/sffg/ - Science Fiction & Fantasy General

>>8966391
Pratchett is dead.

>>8966414
Good. His books were awful.

>>8966414
who?

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i'm on chapter 4. seems pretty cool so far. the story itself hasn't really done anything interesting yet (aside from the whole linda lee thing which i enjoyed), but i really love hearing about the setting itself and the descriptions of the technology.

what is /sffg/'s thoughts?

pls use spoilers

TUC when?

Also where can I read Bakker's short story about the gladiator pits?

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>>8966460

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>>8966391

What is the Gothic 1 of fantasy books/series

>>8965789
None of these. When I pick up a new fantasy book the first thing I do is check the maps. If it has no maps that's a strike against it. I also look at any appendices or guides but I don't consider those as strongly as maps. After that I read the blurb on the back, and if that doesn't interest me I usually put the book back and look elsewhere. But if the blurb is passingly interesting then I try some of chapter 1/the prologue and see if I like it. It doesn't have to be super amazing, but as long as it doesn't bore me or make me roll my eyes I consider buying it.

>>8966679
>Comparing a children's book to the Lord of the Rings.


Harry Potter is KINO (the movies at least), but don't you compare them to Tolkien

>>8966617
Soon (tm)

And you can read both his short stories on his blog

Best fantasy book (or Trilogy) written after 2010?


Best Sci-fi book (or Trilogy) written after 2010?

>>8966718
>And you can read both his short stories on his blog
>both

He wrote a third short story called "The Knife of Many Hands" and it was only released in some magazine.

>>8966715
>wanting to be offended so you over look the entire joke

What does sffg think of the Sword of Truth

>>8966715
>>Comparing a children's book to the Lord of the Rings
Wasn't Lord of the Rings meant for teens, as a successor to The Hobbit which was for children? Not much of a stepping stone there dude

>symbol representing the cyclical nature of time wrapped around a wheel

....damn was Jordan a genius or some shit?

>>8966776
Lord of the Rings was indeed intended as a sequel to the Hobbit, but the plot grew so thick Tolkien just said fuck it and embiggened it into a full-fledged fantasy.

He's famous for saying "the tale grew with the telling" whenever he was asked asked this question.

>>8966706
Yep, me too. I rate books with shitty maps even worse than books with no map, all else remaining equal.

>>8966730
Devices Trilogy and Medusa Chronicles, respectively

>>8966730

The Magicians
Jean le Flambeur

Recommend some science-fiction with strong characters. I'm not talking physically strong, just well written.

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>>8966924

>>8966529
I used to think Snow Crash was better, but having gone back and reread them both recently I feel that Neuromancer holds up a lot better.

>>8966775
>do you have a moment to hear the word of our lord and savior Ayn Rand?

>>8966529
been to long really, probably merits a re-read. I do remember enjoying Count Zero a bit more though.

>>8966924
Hyperion

>>8966391
Can someone who has read the wheel of time explain to me why Min and Elayne fall in love with Rand? I dropped it when this was revealed in Book 2

>>8966706
What if there's a map but half the book doesn't use it?

>Deed of Paksenarrion I'm looking at you

>>8966976
Because ta'veren

>>8966414
too soon

>>8966775
The first book is subpar generic fantasy but the series gets really bad after that, especially post-9/11

At some point, early on, Goodkind basically stopped being edited and from then on it's unreadable.

Also I suspect that even actual Objectivists would find the politics of the text laughable

Is there any fantasy or scifi that's exclusively about politics/court intrigue. Empire Trilogy and Baru are supposedly this but they both feature the protag using armies so it's not quite what I want.

>>8967035
but war is politics by other means, anon.

>>8967051
That old quote verbatim is my gripe with what I'm reading

Fun intrigue for ages and then that actual quote and a spaceship battle neatly ends it all.

>>8967064
Honestly can't think of anything but now you say it I wouldn't mind reading some sci-fi or fantasy that had a focus on political campaigning and elections whatever.

>>8967076
would be pretty goddamn difficult to compete with last year's reality.

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There's no war or mass killing in this book. Barely any action. Why am I enjoying it more than the WW1 trilogy?
Is it stockholm syndrome?

>>8967147
>Is it stockholm syndrome?
Yes. You are Harry Turtledove's trailer park wife.

>>8967064
what book is it?

>>8967035
The Goblin Emperor is a pretty chill book about the unwanted fourth son of a emperor becoming the emperor after everybody else ahead of him gets killed in a airship crash. So the book is mostly about him having to take power and then survive for a couple months until everybody calms down.

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>>8966529
>linda lee
>tfw no qt drug-addled degenerate cyberpunk gf

What's the saddest you've ever been about being done with a SFF book or series? Not because the ending was sad (though it's fine if it was sad) but because you didn't want it to be over.

>>8967326
Ever? LotR and it's not remotely close.

>>8967326
The Lankhmar stuff. I don't want to be done with Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. I want to see more of their exciting adventures. It's canon that they had many more than what was written.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsBKM5puZDM

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>>8966683
Noice. More memes are always welcomed.

>>8966976
Mostly because ta'veren, but also because Elayne is super sheltered and he's a handsome dude who falls over her fence and doesn't spend the whole time "your highness"ing her. When Min meets Rand for the first time one of her visions about him is that she will love him and kind of cons herself into it. It's like the "don't worry about the vase" moment in The Matrix.

Any good novels with an overpowered girl protagonist?

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Is there as much wish-fulfillment and 14-year-old harem members in this as some people claim? Because if so I will read it.

Mistborn

>>8967347
Soon I Will Be Invincible.

>>8967353
To whom are you speaking?

>>8967347
All of them

>good
Oh
None of them

>>8967366
kek

>>8967347
Black magician trilogy

>>8967347
Mistborn

>>8967347
Black Jewels Trilogy
Black magician

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>>8966683
Superb

When will fantasy writers realize that overpowered protagonists are the bane of good fantasy?

Name fantasy books with overpowered protagonists so I would fucking avoid reading them.

>>8968057
All of them

>>8968057
Rand Al'Thor at the end of The Wheel of Time series

>>8968057
Prince of nothing

>>8968103
we've been over this

akka is the protagonist, kellhus is the main character

>>8968250
The black semen demons are the protags, get it right.

>>8968261
>>8968250
>>8968103
Speaking of Bakker, I got a hold of "The Knife of Many Hands" about a gladiator who fights in Sranc pits.

Anyone want me to pastebin it?

>>8968266
Sure thanks!

>>8968271
http://pastebin.com/wATYu5GC

>>8968272
For a while there at the end I thought that was going to be like bierce's occurence at owl creek bridge what with the chains and all. Accurate Movie versions of bakker might wind up 1000 percent autistic.

>>8967035
Try Dagger and Coin?

>ywn purge the fantasy genre in cleansing fire so that it might be reborn from the ashes
>ywn salt the earth where rothfuss, sanderson, jemisin, and other meme authors once stood
WHY IS FANTASY SO SHIT LADS

>>8968516
Because people don't go out exploring and only buy the recommendations of the masses.

>>8968516

Write something good then instead of just complaining

>WHY ARE THESE SUCCESSFUL AUTHORS WRITING BOOKS
>STOP!!!!!!!

>>8968516
Jemisin seems fine, though I'm only halfway through The Fifth Season and it's her first that I've read.

>>8968589
Nah you're not allowed to like her here, she's both black and a woman.

>>8968591
She's better than Sanderson, anyway. Haven't read Rothfuss.

Is there a chart of fantasy books not written by cis gender white males?

>>8968610
Don't know about a chart, but >>>>>reddit has lists of fantasy by women and lists of fantasy written by black people.

Not sure about trans people and people of color who aren't black.

Do anyone know about that book where the main protagonist is in a high fantasy world filled with nothing but overpowered ones?

I heard the suffering is beautiful in that

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>>8968595
I could literally jerk off into a word document and it would be better than rothfuss, trust me he's a waste of time.

>>8968610
Don't know about a chart, but off the top of my head:
N.K. Jemsin
Ursula LeGuin
Sabaa Tahir (though she borders on YA)
Robin Hobb
and the woman who wrote The Golem and the Jinni who's name I can't remember

>>8968591
>Nah you're not allowed to like her here
>I speak for thes entire general
>this bait again
>>>/r9k/
>>>/pol/

>>8968516
You need to read more fantasy although Sanderson and jemisin is great because they put out on a regular basis. Everybody else takes their time.

Also look for GRI APPROVED novels which only jemisin is, in your list of three.

>ironically shitpost about indians on /pol/
>read song of kali
>unironically hate indians now

The book is shit by the way

>>8968733
Hey friend. What are your thoughts about authors using not!kali in their works? Glen cook and a few others are notorious with this. The penises and baby skulls always gives it away though.

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>>8968733
time for you to post your shitty pol flag answering macro

>implying we sit down and have civil discussions when your kind looks to shitpost about women and non whites at every opportunity

If it's not crying about why are there so many non white bestseller, it's about why are there woman that earn money through war and fighting in your books.

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Shaeönanra did nothing wrong.

>>8968761
C'mon friendo. All that deliberate /pol/ baiting above and your gonna whip this out over one shitpost? Let's talk about books. I'm relaxing with Myth-Taken Identity until I can muster up the resolve to finish The Difference Engine. How about yourself?

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>Sorry for the long post
>Here's a potato

>>8968847
I hope they ban you again soon.

>>8968748
Never noticed it before so can't really say anything about it
>>8968761
Contain your autism Ranjeet
I gave my thoughts about the book I've read. You are one shitposting here

Thousand Names bit of a slow start. How does Winter not get rumbled? Maybe if she was keeping a low profile but passing as a drill sergeant? Dunno about that.

>>8968716
>/r9k/
>/pol/
How can you not see that he was being sarcastic?

>>8968761
His post was pretty tame. No need to sperg.

>>8968847
wrong thread retard

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>>8966391
what are the star wars EU books worth reading? like, in order to understand what happened after return of the Jedi, which books/ series are worth reading?
disclaimer: I know they're not "canon" anymore but I want to read about Mara jade Skywalker and the vong and that abaloth lady or whatever get name is.

>>8969239
Just read Zahn and if you really want to save time the graphic novel adaptations are an option.

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>“Your eyes …”
>“Shall be put out …”
>“Your manhood …”
>“Shall be cut from you …”
>“And I shall give you over …”
>“To my children …”
>“To their rutting fervour …”

>“You will be shattered …”
>“Beaten and degraded …”
>“Your wounds will bleed …”
>“The black of my children’s seed …”
>“Your honour will be cast …”
>“As ash …”
>“To the high winds …”
>“Where the Gods shall gather it!”
>“And you will weep …”
>“At the last …”

>>8968733
lol i don't hate indians but what little desire i had to visit india was gone after reading that book.
also looking at some pictures of Kolkata it seems to be as bad as described in the book

How is The Road science fiction

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>>8969518

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>>8968644

>Hood's breath

is there a superior fantasy blasphemy?

>>8969727
Hood's balls on a skillet.

>>8969727
>>8969732
Why's everybody gotta be such a dick to Hood? Even his own servants hate him.

>>8969724
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuggee#21st-century_views

>In recent years, the revisionist view that Thuggee was a British invention, a means to tighten their hold in the country, has been given credence in India, France and the US, but this well-researched book objectively questions that assertion.

>In his book, Dash rejects scepticism about the existence of a secret network of groups with a modus operandi different from highwaymen. He cites excavated corpses in graves whose locations were revealed to Sleeman's team by Thug informants. Dash examines Sleeman's extensive, thorough documentation, rejecting the colonial emphasis on a religious motivation for banditry and asserting that monetary gain was the primary motivation for Thuggee and men became Thugs due to extreme poverty. According to Dash, the Thugs were highly superstitious; although they worshipped the Hindu goddess Kali, their faith was little different from that of contemporary non-Thugs. However, he notes that the Thugs had group-specific superstitions and rituals

>>8969748
>revisionism

not even once

>>8969518
What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you spawn of a lizard? I’ll have you know I graduated top of my sietch with the Fedaykin, and I’ve been involved in numerous secret raids on House Harkonnen, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in gorilla warfare and I’m the top killer in the entire Fremen. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this planet, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the comnet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of mentat spies across the planet and your location is being traced right now so you better prepare for a great grandmother of a storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You’re fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that’s just with my bare hands. Not only am I extensively trained in crysknife combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the Fremen and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the planet, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little “clever” comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn’t, you didn’t, and now you’re paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You’re fucking dead, kiddo.

>>8969742
Because he betrayed the world

>>8968595
>She's better than Sanderson
>She's
>She
>Better than anything

>>8968633
Kvothe is the Garriest Stu to ever live. If in the third book it's revealed to all be bullshit, that might redeem it.

>>8969895
he's already supposedly delivering the warts and all account vs the legend so I doubt it.

>>8968911
now she's rescuing random enemy civilians after the battle. Does this improve?

>>8969773
Thank you for this. Still laughing.

>>8969895
This Troper's name is Kvothe, pronounced nearly the same as “Quothe.” Names are important as they tell you a great deal about a person. This Troper has had more names than anyone has a right to.

The Adem call him Maedre. Which, depending on how it’s spoken, can mean “The Flame,” “The Thunder,” or “The Broken Tree.”

“The Flame” is obvious if you’ve ever seen This Troper. He has red hair, bright. If he had been born a couple hundred years ago he would probably have been burned as a demon. This Troper keeps it short but it’s unruly. When left to its own devices, it sticks up and makes him look as if he has been set afire.

“The Thunder” he attributes to a strong baritone and a great deal of stage training at an early age.

This Troper has never thought of “The Broken Tree” as very significant. Although in retrospect he supposes it could be considered at least partially prophetic.

His first mentor called him E’lir because he was clever and he knew it. His first real lover called him Dulator because she liked the sound of it. He has been called Shadicar, Lightfinger, and Six-String. He has been called Kvothe the Bloodless, Kvothe the Arcane, and Kvothe Kingkiller. He has earned those names. Bought and paid for them.

But This Troper was brought up as Kvothe. His father once told him it meant “to know.”

He has, of course, been called many other things. Most of them uncouth, although very few were unearned.

He has stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. He burned down the town of Trebon. He has spent the night with Felurian and left with both his sanity and his life. He was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. He treads paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. He has talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.

You may have heard of This Troper.

>>8969895
Unreliable narration as a plot twist does not redeem several thousand pages of bad narration.

>Third rothfuss book
>Ever coming out

LOL

he writes slower than GRRM

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What you guys aiming for this year?

>>8970377

3-4

Unless I find a new itneresting series to read

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Previous Years

>>8970377
30-40

>>8966706
why does there need to be a map?

>>8970407
lmao, I love your humble facade when you know your real power

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>>8967326

I still haven't read The Hydrogen Sonata because once I do I'll never read another new Culture novel

>>8970454
So I can laugh when people travel ridiculous distances in a week

>>8970454
Helps me get into the story. I've loved reading books with maps in them since I was a kid, and I've been drawing my own maps for almost 16 years. It excites my imagination. Probably comes from having read Tolkien during my formative years, first picked up the Hobbit when I was 12, and read LotR shortly after that.

>>8969527
Because post-apocalyptic fiction is typically thought of as a sub-genre of science fiction.

>>8967326
When I was a kid I remember feeling incredibly empty after finishing Harry Potter

Otherwise, finishing the Dune series.

What's the best hardback set for LOTR out there right now? I read the series ages ago and want to reread it, but I don't really want to shell out $180 for the Folio set.

>>8970557
Just get a cheap paperback set man. If you want shelf decorations then you might as well spend a lot and get really nice ones. If you want something to read then just buy a used paperback set.

>>8966391
Are there any books about a eunuch betraying his people in order to get his genitalia back from a crafty wizard?

>>8968809

>They accept damnation

lmao @ soulcucks

>>8970694
>getting raped by dickmonsters for all eternity

Consultcucks get out

>read Malazan Book of the Fallen
>get to book 4
>really dislike Karsa Orlong
>by book 8 he's one of my favorite characters
How did Erikson pull this off? I don't think it's ever happened that a character I disliked ended up becoming so great.

>>8970764
Witness

>>8970709
>he thinks getting fucked in the ass is worse than eternal damnation
Maybe if you didn't let your latent homophobia get in the way you could see the error of your ways faggot.

>>8970826
And if you stop letting your rampant cocklust blind you, you'll grasp the truth

>>8970685
Latest warded man book? He is not a main character though.

>>8970764
>witch I want you in my bed
>that thing would kill me
Karsa finally getting his Indian witch was the best.

>>8970875
I like how progressed from just raping whoever he wanted to actually asking for sex. I don't think any character changed as much as Karsa over the novels, he went from an insufferable brute to a subtly intelligent god-killing bad ass.

>>8970810
>that part where Ublala Pung says "Lead us, Warleader" in book 7
I got chills.

I need character-driven sci-fi or fantasy in the form of a trilogy or quartet, please.

>>8970902
Can you be more specific than that

>>8970907
Sure. Something centered around a smallish number of primary characters who change throughout the story, especially if at least some of them grow and become better people. A good mix of character exploration and heart-pumping action would be nice, too.

Probably 1000-2000 pages total.

For fantasy, I don't like magic to be over-explained. And weird shit is a plus.

For scifi, something set in the nearish future (think next 200-300 years at most) and dealing with the kinds of problems people are likely to deal with, or maybe even variations on problems they already deal with, would be great.

I like happy endings, but I like when characters go through hell getting there.

>>8970924
Ben Bova's Grand Tour series would probably fit your goal for near-future character-driven hard-SF. Especially the Asteroid Wars sub-series.

>>8970924
You might like the Earthsea Cycle by Le Guin. The style can seem a little simple at first, but it's got the elements you're looking for I think.

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>“But you are a woman,” he said desperately.

>She laughed at him, a rich, pealing sound that was full of humor. “Oh, Tenaka, how I have longed for you to say something foolish. You are always so right. So clever. A woman, indeed! Yes, I am. And more than that. Had I wished, I could have slain those four soldiers myself. My strength is as great as yours, possibly greater, and I can move just as fast. You know what I am: a Joining! Aulin knew me in Drenan, where I was a cripple with a twisted back and a ruined leg. He took pity on me and brought me to Graven, where he used the machines as they were intended. He healed me by blending me with one of Ceska’s pets. You know what he used?”

>“No,” whispered Tenaka.

>In a blur of motion she sprang from the fallen trunk. His arms came up as she hit him, and he fell to the snow, air exploding from his lungs. Within seconds she had pinned him to the ground. He struggled but could not move. Holding his arms flat to the snow, she twisted her body until she was lying on top of him, her face inches from his own.

>“He blended me with a panther,” she said.

>“I would still have believed it if you had merely said it,” he told her. “The demonstration was unnecessary.”

>“Not for me,” said Renya. “For now I have you at my mercy.”

>He grinned…arched his back and twisted. With a scream of surprise Renya was hurled to the left. Tenaka swiveled and dived on her, pinning her arms beneath her.

>“I am seldom at anyone’s mercy, young lady,” he said.

>“Well?” she asked him, raising an eyebrow. “Now what will you do?”

>His face reddened, and he did not answer. Nor did he move. He could feel the warmth of her body, smell the perfume of her skin.

“>I love you,” she said. “Truly!”

>“I have no time; I cannot. I have no future.”

>“Neither do I. What is there for a Joining? Kiss me.”

>“No.”

>“Please?”

>He did not answer. He could not. For their lips touched.

>>8970982
Thanks! I'll check it out.
>>8971016
Both fit what I'm talking about, but sadly I've already read them.

>>8968591
>Nah you're not allowed to like her here
Get out.

>>8966775
I read almost the entire series without taking it seriously, very much almost mary sue ish characters.

I didn't notice the politics right off of the bat, I had wished for more fantasy elements in terms of them just not being a plot device.

They were okay, I stopped reading after the first ending. Lit has a point about it pretty much being an ayn rand jerk off

>>8966976
Ha, you didn't get to the part where some warrior xena girl ends up falling in love with him and basically fucks his brains out yet she was the one who had promised Elayne that she would watch over him that he wouldn't stray from her.

The whole love circle just pissed me off honestly.

I gave up reading the series after book 7 or 8 I think

>>8970896
W-would you fuck the dead chick?
>2017
>not putting your dick into a literal semon demon who needs sex to survive and stay sane

>>8967326
Dune series, I didn't bother reading the ones by his son though.

I got really sad after reading God Emperor of Dune. First book that made me feel something in a while.

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>>8971019
>she asked him, raising an eyebrow

>>8970764
Oh man, I'm reading Reaper's Gale at the moment.

This is a serious I'm very much in love with. Erikson is great at characters.

>>8971081
Did you feel the natural born high wizard yet?
How was your feel?

>>8971080
David Gemmell actually. Legend was very purple prose but it was entertaining and had awesome battles and speeches about heroism. I almost quit it 80 pages in but everything starts to come together after that point.

>>8971061
I moved on to reading his other works. He wrote way more than Dune.

>Putting a map in your book
>Not creating a map based on the world and not putting it in the book so the reader could figure it out and create the map themselves

>>8971081
What I like is the genuine friendships he manages to create between characters. It's one thing to start off characters as being great friends, another to actually show them grow close to one another from the point of being total strangers or even enemies.
>Trull is just some random guy Onrack stumbles across while he's wandering aimless in some unknown realm
>has to be convinced to bother saving him from drowning
>they end up being best bros for life

>>8971158
>map only has cities, mountains and rivers, and a single lake
>the rivers don't behave naturally
>map doesn't show territorial borders
>no roads
>mountain range with right angles because Tolkien did it
>there's a desert or "badlands" in the south/east and a tundra in the north, sometimes a jungle in the south
>tundra has barbarians, desert/badlands has generic mongol/arab horse tribes
>ocean is on the left and the south because, but we must remind you this is not Europe
>landmasses are just Europe flipped upside down and backwards
>half the story takes place in a area outside the map
>nothing is to scale

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>>8971285
>being so autistic and lacking in imagination that you need the author to draw you a map so you can get from the start of the story to the ending

Fucking autists in this general

>>8971309
Maps are great for fleshing out details in the world and giving it a sense of scale. The fuck is your problem?

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>>8971309
>complain about authors making stupid maps
>"hurr you're just a autist who needs their hand held"

>>8971316
I'm not 10. That's my problem. You sound like those autistic spergs in /tg/ who base the possibility of a fictional story succeeding on the length of one river to a mountain on some map.

>>8968589
>>8968591
She might be overrated and definitely got a leg up from her publisher for being a negress and I'm sure she's personally insufferable but The Fifth Season is way better than the garbage that was Hundred Thousand Kingdoms so at least she's taking her craft seriously and improving and anyway she's competing against writers like Rothfuss so I don't really have much against her at this point.

>>8971285
>put map in front of the book
>it's of a couple square miles

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>>8971285

>>8968589
Jemisin (as Broken Earth trilogy not the other books) is great unless you want to sound contrarian on a Siamese Carpetweaving board.

Not that /sffg/ in general have been exactly exciting or revolutionary in the past few years.

>>8971662
is it bad that I love this shit? It looks so fun to adventure in.

Post malazan map

>>8966529
Same I'm 100 page in. Very easy read. Going through that npr recommendation flowchart started with neo noir

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>>8971285

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find worse map than this

>you literally can't

>>8969727
>brass balls of the beast

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>>8971693
Which one? Personally I'm partial to Seven Cities.

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>>8971774
Quan Tali is pretty nice too

>>8971774

That's literally europe...

>>8971780
Aside from being riddle with peninsulas how does it resemble Europe at all?

>>8971722
>>8971774
nvm found one

>>8971786

>has northern europe
>even has fucking UK

>>8971788
The fuck are you talking about?

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>>8971789

yes

>>8966745
someone post this. I can't find it

Is The Red Knight any good? I'm looking for some epic fantasy that is immersive and makes me care. I haven't read much fantasy aside from LOTR

>>8972106
Yeah. Every book in the series is better than the last too.

>>8972106
it's overly descriptive and not in a literary way

I got Gardens of the Moon for christmas. The first few hundred pages were confusing but fuck me it was worth sticking with it. Can't wait to read the rest of the series.

>>8972227
enjoy your Felisin

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Last night I dreamed that the Mule (you know, the Asimov one) wanted me to be his waifu so I said yes. Dream me vigorously rifled through my dream dictionary and noticed that his eyes were that complicated word beginning with L that means sad. Also at some point I 'opened' the book and thought - haha Asimov what a lying faggot you were for saying that the Mule didn't have a waifu when it was me Dio all along.

Then I summoned my Shiny Talonflame and flew around protecting him. I dreamt that I woke up and fell back asleep five times and at one point I said, don't worry, I still have pictures of us on our (honey)moon because I wished I could have explored Trantor.

Then I woke up and realised that I was a complete faggot for the Mule and it was all because >>8959118 said he had a hard time finishing the Foundation Trilogy.

>>8968818
Just read Difference Engine myself. Kinda crap. Ended up just wiki-ing the epilogue rather than reading it. The correct choice.

Is The Dresden Files worth reading? My friend is super into the series but the first chapter makes protagonist sound like a fedora tipping faggot

>>8972420
Not at all. The first few books are bad and even after that it doesn't really get good, just mediocre.

>>8972424
any recommendations for good paranormal fantasy/ horror?

>>8972443
Southern Reach Trilogy by Vandermeer, maybe.

>>8972449
thanks homie, will check it out

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So I used to read buckets of my dad's old sci-fi from the '70s and '80s, Heinlein, Frank Herbert, etc.

I've been considering getting back into reading. What do you guys think about Charles Stross? Any other suggestions of more contemporary stuff that's really good?

Maps are a spook

>>8972454
>keeping your books in buckets

>>8971987
Look through the thread fagget

>>8972424
>one person speaks for the entire general on Dresden files matter

>>8972420
Dresden Files is fun, that is why we read. The first few books are bad(the author himself admits this) but from book 3 onwards you will be enjoying yourself.

A few years ago (when butcher released regularly and before that fucking steampunk... catpunk novel) even outer lit used to be discussing Dresden Files. If you want Urban fantasy you can't go wrong with Dresden.
Also what is your definition of a fedora tipper and a real man? Is a real man a highschool jock that keeps the girl there wnd 'helps' her until she puts out? Or does he wait?

>>8972465
>>8972454
That sounds like a nice idea for a meme...

>>8972465
>not keeping your books in airtight, vacuum-sealed buckets

>>8972456
No they are your property (you paid for the book didn't you).

>>8972488
It was the "call me old fashioned but I treat women like ladies" and the repeated use of the phrase "damsel in distress" like a fucking TVTropes article that turned me off.

>>8971789
Rotate it 180 degrees.

>>8972488
how does anyone read a series where the first three books are shit?

what does /sffg/ think about greg egan? my librarian co-worker keeps recommending him to me, even though the only sci-fi i like is Dick.

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I don't browse /lit/ much, but what does /sffg/ think of the Black Company? A friend of mine absolutely despises the setting and the writing, but I can't help but love the series. I'm on Soldiers Live right now.

>>8972830
About as hard as hard sci-fi gets

>>8972720
by skipping them

>>8972337
>Dream me vigorously rifled through my dream dictionary and noticed that his eyes were that complicated word beginning with L that means sad.

Sounds like something out of an actual 90's novel, should store that sentence if no one's used it yet.

>>8972720
>how does anyone continue to read a series when all the books are shit and filled with braid tugging and skirt fixing

I enjoyed the first 3 books, but that may be because the audiobook narrator does such a good job. A good voice actor can make a shit book great, and a bad voice actor can make a good book shit

>>8972877
Does your friend like Malazan? If so tell him Malazan is a copy of black company.

>>8972877
Black Company is great, helped break my anti-fantasy bias. Though IIRC I stopped reading somewhere in the Fantasy Africa-India setting because I had taken a break and then forgotten everything that had happened.

>>8972716
It still looks nothing like Europe.

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>>8973253
Yeah it does. It's not completely a 1:1 copy, but it's defiantly Europe.

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>>8973334

So guys, with regards to The Black Company, should I read it in order of publication, or is there some better arrangement? I heard that The Silver Spike is kind of stand-alone and set before the other novels, should I read that first or will the ones published before it give me good context?

What are some books that will make me not want to kill myself?

>>8973414
Read it in order, with regards to the main series.

The rest you can read in whatever order after

>>8973414
Order of publication. Silver Spike should be read after the original three but before Books of the South. Can't comment on the short stories, never read any of them.

Any books with a cadmean victory or that uses "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" concept?

>>8973490
>>8973525
Thanks lads, can do. I'm on page 8 of The Black Company and I'm liking it so far, it really does a good job of showing and not telling.

>>8972227
The series is often confusing throughout, but stick with it and it all makes sense eventually.

>>8973334
Still not seeing it. Like I said only real resemblance is being a peninsular subcontinent. There's virtually nothing else that's even remotely similar. None of the coastlines are similar, it's position relative to other continents is totally dissimilar, it's major rivers and seas are dissimilar, and even it's dominant climate is radically different, not to mention its culture. It's more like if ancient Mesopotamia were on a peninsular subcontinent.

>>8972227
Erikson loves throwing tons of information at the reader. Prepare to keep getting showered with unfamiliar references and names for a while, but eventually you'll put it all together and things will start to make sense. It takes several books to start piecing together the larger picture just because it's actually a very big picture. The scale of it is ambitious.

Anyone know about a super hippy-esque fantasy book? I'd prefer something more grounded/physicalist and less spiritual/new-agey.

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Started this recently, wasn't what I thought it was going to be but pretty good so far.

>>8971285
>Calling a region of the map "Middle Lands" or something that begins with "Middle"

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>>8973334
>emphasises sameness
Anon.. I

>>8973529
Red rising
>Started shit for better of all
>got greedy
>thinks it will work out in the end

>>8973829
Looks self published desu

>>8973052
I imagine he'd hate Malazan as well. I've never read Malazan either and he hates the Black Company like nothing I've ever seen.

>>8973077
I'd like to claim you're not missing much, but a lot of stuff happens and you realize that, while it's good, the first three books are probably the best in the series. I hate to say that it gets too grand, but it kinda feels that way.

So I saw Sabriel on a few lists so I decided to read it. Is this a meme suggestion?

>>8970764
Just started reading this series. On book 3. Great shit. I miss the leet bantz between kruppa and friends from book 1.

Are there any good female Fantasy authors or are they all trash?

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>>8973794
Please respond, I even posted an attention-capturing image to capture your attention.

>>8974094
Diana Wynne Jones.
Patricia C. Wrede.
Jane Yolen.

>>8974097
who is this

>>8974094
Ursula Le Guin writes sci-fi and fantasy. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, if you count that as fantasy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h1zNHKQwzg

Brandon Sanderson on Joss Whedon:
>He’s one of my favorite dialogue writers in film
>Joss Whedon is Shakespearean in his approach his to dialogue

What did he mean by this?

>>8974139
Like attracts like

Quips draw them together

>>8974097
Stranger in a Strange Land

>>8974139
Sanderson has a relatively poor vocabulary, he probably only read modern lit in college and his life's mission was inspired by Barbara Hambly.

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https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/5lnj5r/announcement_intelligence_in_literature_monthly/

Hey /sffg/, want to write some transhumanist propaganda for $100?

>>8974255
Was going to ask, "Does Yudkowsky know about this?" but
>Aspiring authors or connoisseurs may wish to read Yudkowsky's guide to writing rationalist fiction.
Don't know if I can tip hard enough honestly.

>>8970502
I only found a few of those to be good.

>>8974112
Wil from MTV's Shannara Chronicles

>>8974149
>rolls eyes

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I'm glad Terry Pratchett meets this board's standards.
[1/2]

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>>8974441
[2/2]

>>8974255
Plebbit?
Really dude?

Also who the fuck would want to write your shit for that much?

>>8974426
Austin Butler is the actor.

>>8974255
>>8974272
>>8974469
What do these people mean by "rationalism?" Because I feel like it's different from what philosophers mean by it.

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>>8974441
He's a big author.

>>8974548
cucked out of existence

>>8974564
For you!

>>8974548
It's a community based on attempts to overcome cognitive bias by applying Bayesian probability in one's daily life, among other things.

http://lesswrong.com/lw/31/what_do_we_mean_by_rationality/

I'm sure they're aware of the clash with the 19th century idea, they just didn't know what else to call it.

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>>8974097
Give my question more attention.

I still have yet to find a series like The Grace of Kinds/Wall of Storms.

>non european fantasy setting focusing on smart people doing smart people things like science and military strategy

>>8974802
Guy Gavriel Kay's not-china shit?

I still have yet to find a series like The Old Kingdom

>fantasy focusing on necromancers doing necromancer things like sending people to death and freeing people from death

>>8975392
We suggested all the necromancer books we know to you weeks ago. I know you haven't read them all, so stop fucking whining here and go read them.

>>8975174
Do they focus on scientific development?

>>8975438
Just read sci-fi dude.
Or is it that you want the protagonist to have a hand in developing and manufacturing weapons of mass destruction?

>>8975431

You suggested 2 books, one was a romance novel written by a woman and the other was some tumblr written gay trans shit

There is literally no good series that does necromancy as good as Sabriel did

>>8975477
>You suggested 2 books, one was a romance novel written by a woman and the other was some tumblr written gay trans shit
You wut mate?
I suggested cabal the necromancer and a few others (find the post yourself) and other anons suggested and "+1" posts.

>>8975485
>cabal the necromancer

How many times is necromancy used in that book? Because someone said barely
The other posts were abhorsen trilogy or saying there's nothing

>>8975471
I want fantasy, unless you can find some technologically-focused scifi that doesn't revolve around or involve space flight or time travel

>>8975500
The first book has it like three times and after that it's once per book

>>8975500
It's fun. You remember fun right?
Try the first couple anita blake books if you want "muh dead".
>tight and wet

>>8975505

How is it "similar to Old Kingdom series" then, it was full of necromancy, and there is no other series/book like it

>>8975509
>anita blake
don't read this

>>8975511
never read the Old Kingdom so I can't say

>>8975511
just read Nix's other work

no necromancy but at least they're quality

>>8975511
If you're so offended by the lack of necromancy in modern fantasy then write your own shit and stop complaining on a Javanese woodcarving forum

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>>8974564
>Dorcas

>>8975511
>get recommendations
>but they're NOT the recommendations I want
Thanks for wasting everyone's time you complete cuck.

Any good books that haven't been mentioned in this general yet?

>>8975995

>Specifically ask for recs similar to something
>Get something unrelated
>WTF WHY ARE YOU WASTING OUR TIME IF YOU DONT WANT IT

>>8976019
The Green Brain by Frank Herbert

I'm a big fan of dwarves and I am wondering where their actual mythology begins. They're Norse stuff, right? What would I need to read in order to get a better understanding of them from actual mythological stuff?

I'm asking because I am writing a short story and want to do something different with them, but I want to go back to the roots for information.

>>8976066
it's fiction dude, just make it up

>>8967326
When I was done with Weel of Time I felt like I had lost something. I had been listening to the series as audiobook while working at a warehouse, and it had gotten me through months of breaking my back. When it ended on that "the Dragon will ride again, on the winds of time" I got a bit choked up. The series isn't even all that but I think it's because it's so fucling long you get a close attachment to it if you manage to stick with it.

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>>8971285
>map is huge
>story only ever takes place in the Northern Europe-equivalent corner of it
>rest of the world barely mentioned, only left to your imagination

>>8972106
The first one is great. The seconday is fine. The third lost me.

>>8972118
>>8972123
Do the books come with a map at the beginning? I listened to the audiobook and the geography got me all fucked up. Place names like Alba, Etrusca, and Gaul, but it's not Europe because Scotland and Byzantium share a border and they've built a wall separating them from Nova Terra which you'd think is America due to being home to the Huron people but it's not a separate continent and I don't know what the fuck is going on.

>>8976091
No I mean real life dwarves. Always been really interested in them as nobody seems to talk about where they came from.

>Shaeönanra stood blinking, cursing. “How?” he cried, holding an arm out to the hoary majesty of Aurang. “How can you fools not see howsmallthis makes us?”

>“Plainly,” Titirga replied, frowning at the creature’s groin

>>8976452
stupid sexy aurang

>>8976022
We gave your ungrateful ass the closest we could give you and you didn't want it. If you want dead raising so bad read the first five (only) anita blake books. That is exactly what you want.

>>8976276
>real life dwarves
You mean midgets? That is where they came from.

Read the cogweaver trilogy. It does something different with short people that I never saw before.

>tfw no qt midget gf to give a deep dicking to, having to force all the way inside her
a-am i I a bad person?

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>>8976187
>The first one is great
I bet you were the faggot that suggested this to me last year.

>>8967349
That seems so fucking gay and I really wish I had gotten into it as a fourteen year old.

Just finished shadow of the torturer and I have no clue what's going on. What's the point of continuing?

>>8976912
There isn't one. It's masturbation material for pretentious Christians.

>>8976838
you are objectively the worst poster in these threads

>>8969239
It's divided into two publishing eras, Bantam and Del Rey. Most Bantam books are standalone adventures so you can pick and choose on quality, really. Del Rey started with a 20-book-long series called the New Jedi Order, which polarises fans - I think it's one of the best things the EU ever did. Anything post-NJO is utter trash and not worth reading. Trust me, you're better off not knowing it exists.

Read the Thrawn Trilogy, it's decent and the founding stone of the EU. The next story advancement is in the Hand of Thrawn duology that caps off the Bantam era. Then the NJO.

Honorary mentions: The X-Wing series is great fun. I really like Truce at Bakura, it picks up straight after Return of the Jedi, totally standalone but pretty good. I'm struggling to think of any other Bantam books I feel I'd NEED to recommend, I haven't read the other two trilogies they put out.

There's a thread over on /co/ which has ebook download links for everything, I think.

Abeloth was in the execrable Fate of the Jedi series.

>>8976276
Just go read some Norse myths. Go read the one where dwarves make Thor's hammer out of stuff like the beard of a woman and the sound of a cat's footstep, and that's why those things don't exist anymore. Or go read about Fafnir, the dwarf who served as the inspiration for both Gollum and Smaug.

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>>8976831
>a-am i I a bad person?
Nah. Not by /sffg/ standards anyway.

Recommend me high fantasy horror lads

best fantasy novels about monster hunters/ demon slayers? just finished witcher 3 and I need to scratch that itch boys

>>8977475
just read Claymore

the witcher books

For anyone who's read The Terror History Today has a feature on the Northwest Passage this month.

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>>8977591

>>8977475
The novelization of me having sex with your mother last night

>>8974441
>>8974451
Guy who wrote that post, those are indeed great maps.

>>8977511
>posting after the thread has reached 300 replies
enjoy the archives my witcher brother :(

>>8978323
Bump limit is 310 though.

>>8976820

>I want something similar to a car
>They give you a horse

>STOP BEING UNGRATEFUL ASS IF YOU DONT LIKE IT

Does The Golden Compass have the same open demographic as Harry Potter or The Hobbit?

>>8979089
The fuck does that mean? If you mean it's written so kids can enjoy it then just say that instead of dressing it up to make it sound less embarrassing.

>>8976912
If you're not enjoying it then just stop. Nobody is going to care if you drop something.

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This is probably the best place to post this, as outer /lit/ would let it slide and if I know sffg you guys are probably getting pretty tired of circlejerking over Sanderson and Bakker right now. Do you fine fellows know of any good "literary" horror fiction in the vein of the film Jacob's Ladder? Christian symbolism and imagery welcome and indeed preferred. I'm interested in themes of sanity, damnation, purgatory, and salvation, but not interested in Dante as I've already read the Divine Comedy. Your recommendations would be much appreciated.
Also, is pic related any good?

>>8979205
If you don't mind comic books, Hellblazer is fantastic and its lead protagonist John Constantine is one of my favorite fictional characters.

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>>8979205
Lewis' space trilogy
Gene Wolfe
Chamiel
To Reign in Hell
Weaveworld
Faust (Marlowe version)
The Master and Margarita

>>8979209
patrician desu

>>8979134
I meant is it one of books aimed at children that are perfectly acceptable for adults to read?

NEW THREAD

>>8979294
>>8979294
>>8979294
>>8979294

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>>8976964
>let the disdain, disgust and deep disapproval flow through you