/sffg/ - Science Fiction and Fantasy General

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>>9490993
first for books about
>knights

>>9487563
When I write muh shitty scifi fanfictions I usually use systematic reviews off ncbi (linked to library) and google scholar (linked to library).

First do some research around wikipedia and look at the citations/terms and use that to farm research articles. Scihub if I need to fill in the holes.

I also download student/advanced textbooks and have a flip through them.

Anyway, the abstract/introduction will usually spoonfeed you most of what you need to know even if it looks difficult and you can skip the methods/results and read the discussion/conclusion if you get lost.

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In the spirit of the OP image for the last thread:

How about some /sffg/ about love between two vastly different creatures?

I asked something along those lines two generals ago but that thread got deleted

Other than A Wrinkle In Time is there anything like His Dark Materials that doesn't go to shit?

>>9491039
That looks like pony shit...

>>9491064
It's actually about dragons, trust me. Too bad I don't have the sauce.

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>>9491064

that thing aint a pony anon

Any fantasy where the setting is significantly different from the usual medieval Europe knockoff?

>>9491039
Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand. The evelm have three tongues that can speak simultaneously, three genders, claws, and some sort of exoskeleton.

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>>9491081
why would you want anything else?

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>>9491081

Days of the Deer by Lilliana Bodoc if you dont mind the american conquest retold as fantasy

Honestly I really want to se a setting similar to Morrowind, with its volcanic ladscapes filled with giant mushrooms and bigass insects

>>9491112
China Mieville's Bas-Lag
Jeff VanderMeer's Ambergris
Book of the New Sun has some weird elements

>>9491081
>>9491112
Why is there no fantasy author writing some medieval Asia knockoff setting instead of Europe? Would that be cultural appropriation?

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>>9491162
this might be what you're looking for. i havent read it though.

>>9491162

I believe light novels have you covered

No scrap that. Its mostly high school and western influenced fantasy

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>>9491081
Under Heaven and River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay

Both are historical fantasy set in an alternate history of China.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_Heaven_(novel)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7113496-under-heaven

>>9491162
But there are. Do you even bother doing a rudimentary google search before you mouth off?

>>9491224
why use google when you have /sffg/?

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>it's a shallan chapter

>>9491403
What reaction is your picture supposed to represent?

>>9491403
shallan is best pov

I dropped Mistborn halfway through the second book. Didn't care for any of the characters and got tired of the constant, seemingly pointless over the top animu fights. Should I give this Stormlight thing a chance, or are all of Sanderson's works like this?

>>9491448
stormlight archive is better and mistborn book 2 is one of his poorer efforts -- suffers horribly from second book in the series syndrome in that it feels for the most part like a bridging filler

but if you also disliked mistborn 1 then I'm not sure you should bother, sure stormlight is better but not significantly so and his writing style doesn't change

>>9491421
someone post some of the autistic shit she says

>>9491403
>safe hand exposed
Filthy degenerate slut.

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>>9491162

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>>9491417
Wrong image

>>9491236
Because /sffg/ is pretty terrible for asking about less popular titles and authors. There's maybe 10 fantasy authors that get discussed regularly and if you want something outside those you'll be lucky if even one person here has anything to give you.

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Just finished the Belgariad series. Even though 90% of it is traveling and complaining, I still enjoyed it - quite relaxing.

Started the Princes of Amber. The first half was pretty interesting, but the characters are pretty forgettable and 3/4ths of the way in it starts reading like a textbook. Not sure if I can continue.

I need a new series to bury myself in before this depressive phase grows feet and figures out how to stick them up my ass.

All I care about is good characters and storytelling.

>But, like, dude, how are we supposed to know what series you've already read?

Unlock your latent telepathic powers and figure it out, you fuck.

>>9491603
what other place is good then?

Im finding tons of unpopular books on goodreads with good reviews and dont know where to discus them.

Is The Drowned World a good place to start with J. G. Ballard? I also own Crash and Empire of the Sun. Not sure if this is the best place to ask this tho desu

>>9491643
you must seek in the place where the dit is red

>>9490942

>What is the order of operations

Lel, Red Sisters
That anime power-up near the end
>I did 3 steps on the path!!
>lol noob
>watch this
>eurobeat intensifies

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>>9491607

>>9491810
Wtd is going on in this pic? Am I supposed to grasp this meme?

>tfw it's been almost a year since the last time I read a book that blew me away
>only finished 2 books in the past 4 months because everything else seemed shitty

Maybe I should just take a break from fantasy and read some non-fiction

>>9491866
>reading non fiction
you must be a boring person with no imagination

>>9491866
Oh look. It's the anon that can't enjoy anything except a specific set of rules that follow a specific order.

>>9491810
Not your best work. This is more of an abstract meme, I have no idea what the scales are supposed to symbolize.

>>9491643
Google it. These threads are slow as fuck and it's just the same shitposting about the same authors week after week. Anyone who comes here regularly only does so because they have nothing better to do with their lives.

is the rest of the black jewels books worth reading?

from the cover it looks like female erotica fanfiction

Is there a release date for the next Breeks masterpiece?

>>9491810
Is it the perception of people who like old books overshadows their actual quality?

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Being a fantasyfag, I decided to delve into sci-fi in the form of The Foundation by Asimov. There's a whole new level of fun in finding how technology deviated from what he predicted (shiny newspapers, but newspapers still, in the year 12,000~)

However, I find it very expository, but I'm not sure if I'm just a cynical asshole trying too hard to "keep ahead of the curve" or it's just the way sci-fi attempted to convey "believable" fantasy to the reader.

>>9491985
brent weeks?

What are you reading? How do you like it?

>>9492063

sword of truth 1

wizards first rule


its entertaining but i wouldnt recommend it outright

>>9492063

Expanse

I'm liking it a lot. I haven't been this invested it a book series in a long time.

>>9492043
Asimov is a good example of what people mean when they say science fiction is an ideas medium. He's an ideas man, and good at depicting an idea or technology of the future. His plotting is decent as well. However, I find his characters are just functional, and he isn't a very descriptive or ornamental writer. I would argue, though, that he has the perfect style for what he wanted to do, and in this way he is a good writer, one who knows his abilities and limitations.

Asimov only represents one tradition of SF anyway, 'hard' SF, fiction about problem solvers ('men with screwdrivers' protags) that tries to be grounded in the more probable. If you want to see what science fiction has to offer then you should also read something from the pulp tradition, and New Wave.

For these, I suggest Edgar Rice Burrough's A Princess Of Mars, Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles, And Philip K Dick's Martian Time-Slip. Three science fiction stories about Mars from three very different authors.

Any examples of sci-fi works in the not so different future that are thematically like system shock 2/prey?

By which I mean a focus on big powerful transnational corporations and tech, but without going full cyberpunk.

>>9492063
The Dying Earth by Jack Vance.

One of the best Sff works I've read so far.

>>9492227
>he isn't a very descriptive or ornamental writer. I would argue, though, that he has the perfect style for what he wanted to do, and in this way he is a good writer, one who knows his abilities and limitations.

He definitely knew his limitations when it came to prose. Multiple times in his career he commented on that fact that his critics said he had "no style", and said that early on in his career he realized that he simply was not very good at writing stylistically or evocatively. He preferred to just be as completely clear as he could possibly be. If Asimov wrote about a door, he wanted you to know with rock-hard certainty that it was a motherfucking door.

>>9492063
>american gods
i dont know, the writing is kinda bad. i had higher hopes considering i liked niel gaiman's the sandman graphic novels. i just started though.

>>9492063

Just started Age of Myth.

Basically loving it.

I like how it breaks the typical medieval stereotypes about gender

The story is pretty good and engaging so far, of course it's helped a ton by very well written female characters

There's something really fucked up about building a robot PKD.
>Hey, you know that guy we love and respect? Let's make his worst nightmares a reality!

>>9492390
You have to wonder if it started as a joke that somebody higher up the chain of command didn't get.

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>>9491981
It had so much potential for femdom, damnit. But the author went back to women as victims and aggressive men after a while.

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>>9492063
Ninefox Gambit.

For all it's lovely worldplay, and I must the say it's written beautifully, the core ideas seem to be pretty YA.
>Muh 6 special factions with their own cool animal!!
>Muh star signs which show your personality!!!

The calendar stuff is entreating but I hear it's not really explained so much as "it just is" so probably won't go anywhere.

>>9492512
>entreating
intriguing, bleh

>>9492214
Without having read the books, I feel like season 1 of the show could be clearer on the difference between the people on Earth/Mars/Belters.

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As a fan of Blade Runner I decided to read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? I was expecting it to be different from the film, but I wasn't expecting it to be quite so different. Philip K. Dick's vision of the future doesn't seem rooted in reality but rather the absurd. I would liken Dick to Kafka but loaded with LSD. I'm still unsure if I actually like the book.

>>9492063
Battlefield Earth
Its good

>>9492698
Do Androids Dream is honestly one of Dick's most grounded novels.

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>>9492063
Just finished Assassin's Fate by Robin Hobb.
It was a reasonable end to over a decade of my life reading the same story.
It feels weird that it's over, the only ongoing book series from my teens is now ASOIAF, which I don't give a shit about.

>>9491607
Farseer trilogy

>>9492749
iktf m8

>>9492749
>It was a reasonable end to over a decade of my life reading the same story.
>first book published in 2014
?

>>9491607
Definitely the Farseer Trilogy.
The first book is a bit shakey with writing quality, but it improves quickly into the trilogy.
If you like what you read then you've got another four series of books to read that continue the story.

>>9492774
I feel a bit empty.
I'm not even sure if I want another trilogy following Bee or whoever.

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>>9492800
Alright alright Mr Grammar man, you know what I mean.

>>9492810
How does it tie in with her other books? I can't make sense of them all.

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>>9492830
Have you read any of them?
It's a pretty linear series of books.
The Farseer Trilogy
The Liveship Traders Trilogy
The Tawny Man Trilogy
The Rain Wild Chronicles
The Fitz and the Fool Trilogy

It's essentially one continuous plot.
The other books set in the same world don't really matter.

>>9492844
I haven't. I looked at them before posting, and it seemed like Liveship at least was sort of a side-trilogy to the main plot.

>>9492866
It sort of is, but isn't.
Only one character is from the first trilogy but what happens in the trilogy affects the rest of the story.
If anything, The Rain Wild Chronicles is a side story, though it still adds a lot of information that you need to avoid confusion later on.

Why don't Moorcock, Herbert or Asimov get love among faux geeks who love nerd capitalism?

I'm honestly surprised about Moorcock not getting enough love among the mainstream.

>>9492892
Alright, might as well add them all to the neverending to read list.

>>9491005
The first book of the traitor son trilogy is very good, about a knight mercenary band. It derails from there tough.

>>9491081
If you can read Spanish (I doubt it's translated) Mascaras de Matar is very alien, you can't pinpoint exctly what's the main inspirations, from ancient europe to meso america to Iranians/hindu. My prefered fantasy novel after the hobbit.

>>9492892
I couldn't swallog the Rain wilds compared to his oter stuff, I couldn't end the third. The characters weren't engaging and the only thing that interested me (the elders and dragons) wasn't enough.

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Just finished this. Fairly generic in an inoffensive sort of way, it's not particularly deep reading, but it's interesting and fun enough to keep you going. Characters are varied and fairly solid, with 3 main viewpoint characters. The female viewpoint character manages to be relevant to the plot without being a preachy stereotype of a stronk womyn and also without any significant focus put on romance.
On the other hand, characterization is a bit shallow across the board, but it's the first book in a trilogy so I can't really fault it for that just yet.

It very much focuses on world building over character building, in fact that was the main motivator for finishing it. The main plot is pretty bland, but the setting is interesting enough to carry it.

>>9492907
His name is too patriarchal.

>>9492907
Because they're too widely known, therefore if you try to talk about them without having read the books, you look like an idiot.
People capitalizing on trends only want to talk about obscure shit so they can pretend to like it without having to actually invest the effort to read it.

>>9493017
As a matter of fact, I'm a spic. Thanks, I'll look for it.

>>9492844
nah man
The Farseer Trilogy Into
The Tawny Man Trilogy then into
The Fitz and the Fool Trilogy

liveships and rain wild are all very optional and i stress Optional

>>9491810
>>9491830
>>9491962
>>9492017
>Give me an idea on how to make a macro that deals with dino measurements, that also has sffg allusions?

>I don't know, how about something with a big pair of scales in the foreground, with Gene Wolfe, Jack Vance and Walter Miller books on one side, and five disembodied dinosaur heads on the other, weighing down, and Gene Wolfe's big old face grinning coyly behind it, perhaps alongside other disembodied heads of the venerable Robert Howard, Fritz Leiber, Vance, Tolkein, et al.

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>>9490993
This picture is the essence of /r/futurology

Talking with plastic toy and LARPing that we're in 'cyberpunk' age.

>>9492063
Rereading Book of the New Sun. Wolfe is a 100% certified genius and most science-fiction isn't worth wiping your ass with next to his writing.

>>9492698
I really like it for being one of Dick's more thematically deep efforts. Rather than just relying on 'and then he woke up, but then realized he didn't' ten times over the course of the story he uses an odd but not too complicated or convoluted premise to talk about empathy, his fucked up relationships with women and how Jews are fundamentally inhuman next to Catholics.

>>9491971
>>9491643
Read the books, then shill them here. If they are interesting someone will read.
I got shilled into a bunch of books that I later added to my charts.
I even gave the less than 1000 ratings books I read, but no one wanted that.

Sffg is an echo chamber for grrm and Rothfuss hate, calling Sanderson anime, asking why no one has read worm and blindsight yet, memeing bakker and his launch dates, asking persons to discuss Revelation space/ice/ w/e, accusing everyone of being reddit when I'm the only person that never used the site, etc.

>>9493143
why the fuck hasn't everyone read Blindsight yet god sake

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So help me out, I've been reading a lot of Conan books and i teally like Howards prose, can any tell me what his other works are like (king kull, Solomon kane)?
Also any other authors that have that "brutal" sword & sorcery vain?

>>9492381
>trying to trigger us
The Riyria books had good written female characters, wait till you reach the end of age of myth. We will see if you still feel the same.

>>9493143
xth for book of the new sun

>>9493028
>compared to his oter stuff
>his
Robin Hobb is a female... You've been reading a female author and enjoying it.

>>9493127
Absolute aram-kun, did you show wolfe my meme of him pounding Christianity into book of the long sun.

>>9493176
That explaing why fitz is so moppy and character relations are so complex, and the action is lackluster.
It makes teh soldier son trilogy more cringey now.

>>9492228
So urban science fiction instead of urban fantasy?
Maybe, but your stipulation that it has to be 2020 without cyberpunk is trouble.

Try market forces by Richard K Morgan. Kinda what you want.

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I honestly could've enjoyed this piece of crap if Kvothe didn't suck his own dick every 5 pages.

At least Auri was cute.

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>>9493028
I agree with you, though I did manage to slog through and finish them. The thing that most annoyed me was that it was split into four books with less content than the previous trilogies, on top of all the shitty characters and teenage angst.

>>9493096
Like I said in another post, it sort of is a side story, but also not because of the background it gives to a lot of stuff that happens in the main three trilogies.
Have you actually read the latest? Because a lot of the stuff would seem a bit out of the blue if you hadn't read the Liveship trilogy. The Rain Wild Chronicles are less important in that sense.
Even some parts of the Tawny Man trilogy could use the back story given in the Liveship trilogy.

>>9493188
To be fair, I think Robin Hobb is probably the best female writer of fantasy and at least is better than the fatman GRRM.

>>9493184
I'm not aram-kun, but I've been meaning to contact him over something.

If in The Fifth Head of Cerberus Dr Marsch is superior to the St Croix natives due to being a shadow-child/human hybrid and his super-anthropology skills allow him to crack the tap-code used in the prison, how did the prisoners initially using it devise this system? From the cell next to Marsch's it's made clear that Abos can't form complex codes for communication and instead try to imitate speech using non-vocal sounds to communicate over distance, as established in the old myths that they used to bang on tree trunks and make speech-like sounds. This is why his neighbor bangs intelligibly when she hears Marsch and the other prisoner speaking through code but at times Marsch thinks he can almost discern speech. Marsch worked it out because his human/shadow-child mind can use tools to come up with creative solutions to problems, but what about the other prisoners? Were there other humans imprisoned with Marsch at the end of the story? Other Shadow Children? Abos who could work codes?

I haven't read absolutely everything he's written on the novel yet so I'd like to be sure it isn't covered before I ask. I should also probably read it again because the answer's always there if you look hard enough.

What should I read after Red Sister.
Something with lots of edge and lots of magic.
No Bakker

Sins of Empire looks like The Powder mage series with new sprites and a palette scheme.

>>9492063
Just started The Blade itself. Glokta seems like a cool dude

>>9493632
Magicians guild or the Magician Trilogy

>>9493651
I don't remember there being much edge in Magician trilogy, you are talking about the Lev Grossman one right?
The only thing it had was god on girl rape if I remember correctly

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>>9493632
Edge & magic?
First Law Trilogy I guess.
Also Terry Goodkind books, if you can stomach his weird sex stuff and bad plots.

>>9493639
Because it's a continuation of the powder mage series ya dingus

>why does this series seem like the series it's continuing with all the same characters

>>9493739
Well, how about I just knock you flat on you're ass you troll, that sound any better to you? Just name the time and the place and I'll be there.

>>9493655
Are you saying that Red Sister is "edgy"? And that you want something filled with magic that others consider "edgy"? Then Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks.

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>>9493779
The Night Angel Trilogy is pretty edgy.

>>9493779
It was somewhat edgy, but not as edgy as The Broken Empire series by the same author.
Already read Breeks

>>9493739
I was talking about the same roles as the last time, only new faces and places.
We still have:
>a powerful man with a loli in tow
>an investigator
>people fighting for "muh freedums"
>hints that there might be gods
>people that weren't seen for a long time emerging from the woodworks
Etc.
If I was talking about characters reoccurring I would have said that.

New sprites and palette usually means the same roles with a different character.

Say for example how the protagonist from stormlight is just a recoloured "survivor" from mistborn.

>>9493788
>Already read Breeks
>it's the breeks anon
Then you have my charts already, we argued enough times over it. Choose something from there.

>>9493815
I just call him that, I'm not the guy who started using the name, it just shortens it. (You and me haven't argued about this sorry)
But specifically I'm looking for lots of edge and lots of magic, which chart of yours should I look from?

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>>9493828

>>9493828
You tried Black Jewels Trilogy???

>>9493632
Richard Morgan. Edge is through the roof.

>>9493841
>Then, of course, there's all the sexual-abuse & enslavement rape, incest, paedophilia, torture and other sundry macabre horrors flying every-which-way. Really, its hard to keep track of it all and rather pointless (BAD people are BAD, remember? Yes, I got that the first hundred times). Oh, did I mention that men are controlled by magical cock rings? They are. Magical cock rings.

I most definitely will now

>>9493158
He wrote suspense and horror stories, many of them for Weird Tales. I've read half a dozen of them and they're good. If you like Conan you'll definitely like them. They will be available in paperback. I haven't read his Solomon Kane but they will be also be a safe bet if you like Conan. If you like Robert Howard try C.L. Moore, another Weird Tales writer of sword and sorcery.

>>9493869
That sounds a lot like Terry Goodkind
Aka, shit.

>>9493897
>hey. Gene Wolfe sounds like a shit author I read, that means he is also shit
>I don't need to read to find out

>>9491162
>Would that be cultural appropriation?
Why has this become a bad thing? Should we stop using arabic numbers?

>>9493915
You read books which have unappealing blurbs and themes?
Fucking masochist.
Also, when did Gene Wolfe come up?

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>>9492043
Like this?

>>9492063
Officially I'm still trying to finish Lord of Light but shifted to reading comics again, currently re-reading R.E.B.E.L.S. vol 2. Top class science-fiction.

>>9493938

It was an excerpt from a goodreads review

>>9493940
Tbh with hipster mindsets and the fact that life has no meaning so you might as well do things the long winded way, I could easily see us using papers far far far into the distant future in a niche setting

>>9493916
It was sarcasm.

>>9493940
>capeshit
>good

WHAT'S SOME GOOD SPACE OPERA

THE CHARTS DON'T HAVE THAT CATEGORY

>>9493942
I thought the quote was referring to the book trilogy that the guy was talking about, which wasn't written by Gene Wolfe.

>>9491039

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

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>>9492063
I'm reading Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys. I'm not liking it that much. So far it's just been the macho man and sociopathic science man posturing against eachother. Wasn't really what I was expecting.

>>9492907
No beloved movie adaptations I'm guessing. I, Robot and Dune didn't really get the normies all that excited.

>>9492381
Not today man.
I took my pills this morning..

>>9493950
I didn't mean you specifically, I meant people who seriously in all honesty think that

what other series would you recommend if the wheel of time is my favorite set of books

>>9494082
Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. Since you finished WoT and liked it you definitely don't have a problem with Sanderson.

Maybe try some Tad Williams books. My favorite by him is Shadowmarch, but the classic series of his is Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn.

>>9492461
>qinsmoon10.jpg
Unrelated, but anywhere I can watch that subbed? I love wuxia shit.

>>9493011
>female warriors
haha no thanks

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>>9494137
Sadly, female warriors are just something you have to put up with these days...

why so much terry goodkind hate?

Im halfway through the first sword of truth book and its funny, sure the villain is comically evil but I'm not bored yet.

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>>9494226
>halfway through the first book

Enjoy it whilst you can.

Broken Empire would have been good if he used the gun to shoot his fetus enemy at the end instead

>>9492063
The Magician's Land

Liking old and grizzled Quentin.

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Anyone got some really nitty physics hard scifi? I would love some dark matter, weird antibaryonic matter probing grimy delving into the nature of quarks and other disgustingly in depth shit

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>>9492907
You ever hear that Brian Eno quote about the Velvet Underground & Nico? About how it only sold 30,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band?
I always think of Moorcock in those terms. Little-to-no mainstream appeal, but every time I look into a writer's influences, his name crops up.
And a similar style between the author and the band, if you'll excuse such a vague comparison. Both are almost childishly simple, but still highly evocative. Both produce the sort of art that makes you think, "Fuck it, I could do this."

>>9494579
>Both are almost childishly simple, but still highly evocative. Both produce the sort of art that makes you think, "Fuck it, I could do this."
literally what I got from Asimov, and that's a good thing

>>9494533
quantum thief

>I take a deep breath. 'We need two things to qupt to the Planck brane.

>One: matter that is entangled with something over there. That will have to be your department. By the sound of it, the Spooky-zoku have something like it.

>Two: we need a modulated gravitational wave source. We are made of stuff that is stuck on this brane, but gravity sees the higher bulk dimensions.

>Make a big enough bang and its gravitational echo will carry there.

>>9493228
LeGuin is arguably better in my opinion, but I like Robi (or the hell is her name) it's only I wanted more assasin and action stuff in the assasin trilogy, and I got a moppy bastard than didn't stop feeling sorry for himself. The way the characters interacted was pretty cool and I liked the Skill/Wit/elderling magic a lot.

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After my earlier mention of C.L. Moore I decided to once again pick up a volume of her collected short stories from my dino pile, where also the works of Howard, Vance, Leiber, Dunsany and Lovecraft reside.

Tonight I read the third of Moore's Jirel Of Joiry stories, Black God's Shadow, from long ago 1934. Here, the yellow-eyed and redheaded female warrior protag travels through her dungeon portal to a hell-like landscape on a mercy mission to release the soul of a man she had condemned for eternity in a previous story.

She journeys through a nocturnal landscape of shifting shadows, murmuring brooks, whispering winds and distorted reflections in a mostly travelogue narrative. In common with previous stories, Joiry overcomes antagonist forces not by Conan-esque brute force but by her powers of determined feminine passion. Her ancient Roman legionary armor and two-edged sword figure into things only a little. Overall this is above par pulp-era entertainment. Jirel is a good example of a female warrior being written as a woman and not merely as a man with tits.

>>9494758
I think that Robin Hobb (its a pen name to distinguish her two styles of writing) is better at character interaction and world building, which is what I look for in fantasy.
Her books just give off this comfy feel too, I don't know how to explain it, but I didn't get it with LeGuin.
Fitz does get on my nerves with his stubborn mopeyness, even in the book just released last week, but I've known the character for so long now that I don't mine it.

Hi /lit/ I'm trying to remember the name of a science fiction book. It was about a human expedition to an alien world. The aliens regard the humans as gods and when they leave they construct a religion around them. I think there was a part where the humans returned and tried to change the aliens superstitious ways but the aliens regarded the humans as heretics or something.

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>>9490993
What's this guys?
>Kameron Hurley, feminist author.
>Geek feminist revolution; "It particularly examines the circumstances under which women participate in genre fiction in the face of a cacophony of digital misogyny".

The plot and the worldbuilding seems good but.. I have to admit it, i'm a prejudiced person and whenever the author goes full "muh feminist revolution, muh strong women, muh evil patriarchy" it's a very, VERY bad sign to pick it.

>>9494082
The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fionavar_Tapestry
https://www.goodreads.com/series/49379-the-fionavar-tapestry

>>9494831
Anything with female warriors needs to have a very good plot for me to overlook it.
If it starts going all feminist then the book better be fucking gilded.

>>9494831
I dont read anything with a female as the main protagonist

>>9494831
>Womameme
Nope
Also >feminist

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>>9494881
That's very stupid.

>>9494831
I try not to let the author's personality or politics cloud my opinion of their work. I've read stories with obvious ideological bents to them, but if they manage to be engaging despite that I don't pay it any mind. I find this tendency for people to reject works purely on ideological grounds insufferably stifling. If you refuse to read anything that disagrees with your worldview then you'll never challenge your basic assumptions about life and just exist in an echo chamber of stale ideas. It's also incredibly limiting when looking for new fiction to read. I wouldn't have gotten very far in college if I refused to read anything I was assigned on the grounds that I am a conservative and probably won't agree with Marxist tracts.

>>9494831
Anything endoursed by Adrian Tzchovsky is sure to be shit, much like him

>>9494226
People who emotionally invest themselves into the author get upset at his moderate political opinions.

>>9493938
>Also, when did Gene Wolfe come up?
>how do I greentext
You reddit scum always expose yourself.

>>9494831
>>Geek feminist revolution; "It particularly examines the circumstances under which women participate in genre fiction in the face of a cacophony of digital misogyny".
lol no thank you.

>>9493869
>Oh, did I mention that men are controlled by magical cock rings? They are. Magical cock rings.
Modern fantasy was a mistake.

>>9495237
Oh shit, I missed that last sentence.
Wait a minute
>Female author
...

Is there any good modern sci fi novel that is not a feminist transgender fantasy? I dont notice this trend in fantasy much.

Mind you i dont mind women or dickgirls in my novels its just that when the point of the novel is the sjw politics in themselves instead of the worldbuilding / characters I find I wasted my time.

>>9495262
on that note what is the sci fi equivalent to malazan?

>>9494831
>Geek feminist revolution; "It particularly examines the circumstances under which women participate in genre fiction in the face of a cacophony of digital misogyny".
If they didn't publish every women author that approached them regardless of quality their wouldn't be the air of suspicion that surrounds them.

>>9495262
C. S. Lewis' Space Trilogy

>>9495294
>and yet, Rothfuss was published

>>9495302
To be fair Rothfuss was rejected by nearly every publishing house under the sun until he rewrote major portions of his novel several times, and at some point DAW basically gave up after making no progress and decided to publish it halfway through the editing process.

>>9491081
Malazan specifically tries to subvert this trope. He modeled Malazans themselves after expansionist Romans. One continent resembles the Middle-east with it's inhabitants and it's setting.

>>9492071
These are some Mary sue bullshit

>>9495285
The Expanse probably.

>>9493869
>>9493841
Does it have graphic pedophilia?

>>9495262
>Is there any good modern sci fi novel that is not a feminist transgender fantasy?
I haven't read any of his books yet, but John C. Wright is apparently writing the best modern non-SJW science fiction. It helps he's a Christian who absolutely loathes writers who preach through their works.

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>>9495462

The bad thing about this dude its that you cant make euphoric jokes about him since he is a christian

>>9495462
Man, his novels are a goldmine for ideas (Count to the Eschaton is a hell of a modern update to First and Last Men) but I always feel as if they're a bit disconnected. A whole bunch of scenes fast-firing at you instead of a single coherent work.

>>9493961
hyperion cantos
don't read the second duology tho

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>>9492774
>>9492804

I tried reading the Liveship Traders a few years ago and remember thinking it was hilariously bad.

Will I also hate this series?

>>9494226
>reading anything with "Terry" author
>expecting it to be good

>>9494533
>STEM scums can't turn off their brain enough to enjoy sci-fi with speculative science on the future of technology
>it has to be factually correct
I feel sorry for any spouse, children and family that has to put up with you, or send any sort of time with you.

>>9492063
Right now:
Wall of Storms by Ken Liu. I'm about 2/3 to 3/4 through it and he's improved from the first one but oh god it's so boring. I can hardly bring myself to care about any of the characters outside of the woman scholar and the princess, even the characters from the first book.

The Duellists Trilogy by Julia Knight. Almost done with this. Readable and pretty decent series though it starts to get a bit "pshh, nothin' personal kid" edgy in the second book.

After I finish those I'm gonna start City of Miracles and David Drake's Lt. Leary series.

>>9492512
There are two (free) short stories that explain a bit more of the background, but yeah, Ninefox is definitely a book that throws you in and lets you fend for yourself. (David Weber and Saunderson fans need not apply)

>>9494533
Contact by Carl Sagan

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>>9495483
>have you ever tipped your fedora so hard you turned into a papist?

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>>9494831

>>9492071
Ohh boy, I used to love that series when I was younger and hadn't read anything better.

>>9493209
Yeah, I remember reading it for the first time and somewhat enjoying it but for some reason it always rubbed me the wrong way, went back and reread it a year later after having read a lot more and better books and could easily pick up on how bad it was.

>>9494533
>peeing
>20 stalls between you and the door
>guys walks in
>walks up next to you
>every single time
Fug

>>9494226
I felt the same way at first, but Terry is high up his own. He talks about how the series is some philosophical journey or fuck if I know but that it isn't "fantasy" it's something else. I get what he's trying to say, but the ideas he does very poorly, especially later on in the series plus a couple of other problems in his writings. Malazan did what he was trying to do a whole lot better.

>lit scifan recommends The First Law
>it sucks
>lit scifan recommends The Name of The Wind
>it sucks

how does it feel to fail at your hobby?

>>9495673
How does it feel to read terrible books?

>>9495699
feels bad man. so get your fellow scifan people to stop recommending them to people

>>9495724
The Name of The Wind is one of the most carped on books here, with the occasional newfriend recommending it and getting piled on. First Law gets recommended by our resident edgemasters so I can only assume it's good if you like that sort of thing.
Basiply, lurg more fagged :DDDDDDD

>>9495569
Farseer >>> Liveship Traders

Liveship Traders is probably only good after you've read the Farseer trilogy and want to see the world fleshed out more. Even then it's not mandatory to read for the main Fitz/Fool storyline.

>>9495756
>>9495673

I think the Name of the Wind can be a good gateway book. There's a huge disconnect from the sort of person who enjoys fantasy in general and bandwaggoners who read TLoR and then look up the rest of Tolkien's universe through wikis and such.

The Name of the Wind, while masturbatory, is kind of expected from both a character full of himself and an author that is clearly projecting his fantasy into his book. Anything more that comes with it (such as a few interesting characters like Auri and the demonic tree whose name escapes me) are extras, the book are not even that long.

So recommend this to an entry-level person, or someone with interest in fantasy or a few D&D sessions under his belt, that might make them interested in the classics.

You can also recommend it to someone you hate because Rothfuss is a hack that will NEVER finish the trilogy.

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>>9495673
It's usually the reddites that recommend Name of the Wind. Book one is nice (you think the little hick-ups would be taken care of in book two, fat chance), it's book two that is trash. He doesn't follow through on his more important plots. Just chasing after deanne like a whipped puppy.

>>9495952

>wise man's fear
>2011

is there much normie outrage yet at this state of affairs?

>>9495462
>christian


no thanks, i can take religious people writing fantasy but not science fiction.

>>9496151
>le tips

Currently reading Sins of Empire. It's not as feminist "girls can do shit too" as some autist was spewing. I think it's the woman hating anon that was shit talking, because there were female soldiers (aka female warriors).

>>9496288
>At age 42, Wright converted from atheism to Christianity, citing a profound religious experience with visions of the "Virgin Mary, her son, and His Father, not to mention various other spirits and ghosts over a period of several days", and stating that prayers he made were answered.[8] In 2008, he converted to the Roman Catholic Church, of which he approvingly said: "If Vulcans had a church, they'd be Catholics."[9]

yeah, that sounds like the background of a man whose mind is grounded in science and reality.

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>From author Lara Elena Donnelly, a debut spy thriller as a gay double-agent schemes to protect his smuggler lover during the rise of a fascist government coup

Diversity in genre fiction done right.

>>9495626
Source on that pic?

>>9496445
Not that guy but you can separate the writer from the work, on most situations.

Asimov was acrophobic and yet his characters spent all fucking day in the sky or even space.

>>9496582
>Not that guy but you can separate the writer from the work, on most situations.

It still bleeds into their work, more for some

>>9496582
it depends on how preachy it is. And that guy seems preachy from what i gather.

>>9496598
>>9496610
Did you miss the part in my post where I said HE LOATHES WRITERS WHO PREACH THROUGH THEIR WORKS? You haven't even read his books and you're assuming like a daffy shit he's some crazy christian writer who's preaching religious propaganda.

>>9496623

It still bleeds in, maybe even without him noticing it, but it might be so minor you don't notice it

I am making a backlog of urban fantasy to read, any good series out there? I already started night watch and its been kinda fun, someone recommended dresden files and rivers of london but I have heard some bad shit about them.

>>9496649

The Magicians

>>9496636
>It still bleeds in
Prove it, Fedora Joe.

>>9496651

I wasn't talking about that one author specifically, I was talking about all authors

>>9496649
The Craft Sequence

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>>9495462
>John C. Wright is not only a deeply religious man, he is a devout Catholic philosopher who regards reason as an intrinsic aspect of his faith. THE BOOK OF FEASTS & SEASONS is an imaginative embodiment of that faith taking many different shapes and forms throughout the vast expanse of God's Creation.

Definitely no preaching here!

>>9496623
granted i havent read his novels yet i just read a bunch of stuff he said though.

Im interested in the novel about a dark land that he published last. Its fantasy so i dont mind if he gets preachy there.

>>9494192
If its a fantasy world whose to say that women are more capable then real world women.

Why are fantasy novels so devoid of any deeper meaning?
They all feel like action flicks, as in - you watch cool stuff happen.

>>9496696

That's what I read them for, entertainment

>>9496705
That's alright, but after reading Blood Meridian I saw a huge potential that could turn fantasy into something more serious.

>>9496650
>>9496658

Thanks i'll check those, any opinions on the river of london?

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Hi /lit/. I don't lurk this board often, so I apologize if this is a common question, but I don't see "Culture" or "Iain Banks" mentioned in this thread, the previous /sffg/, nor the catalog.

Could I get some recs for books similar to the Culture series and Banks's writing style?

I don't think Banks's style is particularly amazing, but I find it easy and pleasurable to read and associate with. I think I also might like Niven's writing, but I've only read his Ringworld so far. Regardless, I absolutely adore the Culture series, and would love similar content.

Also, unrelated, but is there any good Culture-inspired concept art floating around?

>>9496759
fwiw, i'm currently pecking away at Wolfe's Shadow and Claw. I'm not very far in, but I'm largely enjoying it thus far.

>>9495606
there's nothing wrong with hard scifi. I just like the idea of looking deep into the future, without compromising our current scientific understand. if there's a fair explanation for the fantastical, such as simulations or alt-universes, I can dig it. jumping off the shoulders of giants into the unknown, not starting from nowhere
also, you probably wouldn't understand it ;)

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>>9496759
Neal Asher and his Polity books, there are similarities to the Culture, but also differences. I've only read Transformation Book 1 though.

DeviantArt has many cool sci-fi concept art.

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Previous comment deleted because I typed like a fucking sperg.

The worldbuilding is good especially with regards to the setting which is comfy, believable and it is either researched quite well or paints a picture such that it is quite realistic especially in the beginning. The plot is also much better than what was expected although it is quite gradual at points.

The use of mythical creatures and aspects of poetry is quite evocative of Tigana. However, the prose is not as dense as GGK's.

I felt like this book surpassed Uprooted (which is a low barrier) and there is a spark of something in this book which I haven't seen in other books.

The sequel, however, looks like it might shit the bed based on the summary.

>tfw you find out Asimov died from HIV

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>>9497052
>tfw you find out that Asimov died from HIV and never finished the Foundation series, it ended on a cliffhanger and there is no conclusion anywhere, not even a fanfiction conclusion
FUCK

>>9497081
I was never too concerned about that because I never really saw the Foundation novels as a journey to the return of the galactic empire, just a series of vignettes preluding its inevitable return. The original trilogy ended with about 600 years left on the clock and that felt fine. Frankly I would have been fine if he had never returned to it; the original trilogy is great standalone.

>>9496507
>done right
Is this sarcasm, because that sounds awful.

>>9496696
You're reading the wrong books. People like Gene Wolfe, Le Guin and Guy Gavriel Kay have been writing big and thematically dense literary works for a long time, taking cues from Borges, the Russians and The Greeks. Of course, schlock and popular works will always sell more, just like blockbusters beat arthouse at the box office.

Speaking Of Le Guin, I've nearly finished The Disposessed.

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>>9492512
>For all it's lovely worldplay, and I must the say it's written beautifully, the core ideas seem to be pretty YA.
>Muh 6 special factions with their own cool animal!!
>Muh star signs which show your personality!!!

Well than fuck that. And I had such hopes to this.

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>>9494831
>>Geek feminist revolution; "It particularly examines the circumstances under which women participate in genre fiction in the face of a cacophony of digital misogyny".

Ursula, they've fucked it all up.

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>>9497098
The fact there's no ending makes me incredibly unhappy.

What the fuck was up with Fallom?

>And if the invaders come, they are bound to find ways of turning some human beings against other human beings. We have so long had only ourselves to fight that we are used to such internecine quarrels. An invader that finds us divided against ourselves will dominate us all, or destroy us all.
...
>In all human history, no other intelligence has impinged on us, to our knowledge.
...
>After all,” and here Trevize felt a sudden twinge of trouble, which he forced himself to disregard, “it is not as though we had the enemy already here and among us.”
>And he did not look down to meet the brooding eyes of Fallom—hermaphroditic, transductive, different—as they rested, unfathomably, on him.

>>9496714
And as an addendum to my previous >>9497155 regardless of it being off topic: I read Blood Meridian and it was infuriating. I'm with James Elroy on that book. Too much Spanish, and no speech marks makes for an unnecessarily difficult and unsatisfying read altogether. Outer lit loves it, so what do I know. I could yet come around to it with a re-read. These people will convince themselves to enjoy McCarthy's Western while dismissing Gene Wolfe's SF.

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>>9496151
This "religious guy" is like the only one except Watts and Rayanemy who deep into the posthumanism and all that shiet.

>>9497169
I'm still reading it, if that means anything. It's promising a lot and has peaked my interest, but without a payout all this sluggish worldbuilding will have been for nought

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>>9496649
>>9496730

>>9496893
>;)
MANY many decades ago laser weapons were thought of as scifi and impossible to use... What about today?

Just because they talk about self attaching prosthetic limbs doesn't mean it's impossible.
Have you ever read Neal Asher? He has some great futuristic concepts that seems plausible.

>>9497181
It's obvious he is a gay tranny.

>>9497052
>>9497081
You don't die from HIV. You die from shit like the common cold, tuberculosis, etc. Shit a healthy body can fight off. Sooo.. Asimov was gay.. Seeing as only gays got AIDS in his time

>>9497428
Well the CD4+ going down is effectively the cause of the majority of the issues, though. I wonder if the neurological involvements of HIV are what partly, at least, resulted in how creepy Foundation and Earth was.

Daneel, wanting Fallom's brain. She's a kid for god's sake! Daneel is pretty nice but fucking enough. Moreover, those deliciously creepy empty planets designed for extinction, the moss that killed people and how alien the Solarians feel.


>It's obvious he is a gay tranny
The relationship between Hari and Dors was actually quite touching to read which I thought was fairly surprising. But then, so was Elijah and Daneel.

>>9492063
Chapter 20 of the 4th Wheel of Time Book. It's still bearable.

>>9497428
He got HIV from a blood donor. He left instructions that the press not be told until five years after he died, because he figured by then the stigma would have died down a bit.

>>9497402
A fair point. Actually raises the point, I'd like to see more "science fiction" from the point of view of more ancient or historical civilizations/empires. Kind of like Chiang's Tower of Babylon. Not into fantasy but I loved that.

I'm sure proesthetics are possible and there's nothing in STEM which says they're not possible. I can dig that kind of thing. However then my autism debates whether they're feasible or economically viable,
but that's another issue. I might check out Asher, but I've got a long list to power though.

I gripe with stuff which has potential, but either isn't fully explained, or left open to interpretation. Like the entire "Realms of Thought" concept from Fire Upon the Deep. I thought it was cool and was loving it for the start of the book, but soon realized it wasn't going to be explained, it just "was". All I wanted was a short paragraph or section detailing what a mind was, and why they seemed unusable at the central galaxy. Instead it's described as being almost magic, which I don't like. Alright book though.

>>9493991
That's what Rogue Moon is really about.It looks like science-fiction but that part ends up being pretty simple and secondary to the real theme of the story, which man's need to prove himself.

>>9497531
Every STEM autist should read Gene Wolfe. At first he might look like he's just haphazardly using vaguely scientific stuff as a vehicle for shoving Catholicism and Jack Vance homage down your throat but if you read deeply enough you realize that he's probably one of the biggest STEM purists in science-fiction. It's been 45 years since 'The Fifth Head of Cerberus' was published and while we still don't understand it completely each year we find more evidence suggesting that it does have an answer. And that's just his first successful novel, of which there are dozens. All equally as rich in depth, ideas, Vance homage and Jesus.

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post your /sffg/ WRWIWG

>>9497598
He's next on my list, I was going to attack BOTNS directly but maybe I'll try FifthHead first, thanks.

>>9497598
Wolfe is a STEM guy as you say. We're talking about somebody who edited a trade publication on plant engineering. He has a much hard-sf chops as any of the John Campbell school. So I think it is worth noticing some of his technology speculations.

>>9497621
I read The Fifth Head of Cerberus and Peace before Book of the New Sun. I don't know if that was the best way to go but it made New Sun very accessible for me. 'Fifth Head' starts out cool on the surface as a coming of age mystery but descends into a creepy post-colonial thesis later on while 'Peace' just rips your head off and starts shitting its post-modern spiel on the interplay that takes place between memory and fiction in shaping your life right down your neck from the first page.

If you just want the raw BOTNS experience for memeing purposes I'd say go right on ahead, but if you want to really have a grip on what Wolfe is trying to communicate to you through the story I'd recommend at least reading Fifth Head and Peace beforehand. Also this might not seem important but after reading several criticisms of New Sun by people who found it confusing or pointless I think it might be essential, you should read some Catholic stuff beforehand. I don't know exactly how much, but at the very least I think that 'The Man Who Was Thursday' is essential. Wolfe is a huge Chesterton fan and a devout Catholic. You don't have to be a Catholic to understand Chesterton but you might for the Solar Cycle.

>>9497688
Excellent spiel, I'll follow your advice.

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>>9497572
So it seemed. The blurb made it seem like it was going to take place mainly on the deadly moon labyrinth. I did finish it today but didn't really like it. They really liked throwing long speeches at each other I guess.It's not like it was a bad idea but it wasn't executed in a very elegant way.

But I liked the little musings about death. And if it really is a death if you have a copy that has all the same memories. Stuff like that.

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Read this hoping it would be similar to Blindsight but it was pretty dissapointing.

The build up is great, exploration of a huge alien ship, tons of weird shit happening but when the climax comes it falls appart and then it randomly ends in an extremely lazy way.

>>9498155
Also this books is one of the worst offenders of using the "lolz it's so alien we can't understand it" to make random shit happen and don't have to give any real reasons for it.

>>9498155
I got that at a used book sale years ago and remember almost nothing about it other than disliking it so much that I retroactively assumed it must have been some self-published thing that found its way into the pile.

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Anybody have any experience with Amazon Self-Publishing?

Does it actually work or does amazon just steal your shit and take all the money while they strong-arm you into producing more novels so that they can greedily drink up the money they make off of your hard work?

Or are they legitimately helpful if you dont want to deal with publishers?

I just got back into reading and I want to write military sci-fi shlock with big guns, giant robots and obtuse political philosophy.

>>9497614
>What Read What I What Got

>>9490993
I want to get into cyberpunk. Where to start?

>>9498366
neuromancer and vurt. mirrorshades. vernor vinge. pkd. sweedak?

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>>9497614

>>9498317

Amazon self publishing does literally fuck all except index your book on amazon and fuck up your formatting and take a small cut of your sales.

I strongly suggest you look into the "erotica authors" subreddit, and you'll get a pretty good idea of what the amazon publishing culture looks like.

DESU I'd personally advise you to start writing your novel, but to also set aside a weekend a month or a day a week and write short stories. Then edit and publish those in as many small magazines as you can.

>>9498414
Any recommended magazines?

Also, any other way to self-publish?

>>9498366
Don't, it's a shitty genre.

>>9498366
there is a hughe Greek cyberpunk scene

>>9498420
I know some mags, but don't want you taking my thunder
however, if you let us all know how it goes and make your novel ode to "Sarah-Felix Faust"
Nature Futures
Apex-Magazine
sfsite
analogue scifi
strange horizons
interzone

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>>9498529
>sarah

Hello there.

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>>9498529
I want to relive the pulp era and be published in all the SF magazines like the heroes of old.

>>9498657
There is a funky list of pulpy mags at ralan.com

>>9498529

Im not familiar with the dealings of these types of magazines, what do they mean by "reprints" exactly?

stories previously printed in other magazines or stories published before in that same magazine?

>>9498759
a reprint is a previously published work that is being submitted for publication at a new magazine/journal

>>9498657
Send your stories to the translator and get to work on the Chinese market.

How is the broken earth series by NK JEsimin?

She looks like a big social justice warrior but i can let it slide if the point of the book is not white people bad, black people good.

>>9498986
>please keep the truth from triggering me

anyone know any good recent space opera novels? most shit I find now is military sci-fi bullshit. I just want some fun adventures where motherfuckers blow alien heads off not detailed spec sheets of every piece of fucking equipment and ship or a rundown of military procedures and chain of command bullshit

>>9499037
white people bad and black people good is the truth?

>>9499157
of course. don't you go on tumblr?

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>>9499157
Black people usually lack the capacity for abstract thought, as shown in most of the native African languages.
This means that they'll never change the way they act.
Te way to fix this you should imbue good morals into them from an early age.
Alas, this is no longer done and that's why black 'culture' is so despicable.

Reading Dune for the first time, I'm at when they first arrive at Arrakis.When does it start getting good though?

>>9499271
In a couple of chapters. Keep going.

Some people die, Some betray others, lots of lasers, kickass chase scene in a giant tornado.

Keep going.

>>9499261
>Black people usually lack the capacity for abstract thought, as shown in most of the native African languages.

Could you provide source?

I find it fascinating to entertain the idea that how you speak and the language system you use influences how you think.

I'd like to read maor, is what I'm saying.

>>9499261
>african literature thread anon comes into sffg with his clean.jpg

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I thought the whole trilogy was pretty magnificent, anyone else?

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>>9499308
Can't provide the source off the top of my head I'm afraid, though I think one of the people I read was W. Stewart.

A specific example is the Zulu language, which had no word for promise until white people made one up for their Zulu to English dictionary.
As well as this, they use the same word for time, space and future and lack a word for the past.
In these cultures only the present exists.
Most blacks in Africa do not naturally understand the future ramifications of their actions. An example is blocking a driveway. If nobody is leaving immediately then why does it matter? Obviously to us it matters because someone will want to leave in the future, but not to those native Africans.
This results in blacks in Africa generally lacking self awareness because they can't fathom anything outside of their own present.
They also do not properly internalise morality like most other cultures do, but require near constant enforcement.
Hell, they had to put up billboards in South Africa reminding blacks to not beat their families to death despite it being the culturally accepted norm.

Nobody is sure if this is cultural, biological or both.

>>9499318
YOU DONT KNOW ME

>>9498155
>>9498222
>>9498291

Weird, I loved this book but hated the other stuff I read of his. The alien stuff remaining mysterious worked very well for the story, it was never about them and it lead to several genuinely scary moments.

>>9499380
I saw you in that thread "posting"

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>>9499453
Who am I?
Who are you?
Exactly.

>>9499374
yes it was

why is ringworld bombarded with one to three star reviews crying sexism?

>>9499575
What isn't flooded with people moaning sexism on goodreads?

>>9499597
sjw books

>>9498986
It's the only good book published in the past 10 years.

Tell me about Afrofuturism. Seems really interesting, but I don't have much of a reference point.

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>>9499645
Tis pretty simple.
Blacks will outbreed us all, resulting in the end of civilisation.

>>9492063

book 5 of malazan book of the fallen

shits great, but i loved all of wheel of time so take my opinion with a grain of salt

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>>9499645
Wrong thread idiot >>>/lit/ <-ask them

>>9499481
>Who am I?
>There were no black nations on the Mediterranean coast for most of history
You are misinformation anon. Get out.

>>9499665
>shits great, but i loved all of wheel of time so take my opinion with a grain of salt

Fascinating; what do you think of brandon sanderson's stuff?

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>>9499723
Not saying I am that anon...
But name a black civilisation on the Mediterranean before Islam.

>>9498986
You should never read anything by Jemisin.

>>9493209
Missed potential: the book.

>>9499723
>/sffg/ is the wrong thread to ask about a type of science fiction

>>9499575
Maybe because Niven needs to check his f*cking privilege?

>>9499800
Looked like pol bait to me. Don't feel like having the mods delete this thread.

>>9498366
Stand on Zanzibar

And then after that you stop because literally everything else in literature is shit. There are a few decent movies if you're craving more.

>>9492063
Nothing, I'm fatigued

>>9499575
Because it was written by a science fiction author(male)

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>>9499575
all classic science fiction books are targeted by feminists now
Pic related is about The End of Eternity.

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>>9500663

>>9499374
Some really outstanding fiction. Just wish Three Body had a little more character, would really make the entire trilogy excellent instead of just the final two.

Try Cixins short stories collection, The Wandering Earth

>>9500663
>>9500732
Why do these people even bother to read anything that was published before The Current Year

>>9500868
So they can be triggered.

how are the other 2 books of the forever war?

>>9500663
We've come so far, feminists complaining about Asimov; a ridiculously cringeworthy progressive who wouldn't stop injecting his personal beliefs in everything he wrote.

How is my boy from Canada doing? We haven't exchanged banter in a while.

>>9501301
How would you pronounce Canadia?
Like Arkadia or Canada?

>>9492063
Fantasyfag here trying to venture into SF for the first time since childhood, reading Dune. I'm in the beginning of the second book.

I don't know what to think. The prose is fine, characters good and the settings interesting, but a lot of things that happen don't seem to make much sense. I know you're supposed to ignore this, but I'm getting un-repressible levels of the "Why didn't _____ just do ____ " syndrome. I feel like the technology is deliberately under-explained so you just assume everything works that way for a reason you don't know, but it doesn't work. That, and the characters' motives and decisions don't make much sense to me either, though that could just be because I'm an aspie fuck who doesn't understand people.

>>9501363
That's one of my biggest pet peeves, when you can see a clear solution immediately that the character doesn't.

>>9501380
Right?

I feel like most people write that off as an immature problem that a mature reader shouldn't have. It is, to some extent--you're supposed to realize that the characters are supposed to be human and humans make bad decisions. But sometimes it's just unrealistic--not a deliberately flawed character missing an opportunity or solution, but an incomplete or badly designed plot where the author didn't understand what would actually happen if the technology he'd created for his book really existed.

As a huge large-scale example, I feel like it's too far-fetched in Dune to believe that fighting would primarily be done with energy shields and knives, with the technology described.

>>9501344
Canada is pronounced Can-nah-daa
Canadia is pronounced Can-nay-dee-ah
Canadian is pronounced Can-nay-dee-on

>>9501363
>I'm in the beginning of the second book.
That's your problem, you read dune and stop. Then pick up a different book. You don't read past Dune.

>>9501413
Really? It doesn't get any better? I thought the whole series was a staple of scifi.

So where should I go next? Like I said, I'm a primarily fantasy fag branching into scifi because I'm running out of fantasy I like. I like long, leisurely, detailed stories with muh worldbuilding, and a minimum of personal drama.

>>9501301
Why do you read such terrible books?

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>>9501386
>>9501403
I agree with both of you.

>>9501363
>and the characters' motives and decisions don't make much sense to me either
I've tried reading two Scalzi novels and he took this to the next level, It was bordering surreal, he retreads old ground so crudely I refuse to believe they aren't ghostwritten.

>>9501428
>Why do you read such terrible books?
That's a subjective phrase.

They are entertaining (some). I just take suggestions from people (here and there, and another place) and read them. I'm a fantasy fag, so I will read almost anything with magic, and I like my sci-fi filled with the "what-ifs" of the future.
But yes, many of them are terrible. At least I warn ppl away from the really bad ones. Maybe I'm a masochistic faggot

>>9501424
What do you like in fantasy? Were you ever technical at a young age? You read popular science magazines? What gets you excited about science and technology?
>going into space
>controllable prosthetic limbs
>weapons and military advancement
>conquering worlds
>discovering worlds
>nanotechnology and electronics that integrates with the human body
>gravity manipulation to enable "flight"
What is it you like? Tell us and we will be able to suggest something you might stick with.

>>9501486
Why doesn't anyone read Lock in by Scalzi. They only talk about red war or w/e.

>>9501541
Probably because they've already read the shit Scalzi plagiarized from.

>>9501535
Same things that get me excited about fantasy desu. Its the adventure and exploration.

>>9501554
But the plagiarized version was entertaining. What was the original? Might give it a read.

>>9501572
The Surrogates.

>>9501571
>Its the adventure and exploration.
That's a BROAD topic. See how I tried to make some break down of the genre?
Break down what you mean by adventure and exploration.
Do you mean like dune where you're discovering shit?
Try Hull Three zero, Roadside picnic and metro 2033. All adventure and exploration novels.

>>9501582
Isn't that a movie?

>>9501582
>The Surrogates is a five-issue comic book limited series written by Robert Venditti, drawn by Brett Weldele, and published by Top Shelf Productions from 2005 to 2006. In 2009 it was followed by a prequel graphic novel
A comic book? Really?
>>>/co/
Not as worst as the f/a/gs who said it was in a manga, but still up there.

>>9501600
So.. are you denying Scalzi is a plagiarize?

>>9501608
I saying I'm not reading the comic to find out, and that co fags are up there with a fags. But I can't refute your claims, seeing as I won't read the source to confirm. So it's a draw.

Although the book was different from the movie (and therefore from the comic). But w/e.

>>9501584
Just exploring and adventuring through weird, unusual cultures, environments and such. I loved the way WoT did that aspect of it where the author made a bunch of incredibly detailed cultures and places, and the book kind of takes you on a safari through them one by one, with the characters having adventures unique to the challenges of that area. WoT did a lot of things wrong, but it did that right.

I guess the best way to sum it up would be exploration of strange, unique (not obviously taken straight from history, though I know some of that is unavoidable) places and cultures.

>O-Old Man's War w-wasn't a Starship Troopers rip-off
>T-The Collapsing Empire w-wasn't a Foundation rip-off
every time