/sffg/ - Science Fiction and Fantasy General

>>9878692
Use the hue slider.

Has anyone here read the Fire of Heaven trilogy by Russell Kirkpatrick?

I would really like to talk about it with someone because it's such an interesting mess but I've never met anyone who has read it.

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Do you read any classic books? Or philosophy?
I don't.

>Malazan Book of the Fallen, The Dark Tower, Acts of Caine, the series arc of Wheel of Time (the books are individually mediocre), The Silmarillion

>Grendel by John Gardner, with special mention to Stephen King's use of stream of consciousness (it's not Joyce-tier, but it's pretty good)

>Unironically The First Law

>>9878964
I try to be well-rounded, so yes

>>9878964
Sometimes, but my pleb brain can only take in a few at a time before I need pulp in my life.

>>9878990
>Unironically The First Law
What? The First Law is top tier fantasy ironically and unironically desu.

>>9879016
First law is uninspired, boring, with banal characters and prose that is comparable to Aristote in beauty.

>>9879089
I read Martin, Tolkien, Sapkowski, Zelazny, Wegner and they are all worse than Abercrombie.

Is 4chan the Arrakis of the internet but all the Fremen are chronic procrastinators?

>>9879133
t.pleb

>>9879267
and masterbaters

>>9878678
Is Asimov's Foundation series worth reading through? How foundational (heh) is it to science fiction, and is it still relevant as a vision of a future society?

A different question is whether the prequel to Canticles of Leibowitz is any good, or still in print even? Because CoL is probably my favourite sci-fi book of the limited number I have read.

>>9879356
Canticles of Leibowitz should still be in print since it's on that SF Masterworks line.

>>9879356
It's "Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire" IN SPACE! It's not "essential" but it is among the best works of SF out there. It's still relevant enough not to feel utterly dated.

>>9879356
>Is Asimov's Foundation series worth reading through? How foundational (heh) is it to science fiction, and is it still relevant as a vision of a future society?
Foundation is really not that good. It was probably some of the best around in its time, but it has long since been eclipsed. I would argue that Frank Herbert and Arthur C. Clarke have had more staying power than Asimov. Their stories have "aged better," if that makes any sense.

>>9879381
The famous book you are probably trying to refer to is "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." Decline and Fall, not Rise and Fall. For some reason nobody ever seems to get that.

>>9878711
In Gimp?

>>9879365
Yeah, it is, I read it on that line, but I'm talking about the prequel that was made decades later.

"Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman."

>>9879381
Is it better or as influential as Dune?
I have a nice hardback copy, so I'll read it at some point.

>>9879424
>Is it better or as influential as Dune?
I disagree in general with the guy who you're replying to, but Dune is definitely better and more influential than Foundation.

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>>9878711
Thanks anon.

>>9878678
Truly excellent OP picture, I'm feeling life in my penis for the first time in years

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Ada a cute

>>9879405
>Their stories have "aged better," if that makes any sense.
Makes perfect sense. Star Trek definitely did not age well at all. Seems to me blindingly "rear-view mirror" in its conception of the future.

Is The Lies of Locke Lamora (first book that is) actually good and standalone?

>>9879356
Think anons are pretty a little harsh. It's not aged BADLY and while it's certainly a very golden-age vision of the future the narrative and characters are enjoyable with an intricate enough plot to lose yourself in.

Also i love how the actual foundation start off as little pussy bitches and by the end are massive weighty empire dudes, it's a fun ride

>>9879405
My mistake about the name, it happens when one types without care.

>some reason
Cyclical nature of Empires makes Rise and Fall a far more common trend associated with them rather than Decline and Fall

>>9879424
>Is it better or as influential as Dune?
I think it is hard to compare them side by side when it comes to influence because 1950s and 1980s had different audiences for sci fi and different trends, so if by influence you mean influence on the genre, I'd say they both did a fair share Dune certainly had more mass appeal and is the more recent product so it's still echoes in the genre, foundation non the less was an important step of the sci-fi as a genre.

As for better, it's mostly a matter of taste, for an average reader Dune would likely win the contest because it's nearly 3 decades closer to this day and age than Foundation.

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>>9878678
Wolfe/Mieville tag team when?

>>9879503
Star Trek (as in the original series) may not seem very relevant anymore, but I think The Next Generation has actually held up quite well. It hasn't had to "age" as long though. I don't know about DS9--it takes itself more seriously, but the 90s version of "serious TV" just looks foolish compared to more recent shows.

>>9879517
Yeah, I think "the rise and fall of empires" is enough of a trope as to be fixed as a common phrase, but it's just funny to me how much that would change the meaning of Gibbon's work. "Rise and Fall" would have been a totally different book than the Decline and Fall he actually wrote. I think maybe "Decline and Fall" sounds more redundant to modern readers than Gibbon intended, so people automatically correct it to "rise" when they recall it. I guess that's a problem that is bound to plague books far more people have heard of than have actually read.

>>9879537
China Mieville legit makes me hard. I like to imagine him as some kind of nazi-punching literary super hero.

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>>9879356
>Is Asimov's Foundation series worth reading through? How foundational (heh) is it to science fiction, and is it still relevant as a vision of a future society?

I bought the first trilogy of that series but couldn't get into it. The concepts are interesting but the prose is just bad. When I look at Asimov in my bookcase, and around it I've got PKD, Wolfe, Davidson, Banks, Chiang, Stross, Gibson, Stephenson, hell even that crazy glorious bastard Hodgson... there's really no contest. Asimov feels dull in comparison.

It's not foundation to sci-fi in terms of enjoying the genre. It's not like "start with the Greeks".

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>>9879443
Wolfe is so lovable.

>>9879560
>Star Trek (as in the original series) may not seem very relevant anymore
I think it's fun, if pulpy, sf television, It's not the "birght future that all humans hope for", mostly because people lost hope, but as far as SF TV goes, there are worse things to watch.

>The Next Generation has actually held up quite well. It hasn't had to "age" as long though.
Some episodes/seasons, sure, but many is a complete and utter joke by modern standards, taking itself oh so seriously while riding oh so white horse, all the while looking sillier than TOS ever was.

>I don't know about DS9--it takes itself more seriously, but the 90s version of "serious TV" just looks foolish compared to more recent shows.
I think DS9 didn't so much take itself more seriously, again compare it to early TNG and tell me that it's it that's the one taking itself too seriously, but it explored and tried to present star trek in more detail making it a more coherent universe rather than a series of episodes roughly set in the same continuity, and I think it works to this day. Very few other TV shows manage to provide quite as much in a way of discussion on matters of faith, warfare, diplomacy, etc. Tho without a doubt some parts of it are questionable in the extreme, nice thing about it - most people disagree on which parts those are.

If you compare it to modern Dramas, it sure falls behind, but if you compare it to modern TV SF it's still leagues ahead of most of it. Granted if you want more "serious" SF, you should probably be reading not watching.

Hugo award list:

Best Novel

The Obelisk Gate, by N. K. Jemisin (Orbit Books)

Best Novella

Every Heart a Doorway, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com publishing)

Best Novelette

“The Tomato Thief”, by Ursula Vernon (Apex Magazine, January 2016)

Best Short Story

“Seasons of Glass and Iron”, by Amal El-Mohtar (The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales, Saga Press)

Best Related Work

Words Are My Matter: Writings About Life and Books, 2000-2016, by Ursula K. Le Guin (Small Beer)

Best Graphic Story

Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening, written by Marjorie Liu, illustrated by Sana Takeda (Image)

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Ada Palmer (1st year of eligibility)

Every Major Award was won by a women.
No straight white male will win a major hugo in the next 5 years at least.

I don't see how Dune can be easier to get into, it is one of the most mind-numbingly boring books I've read. The Foundation trilogy is split into vignettes that are much simpler to digest.

>>9879463
Female or male?

>>9879616
Dune is well-written and the story is immerse. If you read it as a teenager or slightly older, as I think most of us did, you just want to jump right in. Imo anyway.

Foundation has less... "heart"

>>9879606
You realize the Hugos are a popularity contest? It's just a result of the demographics.

Obelisk Gate was amazing though. Can Stone Sky go for the triple?

>>9879628
It's possible I read it too young, but I read and loved LOTR around the same time and people complain about it here often enough.

>>9879628
>and the story is immerse
immersive*

>>9879647
Well I love LOTR too and read it as a teenager, so I'm with you on that one.

>>9877342
>If your dog ripped up your slippers or skirt and you picked it (the ripped article) the dog looks guilty as fuck.
That is not likely and neither is it scientific. I think they tested that once with dog owners by telling them their dog has done something and they went "Yes I can tell, that's his guilty face!" when in truth the dog has done nothing.
What is far more likely that the dog acts guilty because of the way the owner reacts. If you stand there, visibly angry/annoyed and speak with a certain tone of voice, your dog will react accordingly. If you put on a happy face and say "You cheeky fuck how dare you, I will fucking feed you to the chinese you useless cuntdog" but in a really happy active voice your dog will get exited as fug because it's often the same as the "you wanna go for walkies?" voice.

>Now he explained that the dog is decades old
But he already spoke before he got that old. when the dog was just a few years above how old these dogs usually get and he spoke perfect english. Also later they have to deal with a different dog and teach that english is very little time.
>He remembers quotes from movies yes, but forgets the movie later
Not really. Not only does he quote the movie he also remembers the plot as does he when Atticus tells him stories. (sometimes he gets so influenced by them that he adapts their ideals and mannerisms)
I could deal with the dog knowing some speech. the problem is that the Dog is smarter than your average american.

>>9879628
>>9879647
Dune definitely has a turning point age-wise. I tried to read it when I was too young and couldn't stand all the made up words and shit. I picked it up again two years later and loved it.

Are there any contemporary writers publishing ornate, atmospheric, Lovecraftian fantasy/horror?

A lot of people point me in the direction of Laird Barron or China Mieville, but I find them pretty campy and only concerned with surface level elements of the genre (i.e. tentacles, madness, magic-as-science).

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>>9879714
>Are there any contemporary writers publishing ornate, atmospheric, Lovecraftian fantasy/horror?
>ornate
Oh yes

I'm reading this right now. It's kind of amazing. The prose is a little ridiculous, but it's really quite something.

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>>9879537

>>9879714
Oh I totally missed the "contemporary" part

Sorry, ignore my post then

>>9879644
I liked Obelisk Gate and at least it is sort of a quasi-Sci-Fi, but almost every other award was given to a straight up Fantasy.

And no bullshit about how it is a genre award, The Award is a fucking rocket ship and they had a real astronaut give out an award this year.

The Hugos are a SCI-FI award.

>>9879606
Palmer's stuff is actually better than NKJ, but NKJ is more general appeal.

Is Warbreaker a good start for someone who hasn't read any Sanderson?

>>9880013
My introduction to Sanderson was Way of Kings and I enjoyed it a lot.

>>9880013
Warbreaker is good not only because it's one of his best books but also because it's quite standalone. My recommendation to people who want to read Sanderson is to read Warbreaker, Emperor's Soul and possibly his short stories and then move on to other authors. If you want to read all of his Cosmere crap I've heard that Mistborn is a good staring point.

>>9878990
>Acts of Caine
yes motherfucker yessssss
too bad it's done (I think)

>>9879356
This autist who has read the entire canon and considers Shakespeare strongly overrated thinks it's a masterpiece: http://www.cosmoetica.com/B264-DES204.htm

>>9879606
No one expects a straight white male to win any awards any time soon, nor will their works be pushed by any major publisher/ distributor.

Yet so what, if a book is good it's good.

>>9880347
I'm still curious what would have been nominated if the Chuck Tingle Electric Boogaloo 2 didn't get nominated.

>>9879606
I haven't read the sequels but The Fifth Season was actually quite good considering what a train wreck Hundred Thousand Kingdoms was.

Seanan McGuire is everything wrong with SF today.

I hope Palmer doesn't turn into Girl Rothfuss. She seems better adjusted than him so maybe we can look forward to more Good Books from her in the future.

>>9880457
>Seanan McGuire is everything wrong with SF today.
Why, what's Every Heart a Door like?

>>9880457
>I hope Palmer doesn't turn into Girl Rothfuss.
She published 2 books in a year so no fear of that. And a third one is coming in December.
Or did you mean something else?

>>9880457
>The Fifth Season was actually quite good considering what a train wreck Hundred Thousand Kingdoms was
The Moonblood books are good too IMO. I agree on 100KK. The rest of her output was a pleasant surprise.

>>9879744
I tried reading this and found the writing tedious and protagonist insufferable. It's all this nauseating, saccharine sweet sentimentality. I get the impression Hodgson would have been a deviantartist were he alive today.

>>9878285
>You mean something like this?
>Or something where physical transformation is long and drawn out for fetish reasons?
I can take either heavy transformation or heavy aftermath as long as they're women and they're miserable about it.

>>9880296
>and considers Shakespeare strongly overrated
He's not wrong.

>>9880347
What author (straight white male or otherwise) do you think got shorted though? Mieville is the only one I can come up with this year.

>>9880469
I haven't read it. I do know that Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant is a tumblr landwhale whose constant presence on award lists has more to do with pathetic fandom politics than any discernible talent.

>>9879606
>no Unholy Consult

>>9880489
Debut author writes a good book, gets massively feted, crawls up own ass to die. Like I said, Palmer seems less pathetic than Rothfuss though.

>>9880457
>Seanan McGuire is everything wrong with SF today.
I read he October Daye series but I always thought of it as maybe a step or two above generic urban fantasy, didn't know she'd won awards and shit.

>>9880615
>Debut author writes a good book, gets massively feted, crawls up own ass to die.
As long as she finishes the current series she can crawl up whoever's ass she wants.

>>9880624
She also seems to rather enjoy soaking up the attention. But yeah, actually finish a good trilogy and you deserve it.

>>9880624
>As long as she finishes the current series
This

Why is first person so hated?

>>9880799
Makes it easier for the author to self-insert

What's some good 'ship based' (Star Trek-esque) science fiction? Not looking for media tie-ins.

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>>9878964
The Russians and Germans sind sehr gut when I want something more character/psychology/idea driven rather than a huge array of bland characters acting out a pantomime over an overdone background. I fear that what most people think of classic literature are classified by the bore that is English and French classical literature.

>>9880601
has Bakker ever been up for a Hugo?

>>9880592
Mieville's shit sucked this year.
That aside people always focus on the "books."
The VAST majority of awards are for shorter work, this is representative of Sci-FI as a whole.
The short work that has been nominated and winning is utter garbage the last 2 years.

Do you guys know any magazines that publish novella length genre stories? Everything I write is too darn long.

>>9880997
I haven't read Mieville's latest. Someone who truly reads enough to make intelligent nominations of contemporary work must be borderline autistic; I rarely read anything newer than at least a few years so I don't get caught up in meme shovelnovels.

I suspect that's why the short entries have been so shit. It's basically an incestuous writer's workshop -- I don't know anyone even online who keeps up with the latest in short form published SFF, myself included. I don't even see discussion on fandom blogs. It must just be a circlejerk of a few dozen people.

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>>9880347
>>9879606
Thought this was relevant. It's from the Tor.com submissions section.

As a male caucasian writer with a fondness for classic fantasy conventions, it's kind of bittersweet to observe the changing attitudes of genre publishers. On the one hand, I get it; the industry standard is stagnant and in bad need of revision. On the other hand, isn't the exotica of eastern cultures something that only exists in the eyes of white people in the west? If I were black or asian and proud of my heritage, I'd feel more patronized than included.

>>9881057
>I'd feel patronized
You're thinking like a white man. They don't feel patronized, they feel like they're collecting what's owed them and twerking victoriously on the ruins of their defeated enemies.

>>9881057
I don't care how they feel, I'm just tired of generic Tolkien ripoffs.

>>9881073
>not appropriating their cultures for your own entertainment
kek look at this sjw faggot

>>9881077
How many people are actually imitating Tolkien, though? Castles and swordplay don't make a Middle Earth story.

>>9881077
Are generic Tolkien ripoff even that common now? In the 80s, maybe. Mostly we've got ASOIAF ripoffs and Sanderson ripoffs. ASOIAF is identifiably a reaction to Tolkienesque fantasy but that doesn't make it a "Tolkien ripoff". It just means that it's part of a body of (yes, Eurocentric) literature that naturally evolves on its own over time as new authors write new books. The cabal at Tor wants to do away with it root and branch not because it has no value but because they don't like white men and their culture.

>>9880997
I liked Last Days of New Paris but for some reason they decided to nominate the plotless avant-garde one that didn't quite work rather than the fun pulp

>>9881115
>Are generic Tolkien ripoff even that common now? In the 80s, maybe. Mostly we've got ASOIAF ripoffs and Sanderson ripoffs.
I'm tired of those too.

>>9880799
It's much easier to write than third so some authora so choose it for easiness rather than what the story demands

>>9881077
Bridge of Birds is better than any actual Asian fantasy I've read so you might be onto something.

>>9881128
See? A shame they probably won't let europeans write asiatic fantasy.

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>>9881133
They do it all the time, it just sucks mostly

>>9881125
Has anyone written a fantasy "reacting" to GRRM? Besides Vox Day, which I've actually heard isn't bad but I haven't read it.

Maybe eurofantasy really is completely played out, but I doubt it.

>>9881163
>Has anyone written a fantasy "reacting" to GRRM?
What would that look like? An ultimately upbeat, optimistic portrayal of noblesse oblige?

>>9881145
The Diamond Age has a pretty strong Chinese flavor, and KSR wrote The Years of Rice and Salt. Versus a bunch of stupid wuxia/isekai shit.

>>9881167
A seemingly upbeat, optimistic portrayal of noblesse oblige that gradually reveal underlayers of morbid commentary. Since, you know, AsoIaF is a subversion of fantasy conventions on the surface but ultimately a standard heroic fantasy.

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>>9881087
>How many people are actually imitating Tolkien, though?
None. And to my knowledge there are also no current writers that imitate his sources and older fantasy, it's not like Tolkien is the first one to write European fantasy.
>>9881057
That's pretty much just a "no whites allowed" sign, marxists can endorse any culture except the Western one. I wonder what the KGB guys who are still alive feel when they watch their subvertion of the capitalist West result in complete self destruction but with the USSR long gone and communism dead making it pointless. What an ironic end to the cold war, mutual destruction did happen but not a single nuke was used.

>>9881179
I'd like to think publishers will tire of the trend eventually but I fear you're right. As someone with vague ambitions of making a (modest) income selling European fantasy stories, it's really demoralizing. I'm going to be working at Starbucks until I die, taking orders from managers who openly celebrate the rapid decline of culture.

>>9881163
>Has anyone written a fantasy "reacting" to GRRM?
Any fantasy that isn't grimderp is a "reaction" to that goober's writing. Granted plenty of writers took what he did and made it even worse, but he's still responsible for the grimdark crap that thankfully seems to be dying down.

>>9881053
I am that short fiction autist you alluded too, sort of.
I read mostly on anthologies and have a few subscriptions too SFF mags.

You are right about the workshop idea, SFF has shifted a lot away from the short stuff use too be people read everything.

But as in all things it is coming around again with the rise of published novella length works in print and restructuring of some of the SFF mags/E-mags I hold out hope that we are just in the dark before the dawn for short SF work.

I really believe that the heart of Sci-Fi lives in short fiction.

I'm looking for some more science fiction that's less about plotlines and characters and more about general narratives, settings, and ideologies. I read The Dispossessed and really liked it. Is the Left Hand of Darkness similar or no? Any other recommendations?

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Hey all. I am almost completely new to sci-fi (read Martian Chronicles in HS and also some Borges if that counts). I am involved in writing a movie now and am interested in exploring scarcity, oppressive governments, and fringe groups. Somebody on the team told me to read Foundation.

I am somewhat intrigued by China Mieville's use of marxism. What do you guys think of him? Also if you have any recommendations of books that explore religion in any interesting ways, that would be cool too. thx

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>>9881167
>What would that look like?
A focused, concise single book novel that's not grimdork fedoracore.

>>9881286
>grimdork
Go back to /tg/

>>9881194
It really is a shame. I have a special place in my heart for traditional European fantasy and unfortunately that means I rarely pick up any new fantasy books, instead I have to keep reaching backwards in time for things to read. For what it's worth I'd buy a book written by you if you somehow managed to get it published and I don't doubt many others would too, the market is starved.

>>9881226
Any recommendations for recent individual short works, anthologies, or publications? I've got no clue but I'd be interested.

>>9881264
The Golden Age
The Left Hand of Darkness, yes, and also The Lathe of Heaven by the same author.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Embassytown
The Culture novels

>>9881271
Mieville's Marxism is usually left to subtext, especially in his better works.

Religion: A Canticle for Leibowitz, Dune, Book of the New Sun.

Scarcity, Govt, Fringe Groups: Neuromancer, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Dune, Snow Crash, Wool.

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>>9879463
>yoga pants
>knee-high boots
>fanny pack
>affected cane

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Reviews of this book are euphoric.

>>9881126

It's not actually easier to write well, though

>>9880873

this is one of the reasons why

I really enjoyed the Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell. Are his other series just as good?

>>9881420
>affected cane
Your other points are fair but how do you know she doesn't have a club foot or something?

>>9881163
>Maybe eurofantasy really is completely played out, but I doubt it.

here's a question — would you really want to read a story about a bunch of shamanistic pre-Bronze-age cavemen, regardless of colour, and how long would it take for that to get boring? Because outside weebshit, that's all that fits Tor's requirement.

>>9881455

When I see a young person with a cane who isn't fat, and the cane looks more "stylish' than functional, and it's in the context of some autist who just got a genre fiction award, the odds are pretty strong. I was, and am, far too lazy to spend less time googling it than it took me to type this, however.

>>9881471
>here's a question — would you really want to read a story about a bunch of shamanistic pre-Bronze-age cavemen, regardless of colour, and how long would it take for that to get boring?
In the hands of a good writer that could be very interesting. But I suppose in the hands of a good writer almost anything could be interesting.

>>9881471
>here's a question — would you really want to read a story about a bunch of shamanistic pre-Bronze-age cavemen, regardless of colour, and how long would it take for that to get boring?

Books like this have already been written and are favorites in speculative fiction. You're just dumb.

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>>9879570
> PKD
> Asimov feels dull in comparison

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>Hugoes announced
>puppies lose again

Is Fantasy still stuck firmly in Tolkien's shadow?

>>9881547
It's entirely broken out by now except for in gaming.

>>9881555
Off the top of your head can you name some examples of books/series that you think are 'out of Tolkien's shadow'?

>>9881561
basically anything released after the mid 90's

what is the opinion on the blade itself here?

>>9881565
Such as?

>>9881561
Sanderson
Eriksen
Abercrombie
Bakker

>>9881565
Name 1.

>>9881637
While all of these are complete garbage, without any quality, they aren't similar to Tolkien at all.

>>9880878
Iain M Banks Culture series

>>9881430
It's a good book. /u/ though.

>>9881535
When they are going to choose a proper book?

>>9881646
Does it pick up? I heard good things but thought the early chapters were incredibly dry and slow-paced

>>9881653
The ending is the best part of the book.

>>9881654
I might pick it up again then

>>9881637
>Abercrombie
>Bakker
Edgemasters following Gurm.
>Eriksen
Let me tell you about this ebin tabletop RPG session me and my mate had...
>Sanderson
He, Rothfuss and Breeks make up the nu-male hack fantasy writer triumvirate.

Why is modern fantasy so bad?

What are the core characteristics/traits/themes/etc that define Fantasy as a genre?

>>9881655
Just to clarify, this book is not a top tier book. To be top tier, the author needs to work hard on making the entire plot fantastic, this is a good/above average read mostly made that way by the ending.

Enjoyable but not fantastic.

>>9880878
If you like contemporary sf check out The Expanse, Terran Fleet Command Saga there are also Tales of the Terran Republic and On Silver Wings they are more Star Trek - esque, but feature a lot of things happening off ship.

>>9881639
A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin

>>9881658
Can you talk about anything without using buzzwords?

>>9881658
All four of those authors are popular fantasy writers whose work can't even uncharitably be called "Tolkien ripoffs".

>>9881658
i got got sanderson and abercrombie books as i am new to fantasy and people recommended those
if the bad what should i read instead?

>>9881691
There's nothing wrong with Sanderson

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>>9880899
>I fear that what most people think of classic literature are classified by the bore that is English and French classical literature.

I would say you are a retarded pleb but this is /sffg/ so that's given.

>>9881691
Based on your post you sound like you'd enjoy them so just go ahead.

>>9878964
Almost exclusively philosophy. A novel here or there. Read maybe 3 sff novels this year and all were Wolfe.

Man I'm stuck somewhere I can read a lot but I have shotty phone connectivity. I promise some high quality reviews when I return to civilization.

>>9881711
why is that? is it because my grammar sucks

>>9881669
Martin is trying to wrote a "lul I'm so different than tolkien".

>>9881718
>I promise some high quality reviews when I return to civilization.
Excellent, I love reviews.
>>9881691
Do you like plain prose and detailed plot? Then you'll like Sanderson. I didn't like Abercrombie. As you read more your tastes will change so don't worry.

>>9881691
>i got got sanderson and abercrombie books as i am new to fantasy and people recommended those
>if the bad what should i read instead?
Remember this is 4chan so anything at all popular will be hated.

>>9881759
Well actually that isn't necessarily true, /sffg/ simply pushes the mid tier popular stuff more or stuff before it got popular. There were a lot of that were into Sanderson, what feels like at least one year back. But I think that the more you read the more fussy you get.

And also, not every person is the same person. Some people liked Red Rising (which I personally hated) but later other people hated them. Same with Sanderson, when he releases a new book lots of anons love them and later a different set of people disliked them.

Is Gor any good?

>>9881789
The first ~seven books are pretty much a John Carter takeoff with the erotic subtext made explicit. After that it's just porn.

>>9881420
How did you miss the fucking magic wand

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>>9881691
Read whatever seems interesting to you and make up your own mind. If I were to personally recommend an author then it would be Guy Gavriel Kay and Gene Wolfe. It really depends on what you're looking for though.

>>9881819
what's the best fantasy erotica?

>>9882184
Dennis Reynolds: An Erotic Life

>>9881691
Havent read Sanderson, but i really loved Abercrombies Stuff.

Remember, this is 4Chan...people will shit on everything no matter how good or bad it is.

>>9881661
Needs some kind of myth aspect to it. All you need. By that definition 'A Fine and Private Place' is clearly fantasy but 'The Devil In A Forest' isn't, which I think is appropriate. Some faggots will say swords or dragons but that can give you all kinds of fucky results.

>>9881163
>Has anyone written a fantasy "reacting" to GRRM?
Considering ASOIAF is a "reaction" to most fantasy novels prior, I guess you can go to them.

>>9881640
>all of these are complete garbage, without any quality
...

>>9882377
He isn't wrong.

>>9882384
Neither is he right. Funny how subjectivity works.

>>9882384
sanderson, ok
bakker I don't like
eriksen had 3 or 4 good books with problems and the rest is overwrought boring shit
but abercrombie is kinda good
I mean fuck if you're comparing them with I dunno dostoyevski or zola then OK but otherwise they're better than probably 50% of the SF/Fantasy fare

>>9882396
Goodness is an objective quality of being which is abstracted by the intellect from the senses.

>>9882404
That may be but I am armed with my hatred of moral clarity faggot

>>9881691
Abercrombie is great. Start with him.

>>9879685
>the problem is that the Dog is smarter than your average american.
...That is not hard, Klappibro. Have you seen some of your fellow citizens? They fall for scams easily all the time. If I was an unscrupulous person, I could have migrated to America and become rich. By feeding the idiots over there what they want to hear. Your people have long been groomed to be stupid.

>"Yes I can tell, that's his guilty face!"
It's true. My dogs are yard dogs. And I came downstairs to play with them once and the dog wouldn't come, wouldn't look at me. So I figured she did something (wasn't angry or annoyed when I went to them).
>Looked around
>dog ripped open a box with old clothing
>ripped up clothes
>pissed on them
You better believe I was mad when I found that, but I wouldn't have found it, not so quickly if the dog wasn't guilty.

He also explained that the wolfhounds are the smartest breeds he ever had. Remember he said he tried it before with other dogs, and "Mr. Do anything for sausage" was the only success? I think it was after that, that he started giving the dog Immortali-tea

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are there any kind of statistics on the readership that science fiction short stories have?

what is asimov's distribution? strange horizons? sometimes i feel like the only people who read the big mags (to say nothing of the smaller fanzines) are other authors.

Reminder that only the first book in Malazan is any good, it just goes downhill after the first one and takes a huge dump after the 7th

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hiu hi hih ieh heheh

>>9882497
Pls rate all books of malazan.

>>9882497
lol the general experience is that the first one is a slog to go through
2-4/5 are best and after that the bad stuff outweighs the good stuff

>>9882502
Harry Potter had a magic system?

>>9882520
That's what I want to know. They used a "science" if you will.
>Mandrake + sexually vaginal fluids from a girl you hate / 120°c for 5 days = love potion.
It was just mixing and matching, and memorizing hand / wand gestures.

Does anyone have the complete harry potter rationality audiobook?

>>9881789
Excerpt from the book .
The nubile tanned woman cringed as her owner brought forth an erect penis. "I am a nubile woman!" She cried indignantly. "How dare you sex me before my time! Guards!" She called. "Guards!"

Borin, her owner, placed one hand on his penis, and the other on the table and looked at her. "You will be fucked" he said.

"You do not dare to sex me!" laughed the woman, her oiled tan lines gleaming in the low light.

"You will be fucked," said Borin.

"Do not sex me!" wept the plant.

"You will be fucked," said Borin.

I watched this exchange. Truly, I believed the woman would be fucked. She was a woman, and on Gor she had no rights. Perhaps on Earth, in its permissive society, which distorts the true roles of all beings, which forces both woman and owner to go unhappy and constrained, which forbids the fulfillment of owner and woman, such might not happen. Perhaps there, it would not be fucked. But it was on Gor now, and would undoubtedly feel its true place, that of woman. It was female. It would be fucked at will. Such is the way with women.

Borin guided his penis, and muchly fucked the woman. The woman cried out. "No, Master! Do not fuck me!" The master continued to fuck the woman. "Please, Master," begged the tan nubile, "do not fuck me!" The master continued to fuck the woman. It was female. It could be fucked at will.

The supple female sobbed muchly as Borin extracted his penis. It was not pleased. Too, it was wet and sore. But this did not matter. It was female.

"You have been well fucked," said Borin.

"Yes," said the female, "I have been well fucked." Of course, it could be fucked by its master at will.

"I have fucked you well," said Borin.

"Yes, master," said the female. "You have fucked your woman well. I am female, and as such I should be fucked by my master."

The older woman next to the nubile supple tanned woman shuddered. She attempted to cover her small form with her small frail arms and small hands. "I am female," she said wonderingly. "I am of Earth, but for the first time, I feel myself truly womanlike. On Earth, I was able to control my fucking. I often scorned those who would fuck me. But they were weak, and did not see my scorn for what it was, the weak attempt of a small older woman to protect herself. Not one of the weak Earth owners would dare to fuck a female if she did not wish it. But on Gor," she shuddered, "on Gor it is different. Here, those who wish to fuck will fuck their women as they wish. But strangely, I feel myself most womanlike when I am at the mercy of a strong Gorean master, who may fuck me as he pleases."

"I will now fuck you," said Borin, the older woman's Gorean master.

The mature beauty did not resist being fucked. Perhaps she was realizing that such fucking was its master's to control. Too, perhaps she knew that this master was far superior to those of Earth, who would not fuck her if she did not wish to be fucked.

>>9882552
>you will never fuck the plant muchly

>>9882552
Somebody read this and said "I want to publish this"

>>9882552
I've read significantly better free porn. But I guess this was before the internet.

>>9882491
>Klappibro
>fellow citizens
I'm German, so please pay the debt you probably have to us and kindly stop assuming shit.
>My dog once didn't come when he did shit
Literally the definition of anecdotal evidence right there. As far as I can tell, there has been no scientific proof that dogs actually feel guilt. And why would they? By the same logic you would assume they should feel shame for drinking from the toilet, or walking around naked.
Fuck I mean, we're not even sure if dogs are self aware, let alone projecting complex human emotions and social norms onto them.
It is FAR more likely that something else upset your dog and you just then projected the "guilt" onto him once you found the "evidence".
You said you had dogs, plural. How do you even know it was this dog that did it? Imagine if Human court cases went like this: "Well we don't have any evidence that he did it... but he LOOKS guilty so lets just say he did it"

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I know it's Crichton but is this good?

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>>9882581
based Deutscherbro raking that leaf

>>9882552
this is a joke right?

>>9882502
To say nothing about the quality of the books, I liked Jack Vance's memory based magic in Dying Earth; long collections of syllables, so that wizards can only memorise a small handful at a time; and they disappear from memory again after incantation IIRC.

I don't like Dresden Files much but the idea of drawing magic power from lightening and combining it with intense personal emotions and associations is a good one to explore. The premise has verisimilitude. If magic exists, It would use similar principles of welding strong feelings and associations to atmospheric phenomenon.

>>9882543
Wingardium leviooooooooosa

>>9882552
This is hilarious, I guess I have to read Gor now. It's just too silly to be gross. Do men really have fantasies like this?

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>>9882552
Uhhhh

>>9882552
A lot of you don't realise that anon edited the excerpt. The real thing is a thinly veiled plant watering/sex analogy. Otherwise Gor would only have been sold under the table or in adult book stores.

>>9882836
Yes, and women have equally weird fantasies - look at all the women calling their partners Daddy; a mostly American phenomenon. As for myself, the height or eroticism is found below the ankle. Sex and attraction would appear very weird to an alien observer, and women are stuck in this quagmire as deeply as men.

>>9882836
Obviously some do, but I've never met one in real life.

Sweden, you still here? How's the con going for you

>>9882919
>is found below the ankle
2 weird desu.

>>9882581
>debt
>thinking I'm Greece(y)

>>9882836
>Do men really have fantasies like this?
>btw imma gril

>>9883078
>2000+17
>not being a little girl
Wew

>>9880347
>if a book is good it's good.
That's the problem. They're not good.

>>9882836

I've met a lesbian who spends all her time fantasizing about gay men having sex with each other and writing gay male shlickfic. Women have no ground to stand on here

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>>9883115
>Lesbian
>Masturbating to men
Hmm.

>>9883078
Wow, misogynistic much?

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>>9883219

>tfw will never live in the Culture

>>9880799
Allows the author to be much lazier. You can potentially do a lot with first person, but that same freedom that allows a visionary to be creative allows a hack to be extremely lazy and trite.

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>>9883526
Just get an architect to design a giant one of these. Big enough to put rooms in and live in.

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>>9883543
>implying there's anything wrong with being a pet
it might be slightly insufferable to live with all the smug liberal pricks though

what to read today lads, my options are:

Elric last book
The Wise Man's Fear
The Blade Itself
Dune last book

>>9883555
>The Wise Man's Fear
no

>>9883555
>The Wise Man's Fear
yes

>>9883551
You said you wanted to live in the culture. I gave you a culture dish. What does pets have to do with it?

>>9883609
I was talking abou Banks' Culture man

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>>9883526
Something like the Culture would be shit tier in real life.

>>9880190
Stover is going to write a sequel series called The Age of Caine at some point, but The Acts of Caine is finished

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>be white guy who wants to write SFF
>worried that publishing houses wont let my shit get published

Not even /pol/ either

>>9883713
as long as i get more caine (or even novels in that world without caine but written by stover) i'm good

>>9883722
Just say you're gay, or even better, be gay

>>9883722
>Not even /pol/ either
nah, just retarded

>>9883652
living in the culture would objectively be better than my life

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>>9883722
The trick they use nowadays is to claim to be a transracial gender fluid druid. Then you can be a white male as much as you want because as long as you say you don't 'feel' as one they have to accept that over the facts. To keep the charade up you just need to virtue signal on twitter a bit, like saying how much you hate the president and how you need white genocide now. Just look at the Google diversity squad.

>>9883768
How so? There's a clear bias against both whites and men from the publishing business, it's not as if it is a secret or anything. Then again that's true for much of society these days. Some are more equal than others.

>>9883768
sweetie..

>>9883811
I don't see moot there.

>>9883819
there is no "clear bias"

>>9883819
Have u tried to get published and failed?

Sure u aren't just a shitter?

Lads I just happened to get the fourth book of the Homecoming saga by Orson Scott Card, but I haven't read the previous ones, is it ok to read it despite not having read the other ones?

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Do you guys have any suggestions for some good scifi/fantasy reads on the internet? I don't need anything mind-blowing, just entertaining.
Pic unrelated.

>>9883652
Luckily they're free to kill themselves, go into cryo-sleep, or leave the culture entirely.

>>9883722
I'm a white hispanic, that count's as something, right?

>>9884071
you gotta have an ethnic name
and if you don't then just use a penname
alejandro hernandez y gonzales or something

>>9884111
and also, get a tan before shooting the photo for the back cover, maybe let a small mustache grow too
you gotta cover all your bases
a sombrero would be too blatant so don't push it

do you guys buy the sf masterworks editions or it triggers your autism to have a matching set of books?

>>9884124
Wouldnt insisting on matching covers be the autistic thing?

>>9884071
Then you're only white when it comes to reporting crime. For all other intents and purposes SJWs will bend over backwards for you, not quite as much as for blacks but quite a lot (they're retarded when it comes to race, most of them are probably too dumb to realise you're of European descent and that Portugal and Spain were major colonial powers).

With that said if you say the wrong ting you're white as snow and literally Hitler all of a sudden. Still, unlike anglos and germanics you don't have to cut off your dick to appease them.

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>>9883986
https://365tomorrows.com/ ?

>>9883861
I used to have a handy infographic thing just for posts like this but I've lost it. Most big publishers do have discriminatory policies and they do give preferential treatment to """minorities""" (such as women or groids lol). That's true for not only a ton of companies but also a lot of institutions. They want to hire people who aren't white men more than anything else in professions where there are few of them due to SJW cultism. This means that a negro with mediocre grades always get picked before a white student with great grades when they apply. Same goes for writers. Now that doesn't mean they won't publish white writers, they'd just prefer not to.

>>9884175
>a handy infographic thing
>groids
thank you for playing

go to any publisher's site and go through their catalog
be honest with yourself and say clearly that the number of female and nonwhite writers you want to see isn't some nebulous "less" but zero

Opinions aside this isn't /publishing help/, take it elsewhere in /lit/

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>>9883986
Clark Ashton Smiths short stories are public domain and it looks like most of them are on Eldritchdark.com. I recommend The Empire Of Necromancers for a morbid morality tale in a dying earth setting; The Abominations Of Yondo for something grimly exotic; and The Tale Of Satampra Zeiros for a rollicking weird tale of thieves in an antediluvian setting.

>>9879356
Try it. On one hand the prose is hilariously rudimentary. The whole novel is like 90% expositionary dialogs. On the other, I might not be the biggest sf reader and it has been done better but I found the core concept small events influencing the history of the empire pretty damn cool and well realised.

>>9884199

I want to see zero writers published who are shit and were hired for reasons other than skill, talent, and creativity. It's not my fault that most people who fit that description are women/nonwhite. I was just in a thread on here with a self-described "Persian" author who couldn't get published because he wasn't oppressed enough

>>9884199
>but zero
I want to know which publisher you're looking at, sounds nice.

>>9884359
that's bullshit and we both know it since your definition of someone hired for reasons other than talent is woman/nonwhite

>>9884366
learning to read is an endeavour worth taking, I suggest starting with simple texts and moving on to complex ones when you really master the basics

>>9884359

Related to this, as an ebbil muhsoggyknist who can only think of two tolerable living female authors off the top of his head (Anne Rice and S.D. Perry; not particularly good, but tolerable), whom would /sffg/ recommend I read to show me the error of my ways and prove that there really are good female authors?

>>9884379
>that's bullshit and we both know it since your definition of someone hired for reasons other than talent is woman/nonwhite

Prove me wrong. I promise not to drop your suggestions in less than ten pages

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>>9884199
>be honest with yourself and say clearly that the number of female and nonwhite writers you want to see isn't some nebulous "less" but zero
Not at all, I think going after anything other than merit is insulting to those who actually are good writers. Now when I see something written by a woman or a non-white I always have to ask myself if they are garbage writers who got published because of their identity or if they actually are worth a damn. Most publishing houses are very openly pushing for more non-white authors and when the talent pool they have to pick from is mostly white then how could it results in anything else than mediocrity?

Marxist are really dumb if they are trying to achieve what they say they do.

>>9881502
>Books like this have already been written and are favorites in speculative fiction.

So you're saying the policy has absolutely nothing to do with which settings are "new" and which are "tired" and is entirely about being anti-European? Good to know

>You're just dumb.

Stunning argument

>>9884379
>learning to read is an endeavour worth taking, I suggest starting with simple texts and moving on to complex ones when you really master the basics
A part of the quote accidentally disappeared, no need to be rude. If there is a publisher with so few womanmeme and diversity hires that if you reduced them even a little there would be none left I'd like to know about it.

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>>9884379
>It's not my fault that most people who fit that description are women/nonwhite.
>most
>your definition of someone hired for reasons other than talent is woman/nonwhite
>learning to read is an endeavour worth taking

>>9884393
Cherryh (I'd say read Cuckoo's Egg first, it's not part of a series and I'd say it has a lot of her themes and writing style in it so if you really don't like it best stop there), Carol Berg (IMO begin with the Valen series - it's 2 books), Catherynne Valente, Elizabeth Moon's SF (Vatta & Serrano, nothing special), Frances Hardinge (YA, but good), JV Jones (the series is in limbo tho), Lois McMaster Bujold (I like the Chalion series more than the Vorkosigan one), Martha Wells (Fall of Ile-rien), Megan whalen turner, Melissa Scott's Point series (trigger warning: gay male MC), NK Jemisin (skip 100k kingdoms series, start with Obelisk Gate, if you like it then read Dreamblood duology as well), Ada Palmer (Terra Ignota), Yoon Ha Lee (trans I think, so you get even more brownie points for reading)

>>9884431
>thomas sowell quote
>marxists
you're really hitting all the pol greatest hits aren't you

>>9884471

tbch I'm gonna go ahead and drop the YA one, may read the gay MC just for laughs.

Although you reminded me that I also liked K.A. Applegate when I was a teen, even if the generic normie moralizing was ham-fisted.

>>9884145
Am I unable to read this website correctly, or are all of the "stories" only like 2 minute reads?

>>9884444
>If there is a publisher with so few womanmeme and diversity hires that if you reduced them even a little there would be none left I'd like to know about it.
Well that's not what I said (or implied) isn't it. I actually dunno where you're getting this from. That's why I replied with learn2read. My point was that if you go to any SF/F publisher's catalog you'll see a lot of white men. You're making it sound as if there's a pogrom going on which is bullshit.

>>9884471
>responding to a /pol/fag
Why are you so much of a fucking newfag? Report their posts and do not engage their bait. The retarded shits already got their last Hugo bait thread removed so they have moved to shit up this thread.

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>>9884477
I wouldn't know, I've only visited the board about two times. I hope that wasn't an attempt at an argument against my point, is associating something with /pol/ here supposed to be good or discrediting?

>>9884513
t. Reddit Commissar

>>9884484
>tbch I'm gonna go ahead and drop the YA one, may read the gay MC just for laughs.
The YA one was surprisingly good to me, and I don't read YA. I didn't know whether to include it or not but in the end did.
Was also leery of reading the gay MC one cause I've seen that kind of stuff handled too preachy but it was more like "yeah he's gay and other than that it's a fantasy mystery novel". His orientation is less of a deal than in Morgan's Land Fit for Heroes series for instance.

>>9884527
See what I mean?

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>>9884518
>I wouldn't know, I've only visited the board about two times.
why the fuck did they bring back captcha i'm sick to death of clicking on cars and fucking road signs anymore fuck offffffffff

>>9884513
>>9884536
Fair enough.

>>9884518

all forbidden thoughts are /pol/, and can, therefore, safely be dismissed out of hand. only that which is not /pol/ can ever contain meaning or relevance. that which is /pol/ is forbidden. you do not define /pol/, only I can do that, because I say it is forbidden. thank you

>>9884528

desu the Scott book seems competent, if un-noteworthy, probably due to being from the 90s. it's below my (relatively high, for a genre fiction reader) standards, but not laughably bad. Better written than prince of thorns. I'll probably keep going beyond page 10.

Which would you rate number one out of your suggestions

>>9884556
I really don't know, try Cherryh.

>prince of thorns
LOL, that's a low bar. His liar series is better than the thorns one (couldn't get through the first book) but still just OK.

>>9884588
I'd be more inclined to send anon straight to Downbelow Station, but maybe that's just because Cuckoo's Egg isn't one of my favorites.

>>9884611
Yeah, I like Cuckoo more than Downbelow. Foreigner was my favorite before it started dragging on and on and on but didn't want to give him a first book in a 14 or 15 book series.

>>9882552
>"Do not sex me!" wept the plant.
Pure kino

>>9884652
I can't believe that it was literally a fanfiction.

>>9882497
Err, not really. Deadhouse Gates is objectively better than GotM and genuinely a great example of epic fantasy.

>>9881163
Sanderson does deliberately make his novels as unGRRM-like as possible. He doesn't seem to ever mention him either, I think he is butthurt that his Cosmere universe is not going to be as succesful as ASOIAF.

>>9884486
Yes, daily flash science fiction. Twelve years of it by the looks of it.
A fun one:
https://365tomorrows.com/2010/05/06/talk-to-me/

>>9884124
I bought the SF Masterworks version of Dangerous Visions a few years ago and the cover peeled off halfway before I was through reading it.

>>9883115
BL/Yaoi/Slash is an extremely common preference for girls. Anime/manga in particular panders to girls by including more cute boys, sometimes to the exclusion of all other characters (Yuri on Ice, for example, was 99% male).

You just don't see it as much in western things.

>>9884124
Only buy used desu

How do we feel about the Witcher netflix show?

How about Wheel of Time?

Tbh I'm super nervous about WoT. Perfect show to butcher with propaganda.

>>9879517
Dune was released in '65 dude, not the '80s.

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Is there a chart with more obscure fantasy? Like stuff you don't find on the best seller list or at the top of anything but which are enjoyable and fun? Stuff that has fallen by the wayside.

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>>9884799
Mine is a tad randumb. No accounting for taste though, cause I'll read anything.

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>>9884776

>>9884776

Will it have spanking?

>>9884878
please

>>9884857
this is perfect

>>9884799
There is an awful lot because of the pulp boom, then the post-Tolkein paperback boom. I think the emblematic fantasy writer of this period is Lin Carter - a prolific hack, now completely out of print. But for an actually good writer who will send you to the second hand stores and decrepit paperbacks there is Jack Vance. Is Tanith Lee good?

An Echo Of Things To Come and The Stone Sky ARC leak never

>>9885167
Just a couple more days brother. Schaffa WILL taste Nassun cunny.

>>9884931
I've only read Tales from the Flat Earth, but it was good. Worth looking into.

>>9884931
Tanith Lee is almost like an alt. Anne Rice.

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I'm really annoyed that there isn't a big hardcover omnibus series for Gene Wolfe's Solar Cycle. I've only got it in several softcover that clutter my place up and will probably fall apart after a read or two. Why doesn't the walrus man have as good printings as Tolkien? I want big expensive, study and acid free books that I can put in my bookshelf. And not only is the quality what you can expect from paperbacks but they also lack uniformity and look like shit stacked up against each other.

That's an common issue for me in general though, it's a pain in the ass to find hardcover fantasy books. But in the case of Gene Wolfe I'd have been willing to pay out the ass for a good set.

>>9884776
>How do we feel about the Witcher netflix show?
Probably will be crap.

>How about Wheel of Time?
Almost certain to be crap.

The Wizard Knight is the only work of Wolfe's I've read. How does it compare to his other top stuff?

Thinking of blindly jumping into The Broken Earth by N. K. Jemisin after it won Hugo again. Thoughts?

>>9885791
pretty good. I think the narration of the story is well done and it had enough interesting events and twists to keep me going through book two. also book three is released on tuesday so that's a bonus.

>>9885941
it's not really sjw is it?

>>9885948
Anon, it won a Hugo.

>>9885956
still worth it?

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>>9885791
I liked it a lot.

>>9885948
It's basically a pretty cliched oppressed earth magicians thing. However, where it is set apart is in the worldbuilding and plot. The worldbuilding is very good and I enjoyed the characterisations of the main characters and I feel a lot of sympathy for the plight of the villains too.

There's one gay character in the first book who does stuff in the latter 1/3 of the book. By the second book, I don't think it's mentioned again and I think NK Jemisin does - whether she realises it or not - put a lot of lolicon subtext into the second book. The subtext probably skated over everyone else's head, but it's still surprising that it got past the radar.

I think it's definitely worth it, but if you want hard scifi with philosophical meanderings you are better off with authors like Peter Watts and Ada Palmer.

Broken Earth is soft scifi/fantasy and the prose level is basically midway in between Brandon Sanderson's and GGK's, more leaning towards Sanderson's rather skinny prose although BE is definitely more descriptive. I did enjoy the prose although it was quite economical. It's still probably one of the most interesting books written this year, although it probably can't hold a candle, say, to Vance or PKD or GGK or other authors like that.

It's definitely a series that I wouldn't want to skip before I died. Now, there is still plenty of time to completely shit the bed with the third book, but Obelisk maintained the quality in the first book so I definitely wouldn't want to miss it and I am looking forward to the third book and will definitely be fervently mashing the f5 key on mobilism (an exaggeration because I am going to write a regex notification filter and Jemisin is on my autodownloader already) on the day it's released.

Watts
Cixin

Can somebody give me a third modern author to complete my holy trinity of contemporary subversions of the alien invasion genre?

>>9878964
Classics, yes. Philosophy, no. I actually really dislike the concept of reading philosophy, although it might just be some weird carryover from my stupid teenage opinions phase. I dislike non-fiction in general, unless it's history.

New thread?

>>9881420
>affected cane
yes, because it's so easy to see knee and hip problems. do you have x-ray vision you fuckhead?

>>9886024
>philosophy
>non-fiction
pick one

>>9881658
Now tell me why Robin Hobb is bad

>>9886110
Misery porn.

>>9885991
thanks

>>9886015
Wright (Count to a Trillion)

>>9885991
>I think NK Jemisin does - whether she realises it or not - put a lot of lolicon subtext into the second book
wat

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>>9886278
In Broken Kingdoms she basically had /ss/ bait and Broken Earth is like the reverse. I am getting some pretty strong Darker than Black vibes especially Hei and Yin from Schaffa and Nassun minus the Roadside Picnic setting.

1) Pic related seems pretty coincidental in relation to the Sapphire
2) Nassun looks like she is about to go Izanami on other orogenes (as when the loli Yin made all the contractors kill themselves)
3) The Father Earth thing reminds me of the observation spectres and furthermore Schaffa is constantly smiling as opposed to the dolls which never smile and are completely emotionless, all of which occurred as a result of some unknown change (in one case it is the moon, in the other case it is the gates)

NKJ liked DTB which is why I think that at least part of the setting was lifted. I'm getting a lot of vibes.

>>9879356
It depends on what you mean by worth reading. It's historically important and you might need it as a reference point if you're interested in space opera.

As a work on its own though, I read it and thought it was genuinely appalling. And I like a lot of "bad" genre fiction. I can give specifics if you want, but that's the verdict.

>>9886347
lol
watch less anime, it rots the brain

>>9886110
She's basically a western fujoshit.

>>9886367
Then give me a new book, I am currently reading Vance's The Demon Princes and PKD's The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.

>>9886368
>read a modern book
>female lead
>female lead
>female lead
>female love interest
>female love interest
>female love interest
>that one book where every single character is female
>implying there are any books for fujoshi left
Fake news.

>>9886110
Womanmeme, seriously, she writes homosexual erotica.

what does /lit/ thinks about the Stormlight Archives ?

>>9886661
It's anime. If you like Naruto it's for you.

>>9886664
what about the wheel of time ?

>>9886674
both are mid tier quality

>>9886680
what series would you suggest that is quite long and worth reading ?

>>9886686
Second Apocalypse.

>>9886691
thanks i will check it .

>>9886686
Malazan.

I'm on the first book and it's fun so far.

>>9886722
>Malazan
how does it stuck up to the other major fantasy novels ?

>>9886731
Depends on how large your fetish for fat women is.

>>9886750
smaller than the average Mexican's height

>>9886769
Doubt you'll like it then.

>>9886784
is there any series that focuses more on a grand story than the story of a particular character (i am really new to fantasy)?

>>9886791
Ironically, Malazan. At least until the last few books.

>>9886791
Second Apocalypse frequently switches to a third person omniscient perspective covering the course of wars like a historical text.

>>9886813
Until now i've only read literary fiction mainly the books that /lit/ praises with the exception of "A song of Ice and Fire " will i like the "Second apocalypse"?

>>9886832
It's a lot more /lit/ than other fantasy. Take that as you will.

>>9883986
>mystery
>face spines inwards so you don't know what you're getting
More funny than it was supposed to be

>>9886731
Its large in scale not unlike GoT.

Character and Deities motivations are pretty out in the open. The fantasy elements feel a bit disjointed though. Sort of just mashed together, no real sense of culture, like these countries don't really exist. Almost like it was a rogue like world map with random fantasy tropes abound.

I don't like the giant dragon fly mounts for one, they just seem like rule of cool. And their environment doest reflect their size.

>>9886926
>>9886926
>>9886926
New thread awaits when you filled up this one.

>>9886278
>>9886347
He's not wrong about the loli thing. The main villain basically takes the main character's pre-pubescent daughter under his wing, and spends so much time thinking about how she's like this other little girl he remembers fondly (the main character as a child), and other such things.

There's one scene where she's sitting in his lap using her magical senses to see his pain and offers to use her powers to cure him, and he tells her not to because he needs to protect her etc. etc, all but saying "I love you".

>>9886015
You know Cixin is his "first name", right?

>>9886998
Tbh the English covers switching it automatically don't help

>>9886902
>Character and Deities motivations are pretty out in the open
This is just blatantly false. You have no clue what Shadowthrone is up to for like 90% of the series and basically anyone whose perspective you don't get is completely shrouded in mystery.

>>9884799
>fantasy that I rarely if ever see mentioned here
The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
Vurt by Jeff Noon
Zod Wallop by William Browning Spencer
The Last Unicorn
Last Call - Tim Powers
The Jungle Book - Kipling
Thomas the Rhymer - Ellen Kushner

>>9888046
Does anyone have the "Knife of many hands" by Bakker? Someone shared it a while ago...