/lit/ - Literature

Repeating my question if anyone could help me identify either of these books:

1. A group of a couple dozen children are on a ship with a robotic nursemaid. It is revealed that humanity was wiped out by unknown enemies but a small part was saved by an advanced alien race. The aliens have put these children on the ship and sent them off to exact revenge for the murder of humankind. It features technology such as a boobytrap that turns their scouts into antimatter versions of themselves and manipulating matter by "hacking" the rules underlying subatomic force carrier particles.

2. Five or so people are chosen to be copied into hundreds of clone bodies and placed upon dozens of ships, each going to a different star. All of the clones based on one man go insane except the protagonist. On their destination planet the protagonist finds several golden towers with technological gifts from unknown aliens, including a transparent spacesuit and a small golden faster than light ship. It turns out that different aliens in starfish-shaped ships are following the first set and destroying any civilization which receives the gifts. The protagonist unwittingly uses the gift ship to return to earth which results in the starfish aliens following and destroying the solar system. He escapes with the original of one of his former crewmates and they embark on a journey to figure out why all this is happening and how it can be stopped.

>>9613911
If you can remember some exact phrases from the books you can use google search operators to get the books in a blink of an eye if they are in the google books database.

>>9613916
Unfortunately it's been many years for both. No luck on tvtropes searches either.

Finished book one of Dune.

Should I read the appendix entries before or after I finish the book?

>>9613974
after, I guess

>>9613911
The first one is anvil of something by Greg Bear I bet. Both of them remind me of a trilogy by Linda Nagata that begins with the bohr maker if you are looking for recs.

>>9614320
Fucking THANK YOU. Now if I could only figure out the first one.

>>9614335
Er, that is, the second one.

What are some good fantasy books involving tax policies?
seriously

I'm looking for a certain passage in one of Terry Goodkind's books, I believe it's "The First Confessor, where he talks about why a child's life is supposed to be worth more than that of an adult.
I think it's right about when Magda is turned, but it's been like 2 years so I'm not sure.

If anyone remembers the part and could post it I'd be grateful

>>9614138
after you finish it for sure

>>9613911
>>9614346
>the second one.
Maybe this? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killing_Star

Just finished New York 2140. Where is the shill? I wasn't satisfied with that young stud clearing out the cobwebs from that older woman's drainage pipe. I need more recs.

>>9614355
New York 2140
Dagger and coin

>>9614360
Google it?

>>9614490
I tried, and I've tried searching through the pdf with ctrl+f, but apparently I don't remember any keywords.

Or maybe it's not that book.

It is definitely Terry Goodkind though.

Teenagers on a world without adults.

Has this ever been done well?

>>9614482
Nope but I appreciate the effort.

>>9614498
You looking for YA series or adult novel? The "Remnants" series was pretty good.

>Characters literally level up

I'm fucking dying.

>>9614553
What book?

Holy fuck, boys, I can't get enough of Alastair Reynolds. I'll be done with the whole Revelation Space saga by the end of next week at the rate I'm going.

>>9614554
Probably this. It's literally (literally) anime in prose.

>canadian writes book about iranian revolution
>only this time it's perpetrated by christians in the US
Kinda boring. I didn't really care for the disjointed first person present tense writing style.
I should have read Starship Troopers afterwards instead of before. Enjoyed that one a fair bit. Thinking about reading REAMDE next.

>>9614676
Is it dark shounen with power-ups or some edgy seinen bullshit?

>>9614486
I've read all of the Dagger and Coin, and the other one isn't fantasy but it seems interesting.

>>9614724
Shounen with power ups

Anyone read Legends of the Red Sun by Mark Charan Newton? Guy at work recommended them, but I don't know how good his taste is.

>>9614685
REAMDE was pretty fun but I wouldn't call it science fiction per se, more of a techno-thriller.

>>9614676
I might have to check this out then.

Give me a quick rundown on picrelated

>>9614600
Is he really that good? I've got Chasm City for free a year ago but never bothered to read it.

>>9614600
Get ready for that ending.
What a load of shitty deus ex machina + new problem that cant ever be solved.
Really spoiled all the build up everything previously.

>3/4 through All The Birds in the Sky
Mediocre. Feels like the writing is inspired by Neil Gaiman but doesn't manage to pull it of. The book also feel very YA, I imagine a teenager or someone who have struggled much with identity and bullying during their years inschool might enjoy it more, but it's more a retelling than actually exploring the subject.

>>9615230
Thanks anon. Going to avoid that one.

Help me out /sffg/. I read this series of books ages ago and really enjoyed it and I want to audiobook it at work but I cannot fucking find a torrent anywhere for it. In fact I would really enjoy any of the few series written by this guy.

>>9615273
It's over on MAM (myanonamouse) else rip it yourself by abusing the audible trials over and over again.

>>9614685
That's the problem with these novels.
Instead of creating some made-up religion to show people how bad Islam is, they use Christianity as a metaphor. That, in turn, makes Christians resentful and the point is lost.
Same thing happened with Imperium (2016). Instead of it being a film depicting how ideology can lead to bad stuff, it's a movie about evil nazis. Or at least that's what it appears to be.

I might be wrong, though.

>>9615292
Ugh private trackers or ripping it from audible, fuck. Thanks anyway anon.

>>9613911

I am also interested in those books. Can anyone help find the second one?

>2. Five or so people are chosen to be copied into hundreds of clone bodies and placed upon dozens of ships, each going to a different star. All of the clones based on one man go insane except the protagonist. On their destination planet the protagonist finds several golden towers with technological gifts from unknown aliens, including a transparent spacesuit and a small golden faster than light ship. It turns out that different aliens in starfish-shaped ships are following the first set and destroying any civilization which receives the gifts. The protagonist unwittingly uses the gift ship to return to earth which results in the starfish aliens following and destroying the solar system. He escapes with the original of one of his former crewmates and they embark on a journey to figure out why all this is happening and how it can be stopped.

First one is said to be >>9614320

>>9615337
I think everyone wants these books now

>>9615190
its shit

>>9615196
some people love him but I think he's merely ok. Rev Space was mediocre, but altho some chunky flaws Chasm City was a damn fun book

>>9615230
yeah good job for reading it, glad we someone from the general on it

>start the revelations space series
>2 of the 3 PoV characters are women
Should I bother continuing.

>>9615190
I think Seveneves was great, even though it got kind of slow in the middle. Still worth reading, in my opinion.

>>9615414
read am-malazan instead.

>>9615414
get over yourself small-dick. there's plenty of other reasons rev-space sucks. if you're really that inclined Chasm City is a little sexist

>>9615427
>there's plenty of other reasons rev-space sucks.

What are those reasons?

>>9615432
I'm also this guy for clarity>>9615404

I enjoyed the universe he created, and the start of the book where there's the stop-off at the trading post was cool.
But the overarching plot felt really confused and directionless, with the end especially leaving me very unsatisfied.
The characters were also incredibly week. Every single one was a "self-styled badass" and they all seemed to be written the same way. They were scarcely memorable, and while it was a busy year ago I can only really recall one of them was Russian.

I was actually relieved when the booked ended, and even though I bought it too never touched Redemption Ark

>>9615417
He protec
>>9615404
But also attac

>>9615414
Pffff, it's nothing comparing to gay afro-russian mexican crippled lesbian christian priest in the Expanse. There all this shit looks like a parody but the authors are really damn serious about it.

>>9615468
>some people are women
>some people are gay
>in the future they'll likely be a lot of international movement and baby-making
yeah it's practically fantasy

>>9615491
You didn't understand it was all one person

>>9615500
I did, and it's not that unrealistic in the future The Expanse predicts. I could see the priest thing being a point of contention but I think the Church will modernise in the 200-something years. Also being crippled is just sad.

Parshendi are Middle-Easterns. Alethi are Westerners. Gemhearts are oil.

Where do I start with Clark Ashton Smith? I want more literature in the vein of Lovecraft, but everything else seems so shallow. I've yet to find anything that bears Lovecraft's philosophy of cosmicism and I've got a serious itch for some more.

Look, I'm embarrassed even to ask this... but are there any books out there with female characters getting fucked by demons/monsters? Really, anything gross and otherworldly. I just want it to be more than an off-hand reference.

>>9615554
The Dark Tower.

>>9615554
Just read berserk

>reading Ubik
Joe Chip has genuinely autistic moments. Is this a common trait with some of PKD's characters or confined to this one story?

>>9614600
Absolution Gap was the best novel but the best part is so short.
The Prefect 2 comes out early next year.

>>9615537
There's an excellent Penguin Classics volume which I've been reading through. It collects eighteen short stories, most of which were published in Weird Tales in the 1930s. You'll have to keep a dictionary handy for a couple of them, but Smith is an excellent complement to Lovecraft - more morbid and more exotic. The man loves wizards, necromancers, deadly scenery and worldbuilding. Here is a passage I like from his short story The Maze Of The Enchanter which is illustrative of his style:

---

Little enough was actually known of these gardens; but the flora that grew on the northern, southern and western sides of the palace was popularly believed to be less deadly than that which faced the dawning of the triple suns. Much of this latter vegetation, according to myth, had been trained and topiarized in the form of an almost infinite labyrinth, balefully ingenious, from which egress was impossible: a maze that concealed in its windings the most fatal and atrocious traps, the most unpredictable dooms, invented by the malign Daedalus. Mindful of this labyrinth, Tiglari had approached the place on the side that fronted the three-fold sunset.

Breathless, with arms that ached from the long, arduous climb, he crouched in the garden shadows. About him he saw the heavy-hooded blossoms that leaned from a winy gloom in venomous languour, or fawned toward him with open corollas that exhaled a narcotic perfume or diffused a pollen of madness. Anomalous, multiform, with silhouettes that curdled the blood or touched the brain with nightmare, the trees of Maal Dweb appeared to gather and conspire against him beyond the flowers. Some arose with the sinuous towering of plumed pythons, or aigretted dragons. Others crouched with radiating limbs that were like the hairy members of colossal arachnidans. They seemed to close in upon Tiglari with a stealthy motion. They waved their frightful darts of thorn, their scythe-like leaves. They blotted the four moons with webs of arabesque menace. They reared from interminably coiling roots behind mammoth foliages that resembled an army of interlocking shields.

--
By this passage you might get a sense of CAS's style, and appreciate how Jack Vance and Gene Wolfe were probably taking notes.

>>9615594
It's funny how these passages are easier to read than modern science fiction.

So im going to start a new book today. Please help me decide.

>the black prism - weeks
>leviathan wakes - corey
>the terror - simmons

>>9615594
I'll keep an eye out for it. Thanks anon.

>>9615468
lol guess i dropped it at the right time around the 4th book

This thread wins points for being one of the most autistic threads I have ever seen in a long time on any forum:
https://forum.mobilism.org/viewtopic.php?f=1147&t=1817872

>Folks,
>I am a fan and have been so for over 40 years yet I do not recognize a large portion of the names in the SF section. Are these self published books? I'd like to see a separate section for self published authors if possible. Interminable scrolling through the list is just too much. Thanks, B

I read The Sword Of Rhiannon by Leigh Brackett (1953,) an entertaining short novel that combines an exotic Martian setting with a taut and hard-bitten action-adventure style. 'Carse' is a former archeologist from Earth who is residing in a dilapidated ancient Martian city. He enters a tomb raiding partnership with a thief who knows the location of a cavern full of ancient artifacts. When he enters the tomb he is transported a million years back in time to the heyday of Mars, where he is caught between two rival sea-faring kingdoms.

Brackett writes in fast-paced, lean, and sultry style, with the right amount of action, exotic detail, and planetary romance. There's an Indian Jones protag, a loveable scoundrel sidekick, and a couple of femme fatales/waifus, in a tale of time travel, discovery, and the redemption of a Prometheus-like figure. If you can imagine A Princess Of Mars written by Dash Hammett and Raymond Chandler, you get the idea.This one is a lot of fun. 4.5/5

>>9615730
Thanks for the reviews anon

>>9615190
It's shit. If you like hard sci-fi then you will love it.

>>9615292
It's faggots like you that helped bring down private trackers like what.cd, etc. You faggots post shit meant for "acquiring" books on social media, and steps how to get in on redshit and failbook. I hope your ass gets lynched. Too bad mouse doesn't have personalized backgrounds. So your ass could be banned.

>>9615765
>>>/g/ptg/

>>9615765
And also
>he believes in the h*h meme

>>9615310
>creating some made-up religion to show people how bad Islam is
Christians were just as bad as the Islam.
It's just that the Christians started to reinterpret the bible to match how they wanted to live. The muslims follow it to the letter of the law. Look at those African countries that swallowed all the missionary BS over the years. They burn faggots, and stone witches still. While the people that indoctrinated them (Klapistan) dresses up like witches and takes a hot bugger from their gay bf before going to church. Klapistan taught these people to hate, then started doing the opposite of what they taught. Meh.

>>9615535
Parshendi are Muslims. Alethi are Christians. Gemhearts is land/Jerusalem /black mosque.

>>9615554
Sadpanda
male:monster female:tentacle

>>9615592
Writing characters or character interactions isn't one of PKD's strengths, so awkward moments do reappear but it isn't like they're intentional on PKD's part.

>>9615609
Two of those are sci-fi, one is fantasy.
I would say Black prism.

>>9615730
I can't remember. Have you read her Skaith books yet? I found the collection and am considering it.

>>9615669
>posted for years
>he thought it was just a meme
You learned about them now, first hand. Cancerous lot, all of them.

>>9615730
Are the Martians that white wing Angel thing? If so Altered carbon used that for one of it's sequels

>>9615770
>>9615784
They need to get nuked too. The emp will get all those who don't have their house built in a faraday cage.

>>9615885
>he doesn't have a metal roof and stucco walls

>>9615873
Apart from the humans there are three 'halfling' races in the book. The winged ones are called sky people, and there are also seal-like 'swimmers' and also a snake/human hybrid race. Guess which ones are evil, mysterious and duplicitous?

>>9615847
I've got the first Skaith book but I haven't read it, but I probably will do by the end of Summer. I can't imagine it being a bad read. I feel like she is a fairly well known author compared to her peers, but that she should be more widely read.

>>9615737
Thank you. I'm spoiled for choice for the next read. It could be Galactic Pot Healer by Philip K Dick, Dragon Masters By Jack Vance, or just finishing off a couple of short story collections (Leiber, Clark Smith.) I might even read something written after 1990 one of these days.

>>9613911
Read through these to see if anything is jogged
https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/86090/help-me-identify-this-book-that-uses-cloning-for-space-travel
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1815279-solved-sci-fi-book-about-space-travel-via-cloning-reconstruction-s

>>9615934
>Guess which ones are evil, mysterious and duplicitous?
Snake is evil
Swimmers is mysterious
Sky people are duplicitous

>>9615569
>>9615584
I have read both of these.
>>9615821
>implying I haven't gone through almost all of that
I meant a real book. I've even gone through most of the HentaiFoundry stories.

>>9615554
there's some overt and implied monster sx in the Magicians trilogy.

>>9615990
Well... Dante Valentine series has the protag fucking a demon. But it isn't the hentai, bulging gross monster that lays eggs in your ass.(which is what I think you want).

You can try Clive Barker. He is fucked up, always writes fucked up shit like you want (don't touch imajica though).

>>9616019
>implied
>it can't fit
>pull out womb along with soul on cock
don't bother with this. You will have to read through a lot for little pay off (if you want it more than once you out of luck

>>9616074
>You can try Clive Barker. He is fucked up, always writes fucked up shit like you want (don't touch imajica though).
What do you recommend?

Finally decided to finish Wheel of time but since it's been a while I decided to read it from the start. I'm on book 4 and realized why it became pretty shitty. Jordon barely gave Rand and Mat chapters while spending most of them on Perrin and the Aes Sedai. Perrin's okay but he's really boring on his own and Faile is one of the worst characters. The Aes Sedai were annoying as usual and they also went on a useless adventure to hunt the Black Ajah. The problem with this was that Rand and Mat were actually doing something important and Jordan must have realized this since in the last few chapters he added a Forsaken and a seal into the Aes Sedai subplot. I'm not looking forward to the bowl sidequest. Also anytime Egwene was given focus was awful too. Moraine is the only one I don't mind.

>>9616316
Rand is based. Ever since the second book he's always been the man with a plan. It was hilarious when he started ignoring every Aes Sedai

>>9616316
>>9616342
>wot fans feel if they talk about their self confessed cluster fuck of a series, more people will read it
Try again faggots. Never touching that book, and I will continue trying my best to keep others away from it.

>>9615805
Well, you're right to a degree.
I said 'oil' because both armies use it to make shit out of it (finance themselves with it).

Where do I start with Asimov, Dick and Heinlein?
Have only read Starship Troopers, and it was pretty neat but I understand Heinlein's other works to be much different in themes. Haven't read any Asimov or Dick

>>9616316
>insane man with an injury that never completely heals is more competent than the organization of magic users whom have ruled Randland for a long time
I like how Jordan didn't pretend females were useful like other authors do

You guys have any book series you hate reading but can't put down?

Pic related. Hamilton is amazing at coming up with plots but the actual moment to moment writing is fucking terrible. Every single chapter starts with a three-page exposition about a random-ass nobody who happens to be in the same location the story has jumped to, and only after getting through that do you have any clue where the story is and what's going on. Doesn't help that there are way two many characters going through their own arcs.

>>9616413

>>9616413
>>9616448

>>9616413
>>9616455

Where can I learn to be a fantasy hack?

>>9616598
You just need a gimmick to attract the masses. For example Sanderson satisfies an autist's need for a video game/anime magic system. Right now the edgy fantasy fad is still going on bit there are sone people who don't like that stuff anymore so if you right a well written normal fantasy book you could attract those people. Another option would be to take Rothfuss' route. He took a book he wrote in high school and throught his collage years and separted it into three parts and became a millionaire. I don't know why Rothfuss is popular but he writes a lot of purple prose so you could go with that. I also recall that Kvothe was supposed to be a deconstruction of a mary sue but Rothfuss plays that straight.

What's some good fantasy that is grim at times without being grimdark?

"Shit never works out well" is as unrealistic as "shit always works out," and "people never do the right thing because they believe it's the right thing" is as unrealistic as "this character is purely heroic," if not more so.

But it seems like most fantasy is either too light or too grim. Real life is messy and hard, but sometimes beautiful things happen. Sometimes the most flawed, even shitty people can show incredible kindness.

Where's the fantasy that shows that?

>>9616692
>implying it doesn't all come down to connections for the most part
The number of authors that succeed on skill alone is minimal. It's all about having the means to get your book published and have others put in a good word for you, and the plebs will do the rest. You can be sure that there's better fanfiction out there than your usual YA novel.
>For example Sanderson satisfies an autist's need for a video game/anime magic system
What a stupid thing to say. No, you know why Sanderson succeeds? Number one, because he writes for the readers and not for himself. He writes what he knows others will enjoy without putting too much of himself into it. That's the opposite of a person like Rothfuss, that writes only to project his own fantasy version to an audience, or a Bakker that writes only to stroke his own ego about fulfilling some lifelong vision. And you know what else? Sanderson WORKS HARD. Look at how many books the man has done and how long they are. He takes this shit seriously, in every way. He's not that talented, he's not a visionary, he relies on gimmicks - but he puts in the work. And you can tell from his interviews, podcasts, videos, etc., that he's an all-around likable guy.
I don't particularly like his work, but to continue this condescending, bullshit argument that his works are immensely popular because they satisfy the need of a few autists that love magic systems is FUCKING RETARDED. They're not even that great. Bakker has a far more intricate and believable magic system. And even then, that's not why people love the man's books.

>>9616734
There's no sub genre for that. For books like those only a good author can write them. People think LOTR is a generic good guy story but Gollum hovered between good and evil throughout the entire trilogy and actually began to forget the ring until he became tired of Sam bullying him.

>>9616734
ASoIaF.

>>9616743
If Sanderson works hard then so do McDonald's workers.

>>9616743
>He writes what he knows others will enjoy without putting too much of himself into it.
thats not mutually exclusive to the videogame comment

>>9616598
Write a novel just like Jap light novels and you'll have weebs lined up to buy your book

>>9616752
Wew, careful not to cut yourself on that edge, lad.

>>9616750
ASoIaF is grimdark for the sake of being grimdark. The whole selling point behind it was that GRRM killed his characters.

>>9616692
>Sanderson magic system
Eat some metal to gain a 10 second strength buff

>>9616734
The Magicians

>>9616757
Sanderson is fantasy fast food though. Once you've read a few sanderson novels you can tell exactly what's going to happen in all the others. He uses the same quips too. His self insert Hoid is one of the worst witty characters in the genre

>>9616761
It's not even grimdark, you fucking babby. Do you know what grimdark means? Absolute hopelessness on every conceivable level. ASoIaF wouldn't even count as grim. It generally portrays most people in a positive light and shows them capable of doing good. Martin even said he plans for the series to end in a "bittersweet" way, which is a good way to describe the entire series.
>The whole selling point behind it was that GRRM killed his characters.
No, it never was. GRRM was an incredibly popular author long before the series existed. Combine that with a fantasy series that's good, so you can see why it would sell like hotcakes.
And I don't understand. You want realism... but you don't want a single character to die? Huh? Can you decide? Or could it be that you're just a meme-spouting retard that's never even read the books and just repeats what others have told him while regurgitating whatever you've picked up from D&D's botched atrocity?

>>9616780
>Once you've read a few sanderson novels you can tell exactly what's going to happen in all the others.
The same could be said for many, many things. Last time I checked, we weren't awarding him based on creativity. Nearly every Hollywood movie and anime is a mix of the same tired old tropes. The same can even be said for modern """"literature"""".

>>9616782
I've read all five of his books and it's true that most people when recommending aSoIaF say that he kills his characters. Also you should stop resorting to ad hominem.

>>9616793
Yes that's why comparing him to McDonald's is perfectly fine because that's what he is.

>>9616780
>He uses the same quips too
Reading Sandeson's Mat was painful
>His worst self insert
Androl

>>9616747
I get what you're saying. I'm just asking for some recommendations, not the name of a subgenre.
>>9616750
Read the first couple books. Kind of lost interest.
>>9616769
I've already read the Magicians trilogy. It's my favorite fantasy series of the past decade, easily. I'd love more like it (doesn't have to be portal fantasy, just the character-driven stuff with flawed but not evil main characters).

>>9616797
>I've read all five of his books
Then you should go ahead tell me how many of the PoV characters die. Should be easy right? I'll help you. IT'S FUCKING THREE. But please, go ahead. Keep trying to convince me that you've read the books and know what you're talking about. It's so believable that a person that's read Martin then goes on to call his work grimdark. You are either using that term in the loosest way possible and you have no idea yourself what you mean by it, or you're truly a ignorant motherfucker that's never read the books. It's one of the two. Berserk is grimdark. (Some) 40k novels are grimdark. The Second Apocalypse, to a certain extent? But ASoIaF? Far more fucked up things happen in Malazan than in ASoIaF. But neither of them are neither grim nor dark, because the overall message is a hopeful one and the vast majority of the characters are good people.

>>9616692
>>9616743
Should I go for a uber long story with a giant world or a small one?

>>9616817
Really depends on the story you want to tell, now doesn't it?

>>9616817
Worldbuilding is a meme but it works.

>>9616826
worldbuilding is good if you make it thematically consistent

if you're just Elmer's gluing all your favorite anime into the page its going to be wank

>>9616829
You say this, but Nehwon is fascinating and it's a hodgepodge of different bizarre things that seem not to be connected in any way except geographically.

>>9616829
The problem with most Fantasy authors is that their worldbuilding ends up beong worthless. They think a l lot of worldbuilding is needed all the time and that's why it's a meme

>>9616817
>>9616822
>>9616826
>>9616829
I think I have a good world built but I really only have a handful of major cities established, most of which can't have a suburbal sprawl for one reason or another. I'm struggling to imagine where all the damn people are gonna live. Is there any way to slyly add "boring" countries and residential territories where allot of people live but isn't very relevant?

>>9616829
Not only that, but the world-building needs to tie in with the actual story you're telling. A tale of how some castle fell might even fit with the theme of the book, but unless it establishes something that you're going to harp back to later in the plot or it serves some distinct motivation for the main character, don't fucking do it. World-building should be as much a part of your plot's development as the character's backstory. if it doesn't serve a purpose, then it's fat that needs to go. Many people will disagree with this, but I don't give a fuck what they think. We don't need another 10+ series with 1000 pages per book. If your story is that great, you can release a world-building standalone later. First, write a compelling story that's worth reading.

>>9616834
I'll have to read it. I honestly draw my approach from the likes of Tolkien and Gene Wolfe, but I know other authors who do minimal world-building and work just as fine. This is because its all introduced to make the situation at hand interesting and therefore isn't just fluff.

>>9616692
Sanderson is going to attempt sci fi later. I think then 3rd Mistborn trilogy is supposed to be a space opera. Can't wait for that trainwreck. Meanwhile his fans are hyped because of the magic systems interacting with each other

>>9616844
I don't understand this post. If you're assuming that the sci-fi is going to be a trainwreck, then certainly you must think that these fantasy series are good? If you admit that they're not, then I don't see how the sci-fi one would be any different.

>>9616842
It's the setting of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Classic sword-and-sorcery.

>>9616848
Yea just looked it up, thanks. I've been meaning to read those.

>>9616847
Sanderson is an okay fantasy author but I can't even imagine him writing sci fi.

>>9616448
>>9616455
>>9616467
Thanks friend, gonna start with I, Robot, The Moon and Electric Sheep

>>9616839
This is pretty much how I worked my own series down to just two main books and many side novellas. I have tons of worldbuilding but I'm not a big fan on long drolling series. I'd rather tell a few good stories that do their job well instead of one thing trying to do too much.

>>9616692
>You just need a gimmick to attract the masses. For example Sanderson satisfies an autist's need for a video game/anime magic system
Naw nigga, masses like sanderson for his anime stories. People love the rags to riches hero analogue. Especially when the hero becomes a super saiyan

I'm looking for a particular kind of story. Basically, one in which the opposing sides start out as close as possible. Best friends, brothers, squad members - whatever, not important. What's important is that a difference in ideology drives them apart. Mind you, I am NOT talking about personal differences that would drive apart a couple or family members. I mean they come before an important, but unexpected situation, and both have opposing views about what must be done and compromise is impossible. Think of the Jedi/Sith, Chaos/Imperium, etc. They're almost the same but diverge so completely on one issue that they cant' ever come together again.

So the formula would be AxB are inseparable --> AxB come across X --> AxB have opposing views about how to deal with X --> A and B separate as enemies and tragedy ensues.

The tragedy aspect is important. I don't care what they disagree about on, nor if that ever gets resolved. I just want characters doing unthinkable harm to people they love because they think they're right. Except both sides think that, and it escalates into nothing but empty suffering driven by opposing ideologies.

I know this is very specific, but maybe I've missed something that has this. And yes I've already read Horus Heresy, since it fits perfectly with the criteria.

>>9616936
Berserk

>>9616936
A Tale of Two Travelers

>>9616953
I've read it and it doesn't suit this. That falls under
>I am NOT talking about personal differences that would drive apart a couple or family members.
Guts and Griffith were never that similar, and their differences were largely personal.
>>9616968
Who's it by, anon? Google doesn't give me anything.

I've never read any Culture novel before. But I want to check out why everyone love Banks. So I've got a choice - The Hydrogen Sonata and Surface Detail which one is noob-friendly or I should start with the very first book?

>>9616976
Jim & Sheri O'Neal

So, Brandon Sanderson really likes the Elric books. That's pretty surprising, given that they tend to be way grittier and darker than Sanderson writes, the magic is mysterious and scary stuff, and Sanderson is a good Mormon boy while Moorcock is an atheist anarchist.

>>9616990
The first book stuck with me the most. I wouldn't recommend reading Hydrogen Sonata first. For me its the least intresting book of the Culture series.

So, I have a couple of unread and "paused and never continued" books lying around that have been picked up during sales thoughout this and the last year. I'm planning on bringing 3-4 of them with me to the place where I'll be working this summer.

Which of these would you guys recommend bringing along, and how should they be prioritized? Alternatively, which ones should be avoided like the plague? Cheers

>Gardens of the Moon
>The Book of the New Sun
>The red knight
>Ancestral Machines (Cobley, M.)
>The Way of Kings
>Edda: Snorri's Edda & The Poetic Edda
>River of Stars (Kay, G.G.)
>H.P. Lovecraft: The complete fiction (The B&N "leather"-bound edition)
>Lives of the Romans (Matyszak & Berry)
>Platon's The Republic
>The Dark Tower 1

>>9617017
I mean will I understand who is who and what is what? Would it consist of shit like: "The Plenderplabs have made an alliance with the Glorf and attacked Dicklends with the battlefleet of Dildocopters and thus violating the Concordate of the Asshole." That is understandable only to those who have read each and every book in the series since 1987?

>>9615216
He fucked his best work to hell because he insists that all his shit takes place in the same universe and he wrote some dumb short story 20 years ago...
Crazy shit.

>>9614498
logan's run.

I just finished the Red Rising and Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogies and I recommend both to sci-fi fans.
Red Rising is an action adventure set in a Roman themed Brave New World inspired future, while Remembrance starts in the present and covers the history of humanity's interaction with an alien species. The latter laid out some interesting ideas about the effect of the presence of many intelligent species on the universe itself, and on each other's development.

For reference: I loved the Ender and The Book of the New Sun series. I liked Hamilton's books, but they are 15% longer than they should be. I think Dan Simmons' work is mediocre with sparks of greatness.

I also recommend Star's Reach. It's set in a post apocalyptic North America. The Apocalypse wasn't a specific war, it was a slow decline due to resource exhaustion and pollution. Last Man On Earth Club is interesting too.

I guess I caught up with everything worth reading again. Shit sucks, there's so sci-fi being written and most of what exists is trash.

>>9617032
Just get an ereader and load 200 books you want to read on it. Then read every time you have 5+ minutes free time.
This kills the book stack.

>>9616993
So? Sandy Peterson is a Mormon but it's not like half the levels in Doom involve going to the Temple to pay your tithes or whatever.

>>9617118
"ugh i've got 200 books and I can't decide on what to read and probably three quarters of them are crap"

>>9617151
>"ugh i've got 200 books and I can't decide on what to read and probably three quarters of them are crap"
That leaves you with 50 books worth reading and it takes like ten seconds to delete a shit book from your device. It doesn't feel as bad as throwing away a physical book and you probably didn't even pay for it either.

>>9616797
If I recommend them, I might include the "kills his characters" meme as a warning or caveat, since it seems to bother some people, but not as a "selling point". I like ASOIAF because of the characters, not their deaths.

Can anyone recommend a good book or series with mutants/superpowers? I already have all the Wild Cards, the Brilliance series... How about a better version of Karen Haber's Mutant series (lots of telekinetics/telepaths, etc)? Or even something like Heroes?

>>9617114
Sentenced to Prism is a great read. Surviving on a planet with mostly silicon-based biology.

>>9617478
Thanks. There even is an ebook for that!

>>9617032
Gardens of the Moon is bad in my opinion. I just don't like the author's writing style, though, so take that as you will.

The Red Knight is pretty neat.

Exactly how does one go about abusing the audible free trial? Do you need to get help from a friend/relative and create a new account for them with their card each time?

>>9617591
Have you also checked the audiobook IRC channel for what you want?

irc://irc.undernet.org:6667/audiobooks
irc://irc.irchighway.net:6667/audiobooks

/lit/, which of these two stories would you rather read about:

1. Zombie story that follows the fully cognizant zombie overlord that mentally rules all the zombies, plus a handful of other self-aware zombie leaders. The overall plot would involve their attempt to take over the world via zombie hordes. (I'm thinking it will be a tragedy, and they will fail. But who knows.)

2. Ancient, extremely powerful mage awakens in Generic Fantasy Land. He is very powerful magically and focused on being the Emperor of Everything(TM), but needs to play catch-up and start integrating himself into realm politics/customs to get there because everyone he ever knew is dead now, society has changed vastly from what he knew, and his ancient magic is basically obsolete due to the march of years. I am thinking sort of a traditional monomyth type thing with world domination as the goal and an antihero protagonist. Also lots of politics.

>>9617598
I didn't know those existed. Until now I've basically assumed that if it wasn't on torrentz or audiobookbay it basically didn't exist as far as piracy goes.

>>9617626
Both of those sound like less-fun versions of Mogworld. Characters that start off being hugely powerful just aren't interesting.

>>9617640
myanonamouse has a huge collection of audiobooks, but they're fucking jews about them. The only private tracker I've seen that let's uploaders put select torrents behind a paywall (VIP only torrents).

>>9617684
You can get VIP with BP.

>>9617640
The intent in neither of these is to have a main character or set of main characters that are -- ugh -- "overpowered." That is not at all what I was trying to imply. Without challenges and setbacks to go along with triumphs a story is, as you say, uninteresting.

>>9617626
There are no felines here

>>9617684
>torrents behind a paywall

>>9617518
>implying you don't have a penis

>>9616427
There were a few odd competent ones, but most of them required men to be even remotely effective at anything. And by that I mean "men with equal or superior authority to theirs," since as the Green Ajah showed, simply loving dick doesn't make you more competent than other Aes Sedai since you still suck at leadership roles and keep making terrible decisions.

I also like how they bothered to get one of the 5 greatest generals to serve them to prosecute their civil war against Elida and then have the temerity to bitch bitch bitch about his decisions.

>>9616692
I really like the Stormlight Archive and it has nothing to do with his magic system, that's just a meme that people dismissive of him repeat because they don't understand his appeal. He does character arcs very well, he has extremely satisfying climaxes and "fuck yeah" moments. You can call that being "anime" or whatever but it's obviously not easy to do or else everybody would do it.

>>9616761
No it isn't. It's political intrigue combined with epic-scope world building that sucked people in. Others just got dragged in by falling in love with the characters.

>>9615310
>Intentionally missing the point
You can use a quote from any religion to support a preconceived fucked up premise.
Book is still bla though.

>>9617814
You are sick. Seek help.

>>9616316
I literally skim read the middle 6-7 books, something I never did before. They are just so bad and retarded and full of offensively obnoxious shit. Anytime women are present, everything turns into cancer. Even when they are among themselves. There was one exception, but I forgot her name.

I also vomitted blood when I read that the sole of a desert warrior who walks through desert sand and over sharp rocks all day long without shoes are soft. The resolution is fucking stupid too.

>>9616342
When he started to openly ignore them and told them off I was almost cheering for him IRL. The women in Wheel of Time must be the most offensive creatures in all of literature.

>>9616936
Red Rising
Magicians trilogy

>>9617032
Red knight is shit. Burn asap.

>>9618100
Are you that guy who was triggered because it had "too much chivalry shit"?

>>9618031
>Adidas
So you're a chav?
1. How many penises entered your wet walls?
2. Do you even read?
3. What are you currently reading?

>>9618117
It might surprise you to know that /soc/shit posters are all traps or men you fucking retard/

>>9617684
>wants to hit and run
>cries that he doesn't have 5000karma points
I'm glad you're too stupid to use the site.. Now if you could only do a screenshot with today's date and you signed into mouse, I will help you get vip...

>>9617038
The stories in each book are pretty much entirely self-contained. Beyond the occasional offhand reference or cameo they don't crossover at all. There's no metaplot.

>dude worm is good
>edgelord bullied highschool girl protag

Into the trash it goes
Serves me right for listening to reddit

I just finished watching Konosuba and really enjoyed it

Is there a good western isekai fantasy series similar?

>>9618112
It's also shit. Not only the mercenaries not doing mercenaries things, but the dual faith magic system was shit (since they are using the fucking Christian God, who we all know is a jealous muthafucker), the lack of wenches getting raped, the shitty man vs wild trope. The only thing interesting was the ending and what it implied for future works... But I'm not punishing myself again just for a maybe (and chances are he will do the same shit again.)

And to think the shill was going hard as a mudda years ago with this book, and when I revealed it was shit he ducked out... I think it's the same guy who doesn't read and just shills us books... Like if we are guinea pigs and he is experimenting how advertising works when you yourself haven't used the product your selling..

>>9618120
So they all have dicks? Even the landwhale threads?

>>9618151
>>>/a/

>>9618179
>tranny on hormones
>""""female""""
Girl (male)

>>9618172
Jesus. Stop fucking the fucking copypasta shit in this thread.

>>9618142
Everything by that author is overrated to all hell.

Everything he writes is, quite literally, "And then it got worse." Repeat until everyone is dead or mindbroken to the point that the story cannot continue, then end it with a downer ending with a small bright spot to outweigh the past 50 chapters of awfulness.

>>9616413
Heinlein's work is thematically consistent. The confusion arises from retards considering Starship Troopers to be fascist propaganda when it's actually about individualism triumphing over collectivism. Heinlein was every other hippie's hero back in the day, Charles Manson even named his son after one of his protagonists for a more extreme example.

Heinlein was a far-right only in the libertarian sense. He was all about rugged individuals making itself and tough 'no such thing as a free lunch' politics. He had no murderboner for other nations and actually seemed pretty laid back for the most part irl.

Dick wrote a lot of straight garbage and a lot more of what he wrote was just mediocre pulp remembered for hacky Twilight Zone-esque twists. Start with 'The Man in the High Castle' as it was his first work and his most professional. After that his best TWEEST-CORE works were 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' and 'The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.'

For Asimov start with the original Foundation trilogy. It's a masterpiece.

>>9618135
>Now if you could only do a screenshot with today's date and you signed into mouse

Sent :)

>>9618186
I typed that from scratch... Google it faggot.

I just finished Dune. I think a lot of the characters were one dimensional, and most chapters were build-up plot progressors, but the world building was very interesting and I enjoyed the twist on the coming of age hero's journey, it seemed to try hard to deviate from the normal expectations. I enjoyed it.


Just got neuromancer in the mail, will I enjoy it?

>>9618231
Post it here

>tfw no Conjoiner ex-wife who left you when she found emotions more potent than love

>>9618346
Neuromancer is ass.

>>9615216
Galactic North is a pretty good story, but it feels more like a Larry Niven story than anything else. That's neither good nor bad, but when Reynolds comes up with (non-genocidal) aliens his limitations begin to show. Grubs, for instance. They feel kind of out of tune with the rest of the universe.
>>9618346
Depends on how well you tolerate cheese.

>>9618135
How hard is the bullshit interview I need to do to get in on those sweet rare anonamouse torrents?

>>9618346
Not going to lie, I fucking loved dune, but my God that series went downhill almost straight away.

>>9618403
>>9618404
What makes neuromancer so bad? Is it dated? Does it read like an autistic kid wrote it? Does the modern cultural obsession of cyber punk ruin the aesthetic?

>>9618422
I think it's edgy and the technology in it seems dated. I mean the main female character has fucking lenses for eyes, wears Matrix clothing, and has nail-daggers like some wannabe Wolverine. I don't think it's bad like other people in this thread seem to though, because I thought the prose and storytelling were both far above what you usually find in sci-fi.

>>9618417
So I shouldn't read the other dune books? I've seen the chart, but is the 4th book really worth it?

Man these graphicaudio books for the stormight archives are so crazy good. I wish they had done a bunch of other books but it's all western shit.

>>9618422
It's cheesy in the sense that the aesthetic that's connected to it has been reproduced and parodied and reproduced in the form of parody so many times since its publication that you wouldn't even recognize it as a landmark work from our contemporary perspective if nobody pointed it out to you. It's worth reading and the story isn't bad. It's just that you'll recognize everything before it happens for reasons that you can't quite explain to yourself, just because of how saturated pop culture is with Neuromancer-derived plots and concepts and archetypes, some of which are superior to the original.

>>9618452
You have Lightbringer graphic audio, night angel trilogy, and a bunch of other books. I hate the westerns too.

I liked Neuromancer at first, but it got worse every time I read it.

>>9618172
>that image
So, your main problem with it is that there's not enough "gay rape and incest", a "lack of wenches getting raped"? In your mind, having those things makes a book good and lacking them makes it bad (in other words, judging mainly on a sexual basis)?

>>9618557
I was shilled the book with it fulfilling those requirements. It did not deliver. Also the other shit I said stands.

I've been reading Warlock of the Magus World, which is a chinese web novel.
And I want something with a similar protagonist, in the sense that he starts from from the bottom and slowly finds his way to power, ideally without any big plots. or at least ones that concern the protagonist.
Basically just a comfy slice of life about a guy exploring a world, or multiple worlds, and doesn't really concern himself with the affairs in them, unless they are beneficial.
Doesn't matter whether it's sci fi, or fantasy.

>>9618151
Sword of the Bright Lady is basically a Isekai story. 40-something engineer ends up in fantasyland, becomes a battlepriest and uses magic to make a lathe so that peasants can make guns and shoot the ranked nobility off their steeds.

>>9617032
BoTNS, WoK, Edda and Lovecraft. A fine mix of genres and complexity.

>>9618142
I thought the same thing when I first started reading it, but it gets more interesting after the first couple of arcs.

>>9615786
>Christians were just as bad as the Islam.
>wrong.gif

>>9618992
The only significant difference between Christianity and Islam politically is in how they spread. Christianity was forced to make headway under a powerful pagan government, so it often did it by combining terrorist tactics with subversion. Arabs weren't going to bother with any of that, so they simply turned Islam into a full-fledged state and conquered in its name.
I don't like much about Islam but I do appreciate that the underlying metaphysics are far more sensible than those of Christianity. No logically contradictory Trinity bullshit, for starters. The fall of Lucifer is the Islamic tradition is far superior as well, since the reason he's condemned is for being TOO loyal to God to the point of dogmatism (and thus refuses to kneel before Man) rather than disloyal driven merely by ego.
When you look it at all, it's incredible to think that it's Christianity that pushed past dogma and made it into modernity, considering the far more rational foundations of Islam and anti-dogma parables. And then you have all these events in its history, like when the Abbasid caliphs struggled to take away the status of the Qur'an as the legit word of God.
And yet, here we are, with Islam being far worse today than it ever was in the 8th-10th centuries, caught between crazed terrorists and SJWs that are nominal Muslims only and probably haven't even read the Qur'an. As Trump might sum it up, "Sad!"
And no religion is ever going to be more toxic, amoral, and anti-humanist than Judaism.

>>9618842
There's no western fantasy equivalent because warlock of the magus world is so laden with chinese themes.

A mages slice of life is the best way to describe it though. Like harry potter if rowling hadn't spammed voldemort for seven books.

>>9619027
There were violent Christians but to credit its spread entirely to aggression seems disingenuous. Christianity has probably had more non-violent success than any other religion in history. It started with a man who chose not to fight when he had every reason to and created a society that strove to be like that. Islam started with a man who chose to fight when he had every reason not to and created a society that considered this example divine, and still does. The foundational difference I consider to be the most important one. People can always pick and choose to justify whatever they like but a violent Christian will always be considered violent in spite of his faith and a peaceful Muslim will always be considered peaceful in spite of his faith.

I think that Christianity survived and thrived for so long because at its heart it seems to be one of the more rationalist religions, since peace is at its heart (and not that phony Islamic idea of peace, of course if the entire planet surrenders to your barbarian prophet there'll be no more conflict you evil misleading cunts, but you leave that part out whenever when of your kin peace trucks a mob of pedestrians). It's much easier to sort out problems when your society is founded on non-violence. As long as you keep that in mind you can only go so wrong. Islam on the other hand, when taken the wrong way leads to hell on earth.

What do you consider so horrible about Judaism? I'm always curious to see non-/pol/ opinions on Yahweh's chosen.

>>9619085
But I wasn't saying that. That's why I said it was mostly subversive - Christianity didn't take over the Roman world through warfare.
>Islam started with a man who chose to fight when he had every reason not to
Not sure I can agree with that. Do you mean that they could've taken it slowly like Christianity and face abuse, or what? I'm pretty sure they just saw an opportunity and took it. It's simple expediency. The Christians would have done it too if they had the chance (and did against the European pagans and "heretical" Christians once they came to power).
>I think that Christianity survived and thrived for so long because at its heart it seems to be one of the more rationalist religions.
I don't think that's true at all. Granted, the Bible is far more convoluted and that requires straightening out via discourse, but given the number of philosophers in the Islamic world, it's safe to say that Islamic scholarship isn't fundamentally averse to philosophical inquiry.
I just don't give much credence to what is at the "heart" of anything. Depending on a person's - or population's - character, any text can be used for a number of different purposes.
And this is where I think it's easy to nail the reason for why Islam was and remains the way it is: it's largely been in the hands of whose entire cultures were warlike and bent on conquest/survival. Arabs, Turks, Mongols... Do you think any of them would've behaved better under Christianity? It's no coincidence that nearly ALL of the great minds in the Islamic world (scientists, philosophers, whatever) were NOT from these cultures. They were Muslim, sure, but going by descent they were often Persians, Jews, Syrians, etc. Just look at what the Turks "achieved" in centuries of dominating other people. I don't think it matters what religion you strap to a population when the seed is bad - at least, by our standards.
Though, it's probably fair to say that there's a reason Islam appealed to all these guys - it was written by their kind for their kind. Them going for a singular god rather than a trinity probably had more to do with their own simplistic worldview than any elegant philosophizing.

As far as Jews go, I just despise their elitism. Islam tried to do this too at first, by making Islam and Arab-only faith, but that quickly fell apart and they joined Christianity in a global outlook. But not the Jews! Oh, no, no, no... In order to to join their ranks, you have to spend years. Except, you know, if you've got a drop of Jewish blood. Then you're INSTANTLY a Jew. Not only that, but they're notorious for discriminating against their own depending on their "bloodline," with some being treated like serfs just because they had a bad name. Judaism is more of an accessory to them. At the end of the day, what truly matters is that you're a Jew-Jew, not that you're "Jewish." There's a subtle irony in their history with the Nazis, given how both are obsessed with genetics and tradition.

>>9618452
Graphicaudio is really audiobook kino, the production values are great, plus the different voice actors

>>9619132
By subversive I know you didn't just mean violence, I consider subversion a kind of violence too. I think that Christianity owes a lot to its message, not just the zeal of those who were determined to spread it.
>saw an opportunity and took it
This is the key difference I see between Islam and Christianity. To Jesus and Mohamed violence appeared to be the quickest way. Jesus rejected violence where Mohamed embraced it. How can you say that the Christians would have done it if they had the chance when Jesus, THE Christian, didn't? Of course other Christians did but I think that these actions can safely be dismissed as un-Christian, despite the sincerity of those behind them. The fact that Jesus chose not to when the option was open to him cemented Christianity as a peaceful way. It's a foundation which no actions carried out by others can obliterate. Mohamed choosing violence when he had other options open to him obliterates any claims of peacefulness made in his name.

As for questions of national character, I think that it runs both ways. Of course there have been Christians who were the complete opposite of Christ and Muslims who were a 180 on Mohamed but I think that on the whole the faith does have a steering influence on culture. It's not going to overwrite countless generations of behavioral norms or the quirks of a particular people's biology but it I believe it certainly can make a difference. Look at how it tamed Scandinavia. Over time the violence was largely stamped out of there culture to the point where they're now considered the meekest in the world. Sure increased opportunities in trade and better technology making life easier would have gone a long way but at the same time I don't think it would be right at all to say that Christianity played no role in ending the viking way of life.

As for the Jews, I can't really blame them. If you view them as a nation as well as a faith their actions seem not that unusual by historic standards. A healthy feeling of superiority is vital for the vigor of a people. Without it you get state-funded television ads talking about how the death of your own culture is a good thing and you need to embrace the Somalification of your homeland (a thing in Sweden, frightened the hell out of me the first time I saw it). The Jews might be mean-spirited and downright heartless in many matters, but they're still here, which is more than you can say for some other peoples.

>>9614355
The Communist Manifesto

Any book/s where magic is like IQ?
Everyone has it, but most can barely do anything beyond conjuring small sparks every day to start a fire and cook food or light a lamp.

>>9619145
I feel two different sides of me activating when you phrase things that way. On one hand, intellectually, I agree with you that Jesus was superior in every way to Mohammad, and that peace, nonviolence, and love for all is the ultimate good to strive for, whether or not you're Christian.
But then there's the other side of the coin. The side where my inaction may have dire consequences for those that I love. It's hard to take Jesus as an example of this since he was the one being sacrificed, but consider Gandhi for a moment, since what he preached mirrors Christianity in some ways. Is seeing thousands of your own people die like animals simply to teach the few baddies a lesson the ultimate way to do things? Is it even ETHICAL? I would say no to that a thousand times over.
I should add that I'm not a relativist. I don't think that just because a barbaric society approves of circumcision, rape, or capital punishment that it makes it good. I do see it as a personal duty to better others and save them from themselves, when their entire culture is based on the most inefficient and counter-intuitive dogma.
Keeping all of this in mind, let's NOW look at what a pacifist Christian would advise you to do compared to a warlike Muslim. That kind of Christian would have you try to teach by example, and even allow that the possibility that you, your children, your extended family - all of you might be put to the sword or simply taken as slaves. The Muslim on the other hand would advise that you defeat the enemy with every weapon at your disposal and ensure the best for your own. Looking at it historically, it's easy to condemn Muslims. However, given the choice, I would sooner take a kalash ensure the safety of my family by whatever means necessary (particularly when there's a high chance that I'll win and bring the enemy into my circle).
You could say that's just the monkey in me, so okay, let's take the ethical duty. Let's assume, as the Muslims surely did, that I'm in possession of the Ultimate Truth. That God has personally instructed me with what is the right way to live, and that people who live differently won't only suffer in this life, but will be condemned to hell in the next. I would see at as my moral obligation to teach them how to live, by force if necessary (as the West has done and still does today to others). Was Muhammad right? Of course not. But I can see where he's coming from, and on a practical level it's far more alluring to a family man.

I just think we differ in our mindsets. I dislike nationalism, racial/ethnic identity, etc. I don't think they're irrelevant - just not important. Apart from that, I like the peace, regularity, and ease of travel that comes with the imperial way of life. And I do think there's a few things that are moral and ethical regardless of one's culture and that we should enforce those by whatever means necessary.

>>9619151
My novel desu

>>9619199
I think that you're making a mistake by only taking pacifism to its extreme. Jesus was a pacifist but it's important to look at the circumstances he was facing. If he were to rally his people to rise up simultaneously with the zealots outside the city they probably would have been able to overwhelm the Roman garrison and take back their city. But this would bring retribution from Rome, which would mean an enormous amount of violence and destruction even if the Jews were successful. On the other hand Jesus could preach peacefully and continue to suffer Roman domination. The Romans were an imperial power, and like you said their main interest was peace and regularity. They weren't putting every other Hebrew man to the sword, there was no immediate danger. They imposed their will on everyone they could but they presented no immediate threat.

I absolutely believe that in certain situations Jesus probably would have condoned a kind of violence. He urged his followers to suffer the Romans but if a man were to break into one of their private homes with the clear intention of killing their innocent family I can't for the life of me imagine him urging passivity. The Romans were a unique situation. Jesus wasn't faced with a choice between annihilation or resistance (at least not until the end, and only personally), the choice was to suffer domination with integrity and grace or bring about destruction and savagery for a chance of liberation. When you consider the value that he placed on the spiritual over the material this isn't a difficult choice, render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, render unto god what is god's. So what if Romans want to fly their flags, speak their goofy language and determine tomorrow's weather by staring at rabbit gizzards? You don't need executive power to be a happy people. You're still you and as long as you're still here things have a chance at getting better tomorrow. I think that it's Christian to defend yourself from a clear threat but beyond that violence isn't worth it at all. 'Clear threat' I understand is ambiguous but I think that discretion has to be allowed here. I think that the general criteria would be 'Are my actions introducing or preventing destruction?' I think that by this standard The Battle of Tours would be a justified act of violence, Vlad Tepes impaling entire armies also, but all acts of colonial warfare are clearly not justified, even defensive ones, due to the initial imposition, if that makes things clear.

>>9619225
Of course, there's no doubt that it's pointless to become violent when violence can only have worse consequences for you and your people. That's what I meant by "if there's a high chance" in my previous post. Going back to Ultimate Truth, I'd say it's ethical to survive in any way you can and spread the good word if opposing the ruling power means instant death for you and your followers. You can't do any good from the grave.

My knowledge on Jesus in particular is limited, but I always figured the "real" Christians advise nonviolence in any circumstance. Though I agree that Christianity's focus tends to be a lot more otherworldly compared to Islam's. Almost a Platonic/Aristotelian dichotomy taking place.

>Vlad Tepes impaling entire armies also
Funny you bring that up because I'm actually Romanian. I don't agree with you on this one. It's one thing to perform an act of violence and bring down/kill your enemy, and it's another to painstakingly torture people with no end in mind other than frightening others. Those Ottomans may have been soldiers, but nobody deserves to be put through that. Nobody. I can't imagine any person condoning that, let alone a faithful Christian. There's certain acts of cruelty that put you in the position of losing your own soul for going through with them, and I'd say impaling others like that is one of them.

>'Are my actions introducing or preventing destruction?'
>but all acts of colonial warfare are clearly not justified, even defensive ones, due to the initial imposition, if that makes things clear.
Don't you think this is somewhat contradictory? If you knew a guy that raped his daughter and beat his wife, wouldn't you put an end to it? You probably would. So if you found out that an entire nation was responsible for not only doing this act, but teaching kids that it's the right way to live and that they should continue doing it until the end of time, wouldn't you have a moral obligation to stop them? At the very least, to send some missionaries. But if that doesn't work? Would you really avoid direct intervention when you know hundreds of thousands are suffering and/or getting brainwashed by a privileged few, and that this is going to go on and on for centuries and maybe even envelop more people unless you come in? Of course, there are better ways to do it nowadays, but that's not what I'm asking. I'm asking if that was the only method if you would still shy away from ordering your armies to go in and civilizing them. If you could press a button and make Islam go away, wouldn't you?

>>9619263
It could be argued that fighting the Romans could have had a good outcome for the Hebrews, but either way the point is that Christians shouldn't fight for material gains (of course many have, but I'd consider them Christian in all but thought and action).

>on Tepes
I don't consider myself a faithful Christian so my word isn't worth too much here but I think that what was done there was justified as defense. There was certainly more of an end in mind than frightening others. He didn't want to frighten the Ottomans just for the sake of it, by frightening them he managed to demoralize an entire invading army to the point that they turned around and marched home without drawing a drop of blood (If I remember my history right, which I very possibly don't). In that circumstance I'd consider it cruel not to make a show of tormenting the first army. Not doing it would be inviting further chaos and bloodshed for the sake of keeping your hands and ego clean. Better to make a horrific mess of one army than a cleaner one of two. A blurry issue for sure but I wouldn't really condemn either action. It's because of things like this that I mentioned discretion earlier.

>colonial example
I probably shouldn't have used colonialism as an example. It ties into a whole other issue which I have extensive thoughts on. Nobody loves armed missionaries and nobody can truly embrace something which is forced on them. Even brutal societies like those of the indigenous New Zealanders or Americans would be better off being encouraged to slowly embrace Christianity over however long it took than being conquered and having bibles thrust into their hands. There are very few if any examples of a society being genuinely improved by colonialism in my opinion. Sure some are better off now than then but true improvement could never come until the people had their destiny in their own hands again. And even then the trauma and disruption of culture suffered in the intervening years often has devastating effects which can take generations to recover from. No nation was improved by foreigners armed with guns and the good word.

On to your example, of course I would stop the daughter-raping wife-beater by any means necessary. There are no nations which do this, however. I understand of course that this is an exaggeration of modern Islam. As for that, the answer is to allow their countries to improve as they naturally will given advances in technology and all the while prod them with the good word as much as their leaders will tolerate while keeping my own country a shining bastion of good living and prosperity. If enough of their people are shown that the Christian way is the better way they'll be forced to concede on more and more points until they convert eventually. The Scandinavians weren't won over by an army, their wives heard about Christianity and over a few generations nagged their husbands into accepting it.

>>9619380
Final point cut for space, Iran would have ditched Islam by now if America didn't force them to embrace paranoid nationalism in order to protect their own interests and Saudi Arabia is surely on the decline. Their rich are decadent hedonists while their poor are exploited and likely growing more cynical by the day. As for the rest of the Islamic world Qatar is another Saudi Arabia, decadent and doomed, North Africa mostly doesn't take the faith that seriously and will likely tire of it provided that the US pulls its influence out of the region and allows things to stabilize and improve (the #1 reason Islam thrives anywhere in the region is the bloody US keeping them in the stone age, where the religion belongs).

Turkey is being Islamified by Erdogan as a means of control but considering how unpopular the man is I have trouble seeing it endure beyond him. It seems like the man is tying Turkish Islam to his own unpopular authoritarian rule. Because of this I'm sure that its reputation is bound to decline in Turkey.

Lastly onto Asia, Indonesia from what I know seems fairly lackadaisical in their faith which is largely declining while Christianity is experiencing a small but notable growth. I think that it seems likely that as the country modernizes and becomes wealthier more and more of their men will consider prayers a waste of time while their women will want to show off their hair. It's no problem. In the Philippines of course there's a full blown IS-cell but they're a minority in the country backed and incited by foreign fighters and agitants. Even if the Philippines didn't have a notoriously harsh on crime President the movement would be doomed to fail.

The point I'm trying to make across this is that the Islamic world doesn't need to be stomped into submission. Being the hopelessly outdated ideology that it is it's doomed to die as its host nations move into the modern world. Nobody can agree on exactly what social progress looks like but all sane people agree that it doesn't look like worshipping a desert warlord and forcing women to wear ninja-suits.

>>9619414
That last paragraph reminded me of a point I wanted to make earlier, the issue of Islam's encroachment on the first world. A bizarre and awkward issue which is hard to deal with without being blunt and bleak. First I'd like to establish that despite not being a devout Christian, I'm not a violent person.

I think that the kind of behavior which has allowed Islam to come as far as it has, SJWism some here would call it, ingrained shame and cultural self-loathing, Jean Raspaille called it 'The Beast'. Whatever you call it, it's so bizarre and so clearly brought about by the particular circumstances of our time that it only feels appropriate to me to call it a glitch in human behaviour. No sane person should tolerate the death of their own culture or even a visible intrusion on the sovereignty of their own nation, but this is a somewhat common sight in 2017.

For a while I thought I was mad for perceiving this, either it's not happening or my mind is genuinely not receiving reality as it's coming, but it is. And I'm not the only one feeling this way by a long shot. The generally impression just from talking around where I'm from actually seems to be that most people feel the same way. It's not obvious right now but I think that this issue is causing an enormous amount of pressure to build up throughout the Western world and something will have to give soon. The first possibility seems to me that people will finally feel empowered to speak due to the success of some party or politician or some particularly shocking event and Muslims will be forced to secularize/reform or be pressured into leaving for a place where they feel they belong again. This seems like the nicest option since it most likely ends with agnosticism or Christianity.

The other option which I hate to think about but no longer think is entirely impossible is that Enoch Powell was right and the logical end result of multiculturalism is civil war. And being the minority in all countries they're entering, the Muslims would obviously lose, leading to their ideology being forcibly expelled back to the Middle East to most likely stagnate and die.

Note that I don't consider an Islamic conquest of the world possible. I'm a pessimist at times but even I don't go that low. Humanity will probably suffer a Malthusian Collapse within the next century but at least there'll be no imposition of ninja-suits on our women-folk.

Does no one ever do martial arts fantasy or anything like that? Is it always swords and sorcery and elves and dwarves?

>>9619482
Martial arts are only fun if you can actually see Jackie Chan diving around physically dodging kicks having chairs broken over his head.

What are some fantasy books coming out this month?

>>9619509
I only have Raven Stratagem (scifi, 13th of June) on my autodownload list.

>The Core will now be released on September 28, 2017 in the UK and October 3, 2017 in the US.

FUCK REEEEEEEE

>>9619482
There was a kung fu guy from not china in the lioness series written by tamora pierce.

That other anon is right, kung fu combat sucks.

>>9619380
>>9619414
>>9619437
>A blurry issue for sure but I wouldn't really condemn either action.
Well, I would. There's a reason we remember Vlad Tepes, and that's because what he did was horrific and gruesome. I don't think it's a price worth paying no matter what you're buying. I would say the same about nuking Japan. It may have been expedient at the time, but it's going to have echoes for a long, long time to come. The only real benefit I can see to atrocities like these is to serve as an example for what we SHOULDN'T ever do.

The thing is, if you choose to let Islam or whatever other system pass away of its own momentum, that could take decades, if not centuries. Those are years in which countless people are going to suffer. You're right that things will change either way in time, as they would likely change regardless of whether you're dealing with a good system or a bad one. Sooner or later, shit falls apart. But many will suffer and die in the interim. I'm certain that most reasonable people under Islam wish a secular power came in and gave them the freedom they desire (which is why they flee), just as many trapped under the USSR hoped the Americans would dismantle Communism once and for all. I am thinking about those people, because they're the ones that matter.

I think the basic idea of bringing Muslims into the West is that once they're purified and help bring about a new form of Islam, you can ship that back to the homeland and give them a system that's better but still theirs. Whether or not this will work only time will tell.
But I don't know if the West is committing sudoku necessarily. I just think times have changed, and that this kind of all-encompassing, secular, multicultural experiment is the new culture. I'm sure that's what they think and feel anyway. We don't have any immigrants here so I don't have a strong opinion on this one way or the other. In theory, I have no problem with taking in as many immigrants as it takes if it keeps them safe. But they have to be people worth taking, that want change and are willing to work for it. Taking in ISIS-tier towelheads whose first thought upon reaching another land is that they gotta build a mosque and figure out which way faces Mecca is not what I'd consider ideal candidates. They're - perhaps ironically - not only endangering the lives of the natives taking them in, but the immigrants that put in sweat and blood to get away from just such people who are now forced to share neighborhoods with them and then suffer the hostility of natives that mistake them for being the same.

>>9619602
>nuking Japan
If it were up to me the war wouldn't have advanced up to those exact circumstances where the Americans had to make that choice but if you were to suddenly drop me into that room with everything I know and a yes or no choice to make I'd do it. I also think that the Japanese would probably agree considering the alternative. It was either wipe out an enormous number of civilians in order to awe the Japanese into a surrender or use the army to invade the mainland and brute force into the capital in order to directly force Hirohito, Tojo and the high command to surrender. There was no option for peace at this point, the Japanese were engaged in a brutal campaign throughout the region before US intervention which could not be allowed to continue. The nukes ended the war quickly with a minimal amount of suffering. The radiation and initial blast had horrific effects on those in the area of effect but a full blown invasion of the mainland would likely have maimed and killed as many if not more on top of wrecking wider destruction.

I'm not crazy about forcing Hirohito to denounce his divine title, but considering it was a relatively new concept in the history of Japan it's no cultural crime. It was necessary in order to dismantle Japan's ultra-nationalist culture. The US ultimately appears to have actually very kind and wise in how they treated the Japanese after the war. Their culture appears to have one of the healthiest balances of self-respect and pride together with temperance and respect for their international peers in the whole world. Compare that to Germany where half of their population are driven to cultural suicide by programmed guilt while the other half are probably sincerely considering the possibility that Hitler was right. Two quick, decisive strikes made in order to break Japan's spirit, followed by an honest and determined effort to put the nation back together in a peaceful but still distinctly Japanese way was one of the few great triumphs of World War 2.

Now onto Islam and the good Muslims. I'm perfectly aware that 95% of the population of Saudi Arabia are probably decent people who despite their faith are probably deep down desperate for the entire House of Saud to die in a plane crash or something. That's horrible, but considering how poorly revolutions and forced regime-changes have gone in the past I'm hesitant to endorse any kind of action against the state. On a healthy planet a state as cruel and absurd as Saudi Arabia would never last long but due to the evil and conniving 12-dimensional chess game that is known as global politics they're propped up by various artificial means. If I had the means I would make attempts at forcing the Sauds to empower their own people in exchange for business with the outside world. I don't know exactly what's best for that country and those people but I believe that given time and freedom they could work it out. Imposing our own ideas of what's right is too risky.

This Strugatsky book is amazing but the translation is dreadful.

One of the reasons I really enjoy Bakker, I think, is that he's got so much fucking shock value going for him. It's the same as when I read Stephen King's "It" and got to the scene with the fat psychopath hanging out with Henry Bowers and talking about sucking dick.

The fact that an author would have the audacity to write about an emperor who fucks his mother and discovers she has a penis, or a race of monsters who get off on the suffering of humanity. I genuinely enjoy the work, but whenever any of this retarded shit happens, I just end up staring into space for a few seconds and laughing.

Are there any authors with that sort of audacity? I want to crack open a book and think "Did that really just fucking happen?"

>>9619216
No my novel!

>>9616757
>shitting on Sanderson is """"edgy""""
Fuck off to reddit, my man

>>9619906
Iain M. Banks writes that kind of character into The Algebraist. The main antagonist is a sadistic psychopath leading a warfleet through space at relativistic speeds to conquer the galaxy, or something. Pretty fucked up guy, IIRC. Good book, too.

What am i in for?

>>9613892
Is this good? Looking for some good short stories/novellas for summer reading.

>>9619970
Stop. Jordan later devotes most of the chapters to the Aes Sedai.

>>9619970
Wimmin

>>9620092
I love pusy

>friend tells me reddit's fantasy board isn't that bad
>decide to check it out against my better judgment
>everyone's recommending Sanderson
>people screaming about diversity and shittalking Tolkien for not including women
>YA teenyboppers as far as the eye can see
Jesus Christ

>>9619151
Yes. But I can't remember the name atm. Alex Verus?

>>9619482
They do, but people call it anime when they do.

>>9619906
I felt like this several times reading the Cugel books, although Cugel is a hell of a lot more petty than a grimdark fantasy emperor.

>>9620004

Just finished reading What Mad Universe by Frederic Brown. Any fan of pulp sci-fi would absolutely adore it. Highly highly recommend to any Anons that haven't read it

How the mighty have fallen

>>9620203
>It can't be that bad.
Oh.OH.
The fuck is wrong with americans.

>>9617626
one easy

breaking bad with necromancy

I have read the first three malazan books, but stopped midway in the fourth book because I couldn't care that much for the characters in it. Should I give it another go, does it continue the events from the previous books anytime soon?

>>9620566
Yes, it continues the previous characters, but probably not in the way you're expecting and not for a couple more books. The 14th army though are essentially the core of the story from here on out. Dunno why people have so much trouble with new characters in Malazan considering it's not any different than how you got into Gardens of the Moon. You meet a ton of new faces and then gradually have to get to know them. The 14th are still new and you're not familiar with them yet, give them time and they'll grow on you. You'll see what's left of the Bridgeburners and Dujek's host again, Ganoes Paran and the rest aren't gone from the story, but they take on more of a supporting role. Tavore, Fiddler, and the 14th are going to be the main focus. To reassure you though I'll confirm Quick Ben, Kalam, Crokus, Gruntle, and Ganoes all stay pretty important to the story and appear regularly throughout the series, though they are occasionally absent from events, as with book 4. Kruppe shows up now and then too, but not as frequently. I think his last major appearance is book 8, where he features quite heavily.

Oh and its worth mentioning that you still haven't met all the major characters of the story. Book 5 is going to be heavily divorced from events you've experienced thus far, and some people apparently have issues with that but personally it's one of my favorite books. It's focused, partially, on the backstory of one of the new characters introduced in book 4, but its scope is beyond that. It's set a little bit before the events in Gardens of the Moon and is on a continent far removed from everything that's happened so far. So far that they haven't even heard of the Malazan Empire there (although that changes over the course of the series, as all the various characters and plot lines converge on this place for the climax of the entire series).

TL;DR you've got like 2 books til you see more Bridgeburners and you are not done learning characters, places, and general worldbuilding yet so if you're getting fatigued then consider stopping at book 5.

>>9620710

>>9620710
Reddit says Malazan only has four white people, is that true?

>>9620834
No, there's like 12.

>>9615190
>>9615417
Thoroughly enjoyable.

I couldn't help but feel that Doc Dubois was based on Neil deGrasse Tyson and Sean Probst on Elan Musk. That's how I ended up visualising those two characters anyway.

And Sarah Palin for Julia obviously.

The 5000 year jump into the future just past the midpoint of the book came unexpected, but I think he managed to make it work. The Diggers and Pingers felt a bit forced though; the story could have done without the latter.

>>9620919
Weird you should mention that; I actually pictured Reid Malenfant from Baxter's manifold trilogy as Musk.

>>9620834
It's all imaginary races so why does anyone care? There's lots of people with dark skin tone if that's what you mean. Dal Honese are a very dark skinned tribal people and there's lots of them among the main cast. The Emperor himself was a Dal Honese mage if I remember correctly. Most the Empire is either Kanese (which I guess translates to being sorta Asian) or Seven Cities tribals, which are hard to analogize to earth races but if I had to I would say middle eastern mixed with central Asia mixed with North Africa.

>>9620919
>5000 year jump
Into the trash

>>9620790
That's why I made a one sentence TL;DR, so you don't have to strain your pea brain.

jesus fucking christ I cannot believe how boring this book is
Has hamilton ever written a good ending? Pandora Star/Judas Unchained was ok, but this and Void's endings were total dogshit. At least Void was fun to read, this was just boring the entire way through

>>9620203
if you want raw information, reddit is a good repository
for any kind of discussion it's a septic tank

>>9621020
Lieber, Peake, and Scalzi are great, Howard and Moorcock are good, Martin, Abercrombie, and Lynch are decent. This is a shit list.

Haven't been here in like 4 months. Any nice new books being shilled that I should know about?

>>9621089
It's a shit list for all of the others mentioned, but how is Scalzi even close to "great"?

>>9621095
Okay, fair. Bump him down to between decent and good. I just find his work really enjoyable.

>>9621089 here. Holy shit, I didn't see Tolkien on there. This is a troll image, right?

I had the tragic ending of Elric spoiled by some letter written into an issue of Dragon Magazine I read when I was like eight years old by some butthurt religious guy who hated Moorcock for writing an anti-hero and being an atheist (he basically said as much in the letter).

Is it worth reading despite knowing the ultimate fate of the protagonist?

>>9613911
Anvil of the Stars by Greg Bear for the first one I think

>>9621020
So what, then, shall I read?

But seriously though is there any recent fantasy that's not super edgy, anime bullshit, autistic magic systems, jarringly modern, reddit-tier, YA, dumbed down, and poorly written?

Is there any good fantasy written for an actual literate adult audience?

>>9621211
The Magicians, if you can handle characters who might piss you off.

>>9621217
I've seen the show, how do the books compare?

>>9621250
Double the angst
Four times the rape
Three times the gay

>>9621250
They're far better, in my opinion, but >>9621268 isn't wrong either.

They're still not LOLEDGY despite that. And the ending, while a little abrupt, is fantastic.

>>9621211
Certain books of Mieville

>>9621268
Not even that anon, but doesn't sound that hot.

So guys, I read Dorsai (good but I expected more) Heinlein (I tought he would be a try hard like Ringo, I was pleasently surprised), The lost Fleet series and Shattered Spear (shit characters, meh world building, great Ayys and the best space battles. John Ringo Posleen and Troy Risin (interesting ideas,some cool moment, lots of WHY JOHN WHY, and the sensation it could be a lot cooler and it ended in some meh crap than I didn't bother ending). Hammer Slamers I liked the format and the ideas, some were quite cool. OH, and old man Wars books too, they were okay. Any other Military Sci Fi I should read? I can plough trough a crap if there are some nuggets of quality.

Nice thrift store find today.

>>9621489

>>9621020
this is carefully designed b8, good shit mixed with trash

>>9621035
>Has hamilton ever written a good ending?
My memory is a bit spotty but I do remember liking the ending to Fallen Dragon well enough.

>>9614600
Revelation Space was good. Redemption Ark was shit. Absolution Gap was okay.
>>9615196
>>9615216
>>9618404
Are the other books in the universe worth reading?

>>9621131
>if anyone doesn't sing along and dress like frodo at conventions they must be trolls
>Tolkien is the best thing ever in fantasy
>no one compares to him
>if you don't say his name in reverence you must be a troll

>>9620295

Was this that bad?

>>9621211
Library at mount char
Red rising (once you skip [aka READ past] the shit finger salute shit)
Jonathon strange and Mr Norrell
Cabal the necromancer

But we both know you aren't going to read any of these.

>>9621627
and?

>>9620295
Iit was co-written, you should have known it was gonna be shit.

>>9621489
>brainlet can't count wnd bought 9 twice
Not even surprised desu senpai.

>>9621649
Isn't red rising YA trash?

>>9621587
but which is good and which bad
everyone is just saying bait

>>9621661
>rape
>cannibalism
>incest
>gay rape incest
>decapitation
>disemboweling
>YA
One of these things don't belong.

>>9614355

The Traitor Baru Cormorant

>>9621599
>Redemption Ark was shit
I disagree.
Chasm City is worth checking out. If you're into that then read Galactic North.

>>9621317
Wtf does my post have to do with your second paragraph?

Reposting

>>9611675
You lack an imagination. Thank your parents for making you miss out an essential part of your childhood.(It all makes sense when these brainlets say that they didn't understand or like certain books, when these books required a rich imagination.)
What you need to do is daydream. Just take 15 or 10 minutes out of your day and imagine past events in a different way. Make a story in your head that progressive to something fantastical.

You say you live in Europe, imagine you are walking down a cobblestone / shale strewn path in the woods. When you reach a bend, a chav in an Adidas encased car blocks your path. But you notice something funny, the car is about 6 inches off the ground, and the wheel looks like legs. He tells you to get in the car or he will glass and shag your mum. You get in, and all those super tall trees turn into buildings, that are the threes stacked onto themselves four times. Adventure ensues.

I never saw a skyscraper in real life but have no problem imagining them, and me at the base looking up at them. When it comes to sci-fi imagery is about piecemealing a bunch of shit. If you ever used Gimp (or photoshoop) it would help.
You have a background that the author laid, you have your characters in w/e clothing they are using, you then layer on elements as needed. Building, vehicles, fauna, flora, etc.

It helps you if you watch a bunch of shit (maybe play a few video games/ watch a compilation of someone playing), watch documentaries, watch science programs, watch construction videos, watch animal videos. Fill your head with stock images you can use at a later date.

>>9621627
I didn't say that. I literally just said listing him as "to avoid" makes you a troll or an idiot, since most sci-fi and fantasy fans consider him worth reading.

I don't consider him the best ever. I just consider him to be loved widely enough that unless you know the individual in question's taste, saying "avoid reading his work" is stupid, dishonest, or both.

>>9621709
Hobbit was great. LoTR was a boring shitfest.

Avoid LoTR
Better?

>>9621717
I didn't like LotR as much as The Hobbit, but I did like it. And again, reread the post. It's not about what you personally like, or what I personally like. An image just declaring to the world "avoid x" implies that it's a good idea for THEM to avoid x, so to be good advice, it should be based on what they are likely to like. When you're broadcasting in this thread that LotR should be avoided, you're saying the majority of fantasy fans will not like LotR. But that's wrong.

>>9621706
>you have no imagination
>you can fix that by playing video games
Yikes: The Post.

>>9621148 here. Anybody?

Anyone know of something like the Paper Magician series where the magic actually feels magical and the characters aren't unlikable?

>>9621717
Look, this is just objectively wrong. You've been whinging about "muh Bombadil" for weeks.

>>9621211
The Craft Sequence

>>9620203
>I'm 14 and I simply adore fantasy. I love it with my full heart, but I find most of the fantasy I read are really really straight, with a fully straight cast, with straight romances which makes me kinda sad as a gay kid who wants to feel represented in the stuff I read. I haven't posted in this subreddit before so idk if I'm doing this right, but do any of you have any suggestions?

>>9621779
I know you're writing the kind of thing you expect to see on that Reddit subforum, but more seriously, aren't there plenty of sci-fi and fantasy books with gay characters?

Not sure if there's much that's also appropriate for a 14 year-old kid, though.

>>9621772
>Bombadil
I'm not that cunt. But it shows that lots of people dislike these books.

>>9619482
>Does no one ever do martial arts fantasy or anything like that? Is it always swords and sorcery and elves and dwarves?
You should read more

>>9619602
Vlad was based you stupid shitskin

>>9621750
Getting fantastical images helps with an imagination. And having an imagination is critical for fantasy / sci-fi. You see the soulless cretins crying about a work because they didn't have an imagination?If you were too emotional abused as a kid and your parents didn't allow an active imagination, then watching other people's imaginations a la video games is the next best thing.

>>9621148
>>9621759
>tell me what to do sffg
>it was spoiled, but it's obvious from me asking that I want to read it
>what do sffg
An hero asap. Like right now, we can't have you breeding and dumbing down the world more than it already is.

>>9621845
I'm actually asking people who have read it whether it relies heavily on "what will happen to Elric" to be good or if there are enough other interesting things to make it worth the time regardless.

Hey, does that anon who has a meltdown whenever people talk about books more than a decade old and calls everyone "dinosaurs" still post here?

>>9621872
Of course he does. He's one of the no life autists who posts here daily, like me T.T

>>9621787
>>9621779
Sexuality is the only thing that separates gay guys from straight.
If the book doesn't have any fucking, why should the author emphasizes in bold that this character is gay? This is why people hate faggots. They try to make everything about them.
>book is about a wizard going into space with the use of magic to explore another star system
>enchanted hull that repels everything (cosmic rays, micro meteorites, etc)
>triple redundancy air scrubber spell that takes the carbon out of the air and compresses it to charcoal
>water filter that gives all waste to compressed charcoal, which then grows plants
>cohesion bond spell creates sudo gravity
>back of craft has giant mechanisms that was enchanted to use the vacuum and low temperatures of space as propulsion fuel
>whacky adventures ensues
>no sex takes place
>why weren't their female characters? He could have sustained another human on that craft, more than one
>why aren't there any gay characters, he could have had a second mate who was gay, or he himself could have been gay. I really like this book but I don't feel represented because these is no gay people.

When is this world being nuked again?

>>9621856
See >>9621845

>>9621872
Yep. We've also got one who posts inscrutable WordArt memes if you talk about writing (assuming it's not the same guy)

>>9621887
would you rather they just showcase the book with the gay person fucking everything instead? I'd rather they just bring it up, establish it and drop it until it's relevant. I've read enough boy meets girl schlock that it's at least refreshing to see something else

>>9621887
>fails to mention that 90% of these books have the main character flirting with or even having fade-to-black scenes with other characters even if there's no sex
At that point, it makes sense that gay people would want to see a character who flirts with people of the same sex once in a while.

I'm writing sword-and-sorcery where the main character beds men and women alike. At least once, both at the same time.

>>9621872
Who are you, and why are you reminiscing about old times?

>>9621897
It's the same guy.

>>9621880
Cool.
>>9621897
That sounds hilarious.
>>9621906
Made me laugh. Thanks.

>>9621897
Autism knows no bounds.

Gaaack, don't do his job for him you weirdos!

>>9621905
neat, i just read a fantasy novel where the girl was bi and pregnant for all of the book, it was interesting. I wish it went more into the world building part

>>9621917
So, what's a good collection if I want to read all of Conan?

>>9621898
It's never relevant. THAT IS WHY THEY DON'T USE IT IN THE FIRST PLACE YOU FAGGOT. I know you are a faggot, and in my little green text did I say anything about girl meets boy? It's a book about space exploration using magic. Wtf does someone taking a backward shit have to do with the plot? You faggots are killing fantasy. Stick to hentai and anime.

>>9621925
You'll have to wait for Conanon to show up I'm afraid.

>>9621787
14-year olds are the target audience for most modern fantasy.

>>9621913
>That sounds hilarious.
Have some fresh meta meta meme.

>>9621930
Not that anon, but what about something where the character actually DOES fall in love or at least have sex (whether explicitly or off-"camera") during the course of the story?

What if there was A Prince of Mars where John Carter fought aliens and got him some hot space prettyboy ass? What if Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser were mourning the loss of their first loves, but the loves were dudes? And so on.

Romance and sex DO happen in fantasy. So the question "where's the gays" isn't trying to add romance or sex to anything that doesn't have it; it's asking why, when it happens, it's always straight.

>>9621947
I've read books that had one pov, he crushed, got friendzoned and became an immortal wizard. I've seen the faggots ask where are the faggots... It's not multiple pov, and unlike you American fags that like to tell everyone that they take buggering nightly, other places around the world people aren't so flamboyant. You don't know if they gay unless they tell you.

>>9621947
It's marketing bruh. Would you rather target a book at tiny faggot minority or everyone else? Even more importantly, would you rather publish a book targeting tiny minority or everyone else?

>>9621930
>>9621963
>>9621968
>avoid books with females in them
>expect there not to be faggots
Haha, you absolute retards get exactly what you asked for.

>>9621970
>implying I don't own books signed by female authors and none signed by males

>>9621974
Where do you even get them signed? Conventions?

>>9621986
Well, it's only two authors. They have an internet store that has limited stock and will happily personalize them before shipping to you.

>>9621947
Being a modern reader, it's difficult not to perceive Fafhrd and Gray Mouser in an (aberrant) homoerotic light. Of course there isn't anything overt, not in my non-comprehensive reading anyway, except in one story from book two they play-wrestle. John Carter isn't very gay - but the Barsoom setting is absolutely ripe for that sort of thing in erotica, porn, and parody. I would conjecture that it's probably been done to death in the porn self publishing scene.

As for the treatment of homosexuality in SF+F, it's better to leave things behind a door or by suggestion, and just write the character normally elsewhere. As soon as an author writes about gay sex it becomes pornography.

>>9622001
That's pretty nice/

>>9621947
>why does the author target the 95% instead of the 5%?
Gee, I don't know

>be a fag
>last time I enjoyed being "represented" was reading about Cnauir
Fave gay icon tbqh

>>9622209
sodomites please go

>>9622209
HE'S NOT GAY

>>9622221
Sure thing WEEPER

what's with the stories within stories? botns was full of it, I was told this was easier to digest

>>9622001
Kim Harrison?
Faith Hunter?

>>9622393
C. J. Cherryh and Jane Fancher :3

>>9621834
>blonde and blue-eyed
>shitskin
Solid reasoning, friend. And no, he was't. He was a faggot that got taken up the ass so much during his childhood by the big, bad Ottomans that he became a literal Reek, and decided to take revenge by doing the impaling his enemies... and random people that he just didn't like, regardless of whether they were Christian peasants or whatever else. Your post just shows how stupid you are considering Vlad himself wasn't "white" and part of a Turkic breed.

>>9622312

That cover is fucking disgusting.

>>9622477
Jesus christ.

>reading Deep Navigation
>another batch of stories to talk about with nobody ever
:-(

>>9622312
>cover
absolute kino.

And it is easier reading than Book of the New Sun. Stories within stories and confusing and extremely personal first person narration are how Wolfe writes everything. Book of the New Sun is significantly longer and deals with concepts even more obscure.

>>9621947
>So the question "where's the gays" isn't trying to add romance or sex to anything that doesn't have it; it's asking why, when it happens, it's always straight.
Because selling your book to straight people makes more money than selling it to the couple hundred gays who read fantasy and sci-fi.

new Neal Stephenson drops Monday

why do faggots feel entitled to straight people writing books about them

>>9623078
Give them an inch and they take a mile. Who knew that the minute you stopped shaming them they'd start acting like you owed them shit just for existing?

>>9623078
Statistically speaking, it's EXTREMELY unlikely that any worthwhile gay literature that gets published will not be written by a homosexual. Consider that both homosexuals and SFF fans are both minority demographics, so the intersection of them is going to be an exceptionally small group of people, probably measured in triple digits only. Out of that group what do you suppose is the chance of there being an author of any real talent? Near zero is my guess.

>>9623078
When Vox Faggot stops naming Chuck Tingle for the Hugoes.

>>9622477
>That cover is fucking disgusting.
You are like a little baby. Watch this.

>characters turned black in movies, white people freak out, saying "why not make new black characters?"
>meanwhile, gay people ask, "why aren't there any gay characters?"
>straight people get pissed off and say they shouldn't want it in the first place

Yeah, I guess it does make sense that gay people, women, black people, and so on, would all want to read about nothing but straight white men, right? It's not like you'd be bothered if every single fantasy book on the shelf were about a black lesbian slaying dragons and shit.

Except, oh, wait, there's a whole group of people who get mad if a story that reflects the experiences of women or minorities gets a Hugo.