/sffg/ - Science Fiction & Fantasy General

repostan from last thread:

How do you guys feel about works in which the first half (which could be a novel on its own) follows a particular theme whereas the second half is almost completely disjoint in focus and theme aside from a few characters (including the MC)

For an example, I once "wrote" a work whose first half was a re-imagining of Ocarina of Time whereas the second half was basically Attack on Titan but with dragons pls no bully

>>8669386
what if my prose is the like the tears of Chronos himself?

>>8669626
let it die.
let /sffg/ die

Does 1632 belong here?

>>8669736
You don't belong here

>>8669736
Yes, alt history is a scifi offshoot and the book has an explicitly scifi setup

>>8669732
no u, this is the last ray of hope in the eternal darkness that is post-Infinite Jest /lit/

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>>8669740
rude

>>8669757
Is this Custer?

Reposting from last thread: poll on whether The Lies of Locke Lamora is any good.

http://www.strawpoll.me/11522397/r

So far Yes is ahead by a large percentage, though there have been few votes.

>>8669757
Liquid?!?

>>8669736
It's wish-fulfillment redneck-Jew-Swede wankery, but sure.

>>8669271

You'd piss off the people who like reading the oot shit and the people who'd like the aot part would never bother.

>>8669859
>You'd piss off the people who like reading the oot shit
That's more or less the point to be honest
I hadn't really considered the second part, however. I guess thats what happens when you write for yourself

>>8669626
I don't much care for GRI desu, there's an occasional author who can make it work but most times it just seems 2edgy.

Hey /lit/, still working on that mythology I'll never do anything with.

I figure that somewhere along the lines I need to work in DNA and RNA somehow. I already have 8 main "gods" so maybe I can map them to the DNA and RNA nucleotides (GCAT and GCAU) with the characters mapped to Thymine/Uracil being somehow different in a way the other characters aren't. But then I have to create a new evolution parable since using finches and a tree of life might get kind of lopsided. Meanwhile I still haven't figured out where the fuck the elementals will go

>one Dresden Files book
>no don't come with me woman
>they get hurt
>next book
>okay come with me woman
>they get hurt

This sure is quality character work

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>>8670204
You forgot
>sexual tension

>>8670204
If you don't like it, don't read it.

A major theme of dresden is that humans have free will, but they are ultimately responsible for the choices they make. This shit happens a lot in the first few books and the ultimate conclusion is that dresden's only responsibility is to make sure people know what they're dealing with before they make a choice.

>>8670156
Just keep putting sweat into it man.

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I don't read contemporary fantasy/science fiction/horror short stories at all, only novels

What is the modern equivalent to Weird Tales?

>>8670425
Literally 'weird fiction',
have a look at Laird Barron, Thomas Ligotti, Jeff VanderMeer

>>8670431
Ligotti high fantasy when?

What precisely is "weird fiction"

Is it just another word for lovecraftian?

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>tfw we never got to see tia get fucked and used at the silver mines
>tfw no slicking up a rod with olive oil before mounting
Why live desu?

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just got done reading this. i think tower of babylon and story of your life were good. the others not so much.
hell is the absence of god was terrible.

anyone else read it. what'd you think?

>>8669271
>How do you guys feel about works in which the first half (which could be a novel on its own) follows a particular theme whereas the second half is almost completely disjoint in focus and theme aside from a few characters

Oh so a Neal Stephenson novel?

>>8670481
You are the filler cancer killing this book series.

>>8669666
Sounds fine. Nice trips.

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>>8669626
I enjoyed this. Are the sequels any good?

>>8670603
The first book is considered the worst so yeah. Have fun

>>8670603
It's more of the same, so if you liked the first one you'll probably like the rest of the series. The books keep introducing new characters and new pieces of the setting. Takes a while for everything to fall into place and a larger picture to form. The only real danger with the series is getting overloaded on names, places, and events because there's so much to digest as a first time reader of Malazan.

>>8670603
It only gets better since you will actually understand all the name drops and references as you go on.

>>8670606

No it's not, the first book is the best one and it only starts getting worse from then on out

>>8670509
That was just Seveneves though. Baroque/Cryptonomicon were completely disjointed in focus and theme between chapters, Diamond Age was completely disjointed between acts, and Anathem was one smooth chillin' hylomorphic ride.

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>ywn be a bro-tier demon dog helping your master rob graves and shooting the breeze with the other familiars
>ywn help a demon snake get over his master's hangover
>ywn let a demon bat crash at your place till the cultists stop chasing him
>ywn hide a dead constable from Sherlock Holmes with your werewolf friend
>ywn fly through Unknown Kadath to ask a boon of a cat god
>ywn prevent the Old Ones from returning while hooking your boss up with a hot witch

>>8670672
Is the boss the one in the grim reaper get up?

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What is it with fantasy and these shit covers? I'm reading this right now, and enjoying it for what it's worth, but jesus it's almost embarrassing to pull this out in the train on my commute.

Starting thr Discworld cycle. Bought the first 10 volumes.

Hope it's good and 'comfy' for this winter.

>>8671141
Looks like the cover of some self-published amazon ebook

>>8669828

I have a soft spot for a lot of shitty fantasy. I'm currently reading >>8671141 and it's entertaining but forgettable.

I didn't understand the appeal of Locke Lamora at all. I finished the first book, but it was predictable, boring and not half as clever as the author would've liked. There are much better options out there.

>>8671141
I admire the guys tenacity. I remember he use to push his books around the internet and he would not shut up about them. Got me to read two. They weren't terrible, but as >>8671174 said, they were forgettable.

Now his day job is writing. Got to hand it to the guy.

>>8670481
>>8670521
Why are people bothered by lightbringer anyway

The first book was pretty goddamn shit and there's so much focus on a magic system that isn't even interesting

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>>8671270
>why are people enjoying things I don't
These books would be more your liking desu.

>>8671387
The actual dino poster has some taste

Breeks is the same shite as old pulp but with worse writing

>>8671400
English as a language is changing every day.

You expect persons to write to a different demographic audience the same way they wrote 50, 60+ years ago? How deluded are people on this board?

I mean a fucking emoji was word of the year.

>>8671425
Except Weeks is trash compared to his contemporaries, it's not even a "the old days were better" thing

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anyone else here get their ideas/inspiration from playing vidya?

I know there's at least a few authors but I can't recall them atm

>>8671486
does homestuck count as vidya?

Seriously though, The urban science-fantasy mythology I've been working on for a year now is honestly something I've always wanted to see as a video game tetrology (singularity, dipole moment, trichromat, 3+1). I could potentially do it too, seeing as I'm a pretty decent programmer and have made game mods before.

The issue is sprites and audio, which I can't make for shit, and the fact that ultimately my enemy is laziness. Also, Cities can't really be mapped well in 2D

>>8671460
That is what these anons say.

The old days were better. That is how the entire dino meme started.

Which one of you guys posted this?
>>8670889

>>8671601
That's the shit taste chart anon.

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Did someone say chart?

>>8670453
I fucking wish, but it looks like he's stopped writing entirely due to depression and medical issues. At least Masquerade of a Dead Sword had some fantasy elements, with Faliol being a mercenary and getting in tavern brawls at the start.

>>8670853
He's a mad Russian with an unholy idol carved by a mad Arab. Boss is one of the guys making eyes in the foreground, the full picture has dogMC but I forgot which one is Jack and which one is Wolfman.

Any books with a strong, focal mystery aspect? As in, mixed with either fantasy or scifi.

>>8669828

I will vote here: it's not good.

>author exclusively writes support characters as females so he can kill them off later to satisfy his guro fetish

>>8671702
One on the right looks like Dracula, the one on the left looks like sherlock Holmes.

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>>8671756
You're right. The artist probably took some liberties, because I recall in the book Holmes was at that party disguised as an old woman.

>TFW you tried and failed to get into Neil gaiman's works but your mom likes his storytelling.

>>8671805
What did you try?

>>8671805
Sandman is his best shit overall
Good Omens is his best novel

Rest is mileage may very with a few (Anansi boys) being total shit

>Breeks won't even start writing the next book for a few months at least
>At least 2 years until the next one comes out

:(

>>8671807
Ocean at the end of the lane.

I couldn't enjoy the storytelling with a football game in the background so I had dropped it.

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Best boy?

Best girl?

I really like Sanderson's approach for Stormlight of the characters continually powering up like it's Dragonball or whatever, but I'm not a fan of his character writing.

Does anyone do a better take on that specific genre than him? Weeks fits but I don't like his writing, I didn't get into Powder Mage and whilst Will Wight fits I've read his stuff.

I'm just looking for some fun throwaway action fantasy but I can't actually think of anyone else that writes it, any suggestions?

>>8671941
I think Mat ended up being the only major character in WoT who I actually liked.

>>8671994
Try Wuxia

>>8671941
>when your author can't come up with any first names of more than two syllables, and those with two syllables always have emphasis on the first

such a hack

>>8671941
mat and lanfear

>>8672022
This is probably the most irrelevant and nitpicky criticism of anything that I have ever read.

>>8671941
Mat best boy (obviously).

Nynaeve best girl.

>>8672049
Bad naming is a pretty major issue if you're reading those names for 13 long books

>>8672054
What you described isn't bad at all though, in fact I'm not even sure you could call it criticism because you'd have to be legitimately autistic to even notice it let alone find it so egregious you condemn the author for it.

Best sci-fi that looks at the concept of God in any form?

Just read Valis and want more.

>>8672059
Not even that anon, but rhythm is a very important component of prose. If you're tone-deaf that's your fault.

>>8672071
>rhythm is a very important component of prose
Is this an undergraduate writing seminar? Am I talking to serious people or pseuds here?

>>8672060
Frank Herbert's Godmakers trilogy. Scott Adams' God's Debris. Futurama S3E20 "Godfellas." Mistborn.

>>8672079
>Am I talking to serious people or pseuds here?
Yes.

>>8672079
>if you don't want your prose to feel like nails on a blackboard you're an autistic pseud

>>8672079
you're arguing that WoT has good writing, which is clearly not the case. Good plot or good characters, maybe, but not good writing.

>>8672086
If having names with two syllables with frontloaded stress is "nails on chalkboard" to you then yes you are an autistic pseud. I'm sorry you had to find out this way.

>>8672071
>If you're born without the ability to recognize rhythm that's your fault

>>8672079
You do realise that the point of writing seminars is to help people become better writers and fix flaws right?

>>8672095
Just because that's the purpose doesn't mean it's succeeding.

>>8672095
He likes the prose in WoT, do you expect him to have an understanding of prose?

>>8672089
>you're arguing that WoT has good writing
No I'm saying how many syllables a name has and where the emphasis is in the name is about as far removed from coherent criticism as you can get while still talking about writing. Like, if this is all you can dredge up to complain about WoT's prose then I take it as very, very high praise, albeit from somebody with a laughably stilted view of how prose works.

>>8672095
You do realize a typical undergraduate writing seminar is headed by a failed author and filled with wannabe poets and authors who cling to styleguides like holy scripture, right?

>>8672071
What are examples of "rhythmic" names?

>>8672106
>ANASTASIE
>CYRIELLE
>DONAT

>>8672104
>He likes the prose in WoT
Reduced to straw-man arguments already? I never said I liked it, I just said your autistic complaints about it are just that: autistic complaints. Call it bland, call it utilitarian, call it repetitive. All these descriptors and more are true and apt. Never in my life have I seen somebody become so fixated on such a minor and indeed virtually unnoticeable aspect of writing. Normally you only see this in the argumentation of pseuds who are desperate for something to complain about, which is why I find it baffling with WoT when there are so many real things to complain about that I have no idea why you have to invent reasons to criticize it.

>>8672106
Trochees are a fine rhythm for names. Anon's problem was them being the only rhythms for names.

Observe some alternative rhythms:
BRANdoch DaHA
Genly Ai
Elrond Half-Elven
Half-Cocked Jack
Enoch Root
Jonathan Strange
Orm the Strong
John Carter
Eric John Stark

Each of these names feels different and fits the nature of the character. Jonathan Strange is long and almost sing-song, the dactyl of "Jonathan" almost whimsically leading up to and preparing for the monosyllable "Strange." Eric John Stark comes in bursts. He is punching you with his name. Genly Ai has a longer first than last name, giving him a sense of exoticism, which becomes ironic when he is the most familiar character in his book. The sounds of the syllables are liquid and open, as opposed to Enoch Root which has the same rhythm but feels tough and closed, perfect for a man with secrets.

>muh autism

Let's rename them. David Stranger. Eric Starker. Gendo Aily. Enoch Roto. Those names don't feel the same, they don't contribute to their characters as much, and they don't differentiate themselves from the other names nearly as well. Look chum, the Western world was built on autism. Show a little respect for it.

What does /lit/ think of the viability of a blog where I detail mythical creatures native to new york and post photoshopped images of them?

>>8672196
I think it has nothing to do with this thread or board. Go away.

>>8671620
Can I read Finch without reading the other books in the series?

>>8672201
It's just a fucking beastiary but posted online, what the fuck is your problem?

>>8672210
yes

>>8672211
Yeah, let's just let every attention-whoring faggot in here to shill their brands. At least self-publish a novel on Amazon before you self-promote here.

>>8672196
If it is interesting urban fantasy then why not. Key word interesting.

>>8671156
>it's shit for normies

>>8672196
go away Scamander

>>8672219
I'm not promoting you dipshit. I'm asking a goddam question. If you can't hear a fucking question without going ballistic you don't belong in our fucking society, fuck off to somewhere even worse, like cripple-chan

>>8672240
Fuck off autist.

>>8672242
piss off you cloaca-licking shitlord

So, I decided to read Pandora's Star due to its high ratings. I read about 100 of pages and so far this is the most boring sci-fi I've ever read. Some random stories about boring characters with shit knows how much unnecessary details. I literally forcing myself to read it now because I think that there is a reason for such high scores, maybe it will get better.
Will it? Is it really such a good book as people on goodreads claim? Is it worth continuing to read it? Should I try other books by Hamilton?

I mean, I read a lot of sci-fi, and I like it a lot but this book is just so boring.

>>8672273
If you don't like something 100 pages in there is no reason to ask these questions, for any book. Drop it and read something else in your backlog.

>>8672281
I just want to hear for opinions. On goodreads Hamilton's books have some of the highest scores among other sci-fi stuff. Why is he so popular? Do you guys like him? Like, what is special about his books? Maybe I just don't get world building.
I mean, I read a lot of shit things like Lost Fleet series and liked them a lot but this book... I am trying to keep reading because I have that feeling that I miss something about it.
So, what are your opinions on Hamilton?

>>8672304
Hamilton has some really neat SF ideas and he knows enough to make them plausible. His characters suck though. I mean, they really suck, and if you aren't prepared to ignore boatloads of bad characters doing boring things you're better off with the summaries.

>>8672304
Haven't read Hamilton but goodreads is atrocious for ratings if I look at stuff I've read

Great stuff low rated because people didn't understand it and then bad schlock at 5 stars

Is there even one consistently good fantasy series outside of LotR?

>>8672416
I don't think anything is as consistently boring and sleep inducing, no.

>>8672428
I'm not a huge fan either, as far as entertainment goes, but it is consistently above average, which isn't something series like WOT or ASOIAF can claim.

>>8672416
What have you tried?
And standalones are always better. LotR is a standalone split for publishing. Few are aware of this.

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>>8672413
>people like what I don't like
>how can they even make such a decision

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>>8672416
Time to feed me your hate.

What makes Altered Carbon and Quantum Thief good?

>>8672446
I like that you're so aware that your taste is trash that you're defending it even though I haven't named one single book

>>8672445
Most of the big ones, the only ones I've read that consistently hold up are GGK's books (outside of his only series, Fionavar, which I don't like), and the New Sun if you count it as fantasy. Martin could've been up there too if he gave a shit.

>>8672273
It's entirely possible it just sucks. Goodreads is a useless metric.
>>8672413
Just check out the Worm Ouroboros. They're utter plebs.
>>8672446
This is goodreads we're talking about, anon.

>>8669736
No, because it's utter shit.

Wait, what am I saying, of course it belongs here.
>>8670243
>dresden
>"A major theme..."
lol

>>8669747
>post-Infinite Jest /lit/
you mean post-corn /lit/

>>8672503
Corncob did nothing wrong.

He was our saviour and we killed him.

Nabokov ruined it

>>8671620
Is altered carbon free of the creepy homosexual pedophilia that A Land Fit For Heroes had?

What's more fappable, black jewels or kushiel's legacy?

>>8672546
Black Jews from Sudan (Kush's legacy).

/sffg/ I've been thinking over quark elementals in my setting and I really don't want to have to create the rule that they only travel in hive minds of two or three, but I also don't like the idea of them just being mish-mashes of two or three creatures sharing one body. Further complicating things is the fact that the quark elementals are canine or feline while the chemical elementals (starting with hydrogen, which is three quarks in its simplest state) are supposed to be humanoid

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>>8672626
>Further complicating things is the fact that the quark elementals are canine or feline while the chemical elementals (starting with hydrogen, which is three quarks in its simplest state) are supposed to be humanoid

>>8672626
Sanderson, is that you!?

>>8671486
One time I smoked too much plot while playing Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup, and now my life is permanently sad instead of happy. Although I sincerely believe that fantasy is a trash genre for little kids, I can't write anything except scenes where deep elves ambush cave orcs with magic weapons and spells.

>>8671486
there's shitloads of space horror vidyas but hardly any novels. you better start writing, nigga

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>>8672500
>trash pleb lit can't have themes

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>>8672666

>>8671270
I started reading it years ago, you'd have to be cold not to want to find out what happens to Gavin.

>>8672666
>One time I smoked too much plot while playing Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup, and now my life is permanently sad instead of happy.
Was this you?
https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3718266

Is it bad that when I make up names all I do is find obscure foreign ones and change them a bit?

>>8672118
>DONAT STEELE

>>8672721
pretty bad, yes.

>>8672721
You should pick foreign names that make sense for your dumb made up nation's culture. Like, these are not-slavs, these are not-Welsh etc. Don't do it willy nilly.

>>8672721
You should at least look up what the name means and try to tie it in to your characters' traits in some way

>>8672731
That is actually one of my biggest problems with Bakker. I enjoy his books but the names are all over the place.

>>8672724

Is it ok to make up names with a semblance of coherency?

>>8672750
He can't name anything without making it retarded

It's so unbelievable on a linguistic level that it wouldn't all be shortened down to make it possible to actually hold conversations

>>8672651
>>8672657
no, just a physics nerd making a mythology. Let me tell you, it is not easy

The way I have it arranged, up quark "elementals" are hell hounds (pun intended) and down quark elementals are bakeneko. Together the're called the eisengrimmalkin (note: elemental is only a name given to the chemical elementals. subatomic particle elementals are given other groups: angels/archons for bosons, fey/djinn/yokai for fermions, and dragons/basilisks for stars)

Their god, realizing that the magic he gave them was too great, cursed them by binding them together into small groups of threes whose powers cancelled out.

>>8672799
It sounds more like super-hero shennanigans. In fact it sounds like Marvel's microverse or like the microscopic realm of DC's The Atom

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Is this any good?
I loved Light, is it comparable?

>>8672808
The scale isn't nanoscopic though. Despite embodying subatomic particles I never even considered making it anything other than macroscopic

In the end though, I still need a way to depict the quark elementals, and I'm either going to have to choose between making unsightly amalgams of two or three, or force them to travel in groups

>>8672834
Are they sexy?

>>8672839
do you want to fuck cheshire cats with glasgow grins and/or baskerville hounds?

>>8672851
how did you... that is, I mean no, of course not.

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>>8672834
Not that this will help, but it's almost as silly an idea.

>>8672851
Maybe. It depends on whether they are anthropomorphized to any degree I guess. Glasgow grins sound a bit scary though.

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I got this paperback anthology in the post. It looks like a good selection of well known novelettes and short stories, which is what I wanted. Clifford Simak's Big Front Yard, the first thing I chose to read, is pretty comfy. Shame it's a 1992 print and a little bashed up. The newer anthologies I have found tend to be unwieldy things with tiny text, printed on tissue paper.

For you fantasy fans there is also an Anne McCaffrey story. I'm surprised she is hardly discussed in these parts. Don't you like dragons?

>>8672872
>Don't you like dragons?
personally I don't. they're actually just too powerful for any kind of setting and would fuck up everything if it wasn't for retarded behavioral rules to hold them back.

>>8672872
>Don't you like dragons?
I love dragons, but Anne McCaffrey was on the list.

>>8672857
In my case the neutronium elementals would be mutants with no place in the elementals caste systems. They're below even the hydrogen commoners despite the fact that neutronium is technically a noble gas (well, noble degenerate matter)

>>8672862
no anthropomorphization. they just look like animals of unusual size (the biggest, the top dogs being the size of double-decker your busses) who are surrounded with fire of primary or secondary colors (RGB convention, not RYB)

Of course, this is only them as a group. If I go with the amalgam thing I'm not sure how they'd look. I guess the baryon elementals would look human while the meson elementals would look like orthrus and the gluon elementals would be nekomata.

Still unsatisfying though, and I still haven't figured out how the nucleotides are going to going to fit in except by making the 8 demigods be the nucleotides. gravity should be Thymine so I can make the string theory demigod uracil...

still that seems too close to a certain other series

>>8672877
Fuck u nigger. Dragons are cool, but I agree they shouldn't be too OP.
Best dragon ever is probably Glaurung desu senpai.
He is powerful, but his strongest weapon is his cunning.

damn... based Paolini has GOAT taste

http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/33610695-christopher-paolini?shelf=recommended

>>8672872
I read McCaffrey's esper series. They were all right, kept me reading at least. Passive-voice action scenes blow no matter who's writing them though.

I guess we don't talk about her like we don't talk about Alan Dean Foster. They're not so terrible we meme them on newcomers or so good we meme them on newcomers, they're just there, workmanlike, filling shelf space, nothing more or less than themselves.

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>>8672834
Are you familiar with pic related? It features canine type creatures with small hive minds of 3-10.

>>8672905
>read (12)
figures

>>8672905
>Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher
rolls off the tongue just dandy

>>8672948
>bitches with over 1000 books read of every type and genre
>read a sample of their work
>it's complete fucking garbage worse than fanfic

I honestly think writing is at least 90% innate

>>8672948
Christopher Paolini writes like shit.
Only reads 12 books.
Writes like shit.
Pottery.

>>8672970
You can read all the books you want but if you can't learn/copy from other authors your writing will be shit.

>>8672932
I had that reccomended to me by a friend years ago and never read it

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>>8672979
>Can't really identify good prose and can only "feel" when it clicks and doesn't

>>8672878
What's "the list"?

>>8673014
in fantasy/sci-fi? neither desu

having good memes is the key

>>8673018
Books my parents wouldn't let me read.

>>8673002
Which of the following is more likely to earn you a successful career as a writer? Your ideal depiction of good prose or good prose modelled after an already successful writer?

>>8673026
Did... Did you just adjust your prose?

>>8673026
How can I have an ideal depiction when I can't even tell what makes the good, good?

>>8673034
Well there is approximately ten minutes in which you can delete a post and a deletion limit of approximately a three post (per day?).

>>8673042
>finding a typo after you've submitted a post
Just kill me.

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>>8672948
>>8672979
To be fair he's probably read a few more than that, just hasn't bothered logging them in. Gaiman only lists 32 despite his huge pulp library

>>8673052
Yeah and I think that authors purposefully omit books.

>>8673052
Of course he has. I was just taking a cheap shot at him because he's an easy target.

>>8673063
Eragon is love, Eragon is life.

>>8673072
this and it is also a ticket to riches

I'm writing my own Eragon right now to take advantage of the backlash against GRI which is bound to come any day now

my name will be up in lights soon I'll remember you all when I get there :^)

>>8673082
Delete this.

>>8673082
If your gamble falls through, just put a sexy dragoness on the cover.

>>8673082
So you're 13 too?

>>8673082
>readers getting tired of War of the Roses, ever
>readers wanting to slog through even more of these Tolkien pastiches

>>8673082
>Implying my high fantasy quadrilogy in a post-industrial setting with the most extensive world building and magic systems won't overshadow your shit and set a new standard for the future of the genre

>>8673102
I have the ultimate sexy dragoness book in mind. Gallons of boy seed will be spilt if I ever write it.

>>8673119
Pay for a good cover, so that I'll know to buy it.

>Post industrial high fantasy

So, science fantasy?

>>8673125
for >>8673110

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Which Xeelee book has the least dense physics stuff? I liked Vacuum Diagrams for its scale and the whole "humanity spreading out among the stars" aspect, but some stories were really difficult to wrap my head around.

>>8673124
There is also a spider. Save this post.

>>8672541
Yes. Instead you get creepy stuff about blood rushing to the dick of the straight main character.

I tried reading another book by him which started off with the main character hiring a prostitute and then getting arrested for ~false rape~

Richard Morgan has some issues with sex, I think.

god, Johannes Cabal goes to shit after the first book, but I have literally nothing else to read that I think I can gain some semblance of enjoyment from.

Maybe I should try to read some weird fiction or just outlandish shit

>>8673195
As long as he's thinking about girls, reading about the state and behavior of the MC's dick isn't gay.

>>8672782
Explain.

For me the names are perfect. Familiar enough that you just might hear them somewhere or hear something similar but alien enough to remind you this is a different world.

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I read this when I was 12 and thought it was pretty fun. It was years ago, but I have fond memories of it. Has anyone read this recently?

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>first few chapters
>main character's pregnant lover has a miscarriage and then immediately dumps him
>his mother dies immediately afterwards

What are some fantasy novels that hit you with unexpected feels?

>>8673383
It's a really good kids book, not much more

>>8673378
Not that guy, but the names just seem very random. Instead of sticking to a specific influence (ig. latin) or pattern for a specific nation they seem to be randomly distributed, and there are completely random umlauts everywhere.
Basically sounds like an Amurrcan (or Canadian) with limited linguistic knowledge trying to make up fantasy sounding names.

>>8673412
I wasn't expecting high literature.

>>8673383
I haven't read it in years but I liked it when I was younger too.

>>8670507
Being a more of a hard sci-fi I thought it wasn't exactly my cup of tea. Some stories, like Understand, Future of Human Science and Story of your Life, I enjoyed many others, Decision by Zero and Absence of God, lift me cold. I guess I'm not that into the whole alternative worldbuilding thing, even though I love Borges. Anyway the book might be something I'd recommend to people with general interest in smart speculative fiction. A lot of people seem to love it.

>>8671852
A friend had me read Anansi Boys as a good starting point for Gaiman. Haven't touched any of his books ever since. Should I give him another try?

>>8673632
If you want, sure - maybe one of the collections, so you get a wider variety of work with little poems and things mixed in. Depends what you disliked about Anansi, though, some people just don't click with him at all.

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what do I read next?

>>8673002
Read some books on it. Steering the Craft, Ursula K. Le Guin, or Character and Viewpoint, Orson Scott Card.

>>8673125
Depends on the mood to be h.

>>8673131
>no scorch marks
Did they carry that thing over there or what?

why is all high fantasy literature so fucking boring and samey?

is there anything recent (past 30 years) that's not just le epic battles/kingdoms/prophecies

>>8670672
>in the background it's about Sherlock Holmes helping Jack the Ripper and Dracula stop the return of Cthulhu
>main narrative is just a dog doing his job and trying to help his friends
>last novel Zelazny finished
It's so cozy.

>>8673760
>is there anything recent (past 30 years) that's not just le epic battles/kingdoms/prophecies
Tons. In fact most fantasy which isn't those things is from the last thirty years.

>>8673775
>Zelazny writes good stuff till he dies, age 58
>Le Guin vows to never write anything that isn't garbage ever again way back in the seventies, still alive writing garbage
Life isn't fair.

>>8673782
To be fair, Worm Orobouros and The Broken Sword have kingdoms, epic battles, and prophecies, but they're the farthest thing from boring and samey.

>>8673809
For you maybe.

>>8673815
What did you find samey about them?

>>8673760
It's now mostly about amoral ironic anti-heroes.

>>8673760
I miss le epic battles/kingdoms/prophecies, now it's all grimdark assholes being assholes to everyone

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>>8673994
>>8673976
Somebody post the Abercrombie parody review from Goodreads, I can't remember what I saved it as.

>>8671994
>>8672029
>>8672052
When the fuck does mat get good? I just want to slap him upside the head half the time

>>8672060
Isaac Asimov's The Last Question:

http://multivax.com/last_question.html

>>8672457
Your opinion is not objective anon, fuck off.

>your likes >/> other people's likes

>>8674064
The preferences of other people are spooks. Like other people.

>>8672546
>black jewels
>shilling this shit for years
>people actually reading it but to ashamed to say so
>thought my shills were falling on deaf ears

>>8674064
Taste being subjective is literally a meme that people use to justify liking shit

>>8674071
>mfw nobody's read Adam Roberts or John Barnes even with me shilling them whenever I can
>mfw I've had more success with Orphans of Chaos

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>>8673647

>>8674080
What is the thing itself about again anon? I forgot what you told me months ago.

>>8673082
>>8673110
Plebs.

My magical bronze age cyberpunk will REVOLUTIONISE the genre. I am a visionary; it is inevitable.

>>8673994
Dark fantasy is just epic fantasy, except the good guys save the girl right after she gets raped instead of right before.

>>8674535

>So little fantasy where the bad guys win

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What's the sci-fi equivalent to the LotR trilogy?

>>8674540
Well, it would be pretty stupid to have hero talk for several pages about the author's political beliefs and then have him lose, don't you think?

>>8674565

Dune, probably.

That or the first two books of the Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons. Too bad the latter two are garbage.

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>>8674540
>>8674567
That would be pretty dumb wouldn't it

>>8674581
Is there still a market for fantasy stories in which the conclusion is reached by the end of a single novel?

>>8674591
That's pretty much every other book by that guy

>>8674591
There's always a market for good books, sure.

>>8674602
Sure, but did they make him any money, or did they just get him established with the publisher so that he could sell his epic?

>>8674581
>>8674567

More like the bad guy ending up saving the world but doing it in morally bad ways and looking like a villain for most of the book

I'm writing fantasy set in sort of a prehistory era, before metalworking, where there were few people, few settlements and vast, HUGE areas of unexplored virgin wilderness.

Thing is, I absolutely need more research material, books that go in depth and I'm tired of reading about the same ol' cave paintings and act like the people were some half-monkey hunters that played in mud and fought tigers and mammoths at every turn.

I know there's not much on that era but I need something to work with. Any suggestions?

>>8674643
So in other words, he's the good guy (because he saves the world), but because of grimdark he's mean to the actual bad guys.

>>8674678

Yes but it would be written from the PoV of the actual bad guys so the readers would think he was the bad guy until the end

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>>8674670
This might be a little too hard for people who like fantasy, but it's basically required reading for normal people.

>>8674670
stone spring by baxter seems like it would help you, it takes place thousands of years ago in prehistory but people creative and inventive. tons of unique prehistoric cultures.
i loved it.

>>8671174
>http://i.imgur.com/r688cPe.jpg/
Please tell me a better option RIGHT now, I'm craving for something better than locke !!

>>8674766
Daughter of the Empire is a pretty gripping tale.

>>8674605
The three parter was the first thing he did. The publisher required it of him when he got on with them. Once he was established he got to write the shorter stories he wanted.

Publishers are the ones pushing for epics, not the writers

>>8674189
That must have been another Robertsanon, I've just read Salt, Stone, and New Model Army. I recall crossing paths with him once or twice.

>>8674670
See if you can find Glorantha sourcebooks. It's an RPG setting apparently quite popular in Europe that's Bronze Age/pre-metal tech, has duck-men, it's the background for King of Dragon Pass, that sort of thing.

>>8674030
Onions, but I'd say after he's been sick.

>>8674796
Well, I guess I can scratch that genre off my list. At least sci-fi hasn't been infected with epicism (yet).

>>8674870

KoDP is the most /lit/ game ever made. Planescape is a distant second.

>>8671941
Mat and Birgitte.

They should've shared a tent, if you catch my drift.

>>8674713
this book is so good

>Can't find anything to read
>Most recs I've already read

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>>8675068

>>8675015
I'm gonna have to go with Geneforge on that one.

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>>8674670
Stonehenge by Bernard Cornwell

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101086.Stonehenge

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Anybody out there read this series?

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>>8674670
You could do worse than reading Homer's Odyssey, as well as Herodotus' histories. They have an insight into the old mindset, which is superstitious. They're also full of myths and morality tales and evocative images to draw inspiration from. Not only does Herodotus talk about civilisied Persia, Egypt, and Babylon, he also talks extensively about nomadic steppe tribes like the Scythians, whose ways will have predated the first city states in Mesopotamia.

The Strugatsky Brother's Hard To Be a God depicts a primeval society being observed by Earth. There's an interesting idea in it that mankind is naturally greedy and brutal, and only the natural course of history, i.e. centuries of war and bloodshed, can change that society.

I realise that both the Greeks and feudal society are both later than you were asking for. But Homer and Herodotus go back as far as the iron age, maybe more in the case of Homer.

To go back further, you'd have to look to Mesopotamia and the Sumerians. It would be instructive to look at the Epic Of Gilgamesh, but also the bas-reliefs left by the brutal Assyrians at Nineveh (pic related.)

>>8675222

>Barb

Probably female author so no

>>8675213
>Bernard Cornwell
>depicts late-medieval society as a nigh-incomprehensible nightmare in which nobles and priests rape and torture their way through a society of illiterate near-slaves with impunity (in other words, realistically without muddying things with romanticism)

I fear to even wonder how he would represent the Great Britain of 2000BC.

What's Feist's Magician series like?

Seems quite popular in places that don't read genre fiction so I'm not sure if it's going to be interesting as a fantasy book

>>8675462
Eh it's fairly dated. Read his "Daughter of the Empire" instead it's better.

>>8675462
only good if you're 13

>>8675398
everyone being raped and killed is not remotely realistic or historically accurate you autist

>>8675398
t. GRRM

lads I finished Takeshi Kovacs series and I want more mindless fun. any rec?

Opinions on Altered Carbon and Quantum Thief?

>>8675558
Heroes Die (Acts of Caine series) is freaking fantastic, and the main character is very similar character-wise.
Plus, it's a really smooth and neat mix of fantasy and scifi.

>>8675496
Of course not everybody gets raped or killed. Just the people who happen to be in a village or town that is on the warpath of a raging feudal horde whose ostensible purpose for waging war is an argument over some rich family's genealogy.

I'm a stupid faggot what the fuck is GRI

>>8675841
Gay
Rape
Incest

>you are now aware that the antagonist in every dark fantasy novel is a pedophile

>>8675920
Examples?

>>8675068
Gerard Klein.

>>8675390
It's short for Barbarian

How is Book of the New Sun sci-fi in any meaningful sense?

>>8676130
What class is J.C. then?

>>8676139
It relies on fictional scientific concepts, like the alzabo and aquatic giantism, which are introduced early on, developed as the story progresses, and are important to the climax. In this sense it's more meaningfully SF than some random detective story set on another planet.

Hey guys, please help me remember a book/series I wanted to read

It's about a future high scifi society in which biological beings are basically immortal, I remember descriptions like AIs being so advanced that the AI in a drone or in your space suit has its own rights and its own "life" outside of its "job"

People genetically engineer themselves to change their physical forms at will, etc.

Sounds kinda like "The Golden Age" but I'm not sure that's it?

>>8676292
Sounds like The Culture.

>>8676139
Planetships are a huge scifi concept

And as the other person says it's much more ideas heavy than some action scifi

>>8676492
that's it thanks

jesus why are there like 8 books of this

>>8676600
>jesus why are there like 8 books of this
Every Culture book is basically it's own story

They're all from different times and perspectives

>>8676561
New Sun's on Earth though.

>>8676644
>>8676600
any suggestions on good ones to read? I'm sure i'll read the first two but then maybe skip around. second one seems most highly esteemed

>>8676915
Start with it, a lot of anons give the whole series a miss after Phlebas but the ones who started with Player of Games really like it.

>>8676948
Thanks for the rec, I'll start it tomorrow

Any new/interesting scifi get released or coming out soon?

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This was a fantastic work of sci-fi, and the first Mieville book I've read that I think truly works. Great read.

What Mieville/Weird Fiction should I read next?
I'm choosing between:

>The Scar
>The City and the City
>Virinconium
>City of Saints and Madmen
>The Etched City
>The Orphan's Tales

>>8677296
My vote goes to The Scar.

>6 months til Unholy Consult

FUCK

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>>8675390
>>8676149
It's written by a couple, J.C.'s the guy.
I didn't realize /lit/ hated female authors. I guess I will never find anyone who's read it.

>>8677296
The City and the City desu

>>8677398
>I didn't realize /lit/ hated female authors
Only the people who will use any excuse possible not to read.

I really enjoyed The Witcher series, what would be another good books to read with the same "mood", meaning adult themes and not only swords and magic stuff

>>8672060
Hyperion & Fall Of
Echopraxia

>>8677296
The Scar was cool.

>>8677331
What really? That seems real quick.

>>8675156
this is giving me major La Planète sauvage vibes, is it in any way similar?

I haven't read Earthsea in a long time, and I've just started rereading it. I never really noticed back then that most of the people mentioned in the books are dark-skinned in one way or another, with only the Kargs being white.

It just seems so weird.

>>8677663

And now I've actually gone and read up some interviews of her about this and some weird "gender issue" which she wrote in herself.

Holy fuck, this makes me want to stop reading the book.

Why the fuck do writers project so much of their own ideology into books?
Why did she do it?

>>8677440
Try Black Company if you haven't already it's quite tonally similar.

>>8677693
Wah give me a safe space where I don't have to read anything that doesn't agree with my shitty opinions

>>8677698

>opinions

What? It's just nonsense. I don't mind the weird take on ethnicity, but the gender issue is something she wrote in herself, saying how chauvinistic male wizards drove women from Roke and apparently because they couldn't be there, they couldn't practice/study magic anywhere else like they did.

>>8677579
Not in the slightest. I'm afraid that the cover is only representative of the content in the most abstract sense.

>>8677702
LeGuin is kinda infamous for this, chum.

>>8677735

Yeah, but the last time I read her stuff I was 12. That's more than two decades ago now. I guess nostalgia tricked me into forgetting about the bad stuff in it.

>>8677741
>implying you read between the lines at that age
You just enjoyed it. It's your jaded adult mind that fucks shit up for you now.

Racism isn't something we're born with, it's learnt.

>>8677741
I am also upset when brown people infiltrate my made up fantasy worlds

>>8672022
Kek

>>8677693
>Why the fuck do writers project so much of their own ideology into books?
That's kind of the fucking point, you got damn mongrel

>>8677693
>Why the fuck do writers project so much of their own ideology into books?
How the fuck would you write a book that doesn't contain your own ideology? Are you just angry that she doesn't write your ideology into it?

>>8677921

>Gender drama in a fantasy world is a huge deal.

I never said anything of the sort, so I don't really understand what you're trying to imply here.

There was no drama to be had at all, until she started to revise things for no real reason.

>>8677922

>You just enjoyed it. It's your jaded adult mind that fucks shit up for you now.

Oh yeah, I fully agree with that.

>>8677925

Except I just said it's weird. I don't mind it at all.

>>8677944
>>8677945

What? Is that really it? No one writes things they don't actually believe in?

>>8677957
>No one writes things they don't actually believe in?
People write about hypothetical situations and how they would react given a certain mindset, one that can change from work to work

don't turn this around on us because the writer didn't follow your headcanon

>>8677964

>People write about hypothetical situations and how they would react given a certain mindset, one that can change from work to work

How do they write different sorts of characters then and not make them out to be some kind of twisted/evil/insane/unreasonable caricature meant only to pose as a soundboard for their own beliefs?

>don't turn this around on us because the writer didn't follow your headcanon

What the hell are you talking about now?

>>8677978
>How do they write different sorts of characters then and not make them out to be some kind of twisted/evil/insane/unreasonable caricature meant only to pose as a soundboard for their own beliefs?

That's like 50% of 'The Art of Writing' there, it's too difficult to explain succinctly.

>>8677574
That's because The Great Ordeal and the The Unholy Consult were supposed to be one book, but had to be broken up due to length.

So most of the material is already written, just a bit of editing left I would assume.

Time for a new thread. I'm polishing up a review of Earthsea.

>>8678292
Then make it with your trip off, and no bard shilling.

>>8678292
You need to wait until at least Page 7.

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New thread: >>8678486

>>8678490
Does /lit/ even move fast enough to warrant a new thread when we're only on page 6?

>>8677398
It's not that she's female, it's that nobody's heard of her.