.

About book ''Blindsight'' by Peter Watts.
I remember there was a website where physics of this world was simulated. I no longer can find it, can someone help me out, please?

>>23266748
should I stop with the second one? I've heard the third one gets more political intrigue like which seems interesting, but the fact that there will (maybe) be 7 books in the series kinda puts me off from wanting to continue reading into it. after the first one, are they standalone or do they follow an arc of some sorts?

>>23267140
Nah seems like I got the wrong book.
What was that book called where the world was set in a different universe with different laws of physics? It was non-euclidean geometry I believe. The characters could only see partially and they had another person inside their head that could see perpendicularly and working together they were a functional being. They had to constantly physically lift and move houses because houses were at risk to get too close to x axis and get too stretched or something. I believe the people that did it were called movers. And the name of the book had ''nauts'' in it, I think.

>>23267143
there's an overarching storyline but the singular books are about their own shenanigans. the third book is just ass to me. they reveal very early on that the outcome of that book's heist has no effect on anything so there are no stakes and the romance is annoying as fuck. it's almost as bad as kingkiller's and that says something. plus lynch hasn't released a book in a decade so I don't think the story will go anywhere. I would probably quit after the first book desu

>>23267055
By not wasting money on slice of life garbage

>>23266905
good riddance

>>23267149
https://www.gregegan.net/DICHRONAUTS/DICHRONAUTS.html

>>23267055
SFF books about a Rei expy?

>>23266981
what do you call a runny shit?

>>23267465
>>23267465
>>23267465

>>23267221
Agreed

>>23265718
Sevensneeds is one of the worst books I've read.

>>23267825
2/3 of the book is amazing. The ending was shit. Stephenson can't finish a book to save his life.