/sffg/ - Science Fiction & Fantasy General

[Anonymous No.8786621]

Fantasy
>Selected:
>https://i.imgur.com/r688cPe.jpg
>General:
>https://i.imgur.com/igBYngL.jpg
>Flowchart:
>https://i.imgur.com/uykqKJn.jpg
>Beginner's Guide to Fantasy:
>https://i.imgur.com/fOGNfWK.jpg

Science Fiction
>Selected:
>https://i.imgur.com/A96mTQX.jpg
>https://i.imgur.com/IBs9KE8.jpg
>General:
>https://i.imgur.com/r55ODlL.jpg
>https://i.imgur.com/gNTrDmc.jpg
>NPR's Top 100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books:
>https://i.imgur.com/IJxTQBL.jpg

Previous Thread: >>8778842

[Anonymous No.8786627]

The Buried Giant.

[Anonymous No.8786629]

Can we have "To Kill a God" added to the charts

[Anonymous No.8786636]

>>8786629
>can a book that no one read be put on the charts
>p-plz
>it's not like you are jewing for me or anything like that

[Anonymous No.8786683]

I want to be the next Sanderson

What are the essential memes that I should put in my writing?

[Anonymous No.8786685]

>>8786683

That women can be competent and important

[Anonymous No.8786688]

>>8786685

[Anonymous No.8786691]

>>8786688
The sad thing is, that's actually what you have to do in order to be a new Sanderson.

[Anonymous No.8786695]

>>8786683
>actually know to write
>be very creative
>walk the thin line between extreme profanity and boring conservatism
>be social and travel the world promoting your book and meeting your fans
>have a dedicated worshipper who answers your fan mail so no one is left out
>get a job at a university to help solidify your claim that you know what you are doing
>have your protege become as successful as you, showing the world you know what you're doing
>go to cons and interact with the female fans who wants you to breed them, and don't actually do anything

[Anonymous No.8786707]

>>8786695
>Can't breed bitches
What the fuck am I writing for then?

[Anonymous No.8786710]

>>8786707
so that /sffg/ can shit all over your prose when you make it big

[Anonymous No.8786722]

Are the fantasy charts reliable, or are there some bad books on there?

[Anonymous No.8786724]

>>8786695
I know literally nothing about Sanderson other than he taught Mclellan and that he's a Mormon, and I genuinely can't tell if this is sarcasm or not

[Anonymous No.8786729]

>>8786722
the latter

[Anonymous No.8786732]

>>8786722
Some of the charts have included so many books that it's virtually impossible that any one person would enjoy them all. You're bound to enjoy some of them, but unlikely to enjoy all.

[Anonymous No.8786735]

Post star charts.

[Anonymous No.8786743]

>>8786695
>>actually know to write

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

[Anonymous No.8786810]

>>8786722
They are full of garbage.

[Anonymous No.8786822]

>>8786683
>What are the essential memes that I should put in my writing?
Read all the manga and watch all the anime you can find, descend into neetdom and when the time comes and you're ready you'll know it.

[Anonymous No.8786829]

>>8786627
Is this actually good or it is a meme book?

[Anonymous No.8786848]

>>8786829
If by meme you mean "anime fights and GRI" then it isn't one. It's a slow paced adventure exploring themes such as memories and the past.

[Anonymous No.8786852]

>>8786848
Good, because I ordered it based on a suggestion by an anon. Sounds just like what I was looking for after all.

[Anonymous No.8786858]

>>8786852

[Anonymous No.8787017]

>>8786724
If you know Sanderson, everything I wrote is true. Ask cosmerefag to explain.

[Anonymous No.8787036]

>>8786722

[Anonymous No.8787050]

>>8786848
>You better be 100% with that book.
>Or I will lend all my autism to destroying it like I did red knight, dhalgren and others.

How could someone who liked library at mount char recommend buried giant?
>memory
I don't want a fucking botns knockoff fagget

[Anonymous No.8787071]

>>8786829
it's excellent

>>8787050
is a faggot

[Anonymous No.8787079]

>>8786735

[Anonymous No.8787159]

>>8786683
start worshipping the golden plates

everything else that you will need will come in time

[Anonymous No.8787175]

start reading sanderson's new short story, first line

>Lift prepared to be awesome.

I like the guy's work but jeez he writes some cringeworthy shit

[Anonymous No.8787184]

>>8786695
Sanderson took the advice that your first million words will be terrible seriously and wrote a million words, like four huge novels, before he tried to get published. He never had writing talent, he just brute-forced his way to writing skill. Mad respect.

[Anonymous No.8787186]

>>8786732

[Anonymous No.8787260]

>>8786722
A minefield of trash. Chances that the title is good are much lower than the chances of it being garbage.
>>8786732
You confuse personal enjoyment and quality for some reason.

[Anonymous No.8787328]

>>8787260
>You confuse personal enjoyment and quality for some reason.
Subjectively (and some might argue objectively as well), they're the same.

[Anonymous No.8787331]

>>8787260
No, but I may have misinterpreted his question. If he meant "will I dislike some of these books", I think my answer stands. If he meant "are all these books critically acclaimed and of high quality", then my answer was completely beside the point.

[Anonymous No.8787455]

Anyone here read Grace of Kings?

Got it sat on my ereader and I'm debating on starting that or downloading something else

[Anonymous No.8787489]

>>8787079
That looks nutty, what's it from?

[Anonymous No.8787497]

>>8787455
I was memed it.
Did not enjoy. I like magic, that book was more of historical fiction. If that is your cup of tea go right ahead.

[Anonymous No.8787532]

Does the "chosen one" aspect to a main character deteriorate the character development and plot overall in books?

[Anonymous No.8787548]

>>8787497
Might be what I'm looking for then

>>8787532
If an author isn't using it to explore something like destiny or free will then yes.
It's the only reason Jordan gets away with it

[Anonymous No.8787551]

>>8787532
Only if it comes no strings attached. If he's chosen to suffer as well as triumph it's fine.

[Anonymous No.8787571]

>>8787548
>>8787551
Thanks! I'm considering including the "chosen one" aspect, but the main character has to suffer for it and earn the title before he can obtain the possible powers that comes with it.

[Anonymous No.8787584]

>>8787571
Give Deed of Paksenarrion a read

Main character becomes a Paladin and the novel's good at making it clear that they've been given their power because of their character and actions rather than just because of fate.

[Anonymous No.8787596]

>>8787584
I'll check it up. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Anonymous No.8787671]

Do you think it would be confusing if a character had two different names that they're called depending on who's addressing them?

[Anonymous No.8787677]

>>8787489
C. J. Cherryh's hardSF space opera The Chanur Saga.

[Anonymous No.8787687]

>>8787671
Like Gandalf and Mithrandir?

[Anonymous No.8787693]

>>8787687
Exactly, but more frequently.

[Anonymous No.8787695]

>>8787671
Yeah, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Half the characters/places in Malazan have 10 different names apiece.

[Anonymous No.8787896]

>>8787671
It's pretty standard for fantasy to have at least one character called by lots of names, usually more than one character. Mind that you'll be aiming for veteran fantasy readers if you do this, most normies can hardly even get into stuff like GRRM because "his names are so confusing," no idea how they'd manage something like Wheel of Time where most important people have 2 or 3 names each.

[Anonymous No.8787908]

>>8787184
This. He's a living example that perseverance and work ethic can get you to the top even if you don't have any genius talent.

[Anonymous No.8787948]

>>8787896
Yeah, I prefer reaching out to normie fantasy readers and veterans alike, so the one name route is probably the best choice.

[Anonymous No.8788028]

>>8787677
>oh, someone replied to me
>hardSF space opera? sounds right up my ally
>I'll ask what its like and if he recommends it
>see cover

fuck sake

[Anonymous No.8788080]

>>8787908
That much effort is a kind of genius in itself.

[Anonymous No.8788136]

>>8786683
Watch Casshern Sins.

[Anonymous No.8788151]

Reminder that the puppies are retards.
>That’s what’s happened to Science Fiction & Fantasy literature. A few decades ago, if you saw a lovely spaceship on a book cover, with a gorgeous planet in the background, you could be pretty sure you were going to get a rousing space adventure featuring starships and distant, amazing worlds. If you saw a barbarian swinging an axe? You were going to get a rousing fantasy epic with broad-chested heroes who slay monsters, and run off with beautiful women. Battle-armored interstellar jump troops shooting up alien invaders? Yup. A gritty military SF war story, where the humans defeat the odds and save the Earth. And so on, and so forth.

>These days, you can’t be sure.

>The book has a spaceship on the cover, but is it really going to be a story about space exploration and pioneering derring-do? Or is the story merely about racial prejudice and exploitation, with interplanetary or interstellar trappings?

>There’s a sword-swinger on the cover, but is it really about knights battling dragons? Or are the dragons suddenly the good guys, and the sword-swingers are the oppressive colonizers of Dragon Land?

>A planet, framed by a galactic backdrop. Could it be an actual bona fide space opera? Heroes and princesses and laser blasters? No, wait. It’s about sexism and the oppression of women.

[Anonymous No.8788153]

>>8788028
Alien merchant captain gets caught up in interstellar intrigue with other aliens and one human (previously undiscovered race with no translator available). Lots of politics and uboat tension. My personal favorite series.

...and yes, misandrist space lions, you pussy :3

[Anonymous No.8788158]

>>8788151

[Anonymous No.8788214]

>>8788151
outdated meme senpai

[Anonymous No.8788296]

>>8786621
Do you guys know of any comfy fantasy or scifi?

[Anonymous No.8788315]

>>8788153
>science fiction author
>book about alien species
>can't come up with a different weapon other than a gun

Really? Even if it's lasers, why the fuck is it shaped like a gun?
Can't they use their imagination?

Here I just threw pic related together in 5 minutes.
What the fuck is it? What does it do? How can we humans comprehend this alien civilization?

[Anonymous No.8788338]

>>8788296
The face in the frost - J Bellairs
Shadow of the torturer, some parts I found very comfy

[Anonymous No.8788352]

>>8788338
I'm reading Shadow of the Torturer now (my first time reading Wolfe) and it's amazing how not-edgy he manages to make the journey of a black masked, exiled torturer with a greatsword named 'Terminus Est'. The summary makes it sound like a fanfic someone wrote of their Dark Souls character, but it's actually really great.

[Anonymous No.8788392]

>>8788315
Guns aren't real important to the setting (they're never described by the author). It's not military scifi, but the cover artists really liked drawing spacedock shootout scenes.

[Anonymous No.8788423]

>>8788392

[Anonymous No.8788437]

>>8787079
Whoa, space FLIPS

[Anonymous No.8788460]

>>8788437
Come again?

[Anonymous No.8788484]

>>8788437
The format of that map is similar to what pilots and atc use to plan flights across the us and other parts of the world. Just interesting to see an adaption of something few people know about to this guys world.

Link related if youre interested...
https://www.baseops.net/publications/

[Anonymous No.8788491]

>>8788460
>>8788423
>>8788392
>>8788153
>>8787677
>it's space so they must have guns

Muh autism is triggered

[Anonymous No.8788510]

Are cover artists required to read the book they are working for/on?

[Anonymous No.8788514]

>>8788510
no

[Anonymous No.8788518]

>>8788484
Ah interesting, but none of the links work for me.
>>8788491
Yeah, practically all the covers look like that. Here is one from a Croatian publisher with an actual space ship (yes, and guns again).

[Anonymous No.8788562]

I loved the Witcher so much it really reignited my desire to read fiction. I didn't think I could enjoy a modern fantasy book series more than the Witcher, and I still don't, but I have been thirsty for more.

I read what's out of Kingkiller and liked that a lot. Now I'm about halfway through Way of Kings. Holy shit, is this stuff good. I guess I'm lucky that these books are so long because I don't want to run out again. I picked up the first Malazan book for then though.

Any conjecture as to when the 3rd Kingkiller and the 3rd Stormlight archive book will drop? Also, will any of us still be alive for book 10?

[Anonymous No.8788646]

>>8788518
The covers in this style were drawn by her brother, but they're pretty weird too. This looks like medieval stonework to me. The only bars visited were on spacedock...

[Anonymous No.8788652]

>>8788646

[Anonymous No.8788661]

>>8788562
>I read what's out of Kingkiller and liked that a lot.

You came to the wrong neighborhood, lilyplougher.

[Anonymous No.8788693]

>>8786683
I feel kinda bad for Sanderson that you guys meme on him so much. If you've ever read any of his interviews where he talks about his early days of becoming successful you'd see how much work he put into it. Dude went to every convention imaginable to meet industry professionals, wrote something like 10 books before he had one published, organised his own book tours on a shoestring budget, basically just did a shittonne of leg work.

[Anonymous No.8788731]

>>8788562
Just FYI mentioning Kingkiller Chronicles and especially its author in this thread is going to trigger people. They are extra sensitive. And Rothfuss seems hell bent on becoming another GRRM so he's probably playing Release-Delay-Chicken with him to see who can stall their next book longer.

Sanderson thankfully has a great work ethic and the next Stormlight book will be out in 2017. With him it's not about taking breaks, it's that he's writing a bunch of book series at the same time and he rotates by year. His idea of a vacation from writing his huge novels is writing shorter novels.

Lastly I'll say that Malazan Book of the Fallen is going to blow you away.

[Anonymous No.8788743]

>>8788693
>Dude went to every convention imaginable to meet industry professionals, wrote something like 10 books before he had one published, organised his own book tours on a shoestring budget, basically just did a shittonne of leg work.
The amount of work one has to put in to make it in this field of work is intimidating at times.

[Anonymous No.8788767]

>>8788296
Diana Wynne Jones, Peter S Beagle and mid-period Pratchett. Thinking of making a chart with comfy on on end of a scale and OW THE EDGE on the opposite.

[Anonymous No.8788892]

>>8788562
Psstt>>8787036

[Anonymous No.8788936]

Anyone else read this?

[Anonymous No.8788944]

I would just like to restate this question in this thread to see if there are other opinions.

I'm looking for some sci-fi that explores AI from as many possible angles and as expansively as possible. Is there anything like that?

[Anonymous No.8789003]

>>8788652
>leaving bar
>see four motherfuckers trying to hide behind the corner of a wall, but they're like halfway out and one is waving a knife

[Anonymous No.8789008]

>>8788296
For comfy, read Robert Silverberg's Lord Valentine's Castle. A traveling juggler recovers his memory and discovers he is the rightful heir to the throne - yes, it is reassuringly well trodden ground of an exiled prince narrative.

The descriptive writing is very lengthy and exacting, and depicts a large world with a varied geography of jungles, mountains, deserts, provincial towns and urban sprawls, where humans live among several alien races in harmony.

There is very little in the way of peril, drama, or high tension. Instead, the protagonist spends the novel chilling with his circus troupe, traveling up and down the land, playing shows, making new friends, and gradually building support for his throne with his easygoing charm, rather than by violence. This book is the opposite of all the edgy fantasy books full of sex and mutilation, and ideal for people with a heart condition, or living in a cell, who must not read anything too racy.

[Anonymous No.8789068]

Have any of you guys actually written a finished story? If so, how did you get past the fact that it's complete garbage? I've been writing my story for a while and I'm on the verge of giving up now. It's horrible. I can't find any redeeming qualities in it and I just want to move on to another story. I know the common advice is to finish it anyway, but I don't see the point in it.

Sure, I've learned to force myself to write even when I don't feel like it, but this feels like something different from my usual anxiety. I honestly feel like I'm wasting my time because I'll never write anything good. The first chapter doesn't hook, the plot isn't compelling at all, and I think all my characters are shit. I'm at my wits end here. If anyone has some magical advice that can help me, I'd gladly take it. Man, I just want to shoot myself and get over with my life.

[Anonymous No.8789358]

>>8787695
It's absolutely a bad thing about Mallzan

[Anonymous No.8789398]

>>8789358
I kinda enjoyed suddenly realizing that some ancient race or whatever that I kept hearing about was actually this other people group I already knew.

[Anonymous No.8789510]

>>8786621
Why is heart of a dog so revered? Seems like there's not too much for a non-russian/russian history major to get out of it or did I miss a lot of it?

Couple chuckles, deep thoughts in there, but far below M&M

[Anonymoos No.8789524]

is Logan's Run a good example of a mostly blank slate protagonist?

[Anonymous No.8789525]

Is there any good action fantasy with no wars or kingdom vs kingdom stuff?

I find that stories lose my interest when they try to expand their scope like that

[Anonymous No.8789548]

For some reason I've got a tab with the goodreads for The Boy with the Porcelain Blade bookmarked

Anyone read it? Can't remember why I wanted to look at it later

[Anonymous No.8789551]

>>8788743
Sanderson kind of did it the traditional way though.

You can strike it big with self-publishing without doing everything Sanderson did, though it's still hard work if of a different kind. If you know how to market yourself and have the time/inclination to operate a blog, social media pages, and maintain a presence on writing forums/reddit/facebook pages where you subliminally shill your own works then you can build a pretty big fan base.

Still requires you to be able to write a good story though.

[Anonymous No.8789646]

>>8788731
>>8788661
Sorry, I'm not a /lit/ regular. What's wrong with Kingkiller beyond it being a massive marysue "I'm going to write about my DnD OC" story? The world itself is really cool outside of Kvothe himself, at least in my opinion. Is it just because Rothfuss is an asshole with the delays, as you intimated?

>>8788892
Checked

[Anonymous No.8789731]

>>8788080

The Rock Lee of fantasy authors?

[Anonymous No.8789763]

>>8788944
No one? Ok...

[Anonymous No.8789792]

>>8789068
>the first chapter
The trouble is you don't know how to write. Write short stories, not chapters. Just set them in that world with those characters. When you find out it's shit then at least you only spent a couple days. And you can try a new tactic in the next couple days.

Eventually you'll have a pile of words about your characters and you can tell just by reading them what's boring or interesting about them.

[Anonymous No.8789800]

>>8789763
Maybe if you listed some AI-related books you've liked and disliked someone could get a sense of what you're looking for

[Anonymous No.8789812]

>>8789800
I haven't read a lot of sci-fi. I did read neuromancer and enjoyed it but I'm looking for a more thorough look at AI with an opinion formed more from the modern AI climate. Something that takes ideas from something like Bostroms Superintelligence and puts them into play in meaningful ways and with interesting prose.

If this book doesn't exist someone should write it because there's potential here for a real epic.

[Anonymous No.8789822]

>>8789068
I have completed 2 books (first was ~78k, second was ~94k).

Neither are complete shit (first one toes the line though) but that's because I spent a lot of time and energy writing complete shit to make it to where I'm at now. The fact that you can recognise the weakness in your own writing is good because it means you've passed total ignorance and have moved into the "I know the things I don't know" territory.

Keep writing and focus on finishing things. Finishing stories is a whole different part of the learning process than simply writing. You might have to write a million bad words before you write a single good one, but you'll get there.

[Anonymous No.8789856]

>>8787184
>your first million words will be terrible
>shitposted a few hundred words a day since 2009
Requirements met.

[Anonymous No.8789932]

>>8789822
>You might have to write a million bad words before you write a single good one, but you'll get there.

>The Second Edition of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary contains full entries for 171,476 words

Now how are you going to write a good word after writing a million bad words when you will be using the same words?

[Anonymous No.8789975]

Are the tom clancy books worth a damn? I was thinking about reading Rainbow Six since I've played these games since the 90s. I know the games have basically fuck all to do with the books themselves apart from a military setting, but I'm wondering if they're worth reading.

[Anonymous No.8789991]

>>8789932
You will be writing in other languages of course.

[Anonymous No.8790016]

>>8788151
>implying there are even spaceships on covers anymore

[Anonymous No.8790021]

>>8789975
I remember enjoying them just fine. Rainbow Six is just Executive Orders with different spooks in charge though. Clancy's got a way of pulling you along with the story without stopping to let you realize his characters don't think all that differently from each other, and I love his hardware focus. Read Red Storm Rising for Cold War combat wargamed with real officers and Sum of All Fears to sympathize with terrorists and learn how to build a nuke. IIRC Patriot Games is pretty good too, somehow skipped Red October though.

[Anonymous No.8790031]

>>8789812
Yeah, somebody really ought to write a book about the Singularity someday, they could make a lot of money.

[Anonymous No.8790036]

>>8788510
>get paid lower than minimum wage
>extra hours reading
I guarantee that the only cover artists who've read the books they're working on are fanfic artists.

[Anonymous No.8790041]

>>8789975
Hunt for Red October and Red Storm Rising are great, they decline in quality after that due to the collapse of the USSR resulting in a "villain of the week" and their refocusing more on characters, Rainbow Six is probably the last one of the good and readable ones. Bear and the Dragon and after that are essentially Clancy slapping his name onto stuff by authors. I mean hell, he died in 2013 and has published 6 books since then (10 if you include the Op Center series and video-game tie in books), he's the Tupac of Technothrillers. (similarly, he basically sold Ubisoft all rights to his name)

Larry Bond's stuff has held up a bit better if you want WWIII technothrillers IMO.

[Anonymous No.8790054]

>>8789646
The less you know about Rothfuss as a person the better. He's the kind of guy whose existence just begs "please hate me". I do agree with you about his books though.

[Anonymous No.8790058]

>>8790041
Yeah I was kinda annoyed when there kept coming Rainbow Six games after the guy died. I mean before they could at least LIE and say he had something to do with them.

By far the biggest offender was Divsion. Because not only did it have fuck all to do with Tom Clancy, it also betrayed the "Tom Clancy games" name by not being a very good tactical game and instead being a painfully dull bullet sponge third person shooter. And not the usual "enemies can take a few" you find in games like Fallout when you turn up the difficulty, nuh uh! Full on, "hold down left mouse and mouse on an M4 shooting a normal unarmoured Human in the face and you have to reload about 3 times until he's dead" kind of bullet spongy.
And usually in Tom Clancy games you don't need many bullets at all to die.

[Anonymous No.8790063]

>>8790041
Are there any secondary-world technothrillers? Also I've been trying to set aside time for Without Remorse. I wanted to study how Clancy does action scenes and it seemed likely to have more. Am I right or am I just in for more pre-Clark putting his hitchhiker through rehab?

[Anonymous No.8790069]

>>8790058
>when /lit/ turns into /v/

[Anonymous No.8790076]

>>8790069
My apologies. It's late for me here and I tend to babble on when I'm tired. At least it was semi /lit/ related.
>It's a crossover episode.

[Anonymous No.8790079]

>>8790058
The Divison is especially bad because the studio previously made the Ground Control series and World in Conflict, both fairly fast paced but still tactically focused RTS games. So RIP Massive Entertainment, slaughtered for a third person MMO shooter.

>>8790063
What, you mean like technothrillers in a fantasy setting?

[Anonymous No.8790080]

>>8790079
Mediocre* third person MMO shooter
ftfy

[Anonymous No.8790082]

>>8790076
Fair enough.

[Anonymous No.8790084]

>>8790079
>What, you mean like technothrillers in a fantasy setting?
Fantasy optional, I mean modern technology but the countries and governments are all different. Like Ace Combat, I guess.

[Anonymous No.8790089]

>>8790084
Off the top of my head, the first thing that comes to mind is the Wolfhound Century series by Peter Higgins, which is essentially a Cold War thriller but set in a fantasy Russia setting. I really enjoyed it, the author did a good job making the Vlast itself as much of a character as the actual people.

[Anonymous No.8790092]

>>8790084
So, alternative history essentially?

[Anonymous No.8790104]

>>8790092
More like completely different continents, languages, names for everything. You know, like a fantasy novel. Secondary world, so you can have massive air wars with 3rd-gen jets or nuclear exchanges or space weaponization without having to deal with IRL 20th century at all.

>>8790089
Are there sweet MiGs in it?

[Anonymous No.8790108]

>>8787175
I am taking a break from/quitting Elantris because the "humor" in it just makes me cringe, and not the good kind of cringe either

[Anonymous No.8790116]

>>8786621
Gonna be that person and ask that question

What are some good dark fantasy books? Light hearted booked seem to have comedy in it that just annoys me because I don't find it funny. So I might as well get something that has next to no comedic relief or, at least, if it does then it's something "dark" or "edgy" that might actually make me chuckle.

God damn how would you describe "dark/offensive humor" without sounding like a complete autist. Just reading it it looks cringeworthy. Or just a word for chan humor in general

[Anonymous No.8790119]

>>8790116
B
A
K
K
K
E
R

[Anonymous No.8790122]

>>8790116
Black Sun Rising (Coldfire series)

[Anonymous No.8790126]

Do you guys think goodreads ratings are good?

I know /a/ hates MAL's ratings and says that you shouldn't really pay them any attention because they are shit

[Anonymous No.8790134]

>>8790126
The concept of ratings itself isn't bad. If you're asking whether the goodreads ratings by the public can be trusted, then no they aren't good.

[Anonymous No.8790145]

>>8790126
Badreads is shit.

[Anonymous No.8790178]

>>8790126
>>8790134
Never trust user ratings for anything. way too many idiots can't be trusted with a rating system. I can't speak for goodreads as I don't really use the site but I can tell you how it is for MAL and such sites: Most of the ratings are by idiot kids who (OMG I FUCKING) love the show they are rating and give it a 10/10. This is obviously wrong because there can''t be a perfect show/book/movie. just not possible. Not even [Thing you are thinking of]. This drives the average WAY up there. Then there's a couple of people who didn't like it. often didn't even finish it and thus express their feelings in a 0/10. This of course is also wrong because a 0/10 should make you want to cut your eyes out just so you never have to see it again. But sadly it is the usual reaction to "it was hyped up, I tried it, didn't like it". these are the majority of votes by far. after that you have a very small percentage of non-worthless almost human beings who actually put some thought into it and give a realistic rating. "I enjoyed the general plot, but the animations were bad, and so were the individual characters. Sadly the sound didn't quite match the atmosph(bla bla bla) so I give it a 6.5/10. Nothing new but worth a watch if you have nothing else to do" Sadly there are about 3 users like this. maybe 4 at most.
You can confirm this quite easily. thanks to these overwhelming numbers of the "this is my favourite thing and I refuse/am unable to see any flaws with it so I give it a perfect 10" kids have put even absolutely terrible trash shows like "Mirai Nikki" or "Code Geass" into solid 8 and 9 respectively. and find these kind of shows somehow sit right next to such gems as "Great Teacher Onizuka" and "Monster". Hell utter trash like Sword art Online is on rank 3 in popularity

I imagine that goodreads will suffer from a similar problem if likely to a less extreme extend. What you should do if you care about other peoples opinions: find yourself a (or a few) reviewer. Learn what that reviewer likes and see what you like so you can use his information optimally. For example: you have largely the same taste as Reviewer A and read one of his reviews. he liked the review but noted that he didn't enjoy the emphasis on romance in the work but was otherwise fine. Now you actually like a good romance, that means that even though the reviewer said he didn't like it that you likely would.
That way you can get a way better feeling if something is worth your time than just skimming trough shitty user reviews. Because by god the time I've wasted because someone told me "oh it's really good I love it" is too damn high.

[Anonymous No.8790184]

>>8790126
I don't pay much attention to the ratings there, but if they're anything like IMDB or MAL then the scores are usually inflated due to recency bias. MAL is also terrible because they do not weight scores based on total user scores, so niche shows with very small but obsessive followings end up in the top 20 with appalling regularity (until they're displaced by the latest flavor of the month show that all the Crunchyroll kids rate 10/10).

[Anonymous No.8790185]

>>8790178
This better be a pasta or were you really autistic enough to type this out

[Anonymous No.8790189]

>>8790116
Malazan Book of the Fallen

[Anonymous No.8790190]

>>8790185
It's not Pasta, I typed it out. Is it really that autistic?

[Anonymous No.8790229]

>>8790178
MAL is much more accurate than Goodreaders because:
>Goodreaders is flooded with shilling shitters from Amazon and other cancer sites trying to turn a profit
>Rating a book = Forced following so Goodreads will show all new books by that fucking shit author even if you rate it one
>Ratings are on a scale of 1-5, even MAL has a scale of 1-10
>Shit books rise to the top. At least Code Geass and the like is fun.

[Anonymous No.8790304]

>>8790116
Bakker's Second Apocalypse. Dead serious Dune+LOTR+Blood Meridian hybrid.

[Anonymous No.8790421]

I've been reading a bunch of Brian Mclellan's short stories set in the Powder Mage universe, and they're much better than the series. I don't know if it's because all the characterization is pre-done, but they feel a lot more focused and to the point.

[Anonymous No.8790445]

>>8790116

Broken Empire series

[Anonymous No.8790514]

>>8790116
GRI, anti hero, morally grey

[Anonymous No.8790529]

>>8790178
I bet you are one of those /a/utistic spregs who used to report a fucking anime thread (naruto) on the anime board.

You hype some fucked up drawn and looking loli-pedo fanservice, but repress naruto?
You then discuss how this moe loli is the best, then turn your nose on other people's likes?

It's like you are a bunch of shiteaters, and some came along eating fruits, you turn your nose up wnd berate him, while continuing to consume filth. Fucking autists.

I'm glad moot our saviour put yall in your place a few years ago(should have lasted longer imo).

[Anonymous No.8790531]

>>8790529
>chart anon is a Narutotard
Not surprised

[Anonymous No.8790552]

>>8790529
You know you can dislike lolis and Naruto simultaneously right? It's not a binary.

[Anonymous No.8790635]

>>8790031
I'm definitely not talking about the singularity.

[Anonymous No.8790774]

Hello from westeros org
What is /sffg/ honest opinion on GRRM as a fantasy writer?
I know you guys hate him to seem cool, and not really mean it.
Surely he is better than Sanderson or bakker. Is there any modern fantasy author who comes close to him in your mind?

[Anonymous No.8790787]

>>8790774
He's a shitty sellout, the only reason he writes Fantasy at all is because his editor told him his trashy historical fiction wouldn't sell.

[Anonymous No.8790790]

>>8790774
Yeah he's better than Sanderson, not a hard thing to accomplish though. He's worse than Bakker and most of the people in the OP.

[Anonymous No.8790829]

>>8790774
Middling. I like certain characters (Mainly Tyrion, the Eunuch, and Beric Dondarrion) but it all drags on for ages and has too many extraneous nobodies running around. Also cringey scenes like "her cunt became the world" that just conjure up images of a 300lb man wanking off as he types.

[Anonymous No.8790837]

>got Sanderson's new book since release day
>only now starting it
JUST

[Anonymous No.8790844]

>>8790774
IMHO, Martin is good, but not my cup of tea. I once read all 5 books over the summer, I enjoyed them, though I didn't like the prose, the worldbuilding and some of the storylines. Overall, I liked it less than I like Bakker (though Bakker is flawed too).

[Anonymous No.8790868]

I am on the look for a fantasy series/book with a very thoroughworked magic-system. Hopefully where someone explains in some detail how magic works.

Also, as a sidenote, I have also been diving into TES-lore and I like how weird it is, the metaphysical fuckery that is nirn and mundus. Are there any series or books that portray that same kind of weirdness?

[Anonymous No.8790869]

>>8790774
I like a lot of the characters and many of the locations within Westeros are fantastic, but the underlying vulgarity and baseness of everything really puts me off.

>the boat groaned like a fat man taking a shit

Also his criticisms of Tolkein make him come across as arrogant and lacking self-awareness.

>what was Aragorn's tax policy?

[Anonymous No.8790925]

>>8790774
honestly I did enjoy the books at the time, but I was young and looking back they weren't amazing.
The first two or three were very good though.
It makes better TV than literature fantasy imo however

[Anonymous No.8790927]

I looked onto bakker because I see him mentioned a lot.
Goodreads score and reviews aren't really encouraging
Ugly book covers
And this officiall trailer seems just edgy https://youtu.be/sIciOLD3iO0

Are you guys memeing or are books really good?

[Anonymous No.8790932]

>>8790927
Read it and see for yourself. Although if you're retarded enough to even mention goodreads ratings then it will most likely go over your head.

[Anonymous No.8790938]

>>8790927
>Are you guys memeing or are books really good?
Yes.

[Anonymous No.8790970]

>>8790774
It's mostly OK. I'll just list things I don't like:
>Essos is a continent inhabited by cardboard cutouts. It feels as if everything there had come out of a much worse fantasy series.
>The whole Dany's storyline is garbage.
>Arya's story in Essos is garbage.
>That storyline in the last book about the Dornish prince who came to Dany is useless garbage.
>The Dornish storyline might become good in the future, but for now it's garbage. Literally no better than in the show (though for different reasons).
>Ridiculously young characters. Arya is this badass cold-blooded survivor at the age of 8? Jon is an awesome warrior at 14? Robb is an invincible undefeated tactician at 16? Really?
>Martin did an awesome job deconstructing the fantasy warrior-woman trope with Brienne, but played this trope straight with many other characters in the book.

[Anonymous No.8791027]

>>8790932
What's wrong with goodread rating? I thought they were pretty accurate

[Anonymous No.8791032]

>>8791027
Are you lost? Tumblr and reddit are the other way.

[Anonymous No.8791035]

>>8790869
>what was Aragorn's tax policy?
>Westeros has no culture of food hoarding despite 20-year winters

[Anonymous No.8791060]

>>8790869
>Also his criticisms of Tolkien make him come across as arrogant and lacking self-awareness.
That's understating it, he's completely fucking retarded because of how he approaches Tolkien's work. "The socio-economic impact of dragons was never fully delved into in the Völsunga saga!" a moron might say after reading it and GRRM is that moron.

His historical and cultural understanding is also what you can expect of a progressive pot smoking American hippie. GRRM's writings are base, vile and entirely repugnant.

[Anonymous No.8791076]

>>8790868
When I was 15 (and mildly autistic) I wrote a detailed magic system that ruled over the legend of zelda OOT lore, in order to create a d&d like rpg. It all came down to the world essence, like mana usually does, and it governed every race trough elements. Each God of hyrule blessed the land, sea and sky with its essence and the races took it for themselves to live and also covert it to magic. It also explained the corruption of essence as shown in the dark world.

I dunno why I share you this, maybe its not what you ere talking about neither is a book recommendation. But I hope at least someone will reply to you with other books since I might be slightly interested too.

[Anonymous No.8791174]

>>8791076
Sounds like a lot of fun to do desu, and you seem to have put in a lot of work in it.
Did you continue to write after that?

[Anonymous No.8791178]

>>8790445
Broken Empire is fucking awful

[Anonymous No.8791225]

>>8791178

ur face

[Anonymous No.8791278]

>>8790774
I love Fevre Dream and his short fiction

I got to the second book of ice and fire but I fucking hated Theon and stopped. It was obvious what was gonna happen to him but those chapters still were a drag

[Anonymous No.8791282]

>bought pic related a while ago
>still haven't read it.
4chan is just too addictive.

>>8791278
tfw shilled Fevre Dream a lot.

Never actually read it.

[Anonymous No.8791880]

>>8790868
Sanderson if you want a complex system, Malazan if you want weird metaphysical shenanigans like worlds existing in the consciousness of dreaming Ascendants and so on.

[Anonymous No.8791885]

>>8791278
>It was obvious what was gonna happen to him
I doubt whatever you predicted was anywhere near the truth.

[Anonymous No.8791891]

>>8791885
It was pretty obvious in his first chapter that the character was about to be slapped down for being a presumptuous tosser.

That then carried on for four books

[Anonymous No.8791901]

Should I stick to the LotR books for a traveling fantasy adventure or are there any other good ones for that?

[Anonymous No.8791905]

>>8791901
The Buried Giant

[Anonymous No.8791917]

>>8791901

To Kill a God

[Anonymous No.8791929]

>>8791917

you can't keep doing this steve

[Anonymous No.8791945]

>>8791905
A lot of people are on the fence whether that book is fantasy or not, so I'll skip it. Thanks for the suggestion though.

>>8791917
Steve, stop.

[Anonymous No.8791955]

>>8791076
>Each God of hyrule blessed the land, sea and sky with its essence
When I read that bit about ""essence" I'm thinking of a bunch of gods just fapping and skeet skeeting all over the place

[Anonymous No.8791962]

>>8791955
But the gods of hyrule are female

[Anonymous No.8791973]

>>8791962
So the squirted all over the place. The sea is a giant pool of a goddess' pussy juices.

[Anonymous No.8792003]

>>8791945
What? You should stop being such a gullible person and form your own opinion on things. You won't find anything closer to your request.

[Anonymous No.8792019]

>>8792003
>Goodbook
Post discarded.

[Anonymous No.8792028]

>>8792003
It's a far cry from an adventure though.

[Anonymous No.8792037]

Has anyone tried the new John C. Wright YA fantasy? Is it at least better-edited than Somewhither? They sound great on paper but there's this haze of triumphalism over at Castalia House, it's hard to get a square review.

[Anonymous No.8792050]

>>8792037
Read Orphans of Chaos by him instead. It's a YA masterpiece that is unlikely to be topped by anyone.

[Anonymous No.8792067]

>>8792050
No it's not. It's over-the-top schlock.

[Anonymous No.8792094]

>>8792050
>jerking off to schoolgirls getting spanked
>like it so much you put it in your book

The absolute madman

[Anonymous No.8792192]

>>8792003
Dhalgren is listed as science fiction, yet it has no scifi elements except the laser clothing and chains.

I don't shit on books unless I read them, so my points can all be objective.
I will read Buried Giant soon and will inform everyone if you are shilling shit, or being true.
The old books and not-literature anons really fucked up the general.
They tell people to read gormenghast and a bunch of other boring as balls books.(some that are not even fantasy or scifi).

[Anonymous No.8792205]

>>8792037
>At age 42, Wright converted from atheism to Christianity, citing a profound religious experience with visions of the "Virgin Mary, her son, and His Father, not to mention various other spirits and ghosts over a period of several days", and stating that prayers he made were answered.[8] In 2008, he converted to the Roman Catholic Church, of which he approvingly said: "If Vulcans had a church, they'd be Catholics."

[Anonymous No.8792214]

>>8792192
>Written 60 years ago
>old books
The limits of retardation of fantasy plebs knows no bounds.

[Anonymous No.8792230]

>>8792205
>idolaters

Not even once

[Anonymous No.8792246]

This Ballard can write. Global warming sinks cities, creates Triassic fauna, and reverts the minds of men. My best blind buy for a while and a bit of an eye opener.

[Anonymous No.8792299]

What are some "Lovecraftian" fantasy or Science fiction books?

[Anonymous No.8792303]

>>8792214
Not because you read the book in your teens when it was released means others have to like it grandpa.

[Anonymous No.8792336]

>>8792205

[Anonymous No.8792429]

>>8792299
Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe by Thomas Ligotti

[Anonymous No.8792440]

>>8792205
Well, nobody is argued into Christianity, It just reveals itself. Wright's 'profound relgious experience' puts me in mind of Philip K Dick, who had his own profound religious experience in his while convalescing from dental surgery. Was Wright in a lucid mind - and, if not, then does a lack of lucidity make spiritual epiphanies less valid, given that religion ultimately isn't beholden to the rules and structures of the corporeal anyway.

[Anonymous No.8792514]

>>8792246
my negro

Ballard's a personal favourite of mine. Drowned it incredibly strong stuff, try Burning too or Crystal if you're eager to test yourself.

I feel Ballard-esc characters would really liven up a lot of interesting but otherwise drab stories.

[Anonymous No.8792531]

>>8792440
So he probably got really high on painkillers and then hallucinated that the holy trinity was telling him to write Star Trek fanfiction where Spock covers up a child abuse scandal?

And I mean fuck, after PKD had his "religious awakening" (likely the onset of schizophrenia), he wrote a letter to the FBI accusing Stanislaw Lem of actually being a committee of Polish communist writers.

[Anonymous No.8792539]

>>8791955
Here fixed it for you

[Anonymous No.8792613]

>>8792531
I don't know about John Wright, except he is another man who came around to religion in his middle years, when, for whatever reason, people become more receptive to religion.

What distinguishes PKD's visions of the divine from those experienced by various anchorites, devotees, and Joan Of Arcs through the ages?

[Anonymous No.8792647]

>>8791174
Probably a couple of pages. The race skills, levels and magics was more detailed, along with some die roll calculations. I didn't finish it because I realized I was being an autistic weeb shortly after. It was fun though.

>>8791973
Now I wanna play that canceled legend of zelda VN. I wonder why there is ano patreon about that idea. Maybe TLOZ is not as relevant as it was a decade ago.

[Anonymous No.8792709]

>>8792037
Iron Chamber was pretty good --better than Somewhither, but still needed a better editor--and the Countdown series is still worthwhile as of the 4th installment.

Just buy the first book and tell us. I would but I still haven't gotten around to Vindication.

[Anonymous No.8792733]

What books are coming out this month. I want to have something worth reading after I finish Soldier of Arete that's new and not YA

[Anonymous No.8792736]

>>8791891
Do you actually know what happens to him or are you just understating it to be facetious?

[Anonymous No.8792743]

Is there any epic fantasy as good as The Grace of Kings? I want epic fantasy full of smart people doing smart things

[Anonymous No.8792746]

>>8792743
Prince of Nothing series

[Anonymous No.8792750]

>>8792743

A Song of Ice and Fire

[Anonymous No.8792769]

>>8792746
>>8792750

no and no. I'm talking epic fantasy built around MCs who are either scientifically brilliant, o failing that really know about slight of hand and smoke and mirrors. i.e. Inventors, cheaters and magicians (the slight of hand kind, though if they're a wizard in addition to it that's okay)

[Anonymous No.8792771]

>>8792769

Name of the Wind

[Anonymous No.8792807]

>>8792769
You read Daughter of the Empire?

[Anonymous No.8792823]

>>8792807
can you tell me how that meets the requirements?

[Anonymous No.8792825]

Has anyone here read any of Marc Laidlaw's novels? I'm a big Half-Life fan and my interest has been tickled by his other works.

[Anonymous No.8792851]

Are there any good stories like Tarzan with the emphasis on romance? I'm more interested in the idea of a primitive man adjusting to modern life than anything else. Everything I've found is basically female literotica.

[Anonymous No.8792852]

>>8792851
>Are there any good stories like Tarzan with the emphasis on romance?

I mean without the emphasis on romance

[Anonymous No.8792911]

>>8792613
PKD's behavior is consistent with paranoid schizophrenia. In 1972 for example he wrote to the FBI and claimed that a Neo-Nazi conspiracy wanted him to put secret messages into his books, and accused another author, Thomas M. Disch, of collaborating with them. (Which is quite unlikely because Disch was openly gay)

Also all the VALIS stuff indicates the specific "influencing machine" delusions (ala Francis E. Dec), though in this case the "machine" wanted Nixon impeached and the KGB and FBI were persecuting him because of this.

[Anonymous No.8792942]

I unapologetically enjoy reading Robert Jordan. You guy can carp on these books all you want but I take them for what they are worth. They are not masterfully crafted examples of high fantasy and come nowhere near close to Tolkien but man am i entertained by this drivel. Braid tugging and smothing skirts. Not to mention they have their own little Paul Atreides/Dune story going on with the Aiel. And the best part is that I read this shit at work and boy does the time fly by.

itt if you want something entertaining to read that has some cool world-building and story telling youll like em.

Yes I read all 19 dune novels which is probably why I can tolerate this kind of series

[Anonymous No.8792948]

>>8792823
The MC may be smart tactically and politically, but it doesn't sound like that's what anon is looking for.

[Anonymous No.8793077]

>>8792942
I honestly have no idea why people hate Jordan so much. His books helped me get back into fantasy after I burned out on reading due to college. I didn't pick up a book for 2 years after I graduated, I hadn't read a fantasy book for even longer because as I progressed I had less and less time to read for pleasure so I just stopped reading anything that wasn't essential to my education. But Jordan managed to get me back into it. WoT is now a comfort series to me, I can always go back to it when I need something cozy to read.

[Anonymous No.8793095]

>>8792851
>>8792852
What did you expect? That's every woman's wet dream. Apparently yours too, albeit you refuse to admit to it.

[Anonymous No.8793131]

>>8792709
I liked Iron Chamber, but The High House did most of what he was aiming for. I doubt he's read it, I'm sure he'd enjoy it though.

[Anonymous No.8793141]

>>8792769
The Baroque Cycle. It's historical science fiction about the Enlightenment and Isaac Newton and pirates and such. One MC is scientifically brilliant, goes to college with Newton and is trying to help him reconcile with Leibniz, the other is all sleight of hand and punch in face. Really fun stuff.

[Anonymous No.8793150]

>>8793141
sounds awesome, thank you

[Anonymous No.8793218]

>>8793095

I'm interested in this idea of a primitive man being pulled out of the past and having to adjust to modern society. I'm trying to throw the net wide with this so it doesn't have to be some caveman character, it could be a story of a hermit that lived like an Amish farmer all his life and for some reason had to leave his home and live in a big city. Something along those lines.

[Anonymous No.8793227]

>>8793141
Yeah, now that you mention it, the Baroque cycle is probably what anon is looking for. Stephenson really drags thing out as usual, but I actually enjoyed reading about random stuff like mints and goldsmiths.

[Anonymous No.8793233]

>>8792769
The Locke Lamora series fits the second category, there's a lot of sleight of hand and conning going on, but it's not really epic fantasy (though I don't know what the author has planned ahead)

[Anonymous No.8793339]

>>8786735
>Post star charts.

[Anonymous No.8793349]

I've been on a short story binge recently, can anyone recommend me some good fantasy short stories.
I've read the Witcher already.

[Anonymous No.8793355]

>>8793349

Have you read the Silmarillion? Beren and Luthien and the Children of Hurin are amazing. There's a lot of other stories in it that are pretty good too.

[Anonymous No.8793363]

>>8793355
No I haven't. Do I need to know much Tolkien lore to enjoy it?

[Anonymous No.8793373]

>>8793363

I would read the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings first

[Anonymous No.8793419]

>>8792733
Sanderson's new book came out late last month, I didn't check my goodreads newsletter to see what is new this month.

[Anonymous No.8793427]

>>8793218
There were three Golden Age stories about cavemen I remember, sort of made a past, present, future thing. Asimov's The Ugly Little Boy was one of them, then there was another about an immortal Neanderthal. They wrote about that kind of thing a lot.

[Anonymous No.8793439]

>>8786735

[Anonymous No.8793446]

>>8793349
The emperor's soul by Sanderson

[Anonymous No.8793692]

>>8793446
>Sanderson
>good

Pick one

[Anonymous No.8793705]

What are some good books with lesbian incest in it?

[Anonymous No.8793776]

>>8793705
you tell me, anon. finding decent lesbian fiction at all is hard enough.

[Anonymous No.8793795]

>>8793776
>finding /u/ books
>hard
The Traitor Baru Cormorant.

[Anonymous No.8793918]

Has anyone read Past Master by R.A. Lafferty? I'm thinking about trying to find a copy.

[Anonymous No.8793933]

>>8792205
Pagan scum.

[Anonymous No.8793988]

Good fantasy book with court intrigue/politics and maybe love and manipulation?

Bonus points if lesbians on the love/manipulation part

[Anonymous No.8793994]

>>8793988
Traitor Baru Comorant is /u/ 1984.
I kinda dislike lesbians but it wasn't a bad book, it was quite memorable because of the amount of keikaku.

[Anonymous No.8794006]

>>8793994
Do lesbian relationships in literature usually come off as bad in some way when it comes to writing or does it have to do with personal belief concerning lesbians?

[Anonymous No.8794038]

>>8794006
Traitor Baru Comorant is actually the very first book that I have ever read with lesbians in it (in fact I didn't pick up on the cues at all) and the book is very good in my opinion.

I guess if lesbians were to pop up more in fiction it'd take a shorter period of time for me to become accustomed to it.

[Anonymous No.8794101]

>>8790774
>"Every stool was looser than the one before, and smelled fouler. By the time the moon came up she was shitting brown water. The more she drank the more she shat but the more she shat, the thirstier she grew".
>Surely he is better than Sanderson or bakker

Great Bait

>He's worse than Bakker

I don't even think this is bait, which make it ten times more hilarious.

>>8790844
>>8790869
>>8790925

A song of Ice and Fire isn't fantasy. It's a generic romantic story with small elements of fantasy that only take place latter on in the series.

[Anonymous No.8794113]

>>8790774
I don't like vulgarity.

[Anonymous No.8794143]

>>8794101
>isn't fantasy
It's light medieval fantasy, which gets heavier as the series continues (albeit not to a point where it's seriously fantasy).
If anything it's slightly alt-world/alt-history given a lot of striking similarities to the real world, which are a testament to GRIMs laziness.
There's a lot of criticism to be made of ASOIF but it being "not fantasy" isn't one.

[Anonymous No.8794146]

>>8794143
Fiction is different from fantasy though.

[Anonymous No.8794152]

>>8794146
wtf
a books genre can be both fiction and fantasy, as I said ASOIF is light fantasy.
are you trying to say it's just "fiction"? What a beige statement

[Anonymous No.8794154]

>>8794152
>What a beige statement
>beige

[Anonymous No.8794157]

>>8794154
>accepting your beigeness

back to the trash for you my friend

[Anonymous No.8794175]

>>8794113
hey brandon

[Anonymous No.8794176]

>>8794113
Neither do I. It's the sign of creative bankruptcy.

[Anonymous No.8794262]

Just bought everything ever written by Andrzej Sapkowski.
What am I in for?

[Anonymous No.8794267]

>>8794262
shit

[Anonymous No.8794283]

>>8794262

Regret afterwards for time wasted.

[Anonymous No.8794292]

What's your opinion on Glen Cook and the Black Company?

I think the first book is great and then it gets worse and worse. I stopped reading halfways through the Book of the South

[Anonymous No.8794321]

>>8794262
I don't know about his other stuff, but from the witcher you should expect a mix of post-modern fairytales, Geralt being a mary sue, political shenanigans and general edgyness. And bad pacing from the series, though the short stories fit the concept better.

[Anonymous No.8794434]

Help me choose from my backlog:

American Gods
Neverwhere
The Wind Up Girl
Imajica
Good Omens
Anansi Boys
The Lies of Locke Lamora
The Warded Man
Prince of Nothing
The Aspect-Emporer
Hyperion
Dark Tower

[Anonymous No.8794436]

>>8794434
Prince of Nothing

[Anonymous No.8794437]

>>8794434
Digit 4.

So pick Imajica

[Anonymous No.8794439]

>>8794434

The Warded Man

[Anonymous No.8794440]

>>8794434
Lies of Locke Lamora
After that American Gods

[Anonymous No.8794444]

>>8794434
Hyperion

[Anonymous No.8794447]

>>8794444
>>8794440
>>8794439
>>8794437
>>8794436
Only 7 more answers and we have bingo!

[Anonymous No.8794449]

>>8794434
I'd recommend any of the Gaiman or Lie of Locke Lamora, and suggest removing Dark Tower, the first book is pretty good, but then it just spirals out of focus into this retarded multi-universe homestuck thing.

[Anonymous No.8794504]

>>8794157
>>8794152
>unironically using the term "beige"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wb55teb1gJ0

Leave my board

[Anonymous No.8794530]

>>8794434
Hyperion then Locke and Good Omens.
Prince of Nothing and Neverwhere were huge disappointments.

[Anonymous No.8794537]

>trawling reddit fantasy for more obscure recs
>half of the shit they recommend (that isn't blindingly obvious) is done so because the author posts there

That site is fucking awful. Shame it's still more efficient than goodreads for recs

[Anonymous No.8794548]

>>8790116
KJ Parker, my friend.

[Anonymous No.8794554]

>>8794537
A lot of the books I shilled were obscure, you guys just say i have shit tastes.

Back to redshit scum.

[Anonymous No.8794583]

>>8794537
>for more obscure recs

Have you tried "To Kill a God"?

[Anonymous No.8794683]

Post fantasy that made you cry.

[Anonymous No.8794733]

>>8791076
>mildly

[Anonymous No.8794741]

>>8794683

Oh my where to start

Mistborn: The Hero of Ages
The Blood Mirror
Dragonflight
The Lions of Al-Rassal

[Anonymous No.8794770]

>>8794683
I would never cry because I am super macho, but the closest would be when Nighteyes dies in the Fitz books.

[Anonymous No.8794777]

>>8794770
Spoilers dude

[Anonymous No.8794788]

>>8794777
Sorry, when Nighteyes dies in the Fitz books. Fixed.

[Anonymous No.8794792]

>>8794770
>>8794788

[Anonymous No.8794852]

Why does a majority of Fantasy authors go for trilogies? Is it an unwritten rule? A tradition? Something most Publishers want? Does it have anything to do with how to increase the quality of the overarching plot across all three books?

[Anonymous No.8794855]

>>8794852
That's what readers want, rather.

[Anonymous No.8794894]

>>8794852
Publishers realised they could get more money that way

Now it's a demand because it gets more sales. IIRC Abercrombie was made to do a trilogy as his debut

[Anonymous No.8794968]

>>8794852
Some think they will write the next LOTR, some think they will get movies made out of them. It all boils down to money. Once in a blue moon you get books where the writer actually wants to flesh out a story.

[Anonymous No.8795001]

What determines whether a book is a childrens' book like Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone or an YA book like Hunger Games? Is it entirely up to the Publisher how they want to market the book?

[Anonymous No.8795038]

>>8789068
>tfw you finally passed the 100k words threshold in your fantasy book project
>tfw it took you nearly 13 years to get there
>tfw you look at it and read it and it's actually pretty damn consistent and your life is no longer spiraling into an abyss of purposelessness

You'll get there eventually, anon. I re-wrote my story at least 5 times and changed the plot and characters beyond recognition to get them to a point where they were coherent.
The only magic formula is perseverance.

[Anonymous No.8795087]

I want to die.

No fantasy or other fiction can excite me anymore.

[Anonymous No.8795101]

>>8795087
drugs tbqh

[Anonymous No.8795118]

>>8794262
team Yennefer

[Anonymous No.8795125]

>>8795118

Yen is a selfish whore

[Anonymous No.8795163]

>>8794683
Malazan
Mistborn
Tales of Kolmar
Fruits Basket

[Anonymous No.8795218]

>>8794434
Whatever you do, make sure you read Prince of Nothing before starting Aspect Emperor.

It kills me a bit inside imagining people starting to read in the middle of a series.

[Anonymous No.8795234]

Damnit I'm late to the thread. I'll wait until next one to ask what I want to ask so it doesnt get drowned in the auto sage

[Anonymous No.8795244]

>>8794852
You can make more money splitting The Overwrought Fantasy Name Cycle: Swords of A'pos'tro'phy as a trilogy or series instead of 1-2 books. The books are physically smaller so you don't get the "I ain't reading that brick" effect (I got the first Stormlight book as a gift like 4 years ago and haven't read it at all just due to the size), and people love getting another dose of crack every year or two.

[Anonymous No.8795250]

>>8795234

Are you and idiot?
Just ask

[Anonymous No.8795263]

>>8795244
>The books are physically smaller so you don't get the "I ain't reading that brick" effect
That's a pretty logical way to look at it. Haven't read the Eragon book I have because it's way too thick.

[Anonymous No.8795267]

I'm trying to dismissively describe some of the "races" in my story's setting. Do you think this is an easy way to evoke them at the start?

The protagonist is taken to the continent aboard a slave ship, and while he's supposed to be sold off to the local monarchy so they can use his "magical" capabilities for research purposes, he ends up sold with the rest of the chaff as a pit fighter.

Passage is as follows:

[Anonymous No.8795271]

>>8795267

Just call them niggers and be done with it, jeez

[Anonymous No.8795274]

>>8795267
It took Aspyr a moment for his eyes to adjust to the change in light. The stockades had been lit by only the smallest embers dancing on crude torches. It had been so dark that he hadn’t discovered the woman across from him had no arms until he was only a few feet from her. Now, though, endless night had bloomed into a bright and blistering day, and as Aspyr shielded his eyes, venturing out into the arena, he was vibrated by the cacophony of a veritable zoo of spectators.

And as his vision cleared, Aspyr realized “zoo” might be exactly the right word.

He had heard stories of the strange folk in the sands. Read books on them, too. The jackal-headed scolchei, whose first emperor had stolen the northern winds, leaving the deserts even more desolate and stagnant than they were. The goatlike jazaal, nomads of the roaming necropolis cities. And of course, the shamanic vekhirohim, vulturuous, feathered things swathed in skull trinkets and other, stranger items. He had given each of these species a sort of dignified place in his imagination, picturing them as separate from humanity, mystical and mysteries relics of the blasted wastes of a fallen empire.

Yet in the stands, they cheered and snarled with the same crass love for the pit as the human spectators, just as excited to see blood – Aspyr’s blood, he surmised.

[Anonymous No.8795277]

>>8795267
>>8795271
I HATE WORKING WITH THESE.... "PEOPLE"

[Anonymous No.8795284]

>>8792942
I just finished my re-read (some skimming involved) of the series. I find I'm very happy to know that the series I originally started 19(?) years ago still has its charm to me.

[Anonymous No.8795291]

>>8795274
Why did you name the character after a company that ports games to Mac?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspyr

[Anonymous No.8795307]

>>8795291
It's a generic fantasy placeholder name that stuck.

[Anonymous No.8795309]

Redpill me on "Gor"

[Anonymous No.8795313]

I recently asked on /tg/ for some cyberpunk recommendations and got the following:

>The Glass Hammer by K W Jeter.
>Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner.
>Synners by Pat Cadigan.
>Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling.

Are they good recommendations?

[Anonymous No.8795334]

It's been a long time since I read the Gateway series and now I'm looking to get them in English, but I'm wondering if I should bother with all of them or just the first two (I remember those were my favorites)?

[Anonymous No.8795389]

>>8795313

Stand on Zanzibar is pretty good. It's interesting to read about the far future of the year 2010 as seen from the 60s and which predictions turned out right or wrong.
Also, can I assume you already read the Neuromancer trilogy?

[Anonymous No.8795393]

>>8795309
I can't. It's basically a BDSM greentext off /d/ in book form.

[Anonymous No.8795394]

>>8795389

>Stand on Zanzibar is pretty good. It's interesting to read about the far future of the year 2010 as seen from the 60s and which predictions turned out right or wrong.

I have to admit, this sort of thing is a guilty pleasure of mine. The yesteryear predictions for the future of technology and our world.

>Also, can I assume you already read the Neuromancer trilogy?

Yep, I read that ages ago, and I'm due for a reread, but after I'm done with the new stuff.

[Anonymous No.8795494]

What's the bleakest work of fantasy or sci-fi there is?

A book that's nothing but dread, the protagonists fights on but everybody including the reader can see from a mile away that the situation is completely hopeless.

[Anonymous No.8795512]

>>8795494

4chan.

Every day we post here, knowing our posts will be forgotten as soon as the thread 404's.

[Anonymous No.8795528]

>>8795512
rly makes u think

[Anonymous No.8795585]

>>8795494
There's parts of Malazan Book of the Fallen like that. Specifically a good chunk of book 2.

[Anonymous No.8795657]

Anyone read the Gaia Trilogy by John Varley? My dad gave it to me back in high school but I haven't gotten the chance to read it yet.

[Anonymous No.8795669]

Hyperion by Dan Simmons features an AI society organized into 3 factions based on how they believe they should treat humanity. They're not the only focus of the books but they are a large part of them.

[Anonymous No.8795680]

>>8795585

I stopped reading Malazan somewhere, I think book 4?
I want to get back to it but I can't remember where I left off.
I think it was the book where the beginning was some random creatures not humans(maybe??) talking about casting someone out?
That's the last thing I remember but I can't remember if I finished that book

[Anonymous No.8795683]

>>8795669
Was supposed to be a response to this:
>>8788944

[Anonymous No.8795690]

>>8795274
Kinda has that Cantina feel, I like it.

[Anonymous No.8795716]

Oh boy I just wanted a plot summary so I knew what I was getting into but goodreads is so bad for finding it
>Gemmell may be a great storyteller, but there are parts of the story that I didn't care for. Way too many pages that I had to skip over due to sexual content. Let's just say, "Too much information!!!!"

[Anonymous No.8795722]

>>8795274
Okay in my opinion. Consider separating that paragraph into more paragraphs.

[Anonymous No.8795733]

>>8786621

New Thread
>>8795724
>>8795724
>>8795724

[Anonymous No.8795760]

>>8795494
Revelation Space universe is pretty bleak. No FTL travel and technology isn't that wonderous. And humanity has no chance against what might lurk betwen stars.

See also: Three-body problem and sequels.

[Anonymous No.8795937]

>>8795512
Don't you see?! We have to fight on! Please, don't give up!

[Anonymous No.8796412]

Does anybody know where I can get a hold of Story of You Life by Ted Chiang? It's the short novel the movie Arrival is based on. Can't find it anywhere online.

[Anonymous No.8797135]

>>8796412
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=0240F0FE6A3B777ACDD129E66EAA5019