/lit/ - Literature

>>6591682
>without a do

>>6591691
Well thats embarassing. Oh well too late to delete this

>>6591682
recent haul

>>6591755
Sweet. Get em for a bargain?

>>6591767
Normal bookshop price, I live in the bush and every time I go to the city I bring back a big pile. There is a really good SF and Fantasy bookshop in Perth called White Dwarf and they're my main source. Also Galaxy Bookshop in Sydney

>What SF/F books are you currently reading?
Rendezvous with Rama

>What SF/F books have you read this year?
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Childhood's End, and The Sirens of Titan

>Who are your favorite SF/F authors?
Clarke
>Recent purchases?
2001, The Mote in God's Eye
>What is your favorite subgenre of SF/F?
First contacts are nice

>>6591755
This is probably a dumb question, but are SF Masterworks editions any better than normal editions? What sets them apart?

>none, last thing i finished was the book of the short sun by gene wolfe
>entire solar cycle (reread of them all), first two viriconium books, zothique by clark ashton smith (reread as well)
>gene wolfe, cas, lord dunsany, jack vance, michael moorcock, fritz leiber, jrr tolkien
>light by m john harrison, nothing else sf/f
>don't keep up with most current sf/f writers, a borrowed man by gene wolfe is probably the only thing
>science fantasy, sword and sorcery

>>6591682
>What SF/F books are you currently reading?
Gardens of the Moon, almost done, bretty good but I dreaded it for the first 200 pages.
>What SF/F books have you read this year?
Red, Blue and Green Mars. Revelation Space. Neuromancer. Flowers for Algernon. The latter two books of the Foundation trilogy. Planet of the Damned. Jurassic Park. Congo. I guess Borges borders on SF/F sometimes.
>Who are your favorite SF/F authors?
I've only really been getting into SF/F recently so it's a bit early to make any solid opinions. I enjoyed Neuromancer most though, I'm looking forward to reading more Gibson.
>Recent purchases?
I got the ASoIaF boxset recently, not sure when I'll get around to it. I got a few LeGuin books too.
>Upcoming releases you're excited for?
I feel like I have too much to catch up on to be exciting for anything new.
>What is your favorite subgenre of SF/F?
Space Opera? I'm not sure.

>>6591770
>tfw no speciality shops in your area

I only got the local chain bookstore. It doesnt even have a fucking Conan/Howard collection in stock.

>>6591755
I've got a few of these and I really hate the spine design, it's so bland.

>>6591780
how was the mars trilogy? i've been thinking about reading it for a while.

>>6591682
>What SF/F books are you currently reading
Dune, but i am lazing it.

>What SF/F books have you read this year?
A fuckton, just remember now The penultimate truth, stand on zanzibar and some short stories by meme wolfe.

>Who are your favorite SF/F authors?
At present Gibson and Dick

>Recent purchases?
A neuromancer hardcover and more Dick books

>Upcoming releases you're excited for?
I dont know what happen with scifi since the 90s, so that.

>What is your favorite subgenre of SF/F?
Cyberpunk at large, i find a dreamy feeling in it.
>>6591789
Yeah same, if at least the hardcovers were sewn together.

>>6591795
I enjoyed it but it can be really dry. Too often KSR will talk about rock formations for what feels like pages at a time.
A lot of people seem to dislike the characters as well but I thought they were pretty well written.
I'd recommend it but only if you're fine with a lot of background information. Did I really need to know about a dozen different types of impact crater, or how gas levels affect lichen growth? Probably not, but it was well written. I honestly feel like I know a lot more about Mars than I did when I started.
Also lots of politics.

I'm reading Paradise Lost right, depending on the broadness of your SF/F definition that might count.

This year I have read Perdido Street Station, The City & the City, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Ubik, The Man in the High Castle, Saga: A Novel of Medieval Iceland, and Tehanu.

My favorite SF/F author is Le Guin, I am looking forward to finishing the Earthsea books this year and reading 3-4 more of the Hainish Cycle books.

I also own but haven't read yet (and probably will sometime this year): Snow Crash, The Star Fraction, Book of the Long Sun, Ada or Ardor, 2312, Shalimar the Clown, Stranger in a Strange Land, and Masters of Atlantis.

I just got a copy of The Buried Giant and I'm looking forward to that one very much. Ishiguro is one of my favorite authors and I'm excited to see how he does fantasy.

I like speculative social-sci-fi...Mieville's The City & the City and Le Guin's The Dispossessed are good examples of what I look for in SF/F. New societies and ways to live that are different from our own but familiar. I'm less interested in what kind of lasers we have, and more interested in what that means for how we organize our society.

>>6591833
>Paradise Lost
>scifi
explain please, i don't think the fallen angel weapons are enough for call it scifi.

>>6591831
i want to learn about all of those things
i'll get them at the bookstore tomorrow, thanks anon

>>6591838
oh I was thinking it was semi-fantasy, not SF

>>6591838
>Science fiction and fantasy

More people need to read Gormenghast. I was really surprised when Wolfe got popular here and id be tickled pink if the same happened for Peake. Theyre about equal in quality.

Can anyone recommend me some Science fantasy? BOTNS is on the list already.

>What SF/F books are you currently reading?

Well this is coming up next on the list: Poseidon's Wake (Poseidons Children 3) by Alastair Reynolds

The series I think was supposed to end on book 2, and was a vast improvement in creating real characters you felt emotionally involved with compared to his earlier 'hard sci-fi' works and 80s' style cyber goths.

This one I got a bad feeling about however as the summary doesn't features much of the well crafted story of the first two books, but I'll try it for the sake of completing the series.

>>6591682
Reading The Forever War right now. It's pretty entertaining for a space Vietnam.

>>6591833
>Perdido

Did you notice how many dialog tags are "hiss," or "hissed?"

Fucking everyone is hissing in the book. It ruined an otherwise entertaining book.

>>6592461
if you don't mind well-written books for kids, Pullman's His Dark Materials and L'Engle's Time Quartet are the best examples of science fantasy I've read outside the Wolfeman

>>6592493
Definitely - Mieville has a bunch of tics that get in the way of what can otherwise be quite good prose.

My hope is that he lost some of them, or found a better editor, before the rest of the Bas-Lag novels (which I'm planning to read). I thought the writing in The City & the City was markedly better.

>>6592506
I'm so happy someone else noticed. The characters in the book can't go 3 pages without hissing. Shitty dialog tags completely kill fiction for me. Especially animal sounds, like "roar," "purr," etc.

But "hiss" is the worst.

>tfw local library only has book one and two of Dune

>>6591682

>What SF/F books are you currently reading
None at the minute but I'll probably read Children of Dune or first volume of Book of the New Sun
>What SF/F books have you read this year?
Can 100 Years of Solitude be counted as slight fantasy? For science fiction I've read War With the Newts by Capek, I think he's very underrated and I can see how much he influenced Vonnegut and Dune Messiah which I didn't think was all that great outside of a few scenes. Also Children of Men which was pretty cool.

I've been interested in the dying Earth field, which would you say are essential? I know Jack Vance gets thrown around a lot but I'm not sure which of his books to start reading and I know this is probably some vintage sci-fi stuff I'm throwing out here but has anyone read Slan? I've thought of reading it but was worried it might be a little dated.

>>6591682
>What SF/F books are you currently reading
The Worm Ouroboros, at the recommendation of some faggots on /tg/. It's pretty damn good.
>What SF/F books have you read this year?
Fuck, I'm terrible at remembering this kind of thing. Well, the book I read before TWO was Neuromancer, which was great (I personally like pulpy shit like that).
>>6592529
Book one is the only one you should ever read.

>>6592499
You mean
>If you don't mind (anti) religious allegory being dropped on your head like fifty anvils

>>6592564
Oh, I also read Farmer Giles of Ham as well as Lest Darkness Fall, if that counts- both because I'd heard about them and was curious, seeing as it doesn't exactly take long to read them.

>>6592564
So Messiah, Children, God Emperor, etc... are as bad as book 2?

>>6592573

Anon above you, I just thought Dune Messiah didn't have a lot of what made the original Dune great, it was lacking something. Still an okay read just not that wonderful. I haven't read the others to comment on their quality.

The Worm Ouroboros is one that I've been interested in for a while, Tolkein mentioned how it influenced him quite a lot, are there a lot of notable ways in which it did?

>>6591775
>The Mote in God's Eye
You're in for a treat, that's a really solid first-contact read.

>>6592579
Well, it was an early fantasy book- it came out in 1923. It was heavily inspired by Norse mythology, which probably inspired Tolkien to write a book inspired by Anglo-Saxon mythology. Plus it was one of those books that was written in medieval style because it was influenced by medieval works, although it uses much more modern terminology than, say, Keats. It's quite a sword-and-sorcery story though (from what I've read so far), so don't buy it expecting to read Tolkien v0.5 or something.

It has such wondrously named countries to explore as Demonland, Elfland, Goblinland and Witchland. The different "races" are more like different peoples.

>>6592573
They tend to go down hill. And do NOT read the books not by Frank Herbert.

>>6592566
Nothing wrong with that, especially if it saves a few children from life-long idiocy.

>>6592566
>>6593159
His Dark Materials have always struck me as deeply Catholic books; they are nominally (and explicitly) anti-religious, but so shot through with Christian and Miltonian influence that I can't help but thinking of them as essentially Catholic works.

It's like...if you wrote a whole series about how Zeus was a dick, you're still writing basically Greek mythological fiction, you know? It's heretical Catholicism, but it's still Catholicism.

Anyway, they're good books, and I'm Catholic.

>>6594033
No, it's only Catholicism as seen through Blake
>>6594033
>if you wrote a whole series about how Zeus was a dick
Zeus WAS a dick. A corresponding comparison would be writing a whole series about how Zeus was a powerless faggot and actually a virgin, and that wouldn't well be Greek mythology anymore.

>>6591682

>What SF/F books are you currently reading
>What SF/F books have you read this year?
Shadow and Claw, The Martian (ended up dropping it), The Peripheral (ended up dropping it), Snow Crash (reread), Neuromancer (reread), Foundation
>Who are your favorite SF/F authors?
William Gibson, Robert Howard, Michael Moorcock
>Recent purchases?
None, but I want to pick up Dying Earth, a Conan collection (I've read most of the shorts online), and Dune (read several times)
>Upcoming releases you're excited for?
I was excited for The Peripheral, maybe I'll try getting into it again. Other than that, I feel like SF/F hasn't really been producing as a genre recently in books.
>What is your favorite subgenre of SF/F?
Sociological Sci Fi / Sword and sorcery

>no Stanislaw Lem

>>6591682
What SF/F books are you currently reading
Book of the Long Sun
>What SF/F books have you read this year?
Legion, Aurelian, Unremembered Empire, Neuromancer, A Canticle for Liebowitz
>Who are your favorite SF/F authors?
Wolfe and Dick
>Recent purchases?
None
>Upcoming releases you're excited for?
I have plenty of classics left to read, thank you very much
>What is your favorite subgenre of SF/F?
Since Wolfe is my favourite aurhor I guess dying earth

>>6594061
>>6591779
>moorcock
I have been reading dancers at the end of time, and have read behold the man and the golden barge, what else do you guys recommend by him?

>>6594186
the corum books (the first series is better than the second though), the primary elric books, the history of the runestaff and the series that follows it (count brass, i think?)

So should I stop reading after The White Rose?

>>6594186
I recommend the Elric stories in publication order, stopping at Stormbringer. There is also the Jerry Cornelius quartet and I've heard good things about Kane and Colonel Pyat.

>>6591755
I got the SFMW Dangerous Visions, the laminated cover peeled halfway off before I was done reading it. I won't buy another book from them.

>>6594216
>>6594726
thank you, i will check out some of the elric books for sure

>>6592602
Awesome. I'm looking forward to it; although I haven't read a 600 page book as far as I know. Should be fun.

>>6591682
>>What SF/F books are you currently reading
Just finished, as in less than an hour ago, Spook Country by Gibson. I didn't like Pattern Recognition, but I saw the hardcover on sale for cheap and picked it up. I was barely out of high school when I read PR, and I enjoyed Spook Country much more. I think I've gained more appreciation for the "contemporary cyberpunk" thing he was going for. Gibson's also much better at writing characters than most other "SF" authors.
>>What SF/F books have you read this year?
Awake in the Night Land, The Judge of Ages,
>>Who are your favorite SF/F authors?
Gibson, Vance, John C. Wright, Clarke, PKD, Stephen Baxter, Cordwainer Smith, Tolkien. Maybe Heinlein, but his limitations have gotten more aggravating as I've both gotten older and picked the low-hanging fruit of his oeuvre. Haven't gotten around to Wolfe or Reynolds, somehow.
>>Recent purchases?
Architect of Aeons, Lyonesse, The Peripheral, A Fire Upon the Deep, John Carter of Mars compendium, H.P. Lovecraft B&N compendium.
>>Upcoming releases you're excited for?
Was excited for Architect of Aeons, but it just came out. I don't keep up too much with new releases in general though.
>>What is your favorite subgenre of SF/F?
I don't really have one. I do tend to avoid post-apocalypse and mil-SF stuff, though.

>>6592461
Vance's Dying Earth stuff really pushes the "science" part but it's great so you should read it anyway.

Also, Dune.

>>6594901
I felt exactly the same way about Pattern Recognition, when I went back to the Blue Ant trilogy it became some of my favorite sci-fi. Though I suppose it's contemporary thriller, now.

>>6594294
Pls respond

>>6595563
yeah, they only get worse
really though, you shouldn't have even started the black company at all

>>6595799
I like them though

So

How do you feel about Rothfuss?

>>6591785
Use the internet. Queen of the Black Coast alone is worth it.

>>6596486
I have 0 judgements about the man, okay? I don't know him.

But his books are stupendously disappointing. He has his gimmick of 'deflating the myth of the main character' and it could've been good.

But

his MC is a goddamn plot vortex. Everyone who hates him is bad, everyone who loves him is good, and background characters follow him around to gasp and weep over his antics like a greek chorus. Everything revolves around him, crossing the line from 'powerful protagonist' to 'damnable mary sue,'

The character is flawed, but the point of flaws sails over the narrative's head. When bad things happen it's never MC's fault, oh no. And when MC's flaws are trotted out to prove how deep and well-rounded he is, they don't drive the plot, they cause minor mischief and drama, and at worst exacerbate some wicked plot the wicked men have cooked up to bully MC, without really changing anything.

Hints of interesting things were foully aborted by a rags-to-riches wizard school get the mysterious broken bird dame story, complete with other cliches like 'trained by mysterious foreigners' and 'totally banged booty that was too good for anyone else and became a MAN.' Concepts that could've been amazing and worthy of a book themselves are swept under the rug in favor of cheap social drama and >tfw when my GF sez 'it's complicated'


1st book showed some promise, 2nd book drove into the rocks full speed ahead. He seemed aware of cliche, but then when confronted by the unknown leap of originality he went back to formula

>>6594909
but dune is a living planet

>>6591682
>What SF/F books are you currently reading
Consider Phlebas
>What SF/F books have you read this year?
The Hobbit, The Martian Chronicles. That's about it, I've been reading a lot of historical stuff this year.
>Who are your favorite SF/F authors?
Clarke(I own the entire Space Odyssey series), Crichton, Tolkien, Howard, Herbert, Haldeman.
>Recent purchases?
I recently put a bunch of the Culture series on my nook
>Upcoming releases you're excited for?
I don't really follow the genre, I just pick from noteable names and stuff I find at used book stores.
>What is your favorite subgenre of SF/F?
Hard Sci-fi. I like a really clinical approach to space travel.

>>6596706
What's some good clin-fi, anon? I'm interested

>>6596921
Clarke has the best I've found, but then I haven't been looking very hard. I've been reading a lot of nautical fiction as of late, which gets very clinical in its prosing.

>>6591682
>What SF/F books are you currently reading
Dune.
>What SF/F books have you read this year?
Only forward, spares, LOR.
>Who are your favorite SF/F authors?
>Recent purchases?
>Upcoming releases you're excited for?
Don't know yet only recently started reading sci-fi/ fantasy.
>What is your favorite subgenre of SF/F?
Dont know yet.

>>6597082
cont. (so high)
>>Who are your favorite SF/F authors?
Mathew marshal smith,
>>Recent purchases?
Silmarilions

Is sy-fy poetry allowed in the thread?
I recently read Aniara ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aniara ), and really enjoyed that. I read it in the original Swedish, being Norwegian I understood most of it, but I am considering trying to track down an English translation of it as well.
Any other SF poetry recommendations?

>>6597091
I haven't read it yet, but I downloaded it when another anon posted this link to an English-language pdf: >>/lit/thread/S5401932#p5402579

What is a book similar to mad max?
Scifi or fantasy

>What SF/F books are you currently reading
Red Country by Abercrombie.
>What SF/F books have you read this year?
UBIK, The Naked Sun, The Broken Eye by Weeks, Reaper's Gale from Erikson and Night of Knives and Return of the Crimson Guard by his counterpart Esslemont.
>Who are your favorite SF/F authors?
Asimov, Dick, Abercrombie.
>Recent purchases?
The Broken Eye was the last i bought.
No idea, maybe the next Sanderson Mistborn books.
>What is your favorite subgenre of SF/F?
I'm not picky i'd say i like it anything if it's written enjoyably.

I was just thinking on The Pendragon Adventures before seeing this thread and I guess it technically counts as it begins with fantasy and goes to sci-fi rather quickly, even extra with later reveals. Plus it gets dark as fuck in the last two books.

>>6592481
There were plenty of likable characters in Revelation Space.

>>6594294
No. They're really good. A bit of repetition around the middle of the series but overall the series is wonderful.

>>6591682
>>What SF/F books are you currently reading
Claw of the Conciliator, but slow.
>>What SF/F books have you read this year?
Shadow of The Torturer
>>Who are your favorite SF/F authors?
Clarke, Asimov, Lem, Martin, Pratchett.
>Recent purchases?
The Shadow/Claw double edition.
>>Upcoming releases you're excited for?
Dunno.
>>What is your favorite subgenre of SF/F?
Dunno. As long as it isn't too shiny.

>>6591682
>What SF/F books are you currently reading
Last Dragon by J.M. McDermott
>>What SF/F books have you read this year?
By Blood We Live by Glen Duncan
The Dark Defiles by Richard Morgan
Woken Furies by Richard Morgan
Half A King by Joe Abercrombie
I think that's about it, I don't keep a log these days of what I've read
>>Who are your favorite SF/F authors?
GRRM, Abercrombie, KJ Parker, R. Scott Bakker
>>Recent purchases?
Been buying mainly history books recently.
>>Upcoming releases you're excited for?
KJ Parker's new stuff, Unholy Consult by Bakker, Winds of Winter
>>What is your favorite subgenre of SF/F?
Epic fantasy

>>6592461
The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway
God's War by Kameron Hurley
A Land Fit For Heroes by Richard Morgan
None of these are particularly similar to Wolfe but can loosely fit under the "science fantasy" umbrella.

>What SF/F books are you currently reading
Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem. It's been enormously fun so far but to my shame I've been caught up in the newest Witcher for the past week, so haven't progressed.
>Who are your favorite SF/F authors?
Jack Vance, Stephen R. Donaldson, KJ Parker
>Recent purchases?
Uhh, lessee... A collection by Fredric Brown ("And the Gods Laughed"), some KJP proof copies of books I've already read
>Upcoming releases you're excited for?
Savages by KJP, Unholy Consult by RSB
>What is your favorite subgenre of SF/F?
I have to admit it's epic fantasy

>>6594901
How is JCW's newer stuff? I quite liked the Golden Age and the novella in the Dying Earth antho, but I've been worried the man has gone off the deep end.

>>6592538
Just start with the Dying Earth itself, and then try Eyes of the Overworld. Alternatively, for more of an SF type try the Demon Princes or Tschai books. Also, some easy to sample novellas - like the Moon Moth - are available easily online.

Also, I thought Slan was fine. Don't remember much about it being dated, but it was of the fast paced adventure type.

>>6597920
I like your upcoming releases choices!

>>6597999
Damn - just jumped on Google and found out KJ Parker's identity has finally been revealed. Had no idea, but not surprised it's Tom Holt. Very obvious from his writing style.

>>6598017
I've heard it's not obvious from the humour stuff but is from the historical stuff. Having read neither, I can't say, but I intend to rectify that posthaste.

>>6598026
I've only read Alexander At The World's End and The Walled Orchard by Holt, two historical novels. Haven't read any of the comedy stuff. Would definitely recommend Alexander, it's great.

>>6598065
Duly noted, thanks!

>>6592538
>Dying Earth
Start with Vance. The original Dying Earth is a pretty quick read, a bit choppy given it was Vance's first work but very imaginative. Then Eyes of the Overworld, then Cugel's Saga. A lot of people don't like Rhialto, but I thought it was good.

The Tales of the Dying Earth anthology is also of very high quality. However, most of the stories there are more about adventures in a certain setting, and contain little in ruminations over the ephemerality of existence etc.

>Slan
It's classic Vogt--a fast-paced adventure story. I was halfway through it before I noticed that it was talking about nuclear weapons despite being written around 1939. I think it is a bit dated, and it's not hard to see how the "special race of viciously persecuted supermen who are better than normals in every way" appealed to awkward sf nerds back in the day, but it's not a waste of your time.

>>6597999
>Wright
I don't think he's gone off the deep end. A few screws loose, mainly, but then no one gets mad at PKD for that even though he managed to write a few clunkers.

I haven't read everything he's published recently. I'd stay away from his collected blogposts, his "Beasts and Birds" anthology I haven't read but it is clearly explicitly spiritual/Christian. People who've read it seem to like it.

I'd recommend Awake in the Night Land and City Beyond Time without any reservations whatsoever. They're excellent.

I like his ongoing book series, which starts with Count to a Trillion and is up to four of six planned books. It has flaws but the sheer imagination on display is worth it. The first book is OK, a bit awkward in places (JCW writes female characters like a Catholic Heinlein), but very good after that. Wright does deal with the enormous scale of what's being going on by resorting to highly nonlinear narration--a great deal happens in flashbacks or "offscreen"--that bothers some people. It also contains a little non-ironic Christianity, but it's not a significant plot point and frankly I thought the way he worked certain concepts in to be generally pretty clever, like analogizing astronomical-scale AIs of increasing scale to the hierarchy of angels. I'd compare it to Mieville's use of Communist ideas in his work. If you want to check it out, drop it if you aren't hooked by halfway through the second book.

Checking out what all the hype is about.

>>6598215
OK, thanks. I'll continue with Wright, since
>It has flaws but the sheer imagination on display is worth it
this was what attracted me to the Golden Age.

>>6597167
It may not be cuh-razy car chases and wrist crossbows, but The Postman is a damn good post-apoc novel.

>>6592461
Most of Cina Mieville should work as well.

>>6591980
Not really, Wolfe is far better.

>>6598530
He is a shallow writer so depending on what you liked in Wolfe.

The fencer trilogy by KJ Parker

He's really under rated

>>6598295
Be prepared for a lot of swearing and a tone so consistently sarcastic it makes you wish he was dead to being with.

I like sci-fi movies and TV shows, but haven't read a lot of it (basically I've only read lots of cyberpunk, a tiny bit of Asimov, Dune, and The Dispossessed). I've read quite a bit of fantasy, though.

I'd like to read some space opera stuff that I can get lost in, with recurring characters and a bit of political tension. Kind of like if Babylon 5 were a book series, but preferably its own original thing (as opposed to Star Wars novels or Babylon 5 novels or Star Trek novels, etc.).

Any recommendations?

>>6599002
Hyperion seems pretty much what you're looking for
stop after the second book though it goes bad real fast

>>6599030
Nothing that stays good for a long haul? And thanks. I'll read them.

>What SF/F books are you currently reading
Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
>What SF/F books have you read this year?
Neuromancer - William gibson
>Who are your favorite SF/F authors?
Asimov and Clarke
>Recent purchases?
Just SIASL
>Upcoming releases you're excited for?
None. I'm into 20th century classics
>What is your favorite subgenre of SF/F?
Um idk. I like stories with feudal galactic empires

>>6591682
I just recently started reading fantasy.
Currently reading some Discworld novels, after that I'll read some Tolkien.
Anyone have recommendations for what to read after?

Any steampunk-ish literature you guys would recommend?

>>6599101
After Tolkien... Asimov? Bradbury?

>>6599101
Dive into some Conan, my friend.

>>6599101
I hate ASoIaF but you should read it. It pays to make your own opinion. Stormlight Archives and Name of the Wind are the other notable contemporary fantasies.

Black Company and Sabriel to compare and contrast.

The Night Circus is my personal love but it might not be what you're looking for.

>>6599242
court of the air by stephen hunt

>>6599423
As someone who likes ASOIAF but does think it's overrated, why do you hate it?

Do you like any other fantasy series that do have lots of political intrigue and lots of factions vying for power and such?

>>6599442
I like the concepts, I dislike the execution. Martin spends long stretches in the books on things that don't matter, some of the story telling techniques feel more cinematic than they seem to fit in a book. The way he tells backstories in particular puts me off since it's a lot of telling, it assumes I believe the past is important to his largely unsympathetic characters rather than showing me why. Picking up foreshadowing is less spotting subtlety and more deducting what lines matter among the many that don't.

I don't think it's a bad series since it is intricate and the cast is interesting. I just like fantasy for the idealism and promptness, ASoIaF is on the opposite end of the spectrum.

>>6596547
Name of the Wind might actually be a masterpiece. If and only if Rothfuss was honestly trying to write the most cringe worth fedora character possible. I assume not, because he was writing it long before we really understood fedoras. Also some of his tweets leads me to believe he wasn't trying to be ironic.

Is there anything like ASoIaF in that there's lots of politics and a bit of grit and darkness, and magic isn't the answer to everything, but with a bigger number of genuinely well-intentioned characters and some real heroism?

>>6599002
Book of the Long Sun

>>6599642
Should I read the whole Solar Cycle or just the Book of the Long Sun series?

>>6599685
Everything because it is amazing.

>>6599700
Does it have hot alien babes?

I'll read it either way.

>>6599685
What the other dude said. You can read it first than go back to New Sun and nothing will be spoiled. If you're looking for a book with tons of characters and lots of political intrigue, Long Sun is that. Its mostly dialogue, long conversations by people who all have unique ways of speaking.

>>6599708
It has hot incest.
But no aliens.

>>6599720
Cool. Thanks.
>>6599722
I can live with that.

>>6599708
Eh... maybe? Depends on what you count as alien.

What should I read next? Ubik or Peter Watts' Blindside?

Anyone ever read any Hugh Cook?

Essential son-core. I own a copy of pic related and if I ever have a kid he's getting it.

>>6599758
If you have a daughter will you give it to her to read?

>>6599728
Angels=/=Aliens

>>6599766

Sure. It's just a book that would resonate particularly well with a young boy i reckon.

>>6599789

Like literally any of Robert E. Vardeman's stuff

Shoo, shoo! Away with you, neckbeareded plebeians! Go home!
>>>/tg/
Go home!
>>>/co/
Go home!
>>>/tv/

>>6599810

shan't

>>6599756
Ubik is overhyped.

>>6599810
>nofunallowed.jpg

>>6599771
They are robots that evolved into angels.

>>6595563
READ AT YOUR OWN RISK FAGGOTS
Croaker becomes a God and there is suppose to be a new book releasing dealing with that,I suppose

>>6599640
First Law somewhat

>>6599640
Black Company.

>>6600242
I've read it.
>>6600260
Thanks.

>>6599810
I was waiting for you!

New to Fantasy/Sci-Fi and really reading in general. Here's my current Summer Reading list

>Black Company Book of the South
>First Law
>Dune
>LOTR
>A Lovecraft collection I picked up a while ago
>A Howard/Conan collection if I can find one in town
>Kingkiller Chronicles

Anything else you'd suggest? I'd like to add some more Sci-Fi to the list.

>>6597116
Cool, thanks.

>>6600431
>>Kingkiller Chronicles
DO NOT READ I REPEAT DO NOT READ

>>6600495
Why not?

>>6600502
Because it is fedora self insert power fantasy, the novel.

Are the Battletech novels the only western ones about mecha?

>>6600505
What should I put on my list instead?

>>6600525
Silmallirion, Children of Hurin, Ubik, A Scaner Darkly, Book of the New Sun, 5th Head of Cerberus.

>>6600431
Stormlight Archives is a must. Not because it's amazing, but just because every fantasy reader needs to know whether or not he likes or hates Sanderson.

>>6600532
>don't read kingkiller chronicle, read botns
Lol

>>6600541
Saw it on my last visit to the bookstore. I don't really feel like reading something 1000+ pages.

>>6600532
>>6600525
>>6600552
5th Head if you're going to read one Wolfe

I want to immerse myself in another world. Long-ass series, talking 15+ books. Science fiction or fantasy, as long as it remains quality. I like Discworld, but am looking for something a bit more serious. Recs?

>>6600701
Wheel of Time dude.

>>6599508
>it assumes I believe the past is important to his largely unsympathetic characters rather than showing me why.
Given that every personal history somehow comes back to influence the character or their arc, it's shown to be blatantly important.

Also
>largely unsympathetic characters
Why do you even read literature? This is the most mindboggling 'complaint' someone can make about any form of art.

>>6600707
Does it actually stay good through to the end, and have likable characters?

>>6599756
Ubik is overrated IMO. Three Stigmata is better. Between the two I'd say Blindsight.

>>6600710
Anon said s/he reads fantasy for idealism and immediate enjoyment. That's a different motivation, and if that's what you're going for, ASOIAF is unlikely to be your ideal series.

>>6600712
lol of course not. I mean the characters are well made, not all of them are likable. And everybody has one that they consider garbage. still good though.

>>6600733
I didn't mean every character was likeable. Just that there would be SOME I can identify with. Fantasy is escapism. I don't want it to be a frustrating, annoying, miserable slog.

>>6600532
>don't red king killer
>read Tolkien instead
I hate pretentious fucks like you
Fuck off

>>6599508
>Martin spends long stretches in the books on things that don't matter
There is no such thing

Who's your favorite female sci-fi or fantasy author?

Mine's Ursula LeGuin. She's seriously a genius.

>>6600723
Ubik is my least favorite of PKD's novels that I've read. Three Stigmata is my favorite.

>>6600728
I never said anything about idealism or enjoyment, I was just picking out certain glaring points.

There's certainly an unbelievable amount of enjoyment in those books, even if there's frustration to go along with it.

I've been trying to get into fantasy books. I'm not much of a reader but I really enjoy stories in other mediums, I figured I just needed to get introduced in the right fashion. After looking up a few lists, I found that The Kingkiller Chronicle was consistently rated as one of the top series. I wish I came here first and learned about how awful it was before I wasted my time with it. I was thinking I might try reading The Black Company.

>>6600870
Black Company is a pretty simple read, though thered only a few chapters and theyre big so it can make it feel harder to read at times.

I'd suggest reading The Hobbit too if you havent. Its a short and sweet little tale.

Short Stories are good too

>>6598295
I'm ashamed for at one point raving in favor of this.

>>6599722
>No aliens
Did we read the same books?

I never enjoyed Fantasy until I read ASOIAF...yeah GoT got me into reading again.
I always kind of shunned Fantasy/Sci-Fi because of how cheesy it was. I tried way too young to read LOTR and I just couldn't. I figured all Fantasy was like that and it just wasn't my Every fucking end table or lamp shade had some sort of glorious backstory and it was all the same shit over and over. "HERE IS THE ANCIENT LAMPSHADE OF GUKTHAR, SON OF URKTHAR, DEFENDER OR LURKTHAR."

>What SF/F books are you currently reading
The Last Command - 3rd book in the Star Wars Thrawn Trilogy. I have never touched anything EU and was told this is the best there is. Honestly, it's barely good enough to finish. The prose is bland, the characters are pretty good, but the story is lackluster. I don't feel like there's any real danger to any of the characters. The villain, a supposed military tactical genius, never does anything of note. However, I bought the trilogy and I'm gonna finish the trilogy.

>What SF/F books have you read this year?

Considering I started back reading last year...quite a bit.
- A Song Of Ice And Fire (5 books)
- Stormlight Archives (2 books)
- Kingkiller Chronicles (2 books)
- Farseer Trilogy (3 books)
- Tawny Man Trilogy (3 books)
- Dresden Files (15 books)
- Fool's Assassin
- The Gentleman Bastards (3 books)
- The Strain Trilogy (3 books)
- Thrawn Trilogy (3 books)
- The Warded Man (read 1 book and dropped series)
- Broken Empire (read 1 book and dropped series)
- First Law Trilogy (read part of 1 book and dropped because of RL shit. didn't give a fair chance)

>Who are your favorite SF/F authors?
I don't know if I have any

>Recent purchases?
Thrawn trilogy, Gardens of the Moon, The Eye of the World

>Upcoming releases you're excited for?
Next Fitz and the Fool, KKC, Stormlight Archives, ASOIAF

>What is your favorite subgenre of SF/F?
no fucking idea

>WHAT THE FUCK SHOULD I READ NEXT


Powder Mage Trilogy - seems highly rated and with a cool premise

Malazhan - seems really intimidating but good

Wheel Of Time - I've heard is really inconsistent(a few books can be skipped bc nothing fucking happens)

Mistborn - I really liked Stormlight Archives and I hear Mistborn is inferior.

>>6601479
it does not appear so

>>6601562
>The Gentleman Bastards
Ew

>>6601634
i like how out of all the books ive read on the list that one makes you go ew...not the strain or the star wars garbage

>>6601562
>Considering I started back reading last year...quite a bit
m-most of the books listed there are from my list... d-did you take list-kun's advice?

I would really like to find someone to discuss pic related. I've found this series to be refreshingly original but not very popular. Also just started Consider Phlebas but not very far into it yet.

>>6601702
what's it about?

why does every board on here need a stupid general thread sitting on the front page

>>6601726
because the plebs get mad when there are too many genre threads taking up space for their memeing

>>6601720
that's not the first book (it's pic related), but basically an average joe with a wife and kid contracts leprosy, loses said wife and kid, and two fingers of his right hand, becomes an outcast in his town, has a near death experience and wakes up in a strange fantasy world where he is revealed to be an incarnation of the land's ancient hero. But he refused to believe that his experience is real and proceeds to fuck a lot of things up...the first trilogy is still my favorite (there's 2 trilogies and a quartet) I'd recommend heartily.

>>6601726
I made this thread so people could discuss these Genres without having their threads spammed

>>6601757
oh my neighbor gave me that book when i was around 13
didn't read it at the time
i'll fish around for it sometime tonight

>>6601770
Grab the dictionary too. Donaldson loves to use outdated, archaic words that you've never heard of. 5th book is the worst

>>6601780
well that's just about sold me on it

>>6598610
This

It's strange cause he is probably one of the best low fantasy writers i know

>>6601691
mainly the goodreads fantasy list...just want to know what else to read

>>6601702
Donaldson is fantastic, but I was disappointed with the final quartet. I think it might've fared better as a trilogy. If you like damaged protagonists, you can just pick up any Donaldson book really...

>>6601780
Someone actually created a site for this called "Stephen R. Donaldson Ate My Dictionary"

>>6599803
I recognize that hawk!

>>6591682

>What SF/F books are you currently reading
Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. I thought I had read great Bradbury stuff before, but this is a masterpiece. I love when an author doesn't try to overcomplicate sci-fi, and can deliver immense imagination with great writing.
>What SF/F books have you read this year?
Unfortunately only this. I've been on a comics kick for a while, getting back into novels.
>Who are your favorite SF/F authors?
Definitely Bradbury, but Kurt Vonnegut is probably my #1. It's like Dr Seuss, only set in space and written by a bitter old man.

>>6600525
Mistborn, Sabriel

>>6600541
Mistborn is a better entry point.

>>6591779
>>6594061
>>6594186
>Moorcock
Speaking of. I've read that he has been re-editing/re-writing the books about Elric. Is it for the better or the worse?

>>6591682
>What SF/F books are you currently reading
Princess bride
>What SF/F books have you read this year?
2001, dark tower, jurassic park, chessmen of mars, let the right one in, do androids dream
>Who are your favorite SF/F authors?
R Scott Bakker, dick, Michael Crichton, Edgar rice Burroughs
>Recent purchases?
Dune, redwall, world war z,
>Upcoming releases you're excited for?
The unholy consult
>What is your favorite subgenre of SF/F?
I guess adventure would be

Just ordered quite a few off amazon but can't remember what. Book 1 of malazan is there and also the postman

still going through the classics, 'bout 3/4 done with Stranger in a Strange Land but thinking i'll go for Old Man's War next based on some earlier anons recommendation see how it measures up with The Forever War which is the only military sci-fi i've read so far

>>6591808
duuuuuuune fuck yeah

>>6601479
Not sure what you count as aliens, but there were no beings evolved on planets other than urth. Unless I'm forgetting something.

>>6601562
Don't know what Powder Mage is. I avoid Sanderson, don't like his writing. WoT isn't worth it. Malazan is the most hit or miss series out there.

>>6601562
>Powder Mage Trilogy
Read the first one. Its an alright setting ruined by video gamey magic.

>>6602586
>WoT isn't worth it
Because it's so long, or what?

I'm making an Amazon wishlist of sci-fi and fantasy books to get as I have money, or to link a specific one to someone who asks what I want for Christmas or something.

So far, I have:

>Prince of Nothing trilogy (I've read the first one and would like to own all three)
>Dune (I don't know which sequels are safe and which are his son's shitty ripoffs)
>The Earthsea Quartet
>Lord of the Rings boxed set

My favorite fantasy series right now is ASOIAF, but it's not perfect by far. I also enjoy "people on a space ship" style space opera, think Babylon 5 or Star Trek, or even the Wing Commander games. In addition, I kind of have a thing for holy paladin-esque women, and enjoy political intrigue, lots of factions or individuals, all with their own motivations and goals, and longer series.

Any further recommended reading for me?

>>6603433
>The Earthsea Quartet

I remember reading that when I was much younger and it being really dark. Is it quite dark or did it just seem that way to a kid? I'd love to reread it but i'm not much a fan of fantasy so i'm not sure I could commit to the 700-odd pages.

>>6603457
It is at times, but it also has a balance (it's heavily influenced by the philosophy of the Tao Te Ching) and its message is about love and peace and all that (without going full pacifist).

If you can't commit to the whole series, just read the first book, which is solid by itself, and decide whether to continue.

Where should I start with Conan?

>>6601809

can't wait
sharps surprised me by having characters that don't end up in total fucking misery

>>6603457
It is certainly dark - one of the main themes in the books is coming to terms with your inevitable death. But like >>6603490 said, it's presented in a kind of holistic, non-pessimistic Taoist way. They're great. The second is my favorite.

>>6603433
I like Le Guin's Hainish cycle of sci-fi books even better than her Earthsea books, personally. They're more for adults, too.

>>6603547
i only read the Fencer trilogy and some of his short stories, what other books would you rec?

>>6602458
he's edited a lot of his books over the years. as far as i can tell it's just so they're more consistent with each other.

>>6603566
>look up Hainish Cycle on Amazon
>The Dispossessed is part of a series
Holy shit! Thank you!

>>6603516
The Complete Chronicles of Conan

>>6603566
>look up Hainish Cycle on Amazon
>The Dispossessed is part of a series
Holy shit! Thank you!

>>6602577
Father Inire, the Alzabo, all the cocagens.

>>6598885
You jaunting, anon?

>>6603658
>>6603921
Very happy to help, she's my favorite SF/F author. The ansible (which gets discovered in The Dispossessed) shows up in several of the other books.

>>6604057
Cocagens weren't aliens, they were man made artificial creatures. I think.
Alzabo, yeah that is an alien, totally forgot.

>>6600772
Yes. Left Hand of Darkness is amazing.

>>6603921
Some of it is pretty mediocre. The Word for World is Forest is pretty blunt, and her other ones are fairly forgettable. The Left Hand of Darkness is an incredible novel however,

Shit

>>6604805

Any recommendations?

Also is Once and Future King the best novel about Arthur?

>>6604812
It's the best rebranding of the Arthurian tale. I think Idylls of the King and Le Morte D'Arthur are incredible and well worth reading for anyone who likes those kind of stories.

Is Bakker a good choice if I want something like ASOIAF, where my friends and I can read it and possibly have differing opinions on who we hope "wins" and some of us might love a character others hate, that sort of thing?

I love fantasy series like that. It's almost like sports except that more of my friends are into it.

>>6604938
>Is Bakker a good choice
It's kinda high handed fantasy. Deliberately confusing?
With lots of Chad taking your girl away and fucking her
And plenty gay incest and wanted a old dried up Granny.

Mother I need you, it's been so long, you know you are the only one I can trust right?

Did give me weird boners.

>>6591682
>>What SF/F books are you currently reading

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. I don't usually like fantasy but I thought I'd try this one and just started it this morning. I arbitrarily decided I'd read a quarter of the book and then decide whether to finish it or not.

>What SF/F books have you read this year?

Several including Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson; Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta; 1632 by Eric Flint; Island In The Sea Of Time by S. M. Stirling;

>Who are your favorite SF/F authors?

Old-school favorites include Poul Anderson & Larry Niven. Also impressed with James Patrick Kelly & more recently Paolo Baccigalupi

>Recent purchases?

A used copy of Darker Than You Think by Jack Williamson

>What is your favorite subgenre of SF/F?
Prefer SF over fantasy by a very large margin

>>6604819
Bernard Cornwell's Warlord trilogy is a fine treatment of the subject as well

>>6604664
cacogen is a term used to denote anything born beyond the shores of urth.

most people in the book use it when talking about the hierodules, which aren't man-made. the hierogrammates made them, after they in turn were made by the humans (who they call hieros) of the previous kalpa.

also the megatherians are said to have once swam among the stars. this is pretty factual, as an undine and some sort of megatherian creature are found in the book of the short sun.

>>6604812
the once and future king is amazing.

Any good fantasy that can feed my "female knight-in-shining-armor" fetish? Brienne of Tarth does so a little bit, but is less prominent than I would like.

>>6606066
It'd be cute to read a story about a Prince being saved by a qt Gril Knight

Does such a story exist?

I enjoy both science fiction and fantasy. I want to start building a world and working on something of my own, but can't decide which I want to do.

Advice?

>>6606539
make a mash up of two of your favorite fantasy or science fiction settings and throw in some analogues to real world history
steal from world mythologies too

>>6606024
Green is Urth and Blue is Lune (or Mars, we haven't quite figured that one out yet).

please help i keep reading WHFB / WH40K books

>>6606751
i've never liked that theory and i obviously don't subscribe to it.

>>6603516
Everything Howard wrote, short story wise, in publication order and not internal chronological order. The comics are also very good.

>>6603433
Dune is the only good Dune book, IMO.

>>6601634
The first book was good fun.

>>6599442
I enjoyed the first three books, but by that point everyone I liked was dead and he was obviously more interested in writing fantasy history rather than writing a fantasy story. I could just read a book on the War of the Roses, or something.

Anybody here read Jack Vance? Was looking at thw Lyonesse series, is it much good?

>>6607145
i've only read the first lyonesse book
i think it was pretty good
the dying earth books are good too

>>6607030
So Blue just happens to be a random world that Abaia/Scylla lives on?

>>6607145
Vance is great. I've read, let me see... 22? books by him and only two of those I didn't care for (The Rapparee and Trullion). I've only read the first Lyonesse, but I liked it a lot.

>>6607069
You don't like Stannis?

>>6607162
scylla gets to blue after uploading her mind to mainframe
abaia is a male and not at all interchangeable with either scylla or the mother

>>6607162
>>6607183
furthermore, where exactly do the inhumi figure into urth, how did the humans become the many-legged neighbors, and how did lune's orbit become so messed up?

why would typhon send out a colony ship and deliberately have it return to its place of departure, only to colonize a world already colonized by mindwiped sailors from tzadkiel's ship?

So, can someone tell me what the fuck is up with A Voyage to Arcturus?

>>6591682

>Currently reading?
Iron council - China Mieville
Best of "Best New SF" - short story collection

>What SF/F have I read this year?
The Mote in God's Eye - Niven and Pournelle
The Moat around Murchesons Eye - ^same
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
All tomorrow's parties - William Gibson
Electric light - William Gibson
Ace of skulls - Chris Wooding

>Favourite SF/F authors?
China Mieville
Clive Barker
Neil Gaiman
Ian M. Banks
M. John Harrison
J. G. Ballard
Brian Lumley

>Recent purchases
Roadside picnic - Arkady + Boris Strugatsky
Inferno - Niven and Pournelle
The drowned world - J. G. Ballard
A nice box-set edition of lord of the rings to replace my other copies

>Upcoming releases I'm hyped about
The fucking GoT books. I want to read them but I can't deal with waiting 2 years for each book so I'm waiting till they're all out so I can binge them.

>Favourite subgenre
I read a lot of pulp. I like weird surreal modern fantasy as well which is why I like Gaiman and Mieville. Scifi terms, I like huge space operas, but have recently been really getting into some cyberpunk stuff.

>>6591775
>First contacts are nice
You read Footfall? By Niven and Pournelle? That's my favourite first contact novel.

>>6591780
If you like space opera, have you read the Saga of Seven Suns, by Kevin Anderson? It's pretty fucking neato.

>>6591833
Perdido Street Station was amazing, I read the Scar and I'm reading Iron Council now. The only book of his that really really fucked me up though was Embassytown. I was on the verge of disgusting gross tears for the last 10 or so pages. I'm still not over it.

>>6596706
Consider Phlebas is sweet, you read Use of Weapons?

>>6604975
>Jonathon Strange and Mister Norrell
Are you watching the BBC TV adaptation? It's actually pretty cool.

>>6607466
>GoT books
>waiting 2 years for each book

try multiplying that by 3

>>6607517
All the more reason to wait.
I can't deal with that pain.

>>6606753
Any warhammer books you'd recommend in particular?

Is the Library of America collection of Phillip K Dick works a good deal?

Don't know anything about SF but I've been satisfied with the three books I got from them and it is their only science fiction pick.

>>6607644
Not him, but Helsreach, Legion, Aurelian. I've read 5-6 so far and they were really great for warhammer novels that is.
>>6606753
I've been getting more and more into them which is bad, but I pick them up as a break from serious literature.

I'm working on a fantasy novel.

Gimme some of your personal do's and don'ts, or examples of things to avoid you've seen in the genre.

>>6607699
Yeah, that should just about satisfy your interest in dick.

>>6603571
this

>>6607724
Don't make it generic.
Go heroic if you wish but don't make a self insert power fantasy.
Try aiming for characters, metaphores, philosophy, whatever you think makes a book good and use fantasy as an aesthetic. Basically try to become Gene Wolfe.

>>6607781
>>6603571
>>6601809
>>6598610
>he
>his

>>6607797

Not the same guy, but any chance I can post the opening 2 paragraphs of my sci-fi project I've just started?

For critique purposes of course.

>>6607808
Why not?

He had never allowed himself to displace his consciousness into the rift. Perhaps he feared it would see the eclipse and deconstruction of his soul, something that; as a man a little too tied to the past, he could not abide the idea of. This did not prevent him from carrying out his work with due prejudice and diligence, in fact, he proposed to himself that the very reason he was able to perform the research he so enjoyed was due to the fact he had been uncontaminated by the vast, soul destroying expanse that would have been lain before him should he have chosen to don the technological vestments his subjects so often did in his presence.
One such subject, Fletch, was laid out on the table in front of him, a wafer visor encompassing his eyes, electrodes flat against his temples and within him the needed nervous taps connected to the device without any use of wires. The visor was a one-way mirror, through it he could see Fletch’s eyes, through Fletch’s eyes however, Fletch could see nothing but the rift. One was not unconscious upon entering the rift, the body operated in a business as usual fashion, to the point where the user can sense fatigue, hunger, need to relieve oneself and in such situations remove themselves from the real world and into the world of base needs.

>>6607821
I guess I was going to quote your post in my response, but I pasted over it.
>>6607817

>>6607800
From Wikipedia
"K. J. Parker is the pseudonym under which the British author Tom Holt has published fantasy fiction. Parker's identity as Holt was kept secret for 17 years, until April 2015"

Sorry m8 he's a guy

>>6607857

How do people uncover pseudonyms anyway? Do they chase up bank details, or does the publisher squeal?

>>6607877
http://www.pornokitsch.com/2015/04/interview-hello-my-name-is-k-j-parker.html

>>6607891

Oh, so it was revealed by the writer?

Also that's an interesting website name.

>>6607891
Not the guy you're responding to, but the reveal was also set to coincide with the first three parts of KJP's new serialized novel "Two of Swords". So as much a marketing stunt probably (I hope it worked).

"Academic Exercises" is btw a superb collection by him. Most of the stuff in there is also available for free online.

it was probably a publisher decision. It was likely a marketing thing for KJP's new serialized novel "Two of Swords". It seemed to have worked too, since I've never seen KJP's name bandied that much before.

>>6607905
Not the guy you're responding to, but the reveal was also set to coincide with the first three parts of KJP's new serialized novel "Two of Swords". So as much a marketing stunt by the publisher probably (I hope it worked).

"Academic Exercises" is btw a superb collection by him. Most of the stuff in there is also available for free online.

>>6599572
>>6596547
I interpret the whole thing on a couple levels, whether or not they were intentional. One, as an elaborate parody of shitty epic fantasy. He has stated his dissatisfaction with the catalog of pulp and I genuinely believe he is playing with it.

Two, I think the whole book is a ruse cruise of epic proportions. I'm not going to call it a postmodern deconstruction, at least not an intentional one; but it reads like an elaborate literary joke that the third book is hopefully the punchline to. This is just one model I've been playing around with in the shower.

You have layer upon layer of unreliable narrator shaping the story and I think it's what trips people up. On one level, there's Kote who is painting a picture of himself at the time, narrating through his former view of himself. It's not Rothfuss (directly) brushing his flaws into the corner, but Kote speaking as the narcissistic and borderline sociopathic child he was. You're getting his perception of people and events and himself and slowly his perception breaks down. It's already been made explicit by him that everyone is better than him at something.

Then you have how he is a shitter and it doesn't affect the narrative, yet it has and it clearly will. His actions with the Librarian are fucking his quest for information, he's been poisoned with chekov's gun because of his mouth and that's already hit him more than once with a big one coming, he's going to sex up the wrong woman, plus some other things I can't think of off the top of my head.

I don't know if rothfuss has the skill to pull it all off, but I'm certain it's what's led to the delay with the third book.

>What SF/F books are you currently reading
I was planning on reading The Inheritance trilogy by NK Jemison but Hundred Thousand Kingdoms was mediocre at best.

>What SF/F books have you read this year?
Stand on Zanzibar
Rendezvous with Rama
Childhood's End
On the Beach
Lies of Locke Lamora
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

>Who are your favorite SF/F authors?
Robert Jordan

>Recent purchases?
Hundred Thousand Kingdoms trilogy megabook (seriously regretting)
Theft of Swords
Ancillary Justice
City of Stairs

>Upcoming releases you're excited for?
Wheel of Time Companion

>>6607199
The Neighbors are actually astral projections from the trees, which humans turned into after being Green Men. Horn and everyone that travels with him look differently when they project. The Inhumi are just some animal that evolved to be like they are.

The Whorl's Cargo was meant to fight it out till they over came the soldiers and were the best army. Typhon thought he would live forever, and sent the Whorl out to return to give him an army. Just something happened and it went to far into the future.

>>6608010
I doubt it was on purpose, because of how cringe worthy Rothuss is in real life.

>>6607797

So basically, story first, fantasy second?

That's how I've been approaching it. I started with an idea of the personalities of the characters, then their dispute, then their world.

I'm trying to make sure the setting isn't just window dressing, though.

>>6608010
I think he is just a shitty writer. Kvothe is a legend and he isn't unreliable.

>>6608132
Yes, fantasy should be a vessel that helps you explore whatever you are trying. That's how it worked for fantasy I consider great.

>>6608234

This is the reason my novel critiquing the information age, over-reliance on and escapism of technology and consumer culture is set in a cyberpunk backdrop.

>>6608246
Sounds pretty good. I haven't read any novel that talks about that yet.

>>6608133
If you check out his goodreads you'll see that he is Felicia Dei tier, with urban vaginal fantasy (close enough taste anyway) as his most read thing.

Just ordered this because is seemed interesting.

Anyone read it or know anything about Gary J. Shipley?

>>6608257

I can't tell if you're being serious and understand what I mean or whether you're telling me it's going to be trite.

>>6608295
No, but that cover has sold me already

>>6608307
Tbh that's what attracted me initially. Looked like and 80's scifi classic.

I hope you weren't being sarcastic.

>>6608234

That's reassuring.

I've got a trio of plot layouts set out with several more in skeleton format.

My series concept is about a man in his twenties who lives in a big city and has to support his family after his father died. The protagonist used to be a big fan of adventures and myths but got dragged into the grind. One day a friend who is strapped for cash brings him a big opportunity in the form of an expedition beyond the mountains to an ancient tomb, and the protagonist gets dragged into a series of bad decisions that lead to him being betrayed and left for dead. Eventually he recovers and brings down his former friend, but he's re-ignited a taste for adventure and leaves his homeland for good.

Then in the second book he's a secondary character, who has crossed into another land entirely. The protagonist is a priestess with an obsession for obscure, ancient rituals, so when she goes out to an old, unexplored crossing point for an abandoned prayer the original protagonist sneaks along to use her as a way to cross from one side of the coast to the other, bypassing a heavily-guarded and sealed border with another nation. Of course, they both screw up and end up in a shipwrecked lost society and end up battling pirates and ancient monsters. The focus would be on the priestess and her coming out of her shell, becoming more wild and dangerous, even managing to surprise herself by seducing the pirate leader, while the secondary protagonist learns he needs to not screw over other people.

Then the third book is set in the land the original protagonist came to. In it, there's a war between two countries being fought in a humid jungle. The protagonists are three upper-class girls who join the military out of boredom and rebelliousness, and end up piloting car-sized bipedal war machines in the jungle. The first half of the book is heavily based on a lot of war biographies and films and documentaries I've watched, trying to show the experience of killing people, the attitudes, the nasty weather, shellshock, sexual trysts and so forth. Then the second half has them meet the original protagonist, who discovers a link to the ancient tomb he first uncovered in the first book in the base of the enemy commander, and they team up to defeat him.

The idea is that as the story goes on, the travelling protagonist grows stronger in the background, gaining age and experience, talking to and learning from some of the book's protags and teaching others, until in the end he takes the stage again in the final story. I have a lot of ideas for that final story and I want to connect in a lot of characters from the individual books, but I also need to make sure I don't overdo that and lose the plot in the noise.

The important thing for me though is making sure that each individual story is good enough to stand alone, and I'm probably going to take years to get them right.

It's a good thing I'm only 25, I've got a lot of time to learn how to do this right.

>>6608319
Not that anon, but I am also sold by the cover

.>>6608304
Being serious. I've been reading mostly classics and pre internet stuff.
And Fahrenheit 451 was shit.

>>6608080
Why are they astral projections from the trees? When seen through the ring, they're in the trees, but they're actually the trees. How do you know the green people became the trees? Horn and Oreb are the only two that look different, Oreb looks human because obviously he's carrying Scylla and Horn because his consciousness is in Silk's body. If any of the others look differently, I'm not remembering it. They're just some animal? That sounds awfully inconclusive. Especially when coupled with all of the vinelike imagery that's associated with them, it's clear they're more than 'just some animal.' When does Typhon say he wants an army and for what purpose? How do you know something happened to set the Whorl off track? We know for sure that he intended on keeping the people like Mamelta frozen until they reached their destination, so what use would they be in his army making?

You're raising more questions than answers and this is the reason why I disagree with the theory.

>>6608340

I feel like most books that deal with the cultural implications of the information age are outdated, even if some of them got a few ideas right.

I mean, I love Gibson's work, but there's a massive disparity, for instance, between his ideas and what we've actually reached in the past 30 years.(Probably due to the fact he's not remotely technically literate)

Although I haven't read Pynchon's Bleeding Edge yet, which I assume probably handles present-day internet culture in a great way...it being Ruggles and all.

>>6608359
http://www.flashfictiononline.com/f20100901-tags-andrew-gudgel.html

Here, this one hasn't quite come true yet. Or maybe it did.

>>6608399

That's where we're headed.

INFORMATION OVERLOAD!

>>6608080
What book are you speaking of? Sounds interesting to say the least.

>>6608446
The Book of the Short Sun. It's the concluding series to Gene Wolfe's Solar Cycle.

>>6608468
Oh
Is Anathem and Book of the New Sun similar?

When you were talking about Urth and Mars I was thinking of Anathem, forgot about Book of the New Sun.

Ive been thinking about buying The first Law Trilogy. Anyone read it before? Would you recommend it?

Started writing this today, wondering if anyone can give an opinion on it.

http://pastebin.com/mCJUDzB1

It's fairly rough at the moment as I haven't outlined the second half of the plot fully, but I'll cross that neural pathway when we come to it.

>>6608603
Im still on the first one. I find the Glokta and Jezal chapters amusing but Logen chapters are boring beyond belief

>>6608335
That all sounds very good. Good fishing!

>>6608603
>>6608683
>tfw no qt grill to love you, marry you and change your diaper at Age 30
Why live?

>>6608352
The Green Men evolved into trees. The astral projection is them using whatever tech on Urth let people use the Corridors of Time. (this goes against what I'm saying, but I always just assumed Mucor's island is the Stone Town, because its populated by two witches and Horn for some random reason talks about how islands are really just the tops of under water mountains. maybe Blue and Green are both Urth!!!) I'm not sure myself, I know Babbie looks different while projecting, maybe others did too need to reread. Inhumi could have evolved from the Green Men too, but as vines/monsters rather than trees. Why wouldn't Typhon want an army? He's fucking Typhon! When a god possesses someone, a little bit of that person goes back to Mainframe. This messes up the computer and the ship went off course. Well, Mamelta might have been Typhon's mistress Kypris, but the real use the sleepers were to repopulate the Whorl in case someone wiped out the Cargo. if they weren't needed they could just be killed.

I need to reread the whole series's. I have other theories about Long Sun that I think are more interesting. The purpose of the Whorl that's given in the text seems to convenient to me.

>>6608531
Stephenson was accused of plagiarizing New Sun with Anathem. I haven't read Anathem, yet, so I can't say. There is a part later in Cryptonomicon when he starts using Wolfe words, one page has like two obscure words from New Sun. So its obvious that Stephenson at least read New Sun. Even if he took ideas from New Sun, meh, Wolfe took ideas from Borges and Shelly and what not, so I don't really care. The connection just makes me excited to read Anathem.

>>6608806
Prepare for Philosophy and "bringing out the Rake"

>>6608849
I like philosophy. Book of the New Sun *is* my favorite novel.

Recent purchases:

Earthlight
After The Fall of Night / Beyond The Fall of Night

Still to read:
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Stranger In A Strange Land
Dune
Fall of Moondust
Forever War
Hammer of God
Rendevous with Rama

Looking forward to buy:
Foundation
Starship Troopers
Hyperion
Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars

>>6608860
The crap that happened in BotNS doesn't hold a candle to Anathem.

These guys are Greek Philosopher living in a very Modern age, it's so modern that they had an apocalypse, rebuilt and still have technology greater than what we have today.

YET, they still wear togas and wax poetic, with their emotional absent dialogues.

>>6603648
So there's no plot changes, etc?

>>6608806
>There is a part later in Cryptonomicon when he starts using Wolfe words, one page has like two obscure words from New Sun
Where? :3

>>6608789
>The Green Men evolved into trees.
Again, where do you find this in the text? What are your sources?
Babbie looks different because Horn is in Babbie. I forgot about that but it matches up with whoever said Horn is going to ride the three-horned beast or whatever.

But why would he want an army? He already has one. Many, probably. Once again, there is nothing in the text to suggest that he had the Whorl created to manufacture an army, let alone having it return to Urth.

It might seem convenient, but it's backed up by the text, unlike the majority of what we've been talking about.

Also, I'm surprised you haven't mentioned any of the obvious parallels between Short Sun and The Fifth Head of Cerberus. There are too many to count and I've seen that theory thrown around in similar circles.

>>6609325
Nothing huge as far as I remember.

>>6609391
Towards there end there is a page where "presentiment" and "aver" randomly show up.

>>6609499
Typhon was feared, not loved. That is why when they stopped hearing from him, they didn't go to help him just left him alone. The Cargo would an army that worshiped him like a god.

I wouldn't say that my theories aren't completely unsubtanciated. Some day after rereading I'll bang out complete textual prove my ideas. Till then they are just ideas.

>>6609534
I've seen both of those outside of BotNS, I wouldn't call them "Wolfe words." Fuligin or destreier sure, bot those nah.

>>6607504
>>>6604975>Jonathon Strange and Mister Norrell
>Are you watching the BBC TV adaptation? It's actually pretty cool.

If I enjoy the book enough I'll eventually watch the series.

>>6609549
He was also the ruler of a star-spanning empire. By the time everyone deserted him, the Whorl was already gone otherwise he would have left. He wouldn't need an army if they were too afraid to even approach him.

Just go to the Urth mailing list. This idea has been thrown around for a few years now.

>>6609566
I'm part of the Urth list. I, we, have been discusses this recently. I disagree with Marc about this!

>>6609566
Second reply to you. When the Whorl was launched is very critical. It must have been before the sun was known to be dying, otherwise Typhon would be on it. Heck, maybe the Whorl is powered by the sun's death. So it was launched before Typhon knew it had get the fuck off Urth, and after he started using other's bodies. So not only did me want the Cargo to be an army that worshiped him, he made the clone that is Silk to have a super human body, programming Silk to be suicidal so that he's give up his life to Typhon.

Everyone feared Hilter, but not because of Hitler themselves. They feared the soldiers that would kill them if they crossed him. Collective paranoia, everyone feared everyone.

>>6609591
I assumed Marc Aramini believed it. From what I recall, he was one of the earlier people to propose it. Does he now not believe it?

>>6609951
We're both mixed up with what we're talking about. Aramini's idea is that Green is Urth. Which I support fully. My idea is that Whorl isn't just a colony ship. Which I've haven't been able to convince anyone of yet.

So should I wait until this thread gets bumped off board to make the next general or should I make one off the bat?

>>6609974
I knew we were heading down a familiar road. We've discussed this before, in that last lengthy Gene Wolfe thread. I don't disagree with the theory of the Whorl's creation as much as I do the idea of Blue and Green being Urth and Lune/Verthandi, but that's only because during my recent reread I had the latter theory firmly in mind as I read them.
I must have conflated the two theories then. They're the same in my eyes in that I don't believe either of them.

>>6609985
What's the post limit for bumping, again? I guess making a new one once its near would work.

>>6610006
Do you think Typhon built the Whorl just to populate some random system? Or do you think he sold the Cargo to the Inhumi?

>>6610052
I'm inclined to agree with the immediate explanation in the text: that Typhon wished to colonize this system intentionally but did not know of the Inhumi.

A slightly unrelated idea that I usually consider in conjunction with Typhon's creation of the Whorl is his role as the Gnostic demiurge and the Whorl being the false world he fashioned.

On the other hand, I've also entertained the possibility that when Wolfe wrote in Typhon's part of explaining how fast the sun began to die, he didn't yet have the ideas of either Short Sun or Long Sun in his head.

>>6610006
Havent finished New Sun yet, so I'm probably ignorant, but why would the moon be Blue when it was described as green?

>>6610096
I'm not sure on the details of his theory anymore. The one I was responding to much earlier in the thread is that Urth is Blue and Lune is Green, which I also disagree with.

>>6610096
There is a city on Green that resembles Nessus almost exactly. Nessus is such a massive city nothing could destroy it.

>>6610095
Yea, Wolfe didn't start writing Long/Short till the late 80's. But he did write those two together.

>>6610006
>What's the post limit for bumping, again?
300

The best woman in any sci-fi is Susan Ivanova from Babylon 5.

New thread

>>6610957