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8390221 No.8390221 [Reply] [Original]

Really big construction edition.

What's the most jaw-dropping SFF megastructure?

What kind of superconstruction do you wish more SFF featured?

What SF novel is most like BLAME!?

(Some random anons' completely subjective) Recommendations:
>Fantasy
Selected: http://i.imgur.com/r688cPe.jpg/
General: http://i.imgur.com/igBYngL.jpg/
Flowchart: http://i.imgur.com/uykqKJn.jpg/

>Sci-Fi
Selected: http://i.imgur.com/A96mTQX.jpg/
General: http://i.imgur.com/r55ODlL.jpg/ http://i.imgur.com/gNTrDmc.jpg/

>> No.8390230

What would you do if an alien appeared and told you to suck its dick?

>> No.8390238
File: 1.68 MB, 1744x2192, Original_Dino_Chart_0.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8390238

>>8390221
Reposting

>> No.8390240

I loved the idea of the Ringworld more than I enjoyed the book. But the second Ringworld book was good.

Just the idea of something so many hundreds of thousands of earths could fit in, how far you can travel amd still be on the ring.

>> No.8390241

Any books where multiple little girls rape one guy? Or anything with lewd little girls.

>> No.8390244 [DELETED] 

>>8390238
Man Who Was Thursday was awesome to be honest.

I've heard Napoleon of Notting Hill was also excellent, but it didn't feel like anything was happening and I didn't make it far. I should try again, huh.

>> No.8390246

>>8390221
>>8390244

USE THE SUBJECT FIELD
IDIOT

>> No.8390247

Where should I stop with the dune novels?

>> No.8390248

>>8390247

the beginning

>> No.8390250

>>8390238
Man Who Was Thursday was awesome to be honest.

I've heard Napoleon of Notting Hill was also excellent, but it didn't feel like anything was happening and I didn't make it far.

>>8390246
My bad, man. Sorry I don't participate in generals all the time.

>> No.8390251

>>8390244
Why did you stop?
You aren't reading for the plot, are you?
>>8390241
Orphans of Chaos

>> No.8390258

>>8390246
Thinking that "Name" means the name of the thread is a sign of a pure heart, one who has never namefagged. That anon can probably catch unicorns.

>> No.8390267

>>8390247
If you like Dune and Dune Messiah, you should probably read Children and God Emperor. If I were you I would not stop after Children without reading God Emperor, because if you've read that far, you might as well read the big one. Then after that you can decide whether you want to read the next couple of books.

In essence, my advice is to evaluate your position every two books. If you like what you've read so far, continue on to the next pair. Repeat through Chapterhouse and then stop. Don't defile Frank's good name with the shit his son wrote after that.

>> No.8390301

>>8390247
Stop with the Greeks

>> No.8390335
File: 114 KB, 662x500, navs.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8390335

>>8390267
OR...
Read them all, even the ones from his spurious spawn, so you can bitterly complain online about how shitty it went after certain point.

>> No.8390350

>>8390221
You fucking idiot.
You made the same mistake last time.

When you make a thread you put the general information in subject, not name. When someone searches they won't find the thread.

>> No.8390355

>>8390238
>Anne Frank, in a fantasy and sci-fi selection.
>Because it never happened.
Well played anon.

>> No.8390358

>>8390355
I know right.
Fucking Margaret Atwood and her silly normie nom de plume.

>> No.8390360

>>8390221
>What's the most jaw-dropping SFF megastructure?
None really. Its either something very hard to visualize or mostly just goes completely overboard with 'lol its a million billion km long' (fucking Perry Rhodan). Its like the Largest Spaceships infograph thats floating around from time to time, where you can simply said 'My ship is a thousand times larger then that one'

>> No.8390363

>>8390355
>HAHA! LOOK EVERYONE! I GOT THE JOKE!
Gas yourself senpai.

>> No.8390368

>>8390360
then pick one from a scifi author et al, of repute.

>> No.8390370

>>8390363
>No jokes after mine please.
I still love you senpai.

>> No.8390377

>>8390221
You didn't even link the previous thread
Fagget

>> No.8390382

>>8390363
>gas yourself
Well played

>> No.8390386

>>8390225
>*whew* managed to slip my thread in in front of the othes
No wonder you didn't take your time and do it well, you were rushing to get ahead of the others

>> No.8390387
File: 349 KB, 278x200, shitpostomatic.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8390387

>>8390350
Then we have to blow through this one extra fast.

>> No.8390388

>>8390377
hardly anyone is these days. fucking summer.

>> No.8390392

>>8390382
משוחק יפה

>> No.8390401

>>8390388
The last 6 threads were linked.

>> No.8390404

>>8390221

Probably the most palpable descriptions of megastructures that I've read are from the Culture novels by Iain M Banks. He doesn't just reel off figures about how big they are, he writes how immense they are from the characters' perspective.

>characters spend hours in frictionless maglev trains just to get from one district of one continent of one plate of a ringworld
>cruise ship a whole chunk of one book is spent upon is later seen as a dot in the distance in the cargo bay of one General Service Vehicle
>civilisations have to progress as far as pressurised atmospheric flight to even see the top of the towers holding up on level of a concentric-shell artificial shellworld

>> No.8390408

Where do I start with Brent Weeks?

>> No.8390411

>>8390408
Nowhere, he's a garbage author.

>> No.8390414
File: 22 KB, 612x380, Iain-Banks.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8390414

>>8390401
But this one is getting better shitposting. HURRAY!

>> No.8390419

>>8390408
Lightbringer

Night Angle is young adult shlock

>> No.8390426
File: 26 KB, 600x750, 5eb.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8390426

>Worldbuilding

>> No.8390427

>>8390404
Absolutely! The OP question immediately made me think of GSVs.

>> No.8390431

>>8390414
It's summer, ye olde goode patricians are reading books.

>> No.8390433

>>8390419
This. Remnants of it pop up in Lightbringer, but overall the cringe is reduced by at least two-thirds.

He'd better release that book this year, though, and not go GRRM

>> No.8390438
File: 564 KB, 916x745, Screenshot_2016-08-12_18-50-19.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8390438

>>8390221
Is it real?

>> No.8390440

>>8390404
I don't remember those. Which novels were these?

>> No.8390442

>>8390247
they're all garbage

not even joking

>> No.8390444

>>8390427
And a GSV can easily evaporate a solar system by burping some anti-matter. Contrast is the operative word.

>> No.8390448

I would happily kill Harlan Ellison. I hate him.

>> No.8390453

>>8390438
I dropped out of astronomy grad school, but I know enough to tell you that it's not an "alien megastructure."

>> No.8390454
File: 43 KB, 1280x720, harlan ellison.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8390454

>>8390448
why bother

>> No.8390457

>>8390440

>Look to Windward
>Consider Phlebas
>Matter

>> No.8390462
File: 1.83 MB, 200x200, mind_blown.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8390462

>>8390426
>God wears a fedora and is a nice guy.

>> No.8390466

>>8390250
Napoleon of Notting hill is I believe one of the first anti-utopian science fiction novels and its full of Chesterton's aphorisms and his take on love of ones country. It's quite moving, especially near the end.

>> No.8390470

>>8390462
This would explain a lot.

>> No.8390472

>>8390433
October 25th senpai

People have already received ARCs

>> No.8390474

>>8390462
THEN WHY DOES HE KEEP CREATING ROASTIES!

>> No.8390477

>>8390444

>GSVs
>Scary

Ever seen an ROU go to work?

>> No.8390479

>>8390438
I wish it was, but the most logical explanation in this case is that the star's light is being shadowed by a shattered planet of some sort.
We need more info.

>> No.8390486

>>8390453
ok then what is it

>> No.8390490

>>8390472
FFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
Why did you remind me?

Those fucking ARC anons didn't want to share
RRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

>> No.8390506
File: 203 KB, 1000x600, fea-J1407_RonMiller_2015[1].jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8390506

>>8390486
A disturbed accretion disc? Or a disturbed protoplanetary disc? What this guy said sounds plausible on the face at least: >>8390479

It reminds me of pic related from a few years ago. http://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/gigantic-ring-system-around-j1407b/

>> No.8390565

>>8390360
The one the Sith used in the Sith era.

The books aren't kino though, except for the first two Darth Bane books and those where a different time period

>> No.8390611

Are there any books about a space-based humanity trying to reclaim Earth?

>> No.8390617

>>8390611
Kind of a spoiler (also kind of not), but the more fantastical third part of Seveneves is about that.

>> No.8390621
File: 10 KB, 290x174, index.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8390621

>>8390565
>except for the first two Darth Bane books

>> No.8390633

>>8390350

Yeah but it does work, try it.

>> No.8390647

>>8390617

That's already on my to read list, nice.

>> No.8390667
File: 58 KB, 518x398, foundation-ee.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8390667

>>8390611
Probably not what you're looking for but the hunt for Earth becomes a prominent feature of the later Foundation books.

These are stronger books if you've read some of his Robot/Empire novels before Foundation

>> No.8390681

>>8390221
Architect of Aeons portrayed the Milky Way's Sagittarius Arm as a megastructure/living being while hinting that the entire universe might be one, or in the process of becoming one. The whole series does a great job at portraying astronomical scale and distance without getting too bogged down.

>> No.8390691

Can you lads help me out? I read a book years ago that I loved but I can't remember it now.

>something about rediscovering a crystal city
>clone backups of body/consiousness but there was some catch that meant you couldn't do it all the time
>the timeline skipped ahead towards the end and the original characters were commemorated with statues or something
>it ended with a war scene where the protagonist tried to break into a tomb and got bombarded from space
>lots of stuff about wormholes

it's been driving me nuts for years, I'm sure it was pretty well known but I can't remember who it was

>> No.8390695

>>8390621
It's kino and you know it, hothead

>> No.8390742

>>8390474
Because he's into Lovecraftian fanfics.

>> No.8390765

>>8390462
>Autistic Monad
That's why he never married, and kept worldbuilding all along.

>> No.8390794

What is it with sci-fi people and exaggerated, exotic physical objects used as a sorta metaphor for specialness and mystery. Like ... that shit mostly got played out in literature by the iron age. Hell, even by the iron age that symbolism is often used as a metaphor in some more comprehensive narrative - not this "lol it's so special how kooool" sentiment.

>> No.8390809

What's with some science fiction novels being almost great, but in need of editing, considering a third or half of each tome losing steam or compulsion at some point.

I don't get it. We're past the big three era, and modern writers should have absorbed their strengths and improved on their weaknesses. The state of science fiction is embarrassing, so what gives?

>> No.8390859
File: 1.39 MB, 2544x796, rama3.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8390859

>>8390221
>Ctrl f
>tfw nobody's talking about Rama
I found it fascinating purely because of its unexpected surprises and its sense of mystery. It felt like a real adventure to read the crew of the Endeavor explore it.
1/3

>> No.8390864
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8390864

>>8390859
2/3

>> No.8390870
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8390870

>>8390864
3/3

>> No.8390881

>>8390859
>>8390859
>>8390864
>>8390870
except it's not a megastructure you retard.

>> No.8390959
File: 2.92 MB, 291x300, 1452298673987.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8390959

>>8390881
kek close enough faggot

>> No.8390974

Thoughts on Malazan Books of the Fallen series?

>> No.8390992

>>8390974
Great series, stutters a bit around book 7, but overall is a good solid series

>> No.8391068

>>8390959
close enough doesn't cut it in science or science fiction. look at how niven was ripped apart by fans in earlier versions of ringworld.

look at how, in trying to show the thread up, you made yourself look like a gaping asshole.

>> No.8391104

>>8390959
>>8391068
LOL BTFO

Has a pleb like you considered you're the kind of moronic tripe Stalin would gladly exterminate? You using that gif shames Stalin.

>> No.8391110

>>8390992
How does it feel coming out of Wheel of Time?
Overly gritty?
Fun characters?

>> No.8391128

>>8390251
I read MHWT for the plot and loved every minute of it.

>> No.8391151

>>8390681
>the entire galactic arm is working off a billion-year-old debt
>supernovae are generally acts of industry and warfare
>galaxies are spun to ensure optimum star distribution
>Jupiter casually mentions FTL communication is possible
I love how the more Montrose knows the bleaker the universe's prospects look.

>> No.8391154

>>8390859
bored me to tears t b h

>> No.8391161
File: 958 KB, 1476x2206, The_long_sun(novel).jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8391161

Generation Ships

>> No.8391168

>>8390881
>>8391068

oh yeah lets see you build a five mile cylinder in your back yard then

>> No.8391187

>>8390335
I hate that the Lynch film has set a standard for Dune designs. The aesthetics of that movie are fucking abysmal.

>> No.8391206
File: 50 KB, 475x520, 0ea4d6681e8bbe6a2c475a3798391e9b.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8391206

>>8391187
You'd prefer the SciFi hats?

At least it hasn't completely taken over like Peter Jackson's LotR.

>reminder that we will never have a low fantasy Lord of the Rings miniseries

>> No.8391211

>>8391206
When I read Dune I visualized the setting as being super oriental in appearance.

>> No.8391237

>>8391168
retard

>> No.8391262

>megastructures

They're not the craziest things in fiction but I really like the ship descriptions in the Expanse series, like the Mars warship just being a big cylindrical thing resembling an apartment block or something since it doesn't need any aerodynamics. The Mormons are even building a huge generation ship so that they can inherit their own star system.

There was a Captain in the story too who had a painting of an actual ship in his office because he longed for the days when they were designed to look beautiful and sleek.

Good world, that.

>> No.8391273

>>8391206
the syfy costumes weren't bad in concept per se, just cheap looking. same goes for the actors, though I think some of them are venerable, but didn't fit the roles.

>> No.8391290
File: 2.58 MB, 1920x1080, 1463543371171.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8391290

The ending of the Fifth Season though
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIscL-Bjsq4

>> No.8391349

>>8391262
In John C. Wright's Count to the Eschaton series, interstellar ships are streamlined to deflect near-c particles. One of them is described as looking like a rapier, with the laser push plate forming the basket.

>> No.8391405

>>8390809
Write something better faggot.

>> No.8391421
File: 36 KB, 292x234, John_C_Wright.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8391421

>>8391349
>At age 42, Wright converted from atheism to Christianity, citing a profound religious experience with visions of the "Virgin Mary, her son, and His Father, not to mention various other spirits and ghosts over a period of several days", and stating that prayers he made were answered.[6] In 2008, he converted to the Roman Catholic Church, of which he approvingly said: "If Vulcans had a church, they'd be Catholics."[7]

>> No.8391430

>>8390691
Maybe Diaspora by Greg Egan?

>> No.8391447

>>8391430

What's that like? I'll read it if theres ebin megastructures and stuff in it.

>> No.8391470

>>8391405
I can but don't. By doing nothing I'm still a better person than you.

>> No.8391585

Fucking hell Sanderson

You better write some damn good revenge porn later on. I want to jerk off to Kaladin killing Amaram

>> No.8391591

>>8391447
Not really, but Egan writes the hardest sci-fi around.

>> No.8391667

>>8391110
It's a bit darker, less character driven and things aren't as spelled out as in WoT.

>> No.8391717

>>8391667
Dark as in ASOIAF dark, or dark with a proper point?

>> No.8391739

>>8391717
It actually has a proper point
The author does have a strong tendency to have his characters go on random philosophical wank internal monologues

>> No.8391763

>>8391739
The random philosophical monologues was actually something I enjoyed when it cropped up in WoT.

I think I'll start that series after I re-read WoT.

>> No.8391776

>>8391763
I personally started it shortly after finishing WoT and found it a good transition. You just have to be ready for the first book or two to be really confusing since it doesn't ease you into the setting or plot at all.

>> No.8391839
File: 110 KB, 453x567, 1457919383828.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8391839

>>8390230
Depends. What is the alien offering in return? Immortality? Technology? Knowledge? Does the alien have a nice dick?

>> No.8392003

>>8391273
and the 3D GFX was cheap and hideous even back then.

>> No.8392109

>>8391161
I really appreciated all the thought gene put into his setting

>> No.8392166

>>8390247
Depends. They come in twos, so stop after Dune Messiah, God Emperor or Chapterhouse. Do NOT read the books written by his son. They are literally garbage.
In any case, make sure you read Dune Messiah since it is the best book in the series.

>> No.8392206

Does anyone remember the Golden Age SF short where these guys are trying to get rich off their time machine by stealing a bit of the Declaration of Independence to sell to signature collectors, and after this long ordeal they finally retrieve a piece and send it to an expert who tells them it's an excellent forgery but it can't be real because it was obviously just written yesterday?

>> No.8392232

>>8390611
Battlestar Galactica

>> No.8392234

>>8390667
Are the rest of the Foundation books good? I read Foundation and loved it, then read the first 10 pages of Prelude to Foundation and dropped it because it read like a generic spy book.

>> No.8392236
File: 8 KB, 160x143, IMG_20160225_163840.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8392236

>>8390881
>O'Neill cylinder
>not a megastructure

Am I being baited?

>> No.8392239

>>8392236
Not compared to Dyson spheres. Not that we have much to brag about.

>> No.8392240

>>8391154
I thought it was cool because you keep waiting for the big discovery, the first contact, but then it never happens. I love that feeling of anticlimax.

>> No.8392248

>>8392239
Those dyson spheres were pretty boring as far as megastructures go. The best part of that book was the description of that alien intelligence, the narration of that remorseless consciousness.

>> No.8392255

>>8392239
So what? It is still a megastructure, you turboautist.

>> No.8392261

>>8392255
I'm agreeing with you. We can only laugh at thetes calling O'Neill cylinders megastructures once we can build space elevators and orbital rings.

>> No.8392267

>>8392234
Prelude and Forward were written at the end of Asimov's life and not very good.

The original trilogy is from the prime of his career and fantastic. Edge and Earth are late follow-ons, and fall somewhere between the two poles in quality.

If you loved the first foundation you really need to read F&E and Second Foundation, since they're literally the same thing only different.

If you're still feeling it after 2ndF, read the Galactic Empire series. After that you can go on to the Robot novels Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun.

Only then would I move on to his 80s stuff, which you can read either by finishing off the robot novels and then foundation, or ordered by publication date. 80s Asimov isn't 50s Asimov, though so know that going in.

>> No.8392269

Any good hard science author?
Greg Egan is a shit writer (and a cunt)

>> No.8392270

>>8392267
Asimov wrote a massive amount of short stories, too. Most of them are excellent.

>> No.8392290

>>8391421
He looks quite dapper desu

>> No.8392434

>>8392269

Peter Watts' Blindsight is tight.

>> No.8392494
File: 102 KB, 400x443, tumblr_mv74iazJv51rv0p43o1_r1_400.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8392494

Post the best covers you can find

>> No.8392502
File: 214 KB, 1199x600, roger zelazny collected stories.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8392502

>>8392494

>> No.8392507
File: 66 KB, 680x535, book-cover.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8392507

>>8392494

This one

>> No.8392510
File: 1.11 MB, 2048x1364, WoR_MAP-STORMSEAT_v02_fmt.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8392510

>>8392232
>books

>>8392269
Reynolds and Baxter.

>> No.8392513
File: 1.95 MB, 966x4485, harry potter.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8392513

>>8392494

>> No.8392516
File: 140 KB, 960x640, lol turklets.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8392516

>>8392510
>Reynolds
>hard
>Baxter
>good

>> No.8392518

>>8392510
How did you like The Medusa Chronicles?
Pretty comfy in my opinion.

>> No.8392520

>>8392494
>robots need external antenna
Man I wonder what those guys would say to actual A.I robots.

>> No.8392523

>>8392269
Why is Greg Egan a shit writer and a cunt? I've been meaning to read some of his books.

Also seconding Blindsight, it's awesome.
>>8392516
I enjoyed Revelation Space but thought the sequels suxx0red. Is Baxter really bad? It's one of the (few) recommendations I've gotten for hard-sci fi beside Greg Egan.

>> No.8392530

>>8392513

top row best row

>> No.8392531

>>8392523
I read part of his alt-hist where Kennedy lives and inspires a Mars mission but that was boring as sin, and I read the first volume of his collaboration with Clarke where the planet gets jigsaw-puzzled with chunks from different time frames, and that was also boring. Your mileage may vary. I also find Clarke's long work, on the whole, pretty boring.

Neal Stephenson wrote pretty hard SF in the first two-thirds of Seveneves. It was good stuff, and casually packed with classical allusions like he does sometimes.

>> No.8392534
File: 54 KB, 338x500, heroes.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8392534

>>8392494

I love the covers for the First Law world.

>> No.8392535

>>8392530
>not proud lesbian of color German
>not turbojew Finnish

>> No.8392547

>>8392523
Anathem
Rendezvous with rama
Seveneves
I don't look for hard scifi, I read mostly fantasy. When I read scifi I like to get books that would give me futuristic, yet possible (sometime) technology.

I get pissed when they talk about delta v's, limited oxygen resources, and other shit.

I like carbon scrubbers, botanical gardens to recycle co2, large capacitor batteries, some current theory taken and expanded on to give you a sense of wonder.

Like the old world fairs, if they were still around and actually gave you futuristic things.

>> No.8392558

>>8392531
>>8392547
I tried reading Seveneves but everything about it just kind of sucked so I stopped like 30 pages in or something.

>> No.8392560

>>8392494
this is also an album cover

>> No.8392561

>>8392558
It's Stephenson first, hard SF second. Some people just don't like Stephenson.

>> No.8392586

>>8392558
I thought you liked hard scifi, it doesn't get harder than that.

>> No.8392655

>>8391776
Thanks, home nigger

>> No.8392666

>>8392586
Too many muh strong women (not that I have a problem with female protagonists, but they just seem done in an awkward way). The presence of a sociologist and a marine biologist on the ISS alone is enough to break suspension of disbelief and the whole moon explodes thing just seems contrived and unrealistic. Shouldn't everything be red hot due to the kinetic energy released?
Also, the presence of a Neil DeGrasse Tyrone analog also really annoyed me.
I do like hard sci-fi, but those elements I described just turned me off immediately. Maybe it gets better later, I don't know.

>> No.8392692

>>8392666
No need to spoiler something from the first sentence in the book. The moon exploding was just a device, obviously contrived, and it's the author's job to keep you in it till it gets interesting - and it does get very interesting after everyone on the surface dies. Hillary Clinton manages to get almost everyone left in the entire human race killed.

The strong women quickly find themselves out of their depth. There are even stronger men, except they're manly enough to sacrifice themselves, leaving the not-strong-enough women to do their work. And they do grow as characters. The country girl had the second most satisfying ending of any Stephenson character I've read.

Did anyone else notice the childbirth symbolism in the Russian dyke chick getting ripped out of her survival pod? It was totally obvious, right?

>> No.8392704

>>8392666
>I do like hard sci-fi, but those elements I described just turned me off immediately.
So you will stop asking for hard scifi, and read clones, ftl travel, A.Is inhabiting human bodies, cyborgs, and world terraforming like the read of us (normal autism) and stop being super autistic?

>> No.8392720

>>8392523
>Why is Greg Egan a shit writer and a cunt?
Always trying to shove his atheism down your throat. I don't believe in any God but he's clearly a butthurt fedora tipper who thinks he's better than everyone else.

And his characters are always the boring "Noir detective".

Ted Chiang is better.

>> No.8392724

>>8392692
Wait.... is that who the female was to be? I didn't even hear her running when I read the book(read the release week), although I don't go to pol, and don't watch Americlap news much (like 5-6 times a year).

I thought he just did that to seem progressive. Yall had whites, then a black, next is vagina, then maybe asian or native or Mexican?

Almost every author writes a female running things at least once. I read out of the dark on an anon's recommendation, a few weeks ago. Palmer was running shit, and they had a vag.

There are a lot of other books I read where they just hinted that it was a vag on top, then never mentioned it again.

>> No.8392735

>>8392692
Ripped out of the plastic bag? Naw, I just thought he offed her because you don't want to be seen as a rapist forcing someone to get a baby, and they would have wasted resources keeping her alive if she didn't want to breed.

really thought the guy would have survived and had a harem all wanting to mount his dick

>> No.8392742

>>8392735
What are you talking about? It was the Russian pioneer that was having trouble with her space suit, and Country Fried Astronaut helped her out, really early in the story. The one that became an Eve.

>> No.8392743

>>8391776
Thanks for the info anon, just finished my first WoT read through as well and plan on moving on to Malazan now.

>> No.8392788
File: 368 KB, 1368x2048, WoR_MAP-FROSTLANDS_v02_fmt.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8392788

>>8392516
Yes, it is hard sci-fi. That is what he writes. I'm glad you understand the term and were able to reiterate known facts.

>>8392518
Haven't read them. Looked up a synopsis of the original book and wasn't interested, so meh. Too bad for me as the author duo sounds appealing.

>> No.8392794

>>8392692
>The moon exploding was just a device, obviously contrived, and it's the author's job to keep you in it till it gets interesting
Well, you're right of course, but the way it was done just didn't keep me in suspension of disbelief. Maybe I'll give it another shot once I feel the hunger for more sci-fi really panging.
>>8392704
I don't understand what you are trying to convey. That I'm being overly picky?
I'll blame reading Blindsight for that.
>>8392720
I see. Might stay away from him then, since atheism is gay.

>> No.8392805

>>8392788
I urge you to try reading it. Read a Meeting with Medusa, the story that inspired it, first, tho.

>> No.8393001

"Eon": hollowed out asteroid contains a space-time highway going on possibly forever, bringing together different species. Think Stargate, but it's switched "on" continuously along a tunnel through the whole universe.

>> No.8393015

>>8392494
>DON'T DATE ROBOTS

>> No.8393117

>>8393015
>CLANKED

>> No.8393255
File: 491 KB, 1321x1740, second foundation.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8393255

>>8392494
Arkady is cute! I wish she was my daughter.

>> No.8393292
File: 186 KB, 2354x912, 1416466757874.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8393292

Anyone read any decent military sci-fi? It doesn't have to be amazing, but I'm looking for something that focuses mainly on the life aboard the ships and dealing with those problems as well as fighting a battle/war.

>> No.8393310

>>8393292
ember war
black fleet
lost colonies

>> No.8393312
File: 3.00 MB, 850x566, sammy wright.webm [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8393312

I'm looking for something like Conan except with a female protagonist. Anything fit this description?

>> No.8393313

>>8393292
Storm of Steel

>> No.8393316

>>8393313
>that anon who comes into these threads to recommend fiction that isn't SF or F

Fuck off

>> No.8393324

>>8393292
Neal Asher and BV Larson.

>> No.8393329

>>8393312
Sonja the red

>> No.8393335
File: 260 KB, 1920x1080, 1455076095199.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8393335

>>8393313
>lel
>time for me to post it again
Consider becoming an hero.

>> No.8393345

>>8393292
Gort Ashryn

>> No.8393349

>>8393316
>he wants insight into war
>wants sf

>> No.8393362

What the fuck is a "megastructure". A very big structure of some kind?

>> No.8393370

>>8391206
>myth
>low fantasy

>> No.8393376

>>8393362
A constructed thing in space that is stupidly large.

>> No.8393383

>>8393376
So it has to be in space? I missed that.

>> No.8393532

>>8393383
Nah, I'd call things like those pillars the lanterns were on in the Silmarillion or the Last Redoubt megastructures.

>> No.8393573

Stop being so mean /lit/

>> No.8393591

>>8393383
>>8393376
>>8393532
A very tall tower that could house millions, the population of a city, could fit the broad description of a megastructure. Things in space are just cooler.

>> No.8393597

>>8393573
Where do you think you are?

>> No.8393609

>>8393591
Like the one in Terminal Planet from Alastair Reynolds why am I recommending him so much

>> No.8393611

>>8393609
And it's actually named Terminal Word, my bad

>> No.8393617

>>8393611
*World, just kill me now

>> No.8393693
File: 346 KB, 1375x2048, WoR_SKETCHBOOK-LAIT_fmt.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8393693

>>8393609
Because he writes a lot of different shit that is rad as hell.

>> No.8393700

>>8393335
That looks more like a hotel dining room than an actual quality restaurant.

>> No.8393715

>>8393700
A 5 star hotel?

>> No.8393724

>>8393349
>he comes into the fantasy general for recs
>outer lit follows him here to troll and shitpost

>> No.8393729

>>8392788
>Yes, it is hard sci-fi. That is what he writes.
"Hard" doesn't just mean "boring," anon.
>FTL
>artificial gravity
>magic nanotech
>Africa becoming a superpower
>a freaking steampunk tower where the laws of physics change by district
Those things are space opera, anon. We don't call Stephenson a hard SF author because that is not mostly what he writes, even if Seveneves is hard SF between the second sentence and the extended epilogue. Alastair Reynolds is not a hard SF author.

>> No.8393748

>>8393693
New pic cosmerefag?
Also, what's the next Sanderson release? That cosmere anthology?

>> No.8393766

>>8393729
>artificial gravity
If the earth stopped spinning what would happen?

How do you achieve artificial gravity in a space ship without centrifugal force?

>> No.8393779

>>8393766
>>8393766
>>>/sci/
If the earth stopped spinning, lots of things would happen, but gravity would not be affected. Real gravity is created by mass.

There is no way to create artificial gravity other than by spinning, resulting in centrifugal force from inertia.
>>>/sci/

>> No.8393793

>>8393724
How is probably the best book on the topic a shitpost?

>> No.8393848

>>8393779
>There is no way to create artificial gravity other than by spinning, resulting in centrifugal force from inertia.
FYI the force of circular motion is centripetal (the parts of the space ship or whatever that are spinning have to "hold on" to the central axis, exerting a force directed inwards, i.e. in the center-pointing or "centripetal" direction), and then a body such as yourself standing on the "inside" experiences a normal (i.e., perpendicular) force from the floor pushing you inward (centripetaly) that feels like the ground on Earth pushing back against the force of your weight.

The distinction might seem a bit silly, but thinking about it more correctly helps you avoid stumbling into absurd contradictions later on. I had to teach elementary physics to pre-med students for a while, and getting them to understand what forces are (and aren't) was like pulling teeth.

Anyway, we should also consider that any constant acceleration duplicates the feeling of gravity. Not only constant inward acceleration as in circular motion, but also linear acceleration in a particular direction. I don't think this would be a good substitute for gravity though, because it would be rather difficult to accelerate at 1 g for a long enough time to matter.

Could there be some other way to produce true "artificial gravity"? Could we bend spacetime so that the geodesics (the lines along which things tend to "fall") point at a place where there isn't actually a significant mass? I have no idea, but gravity is actually so little-understood that it's not impossible to imagine.

>> No.8393885

>>8393848
*sigh*
I said >>>/sci/
If I wanted to discuss this any further I wouldn't do it on /lit/
But please yourself.

>> No.8393888

>>8393885
>*sigh*
Out.

>> No.8393904

>>8393885
I take your point. I hoped to connect my post back into sf and /lit/ by pointing out that there are still some unknowns that lead us into some imaginative places (e.g. gravity manipulation) that are ripe for the sci-fi/spec-fic treatment.

I'll go pop over to /sci/ now though.

>> No.8393913

>>8393904
/sci/posting is absolutely appropriate for this thread though.

>> No.8394344

>>8393913
Got anything?

>> No.8394377

>>8393848
>FYI the force of circular motion is centripetal
Reference frames my man. And linear acceleration requires a constant increase in mass since acceleration is an increase in energy and energy is mass. The only way around this would be to find somewhere with 1g gravity and accelerate in the opposite direction at 1g. Not artficial gravity then tho.

>> No.8394397
File: 261 KB, 795x1200, twok_sketchbook-3_shalebark-webres.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8394397

>>8393729
Luckily, you do not possess reality-warping powers and he is not magically reduced to a mere sci-fi author because you say so.

>>8393748
lolidk
Sometime later this year.

>> No.8394402

>>8394397
He doesn't have reality-warping powers to make what he writes hard SF. Reynolds writes space opera. There's nothing "mere" about it, it's an ancient and honorable genre.

>> No.8394411

>>8393848
>>8393885
This is science fiction thread, so let's theorize.

What if they find the elusive gravity atom? Gravtron?
Would they be able to artificially create it in a lab?

Say that energy wouldn't be a problem because we learnt to store and harness large amounts of energy from small sources in the future?

Would some device turning itself on and off at a very fast rate be able to produce magnetized zones, and thus create simulated gravity?

At least let us have some actually discussion, we can list scifi books which we think are close on the heel of solving the gravity problem... instead of shitposting and memeing.

>> No.8394481

>>8394411
AFAIK memeing's the best we've got for artificial gravity. We've discovered the Higgs boson and gravity waves but we still only know two ways to experience acceleration: have a bunch of mass close together or go fast. And if I understand it correctly those two things aren't very different.

If energy is really really really not a problem, getting a vast amount of it close together will get you gravity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kugelblitz_%28astrophysics%29 but you're basically a god by that point so might have other things on your mind than making a non-ring-shaped spaceship where you can stand on the ground.

>>8394397
Alistair Reynolds is as much of a hard sci-fi author as Orson Scott Card. Cool concepts, presented in a coherent way that really does feel like good hard crunchy science.

>> No.8394734
File: 258 KB, 1483x1220, CS-Lewis-2.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8394734

>Adventure tier
Prince Caspian, Dawn Treader, Horse and his Boy
>Discovery tier
Lion/Witch/Wardrobe, Magician's Nephew
>Hipster/makes much more sense if you've read his nonfiction tier
Silver Chair, Last Battle

Also Perelandra>Silent Planet>Hideous Strength. Till We Have Faces transcends all tiers.

>> No.8394750

>>8394734
>reading ya
>Christian ya
>and dinocore to boot
Next you will be asking for female authors. You degenerates are all the same.

>> No.8394758
File: 268 KB, 2000x1333, 1363016312423.cached.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8394758

>>8394750
I wouldn't give you a (You) if I there weren't so many cute C.S. Lewis pictures out there. Just look at this guy. I wish he had been alive when I was a kid so I could have wrote him letters.

>> No.8394832

>>8394397
Who drew all these? Sanderson himself?

>> No.8394929
File: 10 KB, 480x360, hqdefault.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8394929

>>8394832
Probably peter his assistant.
Sanderson is a hard tasks master, I bet he makes poor Peter slave away for him.
The only thing he got to look out for is when Sanderson is on tour, and he has to service Sanderson's wife while he is out.

>> No.8394988

>>8394929
I don't know which would be worse

>> No.8395026

>>8394832
>>8394929
Most of it is an artist called Isaac Stewart's work, there's some by other artists too

>> No.8395074

>>8394988
>not cucking jordan on his marital bed posthumously while having his wife leg locked around your waist begging for more

>> No.8395381

>>8392743
Malazan is the shit. Its a hard read for the forst few books cause you get dropped in on the story with nothing explained. totally worth it.

>> No.8395915

Just started Shades oof Gray, is there any gri for me to look forward to? They seem to "English" for me to get my fill.

>> No.8396012

Where did everyone go?
Is sffg filled with sunday church going normies?

>> No.8396030
File: 468 KB, 1259x2048, WoR_NAVANI-ARCHERSTAND_fmt.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8396030

>>8396012
It's relatively early 4chan-time, and since most posters ITTs are shitposters, the kids are likely still asleep since it's a weekend morning.

>> No.8396036

>>8396012
TI 6 was yesterday, going to mass this evening. There just hasn't been any interesting discussion.

>> No.8396041

>>8395381
The last 3 books are so bad though. He drops most of his interesting characters and introduces terrible new ones. He throws in more and more preaching and pseudo-philosophy, and he's an awful poet.

>> No.8396043
File: 46 KB, 333x499, 51r3afLHHmL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8396043

Any suggestions for a guy that likes ultra realistic, no fun allowed, alternate history? (pic related) Something where everything that happens is plausible and there's no aliens or time travel bullshit?

>> No.8396109
File: 19 KB, 200x320, bakker with some sloots.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8396109

Daily reminder that you will NEVER be Bakker

>> No.8396117

>>8396043
Christian v. Ditfurth is a German historian who writes alternative history with a focus on Europe.

Not sure how much is translated - '21. Juli' focuses on a successful Hitler assassination, after which the holocaust is stopped, the SS takes over and develops the atomic bomb and wins WW2. 'Das Luxemburg-Komplott' has Luxemburg and Liebknecht survive their assassination attempts, Germany becomes a communist state for a while, Lenin takes over, etc.

>> No.8396122

>>8392166
>Dune Messiah
>Best in the series

What? I always found it the worst

>> No.8396167
File: 29 KB, 379x750, Thief_06.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8396167

Hello friends. Can anyone recommend any good books, non-fiction would even be fine, about thieves or rouges or something like that?

>> No.8396171

>>8396167
Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser

>> No.8396175

>>8396167
>rouges

>> No.8396185

>>8396175
woah! you caught a typo! but there are 150 more, get to work anon!

>> No.8396207

>>8391211

weeb

>> No.8396258
File: 110 KB, 960x652, kek.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8396258

>>8390238

>Anne Frank

>> No.8396294
File: 37 KB, 317x500, The Three Stigmata.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8396294

This was a strange but entertaining book, one which succeeded in discombobulating me by its incomprehensible Russian doll-like structure of unreal experiences within unreal experiences, flood of religious analogies, and sardonic humor.


And some images cribbed by the Matrix, I would venture, particularly in the elevator.

>> No.8396332

>>8396012
Other bigger events that overlap.

Dota, buying school supplies, church (about half of 4chan is Christian, relapsed or not).

>> No.8396347

>>8396036
idk why but these threads are just prosaic "i finished this book but have nothing interesting to say", or other kinds of unwieldy reviews. There's much better discussion in Wolfe threads and threads about genre fiction that eject themselves from the generals.

A lot of you I wish I knew in real life.

>> No.8396364

>>8392513
Kek, the French publisher thought they wore two-foot wizard caps continuously for their first three years of school??

>> No.8396390

>>8392513
The expression on the German ones is priceless

>> No.8396440

>>8396117
>architects and main proponents of the holocaust stop it, they create a weapon that requires discredited "Jew science" that German nuclear scientists had fundamental flaws in understanding, and wins a war that had already been lost by the time of the 20th July plot

He said "plausible" not Gay Black Hitler.

>> No.8396454

>>8396440
Uhuru y'all!

>> No.8396665

>>8394929
>Sanderson's wife
>>8392513
As usual, the only good looking art is the Japanese one.

Why are western artists so shit? When did it happen?

>> No.8396666

>>8396043
Have you ever read the Flashman Papers?

>> No.8396739

Is the color based written language from Warbreaker the dumbest language system ever conceived? Like, as if people are going to carry around a box of colored pencils and switch between utensils after every letter.

>> No.8396775

>>8394929
That's Robert Jordan's wife.

>> No.8397062

Why read sci-fi when you can play No MAN's SKY

>> No.8397135

>>8397062
Is it any good? I got Odin's Sphere like a month ago but never played it. I'm not playing with my PS4 anymore since I finished Dark Souls 3. I'm waiting for the dlcs, Nier and The Last Guardian.

>> No.8397147

>>8397135
Odin's Sphere is easily better than all of those games.

>> No.8397148

>>8396739
>He fell for the Sanderson meme

But seriously, dyes and whatever seem to flow in rivers in that book. Hard to believe it's so valuable if it's everywhere.

>> No.8397186

>>8397147
>this game is better than other games which are not even out yet
I don't know why but it's hard for me to take your opinion seriously.

About Odin Sphere, I thought I'd like it more, I don't know but I never feel like playing it. Also it's definitely not better than Dark Souls.

I also want to play Furi but I don't wanna pay for a digital game, I wanna a physical edition.

>> No.8397271

>>8396167
The Eyes of the Overworld

>> No.8397631

>>8390221
Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds has a space structure so beeg its going to blow your mind.

Also, Ringworld series.

>> No.8397736

>Its a "Ellend is a good man" episode

>> No.8397753

>>8396167
I'm currently reading The Rogues of the Republic series by Patrick Weekes and it seems fairly good.

>> No.8397770
File: 1.68 MB, 2000x3000, Modern Fantasy Recs V2.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8397770

>>8396347
>A lot of you I wish I knew in real life.

s-such as me?

>> No.8397778

>>8396012
I spent all day building my monument to SFF. No time to waste with this here crowd :3

>> No.8397798

>>8390438
>>8390453
>>8390479
>>8390506
>Pretty much the only real way that a advanced civilization could announce it's existence to a universe bound by the laws of relativity
>Easily dismissed as anything other than a megastructure by the best info available to any possible observers
>The universe is filled with intelligent life forever separated by untraversabley large distances logically dismissing any evidence to the existence of one another
>We will all die alone

>> No.8397818

>>8397798
>we will all die alone
I don't see what that has to do with alien life, or the absence thereof.

>> No.8397838

>>8391839
>Does the alien have a nice dick?
Looking at it defies explanation, it reminds one of a Penrose object, and it makes one's eyes sore, but the perceivable length has the unmistakable quality of making something else sore too. It shoots globs of curdled bloodclots that if swallowed send you into your own Pentecostal heaven.

>> No.8397853

>>8397798
>untraversably large distances
Not if you're immortal. And even if you can't figure out biological immortality or at least low-energy biosuspension, the faster you get the slower you age. The universe is bright, and all the lights in the sky are our friends.

>> No.8397989

>>8397770
Hah, no.

>> No.8398190

>>8397989
Would you take pedo protagonist over me?

>> No.8398214

>>8397853
>The universe is bright, and all the lights in the sky are our friends.
For all we know the universe has ended.
We are living in the past, when we gaze up at the sky at night, we are looking into the portal of yestermillennia.

The sky isn't our friend, it's our harbinger of extinction.

>> No.8398219

>>8392434
Speaking of Watts, the Island and the gates in his Sunflowers stuff count for megastructures.

>> No.8398230

>>8393292
C.J. Cherryh has a great bunch of that, it's decently hard as well. Try Rimrunners or maybe Chanur.

>> No.8398321
File: 28 KB, 383x383, 1471227468125.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8398321

>>8398230
Would you fuck cherryh's matured pussy if offered to you?

>> No.8398368

>>8392502
I loved Lord of Light. It was interesting seeing that George RR Martin was influenced by it. I liked the balance of fantasy and sci-fi. How are his other books?

>> No.8398428

>>8396347
/lit/ is a slow board and a sub-community on an already slow board is going to be even slower. There's only 81 unique IPs in this thread that's been up for 3 days. And the topic for it is very broad, it's both sci-fi and fantasy. That's spreading a very tiny population of posters over an immense stretch of literature, so the odds of finding another person reading your book are not that good unless it's super popular or a /lit/ meme.

>> No.8398429
File: 202 KB, 1546x1152, Foto-Cordwainer-Smith-e1453581774862.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8398429

Is this weirdo memer worth reading?

>> No.8398499
File: 471 KB, 850x1268, Hellburner.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8398499

>>8398230
I don't know if I would characterize Chanur in that way. Hellburner and maybe Downbelow Station could serve.

>> No.8398504

>>8398321
>imblying

>> No.8398541

>>8394377
>Reference frames my man.
Circular motion is what's called a "non-inertial" reference frame, meaning that the "usual" laws of motion do not apply. That's why the distinction between the centripetal force (which actually exists and is exerted by the structure of the spinning thing) and the "fictitious" centrifugal force (which appears to exist in the non-inertial rotating frame) is important.
But sure, I'm guilty of jumping down someone's throat just for using the words "centrifugal force" which is an admittedly annoying, over-corrective bit of pedantry (to which physicists are unfortunately prone).

>And linear acceleration requires a constant increase in mass since acceleration is an increase in energy and energy is mass.
Your wording is confusing and potentially misleading, but that is actually true in the domain of relativistic physics. As you try to accelerate faster and faster at speeds that are already close to c, your increase in velocity per unit of energy converted to kinetic slows, as if you were becoming heavier and heavier.

>The only way around this would be to find somewhere with 1g gravity and accelerate in the opposite direction at 1g.
Not sure what you mean by this. If you accelerated at 9.8 meters per second per second directly away from the surface of the Earth, you would would at first experience 2 gs, which would gradually trail off to 1 g as you left the Earth far behind. If you accelerated "around" the Earth, so that you did not get farther away from it, you would experience weightlessness (as you would in any orbit, even relatively close to the surface).

>> No.8398570

Does Wheel of Time get any better? 150 pages in and I want to strangle every character and shit on the author's grave

>> No.8398571

>>8394411
>Would they be able to artificially create it in a lab?
The problem wouldn't so much be producing "gravitons" (which, if they exist, are already everywhere) as much as getting them to interact with ordinary matter. Maybe an interesting avenue for fantastical speculation would be to imagine a way to make ordinary objects interact with each other as if they were much heavier. You could make yourself and the floor of your spaceship super-sensitive to their already existing, but weak, mutual attraction such that you feel as though you have your nominal Earthbound weight.

>>8394481
>And if I understand it correctly those two things aren't very different.
In fact, this observation was Einstein's key insight in developing the crucial Theory of Special Relativity. He realized that a particle (or an object, or whatever) has no way to tell the difference between experiencing acceleration and experiencing gravity. Thus, gravity "distorts" the laws of physics in an area in the same way being in a non-inertial reference frame does. That's what they mean when they use words like "the fabric of spacetime."

>> No.8398582

>>8396122
I would say Dune > God Emperor > the rest, but it's very subjective since I could imagine some people actually preferring the more whimsical 5th and 6th books.

Not sure what Messiah and Children have to offer. Maybe if you really like Paul you go for Messiah, but who likes Paul?

>> No.8398586

>>8398368
Generally pretty high quality. The first five Amber books are the closest to Lord of Light in quality and theme. Also be sure to look at his short stories, especially For a Breath I Tarry.

>> No.8398587

>>8397770
>>8397989
that wasn't me, but if you made that chat without irony I wouldn't want to shake your hand.

>> No.8398593

>>8398587
chart*

>> No.8398613
File: 272 KB, 873x983, NoAliums.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8398613

>>8397798
Lrn2spectroscopy

Pic related, from the discovery paper.
>Overall, the star's spectrum is unremarkable, as it looks like an ordinary early F-star with no signs of any emission lines or P-Cygni profiles.

There's nothing "manmade" there.

>> No.8398618

>>8398613
Yep, that's definitely not the way I would build a Dyson sphere, so there's no chance of alien shenanigans.

>> No.8398645

>>8398570
Gets better, then gets worse than ever, then the author dies and sanderson takes over, which could be considered getting better.

>> No.8398649

>>8395074
Then laugh derisively as he tosses another sheet of his notes into a trash can

>> No.8398725

>>8396347
>idk why but these threads are just prosaic "i finished this book but have nothing interesting to say"
Because no one wants to spoil the book for everyone else.
At least a few people have read some of the same books as I have here. But unfortunately no one will want to discuss books as much as they do anime or pokemon for example.

>> No.8398754

>>8398725
Maybe this kind of fiction is just too straightforward. If we were reading Nabokov there would be ambiguities, multiple conflicting interpretations--stuff to debate heatedly. With most of the books here, what's to discuss? We can argue about which things we like better than which other things, or which things suck.

I do think with a little effort we can have good discussions though. Non-spoilery reviews are a bit wishy-washy yes, but you can still make some substantial comments even if they are just about "feelings" and "impressions."

Another issue, for me, at least, is that I don't really remember enough details about sff books I read years ago to say much more than "liked that one, thought it was mind blowing/hilarious/poetic/whatever." I can't really debate the finer points of Leto II cucking himself with Ixians when I read that book in high school.

>> No.8398760
File: 429 KB, 1024x750, Interplanetary_Superhighway.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8398760

>>8390221

>What kind of superconstruction do you wish more SFF featured

ITP

>>8398727

>> No.8398764
File: 142 KB, 1107x700, If We Have Time to Watch.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8398764

>>8398760

What do you know of Ion of House Sphere and Quantum Game of Shapes ?

>> No.8398768
File: 93 KB, 586x423, Driven enough to Go Farther.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8398768

>>8398764

Driven Enough to Go Farther ?

>>8398709

>> No.8398769

Does anyone else feel like Iain M Banks "Culture" novels are like anime incarnate? Catgirls, cute furry mascots, angsty but overpowered male characters. Not to mention sassy floating robot sidekicks. The sex and drugs are more explicit than what passes for "fanservice," but it kind of feels like they were written for the same (or the English-speaking equivalent, anyway) audience as the anime shit.

I don't really mean this as a harsh criticism though. These elements are just a substrate for his stories, which I think are actually well written and have interesting big ideas. And I have to admit I find them "comfy." It's just an impression that hits me every time I start reading one.

>> No.8398801

>>8398769
Yeah I see it. I was actually thinking while reading Against a Dark Background that it would probably work well as an anime. Feersum Endjinn was one of the inspirations for the Blame! manga, which is getting an anime movie, so you could even say its coming full circle.

Have you read any of his non-Culture SF? I really loved Feersum Endjinn right up ntil the ending, and I thought Against a Dark Background was perfect, though it was Consider Phlebas dark and depressing.

>> No.8398833

>>8398801
>would probably work well as an anime
I think I've even posted his novels in "books that need an anime adaptation" threads.

>non-Culture
Not yet. I have Feersum Endjinn, but I thought I'd knock out more of his older stuff first. I'm not sure I was even aware of Against a Dark Background, but now it looks like I'm gonna have to add that to my list as well.

>> No.8398837

>>8398754
>I can't really debate the finer points of Leto II cucking himself with Ixians when I read that book in high school.
That's probably a bigger issue than stories being straightforward, is that the genre's too broad. I mean, it's not like we're bad at analysis, the Bakker folks could probably really get into the deeper meaning of all their GRI if they really wanted to, it's just easier to meme.

>tfw all Ender's Game/Speaker for the Dead discussion here will ever turn into is muh homoerotic shower scene

>> No.8398842

>>8398801
>Feersum Endjinn was one of the inspirations for the Blame! manga,

Might as well post the list:

Great Sky River by Gregory Albert Benford (Cibo)
Feersum Endjin by Ian Banks (Netsphere)
Busou Shimada Souko and Ad-Bird by Shiina, Matoko (Garbage storage, Tetsu, Zulu)
Dead boys and Dead Girls by Richard Calder (Ivy and Maeve)
Kirinyaga by Mike Resnick (Mensaab)
Greg Bear's New Collection by Gregory Dale Bear
Permutation City by Greg Egan
Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, and The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons
Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive, and Burning Chrome by William Gibson
Steel Beach, The Ophiuchi Hotline, Millenium, Titan, Wizard, The Persistence of Vision, Blue Champagne, and The Barbie Murders(Picnic on Nearside) by John Varley
Billenium by James Graham Ballard

>> No.8399044

>>8398586

For A Breath I Tarry is so fucking good.

>> No.8399146
File: 2.22 MB, 1405x2251, cjcschool.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8399146

>>8398321
Holy shit.
I'd pop her cherryh.

>> No.8399166

>>8398725
People can easily discuss a pertinent part of a story without giving spoilers. Here's an illustration. In LotR it's rarely mentioned that near the hobbit lands are these extremely thematically gothic barrow wights/wiggers who apparently try to rap their victims to death, as they suck away their listener's souls, while in a deep pit of wallowing misery and self doubt. Then this asshole/author self insert named Tom or some shit comes and saves the hobbits out of nowhere. It's a feature out of the well known threads of the LotR, but one that simultaneously renders Tolkien's works dark fantasy and completely absurd, even if it isn't commonly thought of those. Which are labels that even recent popular authors like Martin would not claim to compete with, even if fans think different, as he has full respect for Tolkien. Hardly a spoiler there, but worth a mention think it is would I.

That's hardly among one of the most worthwhile topics I can think of, but it's an example of the type of nuance readers here could explore. I'm not demanding they do so, but I find it peculiar that college age readers barely go further than "I liked this book because x and y."

Strong discussion is few and far in between the sff generals. To my count, maybe one strong conversation every two threads, but I'm sort of a snob.

>> No.8399181

>>8399166
Come on now, the wights showed that there are dangers out there unrelated to their stupid Third Age fetch quests, and that the hobbits really were completely unprepared to go off and save the world. Tom Bombadil showed that there are good things out there, too, and that sometimes miracles happen when you don't really deserve them. And they'd just left Tom's house, it's completely plausible that he would have been keeping an eye on them.

Also it demonstrates eucatastrophe early in the story, preparing the reader for the same kind of thing to happen on Mount Doom. Ring too strong, Frodo takes off to be Dark Lord, Gollum out of nowhere. Good things can happen through Tom, who seemingly lives for them, and Gollum, who's just this despicable thing.

>> No.8399202

I'm halfway through The Land Across.
Unlike the other two new Wolfe works (Sorcerers House and A Borrowed Man) I am enjoying this one a lot.
Wolfe often limits himself in relation to the character-author of his novels and it often backfires. Sorcerers House had an epistolary style which did not work for the kind of urban fantasy pulp, A Borrowed Man was too heavily invested in detective pulp, both were arguably too slow (here it's important to note all three are Wolfe and hopefully us being entertained). But The Land Across is fast paced, there is a lot of going on. There are no self imposed stylistic limitations, a lot of stuff is going on and elements of all kinds of whacky shit are present. Black magic walking hand, exorcists, kafkian state which really helps set the tone, KGB, hot women, mystery and his by now standard high quality verbal characterisation. It's really a great homage to what I feel he was reading 70 years ago.

>> No.8399257

>>8399181
Browser crashed. Here salvaged are my main thoughts.

Bombadil overpowered, his themes of unconcern, explored through the eagles would result in a less smug Frodo.

Bombadil's unsubtlety betrays LotR's graceful decision to have an absent God, one whose presence is felt everywhere. Gandalf a better voice. Lewis's heavy handed allegory resulted in his works suffering in quality.

Digression incoming. Gollum deserves sympathy, having been a slow kid dumped on his grandmother, before consuming moon sugar. He did not ask for any of this, and otherwise would have probably been a groundskeeper who collected anime figurines. He represents LotR readers in a way, being an outcast addicted to something (fantasy lit in the reader's case).

>> No.8399264

>>8399202
Peace and The Land Across seem to be his best standalone novels. I really ought to read more Wolfe these days.

>> No.8399267

>>8399257
Bombadil's a little-g god. He governs that little river over there. I don't know if Tolkien said anything about it, but C.S. Lewis liked the idea that little-g gods were just creatures more advanced than man but still less advanced than God. He's not going to fight Sauron for the same reason the eagles won't take Frodo to Mordor, because it's not his problem. And he was, I'll admit, kind of shoehorned in there before Tolkien found his stride.

I'm sad your browser crashed because I'm not understanding your argument. Also the poetry in the barrows was incidental, and not necessarily rapped. Maybe they sung it. Astute readers will notice the first adventures Merry has involve a nasty tree and the ghosts of the men the Witch King killed, the last adventures he has involve good trees and the Witch King himself.

>> No.8399634

>>8398587
But I was sincere.....

>> No.8399635

>>8399634
He was sincere too.

>> No.8399643

>>8398833
If you do read Against a Dark Background, Banks wrote an online epilogue that sort of cushions the final gut-punch.

Most people don't rate it too highly, but I really enjoyed it the most of all his works that I've read. It's less character based and more location based if anything. Instead of the 4-5 weird and crazy locations/structures usually featured in a Banks novel theres closer to 10 or 15, and the descriptions are baroque.

>> No.8399661

>>8399635
So I must lie and say "it was a troll list" or no one will be my friend? Is that what it boils down to?

>> No.8399685

>>8399661
No, no one will be your friend anyway so you might as well be honest about your shit taste.

>> No.8399702

>>8399661
We by now know you just have shit taste

>> No.8399711

>>8399661
We're all anons, anon. We're here to sort of mesh our brains in a soup, not to gain reputation points or social capital. You are more than a friend, more than an enemy, you are us, and we are you.

>> No.8399718
File: 71 KB, 1280x720, maxresdefault[1].jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8399718

Are there any good stories about how humans accidentally discover interstellar travel by encountering non-intelligent wild FTL-capable space fauna and then tame them as if they were space horseys?

>> No.8399735
File: 29 KB, 250x404, 9782253183952-001-T.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8399735

>>8399718
There's one where we discover time travel that way.

>> No.8399816
File: 174 KB, 640x352, The Chaws is Yaws.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8399816

>>8399685
>>8399702
>>8399711
I thought the whole reason sffg was started, was because we wanted a place to be able to discuss our "shit tastes"(as seen by outer lit) in peace.

Now it seems that the plebs have patricians of their own. Seeing that I'm a particularly visible on the count of my charts, it seems that I'm the logical fall man for these threads.

Everyone imbibes their hatred, shame and self-loathing into my person, to make themselves feel better and seem learnid. When we all know it's escapism genre trash we are reading.

The question is, do what you like because you want to, or do what someone else wants because you want to fit in?

>> No.8399822

>>8399816
Look, I'm not saying my taste is superior to yours. I'm just saying you're not likely to make friends on 4chan full stop.

>> No.8399826

>>8399735
I'm sorry, I don't speak "we surrender". What does the cover say?

>> No.8399831
File: 109 KB, 377x640, thvrlrdsfw1974.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8399831

>>8399826

>> No.8399839

>>8399816
No, you with garbage tastes invaded later on. After all you didn't browse /lit/ and the specific sff threads were often pretty decent, especially the Wolfe threads which became much less popular as the general gained traction. Otherwise Dick, Tolkien and a number of other authors still see pretty similar, but decent discussion.
The "outer lit" became a thing by the 100th or whatever thread.
People who post in other threads posted here and reading sff doesn't in itself mentally incapacitate me from reading other stuff.
It isn't an escapism genre, unless you are reading for that, judging by the list you most certainly are.
I don't see why anyone would like stuff to fit in with an anonymous image board.

>> No.8399846
File: 1.41 MB, 196x144, 1468742571105.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8399846

>>8399822
I was being sarcastic about the being friends shit. I'm 26, I've been on this hell hole for 9+ years. You really think i want to be friends with ppl from here?
I'm not some 12 year old friendless Americlap cunt who is always bullied in school, and actually trusts 4chwn.

I lost my neethood years ago, while I'm not a party chad, I'm not a basement dweller either, so I talk to people.

Not going to make "friends" (goodreads or otherwise) with any backstabbing fagget on this site. Proceed at your own caution and get doxxed.

Never trust 4chens.

Pic related, what 4chen would do if you "trust" them.

>> No.8399867

>>8399846
>I've been on this hell hole for 9+ years
And you don't understand that you're not ever going to get compliments on your taste?

>> No.8399870

>>8399867
You can get them pretty often in other threads, especially more specific ones.

>> No.8399883

>>8399870
Maybe if you whine enough you can get them here.

>> No.8399886

>>8399839
I'm was here from the first thread of sffg.... i even made like 6 threads in a row and sameposted so the threads wouldn't die at the beginning.

I upped the images in the OP to imgur because apple fags complaining about the images were too small. When someone made a chart, I upped to imgur and made a new thread.

It's only later I made my chart because people were complaining about the same charts being posted.

I've been on lit since 2010, a lot of the books such as Dresden Files, and black jewels trilogy were suggested to me by outer lit back then.

I was here when we had only 8 pages (other boards had 10) and multiple Dresden files threads popped up when a new book was about to drop.

Why don't you take your redshitor newfag want-to-fit-in ass and read some fucking books before spouting shit you know nothing of?

>> No.8399893

>>8391430

Yes I think that was it, cheers anon

>> No.8399907

>>8399886
Ah yes, the mythical Grrum was loved here why doesn't everyone love him still posting.
If you want to discuss shitty escapist fiction, why not go to reddit?

>> No.8399910

>>8399886
Why are you lying? I uploaded them to imgur, it was on some weird host before that I don't remember.

>> No.8399933

>>8399910
Not the two original charts, the subsequent ones.
They were on the 4chan wiki.

>>8399907
Never went to redshit, never want to. I wish hiro would turn back on the autoban filter that was triggered when someone said redshit's name.

Wasn't recommended GURM from 4chen, could careless if lit shit on him. I survived for years on lit reading nothing but genre fiction, and I'm still here.

Not going anywhere .

>> No.8399940

>>8399907
Gurrm is not escapist. Maybe read the stuff you call shit in the future.

>> No.8399946
File: 95 KB, 520x390, nameless costanza.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8399946

>>8399940
>Gurrm is not escapist.

>> No.8399969

>>8399940
Chart anon here.
>gri
>dragons
>mostly self insert fantasy where you get to eat eel pies and fuck little girls
>not escapism

It is, just isn't really my cup of tea, medieval is just so overdone.

>> No.8399977

>>8399969
>everyone thinks medieval Europe is overdone and cliche
>we haven't even had a proper scene of zweihanders busting a pike formation yet
Pink slime is the worst.

>> No.8399978

>>8399946
GRRIM got cucked hard by one of his close friends.

Tyrion is his escape/musings.

The story makes a lot more sense when you consider how WWII and his cucking shaped him.

>> No.8399997
File: 30 KB, 300x468, Emphyrio.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8399997

Read my first Vance recently. Enjoyed it immensely. Actually felt smothered by the ancient bureaucracy. Loved the play about a play within a play, etc. structure. Much gratitude for the shilling :3

>> No.8400013

>>8399997
Stfu faggot Vance is a piece of shit and so are you for reading

>quint get
>>8399999

>> No.8400040

>>8399735
Looks pretty cool, thanks.

Anything else?

>> No.8400074

>>8399977
>zweihanders
Get back to your fanfiction.

>> No.8400182

I'm enjoying the wheel of time. I really like Jordans writting, but why is his pace so slow? When you told me the book was literally a road trip I didn't realize it was this bad.

>> No.8400277

>>8400182
>another autist is ignoring sffg's warning and actually reading WoT
Incoming 3 weeks of another anon crying why he didn't listen to us.

>> No.8400304

>>8400277
I fell into the Bakker meme too. And I did listen only to regret.

>> No.8400353

>>8400182
Good book if you enjoy growth/self improvement and philosophy/ideology derived from suffering.

It would be perfect for a self-aware teenager in the grips of angst.

Older readers are probably too far removed from significant trauma's to appreciate it the same

>> No.8400374

>>8400353
It's his writing, not his story, that is a complete pretentious and a poorly executed mess.

>> No.8400418

>>8400374
What about GRRM?

I almost never read fantasy, but I have read these two. Between them I found GRRM to be worse from a prose standpoint.

Between the two how do you rank them?

I found Jordan to have limited recipes, so the way he shows rumors changing over time and distance or describing physical activities of characters was limited to one style that wasn't interesting-or even bearable.

>> No.8400425

>>8400418
Ignore my comment. I thought you were talking about Bakker.

>> No.8400430

>>8400425
Those are the only nitpicks I could find on WoT. If anything-I'd say his prose was enjoyable with only a few blemishes.

>> No.8400534

>>8400304
A lot of us were pretty clear on how bad he is.
>>8399997
I've read the first Dying Earth and he was pretty dank.
I couldn't find much of him on libgen sadly, most was in Italian or something.

>> No.8400707

>>8400703
>>8400703
>>8400703
>>8400703
>>8400703
New Thread