/lit/ - Literature

Do you know any good science fiction novel about of past human civilization?
The story of "Foundation and Earth" is settled 20.000 years in the future respect the novels of Robot Series.
In this book the main protagonists are in search of the ancient planet Earth and on their journey they discover uninhabited worlds previously colonized by humans.
In this history they do to ancient human civilizations references, languages and cultures that they changed, forgotten historical figures, etc.
So, do you know some good similar story?

>>9379524
>Foundation and Earth
Fucking cliffhangers. Is there even a sequel to this fanfic or official wise or in an anthology or something?

Who's the nicest girl protag in fantasy?

>>9379533
Mile

>>9379514
>The Mountain Edition
I thought we got rid of the asoiaf tards?
Book 6 isn't coming out. Stop shitting up the general with speculation that will come to naught.

>>9379514
>Whats /sffg/'s most anticipated science fiction & fantasy novel coming out in 2017?
Of /sffg/? Two main candidates:
Oathbringer The Stormlight Archive book 3
The Unholy Consult: The Aspect-Emperor: Book Four

Honorable mention for the Prefect sequel.

Do you think Book of the New Sun could ever be adopted as a series? Or anything other than a book?

talking about Asimov, I remember reading the foundation books, the robot books, and the ones featuring the detective guy

what else should I read?

>>9379575

Personally I enjoyed the Detective Baley books best.

Not fan of that one book where his lover has outlived him and then gets involved with one of his descendants.

>>9379587
>minecraft megaproject

>>9379524
I personally though it was awful, but Tchaikovsky's Children of Time features a crew of distant decedents of Earth trying to decode the works of their ancestors. One of the protagonists is an antiquarian who has to decode all the ancient languages of Earth etc

Anyone read Senlin Ascends? I'm reading it right now, and though it has a bit too many similes at the start, it really takes off after chapter 6.

Funny characters, original setting, and a sense that there's more going on below the surface.

>>9379533
Laseen from Wurtz and Feist's Empire Trilogy.

>>9379668

I wonder if anyone has ever made it though.

alright boys, newbie to fantasy and sci fi here:
I've read do androids dream and man in the high castle and dark tower and here's my reading order:
1. Dune
2. Book of The New Sun
3. The other Herbert Dunes
4. VALIS
then I'm gonna take a break from the genre and read some cormac mccarthy and ernest hemingway. Is it a good order to read in/what else should I read?

>>9379723
You must read NEUROMANCER.

>>9379723
You can skip most of the Herbert Dunes, they get worse with every book. The first one is alright, some people like the second one, after that it's eeeeeh.

VALIS may not be the best intro to PKD as it's his most 'i'm actually mentally ill' book. I'd try Ubik, or maybe A Scanner Darkly.

Try Stanislaw Lem for great concepts, maybe Solaris, or His Master's Voice. The Strugatsky Brothers are similarly cool, get the recent translations from Olena Bormashenko (IMPORTANT), maybe Hard To Be A God.

>>9379693
Multiple people raged that book 2 was shit. Didn't bother with one after that.

>>9379749
Cyberpunk is insulting to the tastes.

>>9379766
High-tech low-lyfe, brah.

>>9379766
Cyberpunk lit is actually dope

>>9379766
>>9379749
>>9379811
>>9379827
I don't even want to read cyberpunk, I want some good fantasy, mainly

>>9379701
Foundation would make a kick-ass game. It's got all the glamour and weight of 40k without the ridiculousness. When I get my PC fixed maybe I'll try and whip up a Trantor/Foundation scenario in Stellaris, that would bang

A faint shuffling noise disturbed his thoughts and he moved back to the window, peering out into the shadows.
A man was climbing the wall some twenty feet to the right - it was Scaler.
'What are you doing?' asked Pagan, keeping his voice low.
'I am planting corn,' hissed Scaler. 'What do you think I'm doing?'
Pagan glanced up to the darkened window above. 'Why didn't you just climb the stairs?'
'I was asked to arrive this way. It's a tryst.'
'Oh, I see. Well, goodnight!'
'And to you.'
Pagan ducked back his head through the window. Strange how much effort a man would make just to get himself into trouble.
'What's going on?' came the voice of Tenaka Khan.
'Will you keep your voice down?' snarled Scaler.
Pagan returned to the window, leaning out to see Tenaka staring upwards.
'He is on a tryst ... or something,' said Pagan.
'If he falls he will break his neck.'
'He never falls,' said Belder, from a window to the left. 'He has a natural talent for not falling.'
'Will someone tell me why there is a man climbing the wall?' shouted Rayvan.
'He is on a tryst!' yelled Pagan.
'Why couldn't he climb the stairs?' she responded.
'We have been through all that. He was asked to come this way!'
'Oh. He must be seeing Ravenna then,' she said. Scaler clung to the wall, engaged in his own private conversation with the Senile Eternals.
Meanwhile in the darkened room above. Ravenna bit her pillow to stop the laughter. Without success.

kek

>>9379831
You cannot resist the cyberpunk forever. But until then, try this.

>>9379811
>>9379849
>space-rastas
>razorgirls
>cassettes
>Hiro Protagonist
Stop, Cyberpunk is easily resisted and died for a reason.

>>9379849
>Arianus, the World of Air, is composed entirely of porous floating islands, aligned in three basic altitudes. In the Low Realm, the dwarves (called "Gegs", an elven word for "insects") live on the continent Drevlin and cheerfully serve the giant Kicksey-winsey, a city-sized machine that is the source of all water in Arianus. In the Mid Realm, elves and humans have warred for centuries with each other and amongst themselves for water, status, and advantage. Above them all in the High Realm live the Mysteriarchs, isolationist human wizards of the Seventh House rank. They were some of the most powerful wizards of their kind, leaving fellow humans behind in their disgust for the constant warfare, but they never equalled the likes of the missing Sartan and Patryn races.
this sounds pretty good... I may...

genre shit is gay

>>9379859
>only thread on /lit/ about books

no, u

>>9379861
>THAT WAS MY BEST HAT

>>9379855
>Amphetamines
>Jars
>Mentally unstable supersoldiers doing the bidding of A.I.
>Cyberspace
>Harddrives in yer fuckin' head
>Keanu Reeves
I'm sold.

>>9379855
The problem is "cyberpunk" as a genre is only the vision of the 80s and 90s. Some interesting modern cyberpunk would be cool, kind of like all the social media commentary you see on shows like Black Mirror.

>>9379859

>>9379909
>Black Mirror
Jesus don't remind me, god damn that show was so incredibly disappointing, people were making it seem like it was actually pushing new territory.

>>9379917
meh, for a high budget TV show it was fairly novel. Plus it was netflix, so the normies loved it

best episode got a hugo-related nomination, San Junipo, one with e-lesbians

>>9379723
Being new to the genre, you should read The Lord of the Rings instead of the other Dunes.

If you really like Dune, go ahead and read the others later.

Is it fair to say that Death's End deserves to win the Hugo for Best Novel the most out of all the nominees?

>>9379827
It really hasn't. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of the genre, but it underperforms literarily.

>>9379917
It's been like 100 years man, SF on TV/film doesn't break new ground. Should be pretty obvious by now.

>>9379992
I desperately tried to like Cyberpunk, but I just couldn't, even the best of the best of it made me want to remove my eyes.

>>9379953
This
You can't judge film and TV against literature, only against other film/TV. Black mirror is way ahead of most other scifi/spec-fiction stuff, so it deserves credit

>>9379987
I've not read any of the other nominees so I can't say.

Too Like the Lightning seems intriguing,so I'll probably read that.
Closed and Common could be good too, I've heard warm things about Small Angry Planet.

The rest, meh. Nothing exactly bad, which is better than some other years Best Novel nominees, but nothing really special. Death's End should probably win.

>>9379646
That's LITERALLY already a manga.
http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/arifureta-shokugyou-de-sekai-saikyou-r18091

Right down to the losing limbs and monster stuff.

>>9380002
Tried to read Neuromance and it has some interesting ideas (for its time) but the author utterly fails at making any of the characters or settings come to life.

Cyberpunk that takes itself seriously is usually pretty lame. Try Snow Crash. It's terrible, but at least it's readable.

>>9379849
Holy shit, someone else who read the Death Gate Cycle. I picked up the whole series a couple years back at a flea market for $14 in total, and it was seriously the greatest fucking thing. Absolute sleeper hit. It's a fucking travesty it isn't more popular.

Did your edition have those pieces of sheet music in the back? I wish I could hear them played.

>>9379566
netflix could do it
I want my tigana adaptation first

I want to lure my feminist brother into reading something with lots of rape, what shoud I give him?

mind you it has to be something that will get him hooked for long enough to get him mad

>>9380022
Arifureta is literally the worst isekai ever made.

Its like a frankenstein of a story with nothing but stolen characters from other series.

>>9380116
Do you want lots of rape and incredibly shitty story?

Because Sword of Truth is one long series about rape and bondage

Got myself "The city and the stars" and "The songs of distant earth".
I like it so far.

So how is the Broken Empire series?

>>9375642
I know, I skimmed several reviews that all call it straightforward or accessible. Without spoilers, it's difficult to tell if someone "got it." Even if you do realize the twist, it's still one of the most straightforward and elegant examples of Wolfeian duplicity.

Why didn't they just go to sleep or something?

>>9380275
Edgy

I did it. I finished The Crippled God. I'm done reading the Malazan Book of the Fallen. After 10 huge door stopper books I should be burned out or satisfied but I just want more. Mainly I want to see the fallout from the end of the book and what the pantheon looks like now. Like I want to know if Gesler and Stormy Ascended when they were killed.

>>9379749
I love Neuromancer. It's one of the few books that I re-read at least once a year.

>>9379566
Anything can be adapted (adopt is when rich people buy Chinese kids)

But I don't think it would be very good and I think you would lose a lot of what makes the thing great
I hope they never try

>>9380858

>adopt is when rich people buy Chinese kids

Shit, sorry.

>>9380858
It would lose the whole unreliable narrator aspect. You'd have Severian pointing at a space ship saying "look at the citadel!"

>>9380275
"pshh nothing personnel kid" the book.

>>9380655
>>9380877

Damn it.

Guess I'll just go reread the first three books of the Black Company.

>>9380678
Did you marathon the series or read other stuff in between? How long did it take you?

Just started Gardens a few days ago and loving it so far but the scope and length is pretty intimidating.

>'Borges once claimed that the basic devices of all fantastic literature are only four in number: the work within the work, the contamination of reality by dream, the voyage in time and the double.'

I thought I'd throw this quote about Jorge Luis Borges into the discussion. For me, identified here are the four building blocks (or inspirations) of fantasy:

1 ) The problems arising from the world and its lore and culture, i.e. the 'work' within the work, (the worldbuilding), and its conflict with the protagonist.

2) The problematic nature of reality and knowledge; forbidden knowledge, diabolical, boundless, mind-bending. E.g. Everything from Lovecraft's Necromonicon to Wells' Dr Caligari, Frankenstein, PKD's tenuous realities-within-realities.

3) The problem/drama of time: running out, or the problem of mortality itself. Man VS time, illness, etc.

4) Problems of the self: conflicts of self identity, conflict with others. All of the unreliable narrators, coming-of-age stories would fit into here.

Borges is good stuff so I recommend him in any case.

>>9380925
>Dr Caligari

I mean Dr Moreau,

>>9379514
Any good standalone novels from Orson Scott Card?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card_bibliography#Miscellaneous_novels

>>9380925
>the contamination of reality by dream

+The contamination of dream by reality

>>9380907
I read each book one after the other without taking breaks or reading anything between them, that's how I typically read big series like this. Malazan has some slow parts and those I procrastinated reading, less than a chapter a day at the slowest parts, but the more interesting ones I could devour hundreds of pages in a single day. The Crippled God is by far the longest book in the series, nearly 1200 pages, yet I read it half the time it took me to read Toll the Hounds because of how slow that book got at times, there were some weeks where I hardly made it through a chapter. Toll the Hounds did eventually get good toward the end, like most Malazan books, but goddamn was it self-indulgent in the middle.

So I guess read in whatever way works for you. Personally, I couldn't take a break from something like this because there's so much information to keep track of I was afraid I'd forget stuff if I picked up another series between books. I wanted to keep my brain in Malazan-mode til I was done so I could follow the plots and characters more easily.

>>9380057
>Did your edition have those pieces of sheet music in the back? I wish I could hear them played.
There are apps where you take pics of sheet music and it plays it.

>>9380881
I enjoyed them, but the edginess of the books puts some people off. They're also really short so you could probably bang out the first one in a couple days unless you were so bored you couldn't stand to read it, but while the series has its faults being boring isn't really one of them.

>>9380275
Check the last thread. Lots of discussion there.

>>9380678
>tfw page 880
Do you ever not read?

Going to read ICE's novels?

>>9381081
I'll definitely get around to those. I actually have the Forge of Darkness already so I'll probably read the Kharkanas Trilogy first, but I think I'm going to take a break from Malazan stuff for a bit. Have some other books I've been wanting to read, especially that Tad William's Osten Ard novella that is a precursor to his new trilogy coming out that's basically like a sequel to Memory Sorrow and Thorn.

>>9381111
I'll look them up.
>Toll the Hounds did eventually get good toward the end, like most Malazan books, but goddamn was it self-indulgent in the middle.
Think that could be chalked up to him losing his father and exploring such subjects.

>>9381118
I didn't consider that, but it might explain some of it. Really I think he just enjoys writing from Kruppe's point of view way too much.

I don't read too much, but I just finished the first Dune. Can anyone confirm if the books after it are worth reading? I know there are like 6 by Frank and then a shitton after by his son, but I doubt even the first original 6 are all worth reading.

>>9381198
They become increasingly worse by the book. The first Dune book is no doubt as good as it is because the editor made Frank Herbert rewrite the book several times.

Would I enjoy Tiagana if I liked pic related ?

>>9381224
I was thinking of just reading 2 and 3. Would that be suitable or is the drop in quality that severe?

TUC soon, lads.

>>9381229
You could do worse. If you don't like the second book you can just skip the third one.

Is this good?

>>9381276
Do you really need to ask?

>>9381276
Going to take a wild guess and say it's shit.

>>9381239
>tfw I finished all the books so I can meme with the best of them

>>9381226
>Tiagana
It is superior IMO.

>>9381319
Not the other guy but that looks interesting, what did you like about it?

>Nothing to read
>Nobody is writing niche shit that I want to read

I wish I was rich so I could just pay people to write books I'd be interested in

>>9380339
That book was so damn good, if the anon who rec'd it is still around please suggest more books.

>Why didn't they just go to sleep or something?
They can't sleep forever, anon sooner or later they'll have to set everything on fire.

>>9379917
>Like it isn't obvious why the normies act like this when they find something more interesting than all the netflix garbage that comes on these days.

>>9381334
>I'm not the other guy
>I swear!!!
>answer this other question for me though

>>9381562
autism

>>9381619
Prove it.

>>9381432

be the change you wanna be in the world faggot

I love the idea of sentient mice in a medieval setting, thats why I love Mouse Guard and also why I recently started reading Redwall, I really like the mix of cutesy and dark.Sadly theres not a lot of stuff to go around, so I did the sensible thing and decided to start my own ripoff.

Mind you, my english is spotty, and my writing is so slow that the result of hours of work ended up being a total of 372 words, but maybe by the turn of the next sentury I will have a couple of short stories on my belt.

>>9381654
>Mind you, my english is spotty, and my writing is so slow that the result of hours of work ended up being a total of 372 words, but maybe by the turn of the next sentury I will have a couple of short stories on my belt.

Why not write in your native language and do a translation if you like the final product?

>>9379831
Hello Kyle my old friend

>>9381662

well, its a lot of factors, but I cringe less at my writing If I can dissociate myself from it in some level by writing it in english.

also, it has to be good practice to improve my grammar skills, right?

>>9381690
>not laying down sticky paper and cutting the mice heads off when they are trapped

>>9381695

for all my love towards fictional sentient mice I actually killed an entire litter once.

momma mouse decided it would be a good idea to nest under the steel sheets we used to cover our swimming pool during winter, given that field mice can carry all sorts of diseases it fell on me to get rid of them.

I bashed all of them to death with a shovel and then disposed of the bodies.

not my proudest moment

>>9381690
>well, its a lot of factors, but I cringe less at my writing If I can dissociate myself from it in some level by writing it in english.

I know this feel not only for writing but for reading.

Most fantasy books sound extremely cringeworthy if i try to read the spanish translation but they're somewhat tolerable in english.

>>9381712
I had some mice sneak into my house once. They got into my clothes draw and ripped upped clothing for a nest. Pissed me the fuck off. I wanted the other mice in the house to know what was in store for them. So I laid sticky paper down and when I caught one I cut each toe off one by one, then the tail, then the head.

You know I didn't get a mouse problem after that. All the screaming probably drove the rest away. (I also sealed up the holes they nibbled through to get in.

Anyone got a book off this list?
http://io9.gizmodo.com/feast-your-eyes-on-all-the-science-fiction-and-fantasy-1793874472

>>9381725

anon, you might be a sick fuck you know that

>>9381753
I was pissed as fuck and 13 at the time. They destroyed a few shit for me (keep sakes from my granny etc) but they pushed it too far. I vowed that the next one I caught would feel my frustration.

Caught one a week later? Introduced it to my rage.

>sick fuck
What you Americlaps don't understand is that rats are pests. You fuckers are so void inside by all the first world accommodations that you turn to protesting animals to get some feeling in your life. I am not inconveniencing myself, my clothing, my possessions, or my health because some Klapistani is getting feel feels.

I needed to send a message, I did so, mice heard it loud and clear because I didn't have to deal with those fuckers pissing everywhere and giving me leptospirosis. Take your bug chasing ass elsewhere.

I find this funny. You have hundreds of books with people raping, disemboweling and killing children. But let someone kill a dog, cat or rat. You Klapistanis get riled up to the max.

>>9381712
>>9381695

On the topic of rodents, I will now recall a grisly anecdote from Philip K Dick, as related in one of his radio interviews. One of his children found a large rat in their home, and Dick had to kill it. He set a trap with poison overnight and went to bed. The next day, Dick heard the rat scream as he approached it. Its neck was broken and it was poisoned, but it was still alive. He unclasped the trap and drove a pitchfork into it, but it still didn't die, and apparently gave PKD a nervous episode at this point. He drowned it in a tub and buried it along with a medal of St. Christopher.

>>9381785
You are quite literally autistic. Rats don't operate out of malice, anon- they're fucking rats. The world, to them, is nothing but shit to chew through.

To enact "vengeance" upon them is plain retardation on multiple levels.

>>9381785

Im the one who killed the litter, anon, and I dont even live in murrica.

I did what had to be done, but I didnt fucking torture a small animal to death, you know, when you swat a mosquito they dont shriek in pain.

>>9381839
>what is frustration
>I'm an extraterrestrial from alpha b9 that practises my humanity in these threads
>me, not being human don't know what frustration is
>my people don't experience frustration
>so I will give you a textbook definition devoid of all emotion because it never affected me in anyway
Fuck off reptilian

>>9381847
I used to kill them quick. But there wasn't an end to them (you know it only takes one preggers mouse to start an infestation). I had them for 2 years? I just had enough when tney ripped a whole in my draw and ripped and pissed on my clothing.

I was seeing red anon. Authors have to stop humanizing animals. Disney, pixar and redwall are making children into pussies. Movies and books like a bugs life and antz making kiddies scared to kill insects now. Look how many kids turned "vegetarian" after watching cartoons with talking cows and chickens and learning that is where their meat comes from.

>>9381839
>You are quite literally autistic. Pedos don't operate out of malice or logic, anon- they're fucking mental cases who didn't develop properly. The world, to them, is nothing but kiddies to love thoroughly. They can't help it.

>To enact "vengeance" upon them is plain retardation on multiple levels.

>>9381920
>Gee, the rats sure stopped coming into my house after I closed up dem holes.
You literally said that after you caught one and tortured it to death that you closed all the fucking holes they came through, you mongoloid.
Frustration is punching the wall or yelling at something, not capturing an animal and acting like a psychopathic 6 year old.

Is there an official name for the inverse of clark's third law that says "any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science/technology"

I've heard
>clark's -3rd law
>clark's 1/3rd law
>foglio's law
>agatha's law
and a bunch of others

>>9381732
winter tide. Those anons who mocked the concept can fuck themselves. It's great

Is there any glorious fiction novels to read?

>>9381920
Does society torture pedos to death? No?

Guess your analogy is a bit flawed then, my nigga.

>>9381976
The holes were found and sealed since the first sight of mouse habitation (droppings).
Maybe that was the last adult. I heard noises but they were probably too small to survive on their own.

Would do it again desu. If pushed to it. Even if I'm in my late 20's.

>>9382037
>doesn't do his research
>pompously responds and embarrasses himself
>if I don't hear about it, it doesn't happen

>>9382085
what fucking country do you live in?

>>9382037
In American prisons pedophiles are preyed upon by their fellow prisoners and abused, even a murderer needs someone to look down upon and harming children is a most atrocious crime

>>9382142
prisons are not society. They are the place we put people to remove them from society

>>9382142
well the fact that a lot of people ended up becoming fuckups and criminals because they got molested as kids also doesn't help the pedos chances of avoiding a beatdown in prison

>>9381732
>jizzmodo
Stop.

>>9382146
>time to be pedantic

What you fucks reading?
I'm reading about "the man" touching a possible loliwitch at night and her family gives away her babby because of it.
I think there might be vampires involved. But that is just a stab in the dark.

>>9382250

I just started reading Chronicles of the Black Company.

>>9382250
Plan on re-reading the entire Drenai series.

>>9382250
I just finished Urth of the New Sun yesterday, I enjoyed it very much

Next I will probably read some East German communist adventure novel my dad gave me

>>9382353
That looks neat

The synopses on wikipedia are pretty short and don't tell me much, is the series good?

>>9382403
I talked about the Drenai series in the last thread if you want to go back there and check those posts out. But yes it is good.

>>9382414
I wasn't around for that thread, I will go look at your posts

Are there any books about a timeless being from the void before the universe that tries to grapple with own incomprehensible exist before giving up and decides to search for meaning in life by becoming a mother?

Chinese cartoons sometimes have weird ideas, but they never really expand them.

Pagan tried to explain.
'A man can love his children, yet be annoyed by them. I was delighted with the births of all my children. One of them stands now in my place at home, ruling my people. But I am a man who has always needed solitude. Children do not understand that.'
'Why are you black?'

Based Gemmell bringing the bantz.

>>9382353
>>9382250

Took the advice of anon in the previous thread and am reading Morningstar as my introduction to Gemmell. It's a bit darker than I was expecting but I'm enjoying it and will definitely be starting the Drenai series afterwards.

>>9382250
Just started reading Clive Barker's Weaveworld.

Trying to write some sci fi esq fantasy, essentially pulp.

Do people usually build the world before they start writing or what?

>>9382250
I started The Great Book of Amber.

Not liking MC at all, but I'm too use to nip fantasy novels anyways.

>>9380181
>>9380022

Wording Arifuerta is terrible. I will say the first 7/10th of the first novel is great it had so much potential then goes to absolute depths of shit.

Nothing is grimdark after he meets the vampire literally becomes a romcom.

>>9380022
>>9380181
>>9382951
Original anon here, I have read arifureta and thought it had the right components even if the final product was flawed.

Hajime is an interesting character but not what I was writing originally, my character turned out to be as shinji.

>mfw the author was obviously writing full metal alchemist fan fiction

>>9382963
Im interested have you completed it?

>>9382993
No, it's a first draft I moved on from a long time ago because it just never worked.

I'd literally die from embarrassment if anyone found half the garbage I've written while drunk and channeling someone elses characters.

>>9382831
I am that anon and I honestly don't remember anything about Morningstar kek. But I was surprised to learn recently that Morningstar and Knights of Dark Renown take place in the same universe as the Drenai series, but way back in the past.

>>9382895
>Do people usually build the world before they start writing or what?
Focus on the story first then let the world-building come natural from what you write.

>Roland Weary and the scouts were safe in a ditch, and Weary growled at Billy, “Get out of the road, you dumb motherfucker.” The last word was still a novelty in the speech of white people in 1944. It was fresh and astonishing to Billy, who had never fucked anybody—and it did its job. It woke him up and got him off the road.

Are we all in agreement that Dune is the gateway drug to scifi? What other books could be offered as a first read into the genre?

Trying to get my friend into it, and he's started with Hyperion, which in my opinion is a rather bold initiator.

>>9381836
Lmao, thanks for sharing. So like him to bury something he brutally killed alongside a religious icon.

>>9383118

>What other books could be offered as a first read into the genre?

I say this without any joking tone to it: Book of the New Sun.

I came across the book the very first time I stepped into my school library of my own free volition. Sure, that was back in elementary and sure I couldn't understand a tenth of the shit that was being said, but by God, the book got me hooked. Because I kept coming back to it, over and over and over, rereading it at least once a year, finding new things to enjoy about it.

Granted, this might be more of an exception than the rule, and not everyone would like BotNS.

Hey /sff/, I need some advice on what to read next.
Here's the totality of the SFF I've read:
>all of Arthur C. Clarke's good books
>The Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings
>all of PKD's good stuff
>Fahrenheit 451
>Watchmen
>Redwall
>Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
>Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
>Nineteen Eighty-Four
>first three books in ASOIAF
>most of Dune (disliked it)
...and that's pretty much it. Can I get some recommendations as to what to read next?

>>9381725
>literally a red flag a for budding textbook serial killer

Do you know some good fantasy with a lot of action?

>>9383162
The Robert E. Howard stories are pretty good if you're okay with the pulp style.

>>9382353
>skipping leg day
Disgusting

>>9382567
>that tries to grapple with own incomprehensible exist before giving up
ESL? Try to read your sentences to make sure they make sense.

>I don’t like to get angry. It makes me angry.

You know what, I think I'll skip Broken Empire.

>>9382895
Read iron dragon's daughter and library at mount char for books that confuse you as to the topic at hand (or genre).

>>9383295

Maybe you are ESL? All that anon's sentence is missing is an 'ence', it's perfectly understandable, if a bit purple

>>9383300
And nothing of value was lost.

Reminder that he did absolutely nothing wrong

>>9383137
>NEUROMANCER
>NEUROMANCER
>NEUROMANCER
then
>Mona Lisa Overdrive

>>9374039
Thanks, I'll get His Master's Voice. Read a few stories from The Cyberiad some time ago but wasn't feeling them at all.

>>9383118
Dune aged very badly. You might put people off scifi entirely if you start them dune.

>>9383323
Neuromancer is so boring though.

>>9379723
This is looking like a pretty bad plan if you want to actually appreciate fantasy and science-fiction, or even the books that you've listed. You shouldn't start Wolfe with New Sun and as the other anon said VALIS is also a bad entry point into Dick's work. Also for the love of god don't read Neuromancer.

>>9383137
See if anything on this list grabs your fancy.

>>9383330
I found it very entertaining.

>>9381010
>Wolfe used as a cover-quote
Never thought he was relevant enough for that. I suppose for other less-known science-fiction writers it makes sense.

>>9383149
I would only serial kill anyone that told me to an hero in high school, and that ship has long sailed. I don't feel the urge to do it anymore.

Just started book 3 of Gregory Benford's Galactic Center saga, right after finishing part 2. Great series, comes pretty close to Egan's work in terms of scope.
I'm also reading David Brin's The Uplift War (3rd part in the Uplift series), how do other anons feel about that? There's some great stuff in there but a lot of times it can't really hold my interest.

>>9383304
It is after I cropped it for quoting. Read the original from starting to end. It made no fucking sense (I knew what he was trying to say, but still).

>>9383311
I feel like this picture is too handsome to do him justice. He's supposed to be a freakish outcast not the brooding outcast member of a boyband.

Is Pohl's Heechee saga any good?

>>9383366
>weak chin, jacked up hairline, beak nose, glum lips, oversized ears
>boyband

The fuck?
he looks like that izzy guy from the highschool movie.

>>9383301
I shall anon.

>>9383372
It's alright. It's not at all like Gateway though, which is a shame because it's one of my favourite older scifi novels. Becomes more of spread-out space opera.

>>9383311
Didn't he actually end up speeding up Seldon's process?

I need to reread Foundation

>>9383384
That's too bad, though I don't mind a little space opera every now and then. Have you played the Gateway text adventure game? It's pretty cool.

>>9383366
He looks like broccoli, I want to hug him.

>>9383339

>gay rape and incest

what

does that mean that the incest in the books is also homo incest? do all of them feature rape? who made this chart

>>9383413
I believe that they're independent of one another.

>>9383395
No, I haven't. I'll give it a go, thanks.

Have you read The Space Merchants? I'm wondering if I should give it a go.

>>9383424
>The Space Merchants.

Here is two newly arrived used books, including some cheesecake art. Now to decide which I read first.

>>9383328
>>9383118
I agree Dune aged badly. I think Frederik Pohl's Hugo and Nebula winning Gateway is a good 'gateway' to SF, even New Wave. It has a lot of SF tropes and technology but also a lot of interesting writing about guilt and fear.

>>9377154
The Mariner editions are way better looking tho. A lot less cheesy than the copy on the left you got there.

So this actually turned out surprisingly decent fantasy, for a Japanese light novel. I wouldn't have known it was originally Japanese just by reading it, the author is clearly well-read beyond the usual light novels and manga that most otaku consume exclusively.

>>9383424
>The Space Merchants
Nope, only Pohl I've read is The Treasures of Chujo (it's good).

>>9383118
I started with Foundation and it's only been surpassed by The Stars My Destination.
>>9383328
I don't agree that Dune aged badly, I love the first book. However, I wouldn't recommend anyone reading the whole series as an introduction to scifi.

Which Rothfuss book had that one paragraph where the main character talks about how while his love interest might have been getting her brains fucked out by some guy on the side, but he had her heart?

>>9383449
>space merchants
>by /pohl/

>>9383395

DUDE KUGELBLITZ LMAO

But yeah, seriously, only the first book was good, the ones that followed just kept getting worse.

>>9383528
This is why non-christians shouldn't write fantasy. Or sci-fi. Or any fiction.

>>9383532
Alex Jones is like an protagonist/antagonist in a PKD novel. He wrote a few of those strong and neurotic boss types. Martian Time Slip and Three Stigmata come to mind..

>>9383564
>Alex Jones is like an protagonist/antagonist in a PKD novel.
He actually appears in the movie of A Scanner Darkly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN_VBc98dzg

>>9383605
Good god what the fuck is that shit they've plastered over the movie? That's disgusting. Did they actually release it like that?

>>9383538
I do prefer my authors to be repressed. They tend to have much more elegant outlets.

>>9383605
>>9383564
it's come full circle

>>9383413
I made that chart.
There is supposed to be a comma after gay. They are all separate, but sometimes they all happen at once Red Rising Trilogy comes to mind.

Also
>not knowing one of the corner stones that kept the sffg community together all these years

Hello newfriend. Welcome to our general. Please enjoy yourself. All forms of genre fiction is allowed here. Please keep your reddite(if you are from there) sensibilities and morals to yourself.
Memeing is strictly encouraged once it's on topic and sffg related.

>>9383528
>thou he may have her cunny
>I will forever have her heart
This screams that Rothfuss is a cuck so bad. This is Bakker tier of akka cucking.

>>9383627
Yes, the whole movie is like that. It's called rotoscoping.

>>9383658
if in my OC I have straight rape, pseudo-incest (turns out they're not related), will I still earn the title?

>>9383627
>now seeing scanner darkly for the first time
... you aren't underage b& are you?

>>9383684
No it isn't, Rotoscoping is a technique for animation. That's live action film with a disgusting filter thrown over the top for no apparent reason.

>>9383685
Once rape is included, it's GRI APPROVED.

>>9383605
IS IT a good film?

>>9383658

so what I should read first if I want to introduce myself to this wonderfulr world, dear anon?

mind you I would prefer if its actually good and just happens to have GRI, instead of the other way around.

>>9383694
Google scanner darkly fucboi. It's rotoscoping.

>>9383746
"IT"?? You mean the novel by Stephen King?
>>>/tv/
If you want to know about the book ask.

>>9383605
I watched this movie ten years ago and retained very little memory of it, so I forgot about Alex Jones. I made the comment >>9383564 so perhaps it was in my subconscious memory all along.

Of the several PKD novels I have read, A Scanner Darkly is not yet among them.

I remember the rotoscope look was a fad in the mid 00's. It was used in the XIII videogame adaptation (which was quality.)

>>9383658
>>9383754

>mind you I would prefer if its actually good and just happens to have GRI, instead of the other way around

nah, that was poor wording, what Im trying to say its that Im not interested in the fantasy equivalent of 50 shades written by a fedora tipping teenager or his gender studies equivalent, If I wanted to read porn I would search in fanfiction.net

>>9383754
Black Jewels Trilogy.
Has lolirape, forced gay, and incest up the ass.
The devil is actually a good guy who becomes a father figure to the loli.
If you have a domination fetish, there is plenty of that in these pages. Women rule shit, and the only way to break one is when they first have sex. So these guys go full Japanese hentai and magically attach a bunch of shit on their dicks to break women and make them compliant.

Enjoy.

>>9383782
>magically attach a bunch of shit on their dicks to break women and make them compliant.
Ummm...

>>9383782

>Women rule shit, and the only way to break one is when they first have sex. So these guys go full Japanese hentai and magically attach a bunch of shit on their dicks to break women and make them compliant.

Im sure the minds that brought us sengoku rance might be behind this.

>>9383564
>Googly eyes
Cute

About to start my latest isekai abomination, wish me luck.

>>9383803
>yfw alice soft is mostly women

It's weird how many of the rape genre pioneers are middle age women though.

>>9383605
Jesus christ, alex is amazing.

>>9383782
Sounds pretty fucking flimsy.

>>9383424
>The Space Merchants
I've read it, and wouldn't recommend.

>>9383339
Is this the worst chart ever made?

>>9383869
it's awful

but let's see yours?

>>9383828
Just fucking read it. I'm not good at shilling books.

>>9380907
It's a great series but definitely a bit slow at times, especially when you're reading a book in the series where none of your favorite characters show up. Just read it at your own pace but remember that at first you'll be very confused or lost.

>>9381654
Look up ghost of a tale, I think you'll love it.

>>9384056

looks amazing, but sadly my computer would not be able to handle it

>>9384056
>>9384070
>yiff veedeyoh gaymens

>>9384070
It runs pretty well on my computer, but hopefully it could anyway on yours, you should try anyway.

>>9384075
>not wanting to help a minstrel mouse find his beloved again while avoiding rats and making deals with shady characters

What is wrong with you

>>9384070
>>9384056

>It will be released in 2016 on Windows PCs and later on Xbox One.

Never ever

>>9384124
Never ever what?

I have it, it runs pretty smoothly, the dialogue is cute and funny, scenery is breathtaking, good story and choices.

It's not finished but the devs are actually working on it and providing consistent updates.

Anyway, have any of you here ever played the Myst games? What do you think about the writing's quality in them?

>>9384135

Oh, I wasn't aware it actually was being consistently updated. I just hope it's noteworthy updates and not merely some minor bugfixes that no one gives a shit about.

NO VIDYA NO VIDYA NO VIDYA

what's some good non-alien space scifi about lone humans out in the void? traders and the like, entertaining themselves in the cold depths

space truckers, if you will

>>9384152

Gateway.

I really liked the book, though I warn you it's got aliens in it, just no in the obvious way, more in the sense "Shit, where did all these people go? Oh well, let's just into their ships, press some buttons and see where we end up".

>>9384021
Nah, I got other stuff I plan on reading and your sales pitch sounded fucking awful.

>>9384161
Damn Pohl's getting a lot of dick-ride this thread. I've read it and it's exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for.

Also loved the chapters in Foundation about those lone traders.

>>9384174

I'll be the first to say that I'm not a fan of the latter books in the Gateway series. First and maybe second were enough. More than that ruins the setting, IMO.

>>9384147
http://www.ghostofatale.com/

Front page has all the updates they've done so far

>>9384223
I've only read Gateway. Same as with Dune, I felt it was a very strong standalone novel and didn't need a sequel. I loved Robin and his entire redemption throughout the story made Gateway really stay with me.

It just satisfied all the elements of a great scifi novel: Story, Characters, Setting, all underlined with thoroughly novel and powerful scifi concepts, both the absent aliens and the entire "do you really kill someone if you shove them in a black-hole" conundrum

Man I love Gateway.

>>9384124
>>9384070
>>9384056
>2016
That means it needs botnet 10.
I'm still on 7. Sorry.

>>9383745
Are these "female urban fantasy" books actually any good?

why has the discord fallen into disrepair?

>>9384260
never

>>9384260
I enjoyed them at the time I read them.
Like I said before. Women are the best at creating worlds, magic, or scenarios to explore. What they fuck up with is their cunnies always gets wet during writing. The story ALWAYS eventually turns into a cunny stuffing competition.

>>9384266
>thinking a branch off of /soclit/ would succeed
>not knowing that without an autist to keep the thread alive it dies
>wonders why it failed

>>9384070
I wonder what the best games are for stories.
Preferably true grim stuff that will make you feel bad.

>>9384372

Hmm, Neverwinter Nights 2 - Mask of the Betrayer, I think. I can't really remember anything else, so much as this. Planescape: Torment has decent writing, but making you feel bad - well, there is one scene and you kind of have to play the game to that point to really see why you should feel bad, it'd be pointless to just copypaste you the text itself when you can't get the context for it.

lads, i just got a 30 quid waterstones giftcard, what fantasy books should i pick up?

I usually dont like "comedy novels" but im actually tempted to start reading some terry pratchett...

>>9383658
>Red Rising Trilogy
wait when?
Mustang & Jackal?

>>9384372
kotor 2 the sith lords

2 questions:

>1: what are some mythical creatures that don't have an iconic legend about them?
>2: has anyone ever done a fairy tale with aliens instead of fairies

>>9384389
This is tough to address without an idea of your preferences, which would only have taken a minute to write, but you can get the Jack Vance's Dying Earth omnibus published by Gollancz, the Fantasy Masterworks edition. It's a complete set of his books within the series. Plenty of adventures, magic, picaresque, monsters, twists, exotic wonders, worldbuilding, and humour. Pratchett regarded him well.

If you start with Pratchett chronologically then you will probably be disappointed.

Any cool series with a little girl protagonist?

>>9384628
The thing with books is that you can love anything a particular author writes, but his mentor /influence / muse is going to be shit.
Pratchett might be a good read to one (not me, all Terrys are trash), but his influences will not.

>>9384389
I always find the British authors do the best comedy. I recently read the fourth bear and it was wholly entertaining. Just experience may vary.

>>9384570
Iconic? Look to the great white north. Canadian natives have a shit load of creatures, aside from Bigfoot, that are relatively unknown: ogopogo, wendigo, etc. there are more but idgaf.

>>9384398
I know you didn't complete the entire trilogy. And if you did, you "completed" it by skipping parts.
No it wasn't those two.
>a male and female would allow full gri to take place
Now you just showed that you are illiterate as well as a weak willed low attention spam procrastinator.

>>9384570
1. Make them yourself or look at African legends, everything else has been mined already (cultural appropriation.jpg)

2. Yes they have.

>>9384736
that girl got raped while they were at the school
ares benefactor was gay
which part was the incest

>>9384721
>>9384744

come to think of it, there's no iconic myth for a lot of instant kill creatures like bashees, cockatrices and cateloblpas

banshees though are too well known without an iconic myth to work. It needs to be something that's on the periphery of knowledge, and the other two are too goofy unless they're changed up a lot.

Maybe I can mix up the cockatrice with a roc/wyvern

actually, wyverns don't have a myth now that I think of it

>>9383336
What's so bad about Neuromancer?

>>9384776
Nothing despite being kinda dated.

>>9384750
It wasn't that someone gay got raped, it was that the rape itself was gay as fuck.
I'm ashamed to call you brother.

>>9384847

>straight rape can be gay

I understand everything now

>>9384847
>not posting the completed version

>>9384762
What is this "iconic myth" you keep repeating? You mean like ashes and flames represents Phoenixes? Or wailing under a window of a mortality sick person is a banshee? Or a broken into tomb of a freshly buried person and the body missing means a ghoul?

>>9384863
If I rape a lesbian, is it gay rape?
If I rape my male friend, is it gay rape?
One and only one of the above questions is correct.

>>9384886
Raping a lesbian is rape of a gay.
Raping your straight male friend when you define yourself as "straight" would make the rape itself gay.

So is rape gay when the rape is gay in and of itself (only speaking to the performance of the action) or is rape gay when a person who is gay is raped (speaking to the people who undertake the action)?

Or am I being too pedantic

So is there any good fantasy with a little girl protag?


Like Youjo Senki PLEASE

>>9385114
His Dark Materials series, Lyra's like 12 or so, though opinion is sharply divided on whether it's good or not

>>9383295
So the answer is no, which means that chinese cartoons can be more original than western fantasy.

>>9384873
By iconic myth I mean a single Story (not just some description) that involves them in a memorable way.

Oedipus and the sphynx, theseus and the minotaur, the golem of prague, Dracula, Bilbo and smaug, harry and the basilisik, etc.

>>9384873
>>9385158
furthermore, it can't be just any story, it has to be famous enough to become the definitive codifying example of that creature and the stories revolving around it. In other words, the version people will always compare stories featuring that creature to

Are the Ian Fleming James Bond books sci-fi or just crazy stories?

>>9385114
Tiffany Aching books.

>>9385114

Red Sister if you want loli magic assassin battle nun going to school with other loli battle nuns although I'd say it's average rather than good.

>>9385228
>>9385268
>>9385135
Thanks

do you guys listen to music while writing /sffg/ stuff?

Im experimenting with classical music, never been much of a enthusiast thanks to pop cuture references, so its not doing it for me so far.

but thankfully I discovered some cool pieces in the process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oOk15PI6aA

>>9385331
I listen to nitty dance electro and a bit of drum & bass
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fVK7atPvLQ
played this four times in a row yesterday, fucking banger

otherwise I listen to basically indie electronic / indie rock but not in English because I can't listen to lyrics and write at the same time, so I end up listening to a lot of French or Spanish shit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCHGWqA4Ir4
another banger

>>9385184
James Bond is classic espionage drama. Nothing really scifi about it, other than the really ridiculousness of the villains schemes, but they hardly impact the story more than "oh no he'll do this!!"

>>9385331
Minimal ambient or gtfo

>>9384152
>space truckers, if you will
Cherryh does space truckers. You'll want to try her Company Wars books.
Merchanter's Luck, Tripoint, Finity's End, and Heavy Time/Hellburner are closest to your description.
The first section of Heavy Time is pretty claustrophobic if that's what you want, though it features asteroid miners rather than truckers.
The Chanur Saga is very much "space trucking", but features an almost entirely alien cast (one human, communication difficulties).

>>9385448
slamming, thanks boyo/bbay

>>9385448
>tfw I'm scared if cherryh spreads her legs for too long catfag anon would be between then in a flash making hard love to her
>even at her age

>>9385499
Anon, Cherryh is married.
To a woman.

>>9385506
That probably means her vagina is tighter than usual.

>>9385506

have you ever heard of this japanese concept known as NTR?

thats whats her wife´s gonna get

>>9385509
No, I've seen this particular meme around quite frequently and have a fuzzy idea based on the context, but am unwilling to google it.

>>9385514
Japanese cuckolding

>>9385514
It's just cuckolding, specifically where a woman (sometimes a man) is fucked/raped so hard by a third party, they're "stolen away" from their lover.

Shit's super stale in hentai because it's 99% the exact same scenario playing out with different characters, by different artists.

>>9385625
That's just porn storytelling in general, though.

Just finished this, bretty good. Great protagonist –he makes it sort of an existentialist 'Englishe faerie tale.'

>getting back to reading more (even if it is sci-fi/Fantasy which the rest of /lit/ shits on)
>found a comfy webradio that plays instrumentals back to back with no annoyances
>It's a mix of classical but also some instrumental versions of hits (Like an instrumental of Space Oddity) and modern pop stuff.
>listened to that for a few a while now
>for some fucking reason they hired a god damn DJ to talk between every other fucking song
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WHY. I need a new Instrumental station now. anything you guys can recommend?
What are you listening to while reading /sffg/?

>>9386300
I'm listing to my book while reading sffg. You should try it.

fag who read red sister.
How close is it to broken empire / red queen?

>>9386300
A Realm Reborn albums are my go to it has everything and pairs so well with fantasy.

>>9386300
A Distant Realm albums are my go to it has everything and pairs so well with fantasy.

>>9386491

Despite being set in a different world it's got the same post-apocalyptic/dying earth type setting and magic from previous civ's tech thing that his previous books have. So if you want more of that you've got it.

On the other hand it had far less GRI than his other entries and less adventuring across landscapes. It instead spends most of the novel focusing on one area (the nun school) rather than exploring the world.

It feels a bit more anime than previous books but that might be due to superpowered warrior nun lolis in school. For that reason too the tone feels less adult. Like it's mostly YA with some extra gore and a few "mature" references rather than the gritty edge we're used to.

>>9386300
Spotify radio senpai

Any scifi we know that's so modern every form of entertainment is just streaming services?

>>9386491
I think the other series were more 'grimdark' edgy, especially broken empire

What is some good political science-fiction?

Is this series good?

>>9387044
sure

>>9387049
K

I want to read the books before the TV show starts, just wondering if it is good.

>>9387052
I enjoyed it

the first book is fairly typical (even cliche) epic fantasy but it gets better after that

>>9387059
Guess i'll give it a go then.

>>9386300
SomaFM has some nice channels
>http://somafm.com/

Is it worth it to get into those Redwall books?

>>9387193
Absolutely. They're fairly light reading and they're comfy as shit. Start with Redwall, Mossflower or Martin the Warrior.

Are there any fantasy authors besides Wolfe with some more philosophical writing?
I like fantasy, but most books I've read so far are very superficial. I dislike books like Legend and First King of Shannara, they were very dull, I almost didn't bother finishing them.

>>9381239
TUC ?

>>9386300
>Reading fantasy to anything other than dungeon synth

https://fief.bandcamp.com/album/ii

>>9387253
If you like Wolfe you might also like
>Peter S. Beagle
>David Lyndsay
>Orson Scott Card
>Algis Budrys
>R.A Lafferty

>>9387253
John C. Wright. Look up his short story Judgement Eve, you'll get a good idea of how he writes.

>>9387300
>>9387317
thanks anons, I'll check those authors

>>9385331
T a n g e r i n e D r e a m

Phaedra is the goat space album. Zeit if ur tryna stare into the void

>>9386541
Can you post source, I can't quite find what you are referring to

>>9387513
Sorry meant A Distant World is the orchestral version of some of the best Final Fantasy OST songs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75QC59i-dIY

>>9387522
Oh nice, thanks for replying. Haven't played FF games for ages but I remember the OSTs being great. Gonna have a listen.

>>9383470
Ubik is one of pkds finest work

>>9387253
>I dislike books like Legend
I'm gonna fucking kill you.

>check the genre fiction listed in the wiki

>ASOIAF
>Rothfuss
>first law

Why do you let morons run your wiki

>>9387662
>why do people like different things than me

Re-reading Barclay's Raven stuff. I remember loving this series. Quality of the writing is probably considered average, but the world building is nice and the main characters are written well.

Anyone else read them?

>>9387662
Because only autists are willing to run a wiki.

>>9387662
There is a wiki?

>>9387712

>>9387193
If you're ten years old.

>>9387339
Be warned, none of them are on quite the same level as Wolfe, although some of them do some things better.

I'm also going to throw in a recommendation for Jack Vance. He's a bit superficial compared to some of the others but his style is amazing. He mostly wrote SF adventure but pick up Lyonesse for some epic fantasy.

Does anyone have science fiction about inventors or smart peeps?

>>9387662
Calm your autism. Bad enough you can't even mention these things in these threads without setting off an autistic hissy fit, now we can't even put them on a wiki safely removed from discussion?