/lit/ - Literature

>>23833333
>dem digits
once people complained before someone started a new thread before the last one was on page 10 and now it gets archived. I know it's the weekend, but come on guys.

>>23825596
Wtf this novel's synopsis sounds giga interesting, why is it the first time I hear about it? I think this novel will be the one to bring me back to reading novels(if I found a pdf/epub version)

Why does orbit website looks like a big pile of shitpost compared to literal venezuelan fishnet crafting imageboard? There's no explore button in there (there's catalog, but it displayed an empty page), there's a non clickable carousel filled with low effort design like 'hello adventurer', then 'hello quester', etc.
How am I supposed to discover a new fantasy book to consoom in there. Also give me a recs please

>>23833379
I still don't understand the appeal. It reads like a parody of shonen fighting anime, but it's supposed to be serious

>>23831810
Yes, I’m here! The series takes a pretty substantial turn when you hit Warrior’s Apprentice (#3.)

Whenever I start rereading any volume of the many, I just end up marathoning the whole series, so they all feel like one large ongoing volume, to me. There are definitely better and worse books interspersed, but the sense of humor and entirely unexpected depth at times remains consistent throughout.
The writing is maybe a bit more sf action-flavored in the first volumes, and nearer the end becomes a bit more explorative and mature, if I had to put my finger on it’s morphology.

The author’s still writing it, though I wouldn’t bet on future volumes being at all predictable, because another series is also being written in tandem, and it went from fresh action to dark and wrestling with difficult topics, to an entirely new start of startlingly refreshing action. The next book to come out (it happens to be for the Penric series,) reads in its sample just like the first volume of a great classically progressing sf/fantasy trilogy, so who knows what revitilization’s on the horizon for the Vorkosiverse. I never know the why of its’ particular arithmetic, but I love it all, very much.
(And loved Vorkosigan 150% more on its second read-through. I’ve felt both the physical and audiobook formats were equally good, by the way.)

If you enjoyed Shards, for sure keep going, keep going. It’s been a very long time since my first read through, but the series’ eccentricities seem to grow on you. None of the books wildly depart from the flavor of what you’ve experienced so far, except at the character’s changing of the guard in Apprentice, so if at any point you find you’d like to set it down because you feel it’s not for you, go for it (and no worries!)
I’m just very glad I’m not the only one who’s read the series, no matter the case.
Cheers, man.

any audiobook recs?
this request is not vague. it is explicit.

>>23833508
You have stuff like World War Z which should absolutely be experienced in audiobook since the novel itself is framed as transcribed audio interviews.

>>23833397
That's because you haven't read it.

Any good books with fading and decaying (Eastern European) aesthetics? Like Half-Life 2 or STALKER. Maybe something modern (I have read Strugatsky).

>>23833333
Malazan. Overrated or misunderstood?

what is the literary equivalent of Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon Parts One & Two (director's cuts)?

>>23833620
depending on who you ask, both

>>23833354
I haven't heard of the book either but surely you've heard of Bruce Sterling? He's one of the big names of 80s cyberpunk. I've been thinking of getting deeper into his works, the only thing I've read from him is The Difference Engine which he co-wrote with William Gibson.

>>23833638
Eragon

>>23833508
People keep gushing about DCC audiobook

>>23833568
Bend Sinister by Nabokov

>>23833508
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was a radio play before it was a book.

in your opinion is 'big bad alien returns' as an opener cliche?
i'm leaning towards it as a good method for prologue, intro, scene setting stuff. But is it a bit disconnected from the main characters as well?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VBTcDF1eVQ

Just finished Winter's Heart.
How the are the forsaken supposed to be a threat at all in the future? Rand has Callandor, the male Choedan Kal, half the continent is already either united under him or soon to be and now the source is clean of the taint too, so he's no longer at danger of going insane. Meanwhile the forsaken have literally nothing, they just keep losing because they choose to act only when Rand is at the peak of his power and getting continuously power crept on with each book.

The last chapter was a literal fucking clown show with the only casualties of the attempt to stop the cleansing being some 2 random zoomers and 1 forsaken being blown up by friendly fire because he was a fucking idiot. How is the last battle supposed to be some epic struggle for the fate of the world if these guys are the opponents? Rand had this shit in the bag since book 4.

>>23833830
>How the are the forsaken supposed to be a threat at all in the future?
This is a minor spoiler but The Forsaken were never really meant to accomplish anything, their entire purpose is just to make a mess of everything so the Dark One can engage his actual plan. The Forsaken are a giant distraction.

>so he's no longer at danger of going insane
Cleansing the taint doesn't heal the insanity, he's already completely off the deep end and it only gets worse.

>>23833759
I don't see why it would be bad. The only potential problem I can think of is that some readers would probably prefer to read about the first contact.
But it has worked before. Like the conflict in Ender's Game is something like the third war with the buggers, but the buggers aren't really the focus in the story.
It depends what you want the focus to be. If you don't want to write about humans learning about a new species then by all means skip the first contact stuff but then you need other meaty stuff to fill out the story.

>>23833508
Andy Serkis (Gollum) did LotR a few years ago and is probably the best audiobook I've listened to.

>>23833837
>spoiler
I guess their utterly moronic behavior makes sense if you think of it like that. They haven't actually done much to stop Rand at all so far other than the box incident and Shaido bullshit.
>Cleansing the taint doesn't heal the insanity, he's already completely off the deep end and it only gets worse.
Good to know that it isn't another power boost at least. I'm taking a detour right now to read New Spring, so it would be a little while before I could get that cleared out.

>>23833859
Don't do that, New Spring should be read last because it spoils a bunch of shit from the last couple of books.

>>23833865
>prequel that some people might read first spoils the ending of a 14 book long series
What did Jordan mean by this?

>>23833876
It's a prequel that was released after the series ended, that contains an explicit disclaimer that it shouldn't be read before the rest of the series.

>>23833885
But it released between book 10 and 11.

>>23833338
Looks like the thread makers are out or something. There was a moment this year where there were two threads up at once kek

>>23833830
Not to dishearten you but the Forsaken are never gonna be the most competent villains. There is only one exception and it only comes into play when Sanderson takes over.

It's funny how (spoilers up to Winter's Heart) **the few interesting Forsaken are either immediately killed or almost never used. Mainly Asmodean and Lanfear.**

In terms of how much of a threat they will be to Rand... well, you're gonna have to keep reading and find out. There are some pretty big threats that will appear in those last few books.

Any good Chinese fantasy that's a bit on the sadder side and includes lots of reminiscing the past, whether it was early chapters or old man reincarnated into the same world?

>>23833987
What is it with people looking for very specific prompts in their fantasy?

>>23834097
I'm on a journey to find the perfect cultivation novel

I bought a paperback Journey to the West from Amazon, and that motherfucker was missing pages. That was the last time I paid for literature

do any you "guys" follow any magazine? I'd like to find a cool one, non-woke of course

>>23834193
Check out Unreal Press

>>23833718
DCC is for Redditors.

>>23834271
He said "gushing;" he is a redditor

>>23834282
>He said "gushing;"
The semicolon goes outside the quotation mark, friend.

>>23833508
just avoid graphic audio

>anon has a very strong opinion on a book he has never read
A tale as old as time

>>23834337
On one hand yes because they're abridged, but on the other they're simply great productions.

i know it's not this simple. what are some more complicated aspects of switching from first person pov to third?
Original (1st Person):

"It is the custom in our city for the poor to be interred without ceremony in the necropolis. Their graves are shallow, and the bones of those who came before them are often disturbed to make room for new bodies. I have watched this process many times, and it never fails to remind me of the impermanence of our existence. The rich, of course, are given vaults or even tombs, and their bodies remain untouched."
Converted (3rd Person):

"It was the custom in their city for the poor to be interred without ceremony in the necropolis. Their graves were shallow, and the bones of those who came before were often disturbed to make room for new bodies. He had watched this process many times, and it never failed to remind him of the impermanence of existence. The rich, of course, were given vaults or even tombs, and their bodies remained untouched."

>>23833987
The Redemption of Time. But you’d have had to have begun with the Three Body Problem trilogy.

>>23833477
thanks, cheers & checked, yep I am finishing Shards today and will continue on!

>>23834295
No it doesn't lol

>>23833354
>>23833657
>Sterling
he puts lots of his stories in his Medium page
https://bruces.medium.com/before-and-after-mexico-f3371c346c8a
or reads them in Rudy Rucker's page
https://www.rudyrucker.com/ruckersterling/audio/

Besides royalroad why isn't there many novels like this in the west? It seems that some stuff from anime and anime-like stuff can translate over to the written medium. Stuff like power coming from within and training to improve the power instead of static power levels. Even if Sturgeon's law applies and 90% of it is crap.

I don't care about stuff with literary merit, that stuff's just too boring. I want my popcorn webnovels and light novels with power fantasy.

>>23834633
There's a place for both to exist. Some people just want more than just mindless entertainment.

>>23833718
>>23834271
>>23834282
what is dcc? i dont lurk daily in the fucking bakker circlejerk thread no offense

>>23834877
Dungeon crawler carl. Its a litrpg, thats barely litrpg. Its great if you want something light and fun

>>23834633
Why bother posting this? Read what you want without getting insecure.

Bakker Updates?

>>23834601
Yes, it does. You're quoting >>23833718, who didn't use a semicolon, so why are you including it in the quote? It doesn't belong there.

>>23834924
Arrested and executed.

>>23833333
Sleep and the Soul - Greg Egan (2023)

You and Whose Army? (2020)
Four brothers, quadruplets, have a neural link that shares their memories with each other while they sleep. One of the brothers shuts off their link and vanishes. Is someone the sum of their memories, or is there something more?
Ok

This Is Not the Way Home (2019)
A married couple win a trip to the moon. How will they get back? The practical physics problem seemed far more important than anything else.
Meh

Zeitgeber (2019)
Roughly 20% of people are no longer affected by any environmental timing cues, zeitgebers. The only circadian rhythm they acknowledge is their own. How will society be able to function?
Ok

Crisis Actors (2022)
His father has been taken in by a cure-all supplements scam and refuses to see the truth. He knows that he could never be fooled and always knows the truth. That's why he's going to expose the Big Lie. It's about how smart people can believe and do dumb things. The problem is that it's too reasonable while also being implausible.
Meh

Sleep and the Soul (2021)
In 1850, Jesse Sloss was a railroad worker in Connecticut. A blasting accident put him in a coma, so they buried him. He returned home to accusations of being a demon, so he set off to start his life anew. What follows is a tale of metaphors and medical advances.
Enjoyable

After Zero (2022)
From the ashes of decades of failed work, perhaps they may rise again phoenix-like to mitigate global warming. It's mostly lukewarm social commentary. Far too much happens between time skips.
Meh

Dream Factory (2022)
A new fad is for your cat to have a brain control device implanted. It's a hit among petfluencers, who have their cats do all sorts of wacky stunts. James believes this to be unethical and works toward cat liberation.
Ok

Light Up the Clouds (2021)
This reads like science fantasy. There's something strange going on with the physics and even more so with their physiology. A glider pilot sees that there's unnatural movement in the sky and declares that the cousins, the descendants of those who left the planet an unknowable time ago have returned. Thus begins a physics experiment to contact them.
Ok

Night Running (2023)
Luke has has been given a seemingly impossible task at work. In an attempt to maintain his sanity he takes a drug. It allows his unconscious to take over and do many things while he sleeps. He awakens fully refreshed after having done many productive activities while asleep. Before long, the problems begin.
Enjoyable

Solidity (2022)
Omar wakes up in a classroom and everything has changed. Whenever someone looks away they're in a new world that's slightly different. Everyone is constantly shifting between worlds. How will society be able to function? This is a neat idea, but the story is unsatisfying.
Ok

>>23835070
American imageboard dumbfuck, your "logical" punctuation bullshit sucks so we made it better, deal with it

>>23835182
From the Chicago Manual of Style, a style guide widely used for professional writing across America:
> "Colons and *semicolons*—unlike periods and commas—*follow closing quotation marks*; question marks and exclamation points follow closing quotation marks unless they belong within the quoted matter. "

>>23835134
we are SO back

Reading Reverend Insanity, when does he start burning children? Worst he's done so far is kill a slave who attacked him first.

>>23835210
Quit off-topic baiting about something you're wrong about, nobody's following Chicago or MLA or anything for posts on 4chan
If you do it the British way Americans complain, if you do it the American way Europoors complain
The only winning move is to not give a fuck about it

>>23835382
I am not wrong. In grammar, semicolons do not belong in quotation marks except if the sentence being quoted had it. Simple as.

>>23834199
huge delay on my response. Thanks, I'll check

>>23835467
>>23834199
Don't check out Unreal Press.
Here's why: >>/lit/?task=search&search_text=%22Unreal+Press%22

Does anyone have any recommendations for fantasy in the last 5 years that isn’t gay or is it all DEI slop now?

>>23835528
Nothing. You're better off reading fantasy books released before 2010

Any audio book reccs? I'm guessing something with less characters would be easier to follow? I have a lot of time doing manual labor and driving but not much time to actually read books these days. Prefer fantasy but I'd still try some scifi.

nb4 audio books aren't books.

>>23835577
Wrong. Fantasy ended in the 90s at the latest. Really should stick to 80s or earlier.

>>23835528
All DEI slop
Currently reading the pariah (2020 or 2021?) because this book has been mentioned several times in this general months ago so I give it a try, 300 pages in btw. I will post my review here as soon as I finished reading the book, but so far, the soft feminist undertones can be sniffed throughout the story, going side by side with the theme itself, to the point where it annoys me and led me to ring the bell again and again in my couch

>>23835613
Post best 80s book then

>>23835577
>>23835613
>>23835618

Then would you have any recommendations from the periods you all have mentioned or anything you like. I was on here a while ago and a friend had chewed me out for wanting to write without knowing of contemporary authors…but most stuff is just romance fantasy and all that other shit and it had the pseud bent to it of egalitarian or feminist leanings. Sanderson works just bore me and Shad, as much as I like the guy, his books are kind of boring.

From my research, everyone screams about Verisimilitude, but no one really knows how some things were.

I honestly just got tired of dealing with the redditards and came here.

>>23835642
Wolfe, vance, cook, assassin apprentice writer, that gilded chain writer, lots of them came from late 80s-early 90s fantasy scene.

>>23835642
Sounds you have woke DEI friends then and need to find new ones.

>>23835528
So you want a book that is straight white men only who are very masculine and are killing everything.

>>23835800
Sound so BIPOCphobic right

>>23833876
>>23833885
>>23833897
new spring doesnt spoil anything if you read the books in the order they were released. should be pretty obvious. i dont think its necessary though there might be one or two characters that get introduced in there somewhere and some character development you might want to know about
>incompetent Chosen
individually they are easily able to conquer kingdoms, so they could be a threat, unfortunately they are perfectly happy to scheme and hamper themselves as a whole than just conquer the planet

In another year or two, we'll be able to feed an AI a bunch of ebooks and let it finish all those longlost unfinished series.

>>23835935
truth shines

>>23833397
>parody
Brainlet
RI might have a ruthless amoral MC, but thematically it is a fullthroated adoration of heroism with even his lack of morality called into question

opinions on Mercedes Ritchie books?

Are Dunc books worth reading ?

Is Rune Lundin worth reading?

Is Side Nigga Catch Feeling worth reading?

>>23835528
Where do you even go to find new genre releases?

>>23836110
Award shortlists if you don't want AI slop, KU if you do.

>>23836125
but awards are all compromised garbage

>>23836125
>Award shortlists if you don't want AI slop
The former are on the same level as the latter.

>>23834904
>Dungeon Cuck Carl

>Litrpg
>Progression fantasy
I truly wish these had been around when i was a kid so i wasn't stuck reading boring fantasy stories where the protag gets cucked.
I hate JV Jones

>>23836201
>>23836224
any reasons you see fictional drama as personal insults?

>>23836201
I never read this because i can't relate to the protag being a chad

>>23836224
wait i just started Book of Words, the kid gets cucked?

>>23836296
Yeah he does.
Fantasy authors of that time were into that stuff.

>>23836224
Thats ok, he finds himself a curvy brown gf instead

>>23836047
The first one only, and keep your expectations low. It's overrated if you're not 15 years old.

Reminder: This is the only sci-fi award that means anything at all.

>>23833333
Just finished Neuromancer. Is it just me or is this really overrated? Was so poorly written and the imagery was more schizo and dreamlike than it was futuristic or cool. Gibson cannot write women for shit either.

>>23836408
It's you, steer away from cyberpunk and stick to chick-lit.

>>23835940
>Ruthless amoral
He's just acting

>>23835346
He burnt like 3 children only.

>>23836408
>Was so poorly written and the imagery was more schizo and dreamlike than it was futuristic or cool. Gibson cannot write women for shit either.
It's more because he doesn't know shit about technology.

Are there any good/free books I can listen to on youtube or download to pass the time at work? I'm not much of a reader but came to this thread to ask. Doesn't have to be SciFi/etc in general but I do like those. 2 years ago I read all of Wheel Of Time and enjoyed that as well as Three Body Problem.

>>23836467
All fictional characters are "just acting".

>>23835346
He killed very few people over the course of the entire story. Way more people die in popular western novels compared RI.

>>23836529
world war z

>>23833379
I should've picked this up earlier. Damn it's much better than I expected and I binged 200 chapters in a day.

>>23836224
You missed out on golden age of mmorpgs havent you?

>>23835909
>individually they are easily able to conquer kingdoms, so they could be a threat, unfortunately they are perfectly happy to scheme and hamper themselves as a whole than just conquer the planet
Yes, but there's literally one person in the world that can fuck them over so much that they cease to exist. You'd think that would be the one point that they could unify their efforts behind, If Rand wins none of them will rule over anything.
Rahvin alone almost did it, if he had just like 1 more forsaken with him to watch his back Rand would be some furry abomination in the world of dreams forever.

>>23835134
Egan is becoming a worse writer with age

>>23836934
He's certainly changed what he's writing about anyway. Aside from the magazine publications everything he does now is self-published, so that may be involved. I haven't read of any of his few newest novels yet, but they seem to all be in the "Let's do an experiment without any narrative really" mode so it's to be seen how it goes. Hopefully I'm wrong. It may also be the case that as people age they become more interested in the immediate future because they realize they don't have that much time left and are no longer interested in the speculative far future. I for one can't say I'm appreciative of Egan's KSR turn.

>>23836991
>self-published
so it were the old-timer editors who kept him in place
many such cases

most of Terry Pratchetts books aren't very good... I think he peaked with The Wee Free Men

>>23836934
that's what australia does to your soul

>>23837053
i really want to get out of this country

>>23836369
Love me some Project Rho

any updates on the new witcher book? I don't speak polish

>>23837452
Theres a new one?

>>23836529
Any public domain book will probably have an audiobook version done by some guy at this point.

>>23837033
I was always partial to the books involving the night watch

>>23837033
Not to mention the fact he created that wretched "daughter", his legacy isn't quite what I would call boastful.

>>23837452
why even care cuz it is not any sequel?
it gonna be as bad as how the cursed child was with harry potter series.

>>23837569
You're on /lit/. You can do better.

is there a phrase or trope for when in a series somehow the group of protagonists end up being the ones who have to save the world/day over and over?
I just find it frustrating some times.

>>23836408
It's not just you, I felt the same way

anyone got Tara of the Twilight? i cant find the full book, only 3 chapters on Anna.

what's the worst garbage you indulge in?
today i read a cross-over fanfiction and felt dirty

So fantasy dwarves are almost always Anglo-coded just due to Tolkien and Warhammer/Warcraft. I've been considering recently that a Chinese-inspired Dwarf Kingdom/Empire could be kind of based. I think it scans with the various tropes. They're great builders (The Great Wall, obvs.) and inventors (maybe some kind of Terra Cotta or Jade Automatons). They're short and surly. Feel like the cool armor and beard/stache combos you see on those Romance of the Three Kingdoms type generals would look good on a short, stout dwarf Warlord. Even the tradition of Chinese alchemy could be dwarf-y. They love boiling rocks and playing around with runes. Honestly writing this down has me thinking more about transposing Tolkienesque folklore onto Asian geography and culture.

Wanted to check out some Delany but found out he is a strong advocator of NAMBLA is making me have second thoughts of looking into his work.

>>23838246
Oh wow you're really mature for your age.

Sorry for the southpark quote couldn't resist. Just saw that episode like a month ago.

>>23834479
It's really that simple. The only question is what distance the narrator takes from the viewpoint character - in this, a key passage is "and it never failed to remind him of the impermanence of existence" where you're signaling the narrator is capable of knowing what the viewpoint character is thinking. Now ask yourself whether the narrator also knows what others are thinking. Omniscient vs. limited.

>>23837720
machine translated cross slash fiction

Is the Baroque trilogy good? It looks like a big commitment

Man, surely there are some new books that are worth reading through? We all run through the same series here constantly.

>>23839150
Piranesi is relatively new and it's pretty good.

>>23839161
>woman author
No and thank you!

>>23839150
>DAUGHTER OF THE MERCIFUL DEEP
>by Leslye Penelope

>A woman journeys into a submerged world of gods and myth to save her home in this powerful historical fantasy that shines a light on the drowned Black towns of the American South.

>‘Our home began, as all things do, with a wish.’

>Jane Edwards hasn’t spoken since she was eleven years old, when armed riders expelled her family from their hometown along with every other Black resident. Now, twelve years later, she’s found a haven in the all-Black town of Awenasa. But the construction of a dam promises to wash her home under the waters of the new lake.

>To save her community, Jane must journey into a sunken world. A land of capricious gods and unsung myths; of salvation and dreams made real. But the flood waters are rising and to gain the miracle she desires, Jane will have to find her voice again and finally face the trauma of the past.

>‘Penelope fuses magical realism, folklore and African American history into a profoundand rousing fantasy’ Publishers Weekly(starred review)

>‘A mesmerising tale that deftly blends history and magic’Nicole glover, author ofThe Conductors

>For more from Leslye Penelope, check out The Monsters We Defy.

>>23839174
I guess I'll stay in the past.

>>23839150
When the Side Nigga Catch Feelings

>>23839150
What do you think about all the new books I post about regularly?

>>23839173
When it comes to new books, your only options are women and "women"

>>23837003
As villainized as they are, editors are usually an integral part of the process.

>>23837569
>why even care cuz it is not any sequel?
this is sadly the same mindset I find myself whenever a new black company book is potentially brought up.

I'll get my monthly salary tomorrow, gibs me some fantasy book to consoom. I work corposlaving to get money so that I could consoom someone writing. Been thinking about getting black company omnibus but if anyone have a better recommendation please tell mee

>>23839150
How did you like my recommendation from 3 threads ago?

>>23839150
its serviceable

>>23839645
Dickriders of Porn by Anal M'Crackey

>>23834904
how is it barely litrpg, it has stats items infoboxes enemy descriptions inventory i can go on and on

>>23839780
Because the stats and level are all basically irrelevant after the first book. More recent ones don't even bother listing what Carl's stats actually are. It's LitRPG in the sense that he's stuck in a psychotic death game modeled after an RPG.

>>23839778
Words

Is the new dcc book supposed to come out next month? kemono got fucked so got no way to check updates

Currently Reading: Between Planets, by Heinlein
Then I'll take a nice break from Heinlein, as I am starting to run out of novels by him.
Next: The Martian Chronicles, by Bradbury

>>23839469
>this is sadly the same mindset I find myself whenever a new black company book is potentially brought up.
I did hear that the last one was terrible, that true?

>>23840036
>last one
How much black company novel out there? 5 isnt it?

Is this supposed to be like an incoherent fever dream compared to BotNS?

>>23840476
I meant Urth of the New Sun

>open /sffg/ Science Fiction & Fantasy General
>almost zero sci-fi
>some traditional fantasy
>mostly litrpg, wuxia, and modern fantasy

>>23837452
>>23837468
It's finished already.
>When will the new “The Witcher” be released?
>Like the title, the official release date is not yet known. At the end of 2023, however, it was reported that the new “The Witcher” would hit Polish bookstores in the last months of 2024. The world premiere would take place a few weeks later, in early 2025.

>>23835276
what is this shit? what's got sex to do with it

>>23840534
I'm not sure. On one hand, Egan's books can be considered to be such intense nerd shit that enjoying them is fundamentally incompatible with any degree of social adjustment and I would partially agree here in that every huge fan of Egan I know just so happens to be a totally desocialized IT-adjacent humanoid seemingly incapable of masturbation, much less intercourse.

But on the other hand, Egan's books feature sex and sexual issues very frequently and just as prominently. Then again, they are so awkward that it loops back to no conveying the feeling of no sex ever.

In general, Egan's creative work gives of two authorial vibes:
1. That's Egan sincerely, viscerally despises the seggs as it exists between human beings, and really wishes we could couple in some fundamentally different biogeometrically "neat" way.
2. That he really wishes that the universe was a simulation that he personally experiences.

>>23840562
There are no photos of me on the web. The world contains many people besides me who are named Greg Egan, and thanks to the idiots at Google and the trashy click-bait sites they rely on it’s possible to find images online of half a dozen different people that are labelled as “Australian SF writer Greg Egan,” but none are what they claim to be.

>>23840476
Urth is a more traditional scifi novel (than botns) for the first half, and then goes completely insane in the second half. Personally I thought the first half was fucking boring and the second half was beautiful. A little corny for making all the Christianity stuff so explicit when the first four books did such an elegant job tying them in, but still.

>>23840629
Reminder that his name isn't GReg EGan. It's a name he chose for its interesting properties.

He looked about the extravagant room, gesturing with his hands. He tried to laugh, then said, “S-some sorcerer’s tent, eh?” A sob knifed the back of his throat. “Wha-what will it be the next time I die? The Andi . . . Th-the Andiamine . . .”

>>23840782
He tries to be the DeLillo of Scifi

>>23840221
9....

I remember reading The Windup Girl long time ago. I liked the setting, but put it away 40 or so pages in cause some random things kept happening and I just lost interest.

Gave Bacigalupi second chance today, reading Pump Six and Other Stories. Started The Pasho, The Calorie Man, Yellow Card Man - and stopped reading few pages in. All three stories had the same issue: Interesting setting but sluggish action. Something which can (and should be) told over one page is being told over three pages. I also noticed literal repetition in two of these: Page one: MC is nervous cause hes late to important meeting. Page three: MC curses a delay because hes late to important meeting. Page one: MC breathes in dusty air to evoke nostalgia for a village hes returning to. Page three: MC again breathes in dusty air to evoke nostalgia for a village hes returning to.

The only thing Bacigalupis stories have going on is setting. Everything else is meh. Have I been filtered?
>pic unrelated

>>23841058
The Windup Girl is a fun, evocative setting but it's kind of mediocre otherwise, which matches your assessment of his other works. I've read that he skimped on the research on got some basic stuff about Thailand wrong, but I know nothing about Thailand anyway so this didn't bother me. The paranoid Chinese guy is the best character and his pov chapters almost make the rest of the book worth slogging through.

>>23841086
He was living in Thailand at the time.

>>23836224
the classic looking covers could have easily fooled me
what's the context of the cucking exactly?
Robin Hoob style?
>Litrpg
>Progression fantasy
A number of those also have cheating so it's not a definitive rule
Jake's backstory from the Primal hunter is that he got cheated on and consequently bear deep trust issues.
Carl from dungeon crawler also get cheated on.
i'm sure there are other examples to mention.
the one genra completly clean of this is harem lit,for obvious reasons.

>>23840814

A whore after all.

Are there any good TrueDetectiv-ish urban fantasy books? More esoteric/occult, dark, melancholic, philosophical.

I have read American Gods, Lovecraft, The Great God Pan, and that's all.

>>23841162
They’re not great but Dresden Files is urban fantasy in that vein

>>23841162
Seconding this. And recommending Kraken, King Rat and the City and the City by Mieville to you. Also check out three parts dead

>>23841271
Obligatory
>FUCK he is good.

>>23841268
Can I start with the fourth book? As I heard, the first three are pretty weak.

>>23841271
I'm reading Perdido Street Station now and I have mixed feelings. It's a hotchpotch of unnecessary things.

>>23841354
>Children_of_Time.png

>>23841342
Only read the first one and its pretty basic, thought it was written by a teenager and i wasnt all that wrong either

>>23840036
Port of Shadows? It's just a pointless interquel. Literally as even in-universe no one remembers the events.

In case you haven't tried it yet, LLMs like Llama and GPT are great at giving book recommendations if you tell them what you're looking for and a few books you like.
Have a good one lads.

How are isekai and litrpg so fucking popular? Every single popular and rising star on Royalroad is one or the other, or both. Do people really like eating shit?

>>23833568
Enchantment by Orson Scott Card

>>23836408
I don't think it's overrated, but you have to consider the time when it was published.
The idea of cyberspace didn't exist, cyberpunk didn't exist, computers weren't cool, AI was unheard of aside from a few sci-fi stories... so in context it was a lot more modern than it can feel now.
>poorly written
You might not like that style of writing, but Neuromancer is far from poorly written.
>Gibson cannot write women
There are two relevant women in the story, one being a junkie and a junkie's ex and the other being pretty much a hitman, surely they're not the most representative of a real modern day woman, and they're no less realistic than any other character.

>Do people really like eating shit?
why ask a question that you already know the answer to?

Which should I read next?
>Redwall
>Furies of calderon
>Pawn of prophecy
>The dragonbone chair
>The black prism

>>23836408
>Gibson cannot write women
opinion discarded

>>23841619
>AI was unheard of aside from a few sci-fi stories
It had been a massive trope in sci-fi for decades what are you talking about.
And he extrapolated cyberspace from the computer networks and virtual reality tech that already existed in real life.

Any recs for good aquatic SFF? As in characters IN the water, not naval or seafaring stories. Books with audiobooks and sea monsters would be even better.

>>23841791
None. Choose something better.

What was the name of that smut someone recommended constantly a while back. I can't remember the name and I deleted it. This kids mom is the queen and he fights a rock golem in like a sandstorm and his mother/the queen has like this weird purple reptile right hand girl. So do all the queens. And the queen communicates telepathically with the nonhuman girl.

>>23841979
It's best that you've forgotten it. You've the made the right choice. Don't second guess yourself. Let it go.

>>23841791
The Dragonbone Chair

>>23841791
>>23842041
Redwall is a based second choice, though.

>>23841791
>The black prism
Oof, I didn't like this author style since The Way of Shadows, in fact, I didn't finished that book because of that same reason
Thanks for your chart recommendation, /sffg/

Polling the retards here.
What are good addictions / idols for a spacer civilization?
I already have:
>a drug (life ender happiness replaced, rare)
>another drug (dopamine on steroids, common)
>racism (fuck vat-born)
>racism (fuck organic humans)
What other shit might cause disparity other than money?

>>23841342
>Perdido street station
I like it but I get what you mean. Mieville has too many ideas in his Bas-Lag series and it does feel convoluted at times. The second book (the Scar) is by far the best one. So if you dont like Perdido but you do like the world you should check it out. Its much more streamlined (still sprawling). His other books dont have the issue of 100 ideas having to fight for space. King Rat, Kraken and City & City really only have one plot and are more magic realism and less fantasy. Try reading King Rat

I tried Speculative Japan 2: The Man Who Watched the Sea and Other Tales of Japanese Science Fiction and Fantasy. I don't remember much but I remember starting a story which felt like slow-burn magical realism so I started another and it was again slow-burn magical realism and at that point I lost interest altogether. I also bought a Murakami book (not a scifi, I know) and hated it cause it was edgy and pretentious, and not in a good way. But surely there are some great english-translated short stories written outside of anglosphere?

I tried Speculative Japan 2: The Man Who Watched the Sea and Other Tales of Japanese Science Fiction and Fantasy. I don't remember much but I remember starting a story which felt like slow-burn magical realism so I started another and it was again slow-burn magical realism and at that point I lost interest altogether. I guess my fault for expecting scifi and not getting it. I also bought a Murakami book (not a scifi, I know) and hated it cause it was edgy and pretentious, and not in a good way. But surely there are some great english-translated scifi short stories written outside of anglosphere?

>>23841587
It's literally children reading those m8

>>23842095
That isn't racism.

>>23842186
There are and I've written and posted about them here.

>>23842095
gene-cleaned and natural,
time dilation between worlds cut off from each other, then rediscovered much, much later and both left to hugely diverge. maybe one’s still connected with the rest of civilization, and the other’s truly cut off and left to devolve.
or just your basic aliens vs aliens, not divergence but straight up first contact—> culture shock, tech differentials, differences in basic perception, enviro(long term->in low grav the bones stretch out over time without exercise regimens for example and short term->oxygen, tolerable pressures, earth-based bio material for food, h2o,/personal requirements for continued life, etc.
—feels like the biggest disparity, if you’re talking standard stuff
or you could even try going alt-universes, convergence of aliens on alt superstrings, dimensions, entirely transcendent modes of existence inhabiting entirely other spaces or non-spaces with wholly other sets of physical rules.

oh hey, i was just going with disparities, but as idols, whichever has the higher functioning end of the stick [ex. “transcendental. beings are gods?”] [ex. cut off world’s new barbarism vs. the wonders of technology, like medical aid] of the previous fired off ideas might serve you as helpful.

>>23842232
also eugenics and body mods, of course, the whole spectrum of standard to post-human

>>23842238
and displaced out of timers
(cryogenics, get injured in the war, frozen, and wake to another time, a whole new form of living.)

>>23842186
Chinese SF short fiction is still mostly based on the idea that it ought to be educational and practical, so most of it is hard SF. The government funds it a good bit with the hope that it'll less to new ideas and inspirations.

>>23842244
that’d be for the displaced to idolize the new tech normally, or maybe it’s the opposite, earth’s about to be hit with apocalypse, and those who can freeze a genetic sample and ship it out or bunk it down have a chance of saving something of themselves.
going to stop now, got to go.

>>23842250
just one more.
most of all that was location based, temporo-spatial, and the availabilities inherently present in each, but there’s also political-> family unit, neighborhood, district, country, society, race, species, planetary, universal, dimensional, string-based, temporal, meta author-based, conglomerative political bodies and capacities and all of the complications the haves and have-nots and gradations/permutations in who knows what knotted sf scape might apply notwithstanding
night, man.

book series where the female mc disguises herself as courtesan/dancer/harem to sneak into the bad guys lair?

>>23842301
Doesn't this happen at the end of GotM, sort of?

>>23841859
Rifters Seriesby by Peter Watts

>>23842095
Colonial politics. Earth vs colonies (Sol vs colonies if it's interstellar)
The old ones like racism and religious conflict aren't likely to go away in a long time. If israel and muslims go to space they'll bring their shit with them.
If there are aliens there will be xenophobes and xeno sympathizers. In Semper Mars the mere presence of ancient alien artifacts caused conflict.
As for addiction, in a far future setting they may have advanced VR. That's gotta be addictive as fuck.

>>23836408
It's not just you. I barely got through NM and Pattern Recognition made sure I never read Gibson again. PR is the biggest midwit novel I've ever read, it was hilariously bad.

>>23842095
>Idols
Do you know that clip of Alex Jones talking about AI and transdimensional demons? You can easily make new sects of current (or fictional) religions that worship/accept AI and others that think they are demonic etc.
>Addictions
I really like the concept of luciferum in rimworld, so Google it and maybe make something based on it

I'm craving a fantasy novel set in medieval-like kingdoms/empires with courts and battles-- something like The Byzantine Empire vs it's enemies. Whenever I Google for something like that, I get recommended the Gabriel Kay books but idk if they are good and which of them to read. I read Chain of Dogs and really want other fantasy novels with battles like chain of dogs but less autism from the other (which is the habit of Steven Erikson)

>>23843051
Nobody will recommend you a specific Kay book as a standout because they hit similar notes and pretty much consistently excellent. Since you're into Byzantium, you should try the Sarantine Mosaic duology.
One word of warning is that the Fionavar Tapestry and Ysabel are isekai.

>>23843051
The Gotrek and Felix novels, by William King. In term of Era it's firmly in the time period of Pike and Shot warfare, with added fantasy flair.
The stories themselves are some of the better Sword and Sorcery out of modern authors.
The human is Felix. He was a university student, bit of a fop, a bit of a fool, and he got involved in some ill-advised political activism (protesting against the Emperor's Window tax), which the emperor responded to with a cavalry charge. By chance, Gotrek bailed him out and they went on a bit of a bender. Gotrek is a Slayer, a Dwarf who has taken an oath to seek death in unequal combat against the forces of darkness, and Felix drunkenly makes an oath to chronicle his demise.
They plot follows the two as Gotrek searches out rumors of great evils and goes after them trying to meet his doom, and Felix tags along, because even if he's a bit of a fool, he's not oathbreaker.

The Empire in the Warhammer setting is directly inspired by the Byzantines, but with a bit more technology courtesy of the Dwarfs. The first major plot arc is their journey to find a lost Dwarf city called Karak Eight Peaks which is rumored to be inhabited by a giant Troll.

This series has less large scale warfare than something like Malazan and mostly focuses on Sword and Sorcery/dark fantasy type stuff though.

I really like Alastair Reynolds. What other sci-fi should I check that has similar dark tones? I like how complex his characters are.

>>23843243
I thought the Warhammer Empire was supposed to be the Holy Roman Empire. They have elector counts and landsknechts and shit.

>>23843069
Nobody will recommend a Kay book because they're too fucking boring

>>23843243
>>23843725
Bit of both in a sense the Empire is beset on all sides and diplomacy is just as important, but it is visually more fantasy HRE. As far as fantasy empires go it's actually fairly interesting and not just "medieval Europe" image you might have when you hear about it.

>>23843706
>I like how complex his characters are.
Overwritten does not equal complex.

>>23843773
The complexity stems from their actions, he doesn't spend a lot of time describing them in a vacuum.

>>23843706
Reynolds is my all-time favorite. Perfect taste, man. If you haven’t, try China Mieville (feels the most similar at times,) Frank Herbert (not just the Dune cycle, the other single-volume works and single prequel, too,) Peter Watts, my second favorite, who also has similarities, and Liu Cixin (Three Body series, single volumes, and short stories.) Harkaway’s Gnomon also felt a little like it. Haven’t read his other work yet, though. Ted Chiang’s as immersive, but without the darker tones. Enjoy.

>>23843706
Buck Rogers

>>23843243
>The Gotrek and Felix novels, by William King.
All great novels (except maybe Giatslayer with its abrupt ending).
I would also recommend the sequels, written by Nathan Long.

>his MC doesn't even court death!

Knight of Valora anon, I have read to chapter 20. I'll say this. It gets better and it's forcing me to actually go back to previous chapters to find hints and foreshadowing. Your writing also improves and the jokes and comedic scenes did get a chuckle out of me. I also like how everything is from Adahs point of view and there isn't any narrative about how she feels or some omniscient presence telling us anything. It's been a very interesting read that trickles in world building with MC development.

Adah has manaburn doesn't she? It's vaguely hinted at, but yet obvious. Having Basilica as her buddy cop would have made for better lesbian vibes than mentor/teacher vibes with the new character. But good job sticking through with it and making a coherent story. It reminds me a lot of old JRPGs with on the nose names and fast world building and characters. I'll post a final review when I'm done.

>>23839173
Not him, but it's one of the few books written by a womb that is actually pretty alright.

>>23838246
Read Hogg.

>>23837720
Mass media tie-in fiction is probably about as low as I've gone. Unless we consider creepy copypastas to be worse.

Books about a journey through the countryside during a war?
ASOIF has it (Arya/Brienne/Jaime/etc), the Witcher has it, Gemmell's Waylander has it (as I remember). I would like something down-to-earth and atmospheric, like events in Martin's Riverlands and North.

trying to download some scifi books... why are some epubs 2.5mb while some are 0.5mb for the same book? (in this case left hand of darkness)

>>23845289
maybe one has pictures

>>23837720
manhwa smut. It's so good and the story lines can be interesting sometimes, but holy hell am I glad that no one knows that I read it lmfao.

>>23845290
thanks, anon. That makes sense.

>>23845289
In my experience, the low file size ones usually have all the formatting stripped out, makes it a pain to navigate.

Deciding which to cross off my list next: Dying Earth or Jurassic Park. Which way do I go?

>>23845354
Dying Earth. Just watch the Jurassic Park movies

The best apocalypses are apolcaypses of absence, rather than nuclear ones.

Which of the 4 brando books was the best?

Has Tolkien, or Jackson's representation of him, ever been surpassed?

So I started getting into litrpg. Now when that initial "look, it's mmorpg but as a serial" feeling of novelty is starting to wash off, what's the point? Is it supposed to basically be adventure fiction? Why would I read that when I can play a game, or interactive fiction or go over to >>>/qst/.

>>23845488
>what's the point
To try to appeal to gamers with something interesting that speaks their language
>why would you read it
The innate limitations of games, where crpgs force your character to fit into one of two or even one of one molds.

>>23845371
Is the JP book not worth the read?

>>23845492
Aside from the opening hospital scene, I wouldn't say that you're missing much.

>>23845507
Incidentally, you just described End of Evangelion.

>>23845553
EoE is kino is fuck. Asuka's battle with the mass produced Evas is one of the greatest scenes in all of anime.

The fuck are you on about?

>>23845559
It's an annoyingly dark and edgy fanservice. I don't consider it canon.

>>23845567
>I'm a fucking faggot
Say no more.

>>23842579
i don't remember that scene. it's been a long time since i read the book. can you give me a qrd?

>>23844255
thanks anon i appreciate the read

>>23845488
They're for kids who are very comfortable with those concepts and don't want to step outside of them, and writers who can't write outside of very tightly defined limitations.

>>23844345
Slaughterhouse 5.

>>23845490
>The innate limitations of games, where crpgs force your character to fit into one of two or even one of one molds.
So the writers are so lacking in originality that not only do they not want originality, but also actively seek retreading the familiar.

>>23845488
As a fan it's because they take what we thought mmorpgs would be (not what they are today) and present stories around them.

It's not WoW , it's what we thought mmorpgs would be in 20 years back when we were kids. That's good escapism for me.

>>23846477
Make whatever argument you want.
They saw a market opening, they are trying to exploit it, and it is working well enough that others want to try.

>>23833397
Out of all the potential criticisms you choose the one that can barely latch on for the first 25 chapters lmao

>>23834117
>>23835346
Ngl you got told poorly but he does eventually do that. He’s extremely practical, not a psychopath. If he could achieve his goals by creating the best orphanage in the world, he would in a heartbeat. I believe you’re looking for around the 70 and 120 chapter marks

>>23834629
Cause people emulating anime is more common than actually trying to write a story simply using that format. You’ll basically just end up with stuff like a thousand li that’s either just raw cultivation tropes or endless dick punching instead of an actual story. A tv tropes page as a book isn’t good but it’s exactly what would be spewed out by westerners without the background to understand the culture behind the stories

>>23841342
They’re weak but book 2 is the only one that I would consider actually bad. 4 is a soft reboot of the series though it misses out on some of the strong character moments in the first 3

>>23841791
Codex alera is good but if anyone cares about audiobooks, the narrator for it is fucking garbage especially compared to Dresden files. She legitimately ruins every serious scene in those books in her attempts to fake the voice of a guy. She sounds like a fucking child trying to sound like a grown man

I've started reading GRRMs Thousand World stuff, starting with Tuf Voyaging, and it's fantastic. He really captures the same sense of a galaxy full of fun adventure that Vance was so good at. Tuf is still my favorite, though Sandkings and A Song For Lya were excellent stories.
Need to read Way of Cross and Dragon next.

Do we like progression fantasy/litrpg here

>>23847229
No that’s gay. Read xianxia like a real man or titted American or at the very least read the actual rpg books from Asia instead of the miserable shit the west produces

>>23847229
I like progression fantasy
I hate litrpg with a passion

>>23847229
No

>>23839174
Any clue how successful those types of book are on the market?

Anyone know where I can read this?

>>23847229
love it. it's the only books we read here

What is the origin of "The Matrix" in literature? I'm talking about a book that includes a story with a simulated reality.

>litrpg
>protag is a 35 year old wageslave whose girlfriend dumped him and now he gets superpowers
People actually like this slop?

Imagine being a webnovel author who is trying to shill your novel and you have to admit that your main character is a lesbian teenage girl.
Just admit you're transgender at that point.

>>23847229
Yes

>>23847551
Nobody is reading non lit RPG stories. Because:
1. Woman
2. Not littpg
3. Not Tolkien
4. Slop slop slop slop you have more fun shit posting than picking up a book

>>23847229
No, I don't read anything that started later than the 1990s.

>>23836224
In the context of JV Jones, what does that mean? Does it mean the girl the protag liked doesn't like him back or what? It seems cucking in SFFG means literally any moment a girl doesn't reciprocate a feeling.

>>23847524
Plato's allegory of the cave

>>23841162
The Black Veldt by Michael Reyes

>>23841162
>True Detective-ish
Well, the creator of the first season cited Laird Barron as a heavy influence so I'd suggest his short story collections/novels specifically Occultation, The Imago Sequence, The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All and The Croning.

I guess you could also read hid Colridge novels too but I've never read them myself so I don't know what they're actually like.

>>23847229
>litrp
in all honesty I enjoyed cinnamon bun

>>23847775
Nah the main characters love interest literally had sex with another man

>Grimdark
>Noblebright
>Nobledark
>Grimbright

>>23848280
The only grimbright setting i've ever seen is prequel era star wars.

When will this cunt publish a book?
The fucking last book he published didn't even get an audiobook release, and I am still waiting on the next Daniel Black book.

Any good sci-fi horror recommendations?

>>23848395
Metro 2033

Anyone got any good Military-sci-fi with power armour. Which isn’t Heinlein or Warhammer 40-gay

>>23848389
stop
reading
series
read
standalone
novels

>>23848443
have you read forever war?

to the anons who I was talking to about Greg Egann a few weeks back, who suggested me to read Zendegi. I now know why he does not write characters or drama. It makes perfect sense.

>>23848472
I don't think anyone was suggesting Zendegi. Probably warning you about it if anything.

>>23848481
It's written like a character.ai script, "I wanted to PUNCH HIM (but of course I couldn't, that wouldn't be social acceptable and besides, it wouldn't be morally right anyways...), so instead I just stood there and did nothing"

It's exhausting to read. I am convinced that he is either indian, autistic, or both after reading this book. Obviously in his better books the characters still say stupid shit like that, but they're never the main focus. In this it's 90% character drama and 10% scifi, it's horrible

>>23845476
He has, by le Pringles guy

>>23848492
An autistic person would just punch them.
An Indian man would just shit in the street, and his opinion is invalid.

>>23839173
It's actually kino, cope and seethe.

>they're just singing while killing people
Fuck the Rohirrim are based.
I can see how DnD made bards sing during combat.

>>23848548
fair enough, I just meant there's this insane over analysis of every minor social situation. Funny enough sometimes it's value add and interesting, but the vast majority of time it is retarded

I'm enjoying New Spring. Going back to just 3 main characters and a few side ones tied to them is such a breath of fresh air after how bloated the main story has become by book 9.
Sure, absolutely nothing has fucking happened by chapter 15/26 other than the Aes Sedai test, yet for some reason I find myself liking the pointless yapping here as opposed to when it's done by Egwene and Elayne.

>>23848452
No Valora anon
I will not read your standalone slop.

Stop reading generals. Read standalone threads.

Just finished this, overall quite entertaining.
But holy shit what a god AWFUL ending. What the fuck, Parker? Was he going for bathos or something? Felt like an entire third act was missing. I've read some of his short story collections and novellas before, and they were all very good with some darkly ironic endings, but this was shit. I literally dreamt an ending of this book a few days after I started it, and the dream would've been a better ending. Are all his novels like this?

>>23848844
And to add to this, He included a translator's note and completely fumbled the opportunity to get over the epistolary format and give some kind of closure, but it was completely pointless! It literally didn't say anything aside from "uhhhhh well maybe Orhan was real." Parker, hire me to write your endings, this was ass. I'm mad as shit. Still gonna read the next book.

>>23843069
Kay is a pretentious hack rewriting exact history events in addition to the fedora tipping tier simping toward all his female characters, get some fucking taste holy shit you goddamn numbskulls

>>23848757
>continues to read unfinished/bloated series slop
lmao

Books that are similar to the pure link that is red rising?

>>23848905
What does link mean faggot

>>23848586
The virgin Parshendi chanter vs the chad horse-lord saga skald

>>23848443
Battletech

>>23848464
That one is more gay than 40k tho, both allegorically (war bad) and literally (male penis in male asshole). Still a good book, ofc.

>>23848280
It's just this incessant desire to boil everything down to one word versus actually writing a blurb describing the damn thing.

This was alright, although it did feel like reading the kind of fantasy that was on TV in the 2000s. I accidentally got invested in the plot, and some of the reveals nearer the end surprised me because I'd pegged the book as not being ambitious enough to go for it. Pleasantly surprised. Glad I could picked up the very last book of the series though as there's no way I'd have slogged through the preceding 5 books just to get here.

What's this board's honest opinion on Scalzi? I once tried that Kaiju book but, while I was irritated with some characters, I noped out as soon as some enbie char showed up.

>>23850213
Old Man’s War fucking sucked

>>23850213
He's terminally reddit pilled

new thread
>>23850317