/sffg/ - Science Fiction & Fantasy General

[Anonymous No.23639576]

>Recommended reading charts. (Look here before asking for vague recs)
https://mega.nz/folder/kj5hWI6J#0cyw0-ZdvZKOJW3fPI6RfQ/folder/4rAmSZxb
>Archive
>>/lit/?task=search2&search_subject=sffg
>Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1029811-sffg

Previous Thread: >>23629529

[Anonymous No.23639624]

Spaceships

[Anonymous No.23639625]

>>23639576
What is the King Arthur of sci-fi?

[Anonymous No.23639656]

>>23639625
Paul Atreides? You know, destined to be king, unite the land (galaxy), cuckolding (sorry Irulan), fucked everything, have a too-much-of-a-chad friend going on...

[Anonymous No.23639657]

>>23639625
what did he meant by this?

[Anonymous No.23639665]

>>23639656
Paul was a coward his entire life, Arthur at least redeemed himself by fighting Mordred and breaking the cycle of hate, at least temporarily

[Anonymous No.23639766]

Cultivate me some rice, I'm hungry.

[Anonymous No.23639822]

[Anonymous No.23639881]

>>23639665
Right. So do you have a name already or we're going to keep trying until we guess right?

[Anonymous No.23639884]

>>23639766
Cultivation literature
>Webm related

[Anonymous No.23639934]

Do you guys actually buy books or pirate on an ereader? Kinda torn on what to do.

[Anonymous No.23639943]

>>23639934
I live in a third world shithole. Translations are shit and prices are a scam. So I just pirate everything and have a nice day, if I'd read only what my wallet allows I won't even be writing in english right now.

[Anonymous No.23639944]

>>23637872

there’s a specific title tag called many branches. many leaves, where often the MC’s cultivation is directly correlated with the number of descendants/wives he has. Usually these kinds of MCs are actually the most humane of all xianxia MCs, since their path of longevity is guaranteed so long as they have kids, on top of most of them being human and not bug people in the first place.

[Anonymous No.23639956]

>>23639934
I pirate all media.

[Anonymous No.23639957]

>>23639943
Fair man. I'm from USA fortunately, but I'm still a cheap ass. I just feel like I don't get invested and finish anything unless I buy it and see the physical form sitting on my counter.

[Anonymous No.23639966]

>>23639934
the latter
i don't have the cash to buy every book i want and i already have books in boxes because i lack the shelves to place them upon

[Anonymous No.23640072]

>>23639966
I went through all of my books recently and they were water damaged and covered in cockroach poop. Sad!

[Anonymous No.23640102]

>>23639934
Used to read\buy physical books in my teens early 20's, but that was almost 20 years ago. Now i read web novels and audio book Trad pub stuff. Looking to get into reading traditional comics digitally though when I finish downloading the 2tb packs I have queued.

[Anonymous No.23640111]

>>23639934
I buy books but more so I check them out of the fucking library. Couldn't read on an ereader, reading papers for college on a computer screen was absolute ass for me. Trees must die so I can be entertained.

[Anonymous No.23640113]

>>23639934
Pirate, if I got hook'd in the first chapter, then I'll buy the book.
I couldn't finish reading a book with e reader, my eyes hurt and I always got this urge to pee for some reason. With physical book I could literally sit still for 6 hours without going to toilet at all

[Anonymous No.23640119]

More about bugs please? I like bug stuff

[Anonymous No.23640137]

>>23640072
put them in boxes nigga!

[Anonymous No.23640232]

>>23639576
First for read the Belgariad

[Anonymous No.23640268]

>>23640232
Guy with the big nose was awesome all throughout, and the lady on the cover became more and more insufferable as it went (still would tho).

[Anonymous No.23640401]

>>23640268
Silk always has the best banter, love that little guy
>the lady on the cover became more and more insufferable as it went (still would tho).
She totally is insufferable but i still enjoy her character a lot, that scene in book four when she finds out that Garion has run away to fight Torak on his own and then proceeds to effectively destroy everything in her rooms except a little glass statue Garion gave her but she's still angry so she causes a titanic thunderstorm overhead the castle is one of the best characterization of women going hysterical i have seen in fantasy. Robert Jordan could never

[Anonymous No.23640461]

>>23639934
I buy only those things that I can't pirate (mainly some audiobooks in studied languages).

[Anonymous No.23640466]

>>23639934
Both. I pirate a lot, but I like supporting authors and having a physical copy is nice.

>>23640111
e-ink screens are much easier to read on than a regular old computer screen. Arguably easier to read than actual paper.

[Anonymous No.23640761]

What should i be reading during an upcoming eight hour roadtrip?

[Anonymous No.23640862]

>>23640761
Pornography.

[Anonymous No.23640870]

What are some good, finished, non-chink webnovels?
I've already read Worm and Mother of Learning.

[Anonymous No.23640876]

>>23640761
the collected works of Adam Roberts. Salt, Yellow Blue Tibia, New Model Army, Jack Glass, By Light Alone.

[Anonymous No.23640928]

>>23640870
No such thing

[Anonymous No.23640981]

>>23639576
Xianxia recs from last thread:
>>23638995
>>23638938
>>23635692
>>23635588
>>23634364
>>23633837
>>23632882
>>23629826

[Anonymous No.23641065]

Reincarnation novels where the mc spend most of the time as a child and get all the child girlfriends and tournament arc where he is really op and gets all the child girlfriends and maybe a cute boyfriend (adult) (///・w・///)

[Anonymous No.23641070]

>>23640232
Is this the same series? Why is there always a purple hag with black hair and a white highlight, long bearded old man?

[Anonymous No.23641212]

Bot a bad book. Only 400 pages so not a big investment in time either.
you can very clearly see the Sherlock Holmes inspiration.
Sherlock Holmes gets criticism because you as the reader don't know anything and can't solve the mystery until he does.
This book has a couple twists that you probably won't predict but there is often enough information to solve part of the mystery. At least once you understand the world a bit better.

Also the MC is a homo but it only comes up in like 2 paragraphs near the end of the book. A tolerable amount

[Anonymous No.23641221]

>>23641212
Not a bad book*
Please show pity on a retarded phone poster

[Anonymous No.23641236]

>>23641212
>Bot a bad book
Bought a bad book*
Ignore the other guy, not me.

[Anonymous No.23641241]

>>23641212
>Also the MC is a homo
stopped reading right there. Put critical information like this in the first sentence of your post.

[Anonymous No.23641248]

>>23640981
who asked

[Anonymous No.23641275]

>>23641248
>zoomer meme
Fuck off

[Anonymous No.23641284]

I honestly respect women who have only read harry potter more as readers than people who ``read'' chinkshit ``literature''

[Anonymous No.23641294]

>>23641284
>when you see a xianGODDESS and her /lit/fag cousin at the bar

[Anonymous No.23641299]

where can i get a higher res version of the gene wolfe pepe in the recs? thank you in advance

[Anonymous No.23641308]

>>23641236
I don't buy books.

[Anonymous No.23641322]

>>23641299

[Anonymous No.23641325]

>>23641241
Sorry. From now on I will start every post about a book with a list of trigger warnings.

[Anonymous No.23641328]

>>23641325
Good, and make sure to mention pedophilia

[Anonymous No.23641334]

>>23641322
yes!!!!! thank you so much

[Anonymous No.23641335]

>>23641325
>Sorry
stopped reading right there. Just call me a faggot instead of being passive aggressive.

[Anonymous No.23641337]

>>23641284
>muh reshpect giimme muh reshpect
lmao

[Anonymous No.23641338]

>>23641335
Faggot, next time he'll start every post with a list of trigger warnings. Sorry.

[Anonymous No.23641350]

>>23641284
women who make harry potter their entire identity are as despicable wastes of oxygen as literal retarded (intellectually disabled for those politically correct at home) manchildren who read xianxia/vance/wolfe/grrm/bakker and make it their entire identity.
like the newfag niggers who populate this thread.

[Anonymous No.23641372]

>>23641350
You sound like you read Lolita and made it your entire identity.

[Anonymous No.23641391]

>>23641350
TRUTH SHINES

[Anonymous No.23641398]

>>23641372
>you sound like you actually x
>hmph!
yawn

[Anonymous No.23641407]

>>23641398
Who are you quoting?

[Anonymous No.23641412]

>>23641241
Thanks.

[Anonymous No.23641420]

>>23639576
Need some recs for fantasy that has Christian themes and values. Already read Narnia and Tolkien's legendarium.

[Anonymous No.23641479]

>>23641420
The Bible

[Anonymous No.23641492]

>>23641420
The Space Trilogy.

[Anonymous No.23641496]

>>23640111
ereaders don't feel the same as computer monitors, it's pretty much just paper with it's own light source. You should try it out.
The only thing it's worse at is that you don't get the satisfaction of turning pages.

[Anonymous No.23641532]

>>23641335
I was being facetious. Not passive aggressive.

[Anonymous No.23641550]

>>23641420
The Desolate Era

[Anonymous No.23641560]

>>23641532
You disagreed with him so you are whatever he says you are.

[Anonymous No.23641595]

Good books about the holocaust?

[Anonymous No.23641611]

>>23641595
>Science Fiction & Fantasy General

[Anonymous No.23641663]

>>23641611
Your point?

[Anonymous No.23641772]

The SF/F market is so shit now I only read 80s cassette futurism, erotic fiction and autistic men writing complex world building without knowing what to do with the story
>Captcha: WRAP

[Anonymous No.23641774]

>>23641420

James Blish's Case for Conscience, Walter Miller's Canticle for Leibowitz. Poul Anderson's work in general. Probably add on PKD to an extent.

[Anonymous No.23641875]

After multiple recommendations I finally got around to reading Dying Earth. I thought 400 pages for one character was too much, but Cugel is easily one of the best fantasy characters ever written. Both books are absolutely hilarious and full of great ideas

[Anonymous No.23641900]

>>23641772
I think there’s a niche for autism world builders to be snapped up by skilled narrative writers and work as a team.

[Anonymous No.23641911]

>>23641900
sure as long as you don't let someone swoop in like Sweet Baby INc. and ruin it.

[Anonymous No.23641916]

>>23641875
Vance is pretty good. I want to read as much of him as I can in my lifetime.

[Anonymous No.23641926]

>>23641911
It just needs to be the classic business team of unkempt genius autist in the back and charismatic salesman in the front. The salesman here being a skilled storyteller that doesn’t have the mindset for complex natural world building

[Anonymous No.23641945]

uhhh

[Anonymous No.23641958]

>>23641926
okay sure I have ideas and I read a ton. Give me a good narrative writer who vibes with classic SF/F, pulps, and a hint of modern anime/manga/comics.

>>23641945

oh wow Lovecraft 2.0?

[Anonymous No.23641984]

>>23641595
Ernst Zündel wrote a lot of fiction about the holocaust

[Anonymous No.23641986]

>>23641212
I loved it too. I managed to figure out some parts of the case but others came as nice twists. Are there any other nice murder mystery fantasy in the vein of this?

>>23641241
He's not even full on homo, he's bi. There's a scene where he gets a raging boner for a girl.

[Anonymous No.23641996]

>>23641945
I don't know the context, but I'm pretty sure the beasts are the monstrous.

[Anonymous No.23642041]

>>23641875
>Cugel is easily one of the best fantasy characters ever written.
Not true.

[Anonymous No.23642048]

>>23641986
>There's a scene where he gets a raging boner for a girl.
did you somehow miss the part where it's a gene-edited/altered (forgot the in universe name) prostitute. even a hoho would a get a superboner from the engineered pheromones

[Anonymous No.23642050]

>>23642048
I know, but he still wanted to stick penis in vagina

[Anonymous No.23642090]

>>23642041
Great contribution

[Anonymous No.23642102]

Any xianxia novels that have math problems or references throughout? Like the mc arranged spirit crystals in such and such way to maximize his cultivation, and you are given enough clues to figure out the arrangement, or "I arranged a massive defensive formation using, 1 circle then under that 3 arrangements of 2 circles, and under that 14 arrangements of 3 circles, and under that 173 arrangements of 4 circles, and under that 16,951 arrangements of 5 circles."
just know if you rec a soiyence fiction book and you are courting death

[Anonymous No.23642115]

>>23642102
>Any xianxia novels that have math problems or references throughout?
So you want hyper turbo autism?

[Anonymous No.23642117]

>Stormlight 5 cover reveal soon
We're so back!

[Anonymous No.23642121]

>>23642115
No, maybe just 1 every 100 chapters

[Anonymous No.23642125]

>>23642121
Or an obvious one ever hundred chapters and a few subtle ones.

[Anonymous No.23642161]

>>23641391
Speaking of Bakker. I just realized something.

The books actually have a shitton of battle sequences, with massive clashes of armies with diverse army compositions and sorcerers and chorae archers and shit. Especially in the Holy War part of the first trilogy. And most of them are really involved, voluminous, with detailed descriptions of what strategy does what side stick to and how the battle turns and progresses and how it involves, lots of them are really in-depth mass battle sequences.

And all of them are total fucking white noise. There is fucking nothing cool or smart or memorable to them, while Bakker really fucking tries to. Nobody ever talks about the battle sequences, like if nobody even remembers that they are in the books and actually take up quite a lot of space. The only things that I remember are spoopy ghost vision things in the Nth Battle of Mengedda, and how Conphas triumphed over the Scylvendi by building his entire 600 IQ battle strategy on baiting them with public displays of homosexual anal rape. That's it, I can't even approximate how many such battles are there across the series, they're TV static in my head even after several reads.

I'm generally positive about The Second Apocalypse, and a plenty of examples of single combat are legitimately quite cool - so how tf did Bakker fuck up the battles this bad? And how did he fail to realize how empty and useless they are in the narrative?

[Anonymous No.23642178]

>>23642161
Modern fantasy authors can't write good fights for shit, pretty sad really.

[Anonymous No.23642193]

>>23641663
kek

[Anonymous No.23642201]

>>23639625
Frankenstein's Monster.

[Anonymous No.23642220]

Speaking of Bakker. I just realized something

There is a lot of gay male rape in his books, does he know that his audience is mainly straight young boys?

[Anonymous No.23642223]

>>23640870
Get legend of condor heroes off Libgen. There's also a new TV show of it this year on youtube.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=vOcoAlN44b0&list=PLDuzvnRIfxZpRbS4kjLZ413HRXouqsBL_&index=1&pp=iAQB

[Anonymous No.23642247]

>>23641350
Vance and Wolfe get mentioned in this general once every so often, usually when a newbie is asking for recommendations. Wolfe occasionally gets his own threads when people want to talk about him in detail. Nobody ever talks about Vance in detail. So why do people itt act like those two authors have annoying ritual poster fans?

[Anonymous No.23642284]

>>23642247
If you mention an author not in a negative way once it makes you a ritual poster shill because
>ironically trash unironically obvious to everyone baka
>implying anyone would AKSHULLY ever care about [authorname] and not just try to astroturf him as a shitpost that just never happens because you see [authorname] is SO BAD and EVERYONE knows it and I am so very literate and worldly and up to the times for knowing that EVERYONE knows it so uh fuck you plz commit kys shill

Bakkerfags are kinda brilliant for embracing that and going pedal to the metal with that, which sorta turned the whole pseud atmosphere against itself.

[Anonymous No.23642325]

>>23642223
>non-chink

[Anonymous No.23642337]

>>23642161
i thought the charge of the shrial knights in book 2 was kino

[Anonymous No.23642343]

>>23642247
Every thread is not "once every so often".

[Anonymous No.23642358]

>>23642343
Wolfe was not mentioned once in the last thread. The thread before mentioned both of them. The thread before that one did not mention either once.

That point I am getting it is did you ever figure out why your dad felt compelled to molest you together with a posse of AIDS niggers and a dog?

[Anonymous No.23642380]

>>23642358
Why do newfags possess such grandiose psychotic torture fantasies?

[Anonymous No.23642398]

>>23642380
>Why do newfags
That's it I'm fucking gonna say it.

It's current year. Being an oldfag in this pisshole of faggotry should be a mark of shame and retardation. No individual can frequent this fucking gay board since 2000s till now and remain a well-adjusted and reasonable person.

I fucking wish I was a newfag on /lit/, Chinese tiktoks would leave me with less mental harm sustained than Butters' posts, Call of the Crocodile and Evola threads.

[Anonymous No.23642410]

23642398
cool story bro

[Anonymous No.23642417]

[Anonymous No.23642418]

>>23642417
it's shit even by chinkshit standards

[Anonymous No.23642420]

>>23642161
I disagree with all of this. The battles were cool and memorable, and the characters reflect back on them on a number of occasions

[Anonymous No.23642492]

>>23642398
>well-adjusted and reasonable person
bakkerfag ain't it
call of the crocodile was a fun read but it was not the best horror's call novel

[Anonymous No.23642549]

I am out of the loop, so apologies. What are the recent news from this big boy? Will the next book ever come? I realize he is going to die long before the final book, but what's the fuckin' plan? "Dance" came out in 2011. The timeline here is crazy as hell.

[Anonymous No.23642581]

>>23642549
Why would you come to 4chan to talk about Game of Thrones? Have you seen the threads here? At least talk is civil on reddit and moderators ban shitstirrers.

[Anonymous No.23642587]

>>23642581
Ten million years ago, before HBO, I learned of A Song of Ice and Fire through 4chan. I guess I am nostalgic and hopeful.

[Anonymous No.23642614]

>>23642549
Word is that he threw a lot of it away and started over back in 2016.
A year and a half ago he said that he had 1100-1200 pages done and estimated there were another 400-500 left to write.

[Anonymous No.23642643]

>>23642549
There's a GRRM general now

[Anonymous No.23642654]

>>23642614
Last I read he had over 2,000 manuscript pages and was afraid about how they were going to make him break it up into even more books.

[Anonymous No.23642661]

>>23642643
Oh fuck, I just checked the catalog and you are right. My bad!

[Anonymous No.23642665]

>>23642654
Almost certainly nonsense, unless he wrote 1000 pages in less than a year. He repeated the previous number in late 2023.

[Anonymous No.23642706]

>>23642325
Sorry. I misread.

[Anonymous No.23642768]

>>23641420
The sparrow

[Anonymous No.23642813]

Just finished book 5 of Wheel of Time.

Man, it's not easy being Rand huh. The scene where he debates how many people would still be alive had Morgase simply killed him where he stood in book 1 as he's losing his mind was incredible. Makes me wonder where it can go next from that, Rand is already mixing up present with the past and laughing maniacally at random things. How do you advance his insanity without Dragonmount 2: electric boogaloo?

I really thought the siege of Cairhen would be the the ending of the book, but no we just go after Rahvin instantly and we're down 2 forsaken for 1. Cool.
Also Moiraine and Lanfear aren't dead you're not fooling me Jordan, I know a thing or two about murder mysteries. If no bodies are shown then they're still out there somewhere.

I rate the book good/very for shitting on Nynaeve so much.

[Anonymous No.23642842]

>>23642325
Condor Heroes is THE chinkshit though. The LOTR of chinese lit.

[Anonymous No.23642863]

>>23641420
https://youtu.be/YyztG7oorsQ

[Anonymous No.23642877]

>>23642220
He's said he assumes his audience is mostly male. He also said men have the rape gene and he puts a mirror to his readers' face in his books. I'm not sure what conclusion to draw because it's just really funny to me.

[Anonymous No.23642902]

>>23642877
>he puts a mirror to his readers' face in his books
I think Bakker should really just fess up and admit that the books mirror the author and he loves gay rape

[Anonymous No.23642912]

>>23642877
that reminds me of that one anon who started raving about older men developing a gut because it was a rape belly and somehow ergonomically fit into space of a woman’s, locking her in place for the rape

[Anonymous No.23642916]

>>23642912
>ergonomically fit into space of a woman’s, locking her in place for the rape
o i am laffin

[Anonymous No.23642920]

>>23642912
>rape belly

[Anonymous No.23642992]

>>23639934
I use my audible membership. But that's only because I'm a poor. When I get up and running in my new career, I'll buy even more audiobooks and some books like an upstanding member of society.

[Anonymous No.23643011]

>>23642992
>wanting to be an upstanding member of society
>Being here
Incompatible

[Anonymous No.23643019]

I'm trying to write a fantasy heavily based on 13th century england that actually includes the church instead of handwaving and dancing around it. Why is history so complicated bros? And why does medieval fantasy have such a weird blind spot for the church? Literally over half the country was in their pocket.

[Anonymous No.23643031]

>>23643019
Maybe writers try to make their fantasy stories different from actual history or maybe they think adding too much religion makes things more complicated. Or maybe they don't know history. Who knows.

[None !SFFG.n1h7M No.23643063]

>>23639576
City - Clifford D. Simak (1952)

City is a series of related stories connected by a frame story. Before each story is an in-universe commentary. I couldn't help but read each one metafictional apologia. The stories need to be read in order and I don't believe any stand alone. Together they're greater than the sum of their parts.

City (1944)
Although this was published 80 years ago it contains many relevant concerns. The story opens with a man wary of an automated lawnmower, which relates to automation and whether what's been created will eventually turn against us. There are complaints of being unable to smell burning gasoline, which reminds me of those who complain that ebooks lack smell. Hydroponics can be substituted with GMOs. New modes of transportation have drained all of the romance out of travelling. That's what it all is. Stubborn romanticized notions.

The opposition romanticizes just as much, if not more. Their central point is that cities are obsolete, however in the 80 years since then there has only been increasing urbanization. Apparently most people don't find cities to be inherently bad.

As with many stories of the time, it was believed that atomic energy would solve many of the world's problems. If anything, that should be a cautionary message that fads in technology may not achieve anywhere as much as hoped. Perhaps Simak knew this and it's meant as a satirical comedy.
Meh

Huddling Place (1944)
Man has thrown off the shackles of the cities, the huddling places of the body meant for cavemen. More insidious though is the huddling place of the mind. Credit is due for Simak writing about virtual reality internet. Though saying entertainment would be a downfall wasn't anything new. That which we created to save us would entrap us is still the cautionary tale of the day.
Meh

Census (1944)
This story has uplift, spaceship drives, appreciation for neurodivergence, and various social theories. Simak probably would've been interested in the role autism has played in technological development. Much else is fanciful at best.
Meh

Desertion (1944)
Man cannot abide being unable to conqueror. If the body fails, it must be changed. Jupiter resists mankind's attempts, so they must become like the Jovians. There's a lot of transhumanism in this what it'd mean for humanity. The transcended have their own ideas.
Meh

Paradise (1946)
There hasn't been a single killing in 125 years. The transhuman has returned, but there's resistance to his message. Man remains shackled by his humanity, but a path now exists to remove all restraints.
Meh

Hobbies (1946)
Social structure has collapsed. There's no crime, violence, economy, tradition, religion, family, government, property, or relationships.
Meh

Aesop (1947)
Another species now rules. Robots and animals are in harmony.
Meh

Epilog (1973)
Almost all are united in harmony. Unconditional pacifism reigns. A different species takes control.
Meh

Rating: 2.5/5

This was a suggested read.

[Anonymous No.23643104]

>>23642643
Theres a what now?

[Anonymous No.23643109]

My Warrior-Prophet

[Anonymous No.23643113]

>>23642418
Best (web)novel out there m8

[Anonymous No.23643146]

>>23639934
I pirate basically everything.
Reading on an ereader is easier because of the backlight so I only buy physical copies for stuff I'm going to reread

[Anonymous No.23643159]

>Justice Light segment analogous to something out of Kaiju
>Carl's continuing casual degeneration from the Ring of Divine Suffering
D:

[Anonymous No.23643167]

>>23643019
>And why does medieval fantasy have such a weird blind spot for the church?
Christianity exists today and is therefore boring and not fantastic. So writers reach further back to pagan myths. Historical accuracy is irrelevant

[Anonymous No.23643174]

>Christianity
>exists
LOL

[Anonymous No.23643179]

>>23643011
I'm actually here (on 4chan) to lead some degenerates and retards to the path leading to being less degenerate and less retarded. And figure out what I'm gonna read next.

[Anonymous No.23643181]

>>23643179
A meme book.

[Anonymous No.23643182]

>>23643179
lol

[Anonymous No.23643216]

>>23640981
>>23640870
I just finished act 1 of Mother of learning and and honestly pretty unengaged, especially now that it seems like the climax of part 1 isnt going to actually have any immediate consequences and now he's just traveling to find a witch and gather ingredients. I read Cradle and really liked it, it was fun and the character growth felt substantial. I guess I'm only about a quarter of the way through MOL but zorian is still not even particularly impressive, I don't want teachers at the school thinking "oh wow he's a pretty talented kid" in my power fantasy, I want them speechless at the absurdity of his growth. It's very slow paced for a progression fantasy and the highs don't even seem that high in this world, like Zach is supposed to be super impressive and archmage level but he basically just throws around fireballs, that's not all that impressive by most fantasy standards. Plus the writing quality and especially the characterization is lacking. I don't have MOL so far but is its teetering on a slog, and I was honestly only interested in the psychic spiders as far as world building went since everything else feels very generic by contrast. Should I keep going or is there better stuff to be found in xianxia stories or other progression fantasy stuff? How's bastion? What's a good starting xianxia that isn't a million pages long and that has at least somewhat interesting characters doing cool stuff. Does MOL get better (significantly)?

[Anonymous No.23643225]

>>23643019
They are not good at depicting religiosity in general, mostly because they aren't religious themselves. The audience isn't very religious either and would probably have difficulty relating to characters who are immersed in a religious mindset, so the incentive for writers to strengthen that aspect of their worldbuilding isn't really there.

[Anonymous No.23643254]

>>23641070
>Is this the same series?
Yes the hag is Polgara, the Aunt/adopted mother of the mc and the old man is Belgarath, Polgara's father but he doesn't have a long beard, he looks more like a hobo than a wise old man

[Anonymous No.23643364]

>>23641875
Just so

[Anonymous No.23643373]

>>23643063
filtered by superior scifi

[Anonymous No.23643378]

>>23643225
>mostly because they aren't religious themselves
Ill-informed drivel. There's basically no similarities between even the most devout religious people now and what religious life was like in the medieval period.
Going to church or whatever gives you no useful experience for understanding a world where church was arguably a greater influence on life than the state.

[Anonymous No.23643397]

>>23643378
Obviously the writer would have to research the religious practices of whatever period he's writing about or taking inspiration from. The point is that the writer and his audience being irreligious makes the writer less inclined to do this, not that going to church on Sunday would give him the ability to effortlessly write about premodern religious life.

[Anonymous No.23643433]

>>23643019
>fantasy have such a weird blind spot for the church?
*Deryni (1970) by Katherine Kurtz blocks your path*
>>23643225
stop lying, christian fiction was huge 50 years ago, just because it's not popular NOW doesn't mean it never was. take your recency bias back to /pol/

[Anonymous No.23643435]

>>23643216
>What's a good starting xianxia that isn't a million pages long and that has at least somewhat interesting characters doing cool stuff.
Not Bastion.

[Anonymous No.23643474]

>>23643433
We weren't talking about Christian fiction from 50 years ago

[Anonymous No.23643499]

chinese slop ruined these generals

[Anonymous No.23643510]

>>23643019
>And why does medieval fantasy have such a weird blind spot for the church?
The Vatican has sanitized most history textbooks, most people don't know anything about it, so they can't write about it; that and they don't want to offend Catholic/Jesuit-controlled publishing companies else they won't get published.

[Anonymous No.23643526]

>>23643435
That only leaves a few hundred thousand options left to eliminate

[Anonymous No.23643547]

>>23643373
"Filtered" would mean that I didn't read it. I've read and liked other works by Simak.

[Anonymous No.23643638]

>>23643216
>Should I keep going or is there better stuff to be found in xianxia stories or other progression fantasy stuff?
The chinese webnovel fantasy crowd is both older and has way more writers so there's more variety. (Xianxia and otherwise)
You can check some of the recs mentioned here >>23640981. I'd ignore the actual chapter count and look at how big the average chapter is to get a feeling for the book length.

[Anonymous No.23643642]

>>23643499
Nah the absolute state of modern western fantasy publishing did.

[Anonymous No.23643674]

>>23643547
>I've read and liked other works by Simak.
good now read Way Station

[Anonymous No.23643799]

>>23643674
Nah, you'll have to do it properly.

[Anonymous No.23643810]

Are there any good fantasy novels about a character who starts at the lowest rung of society and slowly rises up through the social strata? The character doesn't have to be morally good or anything

[Anonymous No.23643979]

why does REH’s prose seem timeless? for a moment i thought Conan was written in the modern era, only to remember that REH commited suicide in 1936.

[Anonymous No.23644085]

>>23643979
Beauty is timeless, my friend.

[Anonymous No.23644171]

This is Reddit the book. Like, I'm serious. I'm not using it just as a slur. It's quite literally fucking Reddit the book. The main character is the actual fucking caricature of a person Red Letter Media makes fun of in their videos. The author leans so much on references that the book actually can't stand on its own.

Hell, I don't even know what the story is actually supposed to be. An engineer is turned into a robot overlord, and what does he struggle with it over the story? What personal journey does he go through? This is further muddled by the fact that there are now many copies of him just running around with their own sidequests

I just want to read some empire building stuff, but this just ain't it. It doesn't even play around the tropes it features. It almost feels like the author lacks imagination. I'm in the 2nd book because I wanted to continue on and not be a bitch, but I'm almost hesitant to even thinking of downloading the third book

[Anonymous No.23644181]

>>23644171
Fucking kill me

[Anonymous No.23644205]

>>23644171
>>23644181
Sci-fi authors struggling to write believable human interactions isn't exactly something unique to reddit users.

[Anonymous No.23644211]

>>23644171
>>23644181
>"we are le Bob XD so quirky!"
The title is already telling you it's reddit

[Anonymous No.23644388]

>>23643216
based, you make the tards itt seethe with your clear desire for power fantasy
>readers don't know what they want
Yes we do. I haven't read mother of learning, but there is a Korean novel called The Book Eating Magician which I read first, it's probably very different, but the title was similar enough that I wasn't impressed by MOL, but the world building isn't there.
As for xianxia just hop around recs until you find a style you like, if they bring up new monsters every few chapters then they will probably keep doing it. I Shall Seal the Heavens has a pretty engaging start for a xianxia, but he is less OP than other mcs.

[Anonymous No.23644394]

>>23644171
I think it's all right to be a bitch and drop the series, anon.

[Anonymous No.23644699]

>>23644463
Is this true? Does "highschool level" Sanderson really have more unique words than Dickens (Tale of Two Cities vs Mistborn)? Can anybody, who knows how, back the claim made in this post up?

[Anonymous No.23644805]

>>23644699
Uh, bump? Hello is anyone out there? Earth to /sff/!

[Anonymous No.23644875]

>Ghost of the Truthseeker 1
>The first Villain the MC had to kill was one black dude named Jamal

What did the author meant by this?

[Anonymous No.23644969]

>>23644875
It's a webnovel so it probably actually is based. There are plenty of based webnovels, but almost no based dead tree books. I wonder why.

[Anonymous No.23644999]

>>23644969
I don't understand this image

[Anonymous No.23645116]

>>23644999
This image appears to be a visual commentary on groupthink, bandwagon effects, and the influence of online communities on individual perceptions of literary quality. The depiction uses stick figures and handwritten text to illustrate how opinions on a book can be heavily influenced by social dynamics and peer pressure within online forums, particularly within the context of 4chan's /lit/ board.
(see second post for analysis)
Overall, this image encapsulates the tension between personal literary taste and the influence of communal validation. It raises questions about the authenticity of one's reading experience and the extent to which it is shaped by external opinions rather than intrinsic merit. This commentary is particularly relevant in the context of digital platforms where the rapid dissemination of opinions can amplify these social effects.

[Anonymous No.23645118]

>>23645116
Detailed Analysis
Initial Decision Point:

At the top, a figure (representing a typical user) decides to read a book, influenced by a positive recommendation from another user who claims, "This is the best book! Buy now!"
The figure responds with "OK," indicating an initial decision to trust the recommendation.
Diverging Paths:

The figure then branches into two potential reactions:
On the left path, the reader enjoys the book and decides to financially support the author, but ultimately labels the book as "shit" and drops it.
On the right path, the reader is initially ambivalent, thinking, "I'm not enjoying this book. Let me see what other people think."
Social Validation and Groupthink:

The right path leads to a scene where a group of figures is collectively declaring, "This is the best book ever." The presence of a dollar sign suggests financial success or market validation as reinforcing this group opinion.
The ambivalent reader is then swayed by the collective opinion, eventually reconsidering their stance and concluding, "Now that I think about it, the book is revolutionary. I love it."
Prescriptive Social Behavior:

Another figure emerges from the collective endorsement, telling others, "You should read LOTR," implying a recommendation of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings."
This recommendation is met with various reactions, including confusion and skepticism, illustrated by the figures at the bottom who are questioning, "Why?"
Academic Interpretation
This image serves as a critique of how subjective experiences of literature can be manipulated by social proof and the bandwagon effect. It demonstrates the susceptibility of individual readers to the collective opinions and the pressure to conform within online literary communities. The dynamics illustrated here reflect broader phenomena in social psychology, where individuals often rely on the behavior and opinions of others to form their own judgments, particularly in contexts where personal uncertainty or ambiguity is high.

The reference to "LOTR" (The Lord of the Rings) as a universally recommended text underscores the notion of canonical works that gain enduring popularity and are frequently advocated within literary circles. This recommendation also highlights how certain books achieve a status that transcends individual critique, becoming almost obligatory reads within certain communities.

[Anonymous No.23645127]

>>23645116
>>23645118
so what you are saying is that webnovel readers are chads and "dead tree book" readers are virgins?

[Anonymous No.23645129]

>>23645118
>>23645116
gpt couldn't even understand this image wtf It's saying on the left path you have the choice of dropping a book you think is shit or contributing to a book or series that you think is good as it comes out. When you read a dead tree book that is considered a classic, you must either like it or come to terms with the fact that everyone else is braindead.
It also completely misses the jew mind magic portion of the image, Ironically you could make another image just like this one with sama convincing you to invest in AI.

[Anonymous No.23645153]

>>23644999
The anon that drew the picture seems to be arguing that webnovels (digital) give more freedom as they can be picked up and dropped at the readers leisure, where physical books must be purchased and therefore take your money before you really know if you like them or not.
>>23645116
>>23645118
There is also the groupthink aspect.

A sound way to think about it, but then they couldn't help but be a faggot about it, calling physical readers 'deadtreefags'. It is asinine to assume there are no good physical novels, as it is to assume the same about webnovels.
I would have given them the benefit of the doubt that they were only speaking of recent, modern literature, but the example given was LOTR.
Basically anon just wanted to pat themselves on the back for only reading webnovel slop while justifying their refusal to read anything any fan of sff would ever recommend them, as only they can truly understand what they would like.

[Anonymous No.23645168]

>>23645153
>deadtreefags
The file name has nothing to do with the image though. Even if it is the original name it could just be a bait and switch, as lotr isn't mentioned until the end

[Anonymous No.23645172]

>>23645168
That's what I'm saying, this is nothing disagreeable until that point. Anon added LOTR just to farm (you)s and bait autists.

[Anonymous No.23645175]

>dead tree book reader are responsible for climate change
webnovels are the only moral form of literature

[Anonymous No.23645179]

>>23645153
And it's clearly arguing that there are entire industries and institutions that have codified and will continue to shill what are ultimate shitty and vapid books long best there best by date.

[Anonymous No.23645184]

>>23645179
>long best
long past*
e.g. the bible, euclid, gatsby, 1984, lotr, harry potter, asoiaf, dragon ball, one piece etc.

[Anonymous No.23645215]

>>23639934
I pirate everything. I neither have nor need a sob story justification to appease you, I do it because I don't want to pay for things when I can get them for free.

[Anonymous No.23645246]

>>23644699
Bumping past idiots. Is it true that Sanderson is a more lexically diverse author than Dickens?

[Anonymous No.23645253]

>>23639934
I buy every book I intend to read. I'm not a poorfag and I enjoy building up my home library, and I like the feeling of reading an actual book and doing something that's not looking at a screen. I do also usually pirate an ebook copy of every book I read so I can get a couple extra pages in on my phone at times when I can't bring my book.

[Anonymous No.23645260]

>>23645246
Is it really a surprise that a sff author has a more diverse vocabulary than a man who wrote of the street urchins and the middle class in industrial England?

[Anonymous No.23645281]

>>23645260
That isn't what I asked.

[Anonymous No.23645282]

>>23645246
As someone who's read Tale but has only read the excerpts Sanderson posted on his blog, I'll say it really does not matter how lexically diverse your books are when your writing feels like some guy chewing hamburgers.

[Anonymous No.23645288]

>>23645282
>writing feels like some guy chewing hamburgers
What is it with Americans and fast food? >Sanderson is the McDonalds of literature he writes like some guy chewing hamburgers, He is only read by teens working at Hardee's.

[Anonymous No.23645293]

>>23645281
It is what you asked. Anyone who can read a newspaper can read Dickens, as he uses normal English in his writing. Sanderson is a sff author, so he uses made up jargon and terminology that bloats his unique word count, thus making him more lexically diverse than Dickens.

[Anonymous No.23645318]

>>23645293
>made up jargon
Such as? And does it really tip the scales? Classic authors are better educated so of course they use more words than a writer trying to appeal to highschoolers.

[Anonymous No.23645330]

>>23645246
If so it's only on technicality. I've read Sanderson and it's tripe aimed at people with an intellectual level lower than the average webnovel reader. There is probably litrpg shit that ape world of warcraft and anime less badly than Sanderson does.

[Anonymous No.23645352]

>>23645330
I'm asking if it's true. Can someone with computer programming knowledge figure it out please?

[Anonymous No.23645357]

>>23643019
It depends on what you're asking, exactly. Tad Williams's Memory Sorrow and Thorn heavily features a religion that is basically Christianity. It makes sense considering he was originally going for a historical fantasy-esque story. Aside from that, I don't know if you're looking for something a bit more specific

[Anonymous No.23645358]

>>23645318
I have never read Sanderson, but going by this random page i pulled from the first pdf i found on a search engine, his lexicon is probably bloated with nouns and sword and sorcery terms taken from D&D.
And i assure you these words do add up and make a difference. It doesn't make his writing any better than high school level, but it make him wordier if only by a technicality.

[Anonymous No.23645378]

>>23645352
>I'm asking if it's true.
Who cares. It's about as interesting as asking if a 4chan post has more lexical diversity.

[Anonymous No.23645382]

Lexical diversity sounds like forcing ebonics into English

[Anonymous No.23645384]

>>23645352
Ummm the answer is not one I like so who fucking cares?????

[Anonymous No.23645392]

>>23640119
I just read it yesterday and the ending was complete garbage. Honestly, having the old historian ram the fucking ship into the planet at full tilt, wiping the galaxy of the last remaining sentient life would have been a more satisfying conclusion, and somehow more of a thematic fit.

[Anonymous No.23645397]

>>23640870
Pact is pretty good, by the same guy who wrote Worm

[Anonymous No.23645418]

>>23645384
>>23645378
>hey what is 1+1
>who fucking cares why do you want to know, probably 3 but who the fuck cares
verily

[Anonymous No.23645464]

>>23645357
>Tad Williams's Memory Sorrow and Thorn heavily features a religion that is basically Christianity
That explains the cuckoldry.

[Anonymous No.23645474]

>>23642912
>have rape belly
>Easier time overpowering women and holding them down ensures a greater number of successful rapes and impregnations
> results in a larger proportion of rape belly babies in the next generation

>lacking rape belly
>Rape success greatly reduced. Must engage in courtship, which is far more costly in time and energy and also has a high rate of failure. You also must compete with the top 5% males for female approval
>Very few descendants on the next generation

Mediocre men are set for extinction. Male population is set to evolve a clear divide between chads and fat ugly bastards

[Anonymous No.23645500]

>>23639934
I pirate everything, not only books. However, I get a physical copy of books I liked enough to keep forever.

[Anonymous No.23645513]

i don't have time to read as much as I used to bros, especially not those big 500+ page ebics, do you guys know any good series / books that are roughly under 300 pages and still good?

[Anonymous No.23645517]

>>23645474
You don't need a belly to rape modern women. Just walk up to any woman in a parking garage and tell them that you are going to rape them and to walk behind that pillar. If they run, or pepper spray, or shoot you then it just wasn't meant to be

[Anonymous No.23645543]

>>23639934

Pirate if you can't afford or don't want to spend money on that work for whatever reason. Otherwise, stay within your means.

>>23645500
this fren gets it.

>>23645513

There's a lot of older novellas and works under 300 pages. Like so many here, I'm gonna suggest first looking at the Robert E. Howard and Michael Moorcock works because a lot of them are on the shorter side.

After that, there's just, well. . . anything pre-1960ish IMO. Alfred Bester's works, Jack Vance's '50s era stuff, Simak and Anderson's work.

Grab some sci-fi anthologies, any of them. They're loaded with short fiction. There's plenty of horror and fantasy ones too.

Want an anthology rec? Try the Sci-Fi Hall of Fame books, The Dangerous Visions Books, The SFWA Grandmasters books, and then the Hugo Awards collection. Have fun.

[Anonymous No.23645570]

Revelation space is fucking bleak. The entire cosmos is silent and devoid of life because an apex machine race exterminates all space-faring life routinely to ensure life will one day prosper after the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxy collision has taken place, which they will move entire start systems for to ensure conditions for continuation of biological life will be met, and on top of that you have human-made rogue terraforming machinery called the Greenfly that started self-replicating and self-improving and systematically chewing up and converting everything in the universe, including these apex machines, that's classified biological life as a threat to its mission. In the end, it's converted the majority of our galaxy to lifeless green celestial bodies broken up into shards and the ultimate fate of the entire universe is to be green and lifeless until heat death.

It's kinda insane that this Greenfly story predates Revelation Space itself and nothing can be done to stop it. Everything that happens in his books is ultimately meaningless.

[Anonymous No.23645578]

>>23645418
>hey answer this inane bullshit question for me
>no I won't go look it up myself you solve it for me
Fuck off.

[Anonymous No.23645583]

>>23645578
So you agree that sanderson is better than dickens?

[Anonymous No.23645591]

>>23645583
In what world does word count equate to superiority? Stupid question to begin with.

[Anonymous No.23645596]

>>23645591
dumb retard

[Anonymous No.23645605]

>>23645591
Unique word count. And superior in this aspect, dunce.

[Anonymous No.23645625]

>>As i said, stupid thing to focus on. A fantasy author using a wider degree of words isn't impressive. A dunce could fill a book with made up magical phrases and characters named things like Kellum the Firebrand.
Your metric is flawed and beyond pointless when discussing literature.

[Anonymous No.23645641]

>>23644171
>haven't been on reddit in years
>take a gander to see what's going on
>top post on all is a suicide pod
This is fine.

[Anonymous No.23645647]

>>23645641
The King in Yellow

[Anonymous No.23645649]

>>23645641
>have been on 4chan for decades
>take a gander at /sffg/ to see what's going on
>some faggot is pearl clutching about kysing
kys

[Anonymous No.23645655]

>>23645649
You seem upset.

[Anonymous No.23645663]

>>23645655
yeah, I'm frothing at the mouth

[Anonymous No.23645687]

>>23645570
>nothing is eternal, therefore there's no meaning to anything.
Enjoy nihilism I guess.

[Anonymous No.23645689]

>>23645663
Shouldn't have cut your pipi off

[Anonymous No.23645698]

Half way through this and it's quite comfy. I like sailing and pirates, so this is right up my alley.

[Anonymous No.23645701]

>>23645605
Nta. More doesn't equal superior in art. Tolkien avoided Latinate words in favor of Saxon ones. By reducing the possible variety of English, he created a superior work of art.

[Anonymous No.23645706]

What fantasy/sci-fi will grip me from the start? I tried sanderson he's about too basic for me and his writing just doesn't do it for me. Got 50 pages into the way of kings.
Something like LotGH for sci-fi.

[Anonymous No.23645707]

>>23645687
Or buddhism.

[Anonymous No.23645708]

>>23645701
Tolkien was a boy fiddling catholic he can rot

[Anonymous No.23645710]

>>23645687
It's an all-consuming threat that assimilates the entirety of the Milky Way galaxy by the year 40,000 and reduces mankind to a handful of ships constantly fleeing the swarm, becoming more and more machine-like in order to travel vast distances between galaxies. The story of the main Revelation Space saga spends three books dealing with a threat that is completely pointless in the end.

[Anonymous No.23645739]

>author has clear strong suits
>tries to do "comedy" instead

[Anonymous No.23645749]

>>23645706
Dune
Stand on Zanzibar
Ringworld

[Anonymous No.23645757]

>>23645749
Thanks.

[Anonymous No.23645765]

Thoughts on the poppy war?

[Anonymous No.23645788]

What ereader do you guys use. I use p(1) the plan 9 pager.

[Anonymous No.23645796]

I saw a few months back that Joe Abercrombie was working on a new book called The Devils. I figured it was a sequel to his last trilogy coming about 4 years later. Decided to look again today and it now has a summary and is unrelated to the first law. Big sad

[Anonymous No.23645816]

>>23645583
Are you genuinely retarded or just low IQ?
How is use of jargon in any way an indication of the quality of a work?
Do you think a lexicon is the best kind of literature we have? Maybe urbandictionary?
Fucking idiot.

[Anonymous No.23645825]

>>23645706
Depends what you like about LotGH. I guess you might like the Foundation trilogy.
Personally i'm more into Jack Vance and Poul Anderson's kind of fantasy SF though.
>>23645749
>Stand on Zanzibar
Isn't that actual cuckolding lit?

[Anonymous No.23645826]

>>23645739
I chuckled

[Anonymous No.23645924]

>>23645825

It happens because the corporations and government created the environment for it.

Now, uh, don't think too hard about it chud.

[Anonymous No.23646239]

>>23645513
>Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers
really shitted that they never finished the story

[Anonymous No.23646250]

>>23645464
Never understood this meme even after I read the series. Am I missing something?

[Anonymous No.23646259]

Which words do you find to be more pleasing, anons? Those more likely to be used in fantasy or sci-fi?

[Anonymous No.23646295]

>tfw I use salmon climbs the waterfall, my opponent responds with dragon guards the gate
>but little does he know I'm going to use bear eats fish, which will force him into dragon clutches pearls, exactly where I want him

[Anonymous No.23646301]

>>23646259
Fantasy words are warm and cozy. Sci-fi words are cold and hospital like. Simple as.

[Anonymous No.23646316]

>>23645749
>Stand on Zanzibar
Based, Brunner perfectly predicted how fucked up our modern world is

[Anonymous No.23646381]

>>23645710
>Always needs a happy ending with the protagonists being permanently successful with perfect victories
It's not pointless.

[Anonymous No.23646472]

>>23646381
I cannot express in words the level of contempt I have for midwits of this caliber.

[Anonymous No.23646512]

>>23646259
>cultivators
>immortal
>clan
>dao
>power
>realm
>cultivation
>seemed
>five
>qi
>medicinal
>nascent
>countless
>demon
>patriarch
>pill
>soul
>spirit
>ninth
>wang
>death
>formation
>thousand
>peak
>severing
>disciples
>tribulation
>furnace
>immortality
>enlightenment
>bloodlline
>happening
>teleportation
>astonishment
>middleaged
>establishment
>condensation
>determination
>indescribable

[Anonymous No.23646529]

god audiobooks are pure suffering. you are essentially forced to choose between the shit writing but awesome narrator or fantastic writing with a narrator who makes you want to blow your brains out.

[Anonymous No.23646535]

>>23646472
It's not any different than arguing in these threads. The outcome has been predetermined that the thread will soon disappear and nothing will have changed with those arguing. Yet, even knowing so, we continue on. The destination doesn't matter. It's the journey that counts. Maybe the all of humanity will die out in the coming centuries and had you been alive, you could lament that everything ever done was pointless. What does the end matter though if you're not there to see it?

[Anonymous No.23646538]

>>23646529
You could just read the book yourself

[Anonymous No.23646539]

>>23646512
Took out the trash.

>immortal
>power
>realm
>demon
>patriarch
>soul
>spirit
>death
>disciples
>tribulation
>immortality
>bloodline

[Anonymous No.23646543]

>>23646538
I can get away with earbuds at work, putting a tome in my fucking lap might raise suspicion.

[Anonymous No.23646544]

>>23646539
>Took out clan
American behavior

[Anonymous No.23646546]

>>23646539
>>soul
less

[Anonymous No.23646551]

>>23646544
You're welcome.

[Anonymous No.23646574]

>>23646316
I feel like all the dystopian novels of the 20th century became a "how to guide" for the elites.

How far until Harry Harrison's dystopian book gets proven right? When will we eat humans as crackers.

[Anonymous No.23646580]

>>23645710
Don't read three body problem and its sequels then. It does the same, only more so.

[Anonymous No.23646669]

>>23645513

There are A LOT of mass market paperbacks from the 80's and early 90's that are under 300 or even 200 pages that I've really enjoyed. Personal suggestions would be End as a Hero by Keith Laumer, March or Die by William H. Keith Jr., and the Far Stars and Future Times loose trilogy by Richard McEnroe (pic related most kino cover ever created_

[Anonymous No.23646739]

i'm sorry /sffg/ but i'm going to read the Record of Lodoss War jap novels, best girl Deedlit is just too cute.

[Anonymous No.23646800]

recommend a fantasy novel with female mc that is light coom

[Anonymous No.23646813]

>>23639934
>buy

[Anonymous No.23646833]

>>23646739
>>23646800
>>23646669
me on the left

[Anonymous No.23646882]

>>23646800
>The War of Powers by Robert Vardeman (male mc but lots of coom, The Jade Demons Quartet by the same author has a redhead female mc with slightly less coom)
>The Bloodsong series by Asa Drake (pseudonym of Dean Anderson)
>Demon in The Mirror by Andre Offutt
>The Atlan Series by Jane Gaskell
>Silverglass by J.F Rivkin
>Swordmistress of Chaos by Richard Kirk
>There's also Tanith Lee
as you can see the common thread is that all of these books are from the 1980's or the 70's, if you search for more of this type of female mc with skimpy clothing fantasy i suggest to look for books published in those decades.

[Anonymous No.23646886]

How do you guys handle the urge to look up a wiki and spoil yourself once something mysterious or intriguing happens in the story?

[Anonymous No.23646891]

>>23646886
I have >30iq, not that reading ahead or a wiki would "spoil" the books I read. If a plot point can spoil the joy of reading then you must not be having any fun, probably because word hurt brain. Reading isn't for you, try gooning

[Anonymous No.23646900]

>He doesn't read a wiki describing everything so he can properly appreciate the way the author builds up and reveals things before he enjoys a book
I pity you.

[Anonymous No.23646919]

>>23646886
I never really cared about spoilers, i spoiled myself when i was reading Elric of Melnibone and knowing that Stormbringer killed him in the end made me appreciate more the chaotic nature of their relationship
>>23646900
this t b h

[Anonymous No.23646922]

>>23646891
I enjoy being immersed in a story and not reading for the sake of reading. It's just a different perspective, calm down.

[Anonymous No.23646959]

>>23645788
Moon reader pro

[Anonymous No.23646968]

>>23646959
>Moon reader pro
you are courting death using that e-reader, anon!

[Anonymous No.23647000]

Any western book with a soulless bugman as the protagonist? Someone like Fang Yuan but without being completely fucking edgy

[Anonymous No.23647005]

>>23646919
p craig russel fuckin rules

[Anonymous No.23647012]

>>23646900
That's why you read good books twice dummy. I've spoiled enough times that I know to avoid if possible. When an author earns it, I read it a 2nd time to savor the details and foreshadowing.

[Anonymous No.23647050]

>>23646900
I did this with BOTNS, but I'm an ESL and I had a hard time understanding the book

[Anonymous No.23647061]

>>23646882
Based. Thanks fellow Shadowheart appreciator

[Anonymous No.23647317]

>>23646900
When reading books I make sure to scramble the order of the words so I can properly appreciate the words themselves rather than the content of the book

[Anonymous No.23647345]

>>23647061
you are welcome

[Anonymous No.23647391]

>>23646968
Frog in the well.

[Anonymous No.23647574]

>>23645788
Foliate.
Arianna is also a decent one.

[Anonymous No.23647668]

Am I just a complete brainlet if I can't stay focused reading Fellowship of the Ring? I want to read and like this series but the movie and now the book is a slog for me. I did read Hobbit and enjoyed it, though.

[Anonymous No.23647672]

>>23647668
the beginning is veery slow and mostly boring

[Anonymous No.23647688]

Factorio.
But a book.

[Anonymous No.23647739]

>>23647688
There is a xianxia, litrpg, isekai, and/or self-insert book/fanfic that is exactly what you want.

[Anonymous No.23647769]

>>23640232
I've already read it at least once every decade of my life.

Although honestly the most enjoyable was the first when Pawn of Prophecy and Queen's Gambit were the only books I'd stumbled on. For some reason I found the implications of what happened in the two intervening books more narratively potent than actually reading them. I think it's an age-old problem that not enough people acknowledge that exists in numerous domains, perhaps the easiest to observe being exploration-heavy video games which become significantly less interesting after you've explored everything.

[Anonymous No.23647773]

>>23643254
Pol is love, Pol is life.

but her standalone book was kind of shite. at that point Eddings was really just coasting on the whole Prophecy handwave

[Anonymous No.23647777]

>>23643674
>Way Station had this for a cover
geez
I know HACCAN did those great Belgariad covers but I didn't know Way Station got a cute manga babe too

[Anonymous No.23647779]

>>23647668
The first third of Fellowship is a struggle for most people, it's more long-winded than The Hobbit but not as epic as later LotR.

[Anonymous No.23647785]

>>23647769
>Queen's Gambit
uh I mean Castle of Wizardry, damn those titles really flow together in the head

[Anonymous No.23647797]

>>23635571
That does explain some of the persistent pessimism and unhappiness in his works.

[Anonymous No.23647821]

It's really hard to believe ASOIAF has a fandom romanticising the privileged authority figures who are exclusively, comprehensively villains. Did they miss the part where every good character is disenfranchised?
I'm starting to really appreciate Dunk & Eggs blunt themes considering it feels like it flew over the heads of most readers of the main series.

[Anonymous No.23647846]

>>23646316
Not really. He predicts a lot superficially--very Max Headroom--but both he and Harrison and others mistakenly viewed simple population growth as the greatest problem in the world: specifically they viewed rampant uncontrollable population growth of Western cultures and nations as Earth's doomsday scenario, and that African men and culture would be a sort of "rejuvenating" force for the cynical and ideologically exhausted west. Compare dual protagonist Norman's (African) rebirth into a more psychologically complete being, while European-descent Donald, "too smart for his own good" and causing more problems than he solves despite sincerity, after trying to explain his suffering, is told to shut up, injected with drugs, and *LITERALLY* dragged out of the story's curiously happy ending.

In reality, populations of civilized nations gradually plateau, and even within dense cities we do not eat and inhabit ourselves to death. If there is a thread of overpopulation, it is only from the uncivilized world. Yet this thinking fueled much of the 60s liberal and modern neo-left's unbridled apocalyptic hatred of western humanity. They view the human race as a blight on the "pristine" Earth--which they rarely actually care for or spend a moment to experience; they're motivated more by the hatred of its perceived "exploiters" and cheats. Pretty much exactly what Orwell consistently described. And of course outsiders are spared the wrath of much of that hatred. The thinking is "our society fucked up, and despite our systems of justice and general aversion to violence and unfairness we must be annihilated, and those who have suffered and been oppressed like I have (*sips latte*) should inherit the earth cause they're just so precious, and no I won't actually look too deeply to inspect whether they are just and fair or violent themselves."

[Anonymous No.23647852]

>>23645825
>>Stand on Zanzibar
>Isn't that actual cuckolding lit?
It's certainly a big pile of shit is what it is. There's a few glistening kernels of corn in it, namely the rotating literary styles it adopts. The very grounded take on Shalmaneser's pseudo-consciousness predicting modern LLM-based "AI"s, and needing to be physically overridden with a jailbreak just to do its basic job, is probably the best thing in it, but it's a very small part of the story.

Brunner's irl cuckolding informs so much of his work. It's a shame, because I really enjoy some of his shorter, more imaginative pulp stories, but there's such a persistent downward spiral.

[Anonymous No.23647903]

I think that reading any faster than a speaking pace is ineffective and constitutes speed reading.

[Anonymous No.23647996]

>>23643433
That cover reminds me of Agak and Gagak

[Anonymous No.23648009]

>>23644171
Oh I remember this bullshit. I dropped in the middle of 1 or maybe 2, don't know they are all the same. Interesting premisse that goes to shit pretty fast. It came to me very well recommended and for some reason gave me the impression that at some point the characters (and the author) would drop their "bazzinga" phase and this would evolve into something more, but it never happens, it's stuck. Like anon said, there is nothing here, no plot, no development, it's just AI lord playing VR with his clones without any consequence and since the author has no imagination nothing happens.

[Anonymous No.23648017]

Hey /lit/bros I'm having a problem. Whenever I rape women they seem to have no trouble getting away, I've tried all kinds of tools and threats, but they always slip away at the last minute, before I spill my seed. Any tips?

[Anonymous No.23648019]

>>23648017
Grow a beer belly.

[Anonymous No.23648022]

>>23648019
Wouldn't that just make me slower? Why don't ropes work, i'm sure there is just a knot I don't know, but every knot I do seems to be liable to failure.

[Anonymous No.23648044]

Read Tenebroum

[Anonymous No.23648056]

>>23642117
Is it gonna be 5000 pages of shallan schizo alt character, chudladin being a chud and jasnah being a girlboss

[Anonymous No.23648087]

Is there an author that is like the fusion of Er gen and Sanderson

[Anonymous No.23648093]

>>23648087
Sanderson.
Sanderson is like a love child of Er Gen and Sandersons identical twin brother.

[Anonymous No.23648100]

>>23648093
How about an author I don't know about

[Anonymous No.23648280]

it is so nice to see two people bonding over their shared trauma of child sexual abuse
not you Drizzt

[Anonymous No.23648311]

Give a list of novelupdates tags for a tale of two cities

[Anonymous No.23648326]

>>23648311
>Give a list of novelupdates tags for a tale of two cities
Let's review the provided tags more thoroughly to ensure all relevant ones are included for "A Tale of Two Cities":

Abandoned Children: Lucie Manette was left without her father due to his imprisonment.
Absent Parents: Lucie grew up without her father, Dr. Manette, who was imprisoned.
Abusive Characters: The Marquis St. Evrémonde is abusive and cruel.
Aristocracy: The Marquis St. Evrémonde and Charles Darnay belong to the aristocracy.
Arranged Marriage: There is no specific arranged marriage, but societal pressures influence relationships.
Betrayal: Sydney Carton betrays his own potential due to his unrequited love for Lucie.
Books: Dr. Manette's hidden letter plays a crucial role in the plot.
Brotherhood: Themes of loyalty and sacrifice, particularly with Carton and Darnay.
Classic: "A Tale of Two Cities" is a recognized classic of English literature.
Death: Significant deaths include the Marquis, and later Sydney Carton's sacrificial death.
European Ambience: The story is set in London and Paris.
Fallen Nobility: Charles Darnay renounces his aristocratic heritage.
Familial Love: Lucie's devotion to her father, Dr. Manette.
Family Conflict: Conflict within the Evrémonde family and between Darnay and his uncle.
False Identity: Charles Darnay conceals his true identity as an Evrémonde.
Historical: Set during the French Revolution.
Imprisonment: Dr. Manette's imprisonment in the Bastille.
Love Triangles: The unrequited love of Sydney Carton for Lucie, who marries Darnay.
Marriage: Lucie Manette marries Charles Darnay.
Multiple POV: The narrative shifts focus among different characters.
Nobles: The Evrémonde family are French aristocrats.
Past Trauma: Dr. Manette's trauma from his long imprisonment.
Rebellion: The French Revolution and the associated rebellion.
Revenge: Madame Defarge's quest for revenge against the Evrémondes.
Sacrifice: Sydney Carton's ultimate sacrifice to save Darnay.
Secret Identity: Charles Darnay's true identity as an Evrémonde.
Strategic Battles: Depictions of the French Revolution.
Tragic Past: Many characters have tragic backgrounds, including Dr. Manette and Madame Defarge.
Wars: The French Revolution involves various battles and conflicts.

[Anonymous No.23648329]

>>23648326
Upon further review, we can add these additional relevant tags:

Adultery: Although not directly depicted, themes of infidelity and moral conflict are present.
Clever Protagonist: Sydney Carton, despite his flaws, is clever and resourceful.
Crime: Crimes committed during the revolution, including those by the Evrémondes.
Determined Protagonist: Lucie's determination to help her father and support her husband.
Doctors: Dr. Manette's role as a physician.
Enemies Become Allies: Initially antagonistic characters come together against common threats.
Fated Lovers: The deep connection between Lucie and Charles.
Mature Protagonist: Dr. Manette's wisdom and experience.
Multiple Identities: Charles Darnay's dual identity.
Psychopaths: Madame Defarge's vengeful and ruthless nature.
Reincarnation: The theme of rebirth, as seen in Dr. Manette's recovery.
Second Chance: Dr. Manette's return to life after his imprisonment, and Carton's redemption.
This should be a more comprehensive list, capturing the depth and complexity of "A Tale of Two Cities."

[Anonymous No.23648378]

What editions of the Baen Poul Anderson collections should I get? The Technic Civilization Saga collection or the Psychotechnic League?

[Anonymous No.23648387]

>>23648326
I feel like these tags are useless.
Is someone really perusing the tags for abandoned children and thinking, "Yes! YEEEESSSSS! A TALE OF TWO CITIE!"
Or is it busywork for the people who can't even edit wikipedia?

[Anonymous No.23648395]

>>23647903
I've stopped worrying about reading faster.
If someone wanted to buy me a special device that had all of my novels on it and it flashed the words one by one (like in those gay podcast tiktoks) so my brain had no choice but to interpret them or leave them behind, then I'd try it, but that's not going to happen.

[Anonymous No.23648399]

>>23648387
abandoned children is my fetish you chud

[Anonymous No.23648402]

>>23648395
It's called a computer, are you retarded?

[Anonymous No.23648411]

>>23648402
Yeah? You getting words flashed at you one by one? Screenshot 4chan right now.
I thought so.

[Anonymous No.23648445]

>>23648411
This is a 1 line shell script you braindead monkey
https://files.catbox.moe/oc6slc.mkv

[Anonymous No.23648646]

It feels like the kingdom / empire building genre is just filled with stinkers. Is there a series that is at least good?

In pic related there's just no direction or a reason as to why the main character wants to do the things he wants to do. Why does he want to pretend to be the person he was isekai'd to? What is his motivation? What the fuck does he want? You'll just get told that "The young master has changed" by everyone even though it's a moot point to switch to their POV.

[Anonymous No.23648719]

>John Scalzi signs 10-book contract with TOR

>I was recently offered the chance to buy remaindered copies of one of my hardcovers and the total number of remaindered copies available was a few dozen.

>Over 17 novels and 19 years, 4.4 million averages out to roughly 259,000 copies sold per novel, and roughly 231,000 copies sold per year. Which does suggest that what Tor currently advances me per book on average ($261,000, going up to $300,000 when the new contract kicks in) is pretty spot on in terms of my sales profile

>With that noted, it’s also no secret that the majority of my sales are in my backlist. Old Man’s War...is unquestionably my best selling title across my entire publishing career.

>my sales in audio, especially for recent novels, are directly comparable to my sales in print/ebook.

>10 million in total sales/published reads over nineteen years.

>there will be another fifteen years, at least, before I turn in my last novel and coast on royalties into retirement.

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2024/07/30/some-number-crunching-on-career-sales-2024/

[Anonymous No.23648895]

>>23648719
>posting ragebait

[Anonymous No.23648899]

I do not enjoy Ra'azel getting away with everything and I hope Infinite Realm ends sooner than later.

[Anonymous No.23648918]

>>23648899
>A few things before we start. Since this is the last book in this series
answers that question. so at least we're on the home stretch

[Anonymous No.23649076]

>>23648445
Why did I open that?

[Anonymous No.23649207]

>>23648646
I think that 'novel' is some kind of a elaborate troll or a psyop. I can't even consider it as a slop but on amazon and good reads it has like a 4/5 rating.

[Anonymous No.23649492]

>>23648719
Imagine actually reading convention blowhards like Scalzi.

[Anonymous No.23649496]

pretty bad, unimaginative, trivial. not boring but not entertaining either, the prose is not very good, the characters are boring and forgettable. but the worst is probably the plot, it's so retarded and everyone is so fucking dumb in this book and nothing makes sense. the aliens aren't alien at all. the empire and politics and everything is too simple and unoriginal. i read it till the end, it's barely ok. i wouldn't recommend it.

the other first contact with aliens i read is Blindsight and it's miles better than this. anyone know other good first contact books?

[Anonymous No.23649558]

>>23649492
>>23648895
>not understanding that it's the content of a post that matters, not the poster, despite posting on an anonymous website.

[Anonymous No.23649567]

>>23649496
pandora's star
all flesh is grass
superluminary
blood music
all very different so maybe one of them will work for you

[Anonymous No.23649587]

I don't know what you guys were talking about. This book is just more of the same as the first one.

[Anonymous No.23649636]

>>23649631
>>23649631
>>23649631
New

[Anonymous No.23650090]

>>23649207
That's what I don't get. Who the fuck are these people giving it 5s and 4s? Like, I'm seriously getting baited by these books with scores above a 4 and feeling like reading someone's English writing assignment

[Anonymous No.23650151]

>>23639576
i wish to see the northern lights in iceland hand in hand with the one that i love one day