/sffg/ - Science Fiction and Fantasy General

[Anonymous No.21752883]

Melian the Maia and her daughter Lúthien, in the throne room of Menegroth Edition

Previous thread:>>21744505

>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.21752910]

>>21752883
First for Hodgson is based.

[Anonymous No.21752968]

>Reading Count Zero by William Gibson
>Characters mention 'hotdogging' and 'hotdoggers'
>No idea wtf what people are talking about

Generally I can decode Gibson's neologistic slang based on context, but in this instance I have no idea what it could mean

[Anonymous No.21753004]

>>21752883
Down with cultivationism
Up with classic fantasy!

[Anonymous No.21753008]

/SFFG/ Recommendations:

Read Reverend Insanity, Lord of The Mysteries, Neuromancer, Hyperion, The Prince of Nothing

Also read The Wandering Inn, Between Two Fires, Mother of Learning, Cradle, I Shall Seal the Heavens, A Song of Ice and Fire, The Poppy War.

[Anonymous No.21753107]

>>21753008
I unrecommend all of these

[Anonymous No.21753111]

>no Waybound until June
Fuck

[Anonymous No.21753114]

>>21752968
Gays. They put the Hot Dog in the Bun.

[Anonymous No.21753122]

Is Red Rising good? I've seen people say it's the Cosmere of sci fi

[Anonymous No.21753141]

>>21753008
i'm curious. how would you rank these between each other?

[Anonymous No.21753155]

>>21753122
yes it's good

[Anonymous No.21753157]

>>21752910
I'm currently reading Night Land and to say it's disappointing is an understatement. I was expecting something much better.

[Anonymous No.21753158]

Elf king rape of troll concubines.
Troll rape on human/elf concubines.
>>21753157
Filtered?

[Anonymous No.21753163]

>>21753008
A good list of books not to read.

[Anonymous No.21753164]

TELL ME ABOUT BAEN

[Anonymous No.21753173]

>>21753155
Ok ty anon I will buy every book tomorrow

[Anonymous No.21753178]

>>21753158
It's just not very good. The prose is pretty bad (which is hardly controversial, even Lovecraft remarked on how bad it was). There's no characters at all, the 17th century language is doing it no favours.
"Well — I'm a couple of hundred pages into "The Night Land" — but it's damn hard going. God, what a verbose mess. And yet the chronological-geographical idea & some of the macabre concepts are magnificent. Don't know whether I'm going to side with you or with Klarkash-Ton in the end. The pseudo-archaic English is an acute agony — a cursed hybrid jargon belonging to no age at all! That's Hodgson's weakness — you'll note a sort of burlesque Elizabethan speech supposed to be of the 18th century in "Glen Carrig". Why the hell can't people pick the right archaic speech if they're going to be archaic?"

There's probably something to the novel, I'll finish it, but it's a hard sell.

[Anonymous No.21753183]

>>21753178
Lovecraft said the archaisms, bad ending, and sentimental romance hindered the novel, but that on a whole it achieved something no other book in all of literature could achieve:
>in his slow, minutely described, day-by-day progress over unthinkable leagues of immemorial blackness there is a sense of cosmic alienage, breathless mystery, and terrified expectancy unrivalled in the whole range of literature.

[Anonymous No.21753190]

>>21752910
Sorry but I don't see the master-word anywhere in your post...

[Anonymous No.21753191]

>>21753183
Most of what I've read so far is exactly what Lovecraft described as bad.

[Anonymous No.21753195]

>>21753191
That doesn't controvert what I quoted. In fact it might even buttress it since Lovecraft obviously found it more than worthwhile despite disliking some elements.

[Anonymous No.21753290]

Can anyone identify a sci-fi novel/novella for me? It was an ideological novel about the effects of automation. Minimum-wage workers started wearing this VR headset that would help them do their jobs by buzzing in their ear when they were about to do something wrong, which eventually drove wages to the floor. The author's self-insert ideology fixed things by taking over Australia, banning immigration, and using an automation tax to fund universal basic income. I think it was from the late 90s or thereabouts. All details should be held in doubt apart from the buzzing wagie headset. I remember a similar item appearing in Distraction by Bruce Sterling, but it's definitely not that.

[Anonymous No.21753297]

>>21753290
never mind, I'm dumb, I went to Stack Exchange and it was the first thing that showed up: "Manna - Two Views of Humanity's Future" by Marshall Brain.

[Anonymous No.21753378]

Does Warhammer 40k belong here? I wanna get into it but don't know where to start. The books seem so cool. Anyone read them?

[Anonymous No.21753385]

>>21753297
>The books seem so cool. Anyone read them?
They aren't and yes, I've read a lot. They are passable entertainment at best with the best novels (by a wide margin) belonging to Warhammer Fantasy, Felix and Gotrek.

[Anonymous No.21753386]

>>21753378
>I wanna get into it
No you don't. 40k is absolute garbage, but worse than that, it's absolute garbage with HUNDREDS of books. It's like wanting to get into american superhero comics, a bad idea that's a tremendous waste of time.

Read the Gotrek and Felix novels by William King. These are Warhammer Fantasy, which benefits from being far less bloated, and also from being completely abandoned by Games Workshop in the early 2k's, so it wasn't infected with their Current Year bullshit when they jumped on that bandwagon. Also, as a stand alone fantasy series, the Gotrek and Felix novels are actually quite good.

[Anonymous No.21753394]

>/sffg/'s are slow threads on a slow board, they can easily last a week or more

[Anonymous No.21753395]

>>21753386
hmm that cover does look pretty cool

[Anonymous No.21753406]

>>21753395
The TLDR of the series is that Gotrek is a Dwarf who has sworn to die in unequal combat against the forces of darkness to atone for an unspecified sin. Felix mad a questionable oath to chronicle his demise while drunk as shit, and his own stubbornness prevents him from reneging on that in the face of trolls, mutants, cultist, daemons and dragons that Gotrek is constantly seeking out in order to get himself killed.

One thing I like about the series is the attention to small details. If you look at the cover there, Felix is standing behind and to the left of Gotrek. This is part of the canon, because Gotrek loses that eye early in the series. As a result, he has a blind spot there, which Felix compensates for.

[Anonymous No.21753413]

>>21753386
>Gotrek and Felix
>Armor
>VALIS
Feels good to have a kino name.

[Anonymous No.21753421]

>>21753413
VALIS has nothing to do with 40k.

[Anonymous No.21753436]

>>21753406
Interesting. I'll have to check it out now

[Anonymous No.21753450]

>>21753378
Ciaphas Cain is the best 40k stuff imo but it's a comedy romp

[Anonymous No.21753454]

>>21753450
also seconding that G+F is good
They're the best attempt at modern sword and sorcery I've read

[Anonymous No.21753471]

>>21753450
>>21753454
ty bros

[Anonymous No.21753479]

>>21753386
>40k is absolute garbage, but worse than that, it's absolute garbage with HUNDREDS of books
Ciaphas Cane is really good.

[Anonymous No.21753562]

>>21753008
Out of these 8, only 2 are worth reading.

[Anonymous No.21753605]

>>21753378
>Does Warhammer 40k belong here? I wanna get into it but don't know where to start. The books seem so cool. Anyone read them?
Yes, they technically belong in this thread, but you'd be better off discussing them in one of the threads on /tg/. I spent most of my teenage years reading 40k novels, and while there are some good ones (Gaunt's Ghosts and Caiaphas Cain come to mind) the overwhelming majority are schlock, and there are more of them than there are Star Wars EU novels. Basically what this guy >>21753386 said. If you're not already a 40k fan, don't read the novels, they're for people who already are obsessed with warhammer from the tabletop or vidya.

[Anonymous No.21753610]

Is there any SF about ayylmaos with that mystery feel from the first few seasons of the X-files?

[Anonymous No.21753639]

>>21753610
Some 80s stuff I can't remember the names of, although what little I remember is that it was more supernatural and vague. You'd probably have an easier time finding stuff that went into Twin Peaks, both those shows had a lot of copycat novels that missed the point of what made them good.

[Anonymous No.21753643]

>>21753639
Well I really just want some elusive flying saucers and people freaking out. I'd say that even the X-files itself misses what made it good since it could never decide what it actually wanted to do with the ayys.

[Anonymous No.21753659]

>>21753643
Yeah you're asking for this intersection of a police procedural and a supernatural thriller that was only good because no one figured out how to fuck it up yet. I feel like paranormal mysteries would hit the mark but they're not my thing and the Dresden Files suffered the same problems, from what I understand.

[Anonymous No.21753667]

>>21753659
Well it doesn't necessarily have to have the police part, I just like seeing the mystery unfold and such. Pic related is a decent example of a movie that sort of hits the spot.

[Anonymous No.21753726]

>>21753610
Eifelheim by Flynn is about aylamaos crashing in 14th century Germany and their discussion's with monks.

[Anonymous No.21753869]

>>21753450
I have a passing knowledge and a basic gist of 40k's whole setting, is that enough to read Ciaphas Cain?

[Anonymous No.21753934]

>>21753450
Flashman has better prose and comedy. Cain is just a pg 13 version of that in space.

[Anonymous No.21753985]

I’ve been here since 2016. I still haven’t fit in yet. Did I lose the cut-off mark? I’m enjoying the books I found here through discussion and charts though.

[Anonymous No.21754012]

Just finished reading the Black Company series through for a second time. Anyone got any recs for similar fantasy/scifi military fiction?

[Anonymous No.21754017]

>>21753610
Dream Thief by Stephen Lawhead

[Anonymous No.21754020]

>>21753869
Yeah everything's introduced as it goes.

[Anonymous No.21754030]

thoughts on YA?

[Anonymous No.21754050]

>>21754030
Amazing.

[Anonymous No.21754073]

>>21753421
They share Felix in common.

[Anonymous No.21754078]

>>21754030
Its not any worse than the vast majority of YA, just more blatant.

[Anonymous No.21754087]

>>21754030
gay people are honestly gross

[Anonymous No.21754088]

>>21754030
I am a big fan of Arthurian legends inspired stories, even if they aren't particularly faithful to the source material. And I don't consider myself particularly antagonistic to the LGBT community
Having that said, this made me realize we should bring back book burnings

[Anonymous No.21754096]

>>21753158
>Troll rape on human/elf concubines
Trolls gangbanging elf wives is cool but for me it's skafloc having sex with his elf mom, honestly i don't know why he chose the human girl when he had a perfect milf waiting at home baka. The scene where his mom cucks him with valgard is hot todo.

[Anonymous No.21754111]

Bitter Medicine — Mia Tsai (Tachyon)
As a descendant of the Chinese god of medicine, Elle was destined to be a doctor. Instead, she is underemployed as a magical calligrapher at the fairy temp agency. Meanwhile dreamy half-elf Luc, the agency’s top security expert, has his own problems and secrets. In this xianxia-inspired contemporary fantasy, a Chinese immortal and a French elf navigate romance, family loyalty, and workplace demands

[Anonymous No.21754146]

>>21754111
>Bitter Medicine — Mia Tsai (Tachyon)
>As a descendant of the Chinese god of medicine, Elle was destined to be a doctor. Instead, she is underemployed as a magical calligrapher at the fairy temp agency. Meanwhile dreamy half-elf Luc, the agency’s top security expert, has his own problems and secrets. In this xianxia-inspired contemporary fantasy, a Chinese immortal and a French elf navigate romance, family loyalty, and workplace demands
This is an AI-generated story prompt, right?

[Anonymous No.21754156]

>>21754146
https://www.tor.com/2023/03/06/new-fantasy-books-march-2023/

[Anonymous No.21754162]

>>21754156
Absolute Kek

[Anonymous No.21754234]

>>21753386
I've been looking for buddy hero fantasy.

[None !SFFG.n1h7M No.21754269]

>>21752883
The Deep - John Crowley (1975)

This was Crowley's debut novel. It's the kind of work where how much a reader would enjoy it is probably more dependent on the reader than the text itself. It would've been much better for me if I hadn't read what others thought after reading this. This is definitely among the most I've been negatively affected by reading the reviews of others, regardless of their rating, though the most liked reviews are considerably higher than its average rating. Divergences like that happen from time to time. Sometimes it's a negative review for a popular and well-liked book instead.

Apparently a major draw for those who greatly enjoyed it is for how it's written. I'm indifferent to that. Another common comparison was to Game of Thrones, which I think was misguided. This may also be the case where not understanding what was happening made it seem better, though I didn't think this science fantasy novel was that difficult to understand. It didn't seem all that strange to me either personally. A primary point of confusion are the character names, which seems intended to show that none of it really matters and that they're all interchangeable. I tend by what the author's intent seems to be, though it's entirely possible I misunderstand at times.

There's a lot of political intrigue in a pseudo-medieval setting between two related families and a lot happens in relatively few pages. In most cases I would've enjoyed this, but due to the narrative structure and what I saw as the author's intent I wasn't able to do so. I only saw it as a surface level melodramatic obfuscation to what was really going on. When it eventually tells the reader what's going on, I didn't care all that much. It's fine, but it didn't resonate with me. I'm glad that I read Engine Summer first because it has thematic similarities, but I thought they were handled better than here. I don't think it'd take that much to remake either as a Black Mirror episode.

The following is my interpretation, so it's completely spoiler filled. In the far future, a solar sail ship filled with the genetic material for humans, animals, and plants arrives at some kind of constructed planetoid that is overseen by some kind of godlike being who tends to them between slumbers. The overall progression of society is managed by androids who choose humans to act out roles to maintain the population and ensure constant turmoil so that the status quo is forever maintained. In this way humanity will forever remain relatively primitive and never have to stop struggling or have time to worry about existential problems. Knowledge is constrained and technological development is prevented. Life will always be as it has been forevermore and they accept that. Stagnation is the path to eternity. The visitor is an android who is there to record what's happening and then report back to a different godlike being for quality assurance purposes.

Rating: 2.5/5

[Anonymous No.21754288]

Not really sure why people want to write SFF anymore. Best case scenario is that normies review it on Goodreads then /lit/ shitting on it if it gains traction. What a whimper of a bang.

[Anonymous No.21754308]

>>21754269
>debut novel
Out of curiosity, does seeing something is a debut novel impact your opinion on reading it? It would for me. I'm at the point where if I want to read SERIOUS Fantasy or Sci-Fi, I only experienced authors that are 30-35+ in years. It just feels like a waste of time to read young authors who can at best mimic more knowledgable authors, repeating cliche or themes without truly comprehending why things are what they are. Of course, 'debut novel' isn't a precise term because you can never tell how many novels were written only to end up in the drawer.

[Anonymous No.21754309]

>>21753386
Gotrek and Felix specifically and William King in general are dogshit even by expanded universe schlock standards stop shilling it.

[Anonymous No.21754316]

>>21754288
What's really strange is why you think anyone or anything here matters any longer. Audience demographics have shifted.

[Anonymous No.21754324]

>>21754308
No, it doesn't have any impact really for me. It just seemed like something to mention. Sometimes an author's earliest works are their best received and their last works the worst.

[Anonymous No.21754332]

Read the last Locke Lamora book. Will be spoilers below, so be warned.

Lynch really messed up. Big time. He had the perfect set up to kill off the love interest, just hit the reader heavy with the tragic of love not everlasting. Instead Sabetha just ran off, into the night, the magi opponent's true plot revealed in a kind of fizzle. The entire climax of the book was actually a let down, with ultimately no consequence whether Locke or Sabetha won the election.

The other big plot, the interlude running through the entire book about the theater, set up a perfect chance to kill of Sabetha. It would have been perfect to have Sabetha sacrificing herself like the heroine of the play, or make her death be an echo of Father Chains' lesson where Locke had to give a captured Sabetha poison. We got nothing of the sort, just a vague promise of Emberlain and Falconer's boring epilogue.

Lynch is a good writer. He writers a good caper story, but here he messed up the inherent potential of sad, truly emotional ending, in favor of this... whatever it was.

[Anonymous No.21754335]

Why is every new/top selling fantasy series on amazon written by a woman? not trying to shitpost but genuinely when did high fantasy become a woman dominated genre

[Anonymous No.21754337]

>>21754335
only women read. young men are too busy watching porn and playin vidya.
only women get published cuz of the modern paradigm.
only women get marketing cuz of the modern paradigm.

[Anonymous No.21754361]

>>21754088

[Anonymous No.21754366]

>>21754335
It's been on this trajectory since the 80s and was cemented by the total shitshow the Hugo became. Young men aren't reading SFF, they're playing video games and reading non fiction.

[Anonymous No.21754367]

>>21754156
jesus f christ, the absolute fucking state, its all her/she, I think only two entries have male protags and at least one of them is black.

[Anonymous No.21754368]

>>21754012
It's not the same thing but Miles Cameron is good at writing about a fantasy military company.
Snakewood is exceptional but it's one book and not really military fiction despite being about mercs

[Anonymous No.21754373]

>>21754335
It isn't. It's Amazon/etc. sponsored propaganda stuff.

[Anonymous No.21754382]

>>21754156
Those all look fucking atrocious.

[Anonymous No.21754384]

>>21754368
Snakewood was written by Adrian Selby.

[Anonymous No.21754386]

>>21754087
like everything else they can't reproduce naturally or create something new, they can only infect something that already exists and destroy it so it's as ugly as they are. sad!

[Anonymous No.21754412]

>>21754308
Nah, Pynchon wrote V. When he was 25 and it's absolute kino

[Anonymous No.21754416]

>>21754335
>when did high fantasy become a woman dominated genre
Since the 80s, fellow zoomzoom.

[Anonymous No.21754421]

>>21754308
>>21754308
My absolute very first ever novel is on amazon. It is pulp science fiction centered around catastrophism and the electric universe.
Is free on amazon. Called Magellan: The Adventures of a Star Seeker.
Inspired by my love of Dune's ecology, it is just about exploring/discovering new worlds in a human empire over a thousand years from now. Fun, action adventure and escapism. No modern message. No trannies. No mention of race, because everyone in space is white.

[Anonymous No.21754433]

>>21754012
Chronicles of the Raven
Monarchies of God
Twilight Reign
Jackal of Nar

[Anonymous No.21754434]

>>21754269
>>21754324
your """reviews""" are SHIT
FUCK OFF

[Anonymous No.21754436]

>>21754308
Debut is usually a good sign, the author hasn't fallen into old tricks and the well isn't dry yet. I think success makes some writers too hungry and find their best work is early in their career, either the debut or the sophomore novel after a really mediocre debut.

[Anonymous No.21754449]

>>21754335
>Why is every new/top selling fantasy series on amazon written by a woman? not trying to shitpost but genuinely when did high fantasy become a woman dominated genre
Is it? Look at the best selling books, I see two Litrpgs and one game-like Harem novel. The gender divide on Amazon is clear - women read romances and fantasy talking about weak yet strong-willed heroines falling in love while on a fantasy quest, meanwhile men read about overcoming difficulties and becoming stronger while at the same time fucking a lot of hot babes and making harems.

[Anonymous No.21754482]

>>21754335
all the woke/diversity/blackrock ESG shit. publishers probably get kickbacks for having so many "minority" authors published, journos get brownie points for elevating "minority" authors, etc. it's just an elaborate money laundering thing. most of these books aren't good it's just that the author has the right skin color or body parts, the publishers make tons of money off of it so they don't really care how bad the book is as long as they have an angle to market it. (i.e. you aren't a straight white christian male)

i've seen reddit posts where women who work at publishers brag about instantly rejecting anything with a white male author, so there you go.

[Anonymous No.21754489]

Anyone have any good books about or prominently featuring monks?

[Anonymous No.21754522]

>>21754366
>the total shitshow the Hugo became
I treid reading one of the lates Hugo winners, last year, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet and holy mother of god it was a horrific woke shitfest that far exceeded my worst expectations. The entire book was seemingly written for no other reason than to forcefeed the audience as many woke tropes as possible

[Anonymous No.21754625]

>>21754489
Name of the Rose

[Anonymous No.21754626]

>>21754482
As much as that's definitely a thing it's not the leading factor. Men have increasingly bowed out of getting involved in publishing, writing, and reading and this is the result.

[Anonymous No.21754645]

>>21754625
Possibly the best historical fiction ever written. You best have a way to translate Latin though because it has a lot of Latin quotes (the medieval monks being very fond of Latin) and at least my own edition doesn't have any footnotes with the translation.

[Anonymous No.21754666]

>>21754489
A Canticle for Saint Leibowitz

essential scifi

[Anonymous No.21754678]

>>21754335
Still, male SFF authors earn more. Women maybe write more but sales are less. Those few men who write well sell better. I mean, what young man doesn't think to himself at the bookshop looking at the book's author's name that perhaps this book is not suited to him if the writer is a woman?

[Anonymous No.21754697]

>>21754626
It is a fact that white young men have difficulties being published in America. Many people complain about it, even established female authors that see how their male friends are treated.

It is simple - women write fiction, but the kind that is compelling predominately to women. Most of people that decide what gets published are women. Being a woman is a bonus in current times, being male the opposite.

The result? Men don't see compelling stories for them, so they don't read. They don't read, so less of them writes or gets into writing. Men are increasingly flowing into webnovels and self-pub books.

The fact 90% of webnovel readers are men speaks for itself, the publishing industry is extremely feminized and hostile to men and their writing which results in the situation we are in now.

[Anonymous No.21754700]

>>21754626
chicken or the egg thing, i imagine a lot of guys met the diversity roadblock and just moved on. wonder how many great books we've missed out on. i feel bad for the actually talented women/minority writers that get caught up in this shit too because everyone's gonna wonder were they actually good at their craft or was this handed t othem?

[Anonymous No.21754704]

>>21754522
I think it was around 2008 when I started taking the complaints seriously and looking at the trajectory of the awards. There was a pattern but y'know sci fi writers are progressive as shit, that's not news. Then the Faggiest Goddamn Thing You Could Ever Imagine happened and there was no hiding that there was an agenda and said agenda didn't care what good literature was.

[Anonymous No.21754710]

[Anonymous No.21754786]

>>21754335
Best seller lists were literally always fake since NY Times lists in the 30s.

[Anonymous No.21754808]

>>21754482
>>21754697
Imagine believing this
Have sex

[Anonymous No.21754817]

>>21754808
Then what do you think is the cause of decrease in reading among men, especially young ones? Men are now stupid? Only care about video games?

[Anonymous No.21754842]

>>21754817
>Only care about video games
Yes, and anime/Action tv series/blockbuster movies and sports or watch 4 hours YouTube videos about w40k le epic lore.

[Anonymous No.21754847]

>>21754625
>Name of the Rose
Sound good from the description

>>21754666
Tried to get in to it multiple times but never been able to

[Anonymous No.21754859]

>>21754847
Filtered.

[Anonymous No.21754880]

>>21754859
Yeah 99% of the time post apocalyptic filters me instantly

[Anonymous No.21754903]

>>21754697
Men being at the forefront of self publishing makes sense. The market has been fucked and nearly impossible to get into for decades and new media outlets are the smart, if risky choice. Of course it's going to be men doing it first.

[Anonymous No.21754908]

>>21754817
nta, young men never read too much and these days there is probably 100 times more mindless entertainment to lose oneself in than even 10 years ago. Another reason is that their parents don't read (and often are even more retarded than late boomer parents generation) and spend their entire free time on their phones, even if they do read is often some liberal garbage who they then pass it onto their kids.

[Anonymous No.21754923]

>>21754269
>only giving this a 2.5
The Deep is kino brah fr fr

[Anonymous No.21754931]

>>21754908
School is probably a big reason for it too, it's proven that young boys are graded harsher than girls and modern education is centered around making sure girls succeed so boys are told they're less intelligent and then if their parents don't push them to read the only place they're doing it is school so they start associating reading with either women or failing and they just stop and go play video games which actually tell them they're doing well and have a natural sense of progression they're lacking elsewhere

[Anonymous No.21754942]

>>21753191
>Lovecraft as a judge on what good prose looks like
Kek lmao fhtagn!

[Anonymous No.21755008]

>>21754942
Lovecraft wrote reasonably well in most of his major "conventional" works. It's the really esoteric ones - Dream-quest of Unknown Kadath springs to mind, as well as stuff like Celephais or the Cats of Ulthar or the Strange High House in the Mist - that are full of the most wretched stereotyped fantasy claptrap that makes you want to fucking puke. Shakespeare becomes more readable at that point.

[Anonymous No.21755015]

>>21754625
>>21754645
>>21754847
it's about gay monks having sex and killing each other
I wish I was joking

[Anonymous No.21755050]

>>21755015
That's a bit belittling. It's a Sherlock Holmes type murder mistery that touches on several interesting themes in a medieval setting. Homosexuality among Christian monks is one part of it.

[Anonymous No.21755056]

>>21754923
The other two in /sffg/ who have written about it gave it 5 stars and stated their reasons. I've stated mine and I have a high level of confidence in how I feel about it. So go differences.

[Anonymous No.21755070]

>>21754012
Strange Company series by Nick Cole.
Servants of War by Larry Correia.

[Anonymous No.21755079]

>>21754384
I'm listing two different recs

[Anonymous No.21755084]

Books for this feel?

[Anonymous No.21755085]

>>21755056
Can I get spoonfed these other reviews too. Thank you

[Anonymous No.21755086]

>>21751919
I feel you, I started reading it like nine months ago (I'm still not caught up) and I've had just a handful of times where I've felt like I needed a little break from it
Still feels like sort of a guilty pleasure kind of thing to me for some reason even if it's not a run-of-the-mill coom litRPG
It's just a fun lil story with some really fun characters in it

[Anonymous No.21755089]

>>21754156
Vita Nostra's not the sort of book I expected to get a sequel

[Anonymous No.21755097]

>>21754269
>>21754923
I actually gave up on this book in 20 pages but I am not sure why (?) Very fantasy feel, not sci-fi, yes it is sci-fi fantasy but....the list of characters annoyed me at the beginning, like ye olde players in a play (ahem), type thing. I just don't know, must think on it. I am not interested in struggling through something even when it is much lauded or even deemed 'worthy' or is an award winner - there are simply too many books out there to plough through one you do not enjoy or doesn't 'capture' you in at least some small way. I dunno, maybe am stoopid, maybe book um good if Ugg give it chance....

[Anonymous No.21755137]

Why do the Wandering Shit shills try to bring that shit book into conversation in an attempt to shill said shit? They would even link old threads to pretend like someone actually cares about that shit.

[Anonymous No.21755149]

>>21755137
I don't know why they bother, /sffg/ has like 20-30 posters at most. Shilling here is pretty much pointless.

[Anonymous No.21755151]

>>21755137
Webnovel enthusiasts are legitimately disabled. I'm somewhat introverted but these guys (half of them wanting to be women) are terminally online. Same problem with a loud percentage of Sanderson's audience.

[Anonymous No.21755152]

>>21755085
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2869582923
I misremembered apparently already. The other who rated 5 stars didn't write anything.

>>21755097
I stated that I read the reviews, there are 58, and still you try copypasting one of them written almost 10 years ago. Even if I hadn't, a quick search would've shown it. Next time try some better way of your intent was to bait a serious response.

[Anonymous No.21755160]

>>21754030
>Starts reading
Oh that's a neat concept
>Reads the rest
Oh

[Anonymous No.21755166]

>>21755149
If they were all it was, currently says 59, and often reaches nearly 100, then that's a lot of anons using multiple IPs. It's not the same posters either in each thread. Every time they do it someone who has never seen it before learns about it.

[Anonymous No.21755171]

>>21752968
Hotdogging means assjob.

[Anonymous No.21755203]

>>21755086
Where are you at right now? I'm at the Flos chapters in Vol 4

[Anonymous No.21755206]

>>21755166
I probably have like 5 throughout the day due to phoneposting. This place is pretty dead and it's the same sad regulars making the same autistic shitposts.

[Anonymous No.21755216]

>>21754361
>>21754030
what the actual fuck? This pandering is on another level, it is too on the nose.

[Anonymous No.21755222]

>>21755171
>monitor isn't even plugged in

[Anonymous No.21755243]

>>21755216
chatgpt: write me the most self-absorbed woke fantasy story possible

[Anonymous No.21755280]

>>21755015
>it's about gay monks having sex
You're only making it sound more appealing, I just dropped the last gay romance I was reading because it was written by a woman and went off on a random nufeminist tangent so I need a new one

[Anonymous No.21755282]

>>21755203
About to finish Volume 8
Those Flos chapters are kinda generally disliked I think since they shift so hard after a pretty interesting cliffhanger but looking back it was a pretty decent arc, if only a bit too long
Regarding V4 as a whole I found it pretty good too desu, the main plot line I found pretty engaging and the whole Erin in Celum thing in V3 felt a bit too long for my liking

[Anonymous No.21755318]

>>21755282
I am enjoying the chapters so far, but I am only halfway through or so, so I can see how they'd get stale. I'm not sure why the author didn't spread the chapters throughout Vol4 (or even Vol 3), but oh well.
> pretty interesting cliffhanger
What cliffhanger? You mean with the Unspeakable horrors going after Erin and Ryoka during the Solstice?

[Anonymous No.21755349]

>>21754156
Why are all the names so 2020 modern?
>Gemma
>Zoe
>Kyliegh

[Anonymous No.21755357]

>>21755318
Yeah that and just Erin being back in Liscor (not really a cliffhanger but I like the Liscor chapters the most, generally)

[Anonymous No.21755359]

>>21753008
keep compiling books, I know I'm never reading these

[Anonymous No.21755360]

>>21754361
>You've no idea

[Anonymous No.21755364]

>>21752968
It's standard military slang. It means showing off.

[Anonymous No.21755399]

>>21754908
>nta, young men never read too much and these days there is probably 100 times more mindless entertainment to lose oneself in than even 10 years ago. Another reason is that their parents don't read (and often are even more retarded than late boomer parents generation) and spend their entire free time on their phones, even if they do read is often some liberal garbage who they then pass it onto their kids.
I don't disagree that most young men don't read, I can even agree that women are prone to reading more than men. But the current situation is entirely out of whack. It's not good for anyone to have an entire generation of men not read traditional male stories if they cannot get them even from TV. There should be a culture for raising people ffs

[Anonymous No.21755414]

>>21755357
>I like the Liscor chapters the most, generally
Based Liscor enjoyer. People always complain about too many Liscor chapters

[Anonymous No.21755448]

>>21755280
It's not about gay monks having sex

[Anonymous No.21755500]

Oh hey the Nebula nominees are gonna be announced in around 30 minutes
Not that I'm sure you guys care though

[Anonymous No.21755517]

>>21752910
>>21753157
>I crawled through the brush for so many hours then I ate and slept for x hours then I crawled through the brush for more hours then I ate did I mention the fire holes well there was fire holes and I slept in one and saw a shadow so I hid in the brush before crawling through it for X hours then I ate and slept

[Anonymous No.21755623]

>>21755448
in shambles rn

[Anonymous No.21755676]

So is there the book where this exists:
>Badass mages in power armor
>Hints on alien civilizations
>Gods-Advanced Aliens
>Epicness

I always was the fan of Zelazny's standalone works, where he spin the mythology with sci-fiction, and also has the weakness for the imagery of battle mage, wearing bigass power armor that protect him from magic, and enhance his physical capabilities.

[Anonymous No.21755790]

>>21755280
rec sffg m/m stuff that could actually be appealing to men, im curious

[Anonymous No.21755833]

>>21755790
If you're not unironically gay probably none of it I am an actual fag and even then a lot of it is still really bad, mostly recently I tried reading A Taste of Gold and Iron which seemed like it would be perfect, vaguely turkish setting with some magic, but then it's filled with made up pronouns and some feminist shit about how only women are entitled to have anything to do with their children and can cut men out at any point, I probably could have overlooked the second part but if I had to read one more sentence about how with cir or cirself in it like I was going to scream

[Anonymous No.21755834]

So I just finished Ivan the Shit's fourth Infinite Realms installment and it's holding up pretty well. Eventually these progression stories decide they're just going to keep going, and they can kind of turn into one thing happened, and then another. But I was engaged, just enough. Mostly it is a follow-on from the last volume, though by the end enough pieces have shifted around enough so I'm up for the next. Maybe Zach's insanity will finally make him an interesting character.

Of the four series that are just like each other, I'd say this and Primal Hunter have kept my interest, while Ghosthound and Defiance of the Fall are fading in to mush. Though I couldn't quite say why. Kal's other major series also fizzled after a while too. Even the fact that stat pages have evolved into stat chapters didn't bother me. There are just enough character and world plotlines evolving to keep it from bogging down.

[Anonymous No.21755835]

>>21755790
i remember reading a m/m fantasy series in highschool but it was written by a woman so the bottom was basically just a chick

[Anonymous No.21755840]

>>21755790
The Man who Folded Himself.

[Anonymous No.21755869]

>>21755840
literally gay selfcest book

[Anonymous No.21755877]

What's the name of that book where the setting takes place in an alt-history where Jesus started a jewish revolt instead of being crucified?

[Anonymous No.21755878]

>>21755833
yeah it's a combination of all the woke shit and most of this being written by and for women, the amount of gay sci-fi/fantasy that's written for gay men is miniscule

[Anonymous No.21755881]

>>21755840
That scene felt unnatural and awkward, and the afterword explanation of the scene felt awkward. One of the few books where I felt I received nothing.

[Anonymous No.21755882]

Does pic related count as fantasy?

[Anonymous No.21755896]

>>21755676
One of the Magic:The Gathering novels comes to mind, but I don't remember it's name.

[Anonymous No.21755919]

I just watched my first WH40K YT lore dump. What is THE single most quintessential and but first and foremost /lit/ 40K entry? I warn you, I just finished reading Proust so I will ONLY accept the best ;)

[Anonymous No.21755936]

>>21755878
Yeah I'm used to it by now but Gold and Iron was just particularly disappointing because the pairing and setting were both so appealing

[Anonymous No.21756014]

>>21755877
The Last Starship from Earth by John Boyd

[Anonymous No.21756072]

>>21755882
sure why not

[Anonymous No.21756081]

>>21755878
>>21755936
Crazy disease spreading, blow out your asshole all fags over 30 wear diapers, lower your life expectancy by more than smoking cigarettes.

KYS, sodomite.

[Anonymous No.21756087]

>>21755919
40k isn't really fun to read.

[Anonymous No.21756111]

And now onto Short Sun. Also I find it funny that many people freak out about the fragmented chapters and time skips in Long Sun, but its just that Horn and Nettle had limited paper supplies.

[Anonymous No.21756249]

>>21756081

[Anonymous No.21756250]

>>21754366
>It's been on this trajectory since the 80s
At least women published books since the 80s were actually decent, if not good. There are some still acclaimed today.
This is all unreadable garbage.

[Anonymous No.21756257]

>>21756249
damm he's got a point

[Anonymous No.21756327]

>>21754361
>He bought the book
>Now publishers are going to think people want more of this

[Anonymous No.21756332]

>>21754269

[Anonymous No.21756371]

Is Blindsight by Peter Watts any good? The description for it sounds like the most reddit thing ever

[Anonymous No.21756380]

>>21756371
it's hard reddit, pass on it, you won't regret missing out

[Anonymous No.21756384]

What’re some good books about dragons?

[Anonymous No.21756385]

Has anyone read the Future History series by Robert A. Heinlein?

[Anonymous No.21756395]

>>21756371
It's good. Mostly good and interesting ideas. The characters are reddit

[Anonymous No.21756400]

Is this book good? I keep seeing people praise it all the time

[Anonymous No.21756410]

>>21756385
Yes, some short stories are boring but the whole thing is worth reading.

[Anonymous No.21756470]

>>21756400
absolutely not, if you've ever seen anybody praise or recommend it, you're dealing with a class of deranged trash-obsessed lunatics
I cannot recommend against this enough, it is genuinely the worst literature I have ever read, and I wish I had listened to /sffg/ a year and a half ago when they advised me against getting it

[Anonymous No.21756481]

>>21756371
No. It's "Ideas guy" sci fi. Characters are flat at best, completely nonsensical usually. Imagine having exactly the same character with 8 different personalities, with none of them being relevant to the plot.
That is literally one of the characters in Blindsight. They have 8 personalities. Why? Just because.
Then there's vampires. Why? Because.
It has a couple of good ideas mixed in with a bunch of terrible ones, and i have no idea why people suck it off so much here.

[Anonymous No.21756574]

Is the Last Castle good as a starter for Jack Vance works. I've only read the first two chapters and so far I'm not impressed.

[Anonymous No.21756578]

>>21753378
My favorite books are the Eisenhorn and Ravenor books by Dan Abnett, Forges of Mars omnibus is pretty good too

[Anonymous No.21756582]

I finally started reading the Dandelion Dynasty series because someone on here told me to give it a try and this guy can't write worth a damn

[Anonymous No.21756620]

>>21756582
huh? but he's the guy who wrote a book about a white woman in yellow face. are you racist

[Anonymous No.21756633]

>>21756574
Stick to Harry Potter.

[Anonymous No.21756649]

Are the Xanth books any good?

[Anonymous No.21756665]

>>21754030
It's like a horror story that gets *progressively* worse

[Anonymous No.21756674]

>>21756582
It's bait. They intentionally recommend bad things.

>>21756649
The author is a furry coomer, and i believe he was also a pedophile. All of that is center stage in the series.

[Anonymous No.21756714]

>>21754030
Hitler was right wasn't he...

[Anonymous No.21756716]

>>21756674
Are there any classic 80s era fantasy authors at this point who WEREN'T pedophiles?

[Anonymous No.21756840]

>>21755517
Very accurate. I'm glad you are feeling my pain.

On another note, I finished Soldier of Sidon. Latro is such an odd series. I have almost no idea what has really been going on in the series but have enjoyed every moment: beautiful writing, great characterization, incredibly autistic attention to historical accuracy.

[Anonymous No.21756852]

>>21756371
It's incredibly reddit. It's a 50-page worth novella with one central idea stretched to 400 pages.
>>21756400
I found it entertaining, but not good and I wouldn't praise it much.
>>21756574
I have not read it and would recommend Dying Earth and Dragon Masters above most others. I would say Lyonesse was his best and cohesive work.

[Anonymous No.21756883]

>>21754489
Book of the Long Sun, Eifelheim

[Anonymous No.21756926]

So I don't read a lot of fiction and not sure what to get into again. Apart from Tolkien I've read Gardens of the Moon and it's likely I get into the Malazan series. I've also read bits and pieces of other popular series like Black Company and The Wheel of Time and found them all to be uninteresting. The only popular series I'm pretty sure I'd enjoy is ASOIAF, but I don't want to get into a series that I know will never have an ending. What would you recommend I do?

[Anonymous No.21756932]

>>21756926
The only good novel you named there was Lord of the Rings. I would recommend reading worthwhile novels instead of 1000000 page drawn-out crap.

[Anonymous No.21756975]

>>21753643
i dunno if this what you want, but if you are ok with tv then you should watch kolchak, it's the show that inspired x-files.

[Anonymous No.21756983]

>>21754030
A for effort, I laughed heartily

[Anonymous No.21756986]

>>21754088
even if I agree with the spirit of your statement, I can't agree with the motive, because only faggots burn books. Bring back bullying and fist fights instead.

[Anonymous No.21756988]

>>21754030
I forget why, but this specific plot about the cycles of Merlin in a sci fi setting seem vaguely familiar. It’s as if I’ve heard of one such plot, though it had something to do with a traditionalist Lancelot Villain who wins at the end or something like that. It’s probably even the same book.

[Anonymous No.21756999]

>>21753562
Hyperion and ?

[Anonymous No.21757009]

>>21754786
well if all else fails you just buy 10k copies of your own book. Worked well for Kennedy. Rich asshole.

[Anonymous No.21757015]

>>21754931
Cormac McCarthy go to sleep

[Anonymous No.21757020]

>>21755084
hitchhikers guide to the galaxy?

[Anonymous No.21757032]

>>21755349
it's trying to appeal to people born in 2009.

[Anonymous No.21757056]

>>21754942
He's the perfect man to judge how bad prose looks like. After all, he was master of it. Hodgson was so bad even fucking Lovecraft found him terrible in prose.

[Anonymous No.21757057]

[Anonymous No.21757064]

>>21754030
I ran a fragment of >>21754361 through Novelai a couple years ago to see what it made of it. It didn't like the singular they and turned Lamarack into two people who shared one soul and fought like four. So in the case of this author I'd prefer a computer algorithm.

[Anonymous No.21757066]

>>21756988
Mazinger Zero, the comic book, used the exact same premise. It wasn't new there either, because the whole thing is just fucking video game logic where the oracle character is stuck replaying the game until they beat the final boss. It's basically an adventure game or pretending to be a speed runner in a game that's driven by some amount of random chance.

[Anonymous No.21757187]

>>21756999
Mother of Leaning. Got me back into reading regularly after a decade.

[Anonymous No.21757192]

I've been reading some Black Library stuff, I really liked the Ciaphas Cain novels and the Night Lords series. Are there any other good series?

[Anonymous No.21757197]

>>21757187
Based. I keep trying to find a book as comfy and none come close.

[Anonymous No.21757201]

>>21757192
Rise of Nagash etc was heaps of fun.

[Anonymous No.21757203]

>>21757201
I'd prefer 40k novels honestly, but I'll give it a look.

[Anonymous No.21757204]

>>21757203
Oh, I personally can't stomach 40kringe, except for the imperial guard books, they were all pretty good though I don't think they're black library.

[Anonymous No.21757213]

>>21757204
>40kringe
Shit taste aside from the guard part.

I thought all WH books were published by BL?

[Anonymous No.21757216]

>>21757213
https://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/death-world-ebook.html
I suppose that is the case.

[Anonymous No.21757221]

>>21752883
>tfw no Fish Speaker gf

[Anonymous No.21757234]

>>21753436
>>21753395
>>21753386
/wfg/ on /tg/ has a nice collection of Warhammer Fantasy novels as well
mega.nz/folder/Am5FnZhT#QR_GaKVcqXTNZOCLknibiQ

[Anonymous No.21757238]

>>21754332
I think he was having some truly unhinged issues with his wife and cheating on her or something, he still hasn't recovered

[Anonymous No.21757290]

>>21752883
FUCK he is good

[Anonymous No.21757294]

>>21757290
This is kind of a funny shitpost but I really don't see the appeal. I'll try see if his other stuff than what I read holds up, but he tends to have a really boring style.

[Anonymous No.21757348]

>>21757290
he really isn't

[Anonymous No.21757357]

>>21757290
What kind of name is China anyway

[Anonymous No.21757521]

I don't feel ashamed for being hard gay

[Anonymous No.21757570]

>>21757357
His rich, noble descended mother picked it out of a dictionary or encyclopaedia, which is weird considering China is such a commonly known country.

[Anonymous No.21757627]

>Behind the windows you could see ash falling from the sky
>Vin went outside and ash fell from the sky
>Ash fell from the sky
>Vin did a poopie and it was like ash that fell from the sky
>By the way, ash fell from the sky
>Don't know if you knew this, but ash fell from the sky

[Anonymous No.21757630]

>>21757570
It's a fake story to obscure that he was groomed from birth to be a communist.

[Anonymous No.21757635]

>>21757187
Sell me on Mother of Learning. Progression LitRPG?

[Anonymous No.21757727]

I was reading Primal Hunter, I always read it as a way to kill time and I never expected anything of quality, I finally got to the chapter where Jake fights against the old samurai, after the old man loses and he talks about his experience at the time of the war and how he fought to survive, the seasons change, him crying, I think it was the best chapter I've ever read in a LITRPG, it reminded me of my grandfather who fought in the war.

[Anonymous No.21757752]

>>21756400
That cover is amazing.

[Anonymous No.21757762]

I'm trying to remember the name of a sci fi novel where aliens take dead human bodies and 'reanimate' them to fight in some kind of war. Any ideas?

[Anonymous No.21757882]

>>21757762
Avatar: The Last Airbender

[Anonymous No.21758040]

>>21754030
Hey guys you'll never guess what got nominated for Best Novel at the Nebula Awards

[Anonymous No.21758108]

>>21758040
I am going to kill myself

[Anonymous No.21758117]

>>21757627
What is it about him?

[Anonymous No.21758214]

I'm going to start reading the Vorkosigan Saga. I'm assuming the publishing order is the correct order to read?

[Anonymous No.21758230]

>>21758214
Publishing/release order is always the right order.

[Anonymous No.21758241]

>>21754367
>one month
>represents everything

[Anonymous No.21758244]

>>21754030
>published 4 years ago
Why are you bringing it up? It's not even well known and these people aren't even well known activists really.

[Anonymous No.21758252]

>>21754335
An awful lot of dumb men are still insecure about reading and writing in America. The rampant anti-intellectualism has always been a problem, but it's only increased as propagandists from the right have noticed this insecurity and doubled down on it.

[Anonymous No.21758266]

>>21757204
If you like this I recommend you read these

Congo Mercenary by Mike Hoare
The Maneaters of Tsavo by Patterson
White Hunters by Brian Herne
Through the Brazilian Wilderness by Theodore Roosevelt

[Anonymous No.21758276]

>>21754367
Why don't you support smaller presses that don't pander? There's so many out there for sci fi/fantasy but no one cares.
Example:
https://www.weirdhousepress.com/

[Anonymous No.21758281]

>>21756574
Last Castle is good. It's one of Vance's few political stories, obviously an allegory for the end of colonization in Africa and Asia.

[Anonymous No.21758284]

>>21758266
>The Maneaters of Tsavo by Patterson
Patterson is such a prick, man. I've read a load of hunting memoirs and he's the only one who's like "yeah we just started gunning down dozens of ostriches from a moving train because it was funny". Zero respect for the animals he hunted.

[Anonymous No.21758285]

>>21756400
It's fast-paced action, which I appreciate. The author's understanding of how wars work is a bit naive and armies repeatedly suicide charge themselves down to the last man through the series.

[Anonymous No.21758296]

>>21758284
Patterson was also probably writing a lot earlier than the other hunting memoirs you've read. African wildlife was extremely dense in his time. Lions were so common they were considered vermin and you could shoot as many as you wanted.

[Anonymous No.21758315]

>>21758296
Jim Corbett's memoirs weren't written until after he'd retired, but there's only about a decade between the hunts themselves, and the difference in attitude is night and day.

[Anonymous No.21758351]

What's /sffg/'s thoughts on Tim Curran?

[Anonymous No.21758364]

>>21758276
Any others? I saw one horror story of a small press cancelling the third of book of a trilogy and now the author can’t release the third book. Whole thing looked a bit of a shit show where it didn’t sell well and (according to the author) had little marketing. In fairness, the series probably does suck but doesn’t hurt to keep an eye out.

[Anonymous No.21758387]

>>21758364
Original fiction publishers:
http://www.severedpress.com/
https://www.eldersignspress.com/
https://www.preapress.com/
The three magazines have original fiction/poetry/essays:
https://www.hippocampuspress.com/

[Anonymous No.21758442]

>>21754030
Pandering aspect of it aside the start of the description reminds me that I actually wrote something similar when I was in college as my first attempt at writing a book, the basic plot was that Merlin had throughout the centuries been fathering children with random women and then showing up years later to try and make them in to some legend that could eventually unite everyone, only he fucked up and they died pretty gruesomely ever time, it was shit and I was too dumb to even try to publish it at the time but actually finishing a full book felt good

[Anonymous No.21758455]

>>21758442
My kingdom, my kingdom, for a blog!

[Anonymous No.21758461]

>>21758455
>a blog
everyone just uses twitter now get with the times grandpa

[Anonymous No.21758463]

>>21758455
top jej
>>21758442
not a bad idea for a fantasy story at all, anon. proud of you for actually writing it down no less

[Anonymous No.21758558]

is bakker good or just a meme?

[Anonymous No.21758566]

>>21758558
He's not for everyone but I find him interesting. Some say he is "really dark" but I don't see that really. There are professors who like Bakker a lot.

[Anonymous No.21758617]

>>21758214
I prefer chronological but both are good.

[Anonymous No.21758642]

>>21753378
They are crap, it's G.I Joe for egdy autists, nothing fucking happens, no one dies (nameless soldiers don't count) , they are always fighting against the same enemies.

[Anonymous No.21758646]

>>21758276
What is the point of this? Why go with small publisher instead of self publishing on amazon?
Anyway I will support an author by paying for his books that I liked.

[Anonymous No.21758680]

>>21756926
>but I don't want to get into a series that I know will never have an ending
once GRMM finall dies (he's obese so it should be within the next 10-20 years) he has a collaborator who will probably take over and actually finish the books. they already have an ending, readers pieced it together with how shitty and nonsensical the TV show ended.

[Anonymous No.21758702]

Just finished Assassin's Fate

[Anonymous No.21758712]

>>21757627
I'm maybe 40% into Tress and goddamn how formulaic she is and this entire plotline has been going.

[Anonymous No.21758720]

>>21758646
>What is the point of this? Why go with small publisher instead of self publishing on amazon?
Credibility and the ability to work with editors and those who know the subgenre you're working in.

[Anonymous No.21758725]

Who are the greatest living sci-fi and fantasy writers? Who are the Peake and Wolfe of today?

[Anonymous No.21758727]

Textbook definition of cool setting ruined by a hack writer. Things are insanely dragged out (700 chapters in and 1 out of 7 nightmares were completed), the protagonist suffers from mood swings too often, things are too coincidental (finding weapons in the time of need, having companions with rare divinities) and the author have a clear bias towards one of the characters (Nephis happens to do everything and most of the time have more screentime than the protagonist itself, this one ruined the novel for me, as she's boring as hell).

[Anonymous No.21758735]

>>21758725
I think writers usually take ages to get any good and it's dependent upon the social currents, economy, technology, and whatnot. So maybe it will be years until we realise, because most don't know the weight of a writer until after they're dead.
>The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of dusk.

[Anonymous No.21758739]

>>21758702
Kettricken smiled.

[Anonymous No.21758755]

>>21758720
>Credibility
I will always pick a self published over a publisher

>the ability to work with editors and those who know the subgenre you're working in.
why? What do editors and those 'in the know' do that the author can't do himself?

[Anonymous No.21758759]

>>21758735
>because most don't know the weight of a writer until after they're dead.
Damn. True.

[Anonymous No.21758760]

>>21758755
>I will always pick a self published over a publisher
I don't care. No one asked.
>why? What do editors and those 'in the know' do that the author can't do himself?
The editors and those in the know from that press are scholars who studied many authors in that subgenre of weird literature. If you don't want to be published and helped by the experts of that field, then you probably don't care about that subgenre anyway. In which case, yeah, you can go self-publish, then get read by people who won't write any books about you and ultimately become forgotten.

[Anonymous No.21758766]

>>21758727
>Webnovel
>Hack writer
Shocking

[Anonymous No.21758772]

>>21757290
>don't mind me, just ripping off Planescape and Difference Engine in your path
>but the actual plot of the book doesn't start until 200 pages in!
This is this the ultimate "le worldbuilding" book for Reddit content heads

[Anonymous No.21758787]

>>21757290
*blocks your path*

[Anonymous No.21758793]

>>21758760
>, you can go self-publish, then get read by people who won't write any books about you
What?

[Anonymous No.21758797]

>>21758793
How do you think old authors are remembered? They have biographies and literary criticism written about them.

[Anonymous No.21758807]

>>21758766
I can handle plot armor but the Nephis girl is a walking deus ex machina

[Anonymous No.21758815]

>>21758797
kek, how about they write good books instead.

[Anonymous No.21758839]

>>21758760
>The editors and those in the know from that press are scholars who studied many authors in that subgenre of weird literature.
I guess that is why we are being forced fed SJW shit in books these days? And a bunch of soapboxing are done by characters? Because the people in the know studied the genre?
You also think people want to read the same shit that has been regurgitated over and over for the past hundred years? I know a lot of you fags try to make Tolkien out to be the first person to write a fantasy book in the history of the world, but he wasn't. And readers don't want to read recycled shit, they want fresh ideas. Many great stories are turned away because the editor thinks that it doesn't have the boxes ticked that they are looking for.

If your ass wants to be forced by the editor to write a story that would appease the current social climate, then go ahead.
There is a reason self published authors are on the rise and publishing houses are on the decline. Even Sanderson self published books recently.

[Anonymous No.21758892]

>>21757009
They just ignore you if they don't like you. There are countless instances of people with demonstrably sufficient sales being snubbed. If you're not part of the club you don't get promoted.

[Anonymous No.21758923]

You know what pisses me off? When a book is near to end, the POV is from the protagonist, YET when he explains his plan, we don't know shit, even though it was the protagonist POV we are seeing. We only find out what happens when the bad guys / antagonists find out. This shit has been used in hundreds of books I read and it rubs me the wrong fucking way.

[Anonymous No.21758931]

>>21758923
It's a sort of rule of story-writing that a plan the audience knows about can't go off without a hitch. It's why the heist never works out as intended, etc. But if you imply the existence of a plan and only reveal it before its execution, that sort of gets around that. It's still an ass-pull most of the time though.

[Anonymous No.21759012]

this book is so fucking overrated

the worldbuilding feels really uninspired and surface level outside of the world of Hyperion.

Everything seems to reference 20th century Earth even though this is 800 years in the future and an unimaginable amount of history has probably happened inbetween that and the whole world more or less just operates like the world nowadays.

The character stories also feel like Saturday morning cartoon episodes or comic book issues.

There I said it.

[Anonymous No.21759029]

New adaptation trailer dropped. I'm going to buy 100 of these boxes. Never read them before.

[Anonymous No.21759098]

>>21759012
>worldbuilding

[Anonymous No.21759101]

>>21759029
My brain will only let me read "wolfshit" in the thumbnail.

[Anonymous No.21759102]

>>21759029
I remember my mum getting these for me around the time that Hunger Games was a big deal because they were supposed to be similar and I dropped Wool after about 20 pages.

[Anonymous No.21759111]

>>21759029
>muh world building
>muh strong female protagonist
>muh battlestar galactica ending
Literally worse than Fallout Equestria. I just want to know if the DNC are still the ones who hit the Planetary Genocide button in the Apple version.

[Anonymous No.21759121]

>>21754030
>Ruining a established story
>Race nonsense
>Quirky kitchen sink setting
>LGBT
Holy shit, was this Ai generated? I refuse to believe two humans wrote this

[Anonymous No.21759152]

>>21754156
It's either webnovels or old ass books with questionable quality (I've read the good ones already). Fantasy bros, how did this happen?

[Anonymous No.21759158]

I'm more than halfway through this. When do the triffids show up?

[Anonymous No.21759159]

>>21759152
>Fantasy bros, how did this happen
All the young talent and creativity ran away to fanfiction sites and webnovels. Self-pub is growing and will likely outpace the typical publishing in coming years.

[Anonymous No.21759221]

>>21759152
Because subgenres have a shelf life, and Fantasy hit its Sell By date when Lord of the Rings was finished.

[Anonymous No.21759225]

>>21759221
But lord of the rings is shit.

[Anonymous No.21759265]

>>21759225
It congealed Fantasy into a set format and effectively made it genius repellent.

[Anonymous No.21759275]

>>21759265
But what about The Broken Sword? Didn't it also set a format? And it came out for the Shit of the Rings.

[Anonymous No.21759282]

>>21759012
Its about the end of history, of course it feels like nothing happened in 800 years thats the conspiracy .

[Anonymous No.21759285]

>>21758923
>>21758931
The question is, do you actually have to do that, or is it bullshit?
Is there a way for characters to plan out a scheme and then have it executed exactly as described later without being bad?
I know there's the option for flashbacks/inserts where you can do both at once, but that doesn't count. I mean full on one chapter of planning then several chapters later the plan is executed.
Maybe the issue is just retardedly specific micromanaged planning with 100% success rates. If the plan was more abstract and realistic there'd be a big difference between plan and reality without even having any major surprises.

[Anonymous No.21759286]

>>21759265
It congealed fantasy into a shitty format dumbed down for kids

[Anonymous No.21759292]

>>21758725
Guy Gavriel Kay and Stephen Lawhead are still alive, so them

[Anonymous No.21759300]

>>21752883
Has anyone here read the Journey to Chaos series? I’ve heard that it’s good, but I could use some more information before I try it.

[Anonymous No.21759342]

>>21759275
No because it isn't backed by volumes of personal wiki autism and fake languages.

[Anonymous No.21759376]

>>21759275
the fact that Broken Sword released a few weeks before The Lord of the Rings is irrelevant considering its impact on the fantasy genre has been almost nil and it's practically unknown outside of autism circlejerks on internet forums like this
at least try T.H. White's Once and Future King if you want to be taken seriously

[Anonymous No.21759380]

>>21759300
I don't see any evidence that anyone has read this obscure self-published series. Let's see what it's said about it on the Amazon page:

If you have ever played and enjoyed games like Final Fantasy, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights or any other role playing computer games (or even traditional pen and paper RPGs like I still remember them), then it is quite likely that A Mage's Power - Journey to Chaos Book 1 by Brian Wilkerson is a book you will like.

A fabulous YA fantasy adventure! Wilkerson masterfully combines threads reminiscent of Manga/ Anime hits Naruto, Fairy Tail, with bits of Bleach tossed in for fun.

Product Description
Eric is stranded in a world where monsters and magic are as common as homework and hotdogs. While he struggles to adjust, he receives an offer to join a mercenary guild.

About the Author
I grew up playing Final Fantasy and watching Power Rangers. Then one day I sat down to watch a programing block called "Toonami" and my life was never the same. This is not hyperbole. It exposed me to Anime and later inspired me to write my first fanfic. This led to publishing my fanfiction on internet archives.

[Anonymous No.21759383]

>>21759285
Well, the thing is, it's anticlimactic if the plan goes off without a hitch. It can be played for comedy, a big heist gets planned and then nothing actually goes wrong but they're always paranoid it will, or something, but for dramatic storytelling, it's hard to make it work. What's very often the case if you have a big plan is like the first 20-40% of a plan can go perfectly and THEN something derails it.

[Anonymous No.21759417]

>>21759376
>T.H. White's Once and Future King
I don't like Arthurian shit.

[Anonymous No.21759448]

>>21759285
Nobody wants to read the same thing twice. Any theoretical bullshit has to clear that hurdle and everyone who has tried has stumbled over it and fallen flat on their face.

[Anonymous No.21759468]

>>21759448
Although I will agree with >>21759383
and say that
>and it all went according to plan, cue actual plot progression and further drama
is a nice touch that avoids the real issue.

[Anonymous No.21759520]

>>21759417
Non-white detected

[Anonymous No.21759532]

>>21759152
Publishers tried to keep all of the extra money when the price break of the digital era came, so creators went direct to consumer. Publishing now is the exclusive realm of globohomo propagandists.

[Anonymous No.21759567]

>>21756327
I drink a lot of coffee and tea and my sisters started this weird tradition where they would buy me the stupidest coffee mugs they could find to be funny. Well, anyway, a couple years ago my sister gave me a "ask my pronouns" mug. I found this even strange for her, since she knows I'm not particularly fond of gay stuff to think I'd use a mug like that and it turned out that she somehow was oblivious and thought it was just a goofy mug for English teachers or something... After I explained to her what it really meant she was kinda bummed out and seemed regretful, but I just found it all pretty funny. Still, like you said I don't want Target (the store where she bought it) to think people seriously want this stuff.

[Anonymous No.21759579]

>>21759567
>my sisters started this weird tradition where they would buy me the stupidest coffee mugs they could find to be funny. Well, anyway, a couple years ago my sister gave me a "ask my pronouns" mug. I found this even strange for her, since she knows I'm not particularly fond of gay stuff to think I'd use a mug like that and it turned out that she somehow was oblivious and thought it was just a goofy mug for English teachers or something... After I explained to her what it really meant she was kinda bummed out and seemed regretful,
Can you not post garbage like that anymore

[Anonymous No.21759635]

>>21759383
>>21759448
I mean the issue isn't showing the plan, it's having a plan that detailed. If the plan was "you go right, I go left, we meet in the middle" there'd be no issue if that's how it went down. On the other hand if you're doing "step 32-B subsection 46: move your left foot seven inches to the south south east at 4:15:27 AM(note, make sure you use red shoe laces)" it's a matter of supernatural intervention of the plan DOESN'T go wrong because it requires the MC to literally be the author of the story with precognition.

[Anonymous No.21759642]

>>21759635
Well, I specifically brought up heist stuff because that's sort of the very specific trope with heists. They're planned on-screen pretty meticulously, and SOMETHING goes wrong. Now, either it just completely crashes around them or they swerve it back on track for the final step, but the general point is it feels pointless if you have a detailed plan that is then followed without incident. It's kind of why people don't like prophecies, actually, because they're basically just fate-mandated plans.

[Anonymous No.21759647]

>>21759642
I guess the real issue is "why do you want/need an elaborate micromanaged plan?"
Is it just mission impossible larping? Because a movie has a distinct advantage of being able to SHOW something happening, making it automatically different and more interesting than talking about the plan.

[Anonymous No.21759656]

>>21759380
sounds great, thanks!

[Anonymous No.21759657]

>>21759647
Well, even broad-strokes plans tend towards failure. The generally successful plans in story-telling are the ones that you only hint at, really.

[Anonymous No.21759674]

Don't think the attempted gimmick of "everything good and well thought of is bad" really worked this thread.
I think you should try a new one next time

[Anonymous No.21759789]

Uh-huhuh

[Anonymous No.21759821]

>>21757627
ash falling from the sky and don't trust anything not written in steel and you can't trust things written in metal either KINO

[Anonymous No.21759826]

>>21759674
While there's nothing wrong with your Madoka Magika tier fandom, you shouldn't expect other people to treat it with reverence.

[Anonymous No.21759835]

>no magical girl sff
sadfrog.exe

[Anonymous No.21759839]

>>21759789
based

[Anonymous No.21759867]

>>21759376
>>21759275
>>21753158
Will fantasy covers ever have soul again? Or are we destined to forever have tumblr chink aishit art?

[Anonymous No.21759877]

>>21759867
It's inevitable for the PoD game to head that way for a while.

[Anonymous No.21759910]

>>21759867
SOVL

[Anonymous No.21760053]

>>21759835
>Read by Tim Curry
I kinda wanna listen to this actually.

[Anonymous No.21760106]

>>21760053
Heard good things about the audiobook, but it's Tim Curry of course it's good.

[Anonymous No.21760109]

lotm's new protagonist wants to fuck his sister lmao

[Anonymous No.21760153]

>>21760109
lmao that is funny guess i'll read it for the lulz

[Anonymous No.21760157]

>has to resort to samefagging to try and deceive people into reading the shit story
They always do this shit.

[Anonymous No.21760162]

>>21760157
To be fair, samefagging is literally an important plot element of Lord of the Mysteries

[Anonymous No.21760186]

>>21760162
he's right you know

[Anonymous No.21760196]

>>21760157
Don’t know why they even bother. I don’t think it has worked once. But then again, they’ve been doing this shit for months now, so it’s obvious they have no life. Just wish they stay in their discord or whatever.

[Anonymous No.21760204]

>Peoplw who read a book I don't like must all be same fagging.

[Anonymous No.21760212]

>>21760157

[Anonymous No.21760219]

>>21760212
That's not proof of anything.

[Anonymous No.21760222]

>>21760219
you're just gonna have to take my word for it bro (good faith discourse and all that)

[Anonymous No.21760230]

>>21760109
>>21760153
>>21760157
>>21760212
fuck webnovels
The Only Thing I Know for Real Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Memories broken, the truth goes unspoken
I’ve even forgotten my name
I don’t know the season or what is the reason
I’m standing here holding my blade
A desolate place (place) without any trace (trace)
It’s only the cold wind I feel
It’s me that I spite as I stand up and fight
The only thing I know for real

[Chorus]
There will be bloodshed
The man in the mirror nods his head
The only one left
Will ride upon the dragon’s back
Because the mountains don’t give back what they take
Oh, no, there will be blood- (blood) -shed (shed)
It’s the only thing I’ve ever known
[Verse 2]
Losing my identity
Wondering, have I gone insane?
To find the truth in front of me
I must climb this mountain range
Looking downward from this deadly height
And never realizing why I fight

[Anonymous No.21760240]

>>21760230
yes, yes, very convincing argument anon... but what if i told you that lord of the mysteries has a unique setting, well-thought out worldbuilding, and a power system which directly ties with the thematic motifs of the story (of which in turn i must note there are plenty)?

[Anonymous No.21760241]

>>21760230
this gets funnier and funnier the more i look at it

[Anonymous No.21760255]

>>21760162
>>21760157
>they don’t know about Amon

[Anonymous No.21760260]

>>21760230
Thank you for this thoight provoking and well constructed post in the Science Fiction and Fantasy General (/sffg/) on the Literature (/lit/) board of the website 4chan.org

[Anonymous No.21760264]

>>21760240
God you’re pathetic.

[Anonymous No.21760278]

>>21760264
Anon, I implore you to reciprocate my attempts at good-faith discourse, for the sake of our mutual refinement and better understanding of literature.

t. friendly anon

[Anonymous No.21760289]

>>21760278
Ain’t no one going to read it, and your attempt at shilling it is just sad. Just go back to wherever you appeared with your own kind than trying to force people to read a shitty story.

[Anonymous No.21760303]

>>21760289
no one's forcing you to read Lord of the Mysteries, anon.

[Anonymous No.21760306]

>>21760303
>>21760289
>>21760278
>>21760264
samefag

[Anonymous No.21760311]

>>21760289
I read it because people were talking about it here and I thought it was good. Not as much as Mother of Learning though.

[Anonymous No.21760378]

Lord of The Mysteries looks really interesting and since people here are saying is bad, must be good

Just downloaded the epub, gonna start reading

[Anonymous No.21760387]

>>21760378
based. be sure to post your thoughts about Lord of the Mysteries here. could always use more Lord of the Mysteries discussion.

[Anonymous No.21760392]

>>21760378
The prose is pretty bad but the world building makes it interesting.

[Anonymous No.21760399]

>>21760387
nah im joking

but i actually started reading because some anon talked about constantly here, at the moment i'm on volume 5, finished volume 4 yesterday

[Anonymous No.21760402]

>>21760392
What amuses me the most is the pyramid scheme, samefagging and scam that klein does in every tarot gathering

[Anonymous No.21760422]

I refuse to read chinkshit.

[Anonymous No.21760433]

>>21755084
All of them at the same time

[Anonymous No.21760445]

>>21760402
World-building, mystery, and the protagonist's sheer bullshittery. And the antagonist's as well.

[Anonymous No.21760602]

Hi learnt of this place from /sci/ anons telling me to go back here.

Wanted to share this ted talkpost with anons.
It's about how rogue planets are underappriciated. Maybe it gives you some writefag ideas.
https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2022/12/28/chasing-nomadic-worlds-opening-up-the-space-between-the-stars/

[Anonymous No.21760619]

>>21760602
Wrong general retard >>21758732

[Anonymous No.21760631]

>>21760602
Thank you, but I'm already reading sci-fi kino with a rogue planet arc.

[Anonymous No.21760651]

>>21760619
Fuck you nigger

[Anonymous No.21760781]

new first time baking (cause bakker is king) edition

>>21760778
>>21760778
>>21760778
>>21760778

[Anonymous No.21760941]

>>21758727
Definitely agree about the dragged out part. God fucking damn did the awakened shore take forever. I was hoping we'd get to see a bit more about the world afterwards, but nope, it was just some filler and then sitting around at the chained isles.

I don't feel as strongly about the Nephis point as you. Nephis was always set up to be someone in the same weight class as Sunny. Sunny has a lot of op bullshit abilities to pull out of his ass, Nephis is just his peer in that regard. All too often in webnovels it just becomes "OP protagonist and a couple sidekicks maybe", and anyone who is stronger just serves as a static milestone to measure growth and eventually be surpassed and left behind, which I think is kind of boring.