/sffg/ - Science Fiction & Fantasy General

First for Blindsight

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I thought I should read something more contemporary than usual, so I picked up Jim Butcher's Storm Front (2000) from a bargain bin. This is the first book of his popular Dresden Files series, an urban fantasy that combines elements of detective fiction, police procedurals and magic. The protag is a practicing wizard for hire in modern day rain-soaked Chicago; an impoverished and dishevilled technophobe with a dark history who feels the weight of the world upon him. In this book, a routine missing husband job and a gruesome murder case become entwined, and the unfortunate protag is soon embroiled with a mafia boss, demons, a vampiress, a rival wizard, an increasingly impatient police, and the wroth of the 'White Council' who govern magic.

The book is well plotted; Butcher deftly orders a narrative involving many conflicting parties and interests in a coherent way, while giving us entertaining action sequences, twists, and lighter comic moments. The prose is written in a fast-paced first person POV with much dialogue, but for my taste there are too many hackneyed Die Hard-esque quips, Americanisms ('gee', 'you have got to be kidding me'), plot recaps, and extended passages of cogitation. Furthermore, the characterisation is thin, mostly constructed from cliches. Even so, this is a competently done piece of frivolity, something I would have enjoyed a lot more when I was younger. Now, though, I doubt I will continue with the series unless it appears under my nose in another bargain bin. So I will have to diverge from the opinion of best-selling author Patrick Rothfuss, who lavished five stars at Goodreads, and merely award Storm Front a lukewarm 2/5 rating.

>>9858295
Storm Front is much worse than the next books. It gets going for real in book 3.

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>tfw finished the first book of the Orthogonal trilogy
>still can't comprehend what is going on but the premise is neat
>now reading Axiomatic by the same author
Some cool stories lined up.
tfw can't find muh textbook online and will have to waste $15 renting it

>"No war! No war! No war!" the people shouted as Richard led the men up the street at a dead run.
>"Out of the way!" Richard yelled as he closed the distance. This was no time for subtlety or discussions: the success of their attack depended in large part on speed. "Get out of the way! This is your only warning! Get out of the way or die!"
>"Stop the hate! Stop the hate!" the people chanted as they locked arms.
>They had no idea how much hate was raging through Richard. He drew the Sword of Truth. The wrath of its magic didn't come out with it, but he had enough of his own. He slowed to a trot.
>"Move!" Richard called as he bore down on the people.
>A plump, curly-haired woman took a step out from the others. Her round face was red with anger as she screamed. "Stop the hate! No war! Stop the hate! No war!"
>"Move or die!" Richard yelled as he picked up speed.
>The red-faced woman shook her fleshy fist at Richard and his men, leading an angry chant. "Murderers! Murderers! Murderers!"
>On his way past her, gritting his teeth as he screamed with the fury of the attack begun, Richard took a powerful swing, lopping off the woman's head and upraised arm. Strings of blood and gore splashed across the faces behind her even as some still chanted their empty words. The head and loose arm tumbled through the crowd. A man mad the mistake of reaching for Richard's weapon, and took the full weight of a charging thrust.
>Men behind Richard hit the line of evil's guardians with unrestrained violence. People armed only with their hatred for moral clarity fell bloodied, terribly injured, and dead. The line of people collapsed before the merciless charge. Some of the people, screaming their contempt, used their fists to attack Richard's men. They were met with swift and deadly steel.

Is this the greatest passage ever put into writing?

>>9858326
Cosmere knew this

So for some reason I got confused and thought Book of the New Sun and Malazan Book of the Fallen were the same book. And on top of that, because of the title I thought it was only one book. Imagine my surprise when I discovered it's actually a massive fucking series. Well, it's kind of nice to know that I have so much stuff to read, if also overwhelming.

>>9858352
Malazan isn't worth reading beyond the fourth book.

>>9858352
>reading malazan
poor bastard

>>9858330
The opening of Clark Ashton's The Abominations of Yondo is hard to beat for a sense of the grimly exotic:

--

The sand of the desert of Yondo is not as the sand of other deserts; for Yondo lies nearest of all to the world's rim; and strange winds, blowing from a pit no astronomer may hope to fathom, have sown its ruinous fields with the gray dust of corroding planets, the black ashes of extinguished suns. The dark, orblike mountains which rise from its wrinkled and pitted plain are not all its own, for some are fallen asteroids half-buried in that abysmal sand. Things have crept in from nether space, whose incursion is forbid by the gods of all proper and well-ordered lands; but there are no such gods in Yondo, where live the hoary genii of stars abolished and decrepit demons left homeless by the destruction of antiquated hells.

It was noon of a vernal day when I came forth from that interminable cactus-forest in which the Inquisitors of Ong had left me, and saw at my feet the gray beginnings of Yondo. I repeat, it was noon of a vernal day; but in that fantastic wood I had found no token or memory of a spring; and the swollen, fulvous, dying and half-rotten growths through which I had pushed my way, were like no other cacti, but bore shapes of abomination scarcely to be described. The very air was heavy with stagnant odors of decay; and leprous lichens mottled the black soil and russet vegetation with increasing frequency. Pale-green vipers lifted their heads from prostrate cactus-boles and watched me with eyes of bright ochre that had no lids or pupils. These things had disquieted me for hours past; and I did not like the monstrous fungi, with hueless stems and nodding heads of poisonous mauve, which grew from the sodden lips of fetid tarns; and the sinister ripples spreading and fading on the yellow water at my approach were not reassuring to one whose nerves were still taut from unmentionable tortures. Then, when even the blotched and sickly cacti became more sparse and stunted, and rills of ashen sand crept in among them, I began to suspect how great was the hatred my heresy had aroused in the priests of Ong and to guess the ultimate malignancy of their vengeance.

>>9858262
Are those pictures from any specific books? I'd like to know the names if so.

Did that fella who said they were going to read The Death Gate Cycle a few weeks back ever get around to it? What'd you think?

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>>9858427
Don't get your hopes up, dude. I've been waiting months probably around a year for some faggot to read the Radix Tetrad. Death Gate Cycle was baller though, Dog a best

>>9858295
Fun fact: Butcher wrote Storm Front as a joke, intentionally shitting out the worst, most cliched, half-assed thing he could think of. Then it became by far his biggest success.

books like the blade runner movie?

>>9858502
This sounds like bullshit but I believe it

>>9858512
"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick. Feels like he watched the movie and thought "You know what, I can do that exact thing but better."

>>9858072
>>9858098
I dunno, I might be desperate enough to read it.

>>9858593
Read Iain M. Banks' Culture novels instead.

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which is the best book in the wheel of time series

>>9858614
THE ONE WITH THE SPANKING

>>9858614
Probably number 2. It's a pretty terrible series though if you're not a 16 year old just discovering their fetishes.

>>9858619
Was there one without spanking?

>>9858614
I tried to read WOT and it seems like such a cliched shitfest

>>9858637
It's a window into the state of fantasy at the time, and shoes you how ASOIAF managed to become so popular.

>>9858630
I don't remember any spanking in the first one. Jordan had to get a successful novel under his belt before he revealed his power level.

>>9858502
>>9858530
Allegedly the working title was Semiautomagic. Which is stupid enough to make me believe it.

Also since we're talking urban fantasy, I remember hearing about a series ages ago about a hacker who is also a druid? wizard? something like that. Sounded incredibly corny but people said it was good.

>>9858690
>changes the title to the name of a white supremacist internet forum
What did he mean by that?

>>9858637
it plays with a lot of cool concepts and ideas
and ruins them by having every character except like 2 or 3 be horrible human beings

finishing up sword of shannara, just me or are these 3 books really boring

>>9858770
I remember reading the first one while I was on vacation and finding it sort of interesting because it seemed like it was vaguely post-apocalyptic despite being a fantasy setting. I got up to the part where the dwarf sacrificed himself as they were fighting some Cthulhu monster. However, at that time Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had just come out and my father bought me a copy, so I was much more interested in reading that and never got back to Shannara. I enjoyed HBP, personally.

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>>9858770
>Sword of Shannara
>3 books
question mark

The next quadrologies(?) are much better

>>9858512
>>9858531
Please be bait

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opinions?

>>9858948
Holy shit, I miss when this website wasn't retarded and didn't have to respond to every obvious joke post calling it bait.

>>9859100
You mean you miss when it wasn't so retarded that people were wary of such an obvious joke being bait in the first place?

what are the best cyberpunk books?

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>>9859100
Maybe if people like you didn't respond to every baitfag and enable their behavior, people like baitfags would be deprived of their attention and eventually stop fucking posting.

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I hope Rothfuss kills himself so we have one neckbeard author less. Next up should be Sanderson and that RPO man.

Just finished The Forever War. I was thinking about jumping to Old Mans War, since theyre often compared.

Is that a bad idea? Will I get bored of more of the same? Has anyone read both of these?

Is there a genre where people have specific superpowers that isn't capeshit?

>>9859151
I'm sorry, but they will literally never stop. A common misconception is that people on this site function off being replied too. They are very self-centered and will post regardless of whether they get replies.

>>9859147
Stand On Zanzibar.

>>9859181
Science-fiction and Fantasy are 99% the domain of neckbeards and faggots. For every one that dies of diabetes complications or a sudden attack of self-awareness followed by a noose/replica fantasy sword to the guts ten more will emerge to take their place. The genre is doomed to be dominated by veteran dungeon-masters who know their magic systems and boring ass lore backwards and forwards but never read the Greeks.

>>9859251
Uh, yeah, fantasy? Read Traveler's Gate.

>>9859256
oh, this is the YA book that everyone was shitting on for being literally anime.

I don't know why I'm hesitating on this. Normally /lit/ only shits on things that are enjoyable by the other 99% of the population

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>Children of Hurin

Man...

>>9859252
Strongly consider becoming an hero

>>9859251
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny has this.

>>9859255
>but never read the Greeks.
The Greeks are full of shit tbqh

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>>9858262
There is a good amount of /sffg/ audiobooks posted
here >>775032

>>9859338
>>>/t/775032

>>9859286
You can learn more from 1000 pages of their shit than you can from 100000000 hours of D&D.

>>9859375
That's not saying much.

>>9859286
Why

What are some good books to listen to? Any to avoid listening to?

>>9859384
Read the half drunken musings about musings of bored aristocrats from 2300 years ago yourself and find out. I particularly like the self-fucking wheel people.

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Just finished powder mage trilogy, it was alright.
Never see it recommended.

Some cool concepts, kinda underused, and it keeps pushing powerful characters to the sidelines to the sidelines so they dont mess up the plot too much.
Also like that one of the main protagonist is a detective and always ends up in the middle of trouble by trying to help someone.

Shame about the new trilogy in the series, much worse.

>>9859191
Don't read anything by Scalzi ever. Head on over to his twitter if you want to find out why.

>>9859181
>Sanderson
>neckbeard
what?

Also at lest Sanderson has some great books under his belt, Stormlight and The Rithmatist are pretty good.
Rothfuss cant even wrap up his one shitty series.

Started reading the Powder Mage trilogy and I'm enjoying it so far. If I had one complaint it would be that it seems to move very quickly through events so that the mysteries and intrigue don't really have time to gestate. But that might just be because I'm used to my fantasy books being extremely long.

>>9858614
Either 2 or 3 imo

>>9859265
Turin was a fucking shit.

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I'm tired of being out of touch with contemporary fantasy, so I just ordered The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps and The Jewel and Her Lapidary.

What am I in for /sffg/?

>>9859541
I've never heard of either of those, let me know how they are cause I'm always looking for new books.

>>9859541
>>9859569
I'm going to be honest, if you're on 4chan you're not going to like them. They are very, very gay and very, very black

>>9859576
I'm not necessarily opposed to either of those things in principle. And I like plenty of things that the rest of this site seems to hate.

>>9859464
Have you tried the Shadow Campaigns series? Overall I think I'm liking it more than Powder Mage for Napoleonic fantasy.

>>9859579
same here. I'm a tumblrite and thought it was too fucking much. Then again, I'm not really hard-line

>>9859594
No, but i was thinking about trying it
I got 2 other books i wanted to try as my next one, but if they suck ass i will probly get to The Thousand Names

But i wouldnt be surprised if it was better, Powder mage has an amazing set up, but ultimately is too afraid to go way outside of the regular fantasy tropes. Also every book has a big military battle for some reason, and i get one of the main characters is the commander of military and he has to have something to do, hes also the head of state and some political resolutions wouldnt really be much worse.

>>9859576
>>9859579
>>9859596
But is the plot actually good or is it actually retarded? I have found nothing but retarded books lately.

>>9859721
I couldn't make it far enough to get to the plot

>>9859732
Okay, looks like something to avoid.

>>9859263
That's weird, I've only seen one other person talk about it here, and that person liked it too.

It is indeed pretty anime though. Which is good for some, bad for others. But it has exactly what you're looking for.

>>9859191
They are different beasties, I enjoyed the OMW and follow up books immensely tho latest two titles are somewhat unimpressive for my tastes. I'd say give it a shot, similarities between it and FW are greatly exaggerated

>>9859279
Well gee, thanks for the reply, buddy. Guess I'll continue baitposting since I know it gets you mad.

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Just finished this.

I forgot how much Bakker loves to drop the mic with his endings.

Anybody else read it yet?

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Book is surprisingly god tier so far.

Are the stories in the 'best of gene wolfe' complete?
I wanted to read the fifth head of cerberus but it's only 47 pages in this edition but in others it's 150.

>>9859799

I'm about halfway through and dreading that everything I fear would happen, will happen.

>>9858614
I'd say LoC or KoD.

Why are there so many people on this board who can't shut the fuck up about things they don't enjoy? I just can't have fun browsing the rest of this board because of the chance I'll run into a stray fantasy thread and see some jackass whining about how fantasy is for children while doing nothing to convince me that he actually reads any books, literature of otherwise. I'm honestly amazed that they elect to stay out of this thread considering how invasive they are everywhere else, you'd think they'd be carpetbombing this thread with shitposts. It often feels like this is the only place on the board where people actually read and discuss books.

>>9860012
I'd say this thread was doing fine before you did the thing you're complaining about lol, just chill dude. Ignore the remedials.

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>With measured anger, I backhanded him hard across the mouth. He collapsed sideways against the wall of the booth, losing his hat. The conversation of the young men in silk stopped abruptly, then resumed with great animation as I cut them a sideways glance. The two old women got stiffly to their feet and filed out through a back entrance. The Caucasian didn’t even look up from his holoporn
>The Caucasian didn’t even look up from his holoporn

>>9859799
Yes
Kelhus isn't dead

>>9860012
>this board
You misspelled the internet.

Any good books with lots of good action scenes but the protagonist fights with their fists? Generally it's a sword or some other weapon and while I can enjoy good swordplay I'm looking for a change of pace.

>>9860061
what's this from?

>>9860235
Altered Carbon. It's a 3.8 out of 5 star book in my opinion, quite entertaining but the ending could have been better.

>>9860246
>look it up on Wikipedia
>the genre name is literally "hardboiled cyberpunk"

I've never seen that before. That's great.

Also 3.8 is such an arbitrary rating, what even nudges it up .3 or down .2 points? This is why I just say like or dislike and then explain my opinion further if asked.

>>9859862
Dont read the sequels.
I also liked it, except some weird parts, but the sequels made me rage hard.
I think they retroactively ruin the original.

>>9860252
>Also 3.8 is such an arbitrary rating, what even nudges it up .3 or down .2 points? This is why I just say like or dislike and then explain my opinion further if asked.
Not him, but make those kind of ratings, (except out of ten) I just go by feeling, and I've never gone back and said, oh, that's wrong, so maybe there's something there. It's Oh, it's better than a 7 but it's not an 8, but 7,5 doesn't quite do it justice. I like to think of full numbers as "objective" and anything inbetween as "subjective" you know- little things you really enjoy but aren't necessary for a book to be good.

>>9860252
>>9860285
Although I'll admit that's just my own rating system for my own internal benefit. I'm not that autistic when talking books with other people.

Anyone hear anything about Marlon James' proposed "African Game of Thrones"? Just wondering if that's still happening or there was news I missed.

>>9860285
>>9860291
That makes enough sense, I suppose.

>>9860293
>“The very, very basic plot is [that] this slave trader hires a bunch of mercenaries to track down a kid who may have been kidnapped,” he told the US magazine in an interview. “But finding him takes nine years, and at the end of it, the kid is dead. And the whole novel is trying to figure out: ‘How did this happen?’”

>>9860358
>How did this happen?
Did he, dare I say it, take a bite of Gum-Gum?

>>9858690
>It all began when the wizards of the White League were under attack by their opponents of the Black League and one of their most powerful members cast a spell to bring forth a mighty wizard to aid their cause. What the spell delivered was master hacker Walter Wiz Zumwalt. The wizard who east the spell was dead and nobody -- not the elves, not the dwarves, not even the dragons -- could figure out what the shanghaied computer nerd was good for.But spells are a lot like computer programs, and, in spite of the Wiz's unprepossessing appearance, he was going to defeat the all-powerful Black League, win the love of a beautiful red-haired witch, and prove that when it comes to spells and sorcery, nobody but nobody can beat a Silicon Valley computer geek!

>>9858512
Neuromancer

What books are people looking forward to the most?

>>9860537
Count to Infinity
Will to Battle
Comedy Option Winds of Winter

>>9860012
I'm stuck on my phone for a few weeks so I'm limited to shitposting. I'll contribute some quality content when I get back to my rig.

>>9858512
Dont listen to this twat >>9858531
Dicks original book has very little in common with the movie.
It shares the protagonist names and some basic plot structure but the tone and themes are completely different.

Dick book is ether about an insane serial killer or about insane cop on a power trip, there is very little to believe he has any real authority and dosnt make shit up on the spot to justify his delusions.
It has shit like Space Jesus coming down from have to tell him to kill all the subhumans, its really hard to take seriously, while he cheats on his wife with robo women he then plans to murder.

Its basically what every Dick book shares, incohrent dream like narrative that swims from one idea to another.

Anyway, come on man, never heard of cyberpunk?
Neuromancer , Snow Crash, Altered carbon, you will find dozens of popular books in this genre with a simple sreach

>>9858512
you must knows it's cyberpunk and we have fucking recc lists for that
use your eyes

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Where should i start with Guy Gavriel Kay?

Can I have something where the main character is a Chad and fucks lots of girls?

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>>9860616
Start with the Greeks

>>9859799
Does "The Prince of Nothing" Trilogy have a "real ending"? The other books from bakker are not translated to german yet, and while i do speak english too, id rather read them in german and i dont want to start the series if there is no satisfying ending.

>inb4 read it in english pleb
I might, if you can convince me that the series is really that good...

>>9860623
I really hate to say it but Book of the New Sun.

Is there anything it CAN'T do?

>>9860616
I have The Summer Tree on my kindle

>>9860633
I don't

>>9860655
k

>>9858390
Why?

>>9860628
>implying Severian is a chad
>implying he did not rape Thecla, Jolenta and possibly Dorcas also and later lie about it to the readers

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>Fionavar is fucking ISEKAISHIT with fucking med/law students
>Brandin and Dianora will never get isekai's/reverse isekai'd
JUST GGK UP MY TIGANA
JUST

>>9859895
All of them except for The Fifth Head of Cerberus. The complete Cerberus is a novel in three parts, the one in 'best of Gene Wolfe' is the first part, which he published first to enter into a competition. I think he almost won a Hugo for it.

I think that the complete The Fifth Head of Cerberus is easily some of Wolfe's best work and strongly recommend finding the complete thing. You can really see him come into his own with it, everything that makes his writing distinct is present all at once and a lot of the themes come up again in his later work

>>9860537
Marc Aramini's next tome of Wolfe analysis. If I remember right this one will have Book of the Long Sun and Short Sun in it as well as Latro and loads more short fiction. Even one of those three things is enough for me, I loved the first one.

>>9860670
>Thecla
She's inside his mind at the time of his writing the Book of the New Sun, if their relationship weren't as he were telling it she'd have let this slip. Pretty sure that it's only through her occasional input that we learn they had sex at all, and from what she says it sounds quite likely that she initially applied the succ and Sev only reciprocated. Unless of course, Severian pretended to occasionally let his consciousness slip away into Thecla's and faked all of her input into the story to make us think that. That saucy fucking devil. This thought honestly never occurred to me until now, I may have to ask Aramini what he thinks.
>Jolenta
Thot, impossible to rape
>Dorcas
I imagine that was 95% him but she reciprocated the feelings at least a bit.

>>9859576
Fifth Season had both of those things and it was well liked here.

Please rate this authors from 1 to 10:
> Rothfuss
> Sapkowski
> Martin
> Abercrombie
> Sanderson
> Bakker
> Lynch
> Tolkien
> Guy Gavriel Kay
> Hulick
> Mieville
> Jordan
> Cook

Anyone have a list of catgirlcore sff novels?

>>9860687
Because chart anon, the person who shilled it to me, myself and probably you, like it. There are some people here also who hate it.

I think that the strongest consensus on loved books on /sffg/ are Blindsight and Roadside Picnic, but even Blindsight is picking up haters lately. And /sffg/ is not one person.

Also, I find it kinda cute that book 2 is Schaffa and Nassun loli headpatting: The Novel: The Experience: The Arc: The Shipbait: The Electric Boogaloo 2: On Ice which indicates that the animu rubbed off on Jemisin hard and rubbed off on me too.

>>9860716
Jemisin doesn't have a contingent of haters, so that's well liked enough for me. Even so, the second novel was far less faggy, even considering the tranny. I'm eagerly awaiting the anime showdown as well.

>>9860695
I know I'm letting everyone down. I'm so sorry senpai T.T

>>9860736
I know there's Godsfire and that one C.J. Cherryh novel. You got any others?

>>9860689
Abercrombie
Sanderson
Martin
Tolkien
Sapkowski
Scott Lynch
Rothfuss

Dunno who the rest of those clowns is
The fact you dont give full names dont help, took me a moment to figure out you mean Scott Lynch not the 100x more famous David Lynch
Both Abercrombie and Sanderson have big bibliography of great and mediocre titles, but at lest both of them write. Rothofuss have yet to wrap up his one shitty trilogy.
And didnt Douglas Hulick write like one obscure book?
Sapkowski would be lower if Scott and Rothfuss werent such hacks, just for how shitty Witcher trilogy was compared to the short stories.

>>9860627
Thousand Fold Thought has a pretty definitive end. Bakker loves to end on downer endings.

>>9860089
How do you figure? I know he had at least one of the 100 backing him, and the one with dominion over Hell at that so a return isn't entirely out of the question. But he's salted to the pith.

Also after Kelmomas proved invisible to the White Luck a second time I pieced together what was going to happen to him.

>>9860627
It's either really good or completely terrible depending on your sensibilities. If you prefer straightforward power fantasy books where you get to feel righteous indignation alongside the MC, then you'll hate it. If you prefer to have you expectations subverted, then you might like it. And even if you like it a lot, you'll probably hate it because TRAGEDY NIGGA (but secretly love it because the pain and confusion gets your dick rock hard)

>>9860768
The stories tend to be very straightforward on the whole, with very little twists (beside from one in the TUC but even that was really obvious in retrospect), so I'm pretty sure he's dead

Any suggestions for sleazy sci-fi? Robots raping women, cyborgs spewing plasma everywhere, that kinda lowbrow thing

>>9860760
>>9860774
I can deal with downer or tragic endings. I just hate cliffhangers that will force me to read the rest in english...

thx for the info

>>9858414
Not to my knowledge. Just 2 google images.

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>>9860738
Cherryh's Chanur novels probably count as well.
Kzin Wars, but I think the covers are probably misleading (haven't gotten that far along in them yet). There's another cant remember atm, but it was fairly mediocre.

Recs I've picked up but have yet to read:
Stone God Awakens by Farmer
The Wanderer by Leiber
Cordwainer Smith

I'm not real good at keeping track. The two you mentioned have the strongest catgirl themes of ones I remember reading.

>>9860774
I just want Akka to be happy

Finally gets the girl of his dreams
Goes missing during Holy War, girl of his dreams thinks him dead and settles for the fucking God Emperor of man kind
[spoiler"]Sorry Akka, I'm with Jesus now"
Forsakes everyone and everything to be a hermit
Twenty years latter, his ex's first born daughter shows up
they fuck
Go on an adventure across Sranc infested land with a band of psycopaths and a crazy immortal dude
Almost everyone dies
What they were looking for wasn't even there anymore
She's pregnant oh fuck
Well may as well go see the man who cucked me
Ex-wife's daughter goes into labor literally in the middle of the fucking battle of Golgoterrath
Gives birth to twins but the second one is stillborn because FORSHADOWING
Not|Kelhus: WHAT DO YOU SEE

Why can't he get a fucking break?

>>9860801
Goddammit, I should have known I'd fuck up one of the tags

>>9859286
>The Greeks are full of shit tbqh
That is why they always fucking each other in the ass. To loosen up their bowel movement.

>>9860800
how does Baen Books art department live with itself

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Is there anything comfy to read that's omitted from the charts in the OP? I'm so bored, but I can't find anything to read. I'd ideally want something that feels like TES in spirit - familiar, but very self-aware. A better way to put it would be something like Sanderson without the Hollywood tropes, forced world-building, and bullshit romances. I'll stick to TES as my example atmosphere because I do feel it nails the perfect balance of humor and edginess.

>>9860826
I haven't read any of them in a while so I don't know if the feel lines up with what you want, but I always found books from The Saga of Recluse to be a comfy read.

More often than not the characters are just trying to live their lives in this fantasy world and get swept up by chance into some of the large happenings around them.

I especially recommend The Magic of Recluse and The Magic Engineer.

>>9860627
Not really. I mean we're 7 books into the series and if you want my honest opinion, it all just feels like a big cocktease. He does that very well. But even then, it's mostly plot/world-related. As far as the characters go, the more I read, the less I care. I'm on my third re-read now and I just fucking despise everyone completely. Bakker is a delusional faggot who seriously thinks that people hate his characters because they're dumb normies who can't get his art and that he writes them that way on purpose for them to feel "real" (whatever that means), so that should give you a general idea of the sort of attitude you're dealing with. People aren't wrong when they say he's a pseud; he's very smart, VERY SMART, but his inability to meet the audience halfway on anything or even accept criticism with more tact is jarring. Nowadays he seems more focused on writing about philosophy, but go back and read his posts from a couple of years ago and he reads like a fucking teenager. An annoying auteur who wants nothing more than to get the attention of the masses, but who simultaneously can't shut the fuck up about how dumb people are and how they just don't "get it."
Having said that, I do very much like Scott as a person apart from the diva syndrome, and I'm mostly reading TSA out of love for him than for any of his characters - and I'm not sure what that says. I think it's safe to say that TSA is the third best fantasy epic ever written, right after LotR and ASoIaF inb4 MALAZAN LMAO MAZLA BABBIES BTFO.

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>>9860012
If you were here from the beginning you would have seen them. We reported them and the mods deleted and banned them regularly. They stopped shitting up the general afterwards.

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>>9860821
Artists are weird anon. From what I remember, Kzin have redundant ribcages or something and weigh 400lbs.

>>9860836
I have to say, anon, these reviews on Goodreads are making me very skeptical. The bad ones make it sound dreadful, and the top rated positive one is by a woman, which is always a very, very bad sign. And they're saying it's a coming-of-age story that's slow-paced and I'm not really interested in that. Like I said, I don't want any teens/romance, or anything like that.

>>9860800
Thanks buddy. Which book by Cordwainer Smith though?

>>9860888
The two I mentioned don't have a focus on romance, at least as far as I can remember.

They are more about figuring out their place in the world.

But then I might just have a soft spot for these books since they are more about trying to live life in a fantasy world than some epic quest. Most of the series' main characters have some kind of trade that they use to make a living. Magic of Recluse has a carpenter who begins to make a name for himself after he gets away from the oppressive regime and culture of his homeland while Magic Engineer has a blacksmith/engineer.

>>9860800
>I'm not real good at keeping track.
That is why you use goodreads. Then you can access it anywhere in the world.

>>9860893
I think the anon that recced them said it was a common theme and to just pick up some short story collections. You'll have to search the archive for his posts.

>>9860784
The nuclear platinum blonde.

>>9860902
I'm paranoid and dislike online services that store info for me :(
I've been trying to come up with a good way to do it on my own.

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>>9860899
>But then I might just have a soft spot for these books since they are more about trying to live life in a fantasy world than some epic quest.
I really love that as well. Hmm, okay, okay, maybe I'll give it a shot after all. I've always despised the saving the world meme. That's what I've always loved about franchises like TES and Gothic (1-2 anyway), people are always treating you like you're lower than dogshit, but it's never particularly dark or edgy. It's such a nice feeling. Really jives well with my Slav sensibilities.

>>9860908
That's not the title and it wasn't sleazy, just pulpy.

>>9860888
>>9860826
I found library at mount char comfy. But that might just be me.

>>9860917
You can't. Unless you will make a server you can access on the go, and use a spreadsheet system. You good at coding, Canada-kun?

>>9860929
I can't say that fits what I wanted but I'm going to get it because it sounds really interesting. The description reminds me of this book I read once... Some guy had a very vivid dream or something like that, and then he put all his effort for the rest of the book into creating an apartment that looked exactly like the one from the dream. I wish I remembered what that book was called. Not exactly fantasy but certainly unique.

>>9860926
>That's not the title
I know, but when you googled it the correct name would show up.

>and it wasn't sleazy, just pulpy
So you want GRI APPROVED scifi with robots? Don't think I have any.

>>9860963
Something more than night?

>>9860716
BS only has haters because some anons have been shilling it too hard. Only vapid cunts come out of that book feeling unhappy

>>9860970
>Something more than night
You mean as the novel that I read and wanted the name of? If so, definitely not, anon. It wasn't really story-driven in any way. He wasn't trying to reconstruct the dream to solve a crime or anything like that. Doing it was his goal. He was just empty and felt like it was important for some reason.

what did everyone think of the new GoT episode?

>>9860995
>>>/tv/

>>9860995
It will certainly make the Top 10 Best Anime Fights.

>>9860954
>You can't. Unless you will make a server you can access on the go
I don't need access on the go, but setting up such is fairly trivial.
>and use a spreadsheet system
Spreadsheets are for manipulating data, this would be more suited to a database.
>You good at coding
I can do this kinda thing when my desire for it exceeds my natural laziness level.

>>9860964
I'm not OP, I just assumed what he wanted based on the question. Plutonium Blonde may well be what he wants.

>>9860145
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2171150._?ac=1&from_search=true

>>9860868
Shit, now im even more interested.

I read LotR and Malazan up to book 7 or so. I also read Abercrombies Stuff and really liked that.

You mention AsoIaF. How fucked am i if i read the boosks when already watched the series?

You menton ASolaF

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>>9861089
You realize the books are totally different, right? The series cuts out a lot of stuff, and changes the rest to the point of being wholly unrecognizable. And people who say that season 1 was faithful to the books are delusional faggots, don't listen to them. The show butchered the material since day one, and we're not talking minor nitpicking either.

Minor examples from episode 1
In the show, Cersei talks to Jaime about how brave and reckless he is from diving off a cliff. In the books, Cersei recounts and incident where Jaime refused to stick his hand through the bars of a cage to pet a lion because he's a coward, whereas she was brave enough to do it. The show tries to whitewash her into a mistreated woman, whereas the book portrays her as the crazy bitch that she is.
And again, in the show, Catelyn is made into loving wife that begs Ned to stay home but is contradicted by the evil patriarchal lord that cares more about his duty than his family. In the books, Ned desperately wants to stay, and it's Catelyn that insists he should go because it would better the family's position.

Just forget everything you know and read the books. These are small differences. It only increases as you go from one book to another, and once you're past the third it diverges completely.

>>9861147
Well in that case, i will check out the books...i fucking hate the show...

>>9861089
>>9861147
Oh, and I stopped reading Malazan around that part too. I know the fifth book was total junk, and then I tried one more until I gave up completely. It's a shame, because Memories of Ice is an amazing read and probably one of the most heartfelt things I've ever read, cheese or not. But none of the books that came after (out of the ones I've read) reached that sort of long and satisfying climax. Truly a comfy, comfy book, Memories of Ice.

>>9860667
Because that's when it gets good, and /sffg/ doesn't read good things.

>>9858690
>Semiautomagic
I love it.
But I think the actual story was he was being 2deep4u in his writing and his instructor told him that tropes exist for a reason and that sticking to formula would improve his writing. He disagreed, and to prove it he wrote Storm Front, only to realize she was right when it turned out people loved it.

>>9860745
What wrong with Lynch? I thought Lamora was fun.

>>9859799
Yes.

>>9860089
He is but until Bakker dies of old age there will be people convinced everything went according to keikaku and he's just waiting his comeback.

>>9860768
>>9860778
I called it by White Luck Warrior. Suck it.

Ajokli wasn't backing him, he was manipulating him. Also Ajokli is actually Cnaiür

>>9860627
>inb4 read it in english pleb
>I might, if you can convince me that the series is really that good...
German Prince of Nothing is pretty heavily censored in parts, if that bothers you. But yes the first series, while leaving a lot open, is also a decent end in its own right.

>>9860689
1. Sapkowski
2. Bakker
3. Tolkien
4. Martin
5. Mieville
6.Lynch
7. Kay
8. Hulick
9. Cook.
10 Jordan

>>9861236
First book was great actually.
The sequel? I will forever try to pretend it does not exists.
And since i read them back to back it was like Scott was pissing in my face.

>>9860745
>just for how shitty Witcher trilogy was compared to the short stories.
Sapkowski didn't write the games

>>9861253
>sapkowski nr 1
explain yourself

>>9860689
Tolkien and that's it

>>9860801
I liked him just smiling during the apocalypse because this is pretty much what he's born for. Also him and Esmi and Mimara together, while pretty fucked up, was actually sweet. Same with Sorweel and Serwa's brief relationship. This had the most gayrapeincestcannibalism of any of the books but also the most human moments.

>>9861270
Sorweel's plot thread ended up being a big "Wait, that's it?" for me

>>9860868
I like his characters. But Bakker is infinitely better if you don't read anything he says outside the books because he's such an asshat you'll end up wanting to dislike the series just to spite him.

>>9860868
>Having said that, I do very much like Scott as a person apart from the diva syndrome, and I'm mostly reading TSA out of love for him than for any of his characters - and I'm not sure what that says.
That you're a strange and fucked up person. Possibly his wife.

>>9860921
>TES
But only Morrowind is like that

>>9861282
Don't forget that damnation can only averted if they kill off all of humanity except for 144000 jews

>>9860977
I haven't read Blindsight in years and I'm shilling it just because I saw people complaining about people shilling it.

>>9861089
The worst book of ASOIAF is infinitely better than the corresponding part of the TV series.

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>>9861147
IT KEEPS HAPPENING

>>9861260
I forgot it was published and released as 5 books.
Saga then not a trilogy.

>>9861264
Read him in Polish and you'll understand.

>>9860868
I get the strong sense that he's writing for himself rather than an audience. If you look at it from that POV, it all makes sense. He has a singular vision (biblical apocalyptic scripture thrown in with po-mo style analysis of modern epistemology/metaphysics). The philosophy isn't even very dense or difficult to comprehend. It's the age old debate between Plato and Aristotle on the nature of Forms. it's just delivered in a very deliberately obtuse manner because he thinks that genre fiction labels are bullshit

>>9861278
Same. I really liked what came before it but he died so randomly and pointlessly I kept waiting for him to turn back up.

>>9861278
Ever read mccarthy? "Wait that's it?" -the author. You get used it, and it becomes part of a style of narrative. There is a point though

>>9861294
Good halaroi, fight to keep damnation and feed the gods. The Tusk is 100% authentic.

>>9861147
>>9861308
did someone do one of these for every plot point in the show? Because I'm not going read or watch GOT, but I'll read a roast anyday.

>>9861257
> The sequel? I will forever try to pretend it does not exists.
There is a 3ed book...

>>9861312
>bothering to learn Polish
hard no

>>9861314
I think he was writing for both but expected acclaim. Then he stayed a midlevel fantasy author, and worse, academia turned against him and decried him as a misogynist. Being rejected by his own turned him into a bitter hollow human being.

I want Sanderson to give us a political intrigue story set in the Cosmere.

Many of his stories have elements of this but they take a back seat to other themes and plot lines so they don't get the focus they'd need to truly shine.

The closest he comes to something like this is with Elantris and MAYBE Shadows of Self. And even those end in big, bombastic showdowns between supernatural forces.

Warbreaker also has a political subplot but it's more lip service than anything else.

I think he'd do a great job.

>>9861320
He seriously had the best parts of The Great Ordeal

>>9861312
I did.
It was shit.
An interesting set of short stories that turn into Tolkien world rip off which further and further go away from its Slavic mythology roots until they have shirt like interdenominational travel and.
It turns into such a clusterfuck Ciri travels to worlds that contradict the lore of the world we started in.
And lets not get into inconsistent and incoherent characterization of Geralts and his skill that will turn him into ether an dying old man who is so weak he is no match for some random hobo, or who becomes a legendary superhuman monster hunter depending on what the plot wants from him.
Last book is an insult.

>>9861334
Possibly. Go ask /got/. I just posted one I saw elsewhere.

>>9861340
The worst parts for me were that he basically died offscreen, since he's overcome by the White-Luck Warrior abruptly sometime during Zoronga's execution, and also that no one spares a thought for him after his death. Which felt really weird.

>>9861336
No there isnt.

Didnt you hear me?
There is only one book, and it was great.

>>9861344
>muh lore
>muh powerlevels
This is how i know you are a lying pleb that's just angry it's not the games

>>9861344
>>9861312
>interdenominational
fucking spell check, meant interdimensional

>>9861359
Fuck you I liked the part where Ciri converted to Lutheranism.

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C.L. Moore paints an idyllic in her 1934 short story Scarlet Dreams: a place of bronze-green grasses, whispering trees, blue mists, and lapping lake waters clouded with shades of violet and green. The locals spend lives of languorous leisure in these picturesque surroundings, where food is freely provided by a local temple - but a monstrous being overshadows their existence. C.L. Moore's hardboiled protag is whisked away to this dreamland after buying a vibrantly coloured shawl at a Martian market. He falls in love with a local woman and immerses himself in local customs, before getting to the bottom of why his lover's kisses taste like blood. Overall this is a comfy planetary romance done with C.L. Moore's usual flowing prose and sensuosity - as ever, the theme is temptation - Northwest Smith is pulled between a relaxing idyll and an urge to return to the violent hustle of the spaceways. 4/5 dinos, Moore should be regarded as well as any other Weird Tales writer.

>>9861369
>1934 short story

>>9861356
Wait, you saying lore and sticking to your own rules you create itsnt important?
But yeah, i was angry, i was iritated as fuck when that hack Sapkowski made Geralt, a man with 90 years of sword fighting experience and the body of a young athlete, a veteran of wars and decades of monster hunting, a guy trained by the best swordsmen in the world and who supposedly posses superhuman reflexes and strengths is barely a match against an untrained soldier who probably dosnt know how to hold properly his badly balanced sword made out of pig iron.
Also be the end of the saga he Spakowski seemed to project his own age onto Geralt who seemed to age 20 years between each book, while still being young for a Witcher. Oh no, my old back!

>>9861432
>Wait, you saying lore and sticking to your own rules you create itsnt important?
It's important but far from the most important thing.

>But yeah, i was angry, i was iritated as fuck when that hack Sapkowski made Geralt, a man with 90 years of sword fighting experience and the body of a young athlete, a veteran of wars and decades of monster hunting, a guy trained by the best swordsmen in the world and who supposedly posses superhuman reflexes and strengths is barely a match against an untrained soldier who probably dosnt know how to hold properly his badly balanced sword made out of pig iron.
I'm not sure what fight you're referring to here. I liked that he wasn't a killing machine and that even a guy with his experience and abilities struggles fighting a whole mob at once. It felt a lot more real than most fantasy super soldiers.

>>9861393
>greentext

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Medicine woman with viper tech wanders around healing the poor ignorants in post-post-apoc earth. Enjoyable yet bland. Didn't really seem like Hugo material to me. 3/5 shunned males with poor sperm control

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>>9860868
He definitely does that and said as much in a podcast. He basically said he doesn't give a shit about what anyone thinks or what anyone wants so long as he sticks to his vision. Personally, I think that's an incredibly shitty outlook to have. His books would've been considerably better (never mind a lot more successful) had a level-headed person stepped in and asked him to cut the bullshit. There is so much unnecessary stuff in there. The Ikureis in the first trilogy, the constant harping on Achamian and Esmenet, and dear Christ, the Momemn bits in Emperor along with the tedious chapters about the royal family. The Prince of Nothing could've easily been brought down to a 900p standalone novel that would've rocked people's socks off. And Aspect-Emperor is a lifeless slog.
>>9861338
Yeah, it certainly seems that way. He kept posting about how some magazine (I assume, I'm not Canadian) wouldn't review his books at all despite him sending them his novels, or something like that. And I don't think he is a misogynist, but boy, his books really do read that way... I mean every woman in this series is either retarded or a retarded whore.
From his general behavior and all the things he's said on his blog, I think it's safe to say that he's kind of an attention whore. In the On Alien Philosophy post he mentioned how Dennett made a correction to the original paper, and the way he wrote about it made it sound so cringy. Like a high school girl happy that her crush told her her hair looked like shit.

>>9861610
>The Ikureis in the first trilogy
Xerius and Conphas were fucking awesome you double Scylvendi

>>9861563
That was considered a full novel then you reddite invader
>how do Greentext work

>>9861610
>And I don't think he is a misogynist, but boy, his books really do read that way... I mean every woman in this series is either retarded or a retarded whore.
Anon...

>>9861618
Conphas was too redpilled for that setting.

>>9861618
I never said they weren't, but that's not a reason to burden the story with their presence because they added nothing at all. Nobody is important in PoN except Akka and Kellhus. And Cnaiur to a lesser extent. The Ikureis are completely useless.

>>9861621
>butthurt

>>9861632
I'm really glad you didn't write these books.

Reminder that Conphas has no death date in the updated glossary in Unholy Consult

THE LION OF KIYUTH LIVES

>>9861634
I'm not the same anon. I just responded to your "greentext" post because you outed yourself.

>>9861637
I don't know why you say that. Why do you consider that a character should have a place in the story when he only burdens it? You realize that you can take a character from one story and put him in another? The Ikureis would've been fine if they served a larger purpose. But can you tell me a single thing that they were good for? And I don't mean that they advanced some plot in certain ways, because so did the Fanim, and we never get anything from their POV.
No, the Ikureis were cool, but he quickly killed them off because he realized he had no idea what to do with them.

>>9861646
>reddit

>>9861632
>Nobody is important in PoN except Akka and Kellhus. And Cnaiur to a lesser extent. The Ikureis are completely useless.

>the books should be nothing but cuckholding porn

Who brings the Scylvendi to their knees. Who demonstrates to Cnaiür the folly of his people. Who tries to usurp the Holy War from within showing the state of the Three Seas prior to Kellhus' arrival. Who is the secret counterpoint to Kellhus' presumption of divinity.

Ikureis.

Not even gonna touch the "if a character isn't 100% vital to the plot they shouldn't even exist" meme

>>9861659
>Who brings the Scylvendi to their knees. Who demonstrates to Cnaiür the folly of his people. Who tries to usurp the Holy War from within showing the state of the Three Seas prior to Kellhus' arrival. Who is the secret counterpoint to Kellhus' presumption of divinity.
None of which require the Ikureis to be present as POV characters that take up dozens upon dozens of pages. There are entire stories written from a hero's POV that give you a deep understanding of the other characters. If you start filling pages with the personal lives of people that you aren't going to grow and use later, then you're doing something wrong - not only wasting time, but growing false expectations in the audience.
>Not even gonna touch the "if a character isn't 100% vital to the plot they shouldn't even exist" meme
It's not just a character. It's anything that isn't vital. Of course, we can disagree on what's vital and what isn't, but it's clear from PoN's lack of popularity that there were a lot of horrible decisions made in its writing that brought it down. Ultimately, the story is very cool, and many, I'm sure, would enjoy it.

PoN trilogy felt rather complete and better constructed than A-E by far. I didnt feel like ther was any filler, the Ikureis and so many others like Proyas offer essential informaiton you couldnt get from Akka or Kellhus.

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>>9861653
>why isn't everyone in the story exclusively essential to the story
>why write something to show other workings behind closed curtains
>why didn't he trim the fat off the bacon and give us three characters interacting with themselves and no one else

>>9861672
>caring about a book's popularity beyond how it impacts your access to said book
Besides, the books aren't as popular as they could be because Bakker is a socially retarded assclown and they feature black jizz rape heavily, not because his hilarious cartoony supervillains weren't fun to read about.

>>9861676
I agree on the whole, although I really liked Aspect Emperor too. But Bakker has a tendency to reiterate the same point over and over a lot even going back that far. There's no whole subplot or character or theme I'd remove, but there's lots of things I'd trim pages from.

>>9861681
Bakker's books appeal to a very select dark fantasy niche so its no surprise they're not popular.

It's not as colorful as GRRM and also is pretty heavy on its philosophy, when all normies really care about is who is fucking the others brother.

>A bird shit on me!
-Ikurei Xerius III

Also you are now aware that every single person Xerius suspects of treachery is either actively planning to betray him or a skin spy.

>>9861676
Give me examples of that essential information, please. I know that's shitty to ask on the fly, but just... vaguely. Anything you can think of.
>>9861678
But the workings behind the curtains were irrelevant. PoN isn't ASoIaF. If it were, I'd be in agreement with you. But for what PoN is and what its purpose was, that shit was dumb and a waste of time.
>>9861681
Berserk is arguably worse, though, and visual, and yet people like it. Even normies that hate rape and gore. Could it be, maybe, that that's because Miura didn't make his characters more monstrous than the monsters?

>>9861672
>but it's clear from PoN's lack of popularity that there were a lot of horrible decisions made in its writing that brought it down
No what brought it down was the tu-depth-foe-u philosophy, and the pages upon page of GRI. I saw a goodreads review (by a woman) saying how she dropped it because of the child fucking and what not. Had a bunch of likes too.

>>9861695
>But the workings behind the curtains were irrelevant. PoN isn't ASoIaF. If it were, I'd be in agreement with you. But for what PoN is and what its purpose was, that shit was dumb and a waste of time.
The world would be pretty lifeless and awful if it was nothing but three characters having philosophical arguments with each other. I'm really glad this isn't the fantasy equivalent of Atlas Shrugged.

>Berserk is arguably worse, though, and visual, and yet people like it. Even normies that hate rape and gore. Could it be, maybe, that that's because Miura didn't make his characters more monstrous than the monsters?
No one that reads anime comics is a normie. I bet it was way better marketed too.

>>9861695
>Give me examples of that essential information, please. I know that's shitty to ask on the fly, but just... vaguely. Anything you can think of.
i last read them years ago, but I'm pretty sure Proyas POV confirmed the consult still existd, and with Ikurei he was one of the key factors standing in Kellhus' way in taking over the holy war.

>>9861701
>I saw a goodreads review (by a woman) saying how she dropped it because of the child fucking and what not. Had a bunch of likes too.
I think that was that chick that later admitted she was using a fake identity to try to sabotage her rival's books. The likes were real though because feminists are sheep.

>>9861704

You can read anime comics and be a normie, you just can't read a lot of anime comics. It's pretty normie to follow a big 3 comic or something. They're just big pop media like anything else. It's more niche but it isn't really that weird from a capacities standpoint.

If they're really something with tons of loli fanservice or someting than no, but watamote or whatever isnt really different from r/meirl

>>9861701
Debatable. I'm sure that's what they said because it was the easiest thing to name, but it doesn't change the fact that people are willing to put up with a lot of gross shit if a story gets them involved. PoN, evidently, did not. Do you think people would've dropped A Game of Thrones if Jaime diddled Bran instead of dropping him out the window? I doubt it. I really do.
>>9861704
>The world would be pretty lifeless and awful if it was nothing but three characters having philosophical arguments with each other. I'm really glad this isn't the fantasy equivalent of Atlas Shrugged.
Who ever said that's how it should be? You're constructing a strawman. I didn't say remove the Ikureis entirely or any of the political machinations. Just don't make them main POV characters. Maybe I didn't state that clearly, but that's what I meant.
>No one that reads anime comics is a normie. I bet it was way better marketed too.
You can't be serious. I mean maybe if we're talking normies in their 40s. But people in their 20s and 30s? They definitely do.
>>9861709
>i last read them years ago, but I'm pretty sure Proyas POV confirmed the consult still existd, and with Ikurei he was one of the key factors standing in Kellhus' way in taking over the holy war.
I don't remember that, and if it's a single piece of information you can easily find another way to pass it on to the audience, so...

>>9861722
>>9861734
I've never met anyone that has admitted to reading manga in real life.

>>9861744
>I've never met anyone that has admitted to reading manga in real life.
I see girls reading that shit all day, and I don't even live in a first world country.

You guys are really underselling how important presentation and marketing is to popularity. Bakker is personally off putting, refuses to put any work in to network or sell the books; and the whole series has generic as fuck half-assed covers.

Compare that to say, Peter Watts. His stuff is thematically and tonally similar, albeit scifi to Bakker's fantasy. But he networks fucking constantly and is reaping the rewards.

>>9861676
You could make a drinking game out of the number of times Bakker uses the phrase "and death came swirling down"

>>9861744
I have, at a video store. They tried to convince me that it was silly to buy anime DVDs because torrents exist.

>>9861751
>Bakker is personally off putting
Is he really, though? On his blog he is, but on podcasts he's pretty charming. Has anyone here ever tried to contact him about anything and got a response? He's pretty chill with people commenting on his blog. Like I said, he's foolish, but he's not a bad guy.

>>9861734
We need the PoV of people in power opposing Kellhus to the bitter end or the whole thing reads as a Mary-Sue power fantasy. You could argue that Conphas should be merged with Proyas or Saubon I suppose, but I'd disagree since it would change their characters too much. You could argue that the Ikureis could have their PoVs trimmed in page count but still remain, and I'd agree. But removing them entirely as PoV characters would make the world seem far more artificial to me and the authors arguments would ring more hollow as a result.

Also sometimes it's just good to read fun things. Can't be wound taught through the whole book or you just end up numb.

>>9861750
>I see girls reading that shit all day, and I don't even live in a first world country.
These two thoughts may be linked.

>>9861759
Where do you live that still has video stores?

>>9861763
He used to be ok but the past couple years he's really snide and pretentious even around fans that I've seen.

>>9861767
But like I said you can still keep all those characters. Whatever. I mean I think we can all agree at least that Esmenet is cancer.

>>9861802
>I mean I think we can all agree at least that Esmenet is cancer.
I disagree.

>>9861776
>Where do you live that still has video stores?
Desert wasteland. Don't worry, it closed last year and I was forced to buy all the anime. Don't know how long my supplies will last.

>>9861806
I want to go to sleep peacefully. Why are you doing this?

>>9861813
I am the most violent of shitposters, and you will know the compass of my hate. Esmenet could be better written in the first two books but she serves a necessary role. Her motives are a microcosm of the motives of all of humanity (to matter) and are thematically vital

>>9861298
>I'm shilling it just because I saw people complaining about people shilling it.
Anonymous messageboards were a mistake
I genuinely only think there's about 10 posters regularly on the thread

>>9861861
Sounds about right but I'm actually new.

>>9861878
How did you find out about the general
If memory serves I was actually sent here by /sci/ in one of the /excellent/ organic chem threads

>>9861890
I was making fun of Wheel of Time in a /tv/ thread and got called a /lit/ snob.

>>9861878
>>9861861
There's about 60 posters according to the counter at the top. 10-20ish for regular posters sounds about right.

>>9861861
>tfw when I come here once a month or so but I always successfully derail the thread into bakkertalk.
This guy owes me money at this point.

>>9861926
Bless you sir, that's the main reason I'm even here.

>>9861926
Here I thought I started it with the post about The Unholy Consult.

Which is literally the only reason I even came to this thread

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>>9861861
When I linked a blog post on SFFG a few months ago it got about sixty hits over a couple of hours, evening GMT. SFFG is fairly popular for being one thread among many on the quieter part of 4chan.

>the bakkerfaggotry must end

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>you may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like

>>9861994
wrong pic there, buddy

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>>9861920
That's actually a lot more than I suspected.

I gotta say I've done my time on /vg/ and /tg/ but I think this general is on the whole pretty good. There's a good ratio of shitpost-goodpost and while I'm no expert on the entire genre of sff I'm pretty sure we doll out pretty good reccs and don't alienate newcomers.

I think we all deserve a pat on the back

>>9862067
>implying

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Any interesting (hopefully short!) fantasy where the medieval west and eastern empires show down? Kind of like the two ends of the silk road getting down and dirty.

Failing that any general Asian fantasy? Is that item by Ken Liu any good?

Any other fantasy like the stormlight archive or any better than it? I wont read ASOIAF cause the damn series is memed out to death by HBO

>>9862188
>I wont read ASOIAF cause the damn series is memed out to death by HBO
This is a dumb reason.

>>9862082

Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay. Might not have as much magic as you'd want, but still pretty good.

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>>9861861
>>9861920
I was here since the beginning and read every single post ever made in a sffg, even the shit posts... Over two+ years I wonder how many words I read in that time? More than the completed works of Malazan botf?

>>9862398
I'm curious, what's the general take on Larson's Undying mercenaries here?

I enjoy the series but thought it too pulpy to recommend to anyone but folks hungry for milsf. Not to mention the questionable events that take place in home world and beyond.

>>9860893
Animals genetically engineered to display human phenotypes are a common theme in his short stories, collected in "The Rediscovery of Man". One of these stories, "The Ballad of Lost C'Mell" is about Why Catgirls Are OK. His only (SF) novel, Nostrilia, is supposed to be a sequel to this story but I haven't read it.

>>9862082
Bridge of Birds is good and gets bonus points for triggering people since it was written by a white guy.

>>9861695
>that shit was dumb and a waste of time.
if you're talking essentials then so is reading. I don't use this word a lot, but you actually sound autistic.

If i wanted to submit a fantasy book to a publisher, would it be better to produce a multi-hundred page manuscript, or maybe a fleshed out guideline and plot and then a few chapters worth of material?

>>9862398
Did that guy I memed into reading Edge Chronicles this time last year ever write back again? I dropped off for a while.

>>9862670
>if you're talking essentials then so is reading.
Only fiction.

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>>9862463 Please add category "Genetic engineering in science fiction" to the bottom of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ballad_of_Lost_C%27Mell
Thanks; those stories sound interesting

>>9862682
I answered a question like this not too long ago: https://warosu.org/lit/thread/S9682557#p9684924

Short answer is that you will need to research who you are submitting to and follow their guidelines. Which is probably going to be to an agency, not a publisher, since most major publishers do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

>>9862757
That was super helpful, thanks.

Looks like I got a manuscript to write.

>>9859251
The Legend of Nightfall. The Return of Nightfall.
Disclaimer: Married to the writer.

>>9860804
Control-S my nigga

>>9862945
I was

>>9862981
How do you fuck that up?

>>9862421
I'm the guy who started shilling it (chart anon). I liked it, and it's modern pulp. You have to get other readers to comment.
I will say that the latest book was shitty imho. He is weaseling out of binds that he has no right escaping. It's also like an inside meme that he gets promoted every novel. Though the ending of the latest seems like things are going to be going back on track.

>>9862683
I can't recall. I know there was multiple discussions about it and map posting.

>>9861695
>Give me examples of that essential information, please. I know that's shitty to ask on the fly, but just... vaguely. Anything you can think of.
This is a fucking stupid argument. if the whole point of fiction was just a mechanism for delivering "essential information" to the reader, then what the hell is the point? storytelling is not some mechanistic construct where you go from act 1 to act 2 to act 3 in a series of chekov guns. there's something to be gained from establishing mood, characters, atmosphere, world building, etc. lots of people like conphas, like me. he was a hilarious foil for kellhus and cnaiur. and he wouldn't be a good fucking foil if there wasn't "pages of pages" establishing how he thinks, how he lives, how he shits. i've seen this complaint about conphas and the ikureis a million times, and i've yet to see an argument that doesn't boil down to the subjective "BUT I DONT LIKE THEM". if you don't like them, good for you, no one cares. there's nothing anyone can do about it. but for people that do, it makes perfect sense to spend time on them

>>9863038
>latest book was shitty
Rogue World? I disagree. For me, while questionable, it was somewhat of a return to form, for what that's worth. Home world. Now THAT was a bad book. I honestly thought that it was the death knell of the series, but RW made it enjoyable for me again.

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>>9862772
>Disclaimer: Married to the writer.
W-would you do a kissless virgin young buck, the great honor of removing my virginity?

>>9863049
>delivering
He probably didn't like How they(uncle & nephew / son & grandson) were both fucking that old hag

>>9863060
The END of Rogue world you mean, gave you hope because they are back to enforcing.
I will give you an example of how he supposed to be dead when James interrupted the galactics to interject a point, they are supposed to override him and command him to self execute. The direct command to stay and fight the ai ship, he left. The guy wanted him to stay and die. What happened? Natasha got patted on her vagina for her maneuvers. At least it stays true to James putting his dick into anything that looks human. I hope the next book we have james fucking some alien looking pussy and getting it pregnant (because the alien species adapts to what ever genetic material is introduced into it's reproductive glands)

>>9863102
But that's a bad example, galactic in question is shown to have disdain for that sort of up his own ass behaviour by his fellows. It's not at all out of character for somewhat like that to do what he did.
Scenes following that where our "hero" rules lawyers himself out of the dead end they walked into and doesn't get told to axe himself are far more problematic from logical behaviour standpoint for that particular galactic, but again, compared to shit everyone got up to in home world? It's downright good.

>>9863136
He pulled the same shitnon slurr. And got away with it. Interrupting was always punishable in the older books. "What is this creature that interrupts me"

Is there any writer with as much passion and love for the world of their creation as Tolkien?

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>>9863151
No. Tolkien wae the first person to ever tell a story, and the only person to care deeply about their work. fucking kys

>>9863149
>Interrupting was always punishable in the older books

Older books had grand total of what? 1 galactic individual? Other than that it was the bureaucrats, I forget race's name just now, being hung up on telling people to fry themselves, Again, clearly they have the authority. I'm not disputing that, simply that particular galactic in RW didn't seem the type to fuss over that as much as up his ass fella we were dealing with prior.

>>9863075
Conphas never fucked Istriya he was pure

Thanks for recomending prince of thorns. Jorgy is a psycopath done right.

I am tempted to reread the book to catch the finer details thar I missed now knowing certain stuff but I also want to start the second book asap

>>9863227
Keep telling yourself that. She educated all her boys.

>>9862682
The best thing to do is get some short stories and a novella or two published somewhere and build enough of a rep to get an agent. If you want to go straight to writing novels then self publish on Kindle and be prepared to spend as much time advertising yourself as writing.

>>9860582
It was a joke, you fucking jerk.

So. What Sanderson books should I read?

>>9863248
As much as I enjoyed Jorg as a main character I actually liked Jallan more in Red Queen's War. Though the best scenes were where Jorg and Jallan met.

>>9863417
Stormlight Archive

>>9863417
Anything to do with the Cosmere.

Stormlight Archive is honestly the best of these but it's also where all the thread start coming together.

I'd recommend this order but others may have a better idea of when to read what.

Elantris
Mistborn Trilogy
The Way of Kings (Stormlight Archive book 1)
Warbreaker
Words of Radiance (Stormlight Archive book 2)
Wax and Wayne series (Currently at three books with a fourth in the works)
Arcanum Unbounded (Short story collection featuring stories from various Cosmere worlds, contains spoilers for many of the other books so it should be read last).

>>9863160
>come up with 100 000 arbitrarily made up names of people and places
>play a D&D campaign with them and write down the results
>WE TOLKIEN NAO
Post-Tolkien fantasy is garbage and we all know it.

>>9863160
I never understood why you made this image. It's like, "Wooahhhh, some books are old"? Books aren't like other forms of media like television. They take a VERY long time to start aging. Much longer than any of the books in your picture. I'm talking thousands of years.

Unlike the other guy I'm not saying newer stuff is bad, I'm just saying your image is nonsense.

>>9863465
you've never actually read anything after Tolkien have you?

>>9863506
never, I just come here to tell people to read Gene Wolfe because he's my uncle

>>9863506
>Tolkien

Personally I preferred the film novelizations by R. A. Salvatore.

>>9863559
The fuck? What would be the point of adapting a book into a film and then adapting it back into a book?

>>9863570
I guess it helps since the films cut out a lot of the pointless filler that served no purpose to the story.

Like Tom Bombadil for example

>>9863574
Bah, Tom Bombadil was awesome. Tolkien built a world and expanded upon it in many books beyond LotR.

>>9863581
But he serves no purpose in LotR

>>9861257
> The sequel? I will forever try to pretend it does not exists.
Please tell me what about it so bad?

>>9863574
>pointless
>"serving purposes"

how pleb can you be?

>>9863583
He served a purpose but I'm not spoonfeeding you.

>>9862945
I've been writing it out this entire fucking time
For nearly 5 goddamn years
I'm gonna be spoilering everything for the next week

>>9863417
Warbreaker, The Emperor's Soul and possibly his shorts. That's if you have to read Sandersson, I'd rather not.

>>9863966
Sandersssssson.

Hello Asmodeus.

>>9863999
My bad. I'm Scandinavian, we spell most of our -son names with double s so I do it out of habit.

>Asmodeus
?

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Is this any good?

>>9864023
That's okay, it's an honest mistake.

Asmodeus is a snake from Redwall, he adds extra S's to things.

Just finished lud in the mist and I liked it a lot.
Anymore like this?
Also tombs of atuan.

>started watching farscape
>immediately realise how many scifi books since have ripped it off
oh shit

>>9864156
Wat. Farscape used pre-existing sci-fi tropes.

>>9864156
Farscape always got me rock hard, too.
It's a fucking treatise on a man just completely and utterly losing his fucking mind. Just being broken down continuously and without reprieve. Jesus.

>>9864158
That doesn't mean people can't rip it off.

Quick, before the thread's over, who is the WORST author you have ever read, ever?

>>9864190
adrian tchaikovsky


not worst but overrated is kurt vonnegut

>>9864190
Three way tie between Ernest Cline, Scott Lynch, and K.J. Parker.

>>9863479
It's the stories themselves that aged. Not the books. They didn't age well. And if you disagree you are a grandpa that read those books when released, and you are just having nostalgic pains.

>>9864270
>>9864270
>>9864270
>>9864270
Just out the oven.
Come get it while it's hot.

>>9864194
Please DELET THIS

>>9864190
Terry Goodkind