/sffg/ - Science Fiction & Fantasy General

[Anonymous No.12191749]

Worldbuilding edition
>what are your favorite types of settings in fantasy and scifi?
>what kind of unique setting/world do you want to see?

Monthly Reading for December: The Dying Earth by Jack Vance

Fantasy:
https://imgoat.com/uploads/0935e4cd59/105363.jpg
General:
https://imgoat.com/uploads/6d767d2f8e/21328.jpg
Flowchart:
https://imgoat.com/uploads/6d767d2f8e/21327.jpg

SCIENCE FICTION
https://imgoat.com/uploads/def184ad8f/124507.jpg
https://imgoat.com/uploads/b44928ae11/114401.jpg
General:
https://imgoat.com/uploads/6d767d2f8e/21332.jpg
https://imgoat.com/uploads/6d767d2f8e/21330.jpg

NPR's Top 100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books:
https://imgoat.com/uploads/6d767d2f8e/21333.jpg

SF&F author listing with ratings and summaries:
http://greatsfandf.com/authors-full-list.php

Previously:
>>12179038
>>12167034
>>12156092
>>12147776
>>12138143
>>12125422

[Anonymous No.12191760]

Chun's first was unavoidable

[Anonymous No.12191774]

Wheel of time got really shit when femdalf died, when does she come back?

[Anonymous No.12191809]

Scifi is horseshit

[Anonymous No.12191854]

Why did Kent have to die?

[Anonymous No.12191856]

>>12191854
Because he was really an insufferable Chad

[Anonymous No.12191862]

>>12191809
It takes one to know one buster

[Anonymous No.12191877]

>>12191809
Explain?

[Anonymous No.12191907]

I made lit scifi guide more compact

[Anonymous No.12191918]

>>12191659
I admit it gets bland at times, but there are still some characters, although they don't tend to stick around for long. There was the Conciliator, with his half-a-century reign and therefore many pages, and you could even count the narrating maester himself with his jokes, notions and prejudices.
Still, Blood and Fire is one of the few asoiaf book we've gotten lately.

[Anonymous No.12191925]

>>12191907
good job anon, it looks pretty.

[Anonymous No.12191928]

>>12191907
Still so much wasted space

Surely we can do better

[Anonymous No.12192041]

[Anonymous No.12192084]

>>12191907
am I being a dumb dumb or is blindsight not on the list?

[Anonymous No.12192113]

What is your opinion on Abercrombie? He seems relatively popular now and the go to recommendation for "dark fantasy" but I always thought he was a edgy tryhard.

[Anonymous No.12192130]

>>12192113
The Rían Johnson of fantasy.
Some should tell him that it takes more than “lmao really subverted your expectations” to make a good book.

[Anonymous No.12192204]

>>12191854
He was too good for this gay Earth, or Banshee, or whatever. I also got the feeling he kind of wanted to since he'd spent his whole career being a pretty-boy poster child

[Anonymous No.12192805]

Sure is dead today.

[Anonymous No.12192874]

Give me 5 Eurocentric fantasy novels to read.

[Anonymous No.12193258]

wish i can read without having to worry losing the time i spent for reading

[Anonymous No.12193269]

>>12193258
You would have wasted it anyway.

[Anonymous No.12193282]

>>1219326
blog incoming

i would have spent it to do my undergraduate thesis and a fuckton of end of semester coursework projects

[Anonymous No.12193290]

>>12193282
meant for >>12193269

[Anonymous No.12193325]

Wish I could understand the dao

[Anonymous No.12193347]

>>12193325
yeah i would like to cultivate and live longer too

[Anonymous No.12193377]

>>12193325
Just go out into the mountains and find a 10000 year old fruit that can only be harvested under a new moon.

[Anonymous No.12193423]

Why is spiritual energy so dense on mountain tops

[Anonymous No.12193444]

>>12193423
The low oxygen gets people high.

[Anonymous No.12193500]

>>12193423
1. normalfags automatically weeded out by prospect of climbing mountain
2. >>12193444
3. mountain tops are limited in number, so inevitably leads to higher concentrations of non-normalfags
4. non-normalfags are the only people with souls
5. when a bunch of high non-normalfags gather in numbers, their souls begin to link up
6. soul energy increases according to inverse square law

[Anonymous No.12193595]

mountain tops or spirit veins?

[Anonymous No.12193658]

>>12193595
spirit veins are chink bullshit, much like feng shui and protestant waifuism

[Anonymous No.12193763]

>>12193423
Corona effect, electric charge concentrates on points. The higher and sharper the point, the better. Towers and trees also work, but mountains are best.

[Anonymous No.12193823]

Some nice cultivation going on in this thread.

[Anonymous No.12193961]

>>12191774
End of book 13

[Anonymous No.12194367]

>>12193961
Shiiiiet

[Anonymous No.12194608]

How did you guys like the latest Daniel Black book?

[Anonymous No.12194637]

>>12194608
not enough elin.

[Anonymous No.12194649]

People give Alex Ross shit for "no sense of motion" but at least his art looks pretty and you can at least make out what happens.
Clayton Crain is like his retarded brother.

[Anonymous No.12194662]

>>12194637
....Are you the mermaid fag?

[Anonymous No.12194684]

>>12194662
nope i just like the idea of hillbilly intellectuals.

[Anonymous No.12194730]

>>12194684
Isn't alanna hillbilly-esque? She lives in a tree and likes to have sex.

[Anonymous No.12194738]

>>12194730
i have associated elin with the voice the narrator makes in the audiobook version. so thats where it comes from. don't know how alanna is supposed to sound yet. i dont think she shoes up in the second or third book per-se. she only gets mentioned by other characters in passing from what i remember.

[Anonymous No.12194761]

>>12194738
>i dont think she shoes up in the second or third book per-se
She was the one in the caverns that he filled with mana when she was busted in half.

[Anonymous No.12194859]

>>12194649
Everyone has ge same face and they’re all fat

[Anonymous No.12195088]

>>12192130
Name something better that’s modern fat ass

[Anonymous No.12195134]

>>12195088
>modern
Contemporary is the word you're looking for. And being the best of a bunch mean jack shit if the whole bunch is bad.

[Anonymous No.12195140]

After reading pic related trilogy, I'm yearning for another recent solid hard scifi. Cixin Liu was fantastic, every book in trilogy just got better.

[Anonymous No.12195376]

Hi guys I’m reading Hyperion and enjoying it a lot

[Anonymous No.12195455]

>>12195376
Hyperion, especially the first book, is top tier stuff. When the books stop having 'Hyperion' in the title and instead have 'Endymion' in the title, abandon ship.

[Anonymous No.12195476]

>>12192113

[Anonymous No.12195612]

>>12195140
We're wiser now chinks. We know that the 3bodprob shillers are all Chinese. Seeing as they support their own.

[Anonymous No.12195763]

>>12195455
I see this opinion a lot. Are they Brian herbert tier bad?

[Anonymous No.12195772]

Why can’t crime & horror fiction get their own generals?

[Anonymous No.12195778]

>>12195772
Because nobody makes one

go ahead and start one if you want

[Anonymous No.12195794]

>>12195088
Bakker, Erickson, hell even Martin.

[Anonymous No.12195906]

Will anyone ever put so much effort into their world as Tolkien did?

[Anonymous No.12195948]

>>12195906
Somebody else already did but you wouldn't like the answer

[Anonymous No.12195952]

>>12195948
s a n d e r s o n

[Anonymous No.12195957]

>>12195952
now if only he could write for shit

[Anonymous No.12195959]

>>12191907
I wish I had the original .psd file for you. Fairly sure I uploaded it somewhere and posted a link back when I made that guide. So if you wanna look through the archives, you might find it.

Good job anon

[Anonymous No.12196020]

>>12193377
Or just get a taoist to give you his immortality pills

[Anonymous No.12196048]

>>12195772
Because they just talk about lovecraft and keep spamming "fuck jannies and niggers"

[Anonymous No.12196120]

>>12195948
Is the answer Masters of Rome?

[Anonymous No.12196121]

>>12196048

[Anonymous No.12196149]

>>12195906
It's not the effort that's lacking, it's direction.

[Anonymous No.12196174]

>>12196121
"On the creation of jannies and niggers by H.P Lovecraft"

[Anonymous No.12196184]

>>12196120
I just want to tell you that i fell for the meme and i bought the first book.

[Anonymous No.12196213]

>>12196184
Patrician. Make sure to tell me who your favourite elderly Roman politician is.

[Anonymous No.12196452]

>order "Used - Good" copy of The Wizard Knight
>actually just barely "Used - Acceptable"

[Anonymous No.12196565]

>>12193763
pretty big tree in my back yard. be right back

[Anonymous No.12196870]

Do I need to read Conan before Elric to truly appreciate Elric? I hear that Elric is pretty much anti-Conan, so I was wondering if I should get into Conan first. Elric just seems a bit more appealing to me and I'd rather not start reading Conan just because I want to read Elric and not out of enjoyment.

[Anonymous No.12196932]

>>12196870
Conan is the chad, Elric is the virgin

[Anonymous No.12196945]

>>12196932
That's okay since I'm still a virgin, so I'll probably enjoy Elric more.

[Anonymous No.12196965]

why does everything about Moorcock have to be the "anti-" something?

why can't that fucking faggot hack writer just stand on his own two feet instead of writing a character that's the anti-Conan, and proclaiming himself to be the anti-Tolkien? oh I know why, it's cause he's trash, oh and also he's too busy on his knees sucking many cocks.

[Anonymous No.12196971]

>>12196965
Moorcock wished he was the chad tolkien. That's all there is to the man.

[Anonymous No.12196976]

anything similar to kings dark tidings? I was quite enjoying it until the 3rd book hit

[Anonymous No.12197076]

>>12196965
>>12196971
I only ever read Elric and he always just felt like an angsty gothkid

Is the rest of Moorcock's stuff as terrible?

[Anonymous No.12197112]

>>12195959
Here anon.
>>/lit/thread/S5390156

[Anonymous No.12197134]

>>12191749
>Worldbuilding edition
Remember kids, worldbuilding kills.

[Anonymous No.12197187]

>mfw the goblins charge directly at the notroman legions

[Anonymous No.12197280]

>Anthony Ryan writing another ravens shadow novel

Did anyone ask for this?

[Anonymous No.12197334]

>>12191749
I'm still brainstorming ideas for a space opera book. Anyone know a good list of questions I should be asking myself when making alien races? Specifically precursor aliens. I already got some stuff but I don't know how to connect it all smoothly. I'm hoping if I can thing about the answers to some questions I can bridge the gap.

[Anonymous No.12197339]

>>12196965
>>12197076
moorcock is awful and elric sucks
those books managed to make me feel absolutely nothing

[Anonymous No.12197613]

I'm rewriting the Lord of the Rings but the Ring is a sentient Adornment (that casually transforms to whatever, sometimes to the user's annoyance) that gives the user some undefined prowess or magical affinity. It was found by not-gnolls several years back by not-Bilbo gnoll leader of his tribe, the back story isn't all that important. Not-Frodo is your usual stupid violent gnoll but the Adornment gave him juuuuust enough intelligence to be capable of fulfilling its mission: bring the Adornment to the fountain in the center of not-Mount Doom. By the way, the Adornment was created by the fairies.
However the Adornment underestimated the sheer idiocy of gnolls, and Not-Frodo used it to basically become the Dark Lord of the entire world over the course of the story.

It's a pretty damn comfy endeavor to be doing in winter's time. Would you guys read this? It really just is Lord of the Rings with fun twists.

[Anonymous No.12197791]

>>12185417
>What kind of research do you recommend in particular?
The common understanding of Chapaev is essentially the backdrop to the novel and in large part explains why some of the characters view the protagonist the way they do. Chapaev was a Bolshevik commander during the Russian Civil War whose exploits and bravery were blown out of proportion by Soviet propaganda, mostly stemming from his pseudo-autobiography written by Furmanov. It is also worth knowing that Chapaev's popularity spawned a lot of jokes involving him and his aide Petka (Petr/"Peter").

In Pelevin's novel, the protagonist (also named Petr) is a patient in a mental institution who, as the secondary characters believe, is impersonating Chapaev's famous aide the way some mentally ill people impersonate Napoleon. Petr himself does not see the connection as he believes himself to be a writer from the early 20th century who just happened to have encountered Chapaev by accident and gone on to become a student of his Buddhist teachings. This is certainly an oversimplification of real life events and the plot of the book, but it should get you started. I haven't read Generation P yet.

[Anonymous No.12197797]

>>12195906
>le_ebin_Gene_Wolfe_smile.tiff

[Anonymous No.12197896]

>>12197613
>I'm rewriting the Lord of the Rings

Don't do that

[Anonymous No.12197918]

>>12195906
Maybe, but they certainly wouldn't get away with laying it all out like Tolkien does.

It will probably be a fucking vidya game.

[Anonymous No.12198170]

>>12192874

Three Hearts and Three Lions

Lyonesse

Tigana

Peregrine, Primus

The King of Elfland's Daughter

[Anonymous No.12198184]

>>12197613
>Would you guys read this?
Honestly no. If you're the same anon who was talking 1-2 threads ago about writing a story with Tolkeinish evil vs evil then the broad idea sounds more appealing than what you've just described here. I'd be more interested in a straight up baddies vs baddies (i.e evil overlord vs evil goblin hoards) of epic saga proportions where the 'good' guys are a minor nuisance and a side note to the central drama of the evil power struggle.

tl;dr: drop the derivative ring bullshit and focus on an evil power struggle

[Anonymous No.12198283]

Am I the only one that loved Hyperion but hates the Fall of Hyperion? I'm about 3/4 of the way through the latter and I hate every page of it. It feels like it's taking the interesting world of Hyperion and revealing that, no, it wasn't as deeply crafted and interesting as it seemed, but actually just superficial and silly. I also dislike the Keats dicksucking, but I can deal with that.

[Anonymous No.12198293]

>>12198283

For me the difference that stuck out most to me was that it provided some answers I really didn't need to know and it diminished the Shrike. The Shrike is one of the most amazing forces contained within a novel. Hyperion, whenever we weren't safe in a story set somewhere offworld (and sometimes even then), had a palpable dread to me, a tension that at any word the Shrike could show up and spirit someone off.

I still liked Fall of Hyperion, and would recommend reading it, but if you hate this, then definitely don't touch Endymion.

[Anonymous No.12198349]

>>12195763
Yes. That's actually about the level I'd describe them at.

[Anonymous No.12198356]

>>12192113
I like his stuff but I understand the criticism he gets and agree with some of them.

[Anonymous No.12198369]

>>12198283
I wouldn't say 'hated' but Fall of Hyperion is a definite step down from Hyperion. I agree with >>12198293, it feels like Simmons pulled the curtain back on his world, but instead of revealing something engaging and interesting, he only revealed that Hyperion's world was lacking in depth from the very beginning. I still think it's a necessary read, though, to complete the Hyperion story. Certainly more necessary than Endymion.

[Anonymous No.12198375]

>>12192113
His first trilogy was decent but I feel like his writing was still a bit unpolished. It's more pronounced now that he's famous enough to override his editors.

[Anonymous No.12198402]

>>12195906
Will anyone start praising Tolkien for the richness of his prose and clarity of his vision instead of for him remembering that there's no trade routes between Southfarthing and Isengard?

[Anonymous No.12198423]

>>12197076
It's... well, none of it's fun to read, but there's an alt-hist where there's a race war in America and the klan build a giant mobile fortress out of the Capitol with slaves in cages on the outside as human shields.

[Anonymous No.12198590]

>>12197613
disregardtheconstabulary.jpg
write it because it's a fun idea.

[Anonymous No.12198629]

>>12198283
Felt about the same
Ideas were interesting but most of the characters were boring to me
Strangely liking Endymion, but only 40 percent though

[Anonymous No.12198673]

>>12198293
I definitely agree about the Shrike, he really weakened it's effect on the reader. I would compare it to the Halloween movies. Michael Myers starts out as a terrifying monster that has a feeling of inevitability, but as time goes on he becomes less and less scary. They both sort of become known quantities

>>12198369
I agree, the world turned out to be relatively depth-free.


Have you guys read any of Dan Simmons' other stuff? Anything you'd recommend?

[Anonymous No.12198826]

>tfw you will never write a fantasy noel so classic that even normies will recognize your name for the remaining century or two civilization has left

[Anonymous No.12199085]

Is it worth reading the next two books?

This was interesting, but it didn't really go anywhere by the end.

[Anonymous No.12199097]

>>12191907
>no BotNS or Dune
at least you tried

[Anonymous No.12199099]

>>12198826
I'm working towards this goal. You still might be able to write something good that people like.

[Anonymous No.12199221]

>>12193500
cosmic radiation interferes with brain cells

[Anonymous No.12199227]

Pls recommend me some newer uplifting sci-fi, hard sf preferred. Newer as in this-century. Is everything just bleak and dreadful now?

[Anonymous No.12199247]

>>12192874
More facepulls, your highness?

Also ive actually noticed my posture improved after i started doing them on chest day. Thanks Jeff.

[Anonymous No.12199297]

>>12191907
>The Handmaid's Tale
Wew, lad...

[Anonymous No.12199666]

iv started planning a scifi novel as my 2nd major project
its really hard, my first novel was set in modern times so no real world building was needed, but coming up with a whole futuristic setting and how all the technology works is really hard

[Anonymous No.12199808]

>>12199666
stop

[Anonymous No.12199827]

>>12199808
make me, gay boy

[Anonymous No.12199864]

>>12199827
Go away faglord.

[Anonymous No.12199873]

Is it worth reading these instead of an annual rewatch of the movies?

[Anonymous No.12199891]

>>12199873
Yes.

[Anonymous No.12199911]

>>12199873
What kind of a question is that?

[Anonymous No.12199986]

>>12199873
Why not both? Watch each as you finish the book. Compare and contrast.

[Anonymous No.12200060]

>read blurb for Dark Age
>Lyria's still alive
Why does Pierce Brown try to inflict us with these insufferable normals? I want my Red Rising with superhuman Aryan chadlords only.

[Anonymous No.12200065]

>>12200060
Maybe you should start reading something good?

[Anonymous No.12200072]

>>12200065
What's some good superhuman Aryan chadlord-core?

[Anonymous No.12200086]

>>12200072
>superhuman Aryan chadlord-core
You kinda walked into this one. It's everything but good tho.

[Anonymous No.12200092]

>>12200086
I actually have read the first issue. You're right that it's not good.

[Anonymous No.12200116]

>>12200092
It's more like the opposite of good.

[Anonymous No.12200277]

>>12199227
>Is everything just bleak and dreadful now?
Yes,just look the world around you

[Anonymous No.12200626]

>>12199227
>>12200277
You need conflict to drive a story.
Pacific Edge is hard sf from 1995 is the only thing I've come across but it's out of yr time frame

[Anonymous No.12200767]

>>12200626
>Kim Stanley Robinson
I just can't.

[Anonymous No.12200899]

>>12196870
No. Elric was Moorcock's answer to the stereotype Conan embodied aka buff barbarians adventuring and getting all the women, but observed today it really isn't rooted in that. His weaknesses and frailty only matter when it's convenient for the story, after all.

[Anonymous No.12200922]

>>12197613
Already done

[Anonymous No.12200972]

>>12200767
Fag

[Anonymous No.12201034]

>>12200972
Oh anon why do you take everything so personally?

[Anonymous No.12201124]

>A bunch of people I play D&D reccomend me Mistborn
>It's a Young Adult series

God I fucking hate normies. I stopped reading YA books when I was 12. Worse yet I looked through and it seems like "muh coming of age strong women" schlock

[Anonymous No.12201131]

>>12201124
So you stopped reading that nasty YA at 12 but you are still playing D&D?
El
Oh
El

[Anonymous No.12201150]

>>12201124
>D&D
yikes

[Anonymous No.12201157]

>>12201124
Mistborn isn't a YA series honestly. It got republished as one because of the ages of the character and the fact they are simple reads.

[Anonymous No.12201168]

>>12197791
Alright, thanks for the recommendation anon. I probably won't get to it for a while (small backlog accumulating because school) but I'm really sold on it. I'm really fascinated by modern Russian literature and philosophies right now.

Cheers.

[Anonymous No.12201202]

>>12201124
>Playing D&D
>2018

That said I'd say it was a very PG-13 book. Gets very violent at times, dabbles in themes of rebellion/class warfare/spiritualism, mentions rape.

TOR just saw an excuse to repackage the books and make $$$ so they took it.

[Anonymous No.12201231]

Mistborn sucks and everyone who wasn't 12 or reading their first Fantasy novel panned it at release.

Can we move on?

[Anonymous No.12201244]

>>12201231
Personally I think Mistborn is far superior to the The Dying Earth.

[Anonymous No.12201274]

>>12201244
We all have embarrassing things about us I guess

[Anonymous No.12201279]

>>12201231
We all come to 4channel to funpost. And you can't funpost without mentioning such classics as WoT, works of that Mormon and, yes indeed, the Mistborn.

[Anonymous No.12201312]

>>12201124
Wait do people actually care if a book is classified as YA or not? Usually, I will read anything as long as the characters/story/world have something to hook me in.

More often YA books will be simplier/more trope filled/have stock characters but that doesn't make them interesting

[Anonymous No.12201434]

>>12201124
I was also sceptical at first like you but YA is just a mere label more to do with marketing than the actual story. Give mistborn a try though, it is really an awesome read

[Anonymous No.12201438]

>>12201434
>Give mistborn a try though, it is really an awesome read
No it isn't.

[Anonymous No.12201455]

>>12201124
>>12201312
>>12201434
>Reading modern fantasy
>Reading YA
Anon i...

[Anonymous No.12201525]

>>12201434
>awesome

[Anonymous No.12201584]

I just bought Tigana, what am I in for?

[Anonymous No.12201593]

>>12201434
Don't worry about the contrarians, I'm with you.

[Anonymous No.12201696]

>>12201124
>it seems like "muh coming of age strong women" schlock
It really isn't that. Not coming of age or a strong womyn, more of a vulnerable character out of her depth as an apprentice to a vengeful rebel. She's not the only POV character.

[Anonymous No.12201725]

>>12201696
I'd say it's a coming of age for her character (over the series) but that doesn't make it bad

[Anonymous No.12201745]

>>12201584
One of the last great fantasy novels

[Anonymous No.12201791]

>>12196120
>>12196184
Based

[Anonymous No.12201892]

>>12201696
It is, but this was back before the market was drowning in this archetype, at this point it was merely over saturated

[Anonymous No.12202190]

>>12201124
>normies
how about you deepthroat a shotgun, newfag abortion stain

[Anonymous No.12202362]

>>12201696
>>12201725
>>12201892
I read them when they came out. I felt it was a strong independent woman coming of age tale, but it felt earned. Vin wasn't the best character (Her emo phase and the "trust nobody not even yourself" phases were awful), but she felt like a real character. Stuff like her being reckoning with being sad near the end of the first book when she realized it was her last ball and that her type pretending to be royalty was ending felt real. Like I felt that it was something I would feel if I were in that situation. Even at her worst she still came off as a real person instead of "Standard Female Character #1105"

My biggest complaint will always be that Sanderson SUCKED at writing back then. He still isn't the best, but the reason it comes off as a YA novel is that he just couldn't do better. It's still a series I would recommend to adults, especially the second series.

[Anonymous No.12202366]

>>12191749
Tau Zero, probably my favorite scifi book

[Anonymous No.12202376]

Has anyone tried to that thing tolkein did where he built an entire world to justify a linguistics exercise, but instead of linguistics it was cuisine?

[Anonymous No.12202379]

>>12202376
Yeah, it's called ASOIAF

[Anonymous No.12202410]

>>12202379
Is that just a fat joke or is there actually intricate FP in the books? I know he wrote a cookbook and there was some controversy over a character eating seagull despite it supposedly tasting like shit, but I wasn't aware he got detailed about it.

honestly, the only examples I can think of are normie-YA.

[Anonymous No.12202439]

>>12202410
There's tons of food descriptions. In the later books they take up almost entire pages

[Anonymous No.12202456]

>>12202439
GRRM is a true Lord of the Pies

[Anonymous No.12202499]

>>12199986
Not that bad of an idea;
Ignore The Hobbit movies; however.

[Anonymous No.12202660]

>>12202376
Redwall

[Anonymous No.12202677]

>>12198283
I didn't hate it, although I didn't like it as much as Hyperion for a number of reasons including the one you mentioned. It was obvious by the end that any follow on books would be terrible (as indeed they are). Still, Hyperion ends on such a cliffhanger that you pretty much have to read Fall.

[Anonymous No.12202744]

Just finished the Revelation Space series and Hyperion Cantos. Need some suggestions to lift my spirit after Rise of Endymion. Is forever peace a sequel to forever war? I think I might check it out. Pic related is what I've read on this list so far.

Am I the only one who thinks Hyperion Cantos needs another 2 books to tie up all the loose ends and plot holes?

[Anonymous No.12202751]

>>12202677
Nah, I saw based on just Hyperion that Simmons is a hack and didn't bother with Fall.

[Anonymous No.12202754]

>>12202366
How does it compare with other Poul? Is it more/less myth-based?

[Anonymous No.12202758]

>>12202376
You better believe it.

[Anonymous No.12202760]

>>12202456
A real master.

[Anonymous No.12202778]

>>12202760
Who's a cringier self insert, Bakker as Kellhus or GRRM as Manderly?
>>12202751
Pic related

[Anonymous No.12202781]

>>12202778
Kellhus is based on the guy who fucks Bakker's wife, and Simmons is shit. He had one (1) good idea in the Priest's story, and everything after that is versions of stories done better by other people.

[Anonymous No.12202811]

>>12202760
>GRRM lives in my state

[Anonymous No.12202845]

>>12202781
Nah that'd be Seswatha or Cleric.
Anyway no man. The way he can switch styles, the action packed colonel's story, Lamia's being a mystery cyberpunk story, and other stuff make Hyperion pretty great. The stargates and how the AI works is intriguing, the barbarians from space (I forget what they're called) are a unique idea, I don't get what you're saying.

[Anonymous No.12202855]

>>12202744

If you want just pure fun, Edgar Rice Burroughs' Princess of Mars series is wonderful planetary romance.

[Anonymous No.12202868]

>>12202855
Is this the book that the movie john carter was based off of? Will I be able to read it without that god awful movie ruining the experience?

[Anonymous No.12202889]

>>12202868
>godawful
Whoah the pleb filter works

[Anonymous No.12202900]

>>12202868
It's similar, but not the same. I can't say if the movie will ruin it for you or not. It didn't for me, but I actually liked the movie.

[Anonymous No.12202936]

>>12191907
Not to nitpick but theres a few titles where the book and authors dont actually match. Moving mars is the first one

[Anonymous No.12202950]

>>12202900
Well I appreciate the suggestion I'll give it a shot.

[Anonymous No.12203035]

Sorry if this is a common question, but any decent place to get ebooks?

[Anonymous No.12203056]

>>12203035
>>11931854

[Anonymous No.12203271]

>>12203035
libgen - for ebooks
audiobookbay - for audiobooks

[Anonymous No.12203407]

>>12200626
>You need conflict to drive a story.
Sure. Still, a positive resolution helps to not drown in misery.

Will give PE a try, thanks.

[Anonymous No.12203446]

>>12199227
Ship Breaker.
>starts as depressing environmental apocalypse
>turns into pirate adventures and rescuing the corporate princess

[Anonymous No.12203464]

>>12203407

Try Sector General, its by an author who lived during the Troubles so he really, really didn't like glorifying violent conflict so it has all the drama be man and alien working against disease and disasters, and the last books are from the late 90s...

Man. I actually can't think of something the last 10 years I'd call "Trekesque".

[Anonymous No.12203480]

Reading The Golden Fool trilogy by Robin Hobb. It's allright, Liveship Traders was better.

[Anonymous No.12203999]

>>12201124
>people unironically recommending Sanderfag
I thought we were better than this

[Anonymous No.12204006]

>>12203999
why?

[Anonymous No.12204007]

>>12204006
I don't know, I guess the Zolazny posting give me a higher opinion of /sffg/ than it deserved.

[Anonymous No.12204020]

>>12204007
Zelazny should give you a greater appreciation for the common man, and you will find no man more comman than the Brandman.
You can like high and low quality stuff at the same time anon.

[Anonymous No.12204082]

>>12204020
Sanderson is too low quality.

[Anonymous No.12204111]

>>12204082
This, you can tell by how many normies like him that he is a bad author

[Anonymous No.12204113]

>>12201124
>I'm a grown man that plays D&D
>but I'm here to shit on mistborn
>the landfill calling some dust in the corner filthy

[Anonymous No.12204115]

>>12204111
based and checkedpilled

[Anonymous No.12204119]

>>12204113
Mistborn deserves to be shit on though. It's YA garbage for teen girls

[Anonymous No.12204125]

>>12201525
Who knew they had internet in the shattered planes, and that she likes to post on lit.

[Anonymous No.12204140]

>>12204119
>Mistborn
>YA

It was not written as a YA novel, it just got rereleased as one cause it is written rather simply and is a decent enough coming of age tale.

I still believe Mistborn is a really great starter fantasy series (Other than the classics) for any age. They aren't the best books, but they get you used to reading fantasy without being heavy.

[Anonymous No.12204155]

>>12204140
>it is written rather simply and is a decent enough coming of age tale.
What else does it need to be YA?

[Anonymous No.12204158]

>>12203035
Who are you? E william brown or William D Arand?
I know you want to find places to DCMA.

[Anonymous No.12204186]

>>12204155
A teen fighting a secretive evil organisation/cult?

[Anonymous No.12204199]

>>12204186
A dystopia? Clearly delineated superpowers based on personality types, except for the special people that have them all? Dangerous and uncomfortably sexy father figure?

To be fair though Sanderson was actively trying to go against some of these tropes, like how they defeat the Big Bad in the first book but everything they've been doing is making life worse because their gods suck and need Eunuchcyclopedia Brown to replace them

[Anonymous No.12204208]

>>12204155
So anything with a young protagonist is YA?
Read this and the Black Jewels Trilogy. >:3

[Anonymous No.12204215]

>yfw I unironically enjoy reading Sanderson and there's nothing you bitter fags can do about it.

[Anonymous No.12204218]

>>12204199
That first spoiler is kind of why I stopped reading. Obviously they hinted at things to come, but honestly the story felt complete.

>>12204215
Other than his work not being very complex I don't see the problem with it

[Anonymous No.12204320]

Hey /lit/. I'm starting to get into reading ( I've been starting with self help books ) and I want to start with some sci fi. Any good series recommendations I should start with?

[Anonymous No.12204332]

>>12204320
The OP is there for a reason.

[Anonymous No.12204341]

>>12197613
yeah, i'd probably read it so long as it was funny and i could read it in a single sitting

[Anonymous No.12204349]

>>12202499
just watch the superior fan edit
http://www.maple-films.com/jrr-tolkiens-the-hobbit

[Anonymous No.12204357]

I said I'd tell the person who recommended me the Vorkosigan Saga what I thought about it.

So far I enjoyed Falling Free quite a bit, Shards of Honor is was decent and I'm finding Barrayar tiresome. I'm maybe halfway through Barrayar and it seems like it'll pick up but I don't really care. Should I just keep reading or is it better to skip it and see if the other books are more to my liking?

I also read Stormship Troopers during today's flights and other than being a bit preachy and idealistic it's quite good. I wish he'd focused a bit more on his idea of valuing things more after a great cost but you can't have everything.

[Anonymous No.12204402]

>>12204215
Stop reading Sanderson and start reading Masters of Rome or else.

[Anonymous No.12204451]

>>12204402
make me

[Anonymous No.12204486]

>>12204402
Why not both?

[Anonymous No.12204588]

>>12204486
It's impossible, you'll drop Sanderson before Marius is elected consul. Reading Sanderson with MoR is like eating clay as a side course to venison.

[Anonymous No.12204758]

>>12204588
Based

[Anonymous No.12204901]

can you guys mention a new book once in a while
most of my epub collection are from books mentioned here, and i don't see any new stuff lately

[Anonymous No.12204911]

>>12204901
Bear and the Nightingale

[Anonymous No.12204943]

>>12204901
The Long Ships
>>12204758
Pic related

[Anonymous No.12205050]

What is the best mix of sci-fi and fantasy apart from the book of a new sun?

[Anonymous No.12205232]

People often recommend Tales of the Dying Earth, but how is this thing? I don't think I've seen it mentioned here before.

[Anonymous No.12205301]

>>12205232
It's average Vance i.e. good but nothing special.

[Anonymous No.12205491]

>>12205050
Dune. But it's even better than BotNS

[Anonymous No.12205613]

>>12193258
you're on 4chan

[Anonymous No.12205628]

>>12205613
Wrong.

[Anonymous No.12205647]

>>12205628
oh thats right, I forgot

[Anonymous No.12205788]

can anybody tell me some good 40k novels to check out? I already read the Eisenhorn books and Helsreach and thought they were alright

I've been reading this /tg/ storytime calle the All-Guardsman party, and while its not a book really its pretty fun, Im constantly surprised how the author managed to make what is essentially a retelling of several tabletop sessions into a compelling read

[Anonymous No.12205838]

>>12205050
The Night Land

[Anonymous No.12205860]

>>12205838
More like the feet land amirite? haha

[Anonymous No.12205865]

>>12205860
>tfw no Mine Own to chase across 20 million years of time and an endless chasm of dark space for the sake of her feet

[Anonymous No.12205933]

>>12205788
>I already read the Eisenhorn books
Did you read Ravenor? it's a spinn-off/sequel to the eisenhorn books.

[Anonymous No.12206052]

>>12205788
Cain books are fun. Gaunt books are decent if you like the Guard.

[Anonymous No.12206059]

>>12191749
dresden files is the best fantasy series ever. its so fucking amazing omfg

[Anonymous No.12206488]

>>12202811
I hope not.
Knowing one of you cretins is lurking around here would be awful.

[Anonymous No.12206512]

>>12204901
I've been reading mostly trash, sorry :(

[Anonymous No.12206586]

>>12206488
MeowWolf

[Anonymous No.12206644]

>>12206586
Even worse.

[Anonymous No.12206833]

Alright so with all the talk about Mistborn I did some Googling (I had never heard of it) and it seems kinda interesting.

Is it really so bad that it's not worth reading for the world alone? Even if the characters suck it seems like the magic system and such is interesting enough to keep me going. I read a bit of Sanderson and he was OK, but these were later works.

Also I haven't seen a single place that references them as YA so I donno what that anon was on about.

[Anonymous No.12206846]

>>12206833
They are YA. They’re a fun read, but don’t expect them to be more than they are. Vin is typical strong female protag, but is still a mostly endearing character. Don’t expect it to be more than it is.

[Anonymous No.12206872]

>>12206846
Vin is one of the better "chosen one" female protags I can think of. Sanderson at least wrote her to appear human (Shit like being sad there are no more balls to go dance at) made her seem like a person.

The only time she is insufferable is her "Trust nobody not even urself" phase in the first book and her rebellious emo teen phase in the 2nd

[Anonymous No.12206882]

>>12206846
It's literally wasn't written as YA though

[Anonymous No.12206920]

why are there no good demonic or at least morally ambiguous waifus in /sffg/?

[Anonymous No.12206992]

Is there a fantasy or sci fi literature forum out there that is really pretentious and/or hyper focused on a more underground subset of the genre?

[Anonymous No.12207268]

>>12206992
you could try 7 chan. it's slow af tho.

[Anonymous No.12207501]

>>12167034
Jiang Ye. Even with the half-ass translation Qidian International has been paying for, the prose is fantastic.

[Anonymous No.12207514]

Respond to this post with your thoughts on the Three Body Problem trilogy.

[Anonymous No.12207567]

>>12207514
It's good, although I don't think the Dark Forest is (likely) a correct description of the universe for a number of reasons.

Cheng Xin worst girl

[Anonymous No.12207585]

>>12207567
>Cheng Xin worst girl

What makes you say that.

[Anonymous No.12207594]

>>12207567
>I don't think the Dark Forest is (likely) a correct description of the universe for a number of reasons.
my nigga
>there can be no defense against RKVs because we can't imagine one
>intelligent life will always live on planets
>rational incentives are inevitable
&etc

[Anonymous No.12207701]

Just finished this and i though it was a little bit above mediocre. How is the rest of the series?

[Anonymous No.12207709]

>>12206992
Somethingawful

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3833655

[Anonymous No.12207712]

>>12207709
oh my

[Anonymous No.12207743]

>>12207712
It's not wrong.

[Anonymous No.12207750]

>>12207709
>If one points to such flaws, Wolfe’s fans are wont to argue that its very badness is proof of his genius, for only he could have conceived such a convincing impression of a writer as bad as Severian. This can be dismissed firstly because these are the same fans who will argue that Wolfe’s prose is masterful, and thus they are loving liars. And secondly, while Severian undeniably writes badly, he fails as such a character, for Severian is not a character at all. Truly, fascinatingly bad writers have depth to their awfulness, but Severian has no distinguishable voice or personality, let alone that of a bad writer. He does not represent any discernible human type or experience. He consists simply four tones of narration: modestly assertive, obsequiously self-denying, sharply observant, and philosophically musing. No doubt fans will next argue that bad characterization is proof of Wolfe’s genius, for it shows how the vague powers that guide Severian have molded him into a literary nonentity. One wonders if the fanboy theorists have solved the mystery of why so many women throw themselves at him. And thirdly, according to the novel's metafictional device, the text is a translation: the blame may be squarely be laid on the incompetence of the translator-author.
/sffg/ BTFO

[Anonymous No.12207816]

>>12207514
Interesting books, focusing on the concepts with somewhat dry characters. I liked how alien the books felt because they were written in China.

[Anonymous No.12207874]

>>12204901
Throne of Glass.

[Anonymous No.12207882]

>>12207750
Shieeeet I gotta tip my fedora to such savage eloquence.

[Anonymous No.12207916]

>>12207750
>tfw Something Awful is still around
>Severian has no distinguishable voice or personality
Except this is absolutely wrong. One of my favourite things about the whole unreliable narrator meme, and one of the things that make it work in BotNS, is how Severian's personality is changed from the naive but feeling apprentice to that of The Autarch and how it changes how he retell past occurrences (most noticeable in relation to Thecla, via the Alzabo).

[Anonymous No.12207972]

What book would you recommend me if I enjoyed the video game Hyper Light Drifter?

[Anonymous No.12207979]

>>12207514

Its a compelling argument on how diversity in an author's background in culture can help create new stories that have interesting ideas that couldn't come about another way. It inspired me to hunt down Russian Sci-Fi, and that rabbit hole has given me great results.

Fuck Cheng "Chink" Xin tho

[Anonymous No.12208007]

>>12205788

Backing up both of these.
>>12206052
>>12205933
Cain books are pretty funny if you're looking for something a little lighter-hearted after Eisenhorn. Ravenor is also very good, but continues the darker tone of Eisenhorn. Also good if you like Eldar and absolutely heretical friendships.

[Anonymous No.12208145]

>>12201124
>dnd
I hope it's just because your normies are too retarded to play anything else. DnD is easily one of the worst ttrpgs out there, past the second edition

[Anonymous No.12208165]

>>12207979
don't just toss the hook anon, give us some examples

[Anonymous No.12208186]

>>12208165
Honestly the Cultural Revolution setting was interesting but Li didn't have any special insight on it by virtue of being Chinese.

[Anonymous No.12208205]

>>12207916
His personality does change but his voice doesn't. Why would it if it's all being recounted after the fact? It's all very plodding and matter-of-fact.

[Anonymous No.12208355]

>>12207514
gave up halfway through the first book. poorly written or poorly translated or both, really boring characters, boring story. I feel like it was just about to get going but I couldn't find it in me to care about it because the characters were so one dimensional

[Anonymous No.12208427]

>>12195952
Ahahahahahaha. No.

[Anonymous No.12208872]

>>12207701
>How is the rest of the series?
Same shit.

[Anonymous No.12208932]

>mfw all this pleb fiction

[Anonymous No.12209012]

>>12208932
Go back to /lit/ then

[Anonymous No.12209042]

>>12202410
>I know he wrote a cookbook
Two of his fans wrote that cookbook (approved by him though). Every dish had two versions, one with the original ingredients, one with modern easily available substitutes. "The Inn at the Crossroad" it's called.

[Anonymous No.12209067]

I've started reading CJ Cherryh, really like her style. First I read some short story about an illusionist apprentice wizard going with a goon to kill some duke or something. Awesome magickal depictions, among the best I've read. I've also started on Downbelow Station but at the moment its too Empire/Space Opera style for my present preferences. Really cute dyke, talented as well.

[Anonymous No.12209078]

I am currently reading "Anathem" by Neal Stephenson. Took a really long time to gather some steam, I was about to ditch it when I was 20% in and absolutely nothing interesting had happened except weird monks living in a weird place discussing weird philosophies and theories by means of weird nomenclature. If I hadnt discovered the glossary in the appendix I would have ditched that book.

[Anonymous No.12209085]

>>12207972
https://www.amazon.com/Fortnite-Battle-Royale-Guide-Book-ebook/dp/B07BD31JYD

[Anonymous No.12209091]

>>12209067
Unfortunately her aliens are always very unoriginal, they are always humanoid looking things with basically human behaviour and just some outward traits and quirks of manner and character that set them apart.

[Anonymous No.12209106]

>>12209067
I'd recommend her Rusalka trilogy if you like the magic more than space opera stuff.
>>12209091
This comment is
>only read Foreigner and hated it
tier.

[Anonymous No.12209122]

>>12209106
>>12209091
Thanks for the advice. I got drawn in by her writing style, which looks pretty bold in a sense that she's obviously walking to the beat of her own drum; free flowing, not afraid to use metaphors or flowery language.

[Anonymous No.12209659]

>>12209106
>only read Foreigner
I have read the first foreigner volume, read hestia, read downbelow station, read the whole fading suns trilogy. It was the same in every single book.

[Anonymous No.12209796]

>>12208932
based, I ordered six more books of his the other day, can't wait to read the last of Tichy's voyages

[Anonymous No.12209831]

>>12209085
Already own a copy.

[Anonymous No.12210103]

>>12195763
they read like bad fan-fiction

[Anonymous No.12210199]

>>12201124
>I stopped reading YA books when I was 12.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-kHB2fWUS8

[Anonymous No.12210346]

>>12198283
>>12198629
>>12202677
Personally I found it to be Hyperion > Endymion > Fall of Hyperion then I never read the sequel to Endymion. Hyperion built what felt like an incredible world in the first book however, I really enjoyed it. I should reread it again sometime, though only that book. Not sure who's favorite story I enjoyed the most, but probably the soldier's, consul's, or detective's.

[Anonymous No.12210352]

>>12205788
This.>>12206052
Gaunt's Ghosts is a great series, as are the Ciaphas Cain novels. Alternatively, I enjoyed the Horus Heresy series though I wish it would fucking end at this point. Anyway, Alpha Legion is the best legion.

[Anonymous No.12210809]

>>12192113
First Law is definitely worth reading, but Abercrombie is repetitive in his writing so you'll probably have had enough of him by the end of it

[Anonymous No.12211061]

>>12210346
For me I think father dures story was the most memorable. I wish Simmons had explored further the whole millennias-old church thing. Also I was secretly hoping those fucking bikura would make a reappearance. Maybe these are explored in future novels I haven't read yet.

One small thing I like about endymion is that the priests keep dying and having to be resurrected each time they take a high speed trip.

[Anonymous No.12211277]

>>12207514
It was great until the stupid 2-D painting showed up.

[Anonymous No.12211301]

>>12205232
It is pretty good; definitely one of his better works. I would also recommend Cugel's saga, Eyes of the Overworld, Night Lamp, Ports of Call, and of course the Lyonesse trilogy.

[Anonymous No.12211360]

When should I start shilling my patreon to my web novel readers?
As soon as possible?

[Anonymous No.12211513]

recommend me a cyberpunk novel. I've read some good ones, PKD, that altered carbon one. I enjoy the pulpy noir aspects but the imaginative dystopian vision should be at the forefront. recently the stuff I've found has been a bit too pulpy or dated

[Anonymous No.12211583]

>>12208165

Early Soviet science fiction until the 50s and 60s tended to be adventure novels, essentially "Da Comrade it is year 2100, look at the future and how we can now discuss the working man's triumphs". Bulgakov, better known for Master and Margarita wrote a few satires of communism, one of which is Heart of a Dog. As well "We" is definitely a reaction to seeing the nascent Soviet state. Once we get further on we get a bit more complex.

I really can't recommend enough the Strugatsky brothers and their Noon Universe. As a whole its this really critical look at the failure of communism through the lens of science fiction. You have the socialist utopia sending out people who uplift, or in a really telling description, "progress" more backwards planets with failures met when the society leans too much on religion and blind faith, not being ready for communism.

Take "Hard to Be a God" as an example of that, its one of the more well known but it encapsulates part of what makes Soviet Sci-Fi striking. As well "Roadside Picnic", which you know mainly through STALKER, is one of my favorite interpretations of an alien visit on humanity, wherein we swarm over their leftovers, unknowing, uncomprehending, like ants at leftovers of a picnic.

Another way that the Soviet culture produced different novels to the West is that censors could actually nip genres in the bud. There are very few space operas from the bloc, and the only ones I do know of were "satires" of the genre. Humans as Gods was written by the author literally to be inoffensive to the censors, and even then it took several publishers to get it out.

Fantasy as an entire genre for adults was verboten, so you don't get that. What you do get is a fascination with cybernetics and how it can integrate into daily life. "Earthly Delights" starts by how a power grid shows us which shows are entertaining, They were eager and excited to show how technology could lead us into a utopia, possibly because dystopian fiction wasn't very Party-aligned.

[Anonymous No.12211624]

>sci-fi novel
>one world government is treated as a good thing
No thank you.

[Anonymous No.12211672]

>>12211624
>sci-fi novel
>tens of thousands of human nations
>there's even a region on Mars where the really weird splinter sects can have their own clay

[Anonymous No.12211764]

>>12211360
results first

[Anonymous No.12211895]

>>12211764
What do you mean?
Like after the first volume/arc?

[Anonymous No.12211943]

Anyone got a link to The Traitor Son Cycle?

[Anonymous No.12212005]

>>12211513
Read the second book in the Altered Carbon trilogy, or get going on some William Gibson. His short story collection, burning chrome, is fantastic.

[Anonymous No.12212030]

>this thread was made since Thursday
>it is now Tuesday and the thread is still up
What happened? Is everyone eating turkey or spending time with their families?

[Anonymous No.12212110]

Finals.

[Anonymous No.12212165]

>>12212030
Are you even aware of what day it is?

[Anonymous No.12212449]

>>12212030
we are shitposting on /tv/

[Anonymous No.12212455]

>>12211513
The Eclipse Trilogy
When Gravity Fails

[Anonymous No.12212594]

Any recs for a Gemmell fan? Haven’t found anybody quite like him.

[Anonymous No.12212644]

>>12212594
The mixture between incest wnd mythology?

[Anonymous No.12212671]

>>12212165
I remember when Internet forums were faster on the weekends.

[Anonymous No.12212754]

>>12212594
I, too, am a Gemmellfag and there isn't really another writer quite like him, but I might recommend the Deathwind Trilogy by Rypel to fellow Gemmellfags. It has that same Heroic Fantasy flavor like Gemmell's best HF stuff.

[Anonymous No.12212788]

>>12192130

maybe thats why the standalone books are even better than the first law trilogy?

[Anonymous No.12213020]

>>12211513
The Hardwired books by Walter Jon Williams

[Anonymous No.12213031]

>>12203464
My. I have the first book in the Sector General series but didn't know there were new ones as "recent" as the 90s.

[Anonymous No.12213138]

>>12191907
Ty very much!

[Anonymous No.12213158]

>>12213020
>>12212455
>>12212005
thank you boyos. I'll probably get started on the second altered carbon one. for some reason I thought william gibson wrote snow crash so I've avoided all the stuff by him, seems I was wrong so that's great news
I'll try hardwired but the cover doesn't inspire great hope

[Anonymous No.12213173]

>>12213158
William Gibson didn't write Snow Crash but his stuff is actually worse.

[Anonymous No.12213179]

>>12213173
t. buttmad /pol/ac

[Anonymous No.12213194]

>>12213173
going by portrait images alone I have a hard time believing that. thin man from xcom vs ren fair man who majored in medieval lit

[Anonymous No.12213541]

>>12212754
I’ll check it out, thanks.

[Anonymous No.12213594]

>>12212165
Tuesday? I'm not an Americlap. I don't know what yall do on Tuesdays.

[Anonymous No.12213606]

>>12213158
>boyos
You know cosmerefag. Since you read red rising years ago you stuck with that boyo phrase.

[Anonymous No.12213608]

Where is the thread slave?
Make a new general. Chop chop.

[Anonymous No.12213868]

>>12213179
why would /pol/ hate gibson? the viet nam/canada thing?

[Anonymous No.12214110]

New threads are unavoidable:
>>12214106
>>12214106
>>12214106
>>12214106
>>12214106

[Anonymous No.12214344]

>>12213868
He's as democrat as they come.

[Anonymous No.12214654]

>>12212671
>>12213594
It was his reference to the holidays lads