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/lit/ - Literature

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1710424 No.1710424 [Reply] [Original]

name me an awesome standalone fantasy or sci fi novel right now

I triple double dog dare you

>> No.1710426

Perdido Street Station

>> No.1710431
File: 278 KB, 314x356, hipsterarielfw.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1710431

>>1710426
>Perdido Street Station is the second published novel by China Miéville, and the first in a series that is set in the fictional world of Bas-Lag

>ask for standalone
>mfw

>> No.1710435

Prey

>> No.1710436

A scanner darkly

>> No.1710441

A Wrinkle in Time.

Boom.

>> No.1710444

>>1710431
Apologies, should've made it more clear - yes it's part of a loose association of books set in the same 'verse, but none of them require any knowledge of the others to read. Again, sorry for-
Wait, no. I tried to be civil and helpful and all you're giving is this in return? Fuck your shit.

>> No.1710455

Man that is a hard one anon. There is not much money to be made in a standalone novel. More so when you are talking about genre. I went to my shelf and I think I have one that is a true standalone. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Also Snow crash and Armor comes to mind. I also think that most of Robert Heinlein stuff is standalone.

>> No.1710468

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick

>> No.1710475

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell

>> No.1710476

>>1710441
A Wrinkle in Time is actually the first of a series about that family.

>> No.1710477

Also Nemesis and The Gods Themselves

>> No.1710491

Lord of Light. Roger Zelazny.

>> No.1710508

Saturn's Children by Stross.

>> No.1710660

>>1710435
that's like a million books

>>1710436
read it

>>1710441
read it

>>1710444
lol u mad etc.

>>1710468
read it

>>1710477
>Gods
automatic nope

>>1710491
Will try this out and report back

>>1710508
meh sounding

>> No.1710681

Hyperion.

It's the Canterbury Tales, IN SPACE

Also there's three more books but they are pretty good and you don't actually need to read them.

>> No.1710690

>>1710681
From what I've heard, you NEED to read Fall of Hyperion. Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion were supposed to be a single book.

>> No.1710697

Kay.
Not really a standalone but hey.
The Mistborn Trilogy.
Seriously.
The author loves messing with archetypes and tropes and anything else he can get his hands on.
Go for it

>> No.1710704

The Martian Chronicles.

Hell, I don't think Bradbury ever made sequels of any of his books, did he?

>> No.1710709

>>1710690
well, Hyperion just kind of ends, not quite on a cliffhanger, but close. fall of hyperion is pretty fucking badass too, lots of space battles, time travel, and some crazy fucked up shit that i don't want to spoil because i don't know how to do that spoiler thing everybody does

>> No.1710712

Is it just me, or does everyone else laugh heartily when looking at this pic of the nun with the nuttela face?

>> No.1710716

Song of Kali by Dan Simmons. It's technically a horror novel, but it won the 1986 World Fantasy Award, so I guess that kinda/sorta makes it a fantasy novel.

Vic and Blood by Harlan Ellison.

It is a three part novella with the third part unfinished (and it probably never will be finished).

American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

Pretty good urban fantasy.

The War of the Flowers by Tad Williams

It is like American Gods but the other way around (and not as good).

>> No.1710723

Felix Gilman - Half Made World

>> No.1710824

>>1710660
Saturn's Children is like...robotic space erotica

>> No.1710837

Stars in my pocket like grains of sand

>> No.1710891

End of an Era by Robert Sawyer

Now, most people will say things about about the mediocrity of Sawyer, and it is all true, every single bit, but this novel is enjoyable. Pre dates his golden age, comes from a fresher mind, has a few neat gimmicks and turns.

>> No.1710903

Lord of Light, Stand on Zanzibar, Camp Concentration, The Stars My Destination, Reefs of Earth, More Than Human, River of Gods, The Chronoliths

There are so so many awesome sci-fi books. I mean pretty much the entire ouvre of the New Wave was standalone. Much less awesome standalone fantasy, tho.

>> No.1710927

Strata, Terry Pratchett

>> No.1711149

>>1710436
THIS.

Time Enough For Love
Starship Troopers
Friday
Green Hills Of Earth
Stranger In A Strange Land

>> No.1711168

>>1711149
>time enough for love
mormon incest fantasy.

>> No.1711172
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1711172

Technically not the only one in its setting, but you don't need to have any familiarity with the Xeeleeverse to read and enjoy it.

>> No.1711174

>>1711172
Also, the other books in the trilogy have jack shit to do with Exultant, so I consider it standalone.

>> No.1711180

The Etched City, by K.J. Bishop. One of the few stand-alone fantasy novels I can think of.

It's also one of the rare fantasy novels that I would recommend without any reservations.

>> No.1711181

But there's shitloads of good, standalone SF out there. I don't think the lack of SF standalones has ever been an issue. Fantasy is not so fortunate in that regard, but there's plenty if you care to dig deeper than the epic fantasy genre, which is heavily serialized.

>> No.1711187

>>1710709
[ spoiler ] text here [ /spoiler ]

without the spaces, OBVS

>> No.1711202

Light - M John Harrison
The Dispossessed - Ursula Le Guin
Schild's Ladder - Greg Egan

>> No.1711204

House of Suns - Alastair Reynolds

Yes I mentioned a book written less than ten years ago, problem /lil/fags?

>> No.1711207

>>1711181
>Fantasy is not so fortunate in that regard
Probably because, hey, if you can get one fantasy book out, you're better off continuing a series. More profitable. Saves worldbuilding effort, too, when you can work off a setting you've already made.

>> No.1711210

Nobody's mentioned Guy Gavriel Kay yet?

soniamdisappoint.jpg

>> No.1711231

Schismatrix
Little, Big
The Windup Girl
Nova
Babel-17
House of Suns
The Princess Bride
Blindsight

>> No.1711246

rendezvous with rama by arthur c clarke
tau zero by poul anderson
red mars by kim stabley robinson.

fuck fantasy

>> No.1711528

Any Zamonia novel by Walter Moers can be read by itself.

Two words: OH SHIT

>> No.1711529

The entirety of Philip K Dick's work.

>> No.1711535

The Martian Chronicles (Ray Bradbury)
Fahrenheit 451 ("")
Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson)