/sffg/ - Science Fiction & Fantasy General

File: 1379518634485.jpg (28KB, 384x384px) Image search: [Google]

28KB, 384x384px

>It's another scene where a female character gets brutally spanked
Thanks you based Wheel of Time
Also where the fuck was the editor with these books?

File: 1447723139852.jpg (41KB, 449x319px) Image search: [Google]

41KB, 449x319px

>>9142027
>spanking

Want to read a modern fantasy series that isn't overwhelmed by 'muh girlpower'. Send help.

>>9142061
The Wizard Knight

>>9142061
The Wizard of Earthsea is a an excellent urban fantasy novel.
Set in modern day Minnesota, a man who has never had intercourse with a woman in his 32 years of living with his parents has the unique opportunity of exploring a new continent made of earth that has recently risen out of the sea.
Shenanigans ensue.
Will our brave hero finally wet his micropenis in some quality earthsea boipucci or will he choose to retain his powers?
Find out by reading the epic!

>>9142065
>>9142099
I don't think these are real

File: 1435512705334.jpg (138KB, 800x566px) Image search: [Google]

138KB, 800x566px

>>9142170
Why would we lie?

>>9142099
>the chronicles of thomas covenant

>>9141253
Which ones are shite?
Which ones are alright?

>>9142365
The fantasy novels are alright and the sci-fi are shite.
Sci-fi always pales against actual theoretical physics and mathematics.

>>9142027
The editor was him wife.... just let that sink in.

>>9142389

Makes sense, if she was a LARPing harpy of a seamstress who liked to play with her hair.

>>9142300
Because you're big meanies

File: 1475872853072.jpg (62KB, 464x416px) Image search: [Google]

62KB, 464x416px

>>9142409
I'm sorry.
Urban fantasy is really shit.
Other fantasy is just shit.

>>9142385
So you're a hard sci-fi guy?

I like my science fiction as fantasy as possible. Stretching what technology could theoretically do to the utmost. I like reading about nano tech, humans seamless integration with technology, growing food in spaceship and how further tech could evolve.

I guess I'm a sucker for these types of books because I used to read those "Popular Science" magazines from the 80's as a kid.

File: cuckamian.jpg (61KB, 736x736px) Image search: [Google]

61KB, 736x736px

Some of you Dûnyain are alright, don't go to Ishual tomorrow.

File: 1479946003399.png (208KB, 807x935px) Image search: [Google]

208KB, 807x935px

>>9142449
>So you're a hard sci-fi guy?
No, I'm a researcher and inventor who likes to think/make the future himself instead of reading about stupid hypotheses with poor prose.

Any French speakers here? I want to read some Jules Verne in the original language, but it's been a while since I last used my French. What's a good work to start with?

I'll get 20000 Leagues Under the Sea since it is cheap but would also grab some others.

>>9142476
Don't get this reference

>>9142482
Ah, so you're a loser, then

>>9142513

The reference is TUC EXCERPT FUCKING WHEN

>>9142522
Well maybe in some eyes.
But I'm also wealthy-for-life thanks to nepotism.

>>9142061
This site might be more suited to your needs:
>>>https://www.reddit.com

>>9142564
No but this site might be more suited to YOUR needs:
>>>https://www.reddit.com

Reading Titus Groan at the moment.

Struggled at first with Peake's prose, it's so detailed and descriptive that the pace is really slow. Enjoying it a lot more now that Steerpike is into the flow of his scheming. He's a fun character, I like how you can see what a prick he is without the novel telling you how to feel about him.

>>9142640
Don't make me post it anon, please don't.

>>9142834
He's not recommending it to anyone Kevin. Just let it ride.

>>9142834
>>9142870
Now I'm curious. Am I heading to spoiler territory?

>>9142870
>>9142882
Stop with this e celeb bullshit.

Hi anybody read the tom clancy series? Is it worth picking up?

Can any one recommend some scifi horror novel/story with alien(the movie) like or similar vibe ?

Brothers, we need a stone e-tablet listing the top 10 works in both science fiction and fantasy. What would belong on each list?? For Scifi I'd put forward Hyperion, Neuromancer, Dune. What else?

>>9142972
>stone e-tablet listing
What? And Dune is garbage. If you want recs just ask in a non-embarrassing way and list your interests.

>>9142980
>Dune is garbage
>My taste is fucking superior

Can someone recommend some zombie-related books?

>>9142533
sounds pretty boring desu. when are you going to kill yourself?

>>9142967
>>9142938
>>9143062

All very good ideas, I'll continue watching this thread just in case anything pops up

The fact is this time is a great time for a girl who has been on twitter and is a great woman to me for sure who I got on twitter twitter I think she was a great friend to me I hope she gets to see my girl and I will be happy for her and will always love her to her as she will ever love me so I will never have enough to be a happy woman to me

>>9143290
Most certainly.

>>9143062
my name is a legend by Matthew Richards

This has probably been discussed a million times, but holy shit I just finished Hyperion after being late to the party. Why didn't anyone tell me that Simmons is a FANTASTIC prose writer? Most genre fiction I read is pretty whatever in terms of prose and it's the ideas that are worthwhile, but this novel was amazing

File: shauriatas_by_spiralhorizon-d8du6nw.jpg (187KB, 792x792px) Image search: [Google]

187KB, 792x792px

>>9142476
Imagine how ironic that would actually be, like you spend all this time and energy preparing to shoot up your school, you leave a goodbye note for your parents etc. and when you arrive you find somebody already shot up the school lol!

Also, Shaeönanra did nothing wrong.

File: 2d54e7f737e0e30b71de77e7866ec9e9.jpg (177KB, 1345x750px) Image search: [Google]

177KB, 1345x750px

>tfw you will never be remotely as good as half the fantasy you put down and never pick back up

File: trappist-1.jpg (2MB, 6000x3375px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 6000x3375px

Here is one for speculative fiction writers. The Trappist-1 solar system of seven roughly Earth-sized planets orbiting a dim salmon-coloured star. Given their distance from it, they may have water and life. The planets are tightly clustered together with orbits between 1 and 13 days.

Start your Bradbury-esque chronicles, Asimovian space operas, or your Vance esque fiction of worlds swirling around a subdued star.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/feb/22/thrilling-discovery-of-seven-earth-sized-planets-discovered-orbiting-trappist-1-star

>>9143371
he describes 'phosphorescent' things pretty well lol

>>9142065
If anyone is gonna read Wizard Knight, i highly recommend the single volume collection, it was meant to be read as one book and having it split in two really doesn't help the story
The main character is pretty annoying for the first couple chapters but it should seriously be given a chance. He may feel like a gary sue but he shows some big change over time
I thought I would dislike it but the ending almost made me tear up a bit

>>9142513
I don't know if it was b or pol but last year or the year before??? Some kid said "some of you are alright, if you are in [insert place] don't go to [insert college] here tomorrow / this afternoon". He then went and shot up the place.

>>9143062
I am legend
The strain by del toro

>>9142967
Exploring a spaceship and finding scary shit? Hull zero 3

>>9140456
>>9140159
I was hoping more for literature, but thank you. The Eclipse Phase thing seems especially interesting as it seems really fleshed out.

>>9143062
The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

>>9142967
It's more in the vein of Aliens than Alien, but the Lazarus War series is about humans using remote-controlled clone supersoldiers to fight what are effectively the Zerg. It's pretty good for pulp milSF stuff.

File: 1471585613936.png (182KB, 885x724px) Image search: [Google]

182KB, 885x724px

I have to say in Star Wars every time I see ysalamiri mentioned somehow I automatically think of pic related. RIP Thrawn he didn't fucking deserve to die like that, and neither did poor Pellaeon ;_;. Zahn doesn't especially include too many plot twists (unlike Asimov, master of plot twists) and his characters tend to follow more predictable train tracks but they are thoroughly characters that I can empathise with. Upon reflection it strongly feels to me that a good portion of Pierce Brown’s ‘Obsidian Class’ – a race bred for war – was completely plagiarised from Zahn’s Noghri race, just as the extremely predictable Hunger Games setup was quite clearly ripped from Hunger Games for mass demographic appeal.

Onwards to Prelude and the Foundation.
RIP Mule-sama you will be missed ;_: It features a qt Seldon who loves to smile at everyone. So far he seems to be far less confident than his appearances in the original trilogy.

Part of what I enjoy about Asimov's works so much is his focus on dialogue. Dialogue reveals the plot, dialogue is the plot. Gone is the often hackneyed exposition of 9 million things happening in jargon that the reader is supposed to fill in themselves and somehow this guy manages to consistently pull out plot twists out of plot twists, chapter after chapter, book after book. He's clearly cut down on the extraneous information and only focussed on the parts that are important.

I had a brief recently read of one of Ted Chiang's stories. Unfortunately, he tends to write in very short paragraph/two paragraph long snippets, almost as if he cannot picture what is happening between these events, which suggests that he is an amateur writer. He heavily relies on the pattern of ‘two paragraphs’, ‘insert fact paraphrased from wikipedia’, ‘two paragraphs’ and so on and so forth. His characters are not especially interesting and cannot be connected well with and he heavily tells not shows the intelligence of the characters. For example, one of his characters is a mathematician and this character never once shows that they are capable of doing any math – the entire story consists of the character referring to the paper they are about to publish and how they somehow found that 1=2 without any information about how they actually came across this result other than they somehow did. It does not seem to me that Ted Chiang knows anything about mathematics other than what he is regurgitating from Wikipedia.

>>9144472
Moreover, the situations within his writing are more typical of daily life/university than anything unique or unusual somewhat suggesting a lack of experience to draw upon when writing and his short story conclusions are not especially impactful. Therefore, I found his writings to be rather less enjoyable.

I also had the opportunity to read the train story in Stefan Grabinski's 'The Dark Domain', particularly 'The Wandering Train'. Like Asimov, Grabinski doesn't over rely on jargon. His ability to pull plot twists and to conclude isn't as strong as Asimov's but the ending was quite favourable which suggests that this author is quite a promising writer.

Regarding Beaulieu’s ‘With Blood Upon the Sand’, a recent 2017 fantasy release the worldbuilding remains top notch. The setting is unique however the plot progression is generally quite predictable except for one certain king’s machinations. Morality is defined (in terms of black and white than the previous book) however unfortunately for the book it introduces an annoying character who is clearly supposed to be a university student and another university student and together one of them is becoming a blood mage because they are exceptionally talented and can apparently cast spells after reading a few pages. Thankfully, the other parts of the book are not as crassly written and fit in the middle eastern setting more ‘university student who can cast magic’. I was rather fond of the low magic setting of the first book. Both the first and second books are rather equal in terms of plot twists, the first was foremost a complex slow mystery (unusual in this genre) and the second is more traditional in terms of the plot.

Madness Season by CS Friedman. I am convinced more than ever that the Coldfire Trilogy is this author’s only good set of books. Why? The mystery of the protagonist’s identity was revealed extremely early on, the vampirism has next to no effect on the plot and seems to be tacked on for worldbuilding, the mysterious nature of how immortals who can phase in and out of reality can actually die permanently is never touched upon again, one of said immortals behaves like Okabe from Steins;Gate, not to mention attempts to establish a romance that I cared nothing about, overuse of jargon (but thankfully not to Peter Watts’ extent or in terms of basic science – Watts’ books I always felt were terribly interesting but the jargon took away from the plot progression.)

>>9142528
Transunion?

>Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever

Just past the rape scene and ive enjoyed it so far. whats the rest looking like for me?

>>9144107
It was on /r9k/, actually.

File: IMG_2270.jpg (42KB, 400x430px) Image search: [Google]

42KB, 400x430px

Fuck you faggots for making me read this trash

>>9143062
I am a Hero, the manga

>>9144525
Looks like shit. Enjoy, you seem like a lover of filth.

>>9144599
You are lucky. When I read that years ago there was less for me to choose from, so I had to make do.

>>9144599

It's great

>>9142405
*tugs braid*

>>9143062
World War Z

I've looked on piratebay, bookzz, libgen etc but can't for the life of me find dls for The Great Ordeal and Unholy Consult by bakker

Anyone have any mega links they mind sharing?

>>9144899
The great ordeal is the second link when I googled it
>how do I use google guys
>spoonfeed me

File: Rot_&_Ruin_Cover.gif (46KB, 200x295px) Image search: [Google]

46KB, 200x295px

>>9143062
I liked Rot & Ruin and its sequels. Not earth shattering, but well executed.

If you want to try a vampire apocalypse instead of a zombie one check out The Passage.

>>9144899
noob. Also, "mobilism" is another great term to add to your ebook searches.

File: Icarus_hunt.jpg (224KB, 318x475px) Image search: [Google]

224KB, 318x475px

>>9144472
If you like Zahn read The Icarus Hunt.

Same comfy style.

Could anyone recommend me a book that features characters making something/discovering things?

>>9145051
You mean arts and craft discovery or "oh shit this building was underground the whole time"??

>>9145058
I think he means inventing shit

>>9145058
The arts and crafts type was what I was intending to go for, but feel free to recommend basically anything.

>>9145064
>>9145066
Yeah, that's what I was trying to describe, in a general sense.

>>9145071
I don't know man, pretty vague. You enjoy the drama about dudes who invented shit? Maybe Asimov's "The Gods Themselves."

I can't help but think you'd be interested more in non-fictional stories of musicians, inventors, scientists, etc.

>>9145027
Comfy scifi recommendations are always welcome. Based on what I've seen people mention I'll probably finish Foundation, maybe another Zahn and after that probably Ender's Game.

>>9144899
>Unholy Consult
>expected publication date july 6th 2017

???

>>9142476
>Some of you Dûnyain are alright

bullshit

all dunyain are punkass peckerwoods

Any good book about a self sustaining colony ship traveling?

>>9145066
>>9145051
The only arts and craft that is coming to mind atm is "the cogweaver trilogy". Gnome builds a self sustaining battery that only needs a miniscule amount of energy to get started. (Perpetual machine?)

Anyways, shit hits the fan when everyone is after her invention.

>>9145756
Hull zero three

>>9144937
>>9145018
All the links I keep finding to dl from other sites have been removed.

So no. I did look.

>>9145781
If Google isn't working tey duckduckgo

Sorry to bother you guys again but any of you would know where I'd find the Solaris ebook with the new improved translation by Bill Johnston?

>>9145875
>...to my best knowledge, the book was not dedicated to erotic problems of people in outer space... As Solaris' author I shall allow myself to repeat that I only wanted to create a vision of a human encounter with something that certainly exists, in a mighty manner perhaps, but cannot be reduced to human concepts, ideas or images. This is why the book was entitled "Solaris" and not "Love in Outer Space"

kek

>>9144831
It reads like it was written by an edgy internet troll who just bingewatched game of thrones

Female warriors ruin books

>>9144107
It was actually on Newgrounds.

File: 1468127593617.gif (189KB, 500x316px) Image search: [Google]

189KB, 500x316px

>>9145883
>improved
>dedicated to erotic problems
I-is solaris degenerate? Is their GRI involved? I was thinking of reading it years ago, but your answer may be the difference between me pulling the trigger, or walking away.

>>9145888
This just shows you are a reddit faggot trying to fit in on 4chens(honk, honk). The books were out long before games of memes became a thing normies talked about.

You sound like those butthurt females who complain about the book opening with rape. "This book was so bad even though I didn't read it, I know this because it has rape. Rape didn't happen in olden times when bands sacked villages, so you know the author is a tryhard liar fabricating stories about people doing vile things and liking it!!!".

Please off yourself redshitor

>>9146201
>>9144594
Imagine, there are sectors of law enforcement whose job it is to just monitor what people say on 4chan. Really makes you think.

>>9146297
The rape argument comes from not caring to read about the ventures of a rapist, added to the fact that the main character is a god modding vehicle for the author's own power tripping fantasy. Just kidding I haven't read the books either.

>>9146077
Mostly because they are always, always stronk females that need no man and must assert their stronk femaleness by bringing down the men around them. They can't just simply be strong, tough females.

>>9146297
>females
You know someone's a virgin when they refer to women as "females".

My problem with a book starting with rape is that it doesn't have the shock value that it seems to really want. It just sounds like some edgelord trying to be edgy. Plus, if you're starting out with something as brutal as rape, you'll have to go into the realm of audacity to top it later on. And do you really want to constantly struggle to not chortle at a main villain who eats baby puppies in skull bowls in a dining room full of impaled newborn kids who were flayed alive and raped fifty times by their own fathers before Emperor Evil turned them into decorations for his dark castle, The Doomfort of Dread?

>>9146369
The major from GitS is a pretty good female warrior.

>>9146406
>do you really want to constantly struggle to not chortle at a main villain who eats baby puppies in skull bowls in a dining room full of impaled newborn kids who were flayed alive and raped fifty times by their own fathers
We aren't talking about edgy Conan here anon.

>>9146406
>You know someone's a virgin when they refer to women as "females".

It always makes me think of this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99Iw2mBO1_8

File: vernorvinge.jpg (39KB, 211x325px) Image search: [Google]

39KB, 211x325px

More like this?

>>9146525
Pretty much anything else by Vinge that deals with space.
I'm on Rainbows End right now, it seems decent. A Deepness in the Sky is a prequel to Fire upon the Deep, and Children of the Sky is related too.

I'm trying to find time travel books but it seems the genre has been hijacked and colonized by romantic trash written by and for women.
Any suggestions?
Farnham's Freehold is as corny as I can accept, with pseudo-muslim cannibal negroes and excessive bridge playing, lpus a patriotic libertarian dickwad main character.

What if Bowen Marsh's rebellion against Jon was all part of the conspiracy to get Jon onto Winterfell's seat of power and it was all orchestrated by Stannis?

Also thoughts on possibly Stannis knowing Jon's true parentage and this is why he keeps pestering him to take the Stark name so he can't claim his Targ throne?

>>9144128
I am legend is about vampires faggot

>>9145014
YA stuff can get cringeworthy so i never read these

>>9146297
>The books were out long before games of memes
>published in 2012
>16 years after the first in ASOIAF
>1 year after the most recent
>1 year after the TV show premeired
Fucking kill yourself you have no idea wtf youre talking about faggot. Are you literally 15?

>>9146297
My problem with the book is it was complete shit
>le edgy protagonist
After you graduate high school this will lose its appeal

>>9146829
Write your own

>>9147059
>>The books were out long before games of memes
Selective reading

>>9146829
sprague decamp - lest darkness fall (ancient rome)
michael moorcock - behold the man (in the time of jesus)

>>9147119
I selected to read that trash post you wrote in defense of that trash book. Youre right that was a mistake

>>9147119
Are you suggesting nobody talked about game of thrones before 2014? For fucks sake the show had been on the air for three years by then and the books have been out for 20 years

>>9147128
>read "The books were out long before games of memes became a thing normies talked about"

>interpret it as the book came out before the show.

You should just never bother to read anything ever again.

>>9147150
>nobody
Again, selective reading.

>>9147151
The book didn't come out before the show though. Seriously you're embarrassing yourself. You thought Prince of Thorns was older than it actually is. You made a mistake. No big deal, kiddo.

>>9147158
>i was called out on being wrong so now ill dig myself into this statement even deeper
Sorry for taking your post literally. A great author such as yourself should be digested and thoroughly analyzed before a humble reader such as myself comes to any conclusions about what your text could mean

>>9147170
Can you read?

> before games of memes became a thing normies talked about

Normies weren't talking about GoT during august of 2011.

File: Eyes_of_Amber.jpg (85KB, 385x640px) Image search: [Google]

85KB, 385x640px

Finished that SF collection. The Eyes of Amber short was my favorite.

Any great fantasy with a little girl protagonist?

>>9146297
>The books were out long before games of memes became a thing normies talked about
Youre an idiot

>>9147197
Alice in wonderland

>>9147186
Except for everyone with HBO. Or a library card from the Clinton administration. Are you seriously going to sit there and suggest a fucking fantasy writer had never heard of ASOIAF in 2011?

>>9147236
Tell me about all the normies who watched the show before august 2011.

LOL, just saying.

>>9147247
It was a TV show. On HBO. That garnered toms of critical praise. And 3 million people watched it. Half as many streamed or pirated it. Nearly everyone was at least aware of it. Please go outside and make friends you are desperately out of touch with reality

>>9147275
> toms of praise
Not until after Thorns was already released.

>And 3 million people watched
Not until Thorns had already been released

> Nearly everyone was at least aware of it
Not until after season 2.

>>9147316
I mean now youre just objectively wrong and being an obtuse faggot

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_Thrones_(season_1)#Ratings

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/game-thrones-review-174120

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/game_of_thrones/s01/

>>9147333
Less than 3 million people watched season 1.

>>9147343
I literally spoonfed you the information. All you have to do is click the pretty blue letters

>>9147348
Tell me more about all the normies talking about GoT before season 2.
Thorns was already finished but not yet released by the time GoT S1 finished.

>REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

>>9144599
The only good to come from this waste of time was that I now know how easy it is to be published

Well, I finished the first of Asimov's Foundation books today. Overall it was a quick and enjoyable read, better than I, Robot I would say.

Here Asimov is portraying a small technologically advanced civilisation surviving annihilation at the hands of its stronger and more numerous neighbors (and then expanding) by different non-violent means; balancing the power of enemies by playing them against eachother, placating them with a religion of science, and trade wars. The Imperium/Rome analogies, various intrigues and fast paced dialogue, which is full of light hearted moments, makes it an entertaining read altogether. I give it four dinosaurs out of five, and I look forward to reading book two.

File: neckbeard-lighter-640x533.jpg (74KB, 640x533px) Image search: [Google]

74KB, 640x533px

>friend recommends me a book
>4.5 stars on goodreads
>author bio:
>Hey, folks. I'm just a middle-aged American guy, writing fanfics for fun after a long day at the bit mine.

>Likes: Heroes who actually go out and solve their problems instead of sitting around whining about them. Especially if they have to use their brains and do some badass level grinding along the way.

>Dislikes: Clueless idiot heroes who survive on pure luck and the bad guy's mistakes. Gritty urban fantasy heroines who cause most of their own problems, and then constantly bitch at the male love interest who has to save them. Whiny little beta-boy 'heroes' who let the girls beat them up, and then wonder why the princess doesn't appreciate their awesome sensitive wonderfulness.

I want to shove this guy into a locker, and I'm a compsci major.

File: 1478479739234.jpg (636KB, 1280x1855px) Image search: [Google]

636KB, 1280x1855px

Does anyone know any books that would be about an order of knights or warriors that fight against some generic darkness/evil. But it's a thankless job, all dark and shit, they're ignored/hated by the public and it doesn't look like they'll ever win.

>>9147363
>>REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
>REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

>>9147542
I will buy all his books nwo

>>9147548
Read history, about the real teutonic order. Way better than your fag fantasy.

>>9147583
Any historical novels about that ?

>>9147548
The Nights Watch is exactly that sort of organization in the books of A Song of Ice and Fire :^) But they are only one of the several story lines in the novels.

A little less related:
Then there's the orders of the Knights Radiant in the Stormlight Archive books, but they're forgotten because they died out somehow, and are only starting to slowly re-emerge during the course of the books.

That's what came to my mind.

File: 1458336512493.jpg (12KB, 223x250px) Image search: [Google]

12KB, 223x250px

>>9141959
>https://i.imgur.com/r688cPe.jpg
What load of crap.

>>9147719
You haven't read any of the books.

>>9147583
Rude.
>>9147639
I would prefer the organisation to be the centre point of the story but I'll give Stormlight Archive books a shot.

File: 1480003668102.png (142KB, 229x277px) Image search: [Google]

142KB, 229x277px

>>9147719
>people who don't acknowledge Sarantine Mosaic as Kay's best work.

File: 1479407662909.jpg (33KB, 501x500px) Image search: [Google]

33KB, 501x500px

>love triangle

>>9147741
To be fair in ASOIAF the organization is described more, but only because it has more books out of the series.
You'll have to be patient with what you requested in Stormlight, but the books are pretty good in their own right.

>>9147854
>love triangle
>female protagonist
>her two lovers wind up DPing her in the end

>>9144599
Is this scifi or fantasy? I've heard mixed things

>>9147912
its a fantasy novel whos twist is that it takes place on our earth a few thousand years after a nuclear apocalypse
Also its utter trash written by a martin wannabe edgelord. One of the few books i didnt finish

>>9147990
What the fuck? So it's just a shitty version of Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun? This is why i don't go on /lit/ anymore.

>>9142972
Book of the New Sun

File: Not surprised you are on lit and you can't read and comprehend.png (47KB, 456x488px) Image search: [Google]

47KB, 456x488px

>>9145888
>written by an edgy internet troll who just bingewatched game of thrones
>who just bingewatched game of thrones
>bingewatched

>>9146297
>The books were out long before games of memes became a thing normies talked about.
>became a thing normies talked about.

>>9147059
>published in 2012
>1 year after the TV show premeired
>I can't read so I will call others on my inadequacies

>>9145888
>>9146297
>>9147059
>>9147119
>>9147150
>>9147170
>>9147186
>>9147199
>>9147247
>>9147316
>>9147333
>>9147343
>>9147355
>>9148003
>>9148259
/sffg/: worst thread on /lit/ as usual

Will someone tell me their top three literary sci-fi novels? Looking for recc's. I've read a bit but never really dived into the genre. Thanks in advance!

>>9148287
much like your posting

>>9148316
The Passion of New Eve
Dhalgren
How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

File: 1478468516438.png (237KB, 425x427px) Image search: [Google]

237KB, 425x427px

>>9147548
Dragon Age: Last Flight
Dragon Age: The Calling

>>9148259
>a fucking pedantic faggot whos shitty book was btfo so he focuses on semantics
>he focuses on semantics
>semantics
Thats exactly what the book reads like faggot. And even the author himself admits Martin had massive influence on his writing. The difference being i can actually finish ASOIAF

>>9148259
What? You know august is after april right?

>>9148259
Not sure what youre greentexing here? Game of thrones was first whos even debating this?

File: WhitesOnlyLibrary.jpg (15KB, 348x248px) Image search: [Google]

15KB, 348x248px

How to make the public library usable again in one easy step.

Also, no homeless people.

>>9148526
Public library is perfectly usable. If youre implying you dislike the clientele, well kiddo, that includes you.

>>9148259
What?

/sffg/ I don't normally like scifi because there only like 5 scifi stories that have all been done to death

>Space wars
>YA apocalypse
>Alien Invasion
>Robots react to being servants
>Cyberspace is a scary place

What are some stories that actually break the mold?

>>9148669
Breaking the mold is a meme

>>9148708
wow you must be a boring person in real life

>>9148708
says the guy with no originality whose desire to feed off regurgitated content stands shifts demand towards it until the only think left for us is the same vomit you like

You're like one of those assholes with no taste buds who vocally demands spicier foods long enough and hard enough that pretty soon there are restaurants that put slices of habeñero in the water

File: A_Voyage_to_Arcturus.jpg (676KB, 1024x799px) Image search: [Google]

676KB, 1024x799px

>>9148669
Read it and weep hot tears of contrition.

>>9147015
so is the strain, but zombies = living dead

>>9148773
oh, and I forgot the long dead sixth pillar: It's fantasy but set on another planet in our universe so it's scifi

>>9148465
Yep August is exactly 12 months after April.

>>9148744
>>9148718
Haksjkejej
Kekkdkeosoqpsnd
Fartturdniggercunttittypoop
Jelldkeksoe

There you go. A completely original poem that truly breaks the mold of traditional word structure
Original =/= good

>>9148779
Who says the monsters are dead

>>9148805
I'm confident you'll find it still breaks the mold you ungrateful cretin.

>>9148811
These are the brilliant minds that post on /lit/

>>9148385
Yes because we know that Lawrence watched games of thrones, then wrote, found an editor, and got published all in the space of 5 months.

>>9148852
Game of thrones is based on a 20 year old book series dumbass

>>9148834
And you are a faggot who doesn't read the thread and selects a portion of a post to respond to.

Neck yourself

>>9148852
The way that shit book was written more like 5 days

Why do I post in this shit hole

File: 261494.jpg (34KB, 307x475px) Image search: [Google]

34KB, 307x475px

>>9148669
A whole lot of new wave SF; Brian Aldiss (Hot House), JG Ballard (Drowned World), Le Guin (The Lathe Of Heaven), Philip K Dick (Martian Time-Slip), Robert Silverberg (Dying Inside).

These stories have little in common, but they are broadly more philosophical and psychological than golden age and popular science fiction.

Also, SF is the most diverse genre there is. You can also pick up the anthologies of short stories by Penguin and Oxford, edited by Aldiss and Shippey.

>>9148866
>what is reading
>the original poster all the way up top was talking about the tv show.
>anon responds to him with the tv show in context
>another anons who didn't even read start shitposting
>they all outed themselves as persons who can't read and comprehend

No wonder people cry about good books being shit in these generals. They have to get everything laid out for them like Sanderson does or they won't understand the book.
Fucking disgraceful.

>>9144525
1st book is partly a retread / deconstruction of the Fellowship of the Ring from the viewpoint of the books' premise. Each book in the trilogy is better than the preceding, and 1st is the weakest, as the emotional themes require long investments. There is world-building, but it's ultimately a psychodrama.

>>9148874
Because you yourself is shite. You are were you post.

>>9148890
I made the original post. I said it reads like an edgy YA ASOIAF ripoff. It does. Then some butthurt lawrence fan (im assuming you) said that was impossible because the books were out long before normies knew about the show. Which as we now both know isnt true. Show came first. Why youre dragging out your embarrassment so long I dont know, but it has been entertaining during this long shift. So thanks for being retarded, I can always count on /lit/ for that.

>>9148898
Also, it has an unusual amount of academic attention paid to it.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/43308663

https://www.questia.com/library/626899/stephen-r-donaldson-s-chronicles-of-thomas-covenant

>>9147542
name of author?

>>9148890
>they all outed themselves as persons who can't read and comprehend
>everyone but me is wrong
Holy shit. Dude just fucking admit you were wrong about a publishing date for a shitty book. What the fuck level of autism have you reached that youll fight such a petty mistake to the death

>>9148926
Lucky thing we don't have to take your word for it because the evidence about "bingewatching" is right here >>9145888

>>9148966
>I can't read and comprehend what someone said
>no where in the posts it implies that Prince of meme was published before game of meme's show or book
>Holy shit. Dude just fucking admit you were wrong

>>9148970
And april is still before august. Holy shit you are one sad little man. Fucking end it man

>>9148990
>after multiple people made me see I misread anon's post I'm too beta to admit I'm wrong so I'll continue
I don't even care anymore. This general is housed with illiterates.

>>9148999
it's just the fantasy readers. i don't remember this level of crap from an SF book. you folks always shitting up SFFG

>>9149027
Since you a scifag.
What you think of >>9146258 is it degenerate?

File: Man-Kzin_Wars_Best_of.jpg (116KB, 399x640px) Image search: [Google]

116KB, 399x640px

>>9148966
>>9148970
>>9148989
>>9148999
>>9149027
Slow down.
Take some deep breaths.

Tell me what you see.

>>9149041
Catfag-sama is back. What furry shit do you have on your backburner?

/sffg/, Must SF that seeks to glamorize science by necessity involve either a war or an [un]natural disaster in order to do so?

I'm sort of bored with this recent surge in 'humans only' fantasy settings.

What are some good fantasy series with elves?

File: VisualEncylclopediaOfScienceFiction.jpg (142KB, 944x600px) Image search: [Google]

142KB, 944x600px

>>9149059
>he thinks I'm not reading every post in these thrice cursed threads
Bit of a dry spell lately. I don't usually buy stuff online, so I have to get lucky. Really should put together a list so that I can skim titles when out on the hunt. Would you believe that this thing has a section on sex with aliens and even bestiality, but no catgirls? Need to find a better one I guess.

File: ThreeStigmataDaw1983.jpg (40KB, 312x526px) Image search: [Google]

40KB, 312x526px

>>9148316

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Stand On Zanzibar
Solaris

Also, The End Of Eternity, by (of all people) Isaac Asimov. Beautifully written.

Has anyone read American Gods? I couldn't finish it because it felt like a myth wanking, self insert power fantasy

File: this kills the lit.png (394KB, 584x622px) Image search: [Google]

394KB, 584x622px

>>9149330
>I couldn't finish it
>lit motto 2017

>>9141959
It's been a while since I've actually read a good scifi, would anyone mind giving some recommendations?

Books I've read and liked:
Dune series
Ender's Saga
Death Gate cycle
Hyperion
The Demolished Man
A fire upon the Deep
The Forever War


Also, I've been archiving the Dragonlance series, Ocr'in, formatting, repairing etc. Would anyone happen to have these 2 books?
Protecting Palanthas by Douglas W. Clark
The Great White Wyrm by Peter Archer

http://pastebin.com/77JYkcSV

I know Dragonlance is babbys first fantasy and considered crap, but they were the first books ever lent to me and I feel a sort of obligation to keep them alive.

>>9149107
Not really, those scenarios just make it easy to depict science as important. I'm sure one could write about the day to day victories of science in a medical or sanitary capacity, but it doesn't have quite the same punch as some sort of existential threat to human existence.

>>9149433
Ignore that bit about Dragonlance, looked at tpb to see if my old collection was still up, and someone else has uploaded a complete collection.

>>9146413
Can she really be called female when they live in a post human environment? Even Batou says for her to stop wearing a female chassis and get a stronger male one
Guess that's the point of the entire franchise though
God I love post-human/transhuman stories

File: Larry Niven - Ringworld.jpg (26KB, 220x356px) Image search: [Google]

26KB, 220x356px

>>9149433

If you're Gen X, William Gibson's "Neuromancer".
>Millenials (understandably) don't into cyberpunk

Larry Niven's first Ringworld book is good, unless you're female in which case you may find his misogyny offputting.

Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker series is good if you like British humor: Monty Python in space.

Roger Zelazny's "Lord of Light" is an interesting look at a possible future where tech underpins a religious ruling caste. His Amber series is in a similar vein although it substitutes the scifi tech for a fantasy setting of chaos versus order. Zelazny does a good job writing a devil-may-care protagonist.

Asimov's writing is more modern than modern books.

>>9146991

hard no to both theories

>>9149715
I have read Neuromancer I believe, if I remember right the cyberspeak was a little annoying to read but funny in context of leetspeek/quicktype.

I think I'll have a go at Ringworld. Do the other books in the series just not live up to the first one?

I believe I read the first 2 books of the Hitchhiker series, but decided I actually liked the movie better so I dropped the rest. I do enjoy The holy Grail/Life of Brian though.

One question, does it treat the religion as some sort of sanctified thing or as a moral obligation philosophy? As in, do they believe in god, or have they created a being with godlike powers and benevolence through technology?

What are some good Feudal Japan inspired fantasy books? also any Non-fiction or history books would be good im in the mood to read about samurai and peasant armies and shit

>>9150061
Shogun

How's Jack Vance? I'm going to read Durdane soon but I've never tried his stuff.

>>9150208
Read and tell us.

>>9150652
Will do, I'm having to read Wuthering Heights and King Lear first. But I'll get to it.

Looking for masculine high-test sci-fi/fantasy, preferably with mystery component

File: Smug cunt.jpg (8KB, 249x238px) Image search: [Google]

8KB, 249x238px

>>9150767
>masculine high-test sci-fi/fantasy
The steel remains

File: 1480502077232.jpg (234KB, 1368x732px) Image search: [Google]

234KB, 1368x732px

>>9150767
Are you gay?

>>9150843

No, i don't post on fit, why?

>>9150894
Because your posts make you sound like a faggot.

I found some copies of Analog magazine from the 1960s. They're in pretty good condition.

Anyone here know what they might be worth?

>>9149971
>I think I'll have a go at Ringworld. Do the other books in the series just not live up to the first one?
Depends on how much you're put off by all the yiffing.

Could someone recommend me a fantasy book set in an Arab-like civilization? Something that gives the same vibes as the movie Lawrence of Arabia.

>>9150948
If they are not already, they will be scanned on somewhere like archive.org like Galaxy and some other titles are (some good stuff in there.) And most SF short stories and novellas are now in e-book format even if it is out of physical print.

And SF readers into that era will already have stuff in paperback and anthology.

It's still cool to have if they are in readable shape, but I don't think they are worth any more than copies of Nat Geo.

If you're lucky you can find a baby boomer who wants a stack for his yacht/garden shed/games room/holiday home.

If it was something like Weird Tales it's a different matter, because those mags are falling apart and I don't think everything has been digitally archived.

However, I'm not an expert.

On another topic, I started another PKD novel (my sixth) Dr Bloodmoney. Already enjoying it fifty pages in.

File: 1452905283864.png (16KB, 550x404px) Image search: [Google]

16KB, 550x404px

>>9151141
The Quran.

>>9151151
*tips fedora*

Someone answer my question in >>9151141
please.

>>9151159
see
>>9151151

>>9151141
The Emperor's Blade (multiple POV, about an assassin who serves the empire and a strange disease. Mildly cliche.)
Daughter of the Empire (one POV, about a minor noble woman who works her way up in the Empire. Original, political, and pretty good)

>>9151160
>no change in IP

You can't even samefagging the right way.

>>9149498

>GitS is "post-human"

GitS is a fantasy story. I can't believe people still dont realize this. Its as scientifically relevant as Star Wars.

>>9144474
>>9144472
Nothing you wrote really evoked a massive sense of kinship in me, but I generally agree with what you've said. Especially the bit about Asimov and dialogue, god he rocks.

>>9151218
Not that anon, but it's worth reinforcing about Asimov about his dialogue. Most of I, Robot and Foundation is dialogue, which is why it reads quickly and doesn't feel very forbidding.

In SF, another big dialogue man, who does it well, is PKD, Very natural feeling, even when his characters are acting a little nutty. Only PKD goes into a characters thoughts a lot more than Asimov (who hardly depicts people at all outside of what they say and their mannerisms.)

I'm not an audiobook or radio guy, but given Asimov's style, he is probably translated well into those formats.

File: f55be1777a7d3c1e1e534c7efc3238fe.jpg (63KB, 564x752px) Image search: [Google]

63KB, 564x752px

>>9151146
Interesting. Thanks, anon. I was hoping they'd be worth a bit. Either way, I'm going to scan them and try preserve them, for the sake of my collection if nothing else.
Pic related, one of the two I have.

File: fuse_soviet_space_station_by_meckanicalmind-d67k8op.jpg (166KB, 1600x894px) Image search: [Google]

166KB, 1600x894px

Can you guys recommend some books that take place on space stations? I finished Downbelow Station a couple of weeks ago, finished Babylon 5 last weekend and am working my way through Deep Space Nine atm and I would really like some more stuff with this kind of setting.

>>9151273
Well, until you look, you never know. Your scans/copies may be superior to what's out there, and perhaps some fetch a price for art. I just speculate based on my own tastes. Love that era, but would rather read digitally or in a more robust print.

Your issue http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?56806 doesn't have any immediate big names. Cool art though.

File: Hospital_Station.png (741KB, 417x699px) Image search: [Google]

741KB, 417x699px

>>9151288
Would this suffice? Mostly short stories about encountering strange new aliens and figuring out why they're sick.

What did you think of Downbelow Station?

>>9149330
Same desu, stopped after the gay moslem creampie scene

>>9151288
The Expanse (Leviathan Wakes)

>>9149041
Why does that cat have tits?
Kzin females aren't even sentient, for crying out loud.

File: 1485793889959.jpg (381KB, 834x640px) Image search: [Google]

381KB, 834x640px

>>9141959
Anyone read the Reckoner series? Just finished Calamity. Didn't like the ending. Steelheart is definitely the best in the series. Calamity didn't even end with a good metaphor.

>>9149330
>Gaiman
>mythwanking
What a surprise.

American Gods is a great book.

>>9148820
I li-likes your poem :3

>>9143979
Not gonna lie. When I read that those planets were “tidally locked” I started to think how would I write a story about people living on the edge of the day and night. Like, everytime they go to work they cross the day side of the planet and when its time to go to bed, they cross to the night side. Maybe the story of someone who crossed the farthest part of the day and the farthest part of the night.

Probably there are a couple of books like that, im more into fantasy than sci fi though.

>>9151508
Because BAEN.
Kzin are built incredibly thick too IIRC.

>>9151193
So everything that isn't the hardest of hard sci-fi is fantasy? Good to know retard man

>>9151827
>>9151508
>>9149041
>ywn slay kzin puss puss

might as well tasp myself until i die of dehydration

File: Cathouse.jpg (109KB, 390x640px) Image search: [Google]

109KB, 390x640px

>>9151861
:3

I've recently started the prince of nothing series and

Does anyone else fucking esmenet?

Holy fuck. She's annoying.

>>9149971

>I think I'll have a go at Ringworld. Do the other books in the series just not live up to the first one?

Niven made a mistake with the physics of the Ringworld and apparently was triggered by criticism so he wrote the second book. I found it clunky because he tries to write in a fix for the problem that was not very believable. I think I may have started the third book but I suppose there was just so much Ringworld I wanted to read; it's essentially planetary adventure anyways.

>One question, does it treat the religion as some sort of sanctified thing or as a moral obligation philosophy? As in, do they believe in god, or have they created a being with godlike powers and benevolence through technology?

If I recall correctly, the setting is a planet colonized by human expansion. I'm a little fuzzy on how the ruling religious caste got started: either they arrived later with a tech lead and lorded it over the relative peons or tech degraded and they held the remnants. I do recall that they had banned tech development for the peons.

Anyhoo, Zelazny writes decently so this isn't the usual clumsy hard scifi thesis outline where the characters are hectoring you with the author's ideas inside a fingerpainted world. The books you listed as enjoyed generally have the thesis ensconced in entertaining writing so I tried to pick some books that weren't stark hard scifi.

File: woof.gif (2MB, 512x288px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 512x288px

Are there any good SF/F written entirely in Latin?

File: Wadi Rum - Lawrence of Arabia.webm (3MB, 1048x480px) Image search: [Google]

3MB, 1048x480px

>>9150208

>Durdane
The results of starting with Durdane should be interesting.

>>9150652

>Read and tell us.
Yes, please do. I at least would be interested to read if you enjoyed it.

>>9151141

Frank Herbert's "Dune" comes to mind, if you're willing to tolerate light scifi themes.
>"Lawrence of Arabia"
My favorite movie. When the camera is craned through the gap in the walls of Wadi Rum...mmmf. That's art.

File: latzaflight.webm (3MB, 1276x678px) Image search: [Google]

3MB, 1276x678px

>reads Sanderson once

>>9151872
>does anyone else fug esmenet

Wew lad strap in

>>9150061
Shogun by James Clavell, a fictionalized take on the final years of the sengoku jidai, following the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and is mainly about Tokugawa's big play for the title of Shogun. Narrated through the perspective of a shipwrecked British ship navigator, also featuring a few Jesuits and Portuguese traders.

>>9152047
I'm 3/4 the way through the second novel in the Mistborn trilogy and I'm still unsure whether Elend dug his dick deep into Vin's loose and brown asshole.
What's wrong with Sanderson anyway?
I haven't found anything offensively bad about these novels yet, but not anything splendid either.

>>9152182
He's Mormon, so no cursing, no sex scenes, nothing taboo at all really. Which makes the GRI club mad for some reason.

>>9151166
>Daughter of the Empire
>arab
Tsuranuanni is based on East Asia mate.

>>9152212
I dunno, the Wax and Wayne books have some of that. More than the original trilogy, anyways.

>>9149433
just stop fucking around and read blindsight

>>9152212
Well I guess I can understand that since most of the dumb character flaws for Vin could easily be solved by my big cock stretching her pussy to its limits.

>>9150208
I recommend The Demon Princes, it gets better with every book in the series, and Dying Earth, I love Cugel's Saga in particular

>>9152089
I was actually asking if anyone else hates her but wow.

I'm going to finish the series but I'm pretty sure, I'm going to hate it now just because of her. How2ignoreannoycharacters?

>>9152707
Embrace your hate my child

You stilll need to read aspect emperor

Are there any good female protagonists?

File: The_Pride_of_Chanur2.jpg (129KB, 585x993px) Image search: [Google]

129KB, 585x993px

>>9152830
Loads, it's a rather broad question though. Not likely to get you something you'd enjoy.

>>9152818
I hope she dies in the story before then.

>>9149971
>One question, does it treat the religion as some sort of sanctified thing or as a moral obligation philosophy? As in, do they believe in god, or have they created a being with godlike powers and benevolence through technology?
The crew of the colony ship and their descendants hoard all the technology and rule as the Hindu pantheon. The main character spreads Buddhism to take manpower away from them and it's heavily implied that a side character develops true Buddha-nature.

The ship's chaplain remains a faithful Christian and is also a necromancer. It's a wild book. Short, too.

>>9150767
Come back when you've read through Vance and Howard and Brackett.

File: Charles Pellegrino, George Zebrowski - The Killing Star.jpg (35KB, 220x356px) Image search: [Google]

35KB, 220x356px

"The Killing Star" by Charles Pellegrino and George Zebrowski, 1995.

An anon in the last thread was looking for an ebook of this novel which wasn't found but an audiobook is extant. As the blurb sounded interesting, I listened to the audiobook.

The novel opens in the near future where humans have colonized Luna, Mars, Ceres, Mercury: the usual suspects. The Solar system is invaded by large objects moving at relativistic speeds. The objects detach like cluster bombs and target the known clusters of humanity. Due to the kinetic energy of the impacts, the surfaces of the planetary bodies are sterilized and humanity is reduced to Ceres and whatever was afloat at the time on the solar winds.

The novel then shifts perspective to the survivors which include residents of Ceres, a submarine exploring the wreck of the Titanic, an outpost on a comet, and a sect that follows the clones of Jesus and Buddha, who are known as Joshua and Justin.

The novel consists of several short stories written from these perspectives at the time of the attack and the immediate aftermath and loosely strung together. The stories are often split so the reader can be shifted to another perspective. The stories don't really overlap so there's not much reason to do this other than staving off reader boredom for as long as possible.

The survivors deduce that an alien race has detected their emissions and chose to exterminate humanity as a preemptive measure. The primary thesis of the novel is that spacefaring races would conclude that all other spacefaring races are a threat to their survival. Any threat to survival must be eliminated.

The Ceres survivors shut down their fusion reactors and go dark, hoping to avoid detection by neutrino emissions. Eventually they receive a broadcast from the aliens, which is a rebroadcast of the 1985 Michael Jackson single "We Are the World". The survivors deduce that this was the strongest emission ever emanated from Earth and the aliens must have detected us from it. The rebroadcast turns out to have an embedded virus that infects the receiving equipment and converts it to self-replicating robots. These robots overrun the station on Ceres, exterminating the survivors there.

The two submarine survivors were saved by the depth of the Atlantic while they explored the Titanic. After the attack, they surface and begin transmitting SoS calls that are heard by the surviving outposts who choose to ignore them as this will draw alien attention. The crewman of the submarine has a VR simulation of the Titanic that he is obsessed with and the captain has to cajol him out of it in order to help scavenge for supplies.

File: Charles Pellegrino, George Zebrowski - The Killing Star.png (561KB, 1008x389px) Image search: [Google]

561KB, 1008x389px

>>9153019

I admit being fuzzy on why there was an outpost on the comet but in some fashion they have found a way to enter Sol's corona and are attempting to hide from the aliens there. This occurs early in the novel which I found quite disconcerting as venturing into stars doesn't seem like something a race of neophyte spacefarers would be capable of doing. Anyhoo, the aliens end up finding them but stand off in a higher orbit and begin tossing antimatter bombs down through a path they intermittently clear through the starstuff. The cometriders counter by hucking some sort of implosion bombs that cancel the antimatter bombs. Eventually the cometriders decide they will run out of bombs before the aliens do and decide to launch all of theirs at once. They do so and succeed in driving off the aliens although the combined effect of the implosions nearly halts solar fusion. The cometriders now must decide whether to attempt to kill Sol deliberately or not.

The submarine survivors are eventually detected and are hoisted up, submarine and all, from the surface of the Atlantic Ocean into an alien spacecraft. There they have conversations with an octopus-like alien, who eventually reveals that their race is subservient to an AI. Not much else is revealed here with the rest of the story focused on the Jesuit submarine captain coming to the brink of embracing atheism while her crewmate decides to rebuild his Titanic simulation and live in VR.

The novel closes with the religious sect on the way to a nearby brown dwarf star where they intend to hide. Behind them, Sol has flared into nova and will exterminate everything inside the Oort cloud. Jesus/Joshua becomes angry and focused on the survival of humanity for eventual revenge.

The novel is peppered with Old Testament or Talmudic references, often by the characters themselves who are described as irreligious. I considered this odd so I googled the two writers. George Zebrowski is Jewish and has written other scifi with Jewish themes. Pellegrino is more enigmatic; he appears to be something of a disgraced charlatan who faked a PhD and had a 2010 book pulled from print because of falsified claims. He has also been an intimate of James Cameron's, which would explain the otherwise bizarre appearance of the Titanic in this novel. There are also numerous Star Trek: TNG references throughout the novel but I have no working theory as to why. The afterword of the novel appears devoted to listing all of the exclusive claims and predictions of the authors and reads like a pathetic resume of lives wasted.

Anon-kun from the last thread, I would advise you not to spend the $20+ for a used copy of this book.

File: Screen Shot 2016-08-10 at 7.59.21 PM.png (2MB, 2880x1800px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 2880x1800px

>tfw you realize you can't fit all of your ideas into one story. you have to split it up into 2 unrelated concepts
>then you realize the one you developed is animesque trash and always has been, and the other has no plot

why...

>>9152830
The Wall Of Storms is great but you have to read The Grace Of Kings to first. That too is great, possibly better, but the only real female protagonists show up 2/3 of the way through

>>9150208
Any reason why Durdane? Not a usual one that get people into Vance

>>9153021
Sounds pretty cool, myself having skipped the spoilers. How's the prose?

Your final paragraph made me think the overall good concept may be underlined by crappy writing.

>>9153080
The lady at the second hand book shop was going to throw it out because it'd been sitting on her shelf for seven years and no one touched it. I noticed it was Jack Vance and said I'd buy it but she literally just give it to me.

>>9153091
>How's the prose?
There isn't any. The characters are narrating an argument: here's why aliens might kill us preemptively; here's why not; well I got this published so you must be wrong. Typical hard scifi pulp.

I hoped it would be about how the survivors could cobble together a functioning civilization without planetary homes but alas it was some odd fedora indoctrination session instead

.>>9153113
That's quite nice of her; also a bit sad. Hopefully you like it or at least some aspect of it; there are a few Vance fans here who I'm sure would like to discuss it or suggest something else.

File: 1472871598100.png (139KB, 400x400px) Image search: [Google]

139KB, 400x400px

>>9153021
>There are also numerous Star Trek: TNG references throughout the novel but I have no working theory as to why.
This is one of the most amusing things I have read in a while.

>>9150061
Gatherer of clouds

Can you think of a scifi book with earth invaded by ayyliens and extremely bleak odds of survival for the human race?

>>9151288
Hull zero three

>>9147548
The Knights Radiant in the The Stormlight Archive series were several ancient orders of knights with divine powers that fought against periodic demonic blights. After a particularly bad one, for unknown reasons they forsook the oaths they had taken and disappeared, leaving behind their magic weapons and armor. Fighting over these artifacts caused bloodbaths as countries tried to possess as many of these weapons of mass destruction as possible.

Their disappearance was marked as a betrayal to humanity. This belief was preserved through a strong religion centered around the god who had granted them these powers.

When, thousands of years later, where the books are set, people begin to manifest the powers that the Knights Radiants were rumored to have, they are persecuted, murdered, and face every obstacle in trying to reform the order to face a coming storm.

>>9153530
BOOK 3 WHEN???

hey /sffg/ are either of these ideas salvageable and capable of becoming high SF?

>A boy finds out he's the half-human son of one of four gods and was born entirely for the purpose of killing the other three, who each have their own children made for the same purpose. Unfortunately the god he was born to was kind of an asshole and he's woefully underprepared

>years ago, in the days when men were men and lightbulb salesmen were still burned at the stake on rare occasions, a young girl wandered into the spirit world and begged a god to make her a physicist. many years later as a grad student, that girl begins to research the twisting spirit paths that stumped even the greatest scientists, armed only with her wits and a magic book containing only what is already known

>>9153367
The three body problem, although granted the aliens don't actually get there until the third book

File: file.png (384KB, 608x379px) Image search: [Google]

384KB, 608x379px

I cried

>>9153979
>New York Times bestselling author
Does that even mean anything?

Just finished Abercrombie's latest offering 'Half a King.' Ech, what a stinker. I read his first series years ago and found it entertaining and endearing, if a bit underwritten at times, but this new one was just awful. It takes place in the most unimaginative 'Not-Vikings' setting you can imagine, where he somehow manages to render dull all the best parts of that culture. The protagonist undergoes the usual Campbellian trials and tribulations, but instead of emerging from them forged as a true hero, he's just as weak and insipid in the final scene as he was in the first. If not for all the other characters remarking on every page 'wow you sure have changed' the end is so indistinguishable from the beginning that the intervening 200 pages may not as well have happened. But I could forgive all of that if not for the climax: it robs the protagonist of any emotional closure with a coincidence so great it would make Dickens blush. He might as well have had the villain spontaneously combust just before he killed our witless hero, for all that the twist was foreshadowed.

Half a King was a mistake. If you, like me, are desperate for a trashy read and spot Abercrombie's name, do yourself a favour and skip this train wreck of a book.

>>9154233
I read Half a King and I agree with you. Abercrombie consistently spews garbage and the characters are dull, uninteresting and the plot is lacking.

>>9154233
>>9154235
honestly, we just need less GoT ripoffs, especially ones that don't even make an effort to be different

>>9153367
The Fifth Wave

>>9153061
>>/vg/
>>169340749

>>9154233
Now cite your sources. Where'd you pick up this gaudily written post?

>>9154007
It means you have a really good agent and publisher deal.

>>9153722
Faggot. Stol asking what is cool and just write, write something till your stumped then move onto the other ideas.

Editing exists for the sole purpose of making coherent, your incoherent thoughts. You are not expected to write a coherent story from the get go with chapters and prose in descending order. You write then move on then come back. ONLY WHEN the story is finished you edit.

No wonder people tell you tosers to git. You just want attention. Here is your (you).

Also first story sounds cliche like Percy Jackson explaining world war 2.

Second story is avatar korra series, and scientists tapping into the spirit vines? You'll get brownie points and published if you write as a vagina protagonist.

I don't want to be this guy but what novels are similar to "darker" anime like Tokyo Ghoul or alternatively Phantom requim for the phantom?

>>9155065
Then don't be that guy. The genre is simply called dark fantasy, and you can find a bunch of books searching for that. If you want to watch anime, go watch anime.
Anyhow, Bakkers Prince of Nothing series is popular here.

>>9155078
>if you want to watch
I clearly want to read otherwise I'm not asking.

>Prince of Thorns
Just edgy shit, especially with the rape.

Looking through some "dark fantasy top x" link on goodreads, I already wondered if maybe I should have been looking for (dark) Urban Fantasy all along.
But now I'm sure.

Somebody recommended "guilty pleasures" a while ago.
I'll just start with that, unless it has rape.

>>9155121
>wants dark fantasy without rape

why do you think it's called 'dark' fantasy?

>>9155121
>dark
>afraid of rape
Yeah I think anime / teen fiction is what you want.

>>9155131
>>9155132
Why do you think I typed '"darker" anime' and not 'dark anime'?

>afraid of rape
No, it's just that in a lot of books like Prince of Thorns it's all just a manifestation of a male power fantasy in the worst kind way. (at least, as I experience it)

That is not to say I'm completely against the male power fantasy, it's just that certain manifestations of it put a really sour taste in my mouth.

>>9155131
>wants dark fantasy without rape
You're putting foreign words into my mouth.

The 2 examples I've given (one of which isn't even fantasy actually but the tone fits the bill), have urban settings.

Looking through the previously mentioned dark fantasy list, I see books like Mistborn, Malazan, asoiaf, prince of thorns and those have in no way an "urban setting".

>>9155179
2bh lad I'm groping in the dark to help you because I've not read a fantasy book written after the 1990s that wasn't trash

>>9155195
At least I can thank you for trying.

>after the 1990s that wasn't trash
Does this have a clear cut reason?

Did fantasy really change as it neared the millennium?
A big shift in target demographic as reason for example?

>>9155179
>Prince of Thorns
You said this twice now. Are you dyslexic? Because the initial post recommended a different series by a different author.
>urban
Urban fantasy is pretty much all bad, but good luck on your quest. I do recommend occasionally stepping out of your comfort zone and trying something new rather than desperately searching for specific criteria though.

>>9155221
>You said this twice now.
Oh god, this is what happens when I don't get corrected the first time.

>I do recommend occasionally stepping out of your comfort zone
I guess I can try Prince of Nothing then.

>>9155065
Prince of Nothing is about as far as you can possibly get from Tokyo Ghoul and the writing is quite purple and generally awful. (Overdone prose without plot).

You can begin with the books that Tokyo Ghoul is clearly based upon:
>Kafka's Metamorphosis and Crossbreed

These are also good dark /sffg/:
There are no ghouls/dismembering (there was a dark fantasy book with dismembering - the Valisar Trilogy by Fiona Mcintosh but the third book goes into slightly isekai bullshit) commonly although you do commonly get vampires with no romance bullshit.

>Coldfire Trilogy
A woman is attacked the MC sets out to find the perpetrator. Set on the planet Erna where a person's worst fears are effectively brought into reality.

>Fevre Dream
A human is hired to pilot a steamboat down the Missouri. Fantasy. Vampires.

>Blindsight/Echopraxia
Astronauts initiate first contact, the leader is a vampire.

>The Killing Moon
Middle Eastern setting where dreams are harvested but of course it all begins to go wrong.

-

Most normies like it:
Night Angel by Brent Weeks. It's essentially what it is on the cover, but one of the characters, Dorian, has a story you'll probably love.

>>9155214
People first starting out with sci-fi read literature and wrote them to explore concepts normally difficult outside of a SFF framework. SFF authors nowadays grew up reading SFF instead of literature so that's all they know, it became stagnant, and created its own subculture that expects this stagnation as a framework of the genre.

>>9155237
>Astronauts initiate first contact, the leader is a vampire.
I should mention also that you should expect Evangelion tier mindfuck with this one.

>>9155065
Moreover I should also add that if you like Beserk tier darkness (which I certainly don't) you may find Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy to your liking.

I found the series to be terrible due to the all pervading grim dark but Glokta was a thoroughly enjoyable character.

File: Suggestion Chart.jpg (699KB, 1000x4000px) Image search: [Google]

699KB, 1000x4000px

>>9155121

>>9155264
>that entire chart

embarrassing

>>9155238
So if I understand correctly, the original works were meant to be literature first and had fantastical/futuristic elements to strengthen it.
Like Shakespeare also used fantastical elements in some his works.

While modern fantasy is just taking the tropes/elements for the sake of and being as shallow as an average soap opera?

File: 1486417537478.jpg (273KB, 1280x1600px) Image search: [Google]

273KB, 1280x1600px

>>9155179
>male power fantasy

>>9155237
Thank you for the thorough reply.

>>9155278
>implying I gave a fuck about your opinion
Pick something to read, then shut up your dyslexic ass.

>>9155282
I'm sure modern fantasy writers don't purposefully do it to be shallow or generic, but the discipline of their subculture and their reading repertoire just naturally bleeds into what they write. It'd be almost impossible for anyone now to write a SFF book like they were done say, 80 years ago, because of what we read.

Take a look at authors like Tolkien, HG Wells or GK Chesterton and see what books they thoroughly enjoy. Then see what books authors like GRRM or Bakker enjoy.

>>9155298
You gave enough fucks about validation to get buttmad when you get called out on your shit taste :^)

>>9155285
>w-we read the same shit on depressed panda
I-i didn't know there were other tomgirl lovers in here.

File: 214153151.png (364KB, 640x481px) Image search: [Google]

364KB, 640x481px

>>9155309
>tomgirl

ohohoho

>>9155308
:^) you got me (^:

>>9155312
I go in every Friday and just bulk download. There are usually at least 10 stories about bitch boku wanting their boipucci stuffed.

The one where he slowly turns a faggot is my fav. It has that guy who never shows his eyes because his hair is always there.

What really makes The Picture of Dorian Gray really any different from modern urban fantasy?

>>9155332
One is literature and the other is a daydream.

>>9155345
What makes it any different?
Why is Dorian Gray literature more than some urban fantasy?

>>9155347
Many things, but standouts are quality, re-readability and intent both in their creation for their creation.

>>9155332
What's the difference between an anime/manga and a classic work of literary fiction?

Technically nothing, but in reality an artist who has laboured so many hours in drawing it probably wouldn't have as much time as an author who only wrote and didn't draw to consider the plot development. Perhaps it is also easier to draw certain scenes than it is to draw other scenes and the effort required to draw limited the possible number of words that could be conveyed within a feasible amount of time.

What makes a classic work of literature anything different from pleb fiction you see everywhere today? Technically nothing, but the most boring and awful books have already been forgotten by time, authors these days are poor whereas authors of the old were aristocrats or high ranking members within society typically who could afford to shitpost and refine their ideas for hours as a hobby, whereas now the dwindling readership markets attracts commercial authors desperate for some supplement income on a side job that they can't afford to devote their entire interests to. Moreover if their concern is mostly financial and their readership isn't too discerning, they can easily lower their quality and increase their quantity for a better turnover.

>>9155376
What makes Dorian Gray inherently have more quality or re-readability?

>intent
What if somebody is writing urban fantasy for the same reason Wilde wrote his novel?

>>9155397
So if there are no financial concerns, then technically the only difference would be the talent of the writer in question.

>>9155238
I think there is some validity in what you say. Consider Brandon Sanderson's course at by (the lectures of which are on youtube) which aim to teach genre writing for commerical purposes.

The entire mindset is to give the audience what they want by writing books which satisfy their expectations; i.e. giving them what they already know.

So you get books which are steeped in the traditions of narrow genres e.g. heroic fantasy, teen romance.

There is no stress on experimentation, and hardly any stress on literary concerns (like pathos, irony, elegy) or overly complicated plots.

So you get career writings churning out the same derivative genre books, all kowtowing to popular conventions and structures. The medium is stagnating.

Consider where old SF and fantasy writers came from. JG Ballard, Philip K. Dick and Ursula Le Guin comes to mind. They are steeped in an awareness of wider literature, as well as areas of social sciences and psychology, anthropology, surrealism.

They wrote multi-faceted and clever books in a popular mode and not derivative and safe trash.

>>9155415
>There is no stress on experimentation, and hardly any stress on literary concerns
>or overly complicated plots
Wasn't the New Weird a reaction against this stagnation?

>>9155414
These attributes are interconnected are something out of the author's control, either a piece has it or it doesn't Dorian Grey has these attributes, most modern urban fantasies don't. A modern author could write a piece with the intent of creating a personal and well-meaning work of good quality and re-readability, but quality is not guaranteed, so without quality is lost re-readability, so what's left is intent - yet the inherent lack of quality and re-readability in the piece can reveal the intent of the book - whether the author accepts this or not. It's all interconnected.

As frustrating as this sounds, Wilde simply had the intention of writing The Picture of Dorian Grey as a quality piece of literature, and it worked.

>>9155427
Yes, but again their position in the timeline simply made it so much harder for them to 'pioneer'. Authors like Tad Williams, Michael Moorcock or William Gibson were no doubt raised on quality literature, but the beginnings of the SFF paradigm seeped into their work, as the basis of their work fought out against the cliche of the genre.

>>9155430
> but quality is not guaranteed
Isn't that what I said would be technically the only difference.

If there's no quality but there is intent, then clearly the difference is talent. (or resources spent on honing the talent)

>>9155427
a drop in the ocean, among a dismal tide

>>9155438
Essentially. I think it's unfair to generalize an entire generation of authors but I don't know another way to assume that a book released by a modern author will just not be as good as the classic lit generation's.

>>9155437
Do you really need to pioneer to prevent stagnation?

>>9155415
Definitely. I guess you could call me hypocritical because I've written fantasy before, and I plan to write more, so the 'stain' of the genre has already seeped in. But like I mentioned in another thread - you can't write fantasy if all you've ever read was SFF. Expanded horizons are the way forward: read as much classic literature as you can, read reviews, read up on history, philosophy, culture studies, science, mathematics, contemporary reflection. Create a fantasy that has its own effect on the reader.

>>9155451
I suppose 'pioneer' is too strong a word, but we're beyond the pioneering times anyways. All we can do is reflect, retry or reinterpret. Some form of change is required to carve out a new angle in the genre. You simply can't keep regurgitating the same forms and not expect stagnation.

what should i read if i wanna be immersed and forget i'm here

>>9155466
We need dissonant literature NOW.

But I lack the intelligence and knowledge to do anything.

It could also be that modern writers are so used to copying their peers and classic writers that they have forgotten how to come up with their own work.

>>9155491
Or maybe it's that some readers are stuck in the past. All my favorite books and authors come from 1990+.

What are the best fantasy books about tax policies?

>>9155521
The Dagger and Coin series.

tfw Mary Sue's used to be acceptable.