/sffg/ - Science Fiction and Fantasy General

first for Meina Gladstone

posted at very end of last thread so want to repost for an answer.

I'm looking for a specific genre of historical fantasy where its in feudal Japan but takes place where the mythology of the time actually exists. Demons and such. Are there any novels like that?

What do you guys think of the lost fleet series? Are they good past the first book?
Is there anything similar to it? Sci-fi aimed at military culture and space fleets with battles, etc?

First for Stormlight Archive
who /lighteye/ here?

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why have these threads been getting worse and worse recently?

I ordered Old Man's War from my local library, am I in for disappointment comrades?

>>8449980
>>8450008

Changes in society affects both scientific academia and science literature as well, in the 60's to 70's Astronomy and Space Exploration were REALLY popular, schools were given grant money to add Planetariums and teach astrophysics, now society's more focused on electrical engineering and STEM


So I feel as if Sci fi's falling interest is due to genuinely and writers and mainstream society not being as interested

>>8450345
Starship Troopers is a quick read so I'd say go for it. It's a interesting book that depicts a soldier going through bootcamp and then war. Don't go into it expecting a bunch of battles and combat, it's far more of a political treatise about why people serve and (IMO) why Italian fascism was/is appealing.

>>8450824
The second series deals more with the characters traveling to uncharted space to try and figure out why some aliens are messing with humans, and also a attempt to start a civil war in the Alliance after the war ended.

The spinoff series, Lost Stars, is about a couple Syndic commanders trying to set up their own federation of independent worlds. It feels more in the spirit of the original series because they're operating with very limited resources in hostile space.

For other stuff I'd suggest:
The Dread Empire's Fall series by Walter John Williams.
Vatta's War by Elizabeth Moon.
The first 8 or so Honor Harrington books, the series takes a notable dive in quality after that point.
The Lt. Leary/RCN series by David Drake.
The Spiral Wars series by Joel Shepherd.

Rec me some fantasy with prominent female characters but with little to no romance (none is preferred)

>>8450941
Orphans of Chaos

>>8450854
>invites reddit
>complains about threads becoming shit

>>8450854
Hugos woke up the shitposters

>>8450941
Traitor Baru, almost all of Pratchett's girl books

Any got any recommendations for nautical/pirate fantasy.

I've read Inda (sea sections are great), the Gentleman Bastards book with pirates (worst part of the entire series), Narnia obvs and Treasure Island if we can count that.

Not sure where to go next. I know Liveship Traders is obviously somewhat about boats but I didn't like Hobb's Fitz books much so I'm not sure on that.

Any suggestions?

>>8451000
I haven't read it but Fellengrey by Scott Thomas is described as nautical fantasy. He is a great writer mixing in his fantasy a healthy dose of folk magic and horror given that he is primarily a horror writer.

Also a little more in the horror vein there's William Hope Hodgson's "The Boats of the Glen Carrig".

Anyone else order from Thriftbooks? For the third time, they've sent me the wrong books and I'd like an alternative if one exists. The first two times I got romance books and poetry books, but at least this time I got the Dark Tower VII and The Name of the Wind, which I might at least read someday.

>>8450979
Explain?
I google "4chan science fiction reddit" nothing comes up.

>>8450854
I think it's just a sign of the times.... Just look at the average comment length in the last thread and compare it to something posted a few years ago.

I get it, it is possible to make a point in few words. Maybe you ask a question, maybe answer one...however when most of the comments in the general are short, there's a problem.

I think the best illustration of this decline is the reception of The Great Ordeal by R scott bakker. This is the type of book old /lit/ would have loved. There's just so much to talk about...and I admit, for a few generals there where some ideas trown around...however a huge amount was shitposting and low effot "omg his prose is bad" type of stuff...

Go to google and type "asoiaf forums literature" and find the bakker general, or go to the "second apocalypse " forums...judge the difference in content between those places and this one...absolutely pathetic.

This is only one example, but it happens with most series. Why should I make an effort and post something here if only shitposters respond? Why choose /lit/ over any other website ? For this light type of conversation there's always reddit. I can visit once a week and sort by "top", there's no noticeable difference in quality between the two websites.

So that's why I stopped contributing. I visit a few times and find 2-3 posts worth reading in each general...however if I want to actually discuss something, there are better places.

>>8451000
Try Tales of the Black Raven by Seth Skorkowsky(mostly book 2 has pirating iirc)
Retribution falls by jay ketty(found it shitty, other anons liked it though)

>FIST FUSION
>Around the world, people are punching things. This is nothing unusual. But one day, people's fists begin fusing with the things they've punched, giving their fists related properties. A plastic surgery disaster breaks her mirror, and can now reflect sunlight. A baker kneads his dough, and can now make infinite breads. In all the excitement at the discovery of these Fist Fusers, a new brand of boxing called Fusion Boxing has emerged, pitting the superpowered pugilists against one another for fame and fortune.
would you read y/n

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>>8451000

I don't have a positive suggestion but I can suggest you avoid "Pirate Latitudes" by Michael Crichton even if you are in a very yarr mood. The story is very predictable and the detail is light. To be fair, it was published posthumously.

>>8451377
>omg his prose is bad
“Do not mistake me, Inrithi. In this much Conphas is right. You are all staggering drunks to me. Boys who would play at war when you should kennel with your mothers. You know nothing of war. War is dark. Black as pitch. It is not a God. It does not laugh or weep. It rewards neither skill not daring. It is not a trial of souls, nor the measure of wills. Even less is it a tool, a means to some womanish end. It is merely the place where the iron bones of the earth meet the hollow bones of men and break them.

You have offered me war, and I have accepted. Nothing more. I will not regret your losses. I will not bow my head before your funeral pyres. I will not rejoice at your triumphs. But I have taken the wager. I will suffer with you. I will put Fanim to the sword, and drive their wives and children to the slaughter. And when I sleep, I will dream of their lamentations and be glad of heart.”
Sheltered liberal canadian boys writing on war is a fucking joke

>>8451607
Crichton absolutely went to shit like halfway through his career, shame desu

>>8451609
>not liking Cnaiur

Fuck right off

>>8451090
>>8451400
thanks dudes

>>8451592
He would make infinite raw dough, not bread you idiot/cause things to change under high temperatures.

>>8451685
There's this cool thing called metonymy, you should check it out!

I'm confused by Miles Cameron

His covers look like kids books, his writing's some weird attempt at being middle ages European from someone who has clearly never spoke anything like that and there's needless attempts at edge

Who is he supposed to appeal to?

>>8451609
Explain to my why this is shit. And I mean literally explain...open your heart and in your infinite kindness write at least 5 sentences making your point...
>>8451655
+1

>>8450872
That's a real shame, you seem to have some concrete thoughts on the subject. What do you think could cause a bit sci-fo resurgence, akin the astronomy in schools you references?

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>>8451609
>>8451655
>>8451774

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>>8450988
Speaking of which, has anyone aside from chartfag and myself actually read Jemisin's non-Fifth Season/Obelisk Gate books? Broken Kingdoms is my favorite of hers, but Killing Moon is the best standalone.

>>8451995
I read the first two Inheritance books but didn't stick with the third.

Mix of not liking the perspective and realising that they're all pretty much romances.

She's a fantastic prose writer but I'm not yet sold on her plots and worlds.
The city in Inheritance is really interesting but I didn't find the world as a whole convincing

>>8451995
This is making me want to read Jemisin, good job whoever made this.

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>>8451758
Not me

A while back you guys memed me into reading The Postman, which is trash.

How do I trust you again?

>>8452123
Read A Handmaid's Tale.

>>8451377
Go to bed already bakker. Your books are bad.

>>8452132
*The Handmaid's Tale

>>8451774
He isn't worth it

>>8450854
These threads were never good, and I've been here since the very beginning

take off the rose-tinted glasses

>>8452121
still don't know what this means

Flatland is the best SciFi novel. Prove me right.

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Can someone recommend me a scifi book about a generation ship? Just finished this and i liked the concept

http://www.iep.utm.edu/daoism/
The Dao is the way

>>8452158
Orphans of the Sky

>>8451995
I didn't really dig the dream shit in the books. Read it years ago can't remember why i dislike it, maybe it's in my goodreads review.

How was book 2 say it released recently, it was a not-Egypt setting in book one right? Some water problem? Read too many interesting books between book 1 and now.

>expecting star wars
Is it because of some in the body like jedi have(this case cerebellum and cessing)?

You think the horny young stud is gonna get some milf pussy next book while the statue watches?

>>8452177
>Orphans of the Sky
cheers mate, ill check it out

>>8452158
About 1/3 of Chasm City. Book is set in a bigger fictional universe, but it's probably one of the best standalone sci-fi novels I've ever read. It's really good all around. Tight, focused, story. Interesting characters. Nice pacing. Decent prose.

>>8452158
Here's a list of books that feature generation ships:

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/generation-ship

>>8452143
I was promised GRI in this book, and it turned out to be complete shit.

It's a not crusades against monsters, in a not England... and they praise god and magic in the same breath. Sun magic /heat is from God, nature/natural is from the devil, but I'm sure it will be revealed as all the same in the end (not that I'm reading to find out).

The captain had access to prime milf pussy that pulsated anytime he behaved proper in front of her. I'm sure he could have been groin deep.. but he didn't.. even though he just came off anotber campaign and he didn't get no pussy in ages.

The book itself was an utter slog to get through, two anons are known to have tried and dropped it. They don't have my autism fueled ocd to complete a task started.
I had to force myself, book took longer than usual for something of that length, because I always found other things to do instead of reading.

I did like the wyrm though, they made me actually enjoy dragons.

Read at your own peril, and if chart anon says something is shit, don't try to prove him wrong... then drop the book quarter way through.

>>8452123
>you guys
>sffg is a collective hivemind
When suggested something, go and do research on it. It's your own fault.

When people ask for book like 'x' we give them the closest to 'x' that we read. It's up to you to see if it's what you like.

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Finally finished the Red Rising trilogy. I loved it but why am I so pissed off?

>>8452266
Because by the time they get to Valhalla you know exactly what's going to happen more or less

So the resolution is unsatisfying

>>8451995
SHINY DID NOTHING WRONG

>>8450854
Lack of fresh memes.
Gri, hating on chart anon, dinosaurs and anti-dinosaurs, obsessing over bakker all lent a cinder of purpose in our lives. But now that these things have lost their appeal, we are strutting around like a chicken with it's head twisted off.

We need new memes, we need new books to discuss, we have to breathe life back into our little general. We can't stagnate like outer lit and only discuss 3 books.

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>>8452158
Read Aurora, by Kim Stanley Robinson.

I'm not a huge fan of his -- I liked his Mars series just okay, and I'm currently reading 40 Signs of Rain, which might be the worst book I've ever read. But Aurora hit me like a ton of bricks.

>>8452266
Cause you know Lysander's gonna kill everyone as soon as he's able


Screenshot this, if Pierce Brown does it I'm sueing

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>>8452123

>reading The Postman
It's harrowing to know that a Kevin Costner movie was better than the book.

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I'm trying to write a low fantasy story, and one of the characters I have planned is an escaped harem girl who crossed paths with and joined an outlaw group lead by a Joan of Arc meets Robin Hood type character. My idea behind her is to have sort of a reverse damsel in distress, she starts out naive and helpless, is taken on by our "heroes", and through her time with this band of outlaws grows more world weary and develops useful skills.

I want her background as a former sex slave to be relevant, but handled maturely. This is meant to be low fantasy but not GRRM-style excessive cocks, cunts, shitting and gore. I kind of want it to feel more pulpy, with the low fantasy setting being there mostly just to ground the world and story in logic. I think to Griffith from Berserk when I think of inspiration, just with less prodigy at swordfighting and evil betrayal.

I'm kind of stuck trying to figure out how to handle a former sex slave character. Any ideas on how I can handle something like that without seeming fetishistic or exploitative, but also relevant to her character? I don't want her becoming some femme fatale sexy character, her past is something she more or less keeps quiet about and she doesn't use her "experience" with sex to charm men or anything like that.

Oh, and before anyone says I'm writing some SJW shit I just want to say that it's not like that. I think female characters and leads are interesting and often fun, but too rarely done will in favour of Hunger Games perfect self-insert shit.

Anyway, just some thoughts and tips would be cool. Like if you were writing or reading about a character like this how would you want it handled?

>>8452430

I'm pretty sure someone who has been raped all their life would be jumpy, nervous around men. Certainly wouldn't want to fall into bed with them unless they really had to.

Cast the word "SJW" out of your head - you're not doing anything wrong by wanting to make female characters stand out as real people and not constellations/playthings of male ones.

Where are the little girl protagonists?

>>8452457
In YA

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can someone post a link to "Story of your life"?
Can't find a PDF online.

>>8452430
>relevant to her character
How does she act? Former slavery could change a person entirely or make them permanently depressed. Showing how she behaves in the present will indicate how she dealt with the past. She might be open to having sex in the present, she might not want anything to do with it. She may develop a soft spot for others who are still slaves, or she may coldly brush them off and look down on them from a "well I got out, why haven't you done the same?" sort of view. She may have overcome the past entirely, and become a well rounded, compassionate individual. According to your story idea, her view on it may also be changed by travelling companions. Have you decided what sort of outlaws she's travelling with? How criminal are they?

Been reading a lot of fantasy lately and it seems that the more detailed and specific magic is the weaker the book is as a whole.
Would people say this is an actual trend or just what I've read influencing my view?

>>8452460
http://ebook.bike/books/127681

>>8452430
>>8452462
This sounds interesting to me. You could perhaps add a revenge story in there too.

>>8452463
I kinda agree. Lack of detail can be frustrating sometimes, like Raymond E. Feist's books for example, but it never really bothered me in Earthsea. It depends on the kind of story. I think Robert Jordan and Trudi Canavan both strike a good middle point of having enough detail to establish clear, logical rules without being overly elaborate. Sanderson often just goes too far a lot of the time. I think a good general rule is too little detail isn't necessarily bad, but too much is never good.

>>8452463

ty annon

>>8452240
I listened to it on my commute, that's the proper medium for it. I don't think I would have finished it had I sat and read it. I've listened to the others as well. Again, I wouldn't have actually read any of them, but they're pretty decent when you're exercising, playing video games, sitting in traffic, etc.

>>8452307
>Aurora hit me like a ton of bricks.
Well, glad to see someone else felt this way. I actually liked the Mars trilogy quite a lot, although I understand why some didn't.

I don't think anyone really reads those "other" KSR books. Just Mars, The Years of Rice and Salt, Aurora, and maybe 2312.

>>8452430

>escaped harem girl
> she doesn't use her "experience" with sex

Wouldn't a harem girl lack experience, relative to other sex workers? After all, a harem implies a limited supply of partners and I doubt sultans bothered overawing their harems with prodigious feats of foreplay.

Under this premise, it's going to be hard to see why a band of outlaws would keep her around except for sex. I could more easily see a world-wise prostitute, like Ros from Game of Thrones, join up with a band.

>>8452456

>I'm pretty sure someone who has been raped all their life would be jumpy, nervous around men.

I would think prostitutes are generally wary of men but learn to handle the situation, within limits of experience.

>>8452463

>Been reading a lot of fantasy lately and it seems that the more detailed and specific magic is the weaker the book is as a whole.

I like Vancian magic where the caster is limited to a certain number of spells memorized yet the spells are very specific. I guess that would be an exception to your observation, assuming you liked Jack Vance's fantasy.

What's the ideal number of characters for a main party?

>>8452705
3

>>8452430
http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/gq-sex-and-relationships-anka-radakovich-on-sex-in-prince-jefris-harems

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/29/inside-gaddafi-s-harem-the-story-of-a-girl-s-abduction.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-394769/I-wife-No2-Kings-Harem.html

https://www.quora.com/What-was-life-generally-like-for-the-women-in-an-Ottoman-Sultans-harem

>>8452705
If each is PoV no more than 3

If not you can got to 5

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Anyone here read Theodore Sturgeon? Been wondering how good his stories are

>>8452705

30 is good

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How was the series "The Remnants" by K.A. Applegate?

Can anyone tell me what this sci fi book is even though i only have a vague description? I think its a spaceship filled with Humans who discover a planet occupied by Avian aliens (it may be reversed) and both sides have to deal with their own politics and plotting and first contact. Someone recommended it to me months ago but i forgot the name but it sounded cool

I just finished WoT and now I need something else stupidly long but still enjoyable to fill my time, any suggestions?

>>8453131

Malazan

>>8453150
Thank you.

>>8450855
>I ordered Old Man's War from my local library, am I in for disappointment comrades?
Don't have super high expectations because it's kind of a casual story. Some really great ideas but it doesn't really go anywhere and doesn't have an epic overarching structure.

It's just kind of a casual window into the world of a super-advanced scifi military I guess.

Plenty of message in there but it's a quick and easy read. Almost like eating sugar.

>>8450883
>Don't go into it expecting a bunch of battles and combat, it's far more of a political treatise about why people serve and (IMO) why Italian fascism was/is appealing
All Heinlein ever. Not that I don't enjoy his stories but yeah, the dude was a fascist.

And fucking perverted. So not all bad.

>>8452720
Thanks, I'll read up.

>>8452653
>Wouldn't a harem girl lack experience, relative to other sex workers?
Sure, I was speaking generally. Like I said she wouldn't be using sex as a tool anyways, that's not her character.
>Under this premise, it's going to be hard to see why a band of outlaws would keep her around except for sex.
They're a band of do-gooders lead by a female who has taken the lost harem girl under her wing. I'm not saying the other members of the band don't have eyes for her, but they respect their leader enough to not try anything.

>>8452485
From what I've sort of planned out so far her lord is already dead, either killed in a mutiny by his soldiers or killed in an attack by raiders. By this world and era's standards her life wasn't bad, and she bore him no ill will. But for a couple of reasons she was in grave danger after he was slain and needed to escape.

>>8452456
>>8452462
Behavior wise I don't want her to be like a rape victim. She didn't live a bad life, she pleased her lord and he pampered her in return. Her and all the other harem members were taken at a young age and never knew anything else.

Her lifestyle was a vapid one though, she lay around, looked pretty, and did what she was told. So when she becomes a member of a group of so-called outlaws that put themselves on the line to help the weak out of a sense of duty, it's something she has struggles understanding.

The state and tone of the world is something I'm still playing with, but the general premise is that it's set in an empire on the verge of a collapse. Spread too thin, and now being ravaged a plague that is causing the empire's wealth to flee north in fear of it. Taking advantage of this, a Mongol-like tribe of raiders are biting at the military's heels. Sacking towns and castles, pillaging and taking. The outlaws that most of the story is seen through are largely military deserters and common folk with nowhere to go, people who weren't content with just sitting idly as the people of the empire are abandoned and left to die by plague or raider.

That said I'm trying to change the setting in a way that lets me give them a more Robin Hood and the Merry Men. I'm trying to make things less dire without changing the idea too much because I do like it. I don't want it to be like some episodic version of the Seven Samurai where they defend one village then head to the next.

Just trying to get the setting, the characters, and their motives set in a way that I like. An escaped harem girl turning into a more world weary adventurer is something I've wanted to explore for a while, there's other details about her that I'm not sure how people here would react to so I'm kind of reluctant to spill every bean but it's a kind of character I want to try and I want to try and I guess the big thing is I want to do it without seeming fetishistic or smutty.

>>8452158
Leviathan Wakes, 1st of The Expanse.
That has a generation ship that itself goes through several generations in the books.

Well, sort of.

>>8453243
>writes multiple books about libritarianism and free love, including one where the multicultural society on the moon nukes the evil racist earthers and is recognized as a independent state by communist China
>this one book about military service proves he's a fascist

I bet you think The Prince is serious and not a satire that Machiavelli wrote because the Medicis broke his arms.

>>8452123
>>8452333
The Postman is funny in retrospect once you learn that the author is a huge beta male.

The entire message of the book is basically
>RRRRREEEEE! FUCKING CHADS CAUSED THE APOCALYPSE!

Also fun is the part where the author advocates infanticide if the boy is even slightly masculine.

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>>8453343
>I bet you think The Prince is serious and not a satire that Machiavelli wrote because the Medicis broke his arms.
>tfw I got rused for 5 years

>>8452211
100% this.
>>8452460
I'd suggest looking up his more recent stuff as well.

>>8452132
It's not even that bad desu, I quiet enjoyed it.

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Signs you're reading a bad fantasy/SF book

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So anons, I loved this. The end was kind of meh after some of the amazing stuff before and I honestly didn't like the almost magical shit at the end but still it was a ride. So now I'm sitting here wondering what to read next. I tried revelation space and while it ain't bad it feels lifeless. And I'm warry about reading prelude to foundation etc because I hear that the quality went to shit and I don't want another Dune situation. What to do.

>>8453576
Rape out of the blue, never mentioned again, doesn't visibly affect the characters personality etc.

>>8451000
The Scar by China Mieville

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>>8453343
Don't bother, they probably haven't even read the book. It's just virtue signalling, they do it when Ender's Game is mentioned too.

It's hilarious people think it resembles fascism though.

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>>8453608

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>>8453623
I don't get it are you saying I'm a Swede?

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Did anyone here like this book as much as I did? It's available to read online for free.

Actual plot spoilers:
I find the idea that self-awareness is a trait unique to Humans, and ultimately inefficient, to be very interesting. The autism with the "vampires" bugs me slightly, due to the length he goes to justify them, but ultimately the book is fairly well written and the ideas are presented in a clear and thought provoking manner. It was a solid 8/10 for me, read it twice already.

>>8453670
It gets mentioned pretty much every thread and is almost universally liked. Go check out the sequel Echopraxia.

>>8453673
Oh, apologies then. I read Echopraxia and liked it, but it seemed to me as if Watts got too wrapped up in trying to present interesting ideas and forgot to make a story that is actually interesting to read. Don't get me wrong, it was interesting, but the entire story is more or less some jerkass getting fucked with by almost-literal living Gods, without having any impact on the universe around him. That's the point, I suppose, but it left me with a very dry taste in my mouth.

>>8452736
I've read two of Sturgeon's novels, The Dreaming Jewels and More Than Human. I can tell you he is a good writer of SF, fiery, angry, socially conscious. He seemed to be a generation ahead of his peers in terms of sensibility, his preoccupation with outsider figures, orphans, minorities, and the disabled, and his ideas of the transforming power of love and psychology. His early 50's writing feels more like something from the 1970's.

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>>8453807
>outsider figures, orphans, minorities, and the disabled, and his ideas of the transforming power of love and psychology

I'm emailing my /pol/ representative.

>>8452134
>>8451377
The point of the post wasn't Bakker, it was the decline of /lit/ in recent times...No wonder i got only 2 responses, both of them shitposts. I really don't know why I come here anymore...this place fills me with sadness

>>8451995
Jemisin is literally the worst writer I have read this year. Only that ancillaty justice chick might dethrone her.

The 5. season was so bad, I lack the creativity and intellect to properly express it.

>>8453935
> I lack the creativity and intellect to properly express it.
To digest it too.

>>8453924
>I'm being a newfag and nobody can stop me.

I don't know why you come here either, you're clearly much more comfortable on Reddit.

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>>8450854
We've hit the final panel, /tg/ warned us and /sffg/ didn't listen.

>>8453935
While this is certainly a fascinating way of expressing your distaste, have you ever considered the possibility that your lack of intellect and creativity is an ongoing issue and not a recently discovered one?

>>8453935
t. Count to potato

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>>8453970
>2chan
>4chan
>5season
>8gag
>9gag

I suppose it might be called Ancitally Jusrice if you are dyslexic in the same way that 'retard' actually begins with a t.

>Ancillary Justice
>Multiple people get murdered in cold-blood by the protag
Is Leckie a Communist?

>>8453937
Woof

How do you write about medieval Christfags (Crusaders and such)? Any book I can read that has characters like that? The Red Knight I heard is good

I am very interested in science fiction that tries to explore what an alien psychology would actually be like. I've read Vernor Vinge, Larry Niven, and David Brin's Uplift books. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

I like how they try to unpack aspects of human psychology in order to create believable aliens.

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>shardblade, shardplate, surgebinder, voidbringer, stormblessed, stormfather

r u kidding me Sanderson? combining two vaguely fantasy-ish words into a new compound word? How lazy can one man be?

I'd much rather have pic related

>>8453595
I'd say read Peter Hamilton's Commonwealth books

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>mfw there a hundreds of women doing this intense training for super special forces
>mfw they can barely even get into basic infantry in most countries today

are there any books featuring overpowered mary sue antiheroes that just goes around "raping" women and converting lesbians?

>>8454348
When you churn out books at breakneck speeds, somethings gotta give

>>8454428

>mfw there a hundreds of women doing this intense training for super special forces

I havent read that book but it can probably be explained that they are the best of the best so what the 'average' woman can do doesnt really factor in since they are already buff as fuck.

>>8454513
>buff as fuck
Nah, not even slightly.

>>8454428
It's fantasy mang. Like how in Wheel of Time you have Aeil women that can kill 4 times their number in armed men with only their hands and feet, cause thousands of years of selective breeding in the harshest place on earth turned the entire race into hard ass motherfuckers. Probably wouldn't happen in real life, but fantasy rules.

>>8454620
That's Paizo tier cop out.

>Golarionians aren't Earthians!
>Their women don't suffer from sexual dimorphism
>"Then why do they look like Barbie?"
>Ding dong bannu

>>8453937
>>8453970
quality shitposting m8

>>8453967
Nobody can tell me what's good about this series. I have read 90% of the SFF books recommended here, from Donaldson, LeGuinn,Wolfe and so on, from famous to obscure.

I had this feeling 3 times in my life. The first 2 times it was with the guy that wrote lord of light and amber. After years of reading those 2 books made me physically uncomfortable, they where so bad I was literally triggered. The third series was this one. I have finished it and it was so bad and aimless, the "we are all the same person!" twist was so damn lame...I could tell it was written by a woman, it felt like the author needs to remind us over and over of that fact.

And I will point out I have read many books that I consider bad or average (wheel of time, sword of truth,name of the wind) but nothing has come close to those 3 I mentioned.

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>>8450823
this shit

>>8450823
You could just read Tale of Genji

>>8454812
>Lord of Light is substantially worse worse than The Wheel of Time
Thanks for letting us know your opinion is worthless. Unless this is bait in which case 9/10.

>>8454305
Prince of nothing has some gud crusaders

>>8454812
>lord of light and amber

Jesemen, the Ancillary bitch, and whatever else you mentioned definitely shit, but disliking Amber and Lord of Light makes you an autist (and I'm not even that big of a fan of either).

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>>8453595
Yeah the third section of Foundation kind of sucked. It wrapped everything up so fair enough but it didn't shine like the first two, which is easily some of my favourite sci-fi out there. The preludes to Foundation are actually okay if you can keep up the intensity through the slower bits, nothing at all like the drop in quality seen in the Dune sequels.

I read Hyperion after Foundation and feel like reading foundation beforehand made me enjoy it more, that's just me though. If you've not read any other Asimov you could work your way through that. Clarke? He's quite old school as well.

>>8450852
/darkeye/ and /darkskin/ as fuck.

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>>8454812

I'm surprised you had that strong of a dislike for Roger Zelanzy. While I can understand not liking "Lord of Light"--it took me two tries to get through it--the Corwin half of the Amber series is completely different. Disliking both that strongly while still presumably liking fantasy strikes me as very unusual.

>utterly disregard the Merlin books of Amber

>>8450990

There is romance in Baru and besides the whole book loses focus and turns to shit about a third in.

>>8452158
Revelation Space? It's been a while since I read it though so I don't know if it fits exactly.

Just finished Malazan. Trying to decide what I want to read next.

Was thinking of looking into Sanderson event though people shit on him here.

Taking recommendations for both fantasy and sci fi if ya'll got any.

>>8455313
You stated literally nothing about what you want. There's recs in the OP.

>>8455313

Surely you aren't >>8453131?

>>8455319
I just assumed people would recommend their favorites. I'm looking to read anything really and if a rec interests me I'll go for it.

If that's not good enough I don't know what to tell you. I'm extremely apathetic. I'll just pick a popular series I haven't read yet and go from there.

>>8455361
Nope

>>8455313
>>8455367
The Buried Giant

>>8455313
Edge Chronicles

>>8454314
Out of the dark Weber

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>>8455367
Enjoy

>>8455367
In that case anon, have you been introduced to C. J. Cherryh? I hear her Pride of Chanur series is quite good, and contains very little zero-gee yiffing.

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Just finished Beyond the Deepwoods, it was quite whimsical which I really enjoyed. Plenty of interesting creatures, flora, fauna, even quirky civilization and introduced one after the other so things rarely drag on.

The way it's structured where each chapter more or less deals with a different encounter but all forming part of one journey can sometimes make the flow feel a bit fractured but very minimally. I think the attention they took with the creation of unique animals, creatures and plant life make the whole world come to life vividly and works very well immersion wise. It felt a little like reading fables or fairy tales which is a positive for me.

Sometimes the MC reacted in ways that I thought were a bit exaggerated but thinking about it the authors gave enough backstory as to justify it although it nevertheless is still dumb teenage behavior. I also liked the slightly darker tone it took in the Gloamglozer chapter and how it painted him like a devil figure.

This book I feel would be well received by people with an interest in world building, nature, and biology because of all the different interactions between the characters and their ecosystem. There's no political intrigue, romance or complex magical systems and features just a tiny bit of drama but it's overall a lot of fun, cohesive and very creative.

>>8455629
>There's no political intrigue, romance or complex magical systems and features just a tiny bit of drama
Because it's a book aimed at ten year olds

>>8455639
I wasn't counting those as cons mind you, considering I don't care at all for them. Just trying to outline the strong points of the book as well as the things it's NOT about.

>>8454812
I enjoyed Fifth Season and Amber but not Lord of Light.

>>8454984
>>8455068

I have read novels like Malazan, Bakker,Wolfe, both series by Hamilton, ( to give some SFF examples) that completely drop you in the world. I had no problem with that. I could accept it.

I have tried amber first. It started out really interesting, I relaxed happy to have a promising series in my hand. Then they went to the land of Amber in that car and I was thinking "damn, this is some trippy writing, it's like the writer is on drugs" I was a little skeptical of the style and themes, but I went forward. Than there's some sort of attack, the main guy forgives his brother. Then he is suddenly in some castle and tries to kill his other brother and things go to shit in that moment. I read 50 more pages about some underwater kingdom or some shit and I got completely lost. It was like the writer snorted some drugs and went off the rails. I just stopped reading with a puking sensation in my stomach.

Then, I thought to myself "hey, this guy can't suck this hard...let me try the other series by him". I have read the first 50 pages and I got the same feeling. I was lost in the worst way, I had no fucking Idea what I was reading and it was created in such a way that literally I couldn't go on.

You guys think I'm trolling or whatever...It's not like I didn't want to read this shit...I want to find good stuff, I am out of great novels and now I need to read more and more obscure stuff.

>>8455190
I tried dude. I really did. Maybe they have just shitty beginnings, maybe I don't get it because I'm from Europe...whatever. I will give them a chance in the future, probably. I will say again: go to any top 50 fantasy list or whatever and be assured I have read 95% of the mentioned novels. These two books and the Fifth Season where the only ones that sucked this bad, and I'm saying this after reading many horrible novels also.

>>8455676
so, I never got an answer to this. What is good about the Fifth Season ? You have to convince someone to read it, what are your arguments?

What I didn't like is the "everyone is the same person" trope. That is so damn cheap. The other thing that gets on my nerves (almost all female writers do this) is the "oh i'm a girl" vibes i get from the series.A few descriptions here and there, a certain type of prose and vocabulary, a few themes, and I can tell if a book is written by a woman 90% of the time...Most of the time I can get over it, it's the price you pay for reading female novels, but in this one it was over the top. I could feel the estrogen hidden in the text...The greatest issues however: it's boring, nothing cool happens. There are no "holy shit" moments. There are a few attempts but they seem so weak...Also there's absolutely no philosophy,no message, nothing to say.This book didn't make me think one bit,it was like watching some sitcom with your brain turned off.

Honestly I can't see any positives besides that she took some risks, some of the worldbuilding is weirder than usual and creative . Other than that...a total mess.

>>8455721
Probably a lot of it is novelty. It's grimdark in a way very distinct from the typical GURM """realism""". Its world and magic are different from almost everything else out there. 2nd person narration and interweaving chapters from different times of one person's life are pretty out there for genre fiction.

Personally once I got past the insanely glib narration and the constant low-intensity SJWism the mysteries kept me engaged. What are the stone eaters, what are the obelisks, what happened to the moon, what do they do to guardians, who took Alabaster's boipussy, etc.

>>8455313
>Sanderson is bad because he's popular

Don't listen to /lit/

>>8455788
Sanderson's bad because he's fucking awful at anything involving actual human interaction

Nice worlds, his magic was unique until everyone copied it but that's about it.

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>>8453576
>R. Scott Bakker

>>8453576
female protagonist is involved in a love triangle

>>8455789
But don't you just read normal books for human interaction? This genre is thick with autism from top to bottom.

>>8455835
Nah there's schlock bad and then there's obnoxious annoying bad

Sanderson falls into the later whenever he writes girls.

>>8455819

Love triangles in general are pretty much just infuriating.

>>8455629
Glad you liked it m80. I read it when I was ~10, and it was everything I ever wanted in a book. All monsters, no story l. I think I was a little pissed at the time that the rest of them didn't follow the same formula, but I ended up warming up to the them. Looking back it reminds me a lot of the whimsy of old Roald Dahl books, or The Phantom Tollbooth. I don't think it has quite as much of the same classic appeal as those kids' books but I can see some influence.

>>8455721
So I liked the "all the same person" twist. It had two purposes: first, to show the setting before and after Alabaster's apocalypse (including anti-orogene sentiment), and second to make the reader emphasize with an MC who, if the book just started with Essun running around killing people, would have turned off most readers.

Second, I liked the setting. A lot of recent literary science-fiction is about adventure on other worlds, either because the Earth is kind of boring or because the Earth is irreparably destroyed and mankind got off it in time. Written sci-fi where humanity is stuck on a post-apocalyptic Earth is rare relative to space adventures. (Although "stuck on Earth after an apocalypse" is a robust enough film genre relative to space operas.) In a fun twist on the space-oriented genre, the characters in this book are so focused on the ground that they pay zero attention to the heavens.

Third and related to that, I like the world-building of the post-apocalyptic society.

Fourth, I'm along for the mystery of orogenes and the moon and the obelisks and the Guardians (and their implants, and their connection to orogenes, and the thing in Scaffa's head) and the stone eaters.

Fifth, I like the estrogen stuff. I enjoyed all the angry women in the book. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but it was mine.

I can understand the complaint that "nothing cool happens." I was surprised when the book ended because there was no season finale-type climax. The fact that there are three stories ending in one book (each with its own mini-climax -- Damaya finding a deadciv ruin that will define the next few books, Syenite's pirate battle, Essun discovering that Alabaster caused the apocalypse and the revelation that the tectonic fuckery is caused by the moon spinning out of its orbit) doesn't help. The first book was the foundation for a series, rather than a stand alone. So if you judge it as a stand alone, it doesn't deliver. If you judge it as one book in a series, it sets things up excellently (though it remains to be seen if Jemisin can stick the landing in book three).

tl;dr world building and the characters happen to appeal to me.

>>8451607
I enjoyed Pirate Latitudes. Basic but fun.

>>8455871
Yeah judging by the goodreads blurb of the second book it looks like it's more story focused but I was left intrigued enough by the creatures and the little bit of technology in this one to want to see what else they come up with. Also I agree that the book was carried more by the sheer sense of exploration and awe than by plot.

>>8455857
it's a pretty cheap way of making up "drama" and focusing the plot on it which is quite lame

>>8455819
This is a good one

How about
>character learns swordplay or magic in under 6 months then can beat people who have done it their entire life

>>8455721
The Fifth Season is especially novel in/sci/ world building
>The characters are drilled STEM which one would assume is a practicality in a novel in which plate tectonics would feature so heavily
>The novel gives an interesting discussion on the necessity of epigenetics
>The juxtaposition between arcane objects present in the 'deadciv' used to trap ones enemies as opposed to long lost technology misappropriated to the point where it malfunctions (many pieces of technology are apparently 'misappropriated' but the degree of subversion is open to consideration)

I greatly enjoyed the distinctive narrative voices. Essun's is pragmatically concise and littered with colloquialisms whereas the unknown narrator uses different phrases and expressions. Similarly, in Amber, Corwin's narration has a very distinctive kingly register - casual at times as he dissembles to fulfil his other roles on the Shadows but otherwise formal which is a definitive change on the ubiquitous and formulaic prose frequently found in books.

Other than the SJWisms which can really be ignored since they essentially only to the orogenes/earth magic users, The Fifth Season and its sequel also details the unravelling of various mysteries through the eyes of the protagonists. The allegiance of the Guardians, the fate of the moon and the mystery of deadciv and seasons (I suspect that one population hung itself) – the book is littered with many infuriatingly open-ended hints but no conclusive answers.

True, there are no showy overly dramatic and anime-esque battles that you'd expect of people wielding that calibre of power. However their personal tragedies are no less undervalued. The fate of Alabaster's children treated like decerebrate cats in a lab, the treatment and creation of Guardians and Essun killing her own child: these are all tiny tragedies making up the tapestry of suffering.

A memorable book.

>>8455815
So true

>>8455951
This is why I fucking love Inda
Everything actually takes years

When the characters ride between locations months pass

>>8455902
I'd say weird biology remains about 30% of the focus of the books overall, some having more of a focus than others.

I thumbed through the book just now and the rotsucker seems insanely morbid for a kid's book, even moreso than I remember. I really can't recall how I took that as a child.

>>8456040
>the rotsucker

He was pretty morbid indeed and I remember thinking while reading about him and his dietary habits "How the fuck did they come up with this stuff?". Pretty cool idea for a monster really.

I also really liked the idea of that underground society revolving and subsisting around the roots from the Deepwoods even if it took a weird turn with the blood drinking ritual, I'm pretty sure that was the author being cheeky and trying to make some menstrual joke.

>>8455819
female protagonist is in a abusive relationship but thinks mr. bad can be changed.

If fantasy writing is going the anime way already with all the sanderson clones then there should be more cute traps around

The spigot on the root was the height of silliness, but it worked for me. There were definitely points where they were going for bizarreness rather than cohesive worldbuilding (I doubt they considered where the grossmother gets her mops and buckets), but it worked out in the end. I think it helps that they always touch on things like what the people eat and what they do with their lives. It provides a solid base that you can build some seriously whimsical scaffolding on, while still maintaining some small versimilitude. Every single monster and society in this book makes a return appearance, and it never feels like the writing has "outgrown" the weird elements it started with.

A couple things struck me while skimming again. There's places where a sequence of drawings illustrate a single sequence of action, whereas that hardly occurs in any of the other books, mostly illustrating single story points like unusual events and climactic moments. I don't think there's a sequence like the hoverworm fight in the rest of the series.

The Slaughterer camp might be the comfiest thing I've ever read. Living with them really would be quite nice. Even the weirder societies have a sense of purpose and belonging to them that Twig lacks. Of course the being he bonds the closest with is the solitary bear, they're alike. The things that go over your head as kid.

>>8456057
>>8456185
Whoops

>>8456185
the chapter with the Slaughterers was a total pleasure, from all the description of their customs, food and the way they interact with each other and twig- It managed to create a really warm atmosphere which is pretty much what Twig had been looking for.

After thinking about it a bit it became apparent that they also wanted to say something about the whole "straying from the path", mainly that if you do it you will undoubtedly face many hardships and scary situations but will grow and learn from it, that many people out there won't care or help you out but if you take the risks you will eventually find your own path. Pretty nice message for the kids once you can look at it all after reading it.

>>8454513
If that was true they'd just take men anyway. The best men are better soldiers than the best women.

>>8450800

Is that picture real? Was it really Bakker himself in all his glory beguiling us with his presence?

>>8456522
Cannon fodder isn't infinite, you probably reach the point where gender doesn't matter if a war drags on for long (which often happens in fantasy lit)

>>8454812
It's probably just because English isn't your first language.

>>8456728
Wrong, that's literally the exact opposite of what happened in actuality, women weren't deployed on the front-line even if the situation became /that/ desperate.


It's next to impossible for a culture to survive losing a significant portion of their women; the Dutch were well-known for genocide native American tribes by marrying their daughters.

>>8456728
>if a war drags on for long so women
Because it's written by people who know shit about war.

>>8456905
>letting women stay behind and not die
Kill yourself you fucking sjw faggot.

>>8456905
>mfw popular authors think wars were fought by armies clashing on a battlefield like in total war.

>>8456917
If it's traditional fantasy it's 99% of the time fought be two faggots with anime hair lobbing balls of fire at each other..

Of /sffg/'s recommended books, what are some good vacation reads? I'm looking for (1) something with well-paced adventure, but (2) not a lot of need for critical thinking, or where the critical thinking required can still be done on a beach four drinks in, and (3) still a well-written book.

Is Foundation good? My uncle gave me few months ago and never touched it.

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>>8457000
Yes, it's very good.

Of the original trilogy, the first books does an excellent job setting up the second, which is utterly fantastic. The third book staggers a little compared to the first but it's still very good and does an excellent job wrapping up the story.

Foundation manages to seamlessly blend solid ideas with an intriguing and engaging story, while emphasising a scale and weight which captures so many readers.

At least read the first chapter/novelette. The entire first book was written serially for a newspaper so it is written almost episodically.

>>8457000
I read it for the first time earlier this year and enjoyed it. I didn't read the two prequels but I read the two sequels and found them to be my favorite. Perhaps because those characters are actually fleshed out whereas the original Foundation trilogy jumps between newer characters fairly often.

>>8456998
It doesn't matter, when I suggest shit to you faggots you don't fucking read it anyways.

Go fuck yourself.

>>8457223
Stop being so tsundere anon, I'm sure that the only one who openly ignore your recommendations are the people who enjoy little girl protagonists.

>>8456917

That's because those sorts of battles were exciting. Nobody wants to read about how the Grand Alliance of Humans, Elves and Dwarves were laid low not by Orcs but by dysentery on the march to the Dark Lord's fortress.

Are there any good fantasy books with Greek mythology?

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>>8457234
>tfw I wrote a chapter in scifi fanfiction years ago about guerilla warfare like in the Vietnam war where they made pits and filled them with spiked defecated matter and people fell in them and got E coli infections and died of it

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>>8457229
I even suggest little girl protagonists to them... and they fucking ignore it.

Real tired of yall BS, you ask for help, i stretch out a hand, and you guys slap it away. Every single time , then you go back to crying out for help.

I think that asking for recs has now turned into a meme. Do anyone other than a handful of posters actually read?

I know there is one anon here who gets vexed when we don't describe books, because he wants to save the keypoints and pretend as if he actually read the book.

He asks for lengthy descriptions of regular discussed books, and gets angry when you don't explain in enough detail so he could pretend as if he read it.

He then goes on to shitting on the book using the points we've given him.

http://thebardquarterly.wixsite.com/home/current-issue

First issue is out, anyone here get in?

>>8457246
Percy Jackson.
The god of war audiobook

>>8457305
I said 'good' books anon.

One of those is YA and the other is video game fanfiction.

>>8457223
Same here man. People just go read the same stuff everyone talks about already. Why do people ask for reccs then just read WoT or Malazan?

>>8457305
The number of retards in these threads is stunning.
>>8457307
Soldier Series by Gene Wolfe of course.

>>8457320
>Soldier Series by Gene Wolfe of course.
Ok, will look it up.

>>8457297
>I know there is one anon here who gets vexed when we don't describe books, because he wants to save the keypoints and pretend as if he actually read the book.

>He asks for lengthy descriptions of regular discussed books, and gets angry when you don't explain in enough detail so he could pretend as if he read it.

>He then goes on to shitting on the book using the points we've given him.

You perfectly encapsulated the shitposting portion of 4chan.

>>8456905
I mean, WWI dragged on for so long, with so many men lost to cannon fodder, that women started to appear on (and were killed on) the frontlines. Admittedly, in support roles, but it happened. Another desperate year or two and it's not hard to imagine some of those women appearing in certain positions within the armed forces proper (artillery spotters, tank drivers etc...)

From this real-world example, extrapolating a situation where some women were pressed into front-line soldiery is not a great leap of imagination.

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>>8456998

I recommend Jack Vance' Lyonesse trilogy for light fantasy adventure. Although the word trilogy has often been a synonym for ballast, Vance was a working writer with merciless editors so his works are lean and snappy.

For space opera adventure, I can again recommend Jack Vance, this time for the Cadwal Chronicles trilogy.

Both trilogies come in around 1200 pages. Take along the first book of both and you'll be pretty well covered.

>>8457446
>I mean, WWI dragged on for so long, with so many men lost to cannon fodder, that women started to appear on (and were killed on) the frontlines. Admittedly, in support roles, but it happened.
Support roles are something completely different.
>Another desperate year or two and it's not hard to imagine some of those women appearing in certain positions within the armed forces proper (artillery spotters, tank drivers etc...)
It's impossible to imagine WWI going on for more than 2-3 months, if America didn't enter the war any side could have capitulated in a few months more.
>From this real-world example, extrapolating a situation where some women were pressed into front-line soldiery is not a great leap of imagination.
Depends a lot on society. But most fantasy have shit tier construction of setting worldview and its usually middle ages caricature+enlightened 20th century perspective/narration.

>>8457449
Planet of Adventure is fun too, though not as excellent as those two

>>8457303
Sadly not, but I'll give it a read!

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>>8457246

Hmm, what's the one set on Mars, with the gods literally on Olympus...Oh right, "Ilium" by Dan Simmons. It's technically scifi, though. I can't vouch for it being "good" because I was expecting more scifi and less fantasy aesthetic made possible by technology. However, your expectations might be just what it takes to enjoy it.

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what is it with this thread and plebshit?

Are you all guys from reddit?

As bad as YA trash

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>>8457462

It's a lot longer as well but I agree, it's probably even a better adventure setting. I was feeling pretty sperg already for suggesting two trilogies when he asked for a book let alone two by the same author. I am nuts about Jack Vance's writing, though. The best thing that I took away from reading "A Game of Thrones" lo these many years ago is that I happened to see that GRRM cited Vance as an influence.

>>8457479
At least one of the Bakker fans is it turns out. Not that it's unexpected.

>>8457528
no idea wat ur on about m8

Has Dalkey published any good SciFi?

What are some science fiction or fantasy stories that have vast landscapes with colossal canyons/cliffs, or describe alien skies with poetic detail?

>>8457528
>shoehorning Bakker into every post to show how above it you are


Really takes stop liking what I don't like to a whole new level

>>8457528
fuck sake you're on lit and you have shit grammr

>>8457458
>It's impossible to imagine WWI going on for more than 2-3 months
The imagining part is not the length of the war, but the escalation of women's roles within the war. In this hypothetical scenario, the war has already lasted for another year or two.

Separate clauses, anon. Separate clauses.

>>8453576
wikipedia entry categorizes the book as fantasy

>>8454314
hamilton's night's dawn trilogy has a few sections about it. they find derelict/empty left overs of space habitats of some (presumed) extinct civilization, and the main character discovers their data backup site or something. they contain sensory recordings, at that point commonplace in human society as well, but of course incompatible with how we perceive things.

in general hamilton's alien races mostly distinguish themselves in terms of their psychology, so he ends up writing a lot about the topic.

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anyone else more just a fan of science fiction as opposed to literature? I enjoy scifi vidya, tv, films and books too. I wish there was a general place to discuss scifi other than just /lit/. Does (4+4)chan or any of those ripoffs run regular /sf/ threads or boards?

>>8457837

/tg/ is always willing to discuss fantasy, and /m/ will talk sci-fi with you because it involves mechanical design. Though obviously both those boards have their own quirks.

>>8457837
Uh, do you know what thread you're in? That's why we're here.

Currently picked up Altered Carbon since it was the only remotely interesting thing I could find, why does it feel like I'm reading some Ghost in the Shell fanfiction?

Also I got a boner during the scene Kovacs fucked Miriam Bancroft.

>>8457854
yeah but here we can only really discuss books, I feel guilt otherwise. and I don't know fantasy so I just get confused by most of the posts

>>8457852
thanks, I'll check them out (lurk)

>>8457837

You know, my first instinct was to look for a /scifi/ board here. It does seem like a natural fit for 4chan. Instead, the various elements of scifi seem to be spread out to the relevant boards: /sffg/ here, the cyberpunk thread on /g/, etc.

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Just read this, some of the passages with engines were painful to read. Overall a good read. Can anyone comment on whether the sequels are worth reading?

>>8457011

It felt odd how the entire first book is about grand social and political forces driving events and prediction through Psychohistory then the second book just has one guy who Has magical mind control powers. Still havent read second foundation because the shift felt so odd but i intend to read it tomorrow

>>8457837
>>8457852
Go to /tg/ and do this:

>I'm working on a setting for about three players based in the <INSERT SCI-FI FRANCHISE HERE> universe but I'm just not sure how <ELEMENT OF UNIVERSE> would work. What do you guys think? P.S: I'm using GURPS.

Then post as anon five minutes later expressing a controversial view about that Sci-Fi universe.

300 posts later /tg/ might realise that you tricked them into having a discussion about the franchise. Might.

Plus there are some general discussion threads for certain franchises, such as Star Wars, Star Trek etc...

>>8458169

An alternate way is to post an image from the franchise etc and post 'What went wrong'. Works on most boards

>>8455313
Try some Tad Williams. I'd recommend Shadowmarch since it's probably his best work, but if you start there and like it it might be hard to go back and read some of his earlier stuff.

>>8458200
Is that so?

>>8453576
There's elves and dwarves and they have a rivalry.

>>8457908
Mieville progressively gets worse with every book until about The City & the City or Embassytown and then takes a nosedive in a pitiful attempt to revive his career with This Census-Taker.

>>8457446
Support roles =/= front lines. And no, a nation would surrender before sending women to die in trenches. Sending your women of child-bearing age to die in war is committing suicide.

>>8458318
Unfortunate but about what I expected from him.

Should I read Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind? I've heard conflicting reports about his quality, and that he inserts his own political beliefs into the story (depending on his politics, that might not necessarily be a negative trait for me). Thanks in advance.

>>8458386
>and that he inserts his own political beliefs into the story
Who doesn't?

You only ever hear about this if the author doesn't have Reddit approved beliefs.

>>8458403
Well, what do you think of the book/series quality? Is it worth a read? It seems controversial so I'd like to hear some opinions. I've never actually posted on /lit/ before, or this general (obviously) but I'm hoping somebody can guide me.

>>8458428
>>8458386
Actually, just looked up on Wikipedia that Goodkind is a proponent of Ayn Rand's philosophy and politics, so yeah, never mind. Into the trash it goes.

Do I really want to look up what Severian lied about? I really enjoyed the story as it was, idk man

>>8458432
You will never be intellectually challenged by behaving in that manner. I feel for you.

>>8458451
No. Don't look anything up.

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>>8458324
There are support roles on the front lines, friend. Women in the Women’s Auxiliary Military Services (of child-bearing age, with child-bearing hips I'm sure) died on the frontline, from both direct and indirect fire. I'm not talking nurses: I'm talking cooks, storekeepers, clerical workers, radio operators, mechanics and most famously as medics and ambulance drivers.

No small number either: 57,000 in the first wave, and they had no trouble filling that quotient.

Practicality trumps quaint notions of chivalry or some weird obsession with biological imperative. Women were present at and died on the frontline during WWI, and it's not hard to imagine them stepping up into more active (though still indirect) combat roles if the war had grown more desperate.

>>8458702
I see my phrasing here has made it look as though I was implying that 57,000 women died in the first wave, so I just want to get ahead of the snippy 'aha' greentext moment and clarify: 57,000 went over to France in the first wave, of which a few hundred became casualties.

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>>8453950

Currently reading The Fall of Hyperion. It keeps getting better and better.

>>8458702
>Practicality trumps quaint notions of chivalry or some weird obsession with biological imperative. Women were present at and died on the frontline during WWI, and it's not hard to imagine them stepping up into more active (though still indirect) combat roles if the war had grown more desperate.
The reason women aren't sent to the front lines even today is that women are more biologically valuable. As the anon above said, a tribe/group cannot survive if significant portion of women die/become unable too conceive, and that fact affects the decision making process when choosing who will fight in a war.

>>8450800
Vaster than Empires and More Slow is GOAT.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaster_than_Empires_and_More_Slow

>>8458984
Don't bother, their understanding of mediaeval society comes from GRRM. They think monarchies decided shit on a whim and their legions of councillors and advisers were there just for shits and giggles.

Is wheels of time good?

>>8450800
I'm actually reading the first book in the Prince of Nothing series and it's pretty fucking good so far. I'm 2/3 of the way in.

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>>8459031

Yes, if you stop around book 3 or 4 and thereafter forget about the series. If you don't, you get to join us in the "screw you, Robert Jordan" fanclub.

>inb4 some jackass says it's good until "Winter's Heart" or some such crap

The Wheel of Time series more or less spawned the genre-killing meme of writing endless pagefilling trash once you've hooked enough readers with a promised trilogy. Ironically, television is going to save the A Song of Twisted Nipples from the same meaningless fate.

>>8459131
You're in for a wild ride

Book 2 is arguably the best in the series

>>8459131
Your taste is shit

>>8454314
see
>>8453670

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Any good book about 'xenobiology' and very very weirds alien forms? No grey faggots or greens rhinos but more like the ocean in Solaris or even strange mores like the pigs in Speaker for the Dead? based on real sciences if possible...

>>8453670
I loved it. Finally a book where the aliens are truly alien. And like that other anon said, definitely check out the sequel.

How the hell do the Thinkers feed their gigantic dogs in the wheel of time?

Dogs can't be vegetarian

>>8459337
They can, just not healthily

>>8459355
Bullshit

They are big as Wolves

So I read the first two books of Prince of Nothing, and I absolutely have no desire to continue. I just do not care about any of the characters. The only person I even enjoy reading is Cnaiur, but not enough to carry the entire book. I've never dropped a series before but I just can't bring myself to care what happens to any of the characters. Even in aSoIaF you have some vaguely "good" characters to root for. But in this case I legitimately hope the no God just shows up and slaughters all life on that world. That said, can I expect the same from Malazan, or does it have some decent human beings?

>>8450855
I found it pretty boring and dull, only really finished it because people talked it up so much and I thought the ending would make it more interesting.

>>8450872
It's so disappointing, I feel like we live in such a boring and dull society.

>>8459672
Akka a good boy, he didn't nuffin.


But yes, Malazan has more likeable characters

>>8459713
Thank you

>>8458451
Wait, how do we find out exactly what he lied about? His character got more and more suspicious as time went on.

What's something good and recent that isn't sword-and-sorcery or traditional european-style fantasy?

I'm a big fan of modern fairy tales and shit like that

>>8459933
You tried the Powder Mage Series? It's a little anime at times, and the ending is rushed, but it's pretty good on the whole.

>>8459933
See >>8455443

>>8459954
I bought the first book once but din't get past the prologue. I really should give it another shot. It's worked for me before

>>8459974
thanks

>Started reading new fantasy series
>It's going ok
>middle of the book
>feminist bullshit forced in so fucking hard

fucking hell WHY DO THEY FUCKING DO THAT

>>8460046
So the author can fuck tumblr girls in conventions

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>>8451995

>>8460046
>start reading new fantasy series, seems like a normal mento/student relationship, student falling for young prositute girl.

>three quarters of the way through the book, out of nowhere, student is hardgay for teacher, teacher hardgay for student

First and last Jemisin book I will read.

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>>8460082
>student is hardgay for teacher, teacher hardgay for student

>>8450800
Are there books similar to Perdido Street Station in world and environment? Besides the authors other work, obviously.
The only thing I can think of is the video game Zeno Clash

>>8460046
I almost think it'd be a good idea for us to make a list of these books as a warning but I feel like it'd cause spergouts and shit. And thered be that one guy who claims every book that has a female char that isnt a whore is SJW shitting things up etc etc

but yeah I've never been big in these things, mostly just ignore shit like gamergate and all that since both sides are usually cancerous but I've definitely noticed this trend of super prevalent feminist/SJW tones forced into everything (I'd say mostly in books in the last 5-6 or so years) and it gets really really annoying because I can't help but notice it. I'm so utterly tired of this political bullshit being forced into fucking EVERYTHING that theres no escape

>>8460080
>Shin Sekai Yori
sold

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>>8460489
If you read it, some of the aspects are outright suspcious. Even this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwbtoX-4F4A
Maybe Jemisin pinched it a bit, after all they are a self confessed weeb.

>>8459954
>It's a little anime at times
What isn't theses days?

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>>8460560
>NK Jemisin: I don’t like live-action renderings of books, in general. If there’s a choice I’d prefer animation; I would so rock the Inheritance Trilogy as an anime series by Studio BONES

Which writer is the most weeb?

>>8460560
McClellan's prose is similar to Sanderson (you know that bland prose that most modern writers have) since he's Sanderson's student but with more god presence.

>>8460568
I don't even know where to begin.

Will Wight, maybe, doesn't even try to hide the fact.

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I'm cool with pro-female themes so long as they're written in a way that I can believe it in-universe rather than feeling like the author is just grabbing my suspension of disbelief and bending it hard to the left.

Like:

>Scenario A: girl is told she can't fight, so she trains hard in secret and becomes an amazing swordsman who can beat men. She goes to the army and demands they let her join and they say fuck off, so she beats up their best fighter in single combat and everyone is impressed and the king lets her join as his personal special forces commander, and she recruits a bunch of girls and trains them to be awesome and stuff. After the war the king repeals the laws against women and the protagonist marries the guy she beat up because he's totally in love with her now, then later comes back to lead an army to save the kingdom years later and helps the princess become the new queen through Grrl Power.


>Scenario B: girl is told she can't fight, so she trains hard in secret, disguises herself as a man, reads up on strategy, and despite being weaker physically learns up on methods to kill people that don't require as much brute force as they do a calm, clear mind. She joins the army, shows leadership potential and becomes a commander. Once she's completely and totally proved her worth to the king and saved his life or whatever, then it can come out that she's a woman and the king is reasonable enough to realize the law would be fucking with their combat potential and repeals it, but the protagonist still gets shit for it and ends up leaving the army, but still inspires women in her country to do things other than washing the laundry and foraging for mushrooms. Then years later when disaster looms she gets contacted by the king's daughter who wants her to help her lead the army with her being inspired, and the protagonist teaches her how to command effectively while dispelling any silly notions of Grrl Power that might be clouding her judgement.

It's okay for the girl in either scenario to have feminist notions and girly emotions and relationship drama, IMO, because so long as I can see the hard work aspect has been put in to close the gap I can believe it.

I'm quite sure others have less tolerance than I do, but we're all different and that's okay.

>>8457908
They're not really sequels as such so don't go in expecting continued storylines. They are just different stories set in the same world.

I liked The Scar. Iron Council was worse but had some good bits and was probably worth reading. PSS was the best one, though.

>>8458451
Look it up if you want. You will probably find the results underwhelming.

>>8459933
Escape from Hell by Hal Duncan

>>8460105
Try looking up the 'New Weird' subgenre of fantasy.

>>8455313

Have you read Black Company?

>>8460654
Speakin' of Black Company it recently occurred to me that It's essentially the Jack Vance of dark fantasy, in 30~ years do you think authors will swallow their pride and admit that its massive influence?

>>8460391

It's usually good enough to go to goodreads, filter 1 or 2 rating and see if they cry about sexism or something, that's a pretty good indication

>>8460714
>years do you think authors will swallow their pride and admit that its massive influence?
No, because there would need to be a good author who was influenced by him. Thus far there are none.

>>8460082
Nijiri was hot for teacher from the beginning of the book, I don't know why it took you so long to figure it out.

>>8460568
Jemisin used to be a big name fan in DBZ fandom and the aesthetics in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms are CLAMP as fuck, but I think she's scaled it back in the last couple years. If she'd kept up with anime, she'd obviously know that Shaft is the superior Inheritance animation studio, if only for Nahadoth's hair.

Meanwhile, Wexler wrote an anime review column as recently as 2015 (http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/author/django-wexler/) and has a guest bedroom full of manga (https://twitter.com/DjangoWexler/status/771114280091463680).

>>8460568
Erikson and Sanderson write anime so yeah.

>>8460810
>I don't know why it took you so long to figure it out.
He's probably gay himself, they tend to have shitty gaydars.

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>>8460810
>Jemisin used to be a big name fan in DBZ fandom

Jesus H. Christ I thought you guys were joking.

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>>8460810
>Shaft is the superior Inheritance animation studio
So many studios are dying and honestly so is the quality of the shows.

Glad to see Wexler has his priorities in order.

>>8460810
I thought the whole reason why he declined that guy at the start of the novel was because he wanted to to be with Ehiru but Ehiru wanted to be with the girl and only cared about him as a bro.

>>8460827
Surprising isn't it? With all those overpowered abilities running around in that Broken Earth series, I'm sure the shounen battle anime will get some time to shine in book 3 especially given the fact that Nassun gets no holds barred access to Molecular Manipulation - which if I recall correctly is the same power that Hei from Darker than Black has except souped up to eleven with statuification and implied orbital bombardment once those powers get boosted.

>>8460827
See http://www.kanzenshuu.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13823 plus https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/tgje6/hello_reddit_im_fantasy_novelist_nk_jemisin_ama/c4n1csv. I haven't read it so I can't tell you if it's tolerable or terrible.

>>8460857
Every Inheritance book ended with people hurling phenomenal cosmic energies at each other, so here's hoping.

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>>8459295
bumping my question

>>8460876
Some interesting books there for my backlog.
Peter Watts - Blindsight if you don't have that already.

Help me choose my next read plz:

Lies of Locke Lamora or American Gods?
I've just finished Guards! Guards!

>>8460916
Both are shit but AG is a little less so.

>>8460916
American gods has cat woman sex, you will be a furry(at least for the girl in the book) by the end or you are not a real man and actually a faggot.

>>8460920
I'll start with American Gods then

>>8460916
Lies. Events occurring throughout the book unfold beautifully. It's a fun and an adventurous romp.

>>8460920
Please list some of the books you like?

>>8460926
Damn, now I'm in doubt again, but thanks :)

>>8460927
I recently enjoyed Terry Pratchett's discworld novels, some Lovecraft stories, some Dumas adventure-ish. And I really like grim gothic material, specially some Abercrombie stuff.

>>8460937
>actually reading any author with the name Terry
>thinks he can judge American gods

>>8460941
It's a mistake, that's the list from the OP of the question

>>8460937
Abercrombie isn't gothic at all.

I can never forgive Neil Gaiman for penning quite possibly the worst episode of Doctor Who in history.

>>8460046
When you start to run dry creatively, you stop creating and start transcribing the culture around you. The author got stuck and grabbed for a trope, basically. Happens all the time.

>>8460948
Sorry, today Im very rekt. I meant that abercrombie was grimdark. But also I read some gothic stuff like Vathek and The Monk.

>>8460962
At least speculative fiction at least requires some pretence of imagination whereas regular fiction would entirely be transcribed word for word from the world directly from the individual's experiences and within a very narrow realm of possible plot.

That being said, speculative fiction does consist of many repeating tropes and it is rare that a book carries something new or different... or perhaps I simply am not well read enough to identify where the idea was obtained from.

I subscribe to Hume's notion that all 'new' ideas are all derived from compounded impressions of the real world for example a golden mountain is gold and a mountain and an unicorn is a horn and a horse. Successful authors must simply be particularly good or well read or draw ideas from sources such as foreign works (for example anime) to the point that they are able to compound, transpose, augment, diminish and espouse ideas in such a maner that the readers are no longer able to recognise the work as unoriginal.

Hey /sffg/!

http://www.tor.com/2016/09/01/islamicates-sci-fi-fantasy-muslims-anthology/

I got a great new thing for you to read!

>>8461002
I go to tor's website once a month to read their piece about books being released that month and the front page is always filled with agenda pushing shit like this

>>8460957
Nah, that episode wasn't anywhere near as bad as "The Zygon Invasion", like holy fuck.

>>8461114
Please nigga, I consider that one of the least agenda pushing shit tor have dumped on their website in ages.

Serious question though, why the fuck do their employees treat the company blog like their own personal tumblr?

>>8461002

I like how there's fuck all muslim names in the anthology's author list.

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>>8461153
Saladin Ahmed doesn't get to be on the list because he's not published by Tor.

>>8461262

Is he gonna behead that evil demon-posessed woman for not wearing hijab?

>>8461273
They didn't in the warded man, and she used to wear see through clothing.

>>8461305
>see through clothing
>Islam Science Fiction
Wut

>>8461273

>>>/pol/
I don't wanna get into this shit but Islam isn't about beheadings it's about peace

>>8461273
In the book, the kid with the sword actually does get super pissy about her not acting/dressing appropriately

>>8461340
This isn't even bait.

>>8460899
Yep already have that one.

>>8461322
Legit dame famine makes muslims are even hornier than the rest of us

http://thebardquarterly.wixsite.com/home/current-issue

Apparently a couple of people from /tg/'s writefag threads got into this. Any of you guys enter? I'm thinking about next issue and if they're serious about feedback it'd be useful.

>>8461436
It isn't hard to find literally who quarterly's that'll accept your work Anon.

>>8461454

Do you get writing feedback even if you get rejected though? That seems like a good selling point. Also the fact they demand a small wordcount means you don't have to spend lots of time on it either. Pretty useful if you ask me.

>>8461470
In my experience you'll pretty much only ever receive criticism on the first couple of pages anyway, even the semi-"popular" magazines receive hundreds upon hundred of submissions every week.

Feedback is something you've got to be very weary of taking, for example a certain fantasy book which everybody seems to love and constantly praise for its prose received many rejection letters criticizing exactly that.

>>8461494

yeah, but this one is short fiction so you're (supposedly) being judged on 1-2 pages and how effectively you can convey information in that small space anyway.

I just think that's a useful skill to hone, god knows everyone and their dog has problems with waffling too much.

Thread's almost dead so I'll squeak in on the end.

The below link will download the PDF of Issue #000 directly from Dropbox.
>https://www.dropbox.com/s/wc7hr7ao014dsqh/Bard000.pdf?dl=1

If you want to let us know how you feel about some of the stories, send your feedback to the thebardquarterly email with 'Backpage' in the subject line, and we'll run choice comments in #001.

I want to thank you guys who submitted for submitting, and for tolerating my presence in these thread. I'll leave you guys in peace now (except for my usual posting/critique as anon), but expect me to swing by again in Mid-October to prod you for some submissions to #001.

Enjoy!

>>8461454
Gotta start somewhere anon, and unlike most literally-who's we give comprehensive feedback and we pay (albeit, almost nothing).
>>8461470
>Do you get writing feedback even if you get rejected
Yes. Every story is read by two or three slush readers, each of whom fill out a form consisting of seven strongly-agree to strongly-disagree responses, and then provide maybe ~100 words commenting on specific strengths and weaknesses of your work. Stories which make it to the Top 9 also receive a personal note from the Editor. So every submission gets feedback from two to four different people.
>>8461494
Boilerplate rejection letters aren't all that useful. That's not what we do.
>>8461505
It's amazing, when you cut away the fat, just how much you can convey in less than 1000 words.

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Why is this so popular among my friends who are fantasy fans? I tried reading a few chapters and it just seemed really boring.

>>8461611
It's got a slow start.

>>8461611
It's easily digested, no complex themes or situations which require thought. Sanderson is the Orwell of genre fiction.

Just finished Starship Troopers and now I'm looking for something else off the lists, and I'm considering Gene Wolfe's Shadow of the Torturer. Can anyone who's read it tell me a little about Wolfe or the book?

>>8461632
Wolfe is a meme don't do it.

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>>8461632
Shadowofthetorturer.jpg