/sffg/ - Science Fiction and Fantasy General

[Anonymous No.20916476]

Taberna Edition

Previous Thread:>>20907853

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

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

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

[Anonymous No.20916478]

King of /sffg/.

Simple as.

[Anonymous No.20916500]

To the anons who were reading Gormenghast, how's it going? Personally, I'm really enjoying my reread of the series, currently about half way through the second book. In fact, I'm enjoying it even more than the first read through!

[Anonymous No.20916506]

>>20916476
The 3 commandments of /sffg/

>Fucketh' Bakker

>Fucketh' Qinshite

>Fucketh' Líterpg

[Anonymous No.20916515]

Am I having a seizure? What the fuck happened to the thread?

[Anonymous No.20916520]

Is it necessary to read every book of the Hainish Cycle? I only ever see The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed recommended, even though there are several other novels and short stories.

[Anonymous No.20916559]

I have an idea for writing a novel about a fantasy world with a pantheon of Gods who slowly disappear from the lives of people until they're gone
Meanwhile one God, the Stranger remains but is unknown by all and yet his ancient shrines and grottos are the only place where magic still remains, the novel will be about the discovery of the Stranger and how people learn of the Stranger's love for them
Has anyone written anything like this?

[Anonymous No.20916567]

Brandon 'Nothing happens for 90% of the book' Sanderson.

[Anonymous No.20916572]

>>20916567
>Brandon 'Nothing happens for 90% of the book' Sanderson.
As far as Brando critcism goes, this is the weakest one. Characters talking and developing is not 'nothing.'

[Anonymous No.20916641]

Should I read Rothfuss' novels? Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fear are apparently good prose-wise, but people have said the characters and plot are cringey. Also there's apparently less chance of him finishing the trilogy than GRRM finishing ASOIAF, which is saying something.

[Anonymous No.20916656]

>>20916641
>Making yourself canonically unbigoted to own the libs

Unironically based

[Anonymous No.20916659]

>>20916641
lol

[Anonymous No.20916707]

>>20916559
sounds like you're writing about how much of a closet fag you are who gets fucked by men in secret.
Seek help

[Anonymous No.20916710]

>>20916707
Actually the funny thing is I've struggled with homosexual desires since I was 11 years old
I've never had sex before because I find it terrifying and the thought of having sex disgusts me

[Anonymous No.20916726]

>>20916520
No, the only thing they share in common is that the planet Hain exists and not even really that. The series name isn't really official and was decided much later. There is essentially 0% overlap between any of the books and not even really a chronology.

[Anonymous No.20916731]

>>20916710
That's not funny at all anon. You either want to fuck men or you don't. There is nothing to struggle about. Do it and move on with life

[Anonymous No.20916743]

>>20916731
It's not that simple
I don't want to fuck men but the desires I have upset me and disturb me
There's nothing I can do

[Anonymous No.20916758]

>>20916743
How unfortunate that you've chosen self-destruction, but if you hadn't, you wouldn't be here.

[Anonymous No.20916774]

>>20916515
Resident OP is having a sissy fit over Bakk*r being mentioned in the first post of the thread.

[Anonymous No.20916780]

Just finished Book of the Long Sun. I’m surprised at how different it was compared to Book of the New Sun but I really enjoyed it especially because Silk and Oreb were so based. I also found it much easier to read compared to BotNS, at least until it’s revealed the whole thing is Horn writing about his childhood hero using almost entirely secondary sources, oh and by the way Quetzal is one of Alex Jones’ psychic alien vampires who eats people and “””coincidentally””” wanted to send 400 civilians to his home planet.
I’m still confused about
>how it’s connected to BotNS
The book makes it pretty obvious that two-headed Pas whose wife is Echidna is Typhon even before Scylla explicitly says so and there are a couple of other minor things like Jonas probably being a chem, but unless I missed something it seems like less of a sequel and more just set in the same universe. And what about the Outsider? Since he’s the one true god and created Pas et al it makes sense he’d be in BotNS but I don’t remember anything about him there.
>what the deal between Silk and Hyacinth was
Why was Silk such a simp for her and how much of the story was she possessed by Kypris for? Apart from being a crack whore she fucks Saba and Horn states everyone thought she was a haughty, bad-tempered and only did anything if it would get her money or power. Are we just supposed to believe after 23 years of no sex Silk is too horny to care about anything but poontang after meeting Hy once or was Kypris influencing him?
Anyway I’m looking forward to starting Book of the Short Sun. Hope it’s just as good.

>>20916641
It’s one of those “turn off your brain” books that’s easy to read and fairly entertaining if you can ignore the occasional cuckolding, white knighting, and “and then everyone clapped” moments. Given that the author has no intention of ever finishing it I’d say there’s zero reason for you to start it.

>>20916710
That doesn’t sound healthy, anon. You should probably seek help.

[Anonymous No.20916785]

>>20916572
It's true for some books, at least. Hero of Ages is absolutely like that. It's 90% nothing happening except Sazed being depressed and the world fucking sucking.

[Anonymous No.20916787]

>>20916743
>I don't want to fuck men but the desires I have upset me and disturb me
It's possible that you don't really want it, but the upsetting and disturbing feeling and actively trying to suppress the thoughts only end up perpetuating them. It's one form of obsessive thinking.

[Anonymous No.20916788]

Writing a late medieval/renaissance fantasy novel at the moment, about a boy who becomes a wizard's apprentice. Does it sound like something interesting to read?

[Anonymous No.20916809]

>>20916785
Yeah pretty much
Except for the starting of the relationship with eland and Vin proper
And Vin learning to master becoming a mistborn while dueling elends brother
And the all the politicing that leads to the downfall of the city
And the pov of elends brother showing a nutcase which is starting show us how the evil god (forgot name) is working behind the scenes

Way more happens to progress things in the second book compared to the first

[Anonymous No.20916810]

>>20916780
Outside is Severian. Hyacinth is male, and Silk couldn't handle not tapping that. Read Short Sun to know I am full of shit. Or am I?.

[Anonymous No.20916811]

>>20916710
>Actually the funny thing is I've struggled with homosexual desires since I was 11 years old

Still less gay than the average bakkerfag

[Anonymous No.20916812]

>>20916788
It's not exactly original, also just that as the blurb would make me assume it's YA stuff and I wouldn't read it I think.

[Anonymous No.20916824]

>>20916788
Yes

[Anonymous No.20916826]

>>20916812
I'm intending for it to be more in the vein of ASOIAF or Dragonlance, rather than YA, but with overt magic. How would you recommend I avoid it turning into a YA book?

[Anonymous No.20916832]

>>20916809
Hero of Ages is the third book.

[Anonymous No.20916836]

>>20916809
>still refuses to answer some questions about Zane because plot spoilers
It's been nearly 20 fucking years

[Anonymous No.20916837]

>>20916743
Hey anon, having some weird sexual thoughts is a normal thing that happens to everybody. The more they upset you the harder it is for you to get rid of them. There are probably a lot of gay men that are only gay because they're too weak to accept that weird sexual thoughts are a normal thing when the truth is most men would fuck a warm hole in a canteloupe. Honestly most of the time these weird thoughts are because you haven't had sex with a woman yet which is a problem a lot of young men face these days. These are trying times. Stay strong.

[Anonymous No.20916858]

This was great, putting it straight into my favorite fantasy standalones pile. Though there is apparently a sequel short story collection which I intend to read in between Blood Meridian.

To try to get across what the book is like, it kind of has a Dunsanian dreamlike atmosphere with CSSmith's cruel dark sorcery deal, but with more of a digestible narrative compared to the formers rigid classical narrative style and the painterly tendencies of the latter who barely bothers to tell a story half the time it seems (not to knock, I like both authors from the little I've read so far).

Still the book definitely belongs at least halfway in the weirdlit category, so while I can see it being a bit more enjoyable for people who aren't normally into that sort of thing its probably still a bit niche. All in all I would highly recommend and thanks to whomever first recommended this hidden gem.

[Anonymous No.20916901]

Why do so many places clump fantasy and science fiction together? Fantasy "in space" isn't even science fiction.

[Anonymous No.20916931]

>>20916901
Science fiction is just science-themed fantasy. Try to refute this so I can laugh at your sperging.

[Anonymous No.20916940]

>>20916901
I enjoy this: https://pastebin.com/MiMMCCN6

[Anonymous No.20916941]

>>20916572
>Developing

[Anonymous No.20916944]

>>20916931
It can be.

[Anonymous No.20916946]

>>20916944
It is, all of it.

[Anonymous No.20916949]

>>20916743
>Internet poisoned virgin thinks they may be gay because they a loser
Have sex (with a woman), you fucking dork

[Anonymous No.20916978]

>>20916940
This guy is implying that the difference between a laser gun and shooting a fireball with magic is just a subjective judgement call. Not that this is even the sole differentiator of science fiction and fantasy. Even if you believed that to be true there doesn't seem to be any point in calling Lord of the Rings a science fiction. Genres are still ultimately defined by people to categorize things in a way that is useful.

[Anonymous No.20916985]

>>20916978
>this guy

[Anonymous No.20916987]

Is lotr worth a reread? I read it ages ago (like a decade) and was thinking about reading it again.

[Anonymous No.20916990]

>>20916826
Don't have the mc be a boy

[Anonymous No.20916995]

>>20916836
It's been a while
What are the questions we need answered about Zane?
He was a bastard that elands dad kept from his breeding program right, because he was a schitzo it was easy for the god to get inside him

[Anonymous No.20917126]

>>20916572
>characters talking

[Anonymous No.20917157]

>>20917126
>Look I posted it

[Anonymous No.20917166]

>>20917157
>sandersoi has no response

[Anonymous No.20917170]

Has anyone ever done lit's top 100 science fiction/fantasy books? Like picrel bur just for our genres.

[Anonymous No.20917172]

>>20917126
this is from a fantasy novel? it reads like an internet comment thread
but very forward thinking views on sexuality for a mormon author

[Anonymous No.20917185]

>>20916476
You could say... it's somewhat of a hidden gem.

[Anonymous No.20917219]

>>20917170
This is the closest we've ever gotten to a consensus.

[TWI No.20917222]

>>20914352
nah, can't possibly have too much plot... i hope.
i have noticed this in the past though, marathoning the story is probably a very different experience from when you're caught up. i think that a SoL batch of chapters would be easy and comfy to follow at a bi-weekly schedule (or however often PA releases chapters, dunno), but a plot heavy story would be harder to sit through if there are multiple things being juggled. it'd be much harder to wait.
and with me it's the opposite: too much SoL makes me just want to get to the meat, but i can't imagine "having too much plot", since i know i'll get to read it soon. of course i know not everything will be resolved in V8, but still.

and i'm actually not sure how i want to read this when i'm caught up. it's either wait for the volume to be finished or reading it regularly or semi regularly.

[Anonymous No.20917242]

>>20916476
Has anyones read The other side?

[Anonymous No.20917326]

I was told that Tarnsman of Gor by John Norman is offensively sexist, so I thought it has to be good. It wasn't very good actually. I don't think it was even sexist. But maybe I'll still read a sequel or two, since it's refreshing to see at least some realism in how women are portrayed, i.e., they're more likely to be sex slaves than fierce warriors. I'm so tired of the meme of "I'll write a male character but call it a woman!"

[Anonymous No.20917356]

>>20917170
Yes, there have been attempts, which you see in the meta in the OP. There's also a spreadsheet of what is most liked and read, though outdated, of /sffg/ posters who joined the sffg Goodreads group. The general Top 100 is an absolute trainwreck every year and certainly shouldn't be used as a model. It would be even worse here due to the presence of those would rig it as much as possible. There aren't enough regularly active posters who would participate either. It would end up being mostly 1 votes or around that and not representative at all. Don't believe the meme chart that was a reply.

[Anonymous No.20917366]

>>20916559
Thanks for the idea.

[Anonymous No.20917470]

>>20917126
>Struggles to contain awesomeness

[Anonymous No.20917489]

>>20917326
I tried reading slave girl of gor. Its tedious as fuck. Just endless third person descriptions of a woman slave being nothing but a piece of meat for men to abuse. And there was no rape for pages on end so I stopped reading altogether.

[Anonymous No.20917499]

>>20917326
what a hunk of a man, I know he smells good after a long day of adventure

[Anonymous No.20917500]

>>20916476
I haven't read for two months anons

[Anonymous No.20917518]

>>20917500
so? I haven't read for two years and I post here everyday

[Anonymous No.20917525]

>>20917500
Stop using text-to-speech for shitposting.

[Anonymous No.20917533]

>>20917518
Same xd

[None !SFFG.n1h7M No.20917564]

>>20916476
The Empire's Ruin, Ashes of the Unhewn Throne #1 - Brian Staveley (2021)

The Empire's Ruin is the sixth work in this setting, as there have been four novels and a short story previously published. Although this book references from all that has come before, it doesn't really explain the world again. Starting with this book is possible, but the relevance of much of what is mentioned may be lost and it spoils the previous books, especially Skullsworn. However, it's also the case that none of the viewpoint characters from the previous books are primary characters and there's overall little overlap between what happens in this and what came before. The three viewpoint characters here, Gwenna, Akiil, and Ruc are arguably reenacting accelerated character arcs of previous viewpoint characters though.

The story starts five years after The Last Mortal Bond and the consequences of the previous trilogy have taken their toll. Three separate POVs, which don't converge for this book at least, go on a quest, are coerced into a competition, and try to con the Emperor. I enjoyed the quest the most, but the other two were nice as well. As with the previous trilogy there's a lot that goes wrong for all the characters, which sometimes borders on the melodramatic. I was pleased that the silliness that I disliked though was mostly not present, but I think that's because of the different viewpoint characters. They're all more likeable then those in the previous trilogy.

The action continues at a brisk pace and there are a considerable number of fight scenes. The lore reveals are far greater this time and what may happen by the end of this trilogy could be even more intense than the previous one. The emphasis continues to be that this is entertainment meant to be fun rather than an extensive elaboration on society and its people, which is fine by me because I enjoy both sorts. The narrative was consistent in its enjoyment for me, unlike the previous trilogy, and overall I think I prefer having a steady level of enjoyment rather than alternating highs and lows.

Rating: 4/5

[Anonymous No.20917598]

>>20917326
They're obsolete as of 2020, but the first 2 or 3 books are decent. The rest of the series is basically Norman edging for hours in front of a typewriter and somehow getting the output published.

[Anonymous No.20917622]

>>20917219
Needs to change RI to SS tier.

[Anonymous No.20917628]

>>20917564
Ahem. Fuck Adare.

[Anonymous No.20917699]

>>20917628
Well, yes, of course. She isn't really any better in this book either, for the few scenes she's in.

[Anonymous No.20917718]

>be at used bookstore
>find book with nice cover art
>read the description on the back
>realize its the third or fourth book in a super long series
>put it back on the shelf
>never think about it again

[Anonymous No.20917726]

>>20916572
>Characters talking
>and developing
As far as defenses of the hack go, this is some of the dumbest. Also, characters talking is terrible when the dialogue is as actively bad as it is.

[Anonymous No.20917741]

>>20917564
Nobody cares about your shit surface level opinions.

[Anonymous No.20917754]

>>20916506
Amen I say to thee

[Anonymous No.20917755]

>>20917718
The Greentext Tales of Broken Brains, /lit/ edition, /sffg/ volume 367, entry 73

[Anonymous No.20917796]

>>20917741
Fortunately that doesn't matter to me. I'll continue on regardless until I don't feel like doing so. Though based on your post, we also have entirely different ideas of what ought to be done and why. I don't have any interest in writing a book summary and there isn't any reason for spoiler filled discussion or analysis. Obviously if this were paid I'd put more effort into it. Your expectations are irrationally high. Also, if your intent was only to insult, then the only thing that's insulting is how low your standard is for deriving amusement from such posting. I shouldn't expect better either though.

[Anonymous No.20917877]

>>20917796
>>20917564
Ignore retards who don't read Anon and keep reviewing if you feel like it.

[Anonymous No.20917893]

All my characters are unhinged. Every single one of them except for like one or two who are acquainted with these main characters but for one reason or another are forced to stick by them and watch them do horrible means to an end type shit.

[Anonymous No.20917921]

I'm checking my old notes for the list of books I read as a teenager and this one brings back some good memories.

I'm surprised the book isn't popular. Granted I had everything borrowed from a small library all the time (I was the anon who made the post about E.T's sequel, same library), but when I recall how much I enjoyed it makes me think it was a hit back in its time. I don't know if Goodreads adequately represents the book's popularity (it was supposedly released in 2002).

Anyone else read 'Voyage of the Shadowmoon'? A somewhat unique fantasy book set on a planet far away from Earth, a 700 old vampire in a body of a teenager, people becoming crystal Dragons, edgy characters and a relatively grim world, everyone using axes because the world's physics would shut you down if you tried something like a sword...Looking back I'm surprised how fresh it feels, even though I read it almost a decade ago.

I have fond memories of this 'Moonworlds Saga' series. Glass Dragons was a good second book, but 'Voidfarer' was a bit weird. Never read the fourth book, but it seems it was not worth reading, so whatever.

Still, the series appears to be a underrated gem of old fantasy. If some Anon decided to read it, please post your impressions. I don't have time to read it again and see how it keeps up today.

[Anonymous No.20917930]

read cradle

[Anonymous No.20917948]

>>20917930
I don't read books with goofy artworks.

[Anonymous No.20917980]

>>20917948
That's terrible fan-art that this guy is spamming because I'm pretty sure he actually dislikes Cradle, shockingly.

[Anonymous No.20918057]

>>20917948
We’re just funnin, Anon.

[Anonymous No.20918072]

>>20918057
Okay that's actually kinda funny.

[Anonymous No.20918123]

>>20917980
What would be the "read Bakker" shitty artwork analogue?

[Anonymous No.20918131]

>>20918123
All Bakker art is good, his fans are sublime connoisseurs of art

[Anonymous No.20918141]

>>20917219
>Scott Lynch A tier

list null and void. the man writes pure garbage. lies of ocke lamora is mediocre as shit and the sequel is the worst piece of garbage I actually finished reading. would have thrown it in the garbage had I not been travelling without bringing anything else to read

[Anonymous No.20918142]

>>20918131
Looks like some shitty mmo "art"

[Anonymous No.20918147]

>>20918141
Elucidate. I've heard it's good.

[Anonymous No.20918184]

>>20918141
>1 possibly wrong entry to the chart
>"IT'S FUCKING TRASH!!!!"
Ok, retard.

[Anonymous No.20918214]

>>20918147
I second Anon's opinion insfar as I agree about sequels. The first book is quite book, but made worse by the following books. Just read the first one and never touch the others.

[Anonymous No.20918290]

>>20918147
the pacing is all over the place, with big parts being an excruciating slog while the plot progresses at a snails pace, before a rushed together ending. the second book is especially guilty of this, where about the first third is spent on trite, melodramatic character development and a drawn out setup for a minor part of the plot that should have been a fraction of the length. then follows a pretty enjoyable part where they gather a crew and set out to sea, before the book again turns to shit, going through some of the most contrived, cringy plot and reddit tier "witty" dialogue I've witnessed to date, and an ending he seemingly pulled out of his ass in one evening after realizing he was out of time. the man manages to spend excruciating amounts of time describing minutiae while at the same them creating a world that feels empty and bland. hundreds of pages are spent on irrelevant, uninteresting stuff that feels cheap and generic. did i mention the dialogue? if you can find anything more cringy released by a professional publisher I'll buy a brand new hardcover of this thrash and shove it up my ass

>>20918184
>1 possibly wrong entry to the chart
>"IT'S FUCKING TRASH!!!!"
seeing as it means those who put together the list either haven't read what's on there or have shit taste, yes

[Anonymous No.20918308]

I have yet to find any fantasy fiction that is more enjoyable than original Robert E Howard Conan stories. The prose, the action, the exoticism, the dark mysticism on the outskirts of society, the brutal Iron Age ancient feel to the world... It's just too good.

[Anonymous No.20918403]

>>20916559
Idk. Sounds vaguely familiar.

[Anonymous No.20918417]

>>20917219
Slaughterhouse Five on B3
Deus Irae on B4
Armor on C3
Flowers for Algernon on S1

[Anonymous No.20918534]

>>20917893
How about writing from perspective of their friends, watching the trainwrecks of the protagonists causing havoc around them?

[Anonymous No.20918582]

>>20916500
I finished book #1 a couple of weeks ago. The writing/prose is stunning - beyond anything else in the genre. The atmosphere was so heavy, I really was able to feel immersed. There was more humour than I anticipated- I genuinely laughed out loud at some of the twins' scenes. Additionally some of the other characters that started off very dull (Fuschia, Flay, Keda) ended up being fascinating. The ending (the scene on the lake where Titus throws the sacred antifacts into the lake and starts screaming along with Keda's mutant baby-thing really stuck with me, and while reading a new book I find myself thinking about and speculating about the second book. Apologies for my unstructured thoughts; tldr I loved it.

[Anonymous No.20918584]

Anything wtih the same feel as this? While I felt the series dipped in quality as it went along, the frist few books were kino.

[Anonymous No.20918591]

>>20917219
Lyonesse needs to get bumped up. I'm sick of repeating myself you silly tripcunt

[Anonymous No.20918593]

>>20918584
Agree about the quality, gave up around the books of the South. Soulcatcher femdom

[Anonymous No.20918609]

QRD on Perdido Street Station - do like it/hate it/in-between on it? I'm not really into urban fantasy as such, but it's so widely acclaimed I really should read it at some point. I'm coming off finishing Vance's Lyonesse saga, and although that was truly brilliant I am looking for something that isn't Medieval high fantasy

[Anonymous No.20918641]

How did Cordwainer Smith predict troonery?
>Out of their memory of old mankind they created a legend of Old Earth. Women in that memory were deformities, who should be killed. Misshapen beings, who should be erased. The family, as they recalled it, was filth and abomination which they were resolved to wipe out if they should ever meet it.
>They, themselves, were bearded homosexuals, with rouged lips, ornate earrings, fine heads of hair, and very few old men among them. They killed off their men before they became old; the things they could not get from love or relaxation or comfort, they purchased with battle and death. They made up songs proclaiming themselves to be the last of the old men and the first of the new, and they sang their hate to mankind when they should meet, and they sang, “Woe is Earth that we should find it,”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crime_and_the_Glory_of_Commander_Suzdal

[Anonymous No.20918645]

>>20917564
Are the previous novels worth it ?

[Anonymous No.20918647]

>>20916931
>science-themed fantasy
Incompatible. Rejection of science is innate to fantasy as a concept, whereas science fiction hinges on the novum - the scientific, 'realistic' framing of fantastical elements. Science fiction presents a world that could exist within the realm of possibility, fantasy does not. Obviously there are outliers.

[Anonymous No.20918648]

lord of the lampooning

[Anonymous No.20918654]

>>20918609
Technically it's New Weird, not Urban Fantasy. The sffg ratings for it roughly equal 3,4,5 stars that doesn't mean much. 3 stars has the most though.

[Anonymous No.20918672]

>>20918645
For me? Yes. Others mostly rated it postively, but a significant amount really became bitter by reading them due to a certain character as posted earlier in the thread. That's understandable. You can see what I wrote about the previous books in the archive or GR group.

[Anonymous No.20918678]

>>20917219
>the only Heinlein work is one of his more controversial ones
Put one like Farmer in the Sky (B2), The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (A3), or Have Spacesuit-Will Travel (A1).

Also, while I agree KSR's Red Planet is A1, the trilogy as a whole is A/B 3-4. The tone and prose takes a big turn in Green Mars/Blue Mars. KSR's 2312 could be placed in B4.

Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle (S/A 3-4) could be given as an alternate to Slaughterhouse-Five.

[Anonymous No.20918712]

>>20918648
Are those clown shoes?

[Anonymous No.20918782]

>>20918712
He does end up becoming a clown midway throughout the first book.

[Anonymous No.20918809]

>>20918641
>They killed off their men before they became old; the things they could not get from love or relaxation or comfort, they purchased with battle and death. They made up songs proclaiming themselves to be the last of the old men and the first of the new, and they sang their hate to mankind when they should meet, and they sang, “Woe is Earth that we should find it,”
This is quite based actually

[Anonymous No.20918858]

>>20918647
The majority of science fiction is not "within the realm of possibility" (mostly because of FTL). Science fiction plays on our modern sensibility of technological miracles being possible. It's subgenre of fantasy in the same way mentalism is a subgenre of stage magic that uses the exact same techniques (sleight of hand etc.) to complete an illusion presented as a feat of psychology and behaviorism rather than a mere curiosity or trick (or, at some times, "real magic").

It's not as if this means there is no other distinction between science fiction and fantasy, though. The one weird trick of illusory "plausibility" tends to fundamentally change the content and even the ethics of the stories. Science fiction (with "outliers," certainly) evokes the future while fantasy evokes the past. Not infrequently these elements are mixed.

[Anonymous No.20918913]

Is litRPG even a thing anymore? Ive only ever heard of and read the Way of the Shaman series and Ready Player One

[Anonymous No.20918930]

>>20918913
Nah sffg just made it up to troll bakkerposters. The litrpgs that are topselling on Amazon and turned into an endless stream of shit anime every season are just a big joke.

[Anonymous No.20918946]

>>20918913
Progression Fantasy is a thing especially in Web Serials

[Anonymous No.20918950]

>>20918930
>The Primal Hunter 3: A LitRPG Adventure
>#1 Best Seller in Cyberpunk Science Fiction
>16 reviews
I mean
I guess it exists
But does it really? Isekai is fun and all, but does western isekai live up?

[Anonymous No.20918955]

>>20918950
Primal Hunter is one of the mildly better ones but it suffers in some ways. Dungeon Crawler Carl is really the only LitRPG that I think is genuinely great, but there's others that are at least 'good' in some ways.

[Anonymous No.20918956]

>>20918913
Ready Player One isn't really a litrpg...
And yes, litrpg is doing well.
https://www.audible.com/search?keywords=litrpg
>1 - 20 of 1,078 results

[Anonymous No.20918964]

>>20918955
Dungeon Crawler Carl is shit. Please stop trying to shill this shit here too rebbit. Isn't your echo chamber good enough for you?

[Anonymous No.20918971]

>>20918964
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE BOOK, FAGGOT?

[Anonymous No.20918993]

>>20918950
I was thinking more along the lines of He Who Fights with Monsters

[Anonymous No.20919002]

>>20918993
HWFWM was pretty good for a while but the moment it got an actual plot it started to suck because the plot is just boring.

[Anonymous No.20919012]

>>20919002
Yes, we fucking know, you don't have to keep repeating every single thread.

[Anonymous No.20919017]

>>20919012
>People are discussing books how dare they

[Anonymous No.20919056]

>>20918913
If you liked Way of Shaman try Perimeter Defense or Dark Herbalist by Atamanov.

[Anonymous No.20919088]

>>20918809

[Anonymous No.20919154]

>>20919056
I did and thank you
>>20918955
>>20918956
Gonna check some of these out, too

[Anonymous No.20919158]

Jeyne Poole is both the best and worst name GRRM has come up with

[Anonymous No.20919235]

[Anonymous No.20919237]

[Anonymous No.20919242]

>>20918582
holy shit, is that real?

[Anonymous No.20919250]

>>20919242
They just shooped a frog face over a dancing cat.

[Anonymous No.20919299]

>>20919158
How is it pronounced?

[Anonymous No.20919377]

>>20919158
This is an incest joke, isn't it

[Anonymous No.20919407]

>>20918647
You should try the Lord of Light, which is the definitive science fantasy book. The world melds both aspects together perfectly

[Anonymous No.20919472]

>Doc says that the company set-up is just one big happy family, and that the idea that it is a non-profit corporation is the biggest joke since women were invented

[Anonymous No.20919473]

>>20916901
because they both belong to a wider class called "speculative fiction" along with horror

[Anonymous No.20919487]

>>20918582
Glad you enjoyed it anon. The second book is great too.

[Anonymous No.20919547]

>>20919473
And if you go even farther out they all belong to a group called "books". There is enough within the science fiction genre and fantasy genre to talk about them separately.

[Anonymous No.20919586]

>>20919547
enough output? yes. enough interest? maybe not

[Anonymous No.20919596]

>>20919487
I'm going to start the second book today. Boy in Darkness and Titus Awakes are en route in the post - how are they?

[Anonymous No.20919619]

Vancebros: i mean it totally makes sense, but i did not see Ys being totally fucking annihilated by the ocean

[Anonymous No.20919668]

>>20919619
should probably put the book you're referencing instead of just the author
vance wrote a lot

[Anonymous No.20919686]

>>20918858
I agree with you, I should have qualified my statement. I don't believe that (most) science fiction exists in the realm of possibility, but as you assert, the genre presents the illusion of such things being possible or at least conceivable.
>Science fiction (with "outliers," certainly) evokes the future while fantasy evokes the past.
I like this observation, I've not really seen it in that way before. Fantasy frames itself as something 'long lost', beyond our understanding in the same way history tends to be - perhaps, in that respect, history is to fantasy what science is to science fiction? The latter either provides a warning or a hope for things to come. I can't think of a science fiction story that manages to steer totally clear of utopian/dystopian dichotomies.
>>20919407
I've been meaning to read it for a while. I've heard that Dying Earth and Viriconium manage to successfully combine both genres too, but I haven't got round to those either.

[Anonymous No.20919691]

>>20919668
It's one of the two Vance books that get shilled here regular.

[Anonymous No.20919740]

>>20919686
And, since someone upthread mentioned horror as the third sibling of the genres, one could even say that horror corresponds to the present, completing the parallels. Of course horror also often involves a mix of technological (future) and folkloric (past) elements, just as sci fi and fantasy do. The pure distillation of any of them is as rare as a purely distilled flavor of a single ingredient is in cooking (because we generally prefer the mix).

>history is to fantasy what science is to science fiction
Fans of science fiction are also often fascinated by history, especially the most ancient histories. Stories about the future are often stories about "time" itself. Although fantasy worlds also tend to possess deep histories that tickle the same nerves. I guess this is just another way to say that the genres are related, even on a spectrum with each other. Is there a correlation that sci-fi stories that are more interested in feeling the depth of their histories (or our history) also overlap more with fantasy? There's a trope that's common enough to be notable, Space Jesuits, that always takes me back and makes the depth of history feel meaty, as cheesy as it may be.

[Anonymous No.20919780]

>>20919668
You're right, anon. Apologies.

[Anonymous No.20919841]

>>20919407
I would say that the Lord of Light leans more into science fiction personally

[Anonymous No.20919863]

Just finished Blindsight, really liked it.
Any fantasy books with similar themes?

[Anonymous No.20919997]

>>20919863
just read Bakker. same philosophy of mind.

[Anonymous No.20920043]

>>20918609
It's interesting nonsense about weird bohemians in a bizarre city, but only to the middle point where it becomes a tedious recap of a tryhard TTRPG session. Also, the politics are bafflingly childish in spite of the author's education, or perhaps due to it.

[Anonymous No.20920044]

Sorry bros I'm deep into the romcom mangas now
Akutsu-san will just NOT go home!!!!

[Anonymous No.20920193]

Are there any books that are more encyclopaedic in nature, in a fantasy or scifi setting? Like the contents are focused on the cultures and history of the setting instead of being narratives in the setting? Im aware theres maybe something similar by pic related, but any other recs?

[Anonymous No.20920199]

>>20920193
The Silmarillion immediately comes to mind.

[Anonymous No.20920204]

>even the recap of the previous book is written in stunningly beautiful prose
Gormengoober sisters.... how is he so good?

[Anonymous No.20920213]

>>20920199
>>20920199
What is the genre called?

[Anonymous No.20920265]

>>20918913
It should never have bern a thing

[Anonymous No.20920284]

>>20920265
Why not? It's the D&D chatacter sheet of stories

[Anonymous No.20920285]

>>20920213
Fantasy Encyclopedia, or Fapedia, if you will

[Anonymous No.20920307]

>>20920285
>FAPedia

Kek

[Anonymous No.20920314]

>>20920284
This kind of ironic self awareness wirks only for a single page comedy skit or two. It ultimately takes away from the authenticity of the characters and the story and renders the media as nothing more than a surface level collection of its caricatures.

[Anonymous No.20920390]

>>20919596
I can't say anon, I've only read the Gormenghast trilogy. However, once I finish my reread of the trilogy I have Peake's Progress (a collection of his selected works) waiting for me on my desk. I believe it contains Boy in Darkness, along with a lot of other stuff and artwork. Hope you enjoy Gormenghast, it's probably a bit better than Titus Alone imo, everything's in full swing.

[Anonymous No.20920461]

>>20920314
You are approaching the rot from the wrong direction. The point of "gamelit" is to offer simplistic narratives that are understandable to retards who have blasted their comprehension with video games. The readers need to have the literary equivalent bing bing wahoo to realise the text is in fact describing some sort of sequence of interconnected events.

[Anonymous No.20920462]

>>20920285
Cheers mate

[Anonymous No.20920471]

I understand LitRPGs are popular because video games, but why is xianxia popular?

[Anonymous No.20920517]

>>20920471
I got into it because of chinese cultivation games and I fell in love with the setting. It was like discovering about anime for the first time all over again. An entire subgenre I never knew about with cultures and customs that made no sense to me but yet fascinating.
It's like stories about knights in shining armour and honor ( and lack of ) but in a fantastical alternate reality china.

[Anonymous No.20920563]

READ CRADLE

[Anonymous No.20920571]

>aiming to reread whole Drizzt series along with the new books - ended up on the Hunter's Blades trilogy
Should I for the sake of nostalgia and discovering new installments or is it the same shitshow as it was with the Painted Man series?

[Anonymous No.20920591]

>>20920563
I still haven't read Reaper

[Anonymous No.20920679]

>>20920193
The Gods of Pegāna comes to mind, but probably isn't what you're looking for.

[Anonymous No.20920804]

>>20920193
How about just reading a wiki focused on a book series or a fictional universe?

[Anonymous No.20920836]

>>20920804
Its too impersonal.

[Anonymous No.20920838]

>>20920679
This is really good too, thanks

[Anonymous No.20920852]

Do you guys read Borges or consider him fantastical?

[Anonymous No.20920913]

>>20920193

Guide to Glorantha is a beautiful 800 page encyclopedia focusing on the anthropological and theological history of the setting going into detail on how every single culture lives and interacts with the world around them in both mundane and fantastical ways.

[Anonymous No.20920926]

>>20920471
>I understand LitRPGs are popular because video games
LitRPGs aren't popular because of video games. The genre is popular because it distills elements already presented in many books, the power progression of the protagonist or other characters. That's why litrpgs and power fantasy genre are mentioned in the same breath and read by both groups of readers. But in comparison to the 'progression fantasy,' LitRPGs go even further and quanitfy the progress into numbers and specific names for powers.

LitRPGs aren't popular because they are video games in literary form, they are popular because they use the same MECHANICS used in video games. A character does something and grows, but the growth is literal in form of numbers. Instead of just gaining some undefined 'experience' in combat, a character gains a level in their Class. Or raises their stats. It's a fantasy of action and feedback. The gains are real and concrete. That's what it's all about.

In a way, the coming of this genre was inevitable. I've seen books that focused on characters' progression long before LitRPG genre came to be, but the authors were blind, fumbling in the sea of books, not truly understanding what they want. Only now people have specified what they really want.

[Anonymous No.20920933]

So I'm reading and really enjoying A Game of Thrones. Did I make a mistake getting into this though knowing that it's going to be finished some nebulous time in the future?

[Anonymous No.20920942]

>>20920933
no
enjoy it anon

[Anonymous No.20920956]

>>20920926
You misunderstand what litRPG genre is about. Some books have litRPG mechanics but still follow traditional fantasy storytelling route. Actual litRPG genre and stories are written by people who follow the pacing, the mechanics , typical plot of an actual video/computer game. Like pick up an older rpg and then write down what happened from level 1 to the last level in the game, or if you go to yt and watch all the cutscenes of some game, that is what litrpg is book format also with inclusion of grinding. People who write litRPG do not follow any established writing practises, minimal planning and just write a plot and progression of a game without the actual game.

[Anonymous No.20920962]

>>20920933
No, Storm of Swords is a pretty good jumping-off point.
> it's going to be finished some nebulous time in the future?
It will only be finished after the fat fuck dies and the estate hires Sanderson to write the last two books.

[Anonymous No.20920965]

I WILL PURCHASE THIS "TABERNA" FOR TWENTY-FIVE EUROS!!

[Anonymous No.20920966]

>>20916858
Darrell nailed the spooky nile setting. Floating down the river of reeds on his little boat in the middle of the night surrounded by crocs. The festival of the dead, everything was perfect. I'm really surprised that Darrell only gets mentioned as often as he does.

There's a followup to this one, the cover isn't quite as good, unfortunately. I'm not sure what happened there but its got soul if nothing else.

[Anonymous No.20920970]

>>20916500
Are you a wumao or have you not been sterilized yet?

>>20916901
Sext fiction™

>>20918417
C3

[Anonymous No.20921022]

>>20920913
Perfect, thank you

[Anonymous No.20921047]

>>20920962
Sanderson writing the last two aSoIaF books. Now that's a shitshow I wouldn't wanna miss

[Anonymous No.20921067]

>>20919237
I have no idea what any of this means, but good job if you're trying to confuse me into reading into it too much!

[Anonymous No.20921068]

>>20921047
Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck will write it

[Anonymous No.20921075]

>>20921068
What about GRRM?

[Anonymous No.20921087]

What's a fantasy novel that gives you this feeling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9Gpk75z6rE

[Anonymous No.20921088]

>>20921075
Editing more Wild Cards in hell.

[Anonymous No.20921092]

>>20921088
𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌳𐍉𐍃

suck cum.

[Anonymous No.20921130]

I'm up to the bit where severian gets challenged to a duel and is talking to a girl about it and I think I'm going to stop here
It's just not that great

[Anonymous No.20921141]

lol filtered

[Anonymous No.20921151]

>>20917219
Is there a similar chart for litrpg?

[Anonymous No.20921166]

>>20921068
That's what I thought as well, but when I looked into it, they've both explicitly said that the time has passed and that they wouldn't do it know. Also GRRM has said he won't let anyone finish it. Prachett had everything destroyed after he died. That could happen here unless GRRM sells off the rights so whomever can do posthumous franchise work. His wife would b his estate manager after he died probably.

[Anonymous No.20921171]

>>20921151
What would be the point of a chart where all the books are in rows D and F?

[Anonymous No.20921184]

>>20921087
How can anyone know how it makes you feel rather than how it makes them feel without saying how it makes you feel?

[Anonymous No.20921185]

This is my first Scalzi. Pretty good so far (pg 50) but it's a little sparse on detail. For the first few chapters I could see how it might not even seem like scifi

[Anonymous No.20921194]

përfytyroj oriz kacabu, ngurroj

[Anonymous No.20921239]

>>20921185

It reminds me of the very beginning of the Forever War where all the scifi high falutin shit happened off planet and was close enough to the Vietnam War that veterans from that were still active duty. I do think there is some value in reinforcing that even if there are radical changes the core experience of humanity has enough weight that its hard to shift easily.

[Anonymous No.20921247]

პარასკევი

[Anonymous No.20921283]

>>20921171

[Anonymous No.20921288]

>>20921283
Banned from bowling at Pinnacle

[Anonymous No.20921341]

>>20921185
Didn't like it too much. Tired of holier-than-thou morally superior boomers in my scifi

[Anonymous No.20921374]

>>20917219
what happened to the adjustments this guy was going to make?

[Anonymous No.20921379]

>>20917893
that's great, ignore the other reply's suggestion.

[Anonymous No.20921407]

>>20921088
kek

[Anonymous No.20921444]

GLURP GLURP

[Anonymous No.20921449]

Dip has already been sipped. Sorry!

[Anonymous No.20921457]

>>20921151
I haven't read THAT many LitRPGs but I've read a fair few and they're all about the same level of ease of understanding, but varying wildly in quality. The best one, which I still wouldn't quite put at S tier because there's nothing that's QUITE that astounding that I've read, is Dungeon Crawler Carl. B tier would probably have Infinite Realm with an asterisk that it's rough but it's clearly written with some level of passion and that comes through. C tier would be where a lot of them sit, including some that were good but forgettable, I'd put Unbound and Primal Hunter here. D tier I think I'd say He Who Fights With Monsters because as a whole it falls off really hard. E tier is Defiance of the Fall because it's just really not that fun to read. I dunno if I'd put anything in F tier, but maybe as a 'lower E tier' I'd put Randidly Ghosthound. It's just dull.

[Anonymous No.20921463]

Is there a fantasy about humans creating a simulation to live in as they ruined earth.
But the simulation is high fantasy shit with people and creatures living there and when the humans arrive they start flexing on everyone

[Anonymous No.20921492]

>>20917219
Is The Forever War by Joe Haldeman missing? I can't see it here. It's GOAT tier sci-fi.

[Anonymous No.20921524]

>>20921185
The first few chapters start out slow, but are very much relevant to the whole story. Old Man's War brought back some of the same feelings I had when I first read Ender's Game as a kid. It's kind of like Ender's Game for old men. The idea that I might outlive my wife really haunts me. The whole premise of being rejuvenated at my age is more appealing than any other concept I've encountered in sci-fi or fantasy.

[Anonymous No.20921634]

>>20921463
Overlord.

[Anonymous No.20921636]

>>20921457
Seems you still have to read The Wandering Inn. It's a significant jump in quality compared to average webnovels, written more like an average epic fantasy than aimless popcorn litrpgs like Defiance of the Fall. It's most similar to Infinite Realms in quality, but light years ahead in terms of writing characters.

[Anonymous No.20921638]

>>20921634
Backed.

[Anonymous No.20921649]

>>20921636
I have very little interest in starting to read that right now, just because it's an obscene amount of reading and I'm not really somebody who reads things 'alongside' other stuff.

[Anonymous No.20921652]

>>20921463
>Is there a fantasy about humans creating a simulation to live in as they ruined earth.
>But the simulation is high fantasy shit with people and creatures living there and when the humans arrive they start flexing on everyone
I actually have an idea to write something like that. You must know 'humans living in simulation that resembles high fantasy' sounds like a lot of Litrpgs out there.
There is one hard sci-fi book that sounds like you're looking for, but it's not about high-fantasy simulation, just simulation to live in.

It's a classic - 'Permutation City'

[Anonymous No.20921661]

>>20921634
>When an experimental starship test goes horribly wrong, a test pilot from Earth is flung across the galaxy and crash lands on the planet of a powerful alien king.

>Pilot Mallory West is having a really bad day. She’s crashed on an alien planet, her ship is in pieces, and her best friend Poppy, the scientist monitoring the >experiment, is missing. Dazed and injured, she collapses into the arms of a big, silver-eyed warrior king. But when her rescuer cuffs her to a bed and accuses her >of being a spy, Mal knows she has to escape her darkly tempting captor and find her friend.

>Overlord Rhain Zhalto Sarkany is in a battle to protect his planet Zhalto and his people from his evil, power-hungry father. He’ll use every one of his deadly Zhalton >abilities to win the fight against his father’s lethal warlord and army of vicious creatures. Rhain suspects the tough, intriguing woman he pulls from a starship wreck >is a trap, but when Mal escapes, he is compelled to track her down.

>Fighting their overwhelming attraction, Mal and Rhain join forces to hunt down the warlord and find Poppy. But as Mal’s body reacts to Zhalto’s environment, it >awakens dormant powers, and Rhain is the only one who can help her. As the warlord launches a brutal attack, it will take all of Mal and Rhain’s combined powers >to save their friends, the planet, and themselves.

Explain yourself, it doesn't sound like a simulation story, just another 'I'm a woman and want a hot male to fuck me' drivel

[Anonymous No.20921665]

Abandoned.

[Anonymous No.20921666]

>>20921661
They probably meant another Overlord.

[Anonymous No.20921681]

>>20917219
chart maker supreme, I feel like we can make small changes, if your highness could allow for suggestions, I would suggest removing the way of kings completely or adding an E and F tier and moving it there.

[Anonymous No.20921739]

>>>/tv/173432136

[Anonymous No.20921759]

>>20920517
what cultivation games did you play?

[Anonymous No.20921772]

>>20921739
>hate niggers
>also hate lord of the rings
I don't know how to feel.

[Anonymous No.20921778]

>>20921759
It was Amazing Cultivation Simulator and I only picked it up because it looked like rimworld with fancy graphics and a eastern setting.
Since then I've tried a bunch since and right now I'm playing 觅长生 / Immortal Way of Life which I'm really enjoying.

[Anonymous No.20921974]

>>20920517
I have never heard of xianxia PLEASE tell me your favorite books and where to read them

[Anonymous No.20921997]

>>20916641
People here hate it because of >>20916659
I don't think I need to comment on that, considering the overall mentality of this website
I liked the books a lot, but the mc really could be better in some regards. The magic system was what carried me.

[Anonymous No.20921999]

>>20920517
I don't know about games but chinese anime is legit garbage, and chinese wuxia tv shows are absolute shitfest

>>20921974
there is only one story worth reading, there few others barely passable.

[Anonymous No.20922004]

>>20921999
What's the one story

[Anonymous No.20922029]

>>20922004
see >>20919235

[Anonymous No.20922054]

>>20922029
>One of the best light novels, too bad it got banned in China and is not completed.
Is this true and why are you tricking me
*unsheathes sword*
Answer wisely

[Anonymous No.20922208]

>>20916788
A lot of books have that premise. I've never read one that actually fulfils the expectations one might have for such a story. It always hares off into some other retardation and loses my interest.

[Anonymous No.20922213]

*cultivates Bosko*

[Anonymous No.20922218]

>>20918647
Dragons are no more unrealistic than ftl travel. A made up story with ties to myths isn't what defines fantasy (only some). Its just a story with fictional elements, which sci fi always is.

[Anonymous No.20922229]

Does this stop feeling like it was written by a r*dditer?

[Anonymous No.20922236]

>>20922218
Scifi being a subgenre of fantasy is peak midwit take. There's a fundamental metaphysical difference between magic and science, even if the science is speculative.

[Anonymous No.20922270]

>>20922236
You are retarded.

[Anonymous No.20922278]

>>20922236
Made up science fits under the umbrella of fantasy. There is fundamental and metaphysical difference between cosmic horror and nursery rhymes. Both are still made up stories involving fictional things.

The seperation between fantasy and sci fi is a marketing one. Sci fi is too big a subgenere to be refered to as such.

[Anonymous No.20922279]

blk

[Anonymous No.20922300]

Looking for recommendations, I'm writing a sword and sorcery comedy VR game for a company and I'm having trouble finding anything, reference material wise, that's actually funny and witty and not just trying to emulate "nerd" DnD culture and aping fantasy tropes. Does anything like this exist?

[Anonymous No.20922304]

>>20922278
The fundamental difference is that knowledge in scifi is grounded on empirical method and subsequent engineering from it. While fantasy is grounded in mysticism(for the most part). The philosophy fags can probably explain this shit better. This changes the way in which the story and characters approach these fictional elements. As I said, putting scifi under fantasy is THE Dunny Kruger take. I'm sure people who say this feel smart about saying something that may sound like a mind blowing revelation to a 14 year old.

>There is fundamental and metaphysical difference between cosmic horror and nursery rhymes. Both are still made up stories involving fictional things.

Lol. Read this again and realise how stupid it sounds. I shouldn't even have to spell the obvious out.

[Anonymous No.20922306]

Been trying to hunt a novel I read a while ago. The MC is an assasin and has a spirit/ fairy girl companion that only he can see. Anyone know which novel this is?

[Anonymous No.20922307]

>>20922300
schürtest

[Anonymous No.20922344]

>>20922300
Discworld is funny but it's not exactly easy to emulate the style of.

[Anonymous No.20922391]

>>20922300
>>20922307
anon anon anon this is a very complicated undertaking and I recommend you find an easier subject
there is a ton of short and sweet "sword and sorcery" from before the printing press, but to be honest people back then were kind of fed up with people being "funny" and "witty"... in conclusion only the jester was allowed to be funny, and he also protected the town or city or court from other assholes who thought they were "funny and witty"
but if you still don't mind selling your soul to the devil (making the game) look into Calvino's "Castle of Crossed Destinies," that might hammer you into a better shape ~

[Anonymous No.20922394]

>>20922391
Körperöffnung

[Anonymous No.20922447]

>>20922344
The Divinity games reminded me of Discworld quite a bit.

[Anonymous No.20922458]

>>20922307
>>20922394
German anon idk what you're trying to tell me.

>>20922344
Appreciate it, it's on the list too. I've never read it before, always thought it was more sci-fi than fantasy, so good to know.

>>20922391
Trust me, I know how hard it is. I'm still determined though, plus its a job and I still have to eat. I'll look into Castle of Crossed Destinies, thank you.

It's a genre that seems to be pretty bare. Whether that's because it's impossible to do or something I'm not sure. The only thing I've found so far to be helpful, book-wise, has been Don Quixote due to its situational humor. That tends to be more what I'm leaning towards.

[Anonymous No.20922460]

>>20921997
>I don't think I need to comment on that, considering the overall mentality of this website
Please do comment on it. I'd like to hear all about your progressive open relationship

[Anonymous No.20922484]

Tolkien is shit.

[Anonymous No.20922486]

I go to sleep, good night /sffg/sisters

[Anonymous No.20922494]

>>20921166
A Song of Ice and Fire is too much of a cash cow to die unfinished at this point, it will 100% get an ending. His widow and publishers will see to it.

[Anonymous No.20922502]

>>20922486
good night James Charles

[Anonymous No.20922585]

>500 chapters
>5 multiple chapter epilogues
Picked up.

[Anonymous No.20922664]

generally I prefer listening to reading but man i am really tired of hearing a middle aged man narrate a MFF human fire elf threesome

[Anonymous No.20922678]

>>20922664
>Neil Gaiman blurb
That's basically a stamp declaring the book to be shit.

[Anonymous No.20922683]

Should I start Discworld from the first book or is there a better one to start with?

[Anonymous No.20922704]

>>20922683
I heavily recommend against starting with the first book. Its pretty shit and also completely different from the later Discworld books. I think Mort or Guards Guards! would be pretty good starting points.

[Anonymous No.20922705]

>>20922678
it's crazy to me that years after writing book of the new sun and book of the long sun gene wolfe wrote something this painful to read.
like seriously fire elf threesome and this isn't the first time the teen mc has gotten his cock sucked by supernatural creatures. book isn't even half way over yet
world is cool though.

[Anonymous No.20922735]

>>20922683
What the other anon said
Google Death Discworld books and read the peak of the series

[Anonymous No.20922741]

>>20922683
If you are a completionist with some patience, yes. But the first few are not typical of the series and are of lesser quality. I do recommend publication order once you get started, though. It makes the storylines you like less easier going when they're mixed in with the ones you like more.

[Anonymous No.20922744]

>>20922458
Calvino also has a volume of collected Italian fairy tales, but for a more structured approach I would recommend Straparola's "Pleasant Nights" (this was written in 1550, about the end of the period you are interested in)
Don Quixote is nice, yeah, especially since it was meant to be taken seriously, as a tragedy, and not a comedy

[Anonymous No.20922753]

Fantasy is based, brothers

[Anonymous No.20922761]

Müntze

[Anonymous No.20922769]

>>20922683
This is always a good reference, but personally I felt like most novels are pretty much standalone at least for the one I read ( Pyramids, Small Gods, Mort, Reaper Man and Guards! Guards! )

[Anonymous No.20922858]

>>20922683
It's a mixed bag. The first two books aren't BAD, but they're very different from what the series eventually becomes. It's around Mort when the series kind of becomes itself properly, because prior to that it still has a lot of the fantasy parody stuff going on, whereas later that's more just the backbone to the world itself, and the world is just used to tell interesting takes on existing stories, or rather archetypes of stories.

[Anonymous No.20923034]

>>20922458
>German anon idk what you're trying to tell me.
he is probably high on cocaine as he was also in other topics vomiting bullshit, stringing words together (peppered with German) like a defective A.I.
e.g. >>20922693

[Anonymous No.20923160]

>>20922054
Do you want to see the pic of my dic?

[Anonymous No.20923167]

[Anonymous No.20923176]

>>20923167
Wasting the water after he's done drinking cracks me up. That dog is like a middle school bully.

[Anonymous No.20923188]

>>20923167
Bakker posters be like

[Anonymous No.20923195]

>>20921652
Thanks I'll check it out

Regarding my previous post I forgot to add that we would only able to use limited amount of magic compare to he inhabitants and maybe a higher power such as gods and angel would try to keep us in check

[Anonymous No.20923291]

>>20922585
This shit is gayer than any Bakker male on male rape scene can ever hope to be.

[Anonymous No.20923338]

>>20922753
if thats true then why have there been so few good fantasy books in recent years?

[Anonymous No.20923379]

>>20917921
It sounds interesting, anon. Thank you for sharing, I'll check it out.

[Anonymous No.20923405]

picked this up on a whim the other day, what do you guys think of it? about to start reading

[Anonymous No.20923432]

Which Andrew Lang book is the best?

[Anonymous No.20923433]

>>20922300
You need horse jokes
Like how many dwarves does it take to stable a horse

[Anonymous No.20923435]

>>20922769
Witches novels are my favourite!

[Anonymous No.20923466]

I finished this one now, the arc of the assassin that focused on farms and tortured the families he found inside, being shown later that he was a bull that had evolved and that remembered all the deaths and tortures that his race suffered, deciding to start a genonicide against the human race was a personal favorite

[Anonymous No.20923483]

>>20923466
I'm only done with book 2, PH just has a pacing issue, that tutorial shouldn't have lasted more than a single book. It's well-written enough, and Jake is a decent protagonist, and other characters do seem interesting enough, but the world is a little... Weirdly bland-feeling.

[Anonymous No.20923493]

>>20923483
I almost dropped because of that, the tutorial took half of the second book, but then the tutorial ended and came the intermission chapters with some interesting characters (especially the boxer girl and the doctor), second half of the book 2 was what kept me going, and book 3 was better so im sticking to see what happens next

[Anonymous No.20923498]

>>20923483
>>20923493
also i think the author realized that he went full retard with the tutorial bc he makes a joke in book 3 introduction saying that a tutorial shouldnt had took the start of book 2

[Anonymous No.20923501]

>>20923498
He always seems to have a lot of "Oh shit I shouldn't have done that" in the preambles (like how awkward it is having a major character named Jacob when the protagonist is Jake, because he apparently didn't know people used Jake as shorthand for Jacob).

[Anonymous No.20923504]

>>20923501
yeah i had some missread in book 1 because i was associated jake with jacob

[Anonymous No.20923510]

>>20923501
but do try book 3 anon, see if you like, it was a fast read and desu im interessed to see the MC interacting with the other characters/factions

[Anonymous No.20923703]

>>20923510
I'll probably give it a look after I'm finished reading ANOTHER third entry in a LitRPG with a decent enough protagonist and fine characters. Unbound is... I'm starting to like it a lot more now that Felix has been allowed to exist in civilisation because the first two books did their damndest to keep him as isolated as possible so we didn't get much character interactions there.

[Anonymous No.20923800]

>>20922769
So I'll probably either buy a copy of Sourcery or Mort.

[Anonymous No.20923817]

>>20922484
It's okay to admit you never read LotR. It's a big book and you don't get a free donut for reading it.

[Anonymous No.20923818]

>>20923800
Mort is generally considered a solid 'start'. It's relatively standalone, and it's one of the more defining books for Death as a character.

[Anonymous No.20923824]

>>20923703
This author really hates his main character interacting with people. It’s painful. Like he’s afraid of writing casual dialogue for his isekai mc.

[Anonymous No.20923858]

>>20923824
It's weird because he seems to do fine with it, Felix is relatively enjoyable when talking to other characters because he's just kind of bumblefucking his way through social situations. But most interactions are "Felix does a cool thing and everybody's like what the fuck who's this guy" instead of "Felix talks to people".

[Anonymous No.20923904]

>>20923858
Yeah it’s really painful. Like the story is in desperate need of giving Felix a chance to just breathe and develop. Also kind of a spoiler but it’s a bit on the nose that he chose to make the fire mage a literal flaming faggot . I thought book three was better than book two at least.

[Anonymous No.20923936]

>>20923904
Almost every one of these webnovel LitRPGs seems to have a gay/bi character that I never really clock as being gay until they just say they are. Infinite Realm had Nayra and Anrosh just kinda suddenly becoming a couple and I don't really know where it came from, for example. I don't mind it, myself, because I have similar feelings with a lot of fictional couples that lack chemistry where it's like "Oh they're a thing okay" so I often expect to not really notice what is apparently obvious in that department. I also don't really care about Atar as a character, he's just kind of there to be annoying it feels like. I'm also a little baffled at... How little plot has actually happened in three books. It took so long for Felix to reach civilisation and he still had no idea what the fuck he's even been summoned for, so he's just kinda existing and letting events happen to him. Reactive protagonists aren't bad, but it feels like he's reactive just because nothing in the plot is letting him learn.

[Anonymous No.20924051]

Is Erin just a manic pixie dream girlfriend

[Anonymous No.20924114]

>>20924051
who?

[Anonymous No.20924154]

read cradle

[Anonymous No.20924183]

What do you do after you finish reading a really good story, but there's another story you want to read? Jump right into it?

[Anonymous No.20924184]

>>20924154
Stop spamming this shit already.

[Anonymous No.20924186]

>>20924183
How is this even a question?

[Anonymous No.20924210]

What are the best books with GENERIC magic systems?

"Interesting" magic gets caught up in the "magic" of cuckoldry like >>20916659 and I'd like something real simple instead.

[Anonymous No.20924213]

>>20924210
>What are the best books with GENERIC magic systems?
Check the archive, there's a shit ton if you actually care.

[Anonymous No.20924214]

>>20924213
Keywords?

[Anonymous No.20924218]

>>20924214
magic systems

[Anonymous No.20924225]

>>20924218
That only gets me a bunch of hits from seething "original" magic fags.

[Anonymous No.20924228]

Elantris is so fucking boring.....

[Anonymous No.20924232]

>>20924214
Maybe "magic explained" or some derivative? Look up Sanderson discussions and find something that branches off? Since he is likely to be your biggest hit for magic system discussion. Also consider checking /tg/, perhaps a jump thread. They get quite autistic about what is and is not viable within a setting.

[Anonymous No.20924236]

>>20924232
>jumpfags
Why would you say that? I don't want to think about some shitty fanfic of their mary sue fucking up a setting.

[Anonymous No.20924243]

>>20924236
Reread the last sentence again.

[Anonymous No.20924245]

>>20924243
That's irrelevant.
And isn't Sandershit one of the big proponents of original magic?

[Anonymous No.20924248]

>>20924245
>original magic

[Anonymous No.20924251]

>>20924248
"original" magic, you know what I mean.

[Anonymous No.20924252]

>>20924251
I clearly don't.

[Anonymous No.20924264]

>So, um, this is Wonderwall
>OMG.

[Anonymous No.20924268]

Finished Warbreaker. Why does it have a 4.3/5 stars on Goodreads? Literally 2 of the PoV characters roll around in bed for 3/4ths of the book and do nothing.

[Anonymous No.20924272]

>>20924268
It's a brandon sanderson book.

[Anonymous No.20924304]

>>20924268
I loved warbreaker. More than ellantris even.
Lightsong is probably one of my favorite Sanderson characters and his whole arc with his high priest and the god he was banging was kino.

[Anonymous No.20924312]

>>20924268
I don't know what I would rate Warbreaker, but it was one of the better fantasy reads I had in the last ten years. That's not saying much because I spent a few years of that time reading Wheel of Time, but still it's okay. I'd recommend it to any fantasy reader without hesitation.

[Anonymous No.20924348]

>>20924268
Just because you didn’t like it doesn’t mean others did.

[Anonymous No.20924353]

>>20924348
It's been established that Sanderson fans are people who don't actually enjoy reading other fantasy novels and are thus not fans of the genre. As his consistently high ratings show, these fans and their opinions are to be disregarded entirely.

[Anonymous No.20924367]

>>20924353
I’m not getting into this stupid arguments, anon.

[Anonymous No.20924368]

>>20924348
Such an easy concept to understand, yet people here have trouble understanding it.

[Anonymous No.20924371]

I want to write a science fiction book but I’m not super smart regarding any particular sciences.

A lot of the more modern sci fi books I’ve read seem quite physics heavy or go into detail on biology and stuff which frankly I don’t understand

Do you think writing a sci fi book from a less straight up analytical view is feasible? I’d rather just describe certain tech without explaining how it works and instead focusing on what changes it makes as per the plot

[Anonymous No.20924376]

>>20924371
>I want to write a science fiction book
Alright, don't know why you're here, go to the writing general, a general dedicated to writing, >>20918666

[Anonymous No.20924407]

>>20924184
It's like his third time doing this. I'm surprised he hasn't gotten ban because of it.

[Anonymous No.20924428]

>>20924353
Blandon Blanderson
boring trite shit.

[Anonymous No.20924444]

>>20924154
why do you hate cradle so much that you do this low effort spam shit to make people dislike it?

[Anonymous No.20924446]

>>20923405
the trilogy is a modern SF masterpiece, on par with Asimov and Clarke.

[Anonymous No.20924456]

>>20924228
>4.2 star rating on good reads
>220k ratings
Are you sure you aren't the odd one out?

[Anonymous No.20924487]

>>20924228
It's a brandon sanderson book.

[Anonymous No.20924490]

>>20924184
>>20924407
>newfags
Just filter it retards.

[Anonymous No.20924514]

>>20924371
Seconding this anon >>20924376 suggestion.

[Anonymous No.20924530]

>>20924371
Go to the writing general, they’ll help with this. Don’t even know why you bother asking here.

[Anonymous No.20924545]

I'm nearly finished with Shadow of the Torturer and I don't get what's so great about it
It reminds me of those shitty fantasy novels I found as a kid while browsing the 'adult fiction 'section of the library

[Anonymous No.20924548]

>>20924545
That's the point, anon.

[Anonymous No.20924557]

>>20924545
You have to read it like 50 times to get it. Overall, just read something else, it was trite when I read it but I kept mute opinion to myself because people here get mad if you don’t toe the line.

[Anonymous No.20924561]

>>20923405
>about to start reading
Then read it.

[Anonymous No.20924570]

>>20923167
what an asshole guys

[Anonymous No.20924573]

>>20922304
>scifi is grounded on empirical method and subsequent engineering from it
Completely wrong, and you don't understand science or history either.
HOWEVER, there IS a major distinction between scifi and fantasy, but it has nothing to do with mechanics or presentation. You could write a scifi story about dragon riding wizards, or a fantasy story about post human cyborgs. The main distinction between the two genres is that scifi is implicitly connected to the real world and fantasy isn't. In other words, a fantasy world, whether it's a utopia, dystopia, or somewhere in between is fundamentally separate from us and therefore outside the realm of judgement, a fantasy. Whereas scifi is presented as a real possibility, even if it's obviously not ever going to happen, an alternate universe, a what-if, where reality intrudes and the goal of the story is to present truth, not fiction. Hence scifi tends to be preachy, and fantasy tends to be braindead.
Horror is thus the synthesis of the two, something that is not, but may be, the tension comes from not really being able to tell whether it's intended as truth or fiction, and the reality that it's often impossible to make that distinction even in actual reality.

History is the known known
Fantasy is the known unknown
Scifi is the unknown known
Horror is the unknown unknown

[Anonymous No.20924576]

>>20924573
It’s been ten hours. Just fuck off with your retarded opinion.

[Anonymous No.20924578]

>>20924573
>You could write a scifi story about dragon riding wizards, or a fantasy story about post human cyborgs.
It's called Science Fantasy. I also don't understand why you're restarting an argument that's been dead for hours.

[Anonymous No.20924584]

>>20924576
>>20924578
Who cares? I felt like posting, so I did.

[Anonymous No.20924587]

>>20924578
>I also don't understand why you're restarting an argument that's been dead for hours.
Because he just can’t admit he’s wrong so he keeps making more retarded claims and speculation. Guy just can’t take the L.

[Anonymous No.20924599]

>>20924576
>>20924578
>>20924587
Oh I see what's going on here. You got so but blasted by some guy ten hours ago you shit yourself in fear when I quoted you. Calm down pokey, it's just a (you), it can't hurt you.

[Anonymous No.20924602]

>>20924210
GURPS, Genesys

[Anonymous No.20924605]

>>20924599
Anon, I'm not even the one you're arguing with, but whatever makes you feel better? Anyways, this is going to be my last reply to you, hope you seek help,

[Anonymous No.20924607]

>>20924602
already read, I'd like stories, not systems

[Anonymous No.20924611]

>>20924530
Writing general is for more "high brow" literature. They don't take kindly to people trying to pen the next litrpg isekai.

[Anonymous No.20924612]

>>20924605
Cool your anus before it catches fire.

[Anonymous No.20924617]

>>20924611
Neither do we, but the writing general discusses writing, so go there.

[Anonymous No.20924625]

>>20924617
It'd be more productive to tell him to take his inquiry out of /lit/ altogether.

[Anonymous No.20924627]

>>20924625
If he was serious about his writing, he wouldn't be here to begin with.

[Anonymous No.20924629]

>>20924617
>the writing general discusses writing
LOL

[Anonymous No.20924632]

>>20924627
Of course he would, he would be 'subtly' shilling the next big litrpg isekai webnovel(his).

[Anonymous No.20924638]

>>20924632
So, he isn't serious about his writing, thanks for proving my point.

[Anonymous No.20924702]

>>20924353
Sanderson got me back into reading. I used to read heaps in my teens, all the popular YA fiction from the late 90s/2000s like hp, LotR, sabriel, his dark materials, artimis fowl, the Garth nix books. Then I just kinda stopped, the only thing I read in my 20s were Malazan. Then nothing until someone got me a kindle and recommended stormlight. Since then iv got back into reading fantasy hard, read pretty much everything that's commonly recommended here and more obscure fantasy too.

Thanks Sanderson!

[Anonymous No.20924709]

>>20924702
>Everything that's commonly recommended here except chinkshit, litrpg and webnovels.
Fixed that

[Anonymous No.20924860]

>I thrust deeply the longsword into his body pouring blood like come in an infested whore's ass, a flowing foulness from his fleshy faucet quenching my thirst for evening's lunch.
Grimdark fantasy

[Anonymous No.20924896]

>>20924860
Magdeburg trilogy by Alan D. Altieri is written exactly like this. I don't think it's translated in English but it's beyond ridiculous. Includes extremely detailed descriptions of gruesome wounds, violent rape, and diseases.

[Anonymous No.20925026]

>>20924371
>Do you think writing a sci fi book from a less straight up analytical view is feasible? I’d rather just describe certain tech without explaining how it works and instead focusing on what changes it makes as per the plot
It is feasible because the average reader does not know anything about science either. But it'd definitely be good to know some things because otherwise you might make rookie mistakes that look really bad to those who do know at least high school physics. For instance, a space battle near a planet would not be stationary over the surface, there is no such thing as "pure energy", and you can't swim in a power armour that weighs tons. Remotely hacking power armours is a retarded concept too.

[Anonymous No.20925045]

bros i want two books
one is a fantasy that's dark but not edgy for the sake of being edgy (i want the cormac mccarthy of fantasy)
and i want a horror book that's similar to silent hill 2
can you hook a nigger up?

[Anonymous No.20925078]

>>20925045
The red knight

[Anonymous No.20925132]

New thread.
>>20925124

[Anonymous No.20925182]

>>20924545
just keep going.

[Anonymous No.20925305]

>>20924605
YEAH ANON
DISCUSSING BOOKS IN A BOOK THREAD? YOU BETTER SEEK HELP FAGGOT
I HOPE THIS RETARDED FAGGOT SEES THIS POST FIVE HOURS LATER AND REPLIES TO ME SO HE CAN EMBARRASS YOURSELF
YOU DUMB FAGGOT NIGGER

[Anonymous No.20925318]

>>20924353
I like Sandersons works and also like other fantasy. What now faggot?

[Anonymous No.20925408]

>>20925318
Now you're an illiterate YAfag.