/sffg/ - Science Fiction and Fantasy General

[Anonymous No.18557553]

Water World Edition

Previous Thread:>>18536033

>Recommended reading charts (Look here before asking for vague recs)
https://mega.nz/folder/kj5hWI6J#0cyw0-ZdvZKOJW3fPI6RfQ

>Archive
>>/lit/?task=search2&search_subject=sffg

>Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1029811-sffg

>A link to the ultimate colossal science fiction and fantasy collection torrent
>>>/t/1023504

>Discord
Never going to be created.

[Anonymous No.18557684]

Has /sffg/ updated their self-publishing chart? I have some money left over and I want to support some science fiction and fantasy authors that are currently self-publishing.

[Anonymous No.18557716]

>>18557684
What does /sffg/ think about William D. Arand's stuff on this chart?

[Anonymous No.18557793]

sex books

[Anonymous No.18557891]

IMO Dune is the most influential book for modern sci-fi. What comes after the space opera phase?

[Anonymous No.18557909]

>>18557891
Posthumanism, we're already working towards brain chips and the like.

[Anonymous No.18557914]

QRD on Old Man's War?

[Anonymous No.18557916]

>>18557684
How do they get their cover art done?

[Anonymous No.18557917]

>>18557916
commission probably

[Anonymous No.18557919]

>>18557916
By hiring mediocre artists.

[Anonymous No.18557920]

>>18557909
Yes but in books?

[Anonymous No.18557926]

>>18557920
...Yeah, that's what I meant. I think books will reflect the direction our society is heading into. More and more posthumanist works as we ourselves increasingly cease to be human. It's what will be on people's mind and what they want to read about rather than just operas. Maybe.

[Anonymous No.18557958]

This again because the previous thread was useless
I want to train my voice and read an old classic of SF/Fantasy to read on youtube or soundcloud
what are some good classics that are in public domain so i dont get the DMCA hammer?

[Anonymous No.18557966]

>>18557914
The aliens just wouldn't get off his lawn...

[Anonymous No.18557980]

>>18557958
Why don't you google it? Anything recent most likely won't be in the public domain.

[Anonymous No.18557988]

Any good analysis of The Knight by Gene Wolfe?

[Anonymous No.18558044]

>>18557980
I wasnt asking for "what books are in the public domain" I asked for ones that were considerable classics of SF/fantasy you reading impaired gnoll

[Anonymous No.18558069]

why did sword and sorcery die? Is it because modern fantasy went from being influenced by ancient history/mythology and the historical romances to being influenced by anime and video games?

[Anonymous No.18558078]

>>18556094
try grrm's thousand world setting particularly Dying of the light and Windhaven

[Anonymous No.18558083]

>>18558069
there are some, one of the better modern ones is Thune's vision by Schyuler Hernstorm

[Anonymous No.18558096]

>>18557958
War of the Worlds would be a good one due to this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(1938_radio_drama)

[Anonymous No.18558201]

>>18558069
>why did sword and sorcery die?
Because you could argue it appealed to a different type of power fantasy. Also, world building has become sort of a fetish these days when back in Howard's day it also came about accidentally when you looked at stories and how they related.

[Anonymous No.18558268]

>>18557684
why would anyone want to read some retard's self-published book? if he couldn't get it published through normal means, i.e. an actual publishing house, then his work is shit.

[Anonymous No.18558274]

>>18558268
>if he couldn't get it published through normal means, i.e. an actual publishing house, then his work is shit.
Do you think you could back this up logically using words without making yourself sound like a retard? Hint: You can't.

[Anonymous No.18558279]

>>18557958
I told you Faerie Queene

[Anonymous No.18558548]

>>18557553
A farmboy/local equivalent sets out into the great, wide world. Yowzers, he's the Chosen One. He slays the Dragon/Dark Lord/Ancient Evil/all of the above. As reward he may fuck the feisty blonde/redhead princess.

There, you are now familiar with a good 90% of the fantasy genre.

[Anonymous No.18558562]

>>18558268
Rage against the machine if you want original stories published.

[Anonymous No.18558606]

>>18558268
>if he couldn't get it published through normal means, i.e. an actual publishing house, then his work is shit.
Yeah, man. Because current state of publishing is a real indication of quality.

[Anonymous No.18558672]

>>18558548
Darkness That Comes Before does none of that

[Anonymous No.18558844]

>>18557684
I wonder if these guys make any money

[Anonymous No.18558943]

>>18558844
Apparently advertising is a major factor. Over quality even

[Anonymous No.18558962]

>>18558943
it's all about fulfilling a niche
the more you can reach your target audience the more money you can make
the internet really is a powerful tool

[Anonymous No.18559154]

>>18558844
If Chuck Tingle can live from the proceeds of his self published books, then so can anyone else.

[Anonymous No.18559200]

>>18557553
>Discord
https://discord.com/invite/KWPCM7m

>Book Club Selection
Galactic North
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/89188.Galactic_North

> With eight short stories and novellas--including three original to this collection--Galactic North imparts the centuries-spanning events that have produced the dark and turbulent world of Revelation Space.

[Anonymous No.18559302]

>>18557684
>The Murderbot Diaries
I had no idea that was self-published.

[Anonymous No.18559306]

>>18558672
In the Prince of Nothing the reward for loyalty and noble behavior is a dick in your ass

[Anonymous No.18559382]

>>18559302
maybe the very first book. it's now handled by tor.

[Anonymous No.18559611]

>>18558044
>>18557958
>>18558044
I recommend short stories first, to cut your teeth on audio engineering. And to get your projects finished faster so you can feel more accomplishment and have an easier time learning from your mistakes. There's a place where amateurs go to publish free and open audiobook readings for books out of copyright, but I forget what it was.
War of the Worlds is a good one, a fairly short novel, but it might be too big a project for your first audiobook.
Scarlet Plague by Jack London. One of my favorite early SF stories was The Diamond Lens, by Fitz O'Brien. Coomer goes mad with lust after seeing beautiful midget, very short pamphlet mini-fic. Charming in the light of modern science.
Good luck, anon.

[Anonymous No.18559676]

>>18559200

[Anonymous No.18559885]

Fuck E William Brown
Fuck Delays
Fuck Pay Pigs
Fuck Pay Walls

[Anonymous No.18560251]

>>18558069
It didn’t die in my heart, anon.

[Anonymous No.18560605]

>>18559676
Wow he's literally me on IRC

[Anonymous No.18560887]

Anyone know some good novels with a little girl protagonist?

[Anonymous No.18560897]

Is this the greatest classic of the last 40 years?

[Anonymous No.18560900]

>>18560897
sell me on it
I hate girl MCs

[Anonymous No.18560925]

>>18559306
Proyas was not noble. He massacred civilians by the truckload. His faith was blind, his nobility self-serving and self-righteous.

[Anonymous No.18560941]

>>18560900
It has sex.

[Anonymous No.18560950]

>>18560941
Have you actually read it?

[Anonymous No.18560957]

>>18560950
Yes.

[Anonymous No.18560959]

>>18560957
Genuinely asking then, besides the sex, why do you like it so much

[Anonymous No.18560967]

>>18560897
>X of Y
Cringe

[Anonymous No.18560977]

>>18560959
Because it's well written and the plot is great.

[Anonymous No.18560981]

>>18560977
can I get a quick blurb of what the story is about?
first book would be enough
is the MC a bitch?

[Anonymous No.18561014]

>>18558548
Any good stories where the farmboy isn't actually the chosen one or fucks it all up? The First Law comes to mind

[Anonymous No.18561142]

>>18559302
It wasn't ever, nor were various other books on that list.

[Anonymous No.18561171]

>>18559611
thanks mate, sounds like a lot of good tips pointers.
>>18558279
Yeah, saw that after going back to the old thread, thanks

I'm sharing this trippy city art with no pointers other than its filename. I found it on my harddrive and cant look away

[Anonymous No.18561249]

>>18561171
This is unironically how i picture every big city in Prince of Nothing

[Anonymous No.18561301]

>>18557553
The story continues
https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/22543858/isabel-fall-attack-helicopter

[Anonymous No.18561366]

>>18561301
don't care what amerimutts do

[Anonymous No.18561382]

>>18561014
Kill the Farm Boy

[Anonymous No.18562143]

Just finished the three body problem fanfiction turned published work. Overall it was pretty good, a lot more creative than I would have expected from a fan-work of any kind. Somehow it managed to balloon the scope of the work so far that it dwarfs the jump from The Dark Forest to Death's End.

It also has one of the craziest and stupidest fourth wall breaks I've ever seen. It's so bad. Seriously, don't read the last page. I know you will, but I promise you'll wish you hadn't.

[Anonymous No.18563306]

>>18561249
Yeah, could definitely pass for Momemn, Carythusal or Invishi.

[Anonymous No.18563307]

>>18558844
Lots of them do.

[Anonymous No.18563448]

>>18557958
All of Lovecraft's stuff is public domain, isn't it? Pretty sure dozens of people have already uploaded themselves reading his stories on YouTube, though.

[Anonymous No.18563590]

>>18562143
I've liked some of his published short works.

[Anonymous No.18563617]

>Call up the Sons, the Fingolfians, the Gondolindrim, the Nargothrondrim, the Doriathrim. Call up Círdan and his boys from the Falas.
>Call up the Edain. Hell, call up the Naugrim, and even the cursed Easterlings…

>I’m putting together a Union. Who’s with me?

[Anonymous No.18563835]

I just started reading Dune and haven't read a book since high school.. are all sci-fi books so full of random words? Like I get that it is world building, but damn. It's every page there's two or three words where you are flipping to the back to look up what it means and then having to look up another because of that one. Not (really) complaining but are all sci-fi books like this? Frank is American isn't he? Some of these words are middle eastern and German or something...

[Anonymous No.18563846]

>>18563835
no, most sci-fi is fairly illiterate. frank herbert could actually write.

[Anonymous No.18564017]

>>18563835
just wait till you read gene wolfe or jack vance my sweet summer child

[Anonymous No.18564261]

So at the end of Blindsight, why do the aliens attack? Was it because of their inability to compherehend the idea of human consciousness, which they interpret as a dangerous evolutionary off-shoot from normal life? Nip a virus I the bud, so to speak?

[Anonymous No.18564402]

Another point of discussion about Blindsight's ending: why did Sarasti chose to send Keeton back to report to Earth? I understand why he couldn't go himself as Vampires are so mistrusted, but why not The Gang, or Bates?

[Anonymous No.18564411]

>>18563835
Never read 40k novels then lmao

[Anonymous No.18564419]

>>18563835
>I don't like made-up words
NGMI

[Anonymous No.18564440]

Who are some fantasy authors that say a lot with a little?

[Anonymous No.18564444]

>>18564440
See >>18560897

[Anonymous No.18564460]

>>18559676
I hate how much this image looks like me when I shave. That long upper lip... That is why I keep my beard.

[Anonymous No.18564486]

>>18564460
just take the moustache pill

[Anonymous No.18564490]

>>18558069
>why did sword and sorcery die?
Phytoestrogens in the water supply.

[Anonymous No.18564500]

>>18560981
She's a supercilious badass action grrl. Give this one a pass.
If you want a book written by a femoid, read J. V. Jones.

[Anonymous No.18564636]

>>18564486
Nice try. But I'm not going to take on the pedo look.

[Anonymous No.18564663]

>>18558069
The death of the cheap paperback for anything other than shitty erotica for middle aged women.

[Anon No.18564741]

>>18558069
Because S&S is formulaic and was played out. There are hundreds of Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms books

[Anonymous No.18564793]

>>18564741
So is a lot of popular media, like superhero comics or action movies. They're still doing as well as ever.

[Anonymous No.18565358]

>>18564793
>They're still doing as well as ever.
Superhero comics are barely surviving and that's mostly because of the MCU
"action movies" is an incredibly broad term, there are plenty of subgenres that died out, like the Rambo/Commando type.

[Anonymous No.18565469]

>>18557553
Fuck sci fi

[Anonymous No.18565486]

Any recommendations for good fantasy or science fiction?

[Anonymous No.18565587]

Just marathoned this trilogy, what did I think of it?

[Anonymous No.18565623]

>>18565469
Fuck your mother

[Anonymous No.18565672]

Why did Able call Gylf Gawain in chapter 26 of the Wizard? Was it the name of Arthur and Ben’s dog in America? Or is it just some obscure Arthurian reference I’m not getting

[Anonymous No.18565830]

>>18564017
Shhh... you’re gonna lead him to his death.

[Anonymous No.18565837]

>>18564411
Having read 4 40k novels, I understand what you mean.

[Anonymous No.18565919]

>>18560897
>malnourished stick woman using a longbow
lol, no.

[Anonymous No.18565954]

>>18564261
I just assumed it was for the same reason any non-sentient animal attacks, because it felt threatened. Of course I am retarded, so who knows.

>>18564402
Didn't the ship's computer override the bloodsucker? Wasn't it the computer acting through the vampire?

[Anonymous No.18566201]

>excited to read a new release after seeing it in a "this month's books list"
>day comes, can't find it anywhere
>check book on a store page
>comes out in two months
ffs
Tor's new releases list was the best for reading blurbs alongside release dates but this has now happened like 3 times in 3 months.
I might have to find a new site to check

[Anonymous No.18566290]

>>18558274
Yes. I'll simplify it for retards like yourself:

Write book. Find publisher. Many people read it. No self-publishing cucking.

[Anonymous No.18566295]

>>18558606
I didn't mention quality. Of course, there are many shit books published, but getting it published through an actual publisher is way better and more credible than self-publishing.

[Anonymous No.18566412]

>>18566290
You did not logically back it up, for your reasoning is unsound. And you seemingly talked like a retard on purpose as if to own your stupidity, but pretending to be a retard still makes you retarded.

[Anonymous No.18566481]

>>18563835
its over

[Anonymous No.18566513]

>>18563835
>are all sci-fi books so full of random words?
No. Dune was (in)famously published by a place that only previously printed car manuals because no other publisher wanted it.
It's very under-edited even compared to works from the same time period.

Also there's lots of arabic influence because Dune is a book about the arabic world and the idea of jihad

[Anonymous No.18566516]

>>18565954
The Captain had control of him the entire mission. Still unsure why it/theychose to go through the motions of humanising him in order to send him back to Earth. Maybe because Bates and The Gang ended up conducting a mutiny - Kenton was the only one who could be trusted to follow-through?

[Anonymous No.18566619]

Good long sci-fi series with a continuous plot? You can give several recommendations and i will research further which one seems best for me

[Anonymous No.18566644]

>>18565486
Throne of Glass is great!

[Anonymous No.18566650]

>>18558069
Peaked with Birthgrave

[Anonymous No.18566704]

>>18558069
>why did sword and sorcery die
>Is it because modern fantasy went from being influenced by ancient history/mythology and the historical romances
That's not really an accurate description of sword and sorcery though is it, anon?
You're trying to make it sound like it has some respected lineage when it was really just "let's do tarzan in a new setting"

[Anonymous No.18566706]

>>18565672
He's not calling Gylf Gawain. He's bringing up the legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight again. He mentions in Chapter 9 of Wizard that he challenged a knight to cut off his head if Able would be allowed to return later and cut his off, which is the central plot of Green Knight. Able also wears green armor. Not 100% sure, but I think he just brings this up as a parallel to his return to finally fight Kulili.

[Anonymous No.18566747]

What are your honest opinions on Chronicles of Everfall: Shadow of the Conqueror?

[Anonymous No.18566826]

>>18563590
Honestly it was great. He absolutely humiliates Chen Xin after she somehow manages to fuck over the entire universe. Seeing her lose it at Sophon was my favorite part of the book.

[Anonymous No.18566970]

>>18566747
I've never heard of it til now but the title sounds like a word salad made from a random fantasy book name generator.

[Anonymous No.18566979]

>>18565587
You thought the last third of Death's End went too far too fast, lessening the great concepts introduced in Dark Forest. You still think it's a very good series despite its flaws.

[Anonymous No.18566985]

>>18563835
You're barking up the wrong genre of made up words give you problems. Made up words are a staple of sci-fi and fantasy. You need a very high tolerance for them to read any amount of this genre, and you won't get much further than getting your feet wet unless you develop a taste for made up words and start to enjoy them.

[Anonymous No.18567060]

I like the idea of creating a full, unique world and then writing a story in it that takes place wholly in some fringe, backwater location.

[Anonymous No.18567068]

>rape
>slavery
>torture
>ntr baiting every book
>etc
Why is it that when female authors write this kind of thing nobody bats an eye?

[Anonymous No.18567070]

>>18567060
Yeah i like Hyperion a lot too

[Anonymous No.18567078]

>>18567070
Does it do that? I may have to read it then.

[Anonymous No.18567114]

>>18567078
I was being a bit cheeky, the "present" parts take place in the equivalent of some shitty trading post on the Amazon, but large chunks of the book are flashbacks with action on several worlds.

[Anonymous No.18567125]

>For somebody who was supposed to be a magician or sorcerer, Smerdis was very uninteresting. Always plodding around in his embroidered robes (he never wore the pointed hat so indicative of his purported profession) with a perpetual expression of feigned disinterest, meddling always in the spinsters’ gossip and never in the dark arts, he was the subject of the village childrens’ constant disappointed interest.
r8 the opening lines of my novel gentlemen

[Anonymous No.18567146]

>>18564440
Anyone? Is it even possible to be a fantasy minimalist?

[Anonymous No.18567291]

>>18567146
Depends on how far you stretch your definition of fantasy

[Anonymous No.18567340]

>>18567291
Pretty far

[Anonymous No.18567370]

When she hired the Narindar, I thought it was to murder Maithanet and not Kellhus.

Am I missing something? Just started the Unholy Consult.

[Anon No.18567460]

>>18567125
good premise

[Anonymous No.18567499]

>>18563617
Stay off my lawn you annoying ginger fuck.

[Anonymous No.18567537]

>>18564440
When does fiction become fantasy? That's what I would like to know.

[Anonymous No.18567587]

I strongly dislike Gideon the Ninth. It's written exactly as a woman would write something. There are over a dozen banal characters you're introduced to at once. They have little to characterize them, same as the "Houses" they belong to, all of which serve some esoteric purpose I don't care to know, just as the author doesn't care to inform me what they are.

She writes meetings amidst entire groups as if I'm going to remember them from snippets of characterization. It's a structural nightmare.

[Anonymous No.18567651]

Didn't ask.

[Anonymous No.18567680]

>>18567587
And yet she is published and you are not. Just admit you hate her for being a successful lesbian writer clawing her way up in a men's business, chud.

[Anonymous No.18567681]

>>18567587
>>18567651
>Criticize a book written by a woman
>Immediately receive a generic passive aggressive effeminate response
It's probably not even a woman either, but some deluded s.0y creature. Pathetic.

[Anonymous No.18567701]

>>18567680
And a second one right after. Haha.

[Anonymous No.18567703]

>>18567681
>implying he's read anything other than "I strongly dislike"

[Anonymous No.18567709]

>>18567681
Does it trouble you?

[Anonymous No.18567712]

>>18567680
I'm gay myself. It's why I picked up the book to begin with. The only gay character I've ever enjoyed in SFF is Cnaiur

[Anonymous No.18567740]

I asked after you guys' personal favorite sci-fi books some topics back, and've now come back to ask after more.

(I read every one of your recs, and they were all pure bliss to experience, cover-to-cover. You recommended Blindsight, Dragon's Egg, Replay, Sun Diver, etc. Thank you so much!)

A bit of background on my favorites:
I love Alastair Reynolds, J. Vinge, Herbert, Cixin, Martha Wells, Bujold, Card, Adams, Tepper, E. Moon, Gavriel Kay, Simmons, Zelazny, and so on.

I'm earnestly /requesting/ recommendations for your favorite sf books once again.
So what books do you personally feel are absolutely singular, that make your soul sing, that've been subject to endless re-readings?
I'd love to read them, too.

Please drop all your personal favorite sci-fi titles, anons.

[Anonymous No.18567744]

>>18567712
Sorry to bring the bad news to you, but he's not gay.

[Anonymous No.18567749]

>>18567744
Okay you WEEPER FAGGOT

[Anonymous No.18567752]

>>18567744
a-anon, are you retarded? Cnaiur is deep enough in the closet that he could pillage Narnia.

[Anonymous No.18567761]

>>18567752
He's bisexual at best, and even that is up for debate.

[Anonymous No.18567785]

>>18567761
Moenghus clearly saw the barbarian's inner homo and used the analogy of the trackless steppe to explain why it's okay to be a queer, it's willfully ignorant to say otherwise

[Anonymous No.18567790]

>>18557553
does anyone else think book of the new sun is overrated? I like it but I dont really feel like there is as much mystery to it as people on the internet say.

[Anonymous No.18567794]

>>18567761
This is cnaiur tier copium

[Anonymous No.18567795]

>>18567790
You're not alone.

[Anonymous No.18567808]

>>18567794
>Serwë
We accept your defeat.

[Anonymous No.18567822]

>>18567712
If you are gay, you owe it to Muir to not criticise her. Fostering a strong LGBT presence in fantasy is more important than a singular rookie author's forgivable flaws.

[Anonymous No.18567831]

>>18567808
>gay men have never married women and had kids to pretend they’re straight

[Anonymous No.18567840]

>>18567537
When the world diverges from reality. Pretty loose definition I know, but that's what it is.

I think Jack Vance fits the original description by the way. Gene Wolfe kind of does too.

[Anonymous No.18567855]

>>18567831
it's impossible for gay men to have kids cause they can't get erect from a woman

[Anonymous No.18567860]

>>18567785
>>18567752
>>18567749
>>18567712
BASED.

The sword dropped from the stranger’s senseless fingers, rang like something pathetic across the floor. His face broke, like a thing wrapped about twitching vermin. The sobs whispered across the pitted stone.
And Moënghus was holding him, enclosing him, healing his innumerable scars.
“Nayu …”
He loved him … this man who had shown him, who had led onto the trackless steppe.
“I am dying, Nayu.” Hot whispers in his ear. “I need your strength …”
Abandoned him. Forsook.
He had loved only him. In all the world …
Weeping faggot!
The kiss was deep; the smell strong. His heart hammered. Shame bled from his every pore, skittered across his trembling limbs, and somehow ignited an even deeper ardour.
He breathed shuddering air into Moënghus’s hot mouth. The snakes twisted through his hair, pressed hard and phallic against his temples. Cnaiür groaned.
So unlike Serwë or Anissi. A wrestler’s clasp, firm and unyielding. The promise of surrender, of shelter in stronger arms.
He reached beneath his girdle, into his breeches …
His eyes leaden with ardour, he murmured, “I wander trackless ground."

[Anonymous No.18567869]

>>18567860
this passage proves Cnaiür is not only gay but a bottom

[Anonymous No.18567870]

>>18567860
Woah what the fuck that's completely straight. Maybe bi

[Anonymous No.18567971]

>>18567870
>Nooooo my archetypal ultraviolent Conanesque barbarian can't be gayyyyyy, it would shatter all my preconceived ideals of masculinity spoonfed me by the retarded and escapist fantasy genre
t. troubled. Someone didn't get the point of Bakker.

[Anonymous No.18567978]

>>18567840
Guys like Saramago walk a fine line between fiction and fantasy. But that's not a bad thing.

[Anonymous No.18567983]

>>18567971
>Conanesque barbarian
Conan is pure faggotry btw, Howard was a virgin weirdo and closet faggot

[Anonymous No.18567986]

God... I fucking love women so much...

[Anonymous No.18567993]

>>18567831
Cope.

[Anonymous No.18568063]

>tfw no first age vampire-maiar gf

[Anon No.18568096]

>>18567740
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson. If you already read that then Vurt by Jeff Noon.

[Anonymous No.18568247]

>>18568096
You got it in one, I've read and loved Diamond Age, but've never heard of Noon.
Just looked this up and I feel like its a second Christmas. Vurt looks absolutely mindblowing.
Thank you very, very much man!

[Anonymous No.18568248]

Should I buy a hardback copy of Dune?

[Anonymous No.18568262]

>>18567370
Someone?

[Anon No.18568350]

>>18568247
It's part of an interconnected but separate plots trilogy with a short story collection that was also really good

[Anonymous No.18568378]

>>18568248
guess that's a no then
gonna buy a copy of one hundred years of solitude instead

[Anonymous No.18568381]

>>18567740
I enjoyed the Foundation series from Asimov enjoyable. His robot series was pretty good as well.

[Anonymous No.18568392]

>>18568381
*Found the

[Anonymous No.18568469]

What are some books where the MC romances

[Anonymous No.18568485]

>>18568248
Looks radical. I'd buy it if I ever bought hardback copies at all. But nobody ever comes visit me anyway, so there is little incentive to spend money on vanity editions when there will never be an opportunity to show them off. Secondhand paperback copies are sufficient for reading.

[Anonymous No.18568614]

Finished Blindsight. Thanks to the anons who provided me with answers to my dumb questions - I am not a smart man. Having said that, I enjoyed it overall. It definitely falls into the category if science fiction that is about ideas over characters, and Watts prose was quite dull. Any other first contact books with the same pessimistic tone?

[Anonymous No.18568672]

>>18566644

[Anonymous No.18568691]

>>18567740
If you liked Dragon's Egg, there's a sequel, Starquake
I don't know if you're the same anon but 2001, Rendezvous with Rama, and Childhood's End are all stellar.
Like the other anon said, Foundation (read the originals before you read the prequels, they're Asimov's last books before he died).

[Anonymous No.18568701]

>>18567860
To be fair, being mindfucked by a Dunyain might not make him gay. He didn't fuck any other men, but plenty of women, and afaik he was only interested in the dude who literally mind controlled him.

[Anonymous No.18568713]

>>18568485
I myself get enjoyment out of looking at my nice stacked bookshelf. Call me vain if you want. Do it for you, not others who probably wouldn't care anyway.

>>18568248
Yes, the deluxe hardcover is kino

[Anonymous No.18568736]

>>18568350
Whoa, I honestly can't wait. Every time I run into something really phenominal, I end up going pretty bonkers by reading every last title by that author, so you've set me up with some seriously fantastic reading times. Thanks again, dude!

>>18568262
Reason I was hesitant to respond is because while you're right, this is really a very beautiful minimalist design, I can never shake feeling some serious nostalgia for novels with original cover art and/or jackets. But Dune's such a smashing book on the inside it'll make any outside look a delight, so great taste all around.
(Good luck with your choices. There're no wrong answers.)

>>18568381
Oh man, I feel like you know me really well, now. I was completely obsessed with all of Asimov's books as a kid and reread all his fiction, nonfiction and short stories three times through, then every author's post-Foundation adaptation novel that I could find. I even illustrated a bunch of salutes to his work. Asimov was one of my childhood heroes. Crazy quality recommend there anon. Thanks very much!

[Anonymous No.18569431]

>>18568701
He did fuck Conphas

>>18567860
Even you would go straight for a Dunyain Whale Mother.

[Anonymous No.18569451]

>>18568614
>pessimistic tone
Do you mean first contact where humanity loses? Forge of God. First contact with an alien that exists on a different level from humanity? Solaris, or really anything by Lem.

[Anonymous No.18569514]

>>18569431
I grasp the absolute (boipucci)

[Anonymous No.18569515]

>>18569451
I guess I meant Watts' idea that consciousness was a grave evolutionary error and will doom humanity to extinction

[Anonymous No.18569631]

>>18568691
Oh man, -740 here, we must have exactly the same taste, I love all of your recommends. (While I've read all of them, it's been ages for the Clarkes' so thanks for the reminder, I'm absolutely down for some rereadings.) Again, you've got some outstanding taste, thanks so very much guy!

[Anonymous No.18569716]

>>18569515
I thought his idea was more that consciousness is irrelevant, but it has been years since I've read Blindsight. Try Lem's The Invincible.

[Anonymous No.18569882]

>>18569716
That interpretation is valid, however I think Watts took it further and straight up said that consciousness was made relevant by the way in which it holds humans back, as evidenced by the superior intellect of the Rorschach and its "crew"

[Anonymous No.18570252]

Anyone else find the obscure vocabulary in Book of the New Sun annoying. I don't care if it makes me sound like a brainlet, having to look shit up every page ruins the immersion

[Anonymous No.18570282]

Fantasy novel that makes you think?

[Anonymous No.18570324]

>>18570282
read bakker, read wolfe, read tolkien.

[Anonymous No.18570472]

>>18569882
The crew had less-than conscious members, the captain was a vampire controlled by an ai, and they still got BTFO. the key point is that whoever has the superior intellect wins. if humans had more millennia to advance we might eventually surpass the ayys.

[Anonymous No.18570477]

I just finished The Unholy Consult

[Spoiler] Why didn't any sorcerer react to the fact the Carapace had no chorae? Any one of them could have pulverized it.

Did Bakker really kill Serwa and Kayutas offscreen? Don't see how they could escape the Horde.

I hear Bakker claimed this works as the overall ending. Does he really have the balls to have the next two books be about the No-God exterminating humanity?

Was that the Heron Spear or did the Dunyain built a replica? Either way, how dumb was it no one made a rush for it after Kellhus dropped it.

About those Dunyain, I want the story of how they took over the Consult. It's quite the stretch that they managed to turn a millenia old hypersadistic alien into a gibbering wreck.
[/spoiler]

[Anonymous No.18570482]

>>18570477
Woops, I really don't use spoilers enough

[Anonymous No.18570483]

>>18570477
try again anon
you'll get it the next time

[Anonymous No.18570505]

>>18567860
What the hell was Moenghus going to do? Can Cishaurim or sorcerers in general steal souls and use them to heal themselves? No mention was made of anyone having this power elsewhere.

[Anonymous No.18570511]

>>18567855
Tell that to my dad ;_;

[Anonymous No.18570523]

>>18568262
It wasn't a Narindar. It was the White-Luck Warrior. He was never obeying her. Are you sleep reading or something?

[Anonymous No.18570588]

>>18570472
I mean the whole point of The Gang was that she was 4 times as conscious as a regular person. I interpreted the story as Watts' pointing out that, within a non-sentient universe, consciousness serves little valuable purpose/is an evolutionary 'dead-end' and is likely a mistake. Consciousnessis good for the appreciation of aesthetics and little else

[Anonymous No.18570704]

>>18570588
Not him, but that is what Watts is saying, yes. Though I wouldn't say that consciousness is only good for aesthetics: without consciousness (sentience/awareness) there is no such thing as good or bad, there is just elementary particles sloshing around.

Bakker also explores something like this in his philosophical work.

[Anonymous No.18570749]

>>18570704
If the ayys in Firefall act only on evolutionary impulses, the concept of morality is obsolete, yes?

[Anonymous No.18571195]

>>18570505
Get cnaiur to carry his ass away from kellhus

[Anonymous No.18571251]

>>18562143
I loved the real trilogy. I read a couple of pages of this at B+N and decided against it.

Your telling me this shit gets wilder than Deaths End? Fucking how is that even possible? Goofy multiverse shit?

Please describe 4th wall break. Sounds SUPER cringe. 4th wall breaking is a the most hack, bush league move a writer can do.

[Anonymous No.18571518]

>The novel carries strongly anti-colonial and anti-militaristic overtones
Wait a sec is this another post vietnam war-
>driven partly by Le Guin's negative reaction to the Vietnam War
FUCK

I just want a book about scifi marines hunting space gooks in the jungle. Why is it that every single book with a forest in it is some drug addled hippy whinging about the vietnam war?

[Anonymous No.18571616]

>>18571518
if you want a white power fantasy I'm sure there are wh40k fanfics that have what you're looking for

[Anonymous No.18571628]

>>18570749
The concept of a concept becomes irrelevant. "Life" becomes no different than the formation of stars.

[Anonymous No.18571633]

>>18570523
No, but Kellhus implies that she "hired" him to kill him and this is what I don't understand. I remember that she was angry at Kellhs, but I don't recall her ever vocalizing this to the WLW.

[Anonymous No.18571638]

>>18570472
I interpreted it as a draw. Earth could afford to lose Thesus but Rorschach couldn't afford to lose itself.

[Anonymous No.18571652]

>>18566516
Kenton's sole purpose on the ship is to communicate the findings of Thesus back to Earth in a manner humans would understand. That's his literal job description.

[Anonymous No.18571653]

>>18571638
Earth could afford to lose Theseus only if Kenton reached Earth alive which wasn't made clear.

[Anonymous No.18571659]

>>18571652
No - his job was to report on the mental state and happenings of the crew. The Captain was reporting everything back to Earth.

[Anonymous No.18571698]

>>18571616
Which ones would you recommend? Whenever I've looked into WH40K it always seems to be more about the imperium getting buttfucked by apocalyptic tyranids/chaos/etc rather than a nice relaxing story about the human empire invading savages or putting down local rebellions.

[Anonymous No.18571783]

>>18557958
King of Elfland's Daughter

[Anonymous No.18571862]

I said I wouldn't read the second book, but I did. In truth, I kind of zoned out for parts of it. I don't like it. I don't hate it either. But it's just not doing enough to stimulate me.

I don't like Morgaine or Vanye. They have this femdom dynamic that's really weird. And Vanye doesn't have any special abilities or anything. He loses more than he wins, he's not very bright just a midwit, and all he has is his honor. Which Morgaine is slowly eroding away from him with her weird dommy manipulations.

Anyway, I probably won't read the third book. Going to try Dogs of War, and see if the anon tricked me into reading garbage or not.

[Anonymous No.18571895]

Pretty sure it's easier to ask here, so, please, bear with me.
Do you know other books that have a cover like pic related?
>brown-ish
>person near a cliff
>dragon
is a Young Adult book

[Anonymous No.18571917]

if your book isn't YA coming of age fantasy i'm not reading it

[Anonymous No.18571955]

Is The Darkness that Comes Before incel-core? There are 3 women in the entire book, 1 is a prostitute who gets pretty consistently raped and has basically no agency; 1 is a shrewish emperor's mother who is whorish and shit; 1 is a concubine who gets consistently raped and has no agency. The "hero", the Dunyain, is a manipulative asshole who ticks all the boxes of 4chan-tier sigma male: "i can read your emotions perfectly", "i am a master fighter", "I don't need anyone", etc. The rest of the book is a hodgepodge of other classic fantasy; the entire thing is like a rewrite of Dune (you have the Zensunni philosophy; you have the main guy who is basically the kwisatz haderach (he goes into a meditation to see possibilities; he has like a second sight thing; he is the culmination of some finicky breeding programme); you have almost literally Conan (he is called Cnaiur). You even have someone called Inri Sejenus, of which INRI is a very obvious Catholic reference, and the name Jesus is easily pulled out from Sejenus.

It's not a bad book by any means, it has pace, it is fun and it is sometimes quite well written (I would put it at about Malazan levels, far above Sanderson or Wheel of Time or Sword of Truth but below Dune or LeGuin or Wolfe).

But is the reason for its popularity basically because it appeals to incels?

[Anonymous No.18571973]

Do you like Joe Dever, /lit/?
A lot of his books are legally (apparently) free
>onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Dever%2C%20Joe

[Anonymous No.18572038]

>>18571955
Can't speak for incels (I'm married), but personally it's the cuckoldry aspect and the possibility of having mind-breaking powers that appeals to me, on top of it being an awesome epic fantasy series obviously.

[Anonymous No.18572074]

>>18571955
I think it's funny how you rate Wheel of Time lowly and then in your post criticize a writer for making their influences clear (Conan/Cnaiur etc). Maybe you should give WoT another try and actually try to understand the meaning behind the Wheel? I mean, think about your post. You are more or less literally saying you would prefer these names/terms more exclusively if they were just spelled different to obfuscate their origin. That's very shallow.

[Anonymous No.18572112]

Are there books somewhere between Prince of Nothing and something like Witcher? Heavier themes and really strongly written but also with cutesy stuff like family/romance?

[Anonymous No.18572130]

>>18572112
>give me something edgy, cutesy and well written
Yeah I dont think this exists

[Anonymous No.18572149]

>>18572074

My issue isn't that I want more obfuscation, I just want more originality. You're sort of right; I do rate WoT quite low because of shallow reasons (though there are a lot of things I did like about it) but I think mostly I rate it low because I didn't think it was well written. I thought Rand was extremely dull, the Orcs thing in the north was boring, Egwene etc were boring. I liked the Mat storyline a lot though, and I thought there were good scenes, especially in the middle books. I'm definitely not going to give it another go, that is like a year's work for something I already know is in my opinion a very mid-tier fantasy book.

The Wheel is also a pretty obvious and sort of mundane metaphor; imo the best Wheel is from Confederacy of Dunces; it's all just going to be a Boethius reference but there is a vast difference between just referencing something and actually using it to say something original or useful. My issue with a lot of these books is that they aren't using the reference to say anything new or original; Wolfe uses Christian symbolism a lot but he actually makes something new with it; Caravaggio uses Biblical stories to comment on contemporary events. So in sum, no, I wouldn't like it to be more obfuscated (though in reality if it were, maybe I wouldn't immediately see the Sejenus / Jesus parallel and wouldn't then instantly compare them, making me live in blissful ignorance for a little longer) I would like it to be used to craft something a little more original. But - it's a fantasy book used to escape. My main complaint is the 3 female characters having about 1 scene apiece where they aren't being raped or abused in some way; the reference stuff is just a little trite.

[Anonymous No.18572152]

>>18572112
Little, Big by Crowley fits that bill. Very cute, sometimes slow paced, but extremely well written. It isn't an adventure story though, and wouldn't really be in the same genre of those you listed.

[Anonymous No.18572163]

>>18572074
Wheel of trash

[Anonymous No.18572199]

>>18572074
Not him, but the Wheel of Time is incredibly weak. Don't become overly attached to a series just because you sank your time in it.

[Anonymous No.18572205]

>>18572130
It does, but not in western writing, which IMO sometimes tries too hard to be tonally consistent.

[Anonymous No.18572459]

>>18572149
>My issue isn't that I want more obfuscation, I just want more originality.
Originality is kind of a myth. You don't create something from nothing. With perfect knowledge, you could trace the line of inspiration right back to the source every time. There are more obvious examples, like Jesus, but it's not like obvious inspiration is any better than being inspired by some weird pagan myth nobody but you knows about because your druid grandmother died without telling anyone but her favorite grandson. The more original you think something is, the more ignorant of their inspiration you are.

[Anonymous No.18572612]

>>18571518

[Anonymous No.18572695]

What's the point of reading fantasy after Bakker, who represents the ultimate culmination of the genre?

[Anonymous No.18572723]

>>18572695
I ask myself that question every day.

[Anonymous No.18572811]

>>18557684
>Morningwood
lol. Also Godking's Legacy's cover, kek

[Anonymous No.18572813]

This white boy crazy

[Anonymous No.18572840]

>>18572723
Perhaps the true goal is to write one's own masterpiece and outdo him.

[Anonymous No.18572844]

>>18568736
>>18571955
>Is The Darkness that Comes Before incel-core?
Pretty much.

[Anonymous No.18572877]

>>18571955
filtered

[Anonymous No.18572886]

>>18572877
How is he filtered if he read it completely and guess correctly why it’s popular?

[Anonymous No.18572892]

>>18572886
also filtered

[Anonymous No.18572898]

>>18572892
american

[Anonymous No.18572907]

>>18572898
Pretty sure only Canadians loved this cuckold series.

[Anonymous No.18572911]

>>18572907
american

[Anonymous No.18572919]

>>18572911
So you’re just going to spam?

[Anonymous No.18572928]

>>18572919
it's obvious that you are too squeamish about cuckoldry to truly appreciate this masterpiece

[Anonymous No.18572933]

>>18571195
Moenghus was fatally wounded. He needed to heal.

[Anonymous No.18572938]

>>18572928
No, I just don’t think The Darkness that Comes Before or any of Baker’s other novels are great to begin with.

[Anonymous No.18572941]

>people still read western books

[Anonymous No.18572944]

>>18572938
>>18572877

[Anonymous No.18572948]

>>18572941
Only if it’s self-publish. I pretty much ignore traditional novels now.

[Anonymous No.18572955]

>>18572944
No, I wasn’t filtered. Read the novels and they weren’t great. Nothing more and nothing less.

[Anonymous No.18572957]

>>18572948
same
it's clear to me now that publications only want a certain type of books

[Anonymous No.18572965]

>>18572955
>No, I wasn’t filtered.
Things only a person who got filtered would say.

[Anonymous No.18572970]

>>18572957
Pretty much. Don’t know why /sffg/ and the rest of /lit/ are still sucking off trad publishing.

[Anonymous No.18572979]

>>18572970
it used to be a sign of quality
but now, in this economy, they no longer takes risks, and they only want what sells
which I guess is a kind of seal of quality if those kinds of books are what you're looking for

[Anonymous No.18572996]

>>18571633
Ah, that. Yeah, that seemed off to me too. It seems pretty crazy that she would be willing to kill Kellhus, no matter how much she hated him.

[Anonymous No.18573003]

>>18572979
>it used to be a sign of quality
Never was. Only the famous, the most successful got recognition in the past. Now that we have the internet, we realize how garbage most novels are.

[Anonymous No.18573010]

>>18573003
never thought about it that way, but I guess I see how it could be true

[Anonymous No.18573023]

>>18572965
This.

[Anonymous No.18573040]

>No, I wasn’t filtered. Read the novels and they weren’t great. Nothing more and nothing less.

[Anonymous No.18573068]

>>18571955
Anyone who humanizes or projects into Kellhus is retarded. The book is not some wish-fulfillment fantasy, which seems to be necessary to be classed incel-core. Isekais are incel-core, for example.

[Anonymous No.18573084]

>>18573068
No. The book is pretty much incel-core.

[Anonymous No.18573092]

>>18572149
> My main complaint is the 3 female characters having about 1 scene apiece where they aren't being raped or abused in some way

Creepy. The feminists should just publish their index of banned books and be done with it.

[Anonymous No.18573108]

>>18572813
He looks so old these days...

[Anonymous No.18573116]

>>18572886
It's not popular, unfortunately.

[Anonymous No.18573124]

>>18573116
Thank god. We don’t need fantasy genre to suffer another setback.

[Anonymous No.18573130]

>>18573084
What is incelcore? Is Berserk incelcore too?

[1 No.18573133]

>>18572112
The Knight by Gene Wolfe but Im not too well read in the genre

[Anonymous No.18573146]

>>18571955
I like Cnaiur because he hates everyone :3

[Anonymous No.18573178]

>>18573130
>What is incelcore?
Read Eliott Rodger "My Twisted World" to get an understanding of incelcore.

[Anonymous No.18573213]

>>18573130
>Is Berserk incelcore too?
No Berserk is edgelordcore

[Anonymous No.18573221]

>>18573130
I was the one who originally posted about Darkness that comes Before. My reason for labelling it as such was that it basically claims women are weak, pathetic, useful for sexual fulfilment and little else, while praising very vapid male qualities that like "logic" or "strength" which have little to no usefulness apart from the shoehorned instances within the story itself. I wouldn't called Berserk incel-core; Casca gets demolished but it isn't "the point of her character", vs e.g. Serwe in Darkness who seems entirely extant in order to serve as a sex object. This isn't necessarily "bad", it just appeals to a certain mode; sometimes I feel like reading this sort of stuff but it really does appeal to my basement dwelling instincts instead of my socialised ones.

[Anonymous No.18573248]

>>18573221
>claims women are weak, pathetic, useful for sexual fulfilment and little else
What real world evidence do you have that says otherwise? Most female billionaires et their money from inheritance or divorce. Many "self made" roasties just get degrees and wageslave as lawyers or finance officers. I can count the number of strong women I know on my hands

[Anonymous No.18573258]

>>18573248
Have sex.

[Anonymous No.18573272]

>>18573258
No

[Anonymous No.18573356]

>>18573221
Filtered.

[Anonymous No.18573376]

>>18573356
Siri, what is setting?

[Anonymous No.18573377]

>>18573356
I am womyn hear me roar

[Anonymous No.18573384]

>>18573221
>sometimes I feel like reading this sort of stuff but it really does appeal to my basement dwelling instincts instead of my socialised ones.

[Anonymous No.18573511]

>>18573356

[Anonymous No.18573542]

Daily reminder that there will be a renaissance after the post modernistic era, and that Bakker will be celebrated like never before.

[Anonymous No.18573547]

>>18573221
This post unironically made me want to read Bakker.

Thank you.

[Anonymous No.18573755]

>>18573542
Will the POC/Femoid Power Hour really end? Ctulhu always swims left

[Anonymous No.18573782]

>>18573108
pic?

[Anonymous No.18573797]

>>18572840
this.
i’m working on it.

[Anonymous No.18573810]

>>18573797
Same. I will win.

[Anonymous No.18573942]

>>18559302
god i love that series
but yeah im pretty sure its always been through tor? though they did make a post on their blog saying they had 'acquired' 3 murderbot books so maybe not

[Anonymous No.18573973]

>>18573221
read the rest of the books retard. he’s really more of a libtard white knight who wants to uplift muh poor wahmens but is too autistic to write properly fleshed out female characters (with the exception of esmenet, who is pretty realistic).

[Anonymous No.18574015]

>>18573782
Check out this interview

https://youtu.be/uQM7XMySBLA

[Anonymous No.18574043]

we're due for another genre-reviving book any year now bros; I've been doing some research, and it seems every 20 years a very culturally important/genre reviving book comes along, with another book that contrasts against it

>1930s: Conan the Barbarian (1933-36) contrasted with The Hobbit (1937)
>1950s: The Lord of the Rings (1954-55) contrasted with The Broken Sword (1954)
>1970s: The Sword of Shannara (1977) contrasted with Lord Foul's Bane (1977)
>1990s: A Song of Ice and Fire (first book published in 1996) contrasted with Harry Potter (first book published in 1997)
>2020s: ???
whats it gonna be boys

[Anonymous No.18574076]

>>18574043
>a very culturally important/genre reviving book
I'll let you know when I've finished writing it.

[Anonymous No.18574099]

>>18574015
The Ordeal broke him.

[Anonymous No.18574113]

>>18571659
No, as a synthesist his job was to communicate the knowledge of the specialists to Earth in a manner digestible for them. They describe his job in the first few chapters.

[Anonymous No.18574126]

>>18571698
>huh dur I want muh colonialism
You're in the wrong general. Go read historical fiction.

[Anonymous No.18574132]

>>18574043
I'm writing a sci-fi fantasy that counters a lot of post-modern and new atheism ideas by proposing evolution as apart of some irenaean theodicy. It's probably shite.

[Anonymous No.18574202]

>>18574132
Remember to write realistic female characters like Bakker did to filter out redditors and youtube reviewers.

[Anonymous No.18574233]

>>18574202
Is a Russian female soldier (Story starts during WW3) who got sent to prison for killing an oligarch who tried to rape her realistic?

[Anonymous No.18574235]

Why is every other person on the discord a faggot

[Anonymous No.18574249]

>>18574233
not really
she'd most likely be executed on the spot or the next day

[Anonymous No.18574260]

>>18574249
True kek

[Anonymous No.18574269]

>Bakker
>Sanderson
>Tolkien
>Asimov
>Moorcock
>Philip.K.Dick

[Anonymous No.18574274]

>>18557553
Make a discord

[Anonymous No.18574285]

>>18574269
Slay queen, slay

[Anonymous No.18574372]

>>18560897
>Fantasy by a female author

Is it all about a relationship with some wealthy oh so spooky and cool male character

[Anonymous No.18574383]

>>18574372
>fans of game of thrones and hunger games will love it
Of course.

[Anonymous No.18574408]

>>18560897
>dual wielding
>holding a sword like a dagger pointing downwards
dropped

[Anonymous No.18574437]

I HATE WAHMEN!!!!! SUCH AN INFERIOR BREED. IF ONLY THEY DIDN’T REJECT ME MY ENTIRE LIFE OR LAUGH WHEN I TRY TO TALK TO THEM. WAHHHHH

[Anonymous No.18574451]

>>18574437
This but unironically.

[Anonymous No.18574452]

>>18574437
I HATE MEN. IF ONLY THE PATRIARCHY DIDN'T EXIST THEN I WOULDN'T WHORE MYSELF OUT ON TWITCH

[Anonymous No.18574469]

>>18574451
>This but unironically.

[Anonymous No.18574475]

>>18574452
Women would find a way to be whores even if men didn't exist.

[Anonymous No.18574490]

work on yourselves you fat basement dwelling fucks

[Anonymous No.18574526]

>>18574490
No.

[Anonymous No.18574640]

>>18574490
nah

[Anonymous No.18574688]

>>18574490
I'm cool with that as long as I can hate fat women and roasties

[Anonymous No.18574693]

>>18574043
>43 years of shannara
I vaguely remember reading the Heritage books as a child. Are any of these still worth the time?

[Anonymous No.18574704]

>>18564017
honestly it feels like some of the vocabulary jack vance uses sounds completely made up but somehow isnt, how tf did he find those words?

[Anonymous No.18574720]

>>18574043
Already came out but Bakker was too heavy for the plebs.

[Anonymous No.18574733]

>>18566747
>Chronicles of Everfall: Shadow of the Conqueror
Sounds like the title of a video game

[Anonymous No.18574755]

>>18568469
98% of everything written by a woman

[Anonymous No.18574766]

>>18574202
There is SO much sexual violence in this book
The women are just there..

[Anonymous No.18574850]

>>18574766
>That review.

[Anonymous No.18574857]

>>18574766
Another clear case of Esmenet hitting too close to home.

[Anonymous No.18574873]

Probably one of the most beautiful passages I've ever read.

>Just when I despaired -- she was there, filling me as a melody fills a cottage. I was with her, running beside the Acis when we were a child. I knew the ancient villa moated by a dark lake, the view through the dusty windows of the belvedere, and the secret space in the odd angle between two rooms where we sat at noon to read by candlelight. I knew the life of the Autarch's court, where poison waited in a diamond cup. I learned what it was for one who had never seen a cell or felt a whip to be a prisoner of the torturers, what dying meant, and death.
>I learned that I had been more to her than I had ever guessed, and at last fell into a sleep in which my dreams were all of her. Not memories merely -- memories I had possessed in plenty before. I held her poor, cold hands in mine, and I no longer wore the rags of an apprentice, nor the fuligin of a journeyman. We were one, naked and happy and clean, and we knew that she was no more and that I still lived, and we struggled against neither of those things, but with woven hair read from a single book and talked and sang of other matters.

[Anonymous No.18574880]

>>18574766
She's right you know.

[Anonymous No.18574892]

>>18574873
Meh.

[Anonymous No.18574894]

New thread
>>18574893

[Anonymous No.18574973]

>>18574880
I agree. Bakker is way too hard to read. Too many new words to enjoy reading.

[Anonymous No.18575085]

>>18566747
Never read it. Heard of it incessantly since I occasionally watch a Shadiversity video. Seems like it would fit in the same vein of a modern fantasy work like Sandersons given how similar it comes off as. That said, I don’t like Sanderson’s books. They seem to flagship a lot of themes and motifs of modern fantasy I don’t care for. I love reading interesting worldbuilding, but Dunk and Egg and Robert Howard’s Conan are more of my style.

[Anonymous No.18575110]

>>18567068
This and a previous thread on romance books make me more interested in picking up one of the books women do like and not just say they like. Makes me wonder what the chances are of me writing a novella where the prose focuses on the emotions and the story is carried on a motif and thematic barge of the most depraved and degenerate sexual nonsense I can think of and fool most readers into thinking I’m a female author.

[Anonymous No.18575241]

>>18567068
Because we live in a gynocentric society. Women can do no wrong in the eye of the general public.

[Anonymous No.18575244]

>>18567740
Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion.
Anything by Ted Chiang
Pandora Star & Judas Unchained
Anathem
Golden Age Trilogy ( If you like that, everything by John C Wright)

Anything by Greg Egan ( I would start at At either incandescence or Permutation City, to see if he is your thing)

[Anonymous No.18575885]

>"I remember... I remember asking a wise man, once... though whether it was last year or a thousand years ago I cannot tell. I asked him, 'Why do Men fear the dark?' I could tell he thought the question wise, though I felt no wisdom in asking it.

>'Because darkness,' he told me, 'is ignorance made visible.' 'And do Men despise ignorance?' I asked. 'No,' he said, 'they prize it above all things—all things!—but only so long as it remains invisible.'"

[Anonymous No.18575935]

>>18575885
Wow, what a call out!

[Anonymous No.18576073]

>>18575935

[Anonymous No.18576106]

>>18560897
I read it. It fucking blows. It's literally just nonstop the main character saying oh I could easily beat this guy up but I can't because I'm in disguise. She's a Mary Sue without actually doing anything at all

[Anonymous No.18576111]

>>18560981
Do not read it. I read it and it was fucking retarded. There's a lot of people talking about how they can do this or that but never actually do anything. The writing is very weak as well