/sffg/ - Science Fiction and Fantasy General

>>9739913
What are "meta works"?

>>9739919
my diary desu

>got
>childhoods end
>scanner darkly
>solaris
>book (all four) of the new sun
>other non scifi
which one do i read next

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What the fuck happened? Why did the ending of this book suck so bad?

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Besides Permutation City, what works of Greg Egan are decent reads?

>>9739919
Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind

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I love PKD. Shoutout to the three other people in the thread that keep discussing him with me.

>>9739932
>woven story threads come together
>the only logical conclusion
>seems to suggest a higher power or morality is at work
>authors scramble to come up with an edgier or "more realistic" ending
>it sucks because it doesn't fit

Paperback or Hardcover gents?

>>9740003
I tried to respond with a spoiler but I'm not sure how to get it working, so I just deleted it. I thought I just click the spoiler box but I'm probably retarded newfag.

>>9740044
spoiler just hides the image

Book of the New Sun tbph

>>9740040
Paperback obviously, easily to carry around

What is the appeal of a hardback anyway?

>>9740106
Durable, doesn't get weird wrinkles or creases

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>>9739900
>I'm an aspiring writer
THIEF! THIEF!

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>>9740111
But I have paperbacks I've re-read 4 or 5 times and they're still in one piece.

Creases and wrinkles are fine imo. They add character. They are a visual reminder of how fond I am of that particular book. A typical day in my life:

*walk through front door after some grocery shopping*
*put the shopping away*
*re-arrange fridge items because there's no room*
*saunter over to bookshelves*
'hmmm what shall I read today'
*notice how creased and worn Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb looks*
'ahhh, yes' I think to myself, and smile like pic related, then move on

Could the above play out with a bookcase of hardbacks? No. No it couldn't.

I win today.

>>9739996
what's good of his shorter work?

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>>9740154
Of what I read of his short stories my favorite has to be Cadbury, The Beaver who Lacked, along with Faith of our Fathers which is absolutely killer. Retreat Syndrome, Holy Quarrel and I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon are also great desu. That being said I do prefer him in novel form, though he said himself that his best ideas are in his short stories and he could never turn them into novels despite his efforts.

>>9740044

type "spoiler" and "/spoiler" in brackets

Read through all of Black Company last week

pretty good

is there any Lady/Soulcatcher smut fanfic?

>>9740319
>not selecting text and pressing ctrl-s

>>9739900

well, what do you actually like reading, and why do you want to write fantasy if you don't like any of it?

the answers to those questions will help narrow down a list of suggestions. I think the only way LotR could put you to sleep (assuming you didn't ruin it by watching the movies first) is if you are either not particularly used to reading older books, or if you just don't actually like fantasy settings and only think you do because of video games or something.

I don't mean either of those as necessarily an insult, I often find myself building up a sub-genre in my head as something great and awesome that I'm missing out on and then I get there and think "wait, what's the actually *good* example of this?" and I never end up finding it because what was in my headcannon doesn't really exist.

>>9740332

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

>>9740332
Does this actually work
Holy shit it does

test
book of the new sun

>>9740452

LMAO

>>9739944
I can vouch for Schild's Ladder and Diaspora being good.

>>9740218
The only anthology of Dick's I've read was a collection of his earlier stories from the 50s (The Phillip K. Dick Reader), which were generally meh. Faith of our Fathers is incredible though -- I read it in Dangerous Visions. Thanks for the recs.

>>9740154
Of the twenty or so I have read, the Electric Ant, The Mold Of Yancy, If There Were No Benny Cemoli stand out. They're the same sorts of ideas, style, and themes as his novels, without the uneven pacing and digressions that can afflict his longer fiction. The main difference is the novels have more character writing and plot arcs, which is great if you hit it off with the story, otherwise not.

As for the aspiring author anon >>9739900 in the last thread who wants reading material, here is my suggestion. Instead of reading Harry Potter, Lord Of The Rings, WoT, and the long-winded crap everybody else reads, look at now less trendy writers who can tell stories in an entertaining and more concise way: Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories, Leigh Brackett's Sword Of Rhiannon. Robert Howard's Conan stories, Jack Vance's first Dying Earth book; economical storytelling, visual prose, exotic spectacles, fight scenes, camaraderie, humor, magic. I limit my suggestions to fantasy because it sounds like you want to focus on that.

>>9739900

WoT gets less generic after the first book, but if you didn't like Eye of the World at all, you probably won't be thrilled with the series in general. I think you might do well to avoid longwinded series, and instead read one-offs or at least defined trilogies.

Consider these authors:
>Guy Gavriel Kay
>Gene Wolfe
>Jack Vance
>Ray Bradbury

>>9740346
I like the idea that a world can be built from the ground up, without any ties to this world or its history/physics. It gives it a lot of freedom and potential for great stories. I think that's why I like fantasy fiction.

And well don't get me wrong, I loved The Hobbit and other fantasy books, but it seems I like the premises and ideas for these stories than the actual books themselves because of minor flaws I sometimes see in them (cliches, Dark Lord tropes, too reliant on magic, not enough magic, etc.) and because of my dumb low-attention span or impatience I sometimes have. I wouldn't go so far as to call any of these books "bad" because obviously they've acquired huge amounts of love and fandom and I can see how the ideas themselves are really, really good. But because I'm also really picky, I'm wondering which books would be best to read and which would hypothetically be a waste of time. Maybe no book is a waste of time and I should just be more open to reading books I don't absolutely love once in a while but I'm very cautious about time-wasting and it feels like a setback when I spend too much time on a book which just doesn't click with me.

The Eye of the World was good enough for me to ignore several chapters that I didn't care for, and it became better as it went through. But I'm wondering how the series is as a whole.

>>9740452
test to the test
black text

>>9740491
I haven't read his 50's stuff. But I'm guessing that it's mostly pulp stuff for some of that cold hard magazine cash? I'll get around to it eventually though. But I've been really interested in reading Dangerous Visions, if there's any stories there that are nearly as good as Faith of our Fathers then it'll be worth a read.

>Severian has the soul of a woman inside him, whom sometimes takes control of his body.
Does this mean Severian is transgender?

>>9740520
I liked some parts of the Eye of the World but felt it got a bit slow and generic at times. The latter half was good. Perrin's storyline was really good. The whole concept of its magic system and Aes Sedai is also really interesting. I like the idea but if they could make a TV series of it something it might be better for me.

And ahhh thanks anon! I'll check out these writers. Of these I've only read Bradbury (and I really enjoyed him).

>>9740556
I don't think so, really, it's two separate people sharing a body rather than someone who changes from one gender to another. Though I really don't know that much about trans stuff so maybe? But it would sort of jar with Wolfe's old-school Catholicism.

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I've just finished reading pic related as my first PKD novel and I'm kind of at a loss about what happened.

Is it part of an arching plot? Are there sequels/prequels or side stories I'm supposed to read in order to know what's going on?

Overall I've enjoyed reading it but it's left me with more questions than answers; is this normal?

>>9740634
Valis next definitely

>>9740556
tfw no thecla gf

>>9740327
the lack of answers is mightily disappointing

Are there any books that answer the question of whether traps are gay?

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>>9740561
No problem anon. Just know it's not cool to try and fondle my child.

>>9740452
test

>>9740634
UBIK

Is WoT overrated? I read it as a kid but I don't remember much standing out in particular. I remember thinking it was funny how they miraculously seem to end up in every single location on the map in kind of a formulaic way.

>>9740813
>>9740527
>>9740466
>>9740452
>>9740386
>>9740353
>>9740319
>>9740003
>all of these newfags exposing themselves
>pretty sure 100% of them are from that red safe space place with the alien antenna mascot

>>9740821
Sorry for not reading the thread and seeing there's already a discussion going on

>>9740821
A guy at school loved it, but he was a communist also, so that put me off.
Is WoT communist propaganda?

>>9740826
Could be. Theres a stronk womyn aspect to it but I think they end up pretty much useless in the long run anyway

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>read through last thread
>read this one
>general is infested
>the braid tugging anon is back and this thread looks like it will be Jordan flavored
>dick anons trying hard but they can't fight the skirt smoothing autism
JUST

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I already asked that question in a previous thread.

Are there any good recent (90s-present) Cyberpunk novels that aren't just a poor copy of Neuromancer (hacker VS evil corporation)?

I made a short list of books that look interesting. Tell me if it's good :

>Brazil
>Metrophage
>Accelerando (someone recommended it)
>Damien
>Ware Tetralogy
>Snow Crash
>Vacuum Flower
>Altered Carbon

What are some fantasy/scifi authors that /lit/ people actually like in an unironic way?

>>9740880
Peter hamilton

>>9740826
>not being a communist
Shiggy

>>9740843
What does "strong women" have to do with communism?

>>9740634
Ubik is a representative example of PKD's discombobulating/disorientating quality. I think it's a big reason why people read him. That said, not all of his novels are as freewheeling and Russian-doll like as Ubik. Read Valis after a few PKD books IMO.

>>9740845
I browse SFFG and post most days. I could make this a de facto PKD general if it was my will, just like the guy who made it a Gene Wolfe centric thread for a week or two. Instead, however,I want to give props to a couple of novels by PKD's contemporaries: Gateway by Frederik Pohl and Mockingbird by Walter Tevis. I think Dick fans would appreciate those two just like I did - considerable thematic overlap of ideas.

>>9740863
>>Snow Crash
What's the book equivalent of kino? It's that.

Why don't ARCs ever get uploaded to the internet and shared?

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>come back to thread
>newfags testing spoiler tags
Y'all are real fucking queer.

>>9740470
Well, thanks for the response. I'm around four chapters into both Schild's Ladder and Transcendence and I am still very neutral toward both. I like the way he writes, overall, but there is not much gripping me yet, for some reason. I also have his Orthogonal trilogy so maybe I should try that instead for now.

>>9740634
Fuck these nerds responding to you. You should have read VALIS as your first PKD like I did. Don't take one tab, anon. Strap the entire sheet to your forehead.

>>9740954
Most people would rather wait for the finished book?

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>>9740924
No one in the 21st century west is actually using the word "communism" to refer to an economic system in the same way no one is accusing you of belonging to an ancient german socialist party if they call you a nazi for criticising brown people

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Why isn't The Culture more frequently discussed?

This book is fucking great

>>9740570
There's a gay-ass bullshit "gender" called "Two-spirit" that I only know about because of Kim Stanley Robinson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2312_(novel)#Sex.2C_sexuality_and_gender

>>9740818
Ubik

>>9741082
It's definitely the strongest book of the series in my opinion. What would you like to discuss?

The Dread Empire's Fall series was fun. Are there any other books about normal people living in a brutally authoritarian and highly bureaucratic empire? Bonus points if they never try to overthrow it. I'm not interested in plucky Hunger Games rebels.

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What should I read if my favorite work of science fiction is Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri?

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What's a series a bit like a more mature Discworld? Used to love those books as a kid. Now that I open them I'm...well, underwhelmed. Actually, this is the sense I get when I open most books these days. Tried Malazan and Cat's Cradle (which probably isn't Sci-fi) and, wow, that feeling hit me pretty hard. Same with Game of Thrones (except far worse, its prose is nasty). I recently got into Book of the New Sun and, wow, I actually like it even if it might be a /lit/ meme.

I'm in that weird place of being a pleb but also being picky.

>>9740824

The sign of a newfag is that he's still proud of how long he's been here, rather than appalled by it

>>9740843
>Theres a stronk womyn aspect to it

Wow I've never read it but this leftist faggot was just telling me how sexist and misogynistic it was the other day

>>9741382
Read Sanderson. Embrace competently done plebby pulp.

>>9741406
All the females in WoT are absolute cunts. Some people think it's an empowering "you go girl" portrayal of women and some see it as misogynistic.

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>>9741429
Sadly, I tried Mistborn and felt underwhelmed, too, even though I liked the general setting and world building (it was at least slightly above average). Really wanted to like it.

Haven't tried Way of the Kings yet, though. How is that one?

>>9741460
I haven't read it. But maybe give Elantris a try. Its a very very simple story written on a high school level, but I found it very refreshing after all the dark broody amoral rape filled nihilistic GRI bullshit I'd read recently before then. Warbreaker is good too.

>>9741460
Way of Kings is decent if you skip all flashback and Shallan chapters.

>>9740824
I dunno man, it's possible they're recent arrivals from a board without spoiler.
I've been here for 8 years Jesus christ and never frequently used spoiler boards until a couple years ago. I only found out about ctrl-s this year.

>>9741485
>simple story
Honestly I hate stories like that. Complicated ones are juicy to me, as long as they're not history circlejerks or something.
>>9741490
Okay, I promise to try that.

I also plan to go on a roadtrip with someone and would like an audiobook for us both. Something uplifting, preferably. I'll read up on Elantris and Way of Kings to see if they're suitable.

>>9740991
>hours later
Incandescence, not Transcendence.

Is Red Rising any good? I can't find it via XDCC, wondering if I should buy it or not

>“Y-you came back ...”
>“For yo—”

BRAVO BAKKER

>>9741591
It's Roman Hunger Games. Darrow's surgery was the only good part.

>>9739930
Childhood's End is probably the most influential while also being the easiest read. If you haven't already picked one go with that. BotNS is a masterpiece but also quite heavy, might want to save that for last.

>>9741591
Read LoGH instead.

>>9740634
Ubik is a meme and you got memed on. I consider it one of Penis' weaker works and I have no idea why it's so well known and acclaimed. The good ones are Valis, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, 'Flow My Tears' the Policeman Said, A Scanner Darkly and The Man in the High Castle. Also 'The World Jones Made' is underrated.

>>9741611
How does this derivative garbage get on the NYT best sellers? It doesn't even sound that entertaining.

>>9741621
Is it better than the show?

>>9740880
Gene Wolfe, Jack Vance, David Lindsay. R.A. Lafferty, Lord Dunsany, Peter S. Beagle, maybe Olaf Stapledon and a few others I've forgotten. The guy who wrote 'Little, Big'.

>>9741629
>How does derivative garbage sell


If you can ask that, you know the answer.

>>9741294
Probably all the stuff the Alpha Centauri devs read, Asimov's 'Foundation' series (original trilogy at least, the rest if you're really into it) his 'Robot' series (the big works at least), Clarke's most well known works (Childhood's End, 2001, Rendezvous With Rama), Stapledon (Star Maker, The Last and First Men), Heinlein (Starship Troopers, The Moon is A Harsh Mistress, Stranger In A Strange Land).

At least a few of those are bound to be what you're after.

>>9741382
If you want reading that's 'fun' but not pleb fodder garbage try Jack Vance. His Tales of the Dying Earth stories are well written, and the followup 'Cugel the Clever' stories are very funny.

>>9741629
>NYT best seller
Realize that this phrase means LITERALLY nothing

>>9740932
More like the book equivalent of anime. It's more interested in taking the reader for a wild ride at the expense of being more realistic or "hard". Fun read.

>>9741629
>Is it better than the show?
Yes, actually. And I say this with the caveat that the show is already very good.

>>9741678
>Calling anything else anime when Sanderson, anime incarnate, exists.

>>9741760
I really want to know why people keep calling Sanderson anime. His shit isn't that different from every other writer focused on 'muh magic systems'. And compared to anime, he at least doesn't break his rules he sets. The dialogue is close though.

>>9741786
His characters are why. They act like cartoon characters.

Have you read his dialogue? It's legit aimed at 8 year olds who don't know what humour is.

Any book with a really immersive feeling of autumn? I want to hear the leaves beneath feet and picture the wheat fields. I want to feel the cool breezy wind.

>>9741807
Wayne is the only character of his I've read that I thought was even a little bit funny.

>>9741818
Name of the wind desu.

>>9741650
I've noticed Vance books are priced at a premium for some reason, even second hand. It's like some conspiracy

>>9739932

because all the protomolecule shit is retarded
>hyper advanced ayylien von neumann probes somehow need carbon based biological chemistry to work
even if we believe that it dosnt make sense that julie would be able to fucking hack the super advanced ayylmao and control it , as we see later in the wormhole station the ayylmao can record and save 'minds' when it takes the bodies apart but theres no fucking reason it would let one control it.
would make much more sense if the eros ayylmao decided that it wanted to go to venus because of venuses composition\radiation\whatever for some reason because we later see it can do its job on venus and dosnt need earth.

the later books are much less retarded except the part when they are directly exposed to alien life on another planet and dont all die\kill all the aliens because of our\their microbes being deadly to each other and no immunities.

>>9741786
It's like anime written in the style of an IRC RP channel but I'm reading it anyway because I'm desperate for pulpshit fantasy and some guy in the 2010s is actually still writing it

>>9741870
>buying books
Pirating E-books is the only way to get the full /lit/ experience unless you're rich.

>>9741927
I haven't bought videogames for like 2 years and haven't gone to a movie for longer than that so fuck it. At least they look nice on my shelf

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7/10, Snowcrash was a bit better.

ubik

>>9741615
thanks, ill give childhoods end a read

Will The Ember War scratch my post-ThreeBodyProblem series withdrawal?

>>9741530
You'll really like The Way of Kings, it's not a simple story.

>>9741591
It's really good, the audiobook is pretty well produced too. People hate anything popular on here, that's the meme, if Wolfe had and still was smashing NYT charts then there would be no support for said author.

Recommend me some fantasy Sci-Fi.
A Sci-Fi that acknowledges the fact that it is pretty difficult to make it truly scientific. And as such go into weak magic territory.

Not like star wars, more like Star Trek. It's "magic" but explained.

>>9741615
Why does Japanese anime like referencing Childhood's End so much?

>>9742142
Star Ocean.

>>9742142
New Moon

>>9741064
I wouldn't?

>>9742163
Does it?

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>>9742163
Unironically triggered.
I'm still searching for good first contacts that aren't by Cixin Liu, Clarke, Watts, Wells, Asimov and the Strugatskys

>>9740327
How in the hell did The Lady live to 1 gorillion years old without ever getting fugged?

>>9740118
i hope he doesn't post again says GRRM is better than established greats

he shouldn't even try writing

is name on the wind decent? like i thought hey the book is about to get into the cool shit and then its like [Spoiler] heres my life story[Spoler]

and i'm like fuck me really

>>9742396
Hope you find student debt interesting, because you're in for 2000 pages of it.

>>9742400
same sort of thing happened with lies of locke lamora

books going great its fun etc etc then
[Spoiler] hurr where gunna pretend to be the secret police and tell the guy he's being robbed but the twist is we are the ones actually robbing him lolololol m night shamalayaayaya would be proud [Spoiler]

>>9742408
ctrl+s

>one third of TUC is appendices
Really Bakker?

>>9742415
huh

>>9742420
Press it when writing your next post and tell me

>>9742422
>>9742431
sorry lads

fuck
ﾠspoilertest

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I'm re-reading.

So on p391, the chapter where Mycroft sits in on the meeting of the powers at Madame's, he has a small interraction with Felix Faust regarding potiential Utopian involvement with Black Sakura theft.
>I dug my fingers into my habit's robe belt, since here I had no hat with which to fidget in my nervousness.
>"I talked to a Utopian today, one who would know, and asked that very question. If a Utopian is involved in this, then even the constellation trusted to their most sensitive project doesn't know about it.
>...
>Headmaster Faust is an avatar of curiousity. "What project would that be Mycroft? What constellations?
>"Cultural preperations for Mars," I answered without actually lying.

What is Mycroft referring too here? From the chapter two previous, where the Utopians sweep him up and save him from Tully Mardi's mob, there is a conversation empty of all mention of a secret project, aside from this line from a Utopian:
>"We will not let ourselves be seen."

What is the secret project? Is there any mention of it in Seven Surrenders? Is it their inheritance of the cars? Or merely Mars itself in relevance to their surrender to Madame?

>>9740710
>>9740926
>>9741009
>>9741623
Alright, thanks guys. I'll check out Valis next.

Still, Ubik left me with the feeling that none of the issues it introduced were resolved, and none of the characters' intended goals were reached... Or can be reached at all.


Like, if Hollis planned to kill Runciter & co. from the start, why did he need Pat to join them in the first place? Was she aware that she'd end up killed? She didn't act very surprised when Chip questioned her.

Speaking of Chip, his endgame is supposedly assisting Runciter after Ella reincarnates but then the final stinger implies Runciter himself is dead. Didn't Ella or any other character notice this? Supposedly Chip did see his mummified body in Les Moines but Jory didn't mention consuming him.

Besides, what the hell is up with Jory? He appeared to at least three characters as a dream/vision/whatever of two squirrel-like brothers (a psi and a precog) before their departure for Luna: does that mean half-lifers can manifest in the "real" world (despite Pat not being able to use her power after dying)? Or was everyone already dead at the start of the novel?

Again, this is my first Dick novel so I'm not familiar with just how these powers work in his lore, or even if there IS some general lore to his works.

All I've been able to find looking online is a statement of PKD's wife about Ubik being God or something but that was pretty obvious, at least judging from the start of the final chapter.

>>9742441
I always assumed that the sekrit utopian project was some kind of space colonisation and terraforming but then there's that sekrit conspiracy with the Canner 'bash which is probably MASON run but I get the feeling the Utopians might have a hand in it to, with how easily they got Mycroft out of that situation.

>>9742489
Not him.
Like, if Hollis planned to kill Runciter & co. from the start, why did he need Pat to join them in the first place?
Pat has the ability to be very persuasive
Speaking of Chip, his endgame is supposedly assisting Runciter after Ella reincarnates but then the final stinger implies Runciter himself is dead. Didn't Ella or any other character notice this? Supposedly Chip did see his mummified body in Les Moines but Jory didn't mention consuming him.
I interpreted Chip to have 'died' but being the embodiment of Ubik - he who creates himself creates himself upon the coin and presumably having Ubik endows him with the ability to realise anything monetarily.

I think that Jory exists but I think that Chip is the ultimate villain here, money throughout the book is basically the ruler to hit Chip with and he is short of money the entire time, it is the ultimate dictator - and now he has Ubik. Presumably all those advertisements were created by him... And all that stay away from Ubik in the middle of the novel? Creepy.

>>9742489
everything up until the explosion is the real world
the rest of the story, after which every character, Runciter and chip and his goons, are all dead and in the cryogenic place.
Crucially though, Runciter is not as badly injured as the rest of them. that's how he assists them. however once Chip figures out Ubik Runciter's condition begins to worsed perhaps due to his injurys or the expenditure wasted on helping chip. Chip then begins to assist Runciter with his new found Ubik knowledge

>>9742501
You mean how Mycroft's original home bash which was destroyed was actually planted by MASON? And you suspect Utopian involvement? Surely that would have been via Apollo and there was no mention of it at Apollo's grave when Mycroft and Cornel spoke.

>>9742356
It 400 years and change. And her cunny is tied to her magic, and her husbando didn't want her pristine virgin wetwalls, and no one in their right mind would cuck Lady's husband. So, virgin she stayed.

>>9742531
Ubik
My reading of Ubik was that everyone except Runciter died who assisted them in giving them Ubik but Chip was something of a telepath allowing him to subliminally communicate with Runciter. Or the Runciter he talked to wasn't Runciter at all but Chip's own conception of him giving rise to Ubik the self creating god.

Too Like the Lightning
It's a while since I read the books but wasn't Aenea Mason was trying to raise Mycroft for a very important role? I think that Mycroft is the most likely candidate for the new MASON leadership role other than JEDD. The MASONs are doing something incredibly fucking suspicious - all that mention of torture etc. I think that MASONs or another of them in charge prompted Mycroft to murder all the Mardis, which I think is why the MASONs were so quick to pull his ass out of the fire in spite of his 'heinous' crimes. I think that the Utopians are also highly suspicious. Apollo clearly wanted a war and the Utopians want Mycroft to finish the Iliad? Hm.

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>>9742388
I know. They just here to pick us for ideas and advice. But they don't really want to write. There is always one guy instead of writing everything out of his system, he writes one chapter, then edits it till it's perfect... then he hits writer's block. He then comes in here to cry, when we tell him to just write and edit afterwards, he ignores us and writes his woe-is-me blog. He might ask what concept sounds nice, and never expands on the concept.

He particularly inspired me to make pic related.
I need a meme way to make a "not your blog" marco.

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>>9742489
R E D D I T
S P A C I N G

>>9741887
Yeah, the Venus stuff was retarded. They spend the whole time being scientific about it, well mainly Miller since Holden is a fucktard, and then they do something drastic and moronic. They say the aliens sent it to interact with raw biology so why would it fail if it hit Venus? Should've had Julie drive it into the sun like they had planned. I'm not sure why they changed it. I'm not even going to get into how stupid the Julie controlling the alien thing is.

And why did he destroy Miller's character? He went fucking nuts at the end after he killed Dresden, even though he obviously felt he did the right thing. And Holden acts like a self-righteous moron about it, even though he was responsible for tons of people being killed. Honestly it just all goes to shit after the Thoth stuff.

I was going to not read the other books since I heard they aren't very good, is that not true? Should I try them?

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>>9742590
What's wrong with reddit spacing?

>>9742501
>Pat
I don't know, she did appear to be hell-bent on claiming Chip even though she later revealed she was in a relationship with G.G. and gleefully observed Chip's "final" moments while climbing the stairs but to the point of joining a mission she knows will end up with everyone dying seems a bit too much...

>>9742531
In other words, everything mentioned in the starting chapters becomes inconsequential after Luna? But what about the three inerts who were seemingly contacted by Jory? Under the guise of a psi, he said one of them was a threat. Was Jory just toying with Chip later on in the novel? I swear I don't understand what that dream sequence was all about. PKD took half a chapter to describe just that so I take it it's important in some way.
Then again it could foreshadow that half-lifers can interact with the real world which would mean Runciter is alive like >>9742554 said and Chip manifested to him in the final paragraph?

>>9742590
More like keyboard spacing; I usually type from
my phone and the preview window looks a bit different now that I'm using my PC.

>>9740863
Brasyl (if that's what you mean) is pretty good
Altered Carbon is really good

>>9742639
Pat and Ubik. I got yandere vibes. I think she got a kick out of deceiving them all and I believe that she was so immensely powerful that she wasn't exactly sure how her powers worked. So in the half life, she assumed that it was her powers functioning which had brought about this state of being when she was, in fact, dead.

I got a pretty anti capitalist vibe from the book with all the money themes.

>>9742639
>I usually type from my phone
>phoneposter
Even worse.

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>>9742566
>I need a meme way to make a "not your blog" marco.
First thing that came to mind was Martin Luther nailing his theses to the castle door. Seems ripe for exploitation.

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A young mother loses her family to coastal raiders in post-apocalyptic sylvan America. After recovering from the brutal rape, training montage ensues, and then she leaves to search for her kidnapped son. Principle POVs are her, a woodsman + sapient monkey companion, and the son. I don't think the "stronk wyman" is overplayed here. She dominates undisciplined brigands (after 1 or 2 years training), but not skilled opponents, and rarely escapes unscathed (her mentor is most insistent she be capable of fleeting confrontations she can't win). She does ride a pair of ferocious bear foxes (everyone else rides giant dogs). Lots going on in a short book, but the only part that felt rushed was the ending.
I give it 3/5 impending weddings.

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Whoa!
It's awful.

>>9742623
well IMO the first one is mostly meh but each one after it gets much better . the way they develop the ayylmao\protomolecule shit later isnt nearly as bad as the stuff in the first book.

i didnt have many issues with the later books besides one particular crewmember they choose to take on and the deus ex machina that keeps pushing holden and his crew to the most important places just as all the most important events happen being kinda too strong (i guess the books would be boring otherwise but still makes you wonder what are the chances the same crew just happens to be in all these places at just the right time)

as for the novellas i've read the churn, gods of rist and the vital abyss and all 3 are turboshit and probably the rest of them are too . stay away unless you're really hooked on the expanse and need every tiny bit of backstory.

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>>9742790
Change the guy with the hammer to /sffg/, to guy watching to aspiring blogger, and the paper on the wall to "blog" with a prohibited sign (circle with a line through it).
What you think? Meme enough?
Might change the guy whose face is cut off to Gene Wolfe. I like Easter eggs in my marco. Like how I hide botns in pic related.

>>9742818
Damn. She thicker than a bowl of oatmeal. Would breed forcefully again.

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>>9740880
Isaac Asimov

So I finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep yesterday.

Didn't really get the whole Mercerism thing, though I suspect nobody would without reading PKD's exegesis. Did enjoy the psychological interplay between Deckard, Isidore and the Androids though, especially towards the end with the spider (almost actually vomited from that, what the fuck Pris).

Should I jump into Ubik next, or go for something a little more grounded like Man in the High Castle?

>>9742705
>Pat
Yeah, she was clearly messed up. Then again, with that kind of power she probably thought she could get away with changing the past to before Luna plus she thought the decaying of pretty much everything to be her doing so she was probably still feeling in control.
>money
I suppose that was intentional; I still got a kick out of Chip finding pre-WWII stuff convenient because they didn't require money.

>>9742747
No need to be a Dick about it :^)

>>9743011
Even if she makes that face the entire time?

>>9740880
Robert E. Howard

>>9740880
I think most of us like the authors we mention unironically. I do hate on authors in a disingenuous fashion though. Probably others here do the same.

>>9743021
I don't know what you mean when you say you don't get Mercerism. I wouldn't exactly say Androids is a very difficult novel to comprehend or anything. All the bits work together in a very straight forward way I'd say. Maybe read the short story The Little Black Box where Mercerism came from if you want to see that concept more fleshed out ( although it's not as compelling desu )

If you don't mind crushingly depressing books then I'd recommend A Maze of Death. Probably my favorite PKD book.

>>9741082
Because this place is too pleb to grasp the true greatness. Your pic is meh though, Excession or Consider Phlebase were much better IMO

I'm too much of a pleb to properly appreciate the writing here, don't even know why I read all the Culture books except for Hydrogen Sonata

>>9741382

I have a similar problem but I've also noticed that later books by the same author are often noticeably better-written, like say game of thrones vs dance with dragons (both fairly shit prose but I appreciate the effort).

Of discord I've only read the Moist von Lipwig books and thought they were great, looked into the earlier city watch books and it didn't really seem like I would like them as much. Also have reverse of rose-tinted nostalgia effect on Lovecraft, I actually appreciate his better works more every time I read them.

I got BotNS but haven't read it yet, currently reading City of Saints and Madmen and it's pretty good, every now and then he starts jacking off with something he thinks is clever or funny but still worth finishing

>>9740863
The Diamond Age
Stand Alone Complex
Rainbows End

>>9743173
I am talking specifically about posters here though. Not that /outer lit/ cesspool.

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>>9741596
>A

>>9742142
Lord of Light

Amazing book, for some reason it's never mentioned here.

>>9743111
The matron disapproves of your fumbling antics and unimpressive member.

Any good fantasy books with horror mixed in? preferably if it's cosmic horror.

I've read some Clark Ashton Smith but that's it.

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>>9743360
Perdido Street Station has some of the most unsettling monsters I've found; in general Mieville's work has a big Lovecraft influence. And GRRM wrote a vampire book called Fevre Dream that's quite a bit better than anything in ASoIaF.

>>9742639
>More like keyboard spacing; I usually type from my phone and the preview window looks a bit different now that I'm using my PC.

This, I'm a dumb phoneposter and people keep calling me Reddit and it hurts my feelings because I've literally never made a single post on plebbit and don't even know how to do so

>>9743360

Look into Dunsany, Machen, and Blackwood, lovecrafts influences

Also some of Poe, but less so

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What am I in for gents?

>>9742548
>And her cunny is tied to her magic

where was that said? cause it didnt work that way for anyone else

>>9742554
Terra Incog
I agree that the weird Mason maiming of their leaders, notably Cornel's foot, is weird.
perhaps Aeneas or another pre-Cornel Mason was trying to recreate this on a grander scale by killing Mycrofts entire family. I want to try to try and prevent Madame's scheme to have JEDD rule everything but it seems a little before that.

How Utopia's involved is beyond me. I agree their wanting him to quite strongly to finsh the Iliad is a little weird.

>>9743456
memes

>>9743456
You'll either love or hate it.

>>9742225
I really like Count to the Eschaton despite the weird pacing, it's basically First and Last Men updated for the 21st century with a dash of first contact.
fite me

>>9742219
Off the top of my head Gurren Lagann has a movie called Childhood's End and one of Aldnoah Zero's episodes is named Childhood's End. Not sure if there's any other connection since I've never read the book but both series are sci-fi.

>>9740218
I've been reading a collection of PKD's short fiction and I'm finding it very enjoyable. I have not read any of his novels. Which one do you recommend as a starting point?

>>9743456
Nice guy fedora protagonist

Any author's or specific books that deal with ennui as a major theme?

>>9742062
Some Alastair Reynolds' non-revelation space books might.
House of Suns, Pushing Ice or the Poseidons Children trilogy.

For a quick taste of the author, I suggest the novella Minla's Flowers.

>>9744009
The Magicians

>>9744014
Is it just me or did Pushing Ice have a kind of lame and rushed ending with litte anticipation? It seems to be a problem with Reynolds. House of Suns also suffers from a disappearing character syndrome (that weird doctor whatever thing in the bathtub that disappears after a while in the novel and never gets mentioned again).

>>9744037
I haven't read those in a while, but it seems that the format of Pushing Ice, I mean the time skips, might not suit for a long and developed ending.
He usually does ramp up hype in anticipation of endings, at least for me, as I generally enjoy Reynolds' work. Even though the characters might not be that intricate.
A distinct outlier was Slow Bullets, right before reaching the ending I was still expecting half a book more, as nothing much had happend, and what had wasn't that interesting.

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do you have to be into thiccness in order to get into cosmere books?

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>>9744149
epic fantasy in general, really

>>9744181
Takes a lot of desk time to pump out those doorstops I guess.

>>9743925
I really love those. Other people seem to like them too. I leant two volumes to a friend and they were releant a couple times so that by the time they got back to me they were noticeably more fucked up.

>>9744223
Cosmere knew this.

>>9744315
Praise the shards

I have always liked non-epic fantasy stories which are simply about people living their life, managing their work and relationships and whatever life throws at them. Combine that with nobility, politics, magic whatever and that only makes it better. Take for example Hobbs Farseer books when they are simply taking place at the castle or The Goblin Emperor by Addison. Any suggestions?

KELLHUS

WE'RE IN UNDERTALE

>>9743330
Seconding this, Lord of Light is fantastic.

>>9743766
Nice.

ubik

>>9743433
Phoneposters are worse than reddites. So being an upboatee would improve things.

>>9743586
>didn't read the book

>>9744181
Where's gene wolfe?

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>>9743596
>perhaps Aeneas or another pre-Cornel Mason was trying to recreate this on a grander scale by killing Mycrofts entire family.
What I want more than anything is for his entire life to have been revealed to be a carefully manipulated lie and then to watch him sperg out in books 3 and 4. Since I think that Cornel's role in the books is on life support, after what happened in Seven Surrenders after Bridger committed sudoku, JEDD decided that killing was fine, Saladin is best buddies with Madam and Mycroft almost killed Papa I think that it's all downhill for Mycroft from here on in especially because JEDD isn't averse to mindraping everyone -
- was that moment when he mindfucked his housekeeper into not being able to enjoy fiction ever because of one manuscript really fucking warranted? Holy shit.

And there's been a small amount of dirty laundry aired so far, the Mitsubishis and the setsets, the MASONs and the torturing, the Mardi 'bash trying to create soldiers - but I really wasn't surprised with that name and the humanist Weeksbooth-Saneer revealed to have been full of professional murderers interestingly foreshadowed by their boots being made out of killed animals.

God, I hope this series delivers and doesn't go to shit like so many modern books.

>>9745023
All your discussion of these books just makes me NOT want to read it. Every time you post, it just drives a nail into the coffin that contains my curiosity concerning too like gender pronouns.

>>9745038
Good don't read it then.

New Weird is for patricians. SFF need not apply.

>>9745083
>reading

>>9745040
>>>/lgbt/
Take your pronouns mental disease book and shove it up another hon's std riddled bum.
>forcing pro lgbt novels in my safe space

>>9744996

Nothing is worse than Reddit the phoneposter meme was started by redditors to compensate for their lack of self-esteem

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>>9745133
>m-muh safe space
Upvoted!

>>9745144
Redditors should fuck off back to their safe space, yourself included.

>>9744996
Haha kill yourself sandnigger.

Give me some "hard" sci-fi that only a PhD in theoretical physics could understand

>>9745133
Good job /pol/(tu)mblr, you sure showed them!

>>9745164
>Reading cuck literature
No!

>open thread
>We did it, reddit!
>close thread

>>9745164
Schild's Ladder. In-depth quantum physics is liberally sprinkled throughout the book.

>>9745203
I wonder how posting occurred during the process of opening and closing.

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Should I read picrelated, mistborn, or Dark Tower

The worst thing about reading? Being done with a book and not knowing what the fuck to pick up next.

>>9745404
Go to a used bookshop and pick at random from the fantasy section. That's what I did for years and I can tell you those books are in no way worse than any other, just not shilled as much

>>9745454
I'm a total NEET shut in that sits in a tiny room all day with a kindle. The problem is literally that I have near unlimited choice and no way of knowing which ones are good and which ones are bad, because nearly every fucking time you google info about a book, you get the same "Oh I read this when I was X, absolutely love it, it's all wonderful and exiting" and "total trash, don't waste your time, what a heap of shit" on both sides.

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>>9740881
yesssss
i started off with the Void Trilogy back in high school, and it was absolutely incredible. goddamn his worldbuilding is amazing

>>9745478
Go to a used bookstore with a big fantasy section. It's a lot more fun / exciting, for some reason.

>>9742029
How can something start so strongly and end so weakly

>>9743925
Flow my Tears, The Policeman Said was my first PKD novel and it got me really interested in reading the rest of his work. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep is another ok starting point

What's the book equivalent of Battlestar Galactica? Preferably without the mystical bullshit.

>>9745498
I haven't left the house in years. I can barely open the door to accept packages without cold sweats. I store frozen food in the basement and sometimes when I'm really hungry and want to get some, I hear people in the stairwell and don't leave my flat for half an hour until I'm sure they're gone. I'm not gonna go out to an actual bookstore to browse.

>Luna: New Moon
>every element of its worldbuilding and plot is taken from Dune
Why is this allowed

>>9745556
Well, Dune's world and plot was based on the middle east so...

>>9743911
Gainax have always been huge classic sci-fi fans. Gunbuster is full of famous science-fiction titles and despite the lack of clear references Royal Space Force feels very golden age. And of course the ending to Eva is similar to Childhood's End, only they were probably more directly inspired by Space Runaway Ideon, which was most likely directly inspired by the book.

>>9745323
take pcp and then kill several people and then yourself.

>>9740327
Did Soulcatcher actually have feelings for Croaker or was it simply the desire to steal something from Lady?

>>9745634
That makes sense.
As for Aldnoah, I'm pretty sure 90% of its episode titles are references to sci-fi novels, so the director is probably another big fan (and the pattern seems to have continued into his next show).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Aldnoah.Zero_episodes

>>9745164
https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/9711200 and sequels

I have to say the Culture novels have some of the dumbest character names I have ever seen in literature. And yet this makes them quite memorable. Do you suppose this was his intention?

>>9745164
https://vndb.org/v210

>>9745541
>>9745478
...Dude. Fine then, don't look at reviews and just pick a fantasy book at random from a lit. It's not THAT hard. If it sounds interesting to me, I read it.

Side note, how do you manage to stay at home all day without a job? Who supports your lifestyle?

Why is Jack Vance so fucking good?

>>9746084
weird neurotic cynics are the best at everything

>>9746084
Excellent writer who came up with crazy new worlds just to frame his excellent prose. Most /sffg/ types are nerds who put 99% of the thought into their world (which is 99% of the time just a rip-off of Vance or Tolkien) and consider writing just a vehicle for these made up names, states, currencies and taxation schemes. Probably also helps that Vance sounds like a really active guy who did a lot of cool stuff, rather than spending his whole life behind a desk or watching anime.

>>9743456
A book that really, really wants to be good, but is ruined by a shit tier neckbeard wet dream of a protagonist.

>>9746159
So the writing is good?

>>9746166
It's no Gene Wolfe but it's pretty good. Story's interesting, side characters are good (if a little one-dimensional), he put a lot of detail into the background. Just that one main character and the love interest make it almost not worth reading.

>>9743911
There's a *lot* of references to Cordwainer Smith (of all people) in anime of that period. Serial Experiments Lain, FLCL, and Evangelion just to name a few.

>>9746159
>>9746166
>>9746209
Just wait until you get two the second book of elf porn without plot after an entire book of student debt.

>>9745710
probably both

she was powered by pure autism

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>>9746097
>Most /sffg/ types are nerds who put 99% of the thought into their world (which is 99% of the time just a rip-off of Vance or Tolkien
Which books did Sanderson rip off for his works?
Since both Tolkien and Vance were the first to write everything, ever.

>>9745710
>not letting the beauty psycho woman capture your soul with her vagina

>>9746469
>Which books did Sanderson rip off for his works?
Anime light novels

>>9746478
https://yanderesimulator.com/

>>9746469
He ripped off my favorite anime

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Here some food for you starving wannabe writers.
>30 year old goes back home because city engineering employment didn't work out
>robots took our jerbs (more efficient for them to do the work)
>works on parents farm
>it's a lightning bottling farm
>mother was too sick to work for some time so dad was working all alone
>leaves son to it because all those months of solo work was tiring as fuck
>son back into his bottling stride
>component on rod breaks
>dad so cheap he is still working with a 110 year old model
>no wonder neighboring farm is more efficient
>takes rod into workshop
>ozone stability field shot
>they don't even use these any more wtf
>jerry Riggs a patch
>back to the field
>first lightning caught is red and spherical in the jar instead of constantly arching in containment field
>wtf
>jar talks
>drops
>calm done, go back
>apparently I caught a god
>hi-jinxs / deep philosophical meaning/ deep introspection of human nature / w/e ensues

You can steal if you want.

>>9746523
>>9746605
I thought he ripped Tolkien and Vance?
Is Sanderson, I dare say, in the top 1%?

>>9745478
Look up your local library's website. My small town library subscribes to a catalog service that lets you browse virtual shelves. Find the SFF section and have at it. When you find something you want, get it through your standard means.
>>9745541
You know the only way to get over that is by placing yourself in a recurring situation where you're forced to be around people. Then subsist on antacids in your own personal hell for a while.

Thoughts on Niel Asher's Transformation series? Need some dumb action scifi to cool off from Death's End.

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>>9746644
I may be starving but I'm not that starving. No thanks friend.

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>>9745023
>I think that it's all downhill for Mycroft from here on
what really struck a cord with me is Bridger's final words in Seven Surrenders, about how his positive view of Mycroft has changed him into a nicer and more placate person. I feel this might end now Bridger's dead/gone and Mycroft might revert to a more beastlike state (with him being self aware)
Also this may extend to other figures in the novel which Mycroft and thus inadvertently Bridger interact with, primarily JEDD Mason, who may being to follow a darker path
Also on that fucking note what even happened to Bridger, is he officially dead?

Are you the anon who was wishing for giant mech battles after the tease in Seven Surrenders from Apollo's Iliad? If so I agree, give me the robots Ada

>>9746644
>implying what wannabes lack is ideas
It's hard work that's missing.

>>9746692
Start with Shadow of the scorpion and then move on from there. Wikipedia has his reading order.
I would also suggest BV Larson's undying mercenaries.
>there is a new book out and I haven't read it yet

>>9746644
i may be so starved that i've actually begun to do the opposite of writing and now just destroy books in my spare time from this ladies house I'm looking after's library but i'll let that on slide

>>9746712
>skill-lets can take one thing and turn it into something great
No wonder you fags just blog about writing (sometimes paragraphs long) instead of actually writing.

cool

>>9746776
All you have to do is borrow parts of it to write your novel. Stephen King wrote The Stand after asking what if we couldn't cure the common cold/ flu.
>what can I do with bottled lightning
>bottled lightning are actually deities
>jar breaks
>oh shit, mankind dun fucked up

>>9746644
>ideaguy
Gtfo, everyone is an ideaguy. The reason people aren't successful is a lack of worm ethic or good execution.

Can someone tell me why first person and present tense stories are gaining so much traction? First person is difficult to do well (it requires a charismatic narrator and it's harder to retain suspense when it's implicit that the narrator will never die). And why the hell would you write present tense when you can write in past tense?

>>9746964
I'm going to make a wild assertion and posit that it's so they can use use informal language for the framing narrative as opposed to just for character speech. This would make it easier for those with minimal training in the craft. I am merely an avid reader with uneven writing skills, so I could be entirely mistaken.

>>9747036
Seems like a bizarre substitute for simple practice, but even though I'd say it's easier to write well in traditional third person past tense, I can see what you mean.

In regards to the first person aspect, since then, you're transcribing a spoken story to a written medium rather than having to deal with the nuances of written language, but it still doesn't explain why someone would opt for present tense. Some people say it adds a sense of immediacy, but I find it has the opposite effect.

>>9746964
>it's harder to retain suspense when it's implicit that the narrator will never die
Why is that implicit? It's entirely possible to switch narrator POV, or to ghost-narrate somehow.

>>9746964
Why follow one person you really like, one person you really hate, and one person you don't give a duck about. When you can just follow the person you like?

>>9747061
*fuck about. I'm so tired and mispeessing keys. Should just go and sleep

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>>9739913
Is Bookburners any good? People on Goodreads seem to like it well enough and I'm pretty sure my library has a copy.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29238780-bookburners

>>9747070
Isn't max gladstone the dude that wrote "gods and lawyer"?(craft sequence?)
Just read Fahrenheit 451

>>9747060
In the case of a decent first person story, e.g. 'Catcher in the Rye', it's generally assumed that the narrator is telling you the story in real time. How can the narrator be telling you the story if he's dead?

If he's a ghost, I'd sure as hell like that explained early on so I don't throw the book into a wood chipper when it comes up.

>>9747061
You can have a third person story with a single limited POV.

>>9747070
>The critically acclaimed urban fantasy about a secret team of agents that hunts down dangerous books containing deadly magic
>Published January 31st 2017
>Brian Francis Slattery
Looks like a dumpster fire desu senpai

>>9746644
I have a folder with 20+ ideas. I just can't write.

>>9747036
>I'm going to make a wild assertion and posit that it's so they can use use informal language for the framing narrative as opposed to just for character speech.
>Tfw writing a novel that is an archaic playwrite's journal
>Tfw have to consider not only how he speaks but he writes for an intended audience only of himself

Way harder than third person desu. Have to ride the line between sounding to performative in a private text, and just slipping into the tone of my own inner monologue, and then deciding how to make the text sound and feel archaic without being unreadable. Thees, thous, superfluous Es, and long-Ses, are off the table for comprehensibility, and even a Victorian vocabulary sounds too modern.

>mfw Kellhus fucked up and is now hanging on his own belt next to Malowebi
Great ending tbqhwu. Sorweel died like a bitch though, and the actual Consult were underwhelming as fuck. The Dunyain taking over was predictable, but the actual confrontation was great. Kellhus was always going to fail though - when the odds are stacked so much in your favor, you HAVE to lose, it's basic narrative.

Pros:
>Kellhus going "BARGAIN, I COME TO DORMAMMU" to the Mutilated
>Kelmomas' storyline finally culminating
>Battle scenes
>Skuthula the pervert dragon
>The best GRI in the AE quartet
>Initial scenes with Proyas and the Scalded

Cons:
>No Koringhus Jr
>Akka and Mimara doing nothing, dream and JE plotlines being pointless
>Meppa totally forgotten
>Cnaiur storyline going nowhere
>Consult being useless shits, especially Aurax
>Sorweel pointlessly becoming a WLW and dying
>Curse Likaro
>Extremely long appendix with only the Decapitants entry being important (I may be wrong on this).
>Lots of typos and grammatical errors.

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>>9747517
Forgot image

>>9746964
>The narrator is a writer in a dystopian world where the government has just begun the process of capturing writers, removing their brains, copying their memories into ai and having the programs write propaganda while falsely believing they are still human

>>9745710

I think his willingness to talk to her set him apart from the herd of normies, and talking to a normal human made her nostalgic about being one, back in the day.
her character kind of did a complete 360 after "dying", although it could be argued that she kept Croaker alive because she still liked him to some degree, and wanted to steal him from her sister for his own sake as much as to hurt the lady.

>>9745150

It can't be a coincidence that everyone started calling everyone Reddit on every board the absolute minute summer started

>>9745755
I live in germany. used to work, can't now so the state supports me just enough for me to sit in a dark room with a PC and a kindle all day eating cheap frozen food.
>>9746665
yeah I know, but you know how it is right? It's easier to sit comfortably in your own shit, than to get up and fix your life. So all I do is eat and read and play video games until an hero.

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>>9747479
>20+ ideas
https://pastebin.com/ZdFKvKBp

>>9745505
By being a pre-Baroque Cycle Neal Stephenson novel, duh.

>>9747811
>implying post-Anathem Neal Stephenson novels have endings either

What are some books with genuinely happy endings?

>>9747819
Haven't got around to post-Anathem yet. Seveneves and Reamde are waiting in the backlog. I'm actually considering reading Reamde on an ebook reader even though I have a physical copy, purely because that thing is xboxhuge.

>>9747840
The copy I have seemed better bound than others when I read it. I did still handle it carefully since I'm used to brittle 70's editions.

>>9747840
The main story of Seveneves has a magnificent ending, Stephenson's best in my opinion. Then he puts part of a draft of a sequel right after and you'll read it because you can't not and it'll leave a bad taste in your mouth.

>>9747853
Mine sags heavily in the middle when closed. I prop it up on the shelf with some cardboard strips so that it doesn't warp the binding.

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Book of the New Sun question....


So i'm randomly going through BTNS threads because I can't remember what happens to Jonas, and I stumble upon a theory that Severian raped Jolenta and that he's generally an unreliable narrator because all the female character swoon at him.

WHAT.THE.FUCK


I didn't get that impression at all, I just assumed Servenian was just super ripped and naturally charming. I'm 99% certain the Jolenta fling was consensual as I remember her inviting him to go for a walk and it's not like she acted out of character after the incident


Did all that just fly over my head? Am I truly a pleb?

>>9747942
Jonas stepped between the Mirrors (the mirrors which reflect reality) and disappeared. Then his disembodied soul enters the body of Miles, the soldier Sev brings back to life at the start of Citadel of the Autarch

Btw, we're all plebs before Wolfe-sama

Marc if you're here please talk to me about Soldier of Sidon.
It feels unexplored by fans and scholars.

>>9747821
Tao Zero
Gateway

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So, I fell for the Conan meme, but apparently it's hot dogshit. I finished Thousandfold Thought before that, and BotNS before that. I'd like to keep going with both Bakker and Wolfe, but I still feel like I need something light to cleanse my palette.

What do you recommend, lads?

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>>9740144
>comfy

>>9748469
>So, I fell for the Conan meme, but apparently it's hot dogshit.
So you got memed into reading it then memed out of reading it? If you're not going to find out what you really like why not just go to Goodreads?

>>9748469
Another Wolfe fan here. I know what you mean by needing to cleanse your palette after that kind of book.

I recently finished the Fifth Head of Cerberus and felt the same, so on a friend's recommendation I read Let The Right One In by Lindqvist.

Yes, that Swedish book they made into a relatively tame horror film. Two points.

1) the book is not really like the film(s). It's much darker and more gritty

2) it's actually really good. Quite depressing, as it deals with poor and broken people in 80s Sweden housing estates, but it's written very well despite being translated

It deals with some heavy issues but compared to dense authors with layers of meaning like Wolfe, it's light enough and certainly cleansed my palette. I was surprised I liked it but I did.

Quick warning though. Some parts are completely disgusting, and the paedophilia aspect especially so

>>9748469
>thinks dinosaurs was a meme
>wanted to prove me wrong
>is mad when he could have saved himself
You deserve that and more.

Re: the 'dinosaurs', I found Fritz Leiber and his Fafhrd and Gray Mouser much more readable than Howard's Conan. REH is exuberant, and can feel juvenile when he begins laying on the adverbs. The main appeal of his Conan stories is the action man protag. Meanwhile Leiber has the action, fights and scenery of Conan without the purple prose.

>>9742418
Any e-rip available for TUC yet? Still waiting for my book to come with the mail.

Someone explain the lasts chapter of TCU for brainlet like me? Kellhus is truly dead? Mimara saw Kellhus alive and then the No God appears and shit, what the fuck?

>>9748687
>didn't read the last thread or one before that
>expects people to spoonfeed him

>>9747821
The Unholy Consult, desu.

>>9748702
Kellhus gets possessed by Ajokli, manages to stop all the skin-spies because the Golden Room is a topos, then gets distracted by Kelmomas (because he becomes the No-God, therefore being invisible to the Gods at any point in time) and salted by a skin-spy. The Dunyain stuff Kelmomas in the sarcophagus, then use the hologram machine they used to fake Shaeonanra to project an image of Kellhus while the No-God is powering up. Mimara sees through the illusion with the Judging Eye, and then all hell breaks loose (Not literally). The entry on Decapitants says that Kellhus has often swapped his head with them, making people theorize that it was Ajokli who got salted in Kellhus's body, and the real Kellhus head is hanging on his belt. Of course, his reaction on seeing Kelmomas parallels that of the White Luck Warrior and Sorweel, so the other theory is that he's actually dead.

USE SPOILER TAGS YOU PENISES

>>9748687
Google it

>>9748903
Why?

>>9748970
Basic decency.

>>9748725
>expecting me to read every single sffg thread like some fucking internet-addict
>>9748964
>implying I didn't try googling it and got bunch of shit links
Your comments confirm that it exists though, so thanks for that.

>>9746964
>it requires a charismatic narrator
Wrong
>it's harder to retain suspense when it's implicit that the narrator will never die
How is that implicit?

>>9749094
He's talking about the modern trend of first-person stories without a framing device to explain how the words are reaching you.

>>9749120
That doesn't make it implicit they can't die at all.

God Emperor of Dune is kind of boring. True or false?

>>9748469
>Conan is shit
Kill yourself

>>9748624
Fafhrd and Gray Mouser is terrible though

>>9749084
https://forum.mobilism.org/viewtopic.php?f=1293&t=2143244&hilit=the+unholy+consult

I wanna read Ringworld because it is missing in my collection but my friend is recommending me "The iron druid" (not over Ringworld, just in general). Which one should I read first?

>>9747942
Jolenta was both a thot and asking for it. Of course Severian didn't consider it rape so maybe he saw the situation in a more flattering light for himself but it seems more than likely that Jolenta was also at least partially down for it. If you're so attractive that you make prudish old ladies turn into lesbians over you you know better than to invite an assertive man on a walk with you on which you fall asleep in a private and romantic place. Also, I feel the need to bring this up since some readers see this as a betrayal, Jolenta had been sexing with Dorcas while Severian was away with Jonas.

>>9749282
I only read up to Messiah but I found the whole thing fairly boring. Herbert wasn't a great writer.

>>9749282
True.
Messiah > Heretics > Dune > Children of Dune > Chapterhouse > God Emperor.

>>9748153
Why did the mirrors have that effect? How can a robot even have a soul?

>death came swirling down every second page
>"cunny"

fucking really?

does bakker browse /tv/?

>>9750091
Cunny is a pretty ancient slang that predates /tv/ by a long time. Watch the movie Unforgiven (which was from 1992) and you'll hear Clint Eastwood say it. Granted, I was surprised too, but there's nothing inherently 4chan about that word.

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I kinda want to read this book because they had the audacity to just put "Badass." on the cover as one of the quotes.

Anyone here read it?

*tugs braid*

>>9746732
I felt that Bridger was kind of a morality pet for Mycroft inducing the reader to see him in a more positive light. The /comfy/ is probably over.

I'm kind of not sure about JEDD I feel that if he didn't agree with Bridger it would have been pretty bad for the latter, especially because JEDD felt like the Old Testament god and Bridger the new.

I think that Bridger killed himself but not permanently. As shocking as his death was I think that he wouldn't be killed off so early on. There's four more books! And it would be sad if the only person that Mycroft positively connected to was permanently dead.

Yeah, I'm an /m/fag.
)

>>9750091
>>9750327
Cunny is an anglicization of the original Latin "cunnus".

>>9750039
The "mirrors" weren't really regular mirrors but some type of high tech that was described in the chapter with Father Inire and the young Thecla.

>How can a robot even have a soul?
Why wouldn't it?

NEW THREAD

>>9750631
>>9750631
>>9750631