/sffg/ - Science Fiction and Fantasy General

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>>8929270
got a soft spot for this one.

>>8929270
Can someone name a good sci-fi or fantasy series with a major character, preferably a protagonist or ally of the protagonist, who is both male and bisexual, but not reducible to his sexual orientation and whose sexual orientation is not just "horny as fuck and wants to bang everything that moves?"

Especially if it's either not politicized or, if it is, is done in an interesting way and not a preachy way.

Something like John Constantine being bi in Hellblazer.

I know Marion Zimmer Bradley's husband loved raping little boys. Does her fiction contain any /ss/ themes?

What sci-fi or fantasy character do you find it easiest to identify with?

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>>8929327

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Non english speaker girlfriend is looking for a light fantasy book that isn't too complex to help her improve her vocabulary.

I'd appreciate any suggestions. Thanks in advance guys.

>>8929421
King of the Hill is not a book and is neither science fiction nor fantasy. There is also no reason to think that Bobby is anything other than straight, despite him being interested in some traditionally feminine hobbies.

That said, it is pretty good, so you at least managed to meet one criterion. Thanks for trying.

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>>8929423
I'd say Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels may be your best bet for some good light fantasy. It may fall under being a little complex at times, but it tends to stay fairly clear for the most part.

I'd recommend starting with the guards series as that's the one I'm most familiar with, and it tends to just follow mystery formats which are easy enough to follow.

Any fantasy books where a harpy gets a good dicking? Surely someone has written about a harpy getting her ample hooters ruffled?

>be biochem student
>try to write basic hard scifi about aliens
>ends up being non-sensical protein fan-fic

jesus fuck I am retarded

>>8929423
The Hobbit

>>8929423
David Eddings - Belgeriad

>>8929442
Thanks! I had looked into Discworld before but I never really paid much attention. I was thinking of starting her up with the first novel The Colour of Magic because that seems more right up her alley.
What do you think?
>>8929479
I'm not sure about this one being 'light' and streamlined enough for her but thanks anon I'll keep it in mind.

What are some books rarely mentioned in this thread that are great reads?

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>>8929538
well, I did rather like this one.

>>8929530
Yeah that would probably be a better choice, I have a bit more of a bias for the watch novels since they were the first ones I read, but Colour of Magic could work out better for getting someone unfamiliar with the novels into the series.

>>8929423
Narnia

>>8929270
>fevre dream
I see books that outer lit likes to suggest is either degenerate, racist or both. Are they just edgy? Does your book need farts, pedophile, scat, cuckoldry, racism, homoerotic tone, etc to be literary?

George sure loves his buck African American brothers.

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>>8929446
I need to keep better track, because I feel like I've read one. Have some random scaly women.

>>8929270
Is Mistborn as cringey as Elantris?

>>8929327
>preferably a protagonist or ally of the protagonist, who is both male and bisexual, but not reducible to his sexual orientation
The only difference between a straight man and a gay/bi man is the way they have sex. The sexual act is all that defines a gay person. That is why in music videos /movies (California's new laws) they show 2 guys/girls kissing/fucking to show that they are gay. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to tell.

What are some great stand alone fantasy books? Not looking for a series

I don't know if anyone answered my question in the previous thread, so I'll ask again: what other Wolfe fantasy books are worth reading? I've already read The Wizard Knight and enjoyed it.

>>8929673
The Face in the Frost by John Bellairs

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>>8929673

>>8929673
The Silmarillion

>>8929673
most any Guy Gavriel Kay

Are unfinished tales, children of hurin and the history of middle earth worth reading?

>>8929673
The City and the City

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>>8929741
It depends how deep your interest in Middle-Earth is. Out of those three, Hurin is probably the most accessible since it's a full novel (expanding and cleaning up the prose from one of the better Silmarillion stories), UT has some interesting bits of lore but not much actual story, and History is a REALLY in-depth account of the whole writing process.

>>8929538
I'm currently really enjoying Deed of Paksenarrion, kinda generic epic fantasy but it's from the viewpoint of a random solider.

>>8929658
The first quarter of Mistborn is absolutely cringey. Kelsier all but tips his fedora while going M'Lady when he first meets Vin, I was almost expecting that tired old standby where the young special snowflake girl falls in ~love~ with the older author self insert character. But it gets better further into the book.

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>the biggest, baddest, smartest, most skilled, feared, respected, toughest criminal in the whole city is a 17 year old dude who walks with a cane

Literally anime. The first scene he appears in is some keikaku doori Lelouch shite. Pretty close to dropping this.

>>8930019
>17 year old dude who walks with a cane

Is it a sword cane?

>>8930024
Might be yet, in his inner monologue he claims his wounded leg doesn't really hurt that much even on a bad day.

>>8929327
TKaG

>>8930052
If the book was a hidden gem then you could shill, but the book is ,

/sffg/ where can I go to read short stories? I've been using tor, but their supply isn't exactly bottomless

>>8930019
absolutely drop it. it only gets worse

>>8929399
Achamian

>>8929442
If I didn't enjoy mort, but I like technological growth, is moving pictures worth checking out?

>>8930142
>absolutely drop it. it only gets worse
Well I'm convinced. I was reading it during a 4 hour wait, got to about the 2 hour mark and switched to a different book because it was making me roll my eyes every other page.

>>8930142
There's Beyond Ceaseless Skies and Clarkesworld, but I don't know how good they are

>>8930180
I don't really like fantasy stuff in general but the Watch and Moist von Lipwig books are good. They're basically about medieval cops, and a conman who gets forced to work for the government to create working mail/railroad/banking systems. There's a definite sense of technological progress in the books.

(It's a shame he never got around to writing the one where Moist gets appointed Taxman, because I can imagine how he would instantly become the most hated man in the city)

>>8930142
Beneath Ceaseless Skies published the Traitor Baru Comorant short so at least they aren't all shit but I had a look at the other pieces and they're nowhere near as impactful (in that some fanfics have more quality writing than the stories they publish).

For scifi Asimov, Aldiss and Clarke write fantastic ones and Roadside Picnic and Flowers of Algernon are both worth checking out but I'm not sure about the enduring quality of sites.

>>8930316
*Beyond

>>8930513
>this fucking pasta again
KYS.

>>8930513
At least use it as a template for other things. Those were briefly amusing.

>>8930513
>leftover pasta again
Pasta's only good for 1 reheat before it gets all gooey.

>>8930513
The person who originally wrote this ought to read Sexual Personae

Is Bakker red pilled?

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>>8930603
Yes

>>8930574
Great stuff, more SFF authors should read it.

>>8930513
Fuck off with the pasta.

Reading Wizard of Earthsea atm, LeGuin really knows how to play her tropes. The books are cliche, but she makes it work so well. I had the same feeling with another of her stories, the dispossessed.
Incidentally, I'm pretty sure Name of the Wind ripped off its "true name magic" from Earthsea.

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>>8930633

>>8930701
True names are big in primitive magic, that's where Le Guin got it, and there's a chance Rothfuss got it from there too. He probably took enough anthropology classes.

>>8930717
He's also a hack, so balance of probability says that he ripped it off LeGuin

Been thinking about reading more Wheel of Time (I've only ever read the first book), but I found The Eye of the World to be... flawed. The writing itself was sound enough (in my opinion) but I didn't like the way some of the plot points were handled.

I'm not sure how to put it so I don't know if anyone feels the same way as me. So I guess what I want to ask is, do you feel the other books are improvements over the original in any form, or is it one of those series where the first book is considered one of the best? I just wonder whether or not I should expect more of the same.

>>8930717
>>8930746
True names are a very common fantasy trope. I don't think you can say Rothfuss ripped it off from Le Guin, that's a bit like saying he ripped off the "guy goes on a fantasy adventure" from the Hobbit.

>>8930894
I thought the first book was the hardest to get through of the first maybe six or so. It feels quite derivative and cliche in places. After the first book Jordan starts to branch out a bit and do things his own unique way. The problem is once you become completely invested in the series, at around book 6 or 7 he's introduced way too many POV characters and the main plotlines start moving at a snail's pace. But by that point you're (or at least I was) pretty committed to the story and some of the characters and felt the need to slog through the back half of the series. The tempo picks up once Sanderson takes over at least even if his writing style isn't as engaging.

>>8930894
The subsequent books are much better and the first book is widely considered to be one of the weaker ones for a number of reasons. It actually has very little to do with the big picture of the rest of the series. It's more like the inciting incident and does a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of getting the reader's understanding of the world moving. If you're reading closely enough to catch them all there are actually hundreds of little things in EoTW that come back around in the other books and I never cease to wonder at how much of the story was planned and how much of it Jordan went back and thought "alright I guess I can kind of use that as set up for what I'm writing now"

Read on. Books 4 and 6 are my personal favorites of the whole series, and if you make it that far you might as well finish because the bad parts aren't as bad as everyone says and are relatively short compared to most of the rest.

(incidentally those slow parts/books are also why the series won't work as a tv show or movie series because there are so many little details that become important and axing them without damaging the epic scale of the story would be impossible)

>>8931009
>>8931204
That all actually sounds quite promising, especially the part about the small details that become relevant later. I love that kind of stuff. Thanks for the responses, I'll definitely give the rest of the series a shot. And yeah, in general I'm not a fan of seeing books get adapted - even with simpler stories you'll see a lot of valuable exposition cut out which invariably results in a weaker narrative.

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What book should I read if I want to see heroic adventures and orcs being BTFO?

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>>8931373
does what it says on the tin

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>>8929325
What is the term or a brief description for this depression in the slope of the mountaint?

t. poor but ambitious writer

>>8931459
Ridge? Indent? Valley? Platform?

>>8931459
shelf?

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What books are you planning to read this year guys?

>>8929399
Daenerys Targaryen

>>8931488
Nothing from that, that's for sure.

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>>8931500
*tips*

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This has a little girl protagonist and is comfy.

>>8931488
I think I'll give ebin :DDD fantasy a rest for a while. That means picking books semi-randomly from my to read stack. Currently halfway through The Difference Engine and wondering if the author will tire of "Victorian prostitutes, lel" and focus on the mechanical computers.

>>8931373
What is that from?

I am trying to find this book and I can't remember what it was called. It was a book that started with the letter z. It was Zarathur or za or something (makes me think of "Zathura"? No that's the children's book) where are the characters in the story or just modern time people and they are in an airplane that goes through the Bermuda Triangle and through some weird warping suddenly are transported onto a planet that has lower gravity (Like John Carter) and literally turn into these different humans that have these really cool abilities like the one chick she can use a bow another guy he is a sword or something like that like they just have extremely large strength. And that's all I can remember from this book could you help me out I'm pretty sure it came out a long time ago because the book was pretty old?

>>8931497
A chronic Taco Bell eater, I imagine?

>>8931654
That sounds like the Diadem series by John Peel.

>>8931654
Man I really shouldn't use the speech-to-text function on my phone, these posts make me sound super autistic.

>>8931660
No that's not it I know the title definitely started with the letter z. And also on the cover of the novel there was a picture of a large airplane flying through a triangle into outer space. But I will definitely look up diadem because I am currently reading John Carter right now and I really enjoy these kinds of stories.

>>8931662
I'm actually impressed that speech-to-text is that accurate. I should get a phone so I don't have to do any typing.

>>8931684
>I'm actually impressed that speech-to-text is that accurate. I should get a phone so I don't have to do any typing.

The punctuation is kind of annoying although I don't think I have figured it out just yet.

>>8931654
Stand on Zanzibar?

Haven't read it, just going off the Z name

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>>8931654

>>8931373
Source on game please?

>>8931488
I never really would have considered Roadside Picnic Post Apocalyptic, but I guess it technically is in very broad terms.

Red Rising's protag isn't remotely grey, morally. He gets angry sometimes and that's literally it.

Any sci-fi or fantasy about lesbians being gay as fuck?

>Sooner or later, however, either someone would call up to her from the street or one of her regular patrons would knock at the door, and things would sour. Achamian would become grim, grab his cloak and satchel, and invariably go get drunk at some dingy tavern. Usually she would spy him from the sill when he returned, walking alone through the endless press of people, an aging, slightly rounded man who looked as though he’d lost his purse gambling. Every time, without exception, he would already be watching her when she saw him. He would wave hesitantly, try to smile, and a pang of sorrow would strike her, sometimes so hard she would gasp aloud.
Poor akka man.
Why is he always so pathetic?

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>>8932022

So let's call it lads. Will the Judging Eye show Kellhus as a black pit in the world, the most sinful being to have every existed? Or will he be bathed in light, the savior sent by the One? I'm on the fence about it myself.

And is he actually even a person anymore with thoughts and feelings, like caring about Esmenet, or is he just an association of talents and deception geared toward domination of everything?

>>8929475
I fucking loled. Chemical Engineering here and same, I start going way too much into detail about processes and descriptions of machinery.

>>8930165
Cuck

>>8932022
>loving a literal whore
Nevereverever

>>8931488
In the short term might take a look at the Larry Correia.

>>8932118
Everything he's done since he was broken on the circumfix is just a means for him to destroy the consult and steal a way to escape damnation

Never ever trust a Dunyain

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>>8929325
Ted Nasmith's illustrations are top tier, especially the ones for the Silmarillion.

>>8929423
The Witcher books are quite good for that. Easy to read with surprisingly decent vocabulary. I am partial to the David French translations.

>>8931793
THAT'S IT THAT'S THE BOOK THANK YOU!!!

>>8932118
>dunyain dog
>having feelings
they make us love anon. THEY MAKE US LOVE

I liked akka and esmi desu. They seemed a good couple.

>>8931459
I wouldn't worry too much about about being too specific with words like these. Chances are readers won't know what they mean and just skip over them.
Like that time I read the word 'riparian' twice in the same book and only googled what it means because I thought it was a typo.

>>8931598
are you paid to post this in every thread?

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Do you guys have any good wallpapers or art from the Book of the New Sun? There sadly seems to be virtually nothing on deviant art or google images related to this masterpiece, and I really wanted a good wallpaper from it. Pic related is the only decent one I've found.

What's the best sci-fi with a little girl protag?

>>8931488
>Maximum Ride
>On anything

How anyone could like that putrid shitstain of a series is beyond my comprehension.

>>8932242
Why are people obsessed with little girls in this thread?

One interesting thing also. Yatwer can see pretty much everything, it seems like, and she even knew that Kellhus would be in the throne room, and where he would be standing! But she and her assassin didn't know about Kelmomas. Does that mean that he is hidden from Yatwer, and maybe even the One God? Is he the savior destined to kill the No-God?

>>8932170
So you think he will basically be an alternate No-God? Makes sense actually, especially since it was the No-God speaking to him on the Circumfix, and as the "head on a pole behind him" speaking to him.

>>8932206
Ehhh I dunno, they were an interesting couple, that's for sure, but I really don't think that they were a good couple.

>>8932249
First day here?

>>8932249
It's just one pedophile, ignore him Anon.

>>8932206
>not even a twelve talent whore
>part of a good couple

>>8931598
I'm on to you, Kate.

>>8932216
>Implying any of these faggots have actually read BotNS

>>8932402
>these faggots
You realize that by posting here, you are one of us?

>>8932408
>le fucking got em' XD

what's y'all's favorite part about writing sci fi?

I love naming characters, it's stuck by as the most satisfying part of what I've written for me. The current crew of the ship in the story I'm working on consists of Arliend Desjuta IV Dyeth, Kelso, Graface/Zay Jack/Kaid (alters), Bardock (the chef and gardener called "the 'dock"), Cat, Sniper Ida, and then the two children Benzo & Brand.

I'm not in these threads a lot, any other writers here?

>>8932464
There is a separate thread for writers, this one is exclusively for consuming fiction.

>>8932470
oh got it, sorry about that

>>8932464
>Arliend Desjuta IV Dyeth

cringe

>>8932464
You bring up an interesting point about sci-fi which is that writers basically have the freedom to use any kind of name they want. Depending on the setting you can clump together a bunch of discordant names and it can still make sense because maybe they're from different species or different planets or something like that.

Side note, have you seen the names in the Culture series? Absolute fucking insanity, and yet there's still logic to them.

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>>8932470
And mainly only fantasy at that.

>>8932488
That's because more people write it. It's already extremely hard to find good modern Fantasy writers, let alone SciFi. Here's to a better 2017.

>>8932495
On the bright side we have literally over 100 years of novels to work with so it's not like we're short on material to read.

>>8932480
the point of that name is that the character is never called that and instead is reknowned by a variety of names, mostly like Ad'seev, 'the Ads,' Ad, or just Dyeth, with Dyeth maybe functioning like a chosen name

>>8932482
exactly! My obsession started when they named a river after Duncan in GEOD and I thought it was crazy anything could be still called Idaho 4000+ years in the future.

I haven't but I'll check it out, I'm always looking for more scifi, thank you

But sorry, I'll totally stop posting in this thread (about this at least), thank you for indulging me/I'll stop bothering yall

>>8931827
>>8931630
5 years old trailer for Lineage Eternal. Then game now look completely different.

>>8932566
Haha, sounds like the new Duke Nukem Forever with that title.

>>8932500
If you're fine with dated writing and have no criteria, then sure. Anything older than the last 30~ years burned me badly so I give up on them personally.

>>8932716
>dated writing
Is this a new meme or are you the only one pushing this phrase? Good writing doesn't suddenly become bad just because it's old. Treasure Island still reads great, as does Tolkien.

If anything I've found that the writing style of older books is better anyway.

>>8932745
Dune, Dying Earth, Foundation and Stars My Destination all were a pain to read from what I've tried. I guess prose itself wasn't a problem with Dying Earth, more that it moved nowhere for pages upon pages which can also be categorized as dated I'd say. Maybe it's not "bad" but I don't like it and I feel like writing in modern books have changed in subtle ways that remove a lot of those annoying factors for me.

What was the significance of the shadow-boy in the Iron Dragon's Daughter?

>>8930701
Read enough fantasy and you'll find the "true names" thing being repeated over and over. It's a very old superstition, but I guess you could say Le Guin was high-centered on it and Rothfuss chose to make it central to his story as well.

>>8932993
With Le Guin especially the true names meshed with the theme of true self, and with the other Taoist concepts in her early work. Don't know if Rothfuss did that.

>>8931292
>especially the part about the small details that become relevant later
Man you have no idea how much foreshadowing is crammed in Eye of the World. It's insane. Jordan not only foreshadowed nearly every major plot turn in the latter part of that book he also set up the next 5 or 6 books in the series.

>>8933007
Rothfuss has been really cagey about fleshing out the naming stuff almost like he's trying to be deliberately obscure about it as a contrast to over developing Sympathy magic.

>>8932516
>Ad'seev, 'the Ads,'

cringe

>>8929399
Quentin Coldwater.

Why is there no world map for Malazan Book of the Fallen? All I can find are fan versions which are based on speculation.

>>8933299
Maybe that means you aren't supposed to see it.

>>8933307
It doesn't make sense considering the books are furnished with at least 3 maps each, sometimes more. Maps for continents, for city layouts, for subcontinent regions. Just nothing that ties it all together.

Darrow had better end this Harmony bitch

Anyone read the second trilogy of assassin's apprentice? The first was far more than I thought it would be.

>>8933576
Why would I read after that mess of a third book?

>>8933576
I've read every single one of Hobb's books. I'm a huge fan. She's not liked here because people only read her first trilogy (the Farseer Trilogy), which had some very odd pacing.

My favourite trilogy of hers is Liveship Traders, which is supposed to come after the Farseer Trilogy that you've already read. I highly recommend it if you're interested in reading more of her stuff.

Many people skip it because they only want to follow Fitz, and the second Fitz trilogy is the Tawny Man Trilogy. The Tawny Man Trilogy is better than the Farseer Trilogy as it combines the interesting and well-written characters from the Farseer Trilogy with the lessons she learned writing her first two trilogies, making for a better-structured story. You can go here next, though you'll be a little bit in the dark when stuff from Liveship Traders is referenced.

>>8929270
any good science fantasy? like science fiction but without the boring parts.

>>8934119
Hyperion.

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>>8934119
Tech is so extreme as to accommodate the effective actuality.

>The real problem with being around James was that he was always the hero. And what did that make you? Either the sidekick or the villain.

>He was absolutely prepared for this interview in every possible way, except maybe his incompletely dried hair, but now that the ripened fruit of all that preparation was right in front of him he suddenly had no desire for it. He wasn't surprised. He was used to this anticlimactic feeling, where by the time you've done all the work to get something you don't even want it anymore. He had it all the time. It was one of the few things he could depend on.

I think Lev Grossman has been spying on me or some shit.

>>8934119
Book of the New Sun

>>8934362
I think Lev Grossman is a shit.

>>8934362
wonder what he'll write next.

>>8934374
Well, that's rude.
>>8934375
http://www.tor.com/2016/09/28/lev-grossman-new-novel-the-bright-sword-post-camelot/

>>8934362
>In 1997, in response to his novel Warp receiving largely negative customer reviews, he submitted fake reviews to Amazon using false names. He then recounted these actions in an essay titled "Terrors of the Amazon"

>>8934385
hmm yeah sounds interesting. He could surely do a lot with that.

>>8934387
Was the essay an apology or what? Also, it's been 20 years and in all likelihood nobody was hurt. Calm down.

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>>8934385
>Arthurian
Nice, nice.

>>8934413
I dunno the link's dead. I wasn't really having much of a go at him anyway just thought it was funny.

>>8934362
Some passages he really takes off. The first attempt at creation in Magician's Land in particular stuck out for me.

>>8932873
I thought it was her soul

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>>8933299

>>8934528
Leoman did nothing wrong

>>8932253
>>8932170
>So you think he will basically be an alternate No-God? Makes sense actually, especially since it was the No-God speaking to him on the Circumfix, and as the "head on a pole behind him" speaking to him.

His conversations with Proyas are pretty ambiguous since Dunyains gonna Dunyain, but most people's money is on him being the actual No-God, the new one and the historical one. Regardless of what he is, his ultimate plan seems to be destroying the Consult, then murdering almost everyone on the planet since the Outside depends on the physical realm for existence. The theme of Bakker's world seems to be "what if the world was inside out" and instead of an objective reality, it's a subjective reality, with the thoughts and emotions in sentient beings' heads determining the structure of the greater cosmos. Kellhus figures this out after using Noomancy to basically skinny dip into Hell and seeing how gods and demons were pretty much the same and depended on soul juice for their existence. So, being a Dunyain, he decided to kill them. Or at least that was my understanding.

Bakker says that The Unholy Consult is going to reveal everything pretty much, including whatever the fuck the Nail of Heaven is.

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Any recommendations for stuff, scifi or fantasy, where there's a definite sense of technological progress as opposed to the usual "it's been the christian dark ages for 20,000 years because fantasy authors have a poor sense of scale"/"author's poorly conceptualized WH40k Imperium knockoff" shit?

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>>8934720
Sanderson and Stephenson my man. I hear Grace of Kings has an industrial revolution ongoing too.

>>8933788
>She's not liked here because people only read her first trilogy (the Farseer Trilogy), which had some very odd pacing.
Also a bunch of us have read the Soldier Son stuff which is THE WORST

Agree on liveship being her best

>>8934720
Traitor Baru has that, mainly because it's about imperialism

>>8934720
The Thousand Names

It's got muskets & shit

>>8934720
City of Stairs early industrial or thereabouts I suppose.

>>8934742
How so with Sanderson? I've read the first two Mistborn books, and IIRC in Mistborn it's mentioned that technology has been deliberately suppressed, with the exception of canned food, but as far as I'm seeing not enough time has passed in the books for any progress to have happened.

Thinking about it, Honor Harrington counts on the scifi end, there's a definite scale of progression as the series goes from battles with crappy ships slugging it out to massive fleets using cutting edge weapons, but as the series goes on this falls victim to the Mary Sue creep and it just ends up being "the new prototype works flawlessly and saves the day, go team #herrington." And in the Instrumentalities series by Glen Cook it starts with early gunpowder and progresses to early pike and shot tactics IIRC.

>>8934780
When I said that I'd read all of her books, I lied. I've only read the first Soldier Son book it was that bad. It's been long enough now though that I'm planning on forcing myself through books 2 and 3 just to satisfy my autism though.

>>8934806
Mistborn sequel series is 1800s tech. His original goal was to have a medieval, modern, and future trilogy each for Mistborn, but he tripped and accidentally wrote a few Westerns. Stormlight Archive also has new magical techs being tried as time goes on.

If you want SF with an arms race you really can't do better than Martian Successor Nadesico. Trust me on this.

>>8934817
The first book is the best one by a mile, it goes awful with the start of book 2

>>8934851
You can't be serious. I refuse to believe that. Surely, like with the Realm of the Elderlings, she learns from her first experience and improves it later. I mean how much worse could it be?

Honestly though I thought the first half of the book was okay. I enjoyed learning about the culture and history and characters. It was only when he gets to the school and it becomes Harry Potter/Name of the Wind that I really started to dislike it.

Also disclosure: I've met Robin Hobb and have her autograph so I'm probably pretty biased.

>>8934720
Powder Mage has some of that, though it's more about societal progression than purely technological.

>>8929399
Thomas Covenant because I'm a complete piece of shit (also impotent).

>>8934966
You poor bastard.

>>8934576
Do you think there may be something he doesn't understand or has overlooked? Could the No-God possess him somehow (not that it matters death-wise)? How does the Heron Spear play into all this?

And again, how come Yatwer was blind to Kelmomas the whole time?

If it sounds like I'm actually asking you I'm not, just wondering aloud.

>>8934790
Is that good?

>>8935008
I've heard it's excellent, and also very depressing/a emotional roller coaster.

>>8935008
>>8935109
it's good worldbuilding i liked it, not really depressing

Which book should I read where Elves team up with humans to BTFO orcs?

>>8935008
I liked it a lot.

>>8935157
Is there anything more to the story than
>imperialism is bad mmmkay
?

>>8935183
it'd say the message is kind of gray overall toward imperialism in the end, without getting too into it, their are layers to the themes

>>8935183
We can't really discuss the story without going into spoiler territory, but the conclusion is exquisite.

>>8935197
>>8935201
Thanks. I'll give it a chance.

>>8935160
Lord of The Rings

>>8934886
It gets worse. I dropped either towards the end of the second book or start of the third, I can't remember exactly. The school stuff was actually one of the high points for me, which just says how much worse it gets from there.

I say this as a fairly big Hobb fan, I like everything else she's written.

>>8935412
Have you tried the stuff she put out as "Megan Lindholm"? I've got Wizard of the Pigeons lined up fairly soon, was wondering if she wrote in a different style under that name or what the deal was.

>>8935412
That makes me very sad. I'm a bit of a completionist though, and having read all of her other stuff I still want to give it a try.

>>8935422
I've read The Inheritance, which is a collection of short stories by both Lindholm and Hobb, and I liked the Lindholm stories better actually.

>>8935422
Ah, no. I have read her short story "Neighbours" which she recently wrote under Lindholm and it was OK but didn't really engage me. I can't say if it's indicative of her other work though, it's all I've read. Wizard of the Pigeons is also on my 'to read' list but I think the blurb has been putting me off a bit -- it does seem different to her work under the Hobb pseudonym.

>>8935005
The heron spear is with cnaiur and it's going to be how Akka kills Kellhus

>>8932253
>>8935005
The "Narindar" assassin was a tool of Yatwer, but Kelmomas was a tool of Ajokli. Given that they are both Gods, they were mutually blind to each other's design.
At least that's how I understood it.
>>8934576
>but most people's money is on him being the actual No-God, the new one and the historical one
>50 year old guy is the No-God from the future and 2000 years ago
that's fucking retarded anon.

>>8929673
Warbreaker.

>>8931488
>SImon Green
>shit

What are some fantasy books with a middle eastern(-inspired) setting? Something like the original Assassin's Creed.

Books like hayao miyazaki films?

comfy, morals

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>>8935981

>>8935996
Any religious author should fit the bill, since as a rule their books always have some underruning moral theme whether conscious or not, and they tend to forgo explicit stuff.

>>8935996
>>8936043
Chronicles of Narnia?

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>>8935981
The Krasians in the Peter V Brett shit.

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wew

>>8936053
That, and maybe also Tolkien's work.

Not sure if Sanderson is "comfy".

>>8935996
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

>>8936061

DOA

>>8936061
after the dozenth time the publisher push a publication date for the same author, how do they not come to the conclusion that they shouldn't announce a date until they have a completed manuscript?

>>8935996
Roald Dahl. Same endearing characters and wacky type of fantasy.
Leguin also has some comfy moral fantasy.
>>8936043
Wolfe does not forego explicit stuff. Nor Frank Herbert.

>>8936133
>tend

>>8935356
But that's boring af

>>8935862
Hi redshit. It's the same shit over and over.
If you are underage b& you would probably like it, I however am not. So the repetitious stale humor "9th dimensional being" or "muh shot gun suzie is preggers" shit gets annoying.

>>8930894
Book 2 and 4 are great. The 3rd is bad

How's the 2nd Mark Lawrence trilogy?

>>8936181
It's still the same writer so bad.

>>8936181
better, tighter, less grandiose scale

>>8931793
You Motherfucker

>>8935444
Well how do you come to that conclusion?

>>8935579
If Kelmomas was a tool of Ajokli, how did Ajokli even plan to kill Kellhus? What could Kelmomas have done that would have led to Kellhus's death?

I want to read a fantasy book that doesn't give a fuck about political correctness.

>>8931204
>>8936177
I'm on Book 4 right now and I have to keep taking breaks because this seeing the Aiel past shit is so boring. It seems phenomenally important but all these dead Aiel cunts and there tribal problems are such a chore to read about.

>>8936325
>I want a safe space where I don't have to read about stuff I dislike

>>8936344
More like

>Just for once, I want to read a book that aligns with my political inclinations

Ain't nothin' wrong with dat

>>8936325
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6965582-ass-goblins-of-auschwitz

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>>8936325
>manly men doing manly things
>fair ladies doing fair lady things and also intrigue
>wrasslin'
>entire chapter spent on main characters' swag
>lots of fighting
>shipwrecks
>manly tears
>going on adventures
>one dude owns a castle that has a poem he wrote over the gates about how you oughta be afraid of him

>>8936340
Wait til you get to reading about all the aes sedai and other politicking in later books.. it's so boring and unimportant daaamn, just get on with the darned final battle already

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>>8936325

What are some novels with battles of wits?

>>8929663
I'm sure you're a straight, white, cis male. Only they can be so ignorant.

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So I've been told my writing needs to be more inclusive of other races, cultures, genders, and sexual orientations. Should I just introduce every character with some description like "she had dark skin and a feminine cyber penis which was hanging out of her pants" and then carry one as normal?

>>8936633
yeah right, you've probably never even written anything

>>8936633
No, that messes up your story flow. You have the character hefting their cyber penis out of the way while they step onto the train, wincing as everyone there stares at xer dark skin. Anytime you introduce a new character they have to react to these traits.

>>8936650
I like how they always have to create these ridiculous strawmen to shitpost

>>8936633
No, you should either
A) actually try to write a good character of that type
or B) not bother at all.
If you just throw in a half-arsed effort to appease whoever's asked about it, it'll turn out shit.

>>8936662
Oh you mean like how you not only pretended to have written something, but also pretended that some hypothetical person told you it needs to be "more inclusive?"

>>8934720
On the steel breeze

>>8936168
You have Metro, Maximum Ride, Immortals: the Calling and other trash but Stephenson and Simon Green are "shit". Just admit you have shit taste already.

what is the best book that involves dragons ?

>>8936793
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

I'm not even joking. If you dismiss that out of hand because you like sucking your tranny girlfriend's dick, you can try Guardians of the Flame because that's pretty dank.

>>8936793
Well it's a drake but Jhereg

>>8936823
>recommends a book made for first graders while referencing his fetish for tranny sex and unironically using the word "dank"
This is such a terrible and trashy general; anybody who uses it sincerely has a double digit IQ

>>8936841
I'm 90% sure it's a shitpost, senpai.

>>8936841
You'll find highbrow faggotry in other threads Anon, this is where we recommend books that are actually fun to read. Which Harry Potter is.

>>8936633
Just make a member of the cast "pale brown/tan/olive-skinned with an aquiline nose and a heavy demeanor." Then barely every describe them physically again and people will fill in any race they want

>>8936793
The dragons in Traitor Son Cycle are well done imo.

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>>8935183
>imperialism is bad

woah bro, you've just stumbled onto some primo late 1800s philosophy.

>>8936888
Shame the writing isn't

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>>8936793

>>8929399
>>8930165
for me id say a mixture of achamian and cnaiur not the "im the most violent of all men" portion, more the im diagnosed psychotic and I have spent years whipping myself to death over thousands of questions and make-believe enemies while at the same time find myself believing that only I know the secret of the world, only i 'the most violent of all men' can see the truth and am damned for it. also i spent the better part of a year plotting to kill my father because i was sure that he had some part in a blood curse on me.

maybe a dash of sorwheel and an amount of nersei proyas that I cannot measure as it is a deeper and shameful part of myself my eyes are near blind to.

>>8936994
that is one ugly fuckin jew nosed lookin ass motherfucker dragon.

Anyway im gonna go back to reading The Great Ordeal and counting how many times someone pisses or shits themselves.

>>8936994
Wrede is fantastic.

>>8936880
This t b h. Gives you plausible deniability for whatever.

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>>8937029

>>8936841
You realize double digit IQ is actually considered very good, right?

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>>8937099

>>8937099
Do you even know how an IQ works?

>>8936181
At first you will think the protagonist is not as good then you will realize he's actually better than Jorg. Funnier overall, feels faster paced too.

>>8936633
You're free to ignore advice like that. It's not coming from a place of creativity.

>>8937128
It's like a ranking. If your IQ is 1 you're the best. Number one.

>>8937138
Nor is a writer who seriously considers writing the words "feminine cyber penis."

>>8937145
idiot
>he doesn't know 1 just means first percentile

>>8937154
What have YOU published, tough guy?

>>8937158
The Warlizard Chronicles.

>>8937158
Tae Slay a Goddie. Ye may've heard of it.

>>8930701
>>8930961
Is well known that Rothfuss is a LeGuin's superfan. So when an author you suspect 'ripped off' another one and then he said he 'admires her/him' then that's all the confirmation you need.

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What the fuck is his problem?

>>8937235
ginger. no soul.

>>8937029
>that is one ugly fuckin jew nosed lookin ass motherfucker dragon.
Looks like they were trying for a nose talon.
>>8937091
Isn't she though?

>>8937268
I was thinking of rec'ing The Sixty-two Curses of Caliph Arenschadd to the anon asking for Arabian fantasy, but it seemed like he wanted long-form fiction for that.

>>8929399
Shaeönanra.
I just really don't want to die. I don't care if I have to live in some kind of fucked up machine or with hideous grafts, I just really don't want to die, ever.

>>8937235
Fell for the ayn rand meme

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>Everything I read in 2016 was /sffg/ material
I'm not sure if I should be proud or ashamed of admitting it.

>>8937276
Yeah, probably.
I need to read that collection again.

>>8937502
>ywn spend a summer getting awesome curses from the caliph
this dimension sucks

>>8936409
This book is borderline homoerotic in places. That scene with Gorice and Gro in the baths, man...damn.

>>8937481
You should be ashamed that it wasn't good SFF.

>>8937481
How was lotgh?

>>8937522
It only seems that way in our homo-obsessed times.

>>8929270
>>8929325
why does everyone ignore the fact the the outer wall was black like Orthanc?

>>8937554
The narration feels disappointingly dry, dunno if that's just how it was written or if the translation is to blame.

>>8936409
>that naked wrestling match

n-no homo

>>8937604
Is it presented as a historical account?

Looking for fantasy recommendations.

So far, I've read:
>Zelazny's Amber series
>Some of ASOIAF (lost interest sometime in book 3)
>The Magicians trilogy
>A couple Pern books
>Lord of the Rings
>all the Lankhmar books
>a few Discworld novels
>Frankenstein
>Prince of Nothing trilogy
>Kraken by China Mieville
>the first few Dresden Files books
>Perdido Street Station
>Earthsea

Loved:
>Frankenstein
>Lankhmar
>Magicians trilogy

Liked:
>LotR
>Amber
>Earthsea

Acceptable:
>Everything not listed above or below

>Disliked:
>Pern novels

I'd like a series. Doesn't have to be finished. I prefer when magic is mysterious rather than over-explained. Characters are probably the most important thing to me. Based on these factors and what I said above, please recommend some fantasy for me.

>>8937674
Sounds like you'd enjoy the Coldfire Trilogy.

I personally like it when enourmous franchises allow creativity and freedom in their books, and some decent to good writing comes out of it. So what are some really good Star Wars/Halo/insert franchise here books?

>>8937689
Doesn't exist.

>>8937689
The Horus Heresy?

>>8937542
It mostly looks alright, except the big Potter-shaped turd in the centre of course. Omelas is great.

>>8937689
Stephen Baxter wrote a pretty decent Dr. Who book a while ago

>>8937648
Well, yeah. Each book starts and ends by stating the current year, and you get the occasional documentary-style line like "nobody knew then, how much importance this small-scale skirmish would have in the days to come". It's similiar to the OVA in that regard.

>>8936442
About this Conan collection, some reviews said it was missing some chapters. Any of you all have this and can confirm? Should I just buy the smaller cheaper collections?

>>8937689
The Revenge of the Sith novelization by Matt Stover is really good, especially compared to the movie. It makes you actually relate to Anakin, so his fall is much more convincing. Might as well read James Luceno's Labyrinth of Evil before it, since it's a direct prequel to RotS and Stover directly references its events several times.

The X-Wing series is also nice, even though Corran Horn is a bit of a Gary Stu.

>>8937689
I like the X-wing books, especially those by Aaron Allston.

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How do you like this one, /lit/?
Apparently it's one of Miyazaki's biggest influences! Which of course really intrigues me

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Anyone else read this? Found my copy today. It was what got me into Sci-Fi as an early teenager. Blew my mind.

That ending. I found it so beautiful at the time, they each made their own universe out of themselves.

>>8937689
>Star Wars:
The Thrawn Trilogy and the Hand of Thrawn duology
Darth Bane Trilogy
X-Wing books
>Halo:
Fall of Reach
Just look up the summary of First Strike on halopedia
Contact Harvest
Ghosts of Onyx
The Forerunner Trilogy is goddamn good despite fucking up the original game trilogy's story
>Warhammer 40K
The Grimaldus books
Fifteen Hours
Caiphus Cain
Gregor Eisenhorn

Thats a fuck ton of franchise books and good ones

>>8937840
Also for Warhammer 40k, the Priests of Mars trilogy is nice if you like the Graham McNeil and the Mechanicus

>>8937797
You know I was considering this purely on the strength of Acts of Caine.

>>8937689
40k. Dembski-Bowden Night Lords shit.

>>8937797
I read that Revenge of the Sith too, it was pretty good.

>>8937857
>Acts of Caine
It's been in my backlog for over two years now, ever since I read the RotS novelization. I need to finally get around to reading it. Thanks for reminding me, Anon.

>>8937235
Goodkind looks exactly like I imagined lol

>>8937913
I figured he'd be older desu, his books read like that grumpy grandparent who posts about the Federal Reserve on Facebook all day.

>>8937972
Nah he's just one of the already right wing writers who turned into megacranks after 9/11.

>>8937826
Look anon Guin is one of the pillars of fantasy writing, you might not love her but almost everyone's read her at some point

i need to read some book that involves dragons
Could you recommend me something ?

>>8938122
sure friend I will teach you the magic words
ctrl+f
dragon
and you will find the dragon recs in this thread

I'm looking for top tier comfy scifi/fantasy books

Comfiness similar to Dracula Bram Stoker, LOTR, Fahrenheit 249

>>8938122
Temeraire by Naomi Novik is a series set in the Napoleonic wars where armies use dragons for areal combat, with the larger dragons being crewed similar to ships in that they've got a bunch of riflemen riding on the back to shoot at other dragons. It's pretty fun.

>>8937584
by not having autism

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>>8937584
here you go anyway

>>8937674

Malazan
Should keep you busy for months

>>8937999
>right wing
But his books have homosexuals in them and rather than condemning them he says "It may not be my thing but I don't see any problem with it."

>>8938215

>Doesn't inject his own political beliefs into his books like literally all liberals do
>Bad thing

???

>>8929270
le morte d'arthur is boring as fuck. should i keep reading or put it aside?

>>8938220
He absolutely does inject his own political beliefs into his books.

It's just that his beliefs are not right wing.

What are some fantasy novels with orcs that are portrayed as intelligent rather than beastly, such as the ones in Warcraft?

I expect there are some Warcraft books but besides that.

>>8938215
Libertarians are mostly classified right wing because of their positions on entitlements, government size, and gun ownership.

Which Malazan book started with some orcs or shit where one guy was cast out or something
I stopped reading a few months back and I can't remember where I left off

>>8938245
house of chains?

>>8938245
or maybe you mean Trull Sengar. If so then it's Midnight Tides.

>>8938258
nope still house of chains

>>8938239
I voted for Johnson but I'd still consider myself closer to the left.

>>8938233
Grimluk, Demon Hunter by Ashe Armstrong.

The Codex Alera series has pseudo-orcs in it IIRC.

>>8938255
>>8938258
>>8938261

Thanks, just checked the beginning of House of Chains and it was indeed the book I left off with

>>8937840
In one of the "read the book below your post" threads my book was Armageddon by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, thoughts on him?

>>8938289
about as good as 40K writing gets

>>8937840
>Darth Bane Trilogy

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>>8938550

New thread

>>8938643
>>8938643

>>8936733
This just shows you can't fucking read.. maximum ride is under trash...

>>8938011
Hey thanks, ill go ahead and just do it then. I liked Lord of the Rings, so im sure ill like this as well.