/u/ meets /lit/

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You know, thinking about it a little, I would recommend "In Fury Born" as a very low subtexty book.
I really loved it, it was an amazing ride (opinions, of course). There is no actual romance of any kind, but, while the end fell a little bit flat from the premise, the resolution is really /u/, in my eyes.
A few other circumstances in it also make it feel really gay. Foursome gay. I was really surprised.

But, it's not at all the point of the book, so, the main enjoyment (for me) came from the characters. Fell just slightly shy of perfect, for me.

>>2313122
>>2313222
Since it's Siera Maley there's no doubt in my mind that we're in for a slow-burn.
My hope is that the romance doesn't take too much space once it gets going since the first book is all about the story. I dislike that sudden switch some authors tend to pull.

So you guys were discussing Ancient Ruins in the last thread and I just read it. Want to give some warnings, it's truly grimdark, the main feature of the setting is that the bad guys have powerful mind control brands so almost every female character has been raped or is currently being raped (nothing explicit). It's also really fetishy at times and there's some bizzare sentiments like a villain keeps being described as 'he would be such a nice guy if he wasn't an evil slaver/rapist' which is mindblowing to me. There were complaints about grimdark books in the last thread and so this might not be pleasant for a lot of people.
I liked the MC, she's a magic tree that takes a few slaves in and protects them while turning her area into a strange RPG maze for people to fight monsters and get loot and it's kind of cute watching her set up her traps and really get into the dungeon maker role and the climax has her take down some slavers in a satisfying way. I never heard of a 'LitRPG' before this, are there any other ff ones?

>>2314046
Yeah, I only find it sensible that in a series the first book doesn't already decide everything. Maybe there'll even be some twists on who ends up with whom along the way.

As long as it doesn't go the usual "everybody ends up dead and/or miserable" along the way. With all that talk about "do your duty, the throne needs children, yaddayadda" it's probably better to be prepared.

That being said I didn't find that first novel very impressive anyway.

Talking about general misery, just reading Hillary Monahan's Snake Eyes. It's (dark) urban fantasy, with a (type of) lamia heroine. Don't know whether the FF part will survive the plot, but I'm kinda amused by being less surprised about the heroine having two snake penises compared to that she has a fat girlfriend (it's how she's described). Not sure whether that says more about me or the rarity of people like that in fiction.

>>2314072
That is a lot of 'and's, good it's no wonder I'm not a writer.

>>2314072
There's a really old one with elements of litRPGs (people have a tendency to pretend the genre is totally new, but it really isn't); Gaudino's Dragon Sword trilogy (or something like that). Very little FF content, but "some".

I'm trying to remember whether Waugh's Spinward is FF. Had two female leads but it was so unremarkable I just forgot whether there was anything more to their relationship.

Otherwise you might want to check out the light novel thread. That's were the
current crop is basically coming from, so ...

As for Ancient Ruins and sequel: I didn't really read it as "dark"; somewhat, sure, but mostly the author was incapable of creating an atmosphere that properly conveys the horror of what went on, so by and large I didn't "feel" anything either.
And, yeah, his ethics, or the ethics of his characters is ridiculous when examined. Like in the 2nd novel he has the cleric comment something like "magically enslaving people is completely fucked up, but 'lighter' forms of slavery are totally OK". And nobody commented on how stupid or questionable that opinion is, or wonder why anyone would be fine with any form of slavery. Well.

It's a bit of a corruption/slavery/etc fetish series, no doubt. But it never gets too graphic about anything and never shows much in terms of negative consequences; nobody gets traumatized by anything, heck, people barely hold a grudge. Escaped slaves living right next to a town that builds a brothel for slaves and an auction house? Well, not even worth discussing sabotaging that!

Chances are, if the bad guys just stayed inside their borders instead of abducting foreigners, nobody in that very fictional world would even care.

>>2314028
I'm moderately miffed that nobody had the foresight to call this general /lit/erat/u/re.

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I wrote a story called "The Lady's Bride" and would love your feedback on it. Amazon owns the digital distribution rights to it, so I can't technically post it for free, but I'm sure a copy will just happen to fall into someone's lap if they're skeptical about paying for it.
Obviously any comment about it is fair game, but what really sticks in my mind is how much time there is for the characters to explore their love (which, I think, was a bit limited). I'm currently writing another story, and anything you guys can suggest will help to shape it.

>>2314163
Where in particular would a copy happen to fall into my lap? I'd be willing to offer some constructive feedback if that were to happen.

>>2314164
Well, piracy is a fact of life for anything available on the Internet. I'm certain something will happen along that line if the story is good enough, I think. I'm actually reviewing Amazon's terms right now to see if there's a way I can post it (or at least a large chunk) without getting in trouble.

>>2314166
It's free on kindle unlimited so anyone can simply start a free trial for the service if they really want to read it.

Can't you get free promotional keys to give out? Otherwise don't even think about messing with Amazon unless you are already successful enough to publish elsewhere.

>>2314175
Very true. I'm looking into providing free book keys, which should be fine.

>>2314178
On reviewing the terms of KDP Select, it's actually explicitly stated that I may not provide any digital copies for free. I maintain physical book rights, but that's not much help in this case.

>>2314179
Kindle really does suck ass for authors.

>>2314163
That's great! I bought the book. Love it when we have authors in the /lit/ threads. I'll let you know what I think of it in a few days.

By the way, you should make a Goodreads account and verify yourself via the author program. It's great for reader communication and stuff:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/program

Seems their database record of you are a bit messy right now. There's two profiles with different variations of your name. One without any listed book and one with a duplicate of The Lady's Bride.
You should claim the correct one and contact Goodreads and ask if they can merge/correct the records.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16707812.Marcel_Jodat_Danbrani
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16479833.M_A_Jodat_Danbrani

>>2314185
I wasn't even aware. Thank you. Doing so now.

Finished Rawson's The Lost Magic. Nothing really wrong with it, just standard YA-urban fantasy fare about a young woman with special magic and some bad guy trying to "recruit" her for his cult.

Romance was boringly simple, and plot just way too typical. No huge complaints, but just ... same as always. Worst part was letting the bad guy go so he gets to be around as recurring nemesis.

Because killing an evil fucking bastard obviously would have been bad. Now he gets to keep abusing dozens of kids, which just is much better than her killing him. Sigh. Typical YA crap.

But, again, by and large pretty OK.

>>2314163

Great job publishing something anon! Glad to see another person taking a shot at writing their own stuff on /u/lit. I'll pick up your book tonight and post feedback asap.

>what really sticks in my mind is how much time there is for the characters to explore their love

I'm struggling with this in my own story so I'm keen to see how you've handled it

Lol just saw this thread.

I'm currently working on a story atm on fanfiction.net, personally I reckon it's pretty good, it definitely has some quality Yuri properties to it, especially some of the later chapters. I'm trying to blend in traditional sexual yuri, and then explore some of the deeper emotions and stuff behind it, after setting the mood a little.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12401744/1/Sincerely-Her-Nel

>>2314163
I'm fairly divided about this one. Not in my overall opinion, but rather that there's part I like quite a bit and some that I don't like very much at all:
setting and premise are fine; they're creative, a bit different than the usual stuff, with a bit of weirdness thrown in here or there, just as fantasy should be. Coupled with quite decent writing that's pretty good.

But the plot twist is basically obvious from page 1, and all that talking about forgetting past injustices, have "folks" talk to each other to generate understanding yadda yadda ... urk. Nothing against a bit of morale messaging in a story, but ultimately, in my opinion, not much more than but a bit of personal enlightenment for the heroine was achieved. Pretending the problems are kinda solved by having this "idea" of people suddenly understanding each other and everyone hugging and being friends and drawing rainbow-colored unicorns is slightly unlikely to work, I think. Oh, and yes, that super-stereotypical Hollywood-esque romance ending; alright, fine, it's not the worst thing in the world, but it also feels like random "romance obligation". Bit of torture, bit of forgiveness, voilà, suddenly a relationship on the horizon.

All that being said, good writing, irrespective of the content, is the most difficult part to get right, and you have some talent there, which basically means you have an advantage over a huge portion of other FF authors. I'd say it's worth keeping at it.

>>2314163
I like your cover anon, better than most actually popular fantasy schlock already.

>>2314163
Fuck yes! It's great to see people here writing stuff.

Starcrossed by Barbara Dee. I'll get this out of the way now, the main attraction of this book is that it's an ff story about 13 year olds. If that sounds unappealing then don't even try it as it's got all the concern about who's dating who and all that drama. Otherwise it's pretty cute, it's built around an 8th grade production of Romeo and Juliet. A bit disappointingly though the two don't get together until literally the last page of the book. Also the MC is a trainwreck.

>>2314314
Read this months ago and I was also pretty meh on it. I did like that the MCs Super mode came with some setious drawbacks. She'd use it for 2 seconds and then be out for 5 days. They really need to introduce a stronger villain, the current one got beaten by the MC in a flash and it looks like he's still supposed to be a challenge.

Read Witching on a Starship 01. No romance, although the heroine is supposed to be a lesbian witch - unfortunately, she kinda seems to have crush on the male Captain, which was fairly annoying, although I think it was meant for comedic effect - like basically everything in the novel. It's a fast-paced, quirky, high-action adventure with loads of pop-culture references. Not the greatest humor and the beginning annoyed me a bit, but by the end she's destroying planets and turning back time and pulling down star ships and whatnot and it's pretty fun.
OK read altogether.

>>2314860
Yeah, the restriction on her power was a good touch. "Normally", it should be obvious to any author to include a kryptonite to any super-powered protagonist - but nowadays there's a few too many, especially when it comes to YA UF, that prefer complete Mary Sues with god powers.

As for the bad guy - well, he still could use his powers to take hostage hundreds of children and make them threaten to commit suicide whenever he doesn't get what he wants. He could take over the personal of nuclear power plants, or military people, or Doctors in a hospital ... he could all sorts of fucked up things.

But frankly it's too typical YA to go anywhere near there, I think. He'll probably stick to converting her immediate friends, or figure out a way to influence her directly to keep the plot going. And the series won't keep pretending that the trauma that probably should cause won't turn people into a gibbering mess.

And then there's the mysterious black suits ... being mysterious.

It's all kinda whatever.

>>2314965
>Read Witching on a Starship 01. No romance, although the heroine is supposed to be a lesbian witch - unfortunately, she kinda seems to have crush on the male Captain, which was fairly annoying, although I think it was meant for comedic effect

I hate this. Everything about it.

>>2314971
I frankly went near /u/-rage as the first two or scenes read like some trope of "convert lesbians to hets", but there isn't anything of it after the first two; in fact, once she goes dismantling space ships the guy basically stopped being around so, eh. I'll probably give the sequel a chance, if it ever appears.

My Girlfriend is a magic demon tree! 2.
>>2314072 here. I liked this one more I think. The author reduced the screentime of evil rapist slavers and everything now feels like this weird SoL. Sistina spends like a quarter of the book cuddling Phynis and the biggest challenge is trying to resolve the harem situation (oh btw the book has lesbian polyamory) while the bad guys are waiting for their weapon to be ready and the adventurers are just dungeon diving. The last part of the book does promise major plot movement though. Still not sure if I'm feeling the whole corruption plotline but at least it's being done by a succubus instead of the nicest slaver.

>>2314086
Yeah, the less brutal forms of slavery thing made me raise an eyebrow. You're right in that books aren't really dark, I was using grimdark for that type of tryhard atmosphere but honestly looking at it, I don't think the author's trying to be dark at all really.

Tried reading Shelley Singer's Torch Song. Basically, it's a post-apocalyptic ... adventure? about a merc / spy, with a bit of romance and messy alliances and ethics.

Wasn't really anything about it I could put my finger on, but it just didn't manage to interest me. Odd.

There also a new fantasy novel, Keeper of the Dawn by Dianna Gunn. Writing seemed so~so, OK, but not quite so smooth as with more experienced/better writers. Otherwise seemed fairly interesting, but it's a bit short and not on KU, so ... maybe later. Or maybe not.

>>2314163
Just finished this. IMO it's not really a romance, but more of a fairytale where the love is homo rather than hetero.

Honestly, I didn't the usual romantic chemistry per we between Cinder and Scarlet, even having guessed early on that the bird was the Lady. What I did feel, however, was great friendship and affection, which is why Scarlet's offer at the end felt genuine. Not to mention very in keeping with this type of story.

Noble of Speranth by Siera Maley. I enjoyed it. You barraged with info at the start but when they get to Speranth, it's a pretty enjoyable undercover mission book. I'm not sure if I can handle the concept for eleven more books though. As for romance, there was none but there is a possible love interest who has already admitted to being gay, and if it goes that way in a slow burn, then I'd be fine with it. I do hope the memory mystery has an interesting conclusion, especially because of that reveal at the end of the book.

>>2315668
*Sperath

Hm, American Yakuza 3 is out. After reading all those sophisticated, demanding FF novels lately that might just be the right thing.

Bit expensive, though. Hrrm. Guess I'll wait a while.

>>2315669
One of those fantasy names nobody's going to remember anyway. Genericfantasyland.

I'd like the heroine to be more obsessed with recovering her past life. I really don't get why all the seers wouldn't loath what the "divinity" did to them. I mean, fine, she might or might not have been involved in something, and perhaps rather wouldn't know, but that can't be true for every seer.

Read "The Traitor Baru Cormorant"
I really liked it, though the main char is a lesbian I wouldn't really call it a /u/ book. As romance is present it isn't quite the focus. The book does a good job of exploring those on the losing side of Imperialism. The dominant power in the book is an empire known as the masquerade which I think is a decent representation of a completely secular empire focused only on expansion through cultural, economic, and military domination.
As you can probably guess it's a pretty depressing read, but it doesn't feel like typical shoehorned AAANNNGGGST and MISFORTUNE for no good reason.
Great read, but I think I need a happy fluffy book to read now.

A (stage)actress with kids gets a "retired" chef as a sort-of housekeeper...

Does this ring a bell for anyone? I forgot what it was called, but wanted to re-read it.

Anyone by chance has a link to moonbeams and skye by kate sweeney cant find it anywhere.

I'm halfway through Flight SQA016 by A.E. Radley at the moment. After reading a million Jae's and Robin Alexander's and their like, this one is at least unique.

So far I would pitch the book as "sexy rich autistic lesbian CEO attempts to romance sexy poor normie (bi | lesbian) flight stewardess, by first romancing sexy stewardess's 5-year-old, highly impressionable son." Not calling her autistic disingenuously either; the words "possibly on the spectrum" are used as a descriptor for her more than once.

Someone give me a no-spoiler reason to keep reading this. So far the main ship is autist/5YO. Does an actual non-tense, non-forced, or non-proxied-by-child relationship develop anytime soon? Preferably one that involves a bit less cringe and a bit more of people wanting to be around each other for reasons that don't involve money, pride, miscommunication, or plain sink or swim necessity?

Now that all that's off my chest: this book is definitely unique, in an ostensibly good way. If it manages to round off its character and relationship arcs the way I hope it does, then it could even be great.

>this has been my blog youre welcome

>>2316131
I'd suggest not reading the book, because of the absolutely stupid way it ends so that it could've been split into two. The fic it's been converted from is better, so you're better off reading that.

>>2316131
>talking shit about Robin Alexander and Jae
>this book about an autistic lesbian romancing a shota is definitely unique, in an ostensibly good way

Now I've seen it all. I wish /u/ would stop using this thread as a dumping grounds for the shittiest books they can find.

>>2316177
I had nothing but love for Jae and Robin after the first two books I read by either of them. Now I've read 3/4 of both of their bibliographies and can only consider them the queens of same-ness. They're AC/DC, they each put out one or two great albums, repeatedly, ad nauseum. I've been reading this thread's suggestions for years and years now, and I am fucking. desperate. for something different.

So sue me if I throw some bones in weird directions for people who re at least trying. I haven't seen a well done socially crippled character done barely ever.

Except...you know...that one Robin book.... >.>

Can /u/ rec me some light romances (like the ones by Robin Alexander, now that she's been mentioned, that sort of thing) where one of the MCs discovers she likes women? I am not looking for drama or coming-out-of-the-closet focused stories, just light romance where one of the protagonists happens to find out she is into women.

>>2315928
Sounds like Roller Coaster by Karin Kallmaker.

>>2316325
I think that was it, yeah. I'll see whhen I get home, but thanks.

>>2316303
Something in the Wine by Jae has a bit of coming out drama, but it's mostly kinda light, goofy romance. Frankly I think most lesbian awakening plots are going to have a bit of coming out drama. It's one of the appeals of that kind of plot, I think.

Just read Cari Z's Spring Blossom, the second Camellia novel. Short story. Something. It's basically some light D/s stuff, with a bit of harmless plot. I like it for not being fucked up and all crazy, but at the same time it mostly doesn't do anything much. And, phew, the heroine's family. I think I'm supposed to like them, but those "overprotective, annoying" brothers trope is just ... urk.

>>2316253
Too true. Besides, protagonists with mental issues are great, no matter what anyone thinks about light romances (not that I can't see the appeal of those, but it's a bit like with Radclyffe novels - better than average in terms of writing, but there's only so many butch-doctors I can read about).

Just finished the series Trigger (A Dr. Kate Morrison Mystery) and really liked it, haven't seen it mentioned here before, so here's my recommendation

>>2316899
I think someone mentioned it on previous threads. I agree, both books are very good.

So has anyone here read "The long way to a small angry planet"? it has surprise Yuri which was pretty cute, along with being a pretty good sci-fi book. Was wondering what people thought of it.

>>2316303

>where one of the MCs discovers she likes women
Speaking of Robin Alexander, she's got one that fits your criteria somewhat (Just Jorie). It also has the added bonus of not having the 'insta-love/from-hate-to-love-overnight' element that seems to be a common theme in most of her books.

>>2317434
"Pretty good" is a good way to put it. I like the "sensible romance", with the other stuff some a bit more and some not so much. All that jumping around between a bunch of topics didn't always help the novel, I think. Feels occasionally like she had a checklist of ethical issues to discuss and went through covering all of them, at the expense of not being all that deep about any single one.

But it's fun scifi slice-of-life, and how much of that is there? Basically a win by default.

Does anyone have a copy of She Came at Dawn by Katja Michael and Anyone But You by KG MacGregor? Thanks

Meanwhile, read "A Slice of Quietude" by Sharon Cho. Smells a bit of an abandoned series, but, eh, we're used to that, right?

It's FF fantasy; basically, an assassin runs into a party of a (very much) tortured healer, some type of barbarian warrior, and a bard who's more or less incomprehensible.

Plot is mostly about her romance with the healer, and trying to help her deal with her trauma (3 years locked up somewhere and tortured). There's something weird about the writing, although I couldn't say what. Otherwise I kinda liked it; maybe not the most memorable thing and there was a bit of "throw in random fantasy concepts to make it sound more interesting than it is", but, for example, usually you'd think the assassin would be kinda "redeemed" by the healer, or quit her job, or start questioning it. Nope. It's the healer who has to deal with that she's now in a relationship with someone who kills for a living, no questions asked.

I also gave Freyr's "Fencing Academy" a try, but the FF-ness turned out to be rather dubious. It's about a Duchess and an orphan kinda being on opposite sides of a tense political situation, and I like that neither let themselves be pushed around when they can do something about it. Felt like the FF portions were more there to have hot, religiously forbidden lesbian orgies than for anything serious, though. That being said, a marriage candidate for the Duchess is a crossdressing female, so maybe I'm being unjust. dunno. It was a bit odd to read.

>>2317567
She Came at Dawn:
http://www76.zippyshare.com/v/v8Xua1qn/file.html

I don't have the other one

>>2317617
Cool! Thank you so much Anon!

>>2316325
>Roller Coaster by Karin Kallmaker

Does anyone have this decently formatted? The torrent version is..not easy to read.

>>2317825
Don't know how it is because I didn't read it, but here's the one I have saved

http://www44.zippyshare.com/v/Xn33udXa/file.html

>>2317831
That's the one from the big torrent, yeah. So, broken. Well, readable, but eh..

Thank you, nonetheless.

>>2317825
>>2317831
Here's a better version.
http://www2.zippyshare.com/v/auHSEW5q/file.html

>>2317854
Cool, thank you.

Just finished The Moment by T.C. Anderson and Jesus Christ, I need a fucking break after reading this.
It's really really good but it certainly don't do your heart any good.

>>2318076
I remember trying to read it once but it was so bizarrely written.

>>2318354
Yes, takes a little to get used to, but it is really unique and shows how the characters feel by the differences in each chapter's writing.

It's a really powerfull book but I do understand why people woudn't want to read it

Just reading "In the Footsteps of Shadows". It's one of those romances where the heroines constantly annoy the crap out of each other and everyone around them interprets it as them being madly in love. Sometimes I really wonder in what weird world romance authors live ... oh, everyone warns the heroine she really should take care not to "be played" and "not to act like a hormonal teenager", so of course that's precisely what she does after promising to herself that she wouldn't.

Anyway, it's primarily an exercise in frustration. It's about some Tomb Raider style archeology, and bad guys chasing after their goal, too. So of course everyone acts like a complete idiots all the time and they constantly stumble over incredibly vague clues that they nonetheless patch together to always find the next step. Obviously, they do perfectly sensible things like going unarmed and alone against a group of murderers/kidnappers with weapons, thinking that they can "do something" and somehow everything will magically be alright. Thank god for plot armor.

I'm probably making it sound worse than it actually is; writing is pretty OK and all. I guess I'm just not in the right mood to overlook typical FF novel flaws.

For some reason, I had never read Ammonite, so I just read it and it was great. It's basically about trying to make the best of a new situation, characters are compelling, setting is interesting and the story is good. It ended nicely but was open for possile sequels and obviously none were made.

>>2318673
I also want to say that this is one of the few tines that I've found a subplot to be just as interesting as the main plot. In fact just as I'd read a story that was all like Marghe i.e. exploring yourself, the new world around you and how it has changed you, I'd also read a full Danner like story, where a leader is trying to hold her group together in that situation while still making a new life for herself and her subordinates.

>>2314163
Just finished your book. I really liked it.

Writing style felt odd when I first stared reading, but I grew to like it. I'm not sure if you got more comfortable with your style along the way, or if it was just me getting used to it, or a combination of both.

Peggy's dialogue was a bit too much for me though. In such instances I prefer a description of someone's way of speech in place of trying to emulate it in dialogue.

Speaking of Peggy. I can't help but wonder how I'd feel if you didn't make her a potential "soulmate" for Amber. Giving Amber hope of a potential lover in Scarlet, only to have that hope extinguished and never renewed... Unrequited love is delicious. Did you ever entertain the thought? But I like how it turned out.

Loved how you handled names. How none of the important characters really had one to begin with. The naming scene was cute.

Solid book, nee-sama.

>>2318076
So it's by T.C. Anderson and Jesus Christ you say?

Are there any actual lesbians frequenting here and, if yes, what is your opinion of male lasfic authors?

>>2318808
Follow the previous thread chain. We had this conversation in the last thread.

>>2318808
Male lesfic authors are very welcome. I'm not much for that anti mentality some purists have. A good author is a good author, and if their gender comes through in their writing, chances are they are mediocre at best. As long as you understand what makes the love you're writing about beautiful, gender won't matter much IMO.

Only times you can tell something is written by a dude is when they fall into stereotypical ways of describing women and superimpose their own fetishes and fantasies on female characters. Like, you can have your self-inserting dream world, just don't publish it.

I'm sure a close examination about the topic could be interesting, but cursory glances are kinda meaningless.

Just yesterday for example I read Jeri Estes' Steel and Stilettos, which is about lesbian prostitutes in SF's 60s. So the butch heroine gets to be a pimp and sleep with a bunch of "her girls", all hot of course, and when she practically rapes her girlfriend, she's forgiven after buying her some expensive jewelry.
Now how stereotypical "het" is that? How much of a typical-male-fantasy is having a bunch of sexy prostitutes around that fawn over her powerful-sexy-pimp-self? I'm fairly sure it's written by a genuine lesbian, though (if it's a fake, it's an elaborate one. Great book trailer by the way, shame the novel itself is pretty mediocre, at best).

>>2318777
I'm glad you liked the story!

Peggy was definitely a character whose dialogue I had a lot of trouble with, and I'm considering different options for characters who speak phonetically in future stories.

As for the romance, I most certainly considered what you suggested, but decided against it because of several factors. For one, I just put myself in Amber's position and thought about how crummy it is for someone to cling to an unrequited love, and to grow up holding that in her heart. It had implications I wasn't comfortable with, I would say. Additionally, some characters may end up returning in future stories, and I wanted her to have grown emotionally if she ever did return. Honestly, just trying to keep my options open, I think.

I mostly lurk, rather than post, but I want to thank you and everyone else who made suggestions. I hope to take the criticisms to heart, and write something better for it.

>>2318916
>speak phonetically
As a linguist this confuses me

>>2318926
My bad. I meant a character speaking with a phonetic accent, so each word is sounded out in their dialect. An example that comes to my mind being how you can drop the 'G' off of 'ing' endings to make someone sound like they have a southern accent.

It's something that I always wanted to try out, when writing stories, but it comes with a lot of its own problems. Now that I have finally written a story with such a thing, I'm wondering if it's worth it to continue to do so. Will probably end up testing a bunch of things before I settle.

Does anyone have The Edge of the Abyss by Emily Skrutskie?

>>2318781
He needs something to do between resurrections.

Does anyone happen to have an epub for Robin Alexander's Scaredy Cat? Been scouring the usual sites for it to no avail, and that's the last title I need to complete my collection :(

>>2318990

Here you go! http://www104.zippyshare.com/v/VzOwhVjZ/file.html

>>2319291
>Does anyone happen to have an epub for Robin Alexander's Scaredy Cat?

This collection contains it:
http://www25.zippyshare.com/v/Nq994AIf/file.html

Just read after mrs Hamilton by clare ashton
It was so fucked up i loved it

>>2319311
How fucked up was it?

>>2319301
>http://www25.zippyshare.com/v/Nq994AIf/file.html

Oh, thank you so much! Now I can proceed to OD on them and bid farewell to my weekend

Read Consequences by Mairsile. It's a FF vamp novel, so of course it's crap. My favorite fuck up was probably the vampire council in Athens, Italy. More to the point though it's a "bodyguard romance", essentially, with the vulnerable human heroine being protected by the vampire love interest. Now, those are always a bit about how the one to be protected doesn't like "being controlled" by someone else, but there's a limit to how many retarded decisions are acceptable! Like, they don't want to send their precious horses away, so the vampires oblige them, instead of preparing for attack. And the humans don't want to leave, so they send them to guard the horses, too, despite them being an extra problem to worry about. So when the attack happens what does unprotected human girl do? Jump in a car and race into the night! Surprise, she gets caught. It's not as if the entire book wasn't ranting about mind controlling humans and all the various reasons why the vamp were so friggin' dangerous ... *bangs head against something*

I've also read Amanda McLaren's Templar 1 and 2. Somehow there's two version on Amazon, so the KU one. It's a mess. The idea is basically that the templar heroine gets bound to a demon-like-person, when they're both about to die, and this bond causes them to slowly fall in love (and quickly into lust), despite both hating the idea. It might actually have been kinda interesting but by and large it's just completely random, there's a weird attitude towards rape, plus occasional plot messes (like, they leave a certain character behind in a village and the next village over he suddenly comments on something...).
Might be something with proper editing and such. But not like this.
Loved the scene where they practice erotic asphyxiating and a kid walks into them, though. They then explain to him that during sex you might want to choke your partner. Hilarious.


>>2319312
It's one of those "every lesbian has to be completely miserable" novels.

>>2319312
Like pretty much 99% fucked up
A good read as well, i recommend trying it. Its best to read it completely unspoiled for the extra shock factor and to see if you can work it out.

>>2319296
Thank you, kind anon!

>>2318936
The term you want is probably vernacular. It takes talent to pull off.

Does anyone have a copy of The Someday List by Pega Rose? Thanks!

>>2319329

>It's a FF vamp novel, so of course it's crap

I just want one, ONE modern lesbian vampire novel that isn't complete shit. You'd think that there would be rich pickings, it's a relatively mainstream trope. But nope, they are pretty much all terrible. Why.

Finished "Turn me out" by T Ariez. It's one of those "black lesbian novels". Not sure how much of a sub-genre that really is, but there's a bunch of writers who specifically write about that, so, there. In any case, it's like 85% sex and by and large fairly ridiculous, but I wanted to read it since it features a "stud on stud" romance - the idea is basically that that's a complete no-go in their little black-lesbian-community. Studs (or butches) go with femmes, and that's it.

This leads to the awesome scene where one of the protagonists visits her formerly bigoted parents and tries to explain the problem to them.
> You don't understand. A stud with a stud would be gay!
Or something like that. Of course, her parents are just baffled what the problem is with a gay person being gay. Loved that scene.

Seemed to be pretty much the idea of the novel: showing some stupid bias in (some) lesbian communities; that they sometimes are as ridiculous or worse than het couples. Well, that and having a lot of sex scenes.
...
Other than for the novelty of the theme it was pretty rubbish, to be perfectly honest. Still, I applaud the sentiment.

>>2321661
Too many crappy writers writing some fanfiction-level kind of thing, and too many tempted to use the vampire tropes for really stupid romantic notions.

I think some came close, to be fair, or at least weren't that much worse than other FF novels. Jaden's Heart had some pretty good ideas, but I'm kinda undecided on what to make of the end-product.

Oh well, one day, surely ...

>>2321661
>>2321733
I read one yonks ago that I felt was quite good, but I can't remember the name. It's about an old Parisian vampire and the woman she turned out of love and desire, trying to reconcile in modern day Louisiana.

One reason I liked it was that they followed OG vampire rules, where people they fed on fucking died. The younger vampire character is super conflicted, because she never asked to be a monster. Hence the drama.

>>2322085
Sasha Thibodaux? Or am I mixing that up ... it all kinda starts blurring after a while, I admit.

There's also some I haven't even read, like Riley LaShea's The Innocent. I thought the preview seemed to actually be quite good. Willard's Guardian series. Or maybe I read that one and forgot about it, not sure. Or the one about the vampire restaurant owner - Have a Bite (reviews were rather mediocre). Ah, heck, who knows what else is out there ...

I'm fairly open about how vampire have to be. I don't like it too much if they're too interwoven with Christian mythology, that rarely makes sense (so we got some vampires that are older than the religion that's hunting them, yet somehow they don't end up killing off their hunters with deadly, historical accurate religious criticism ... "there was no flood. I'd know, I was there.").
But otherwise there can be something interesting in basically every approach. Like maybe they kill, maybe they don't. Maybe sunlight kills them, or maybe not. Maybe they regenerate ever wound quickly, or maybe they rot slowly over the years. Maybe they got loads of special powers, or maybe not so many.

I have to admit I was once or twice or thrice sorely tempted to make a chart of the various vampires and werewolf types I came across during FF UF reads. At some point, every combination must be exhausted ...

Does somebody have all of Nene Adams stuff downloaded and uploaded somewhere?
http://web.archive.org/web/20041204055845/http://www.corrieweb.com:80/library.htm

I'm going through sugoi story anego's giant list downloading everything that I can and I really don't want to go through all of archive.org for that stuff above.

>>2315678
http://www79.zippyshare.com/v/E33eWhLb/file.html

>>2322447
Thanks. Fairly fun, if trashy. Sucks that a lot of key moments are kinda unexplained or don't make any sense.

How Petrov got into Brooke's hospital room is beyond me. One door with a guard and he just walks inside?
Luce being completely stupid to let herself be kidnapped.
How Frank was ultimately found was never explained, it just happened.
Mei's function in the story was fairly dubious. Might be there for future purposes, but eh.
Colby blithely being around for every explanation and everything. Yeah, let's tell the agent about all the illegal business?

Oh, and Luce walking around for miles with a broken foot. Right.

So could've been better.

I'm also a bit surprised she squeezed no erotic component into the story this time. Just feels odd after the first two novels, I suppose.

Meanwhile also read Ellen Galford's The Fires of Bride. There's a bit of romance, but primarily it's about eccentric life on a remote, Scottish island. Fairly weird to read, but I kinda liked it. Best was probably ... well, FF authors like their neo-pagan stuff, right? They like to pretend it's all real in their fiction. So they do that sort of thing here too, and there's some scene where it's supposed to be real too (like when a certain someone can't leave the island), but at the same time it's kinda flimsy, random, not all that serious. Like, they communicate with the dead and one is all mysterious about it, the other a complete cynic and the ghost just refuses to answer anything before disappearing in a huff.

>>2322710
Also, read Maiden of the Sun. I always enjoy reading weird shit, and this definitely passes: features sex with a dragon/dinosaur ... unlike Dragon Temple Saga, this time she can talk and such. So it's just ... interracial lesbian romance. I suppose, heh.

Well, anyway, it actually was decently written and such, weird sex or not. But the plot just stops somewhere and that's it then. You got all that world-building and "dragon meets human" setup and then it's just over. Kinda disappointing.

>>2319311
I saw your post yesterday and I don't regret seeing it. I just finished reading the story today and I give it A+ lol it's the first novel I've completed reading ever because I get bored easily. This one got me hooked till the end.

>>2322724
Me too! Glad to hear it had the same impact
Have you read poppy Jenkins by the same author? Nowhere near as shocking but one of my favourites

>>2322767
I have not, yet. I'm still in bliss from my last read. =P

>>2319311
Have you read Pennance from the same author? Some twists here and there in it as well but not on the same level as Mrs. Hamilton.

>>2322934
Not yet but its next on my list

Someone can share Fragmented by Eliza Lentzski?
I am not able to find it on Mobilism and the link on torrent is dead.

>>2321661
>>2321733
>>2322085
>>2322122
I finally fucking found it. Forever Mine, by KD Williamson. Generally edgy, angsty, a bit gory, but all with undertones of comfy, light romance. I think, anyway.

I remember specifically: I was reading Everafter, by Nell Stark, and I was bored to fucking tears by it. So I jumped over to Forever Mine and was satisfied immensely in comparison.

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>>2323029
>Fragmented by Eliza Lentzski

Here ya go, sis:
http://www42.zippyshare.com/v/JR8HFhmY/file.html

>>2323178
Thanks. I'll give it a try.

Meanwhile I read Have a Bite. The restaurant part was well done; it seemed to be like the author actually knew something about running restaurants and cooking. Quite commendable. But the romance was a complete miss for me - the heroine constantly goes on how she's in love (instead of lust, which scared her) and I didn't see it at all. The plot (restaurant critic turned vampire hunter) was exactly as messy as the romance. Shame, but ultimately didn't feel worth reading.

Also Natural Order by something called "Moondancer Drake". A shifter dies, and her pregnant girlfriend moves in with her family, not knowing that they're shifters. I thought that was a pretty unique idea; particularly the human perspective. Unfortunately it was far too sanctimonious for my tastes ... they only eat healthy, self-planted food, and they compost, and they don't let their kids watch much TV, and they run their own community school, and, really, alternative medicine is much better, and yaddayadda. I don't think the novel set out to be preachy, but it came across like it. And the plot wasn't interesting enough to compensate.

Also Kate Owen's Once Bitten. Werewolf accidentally bites her girlfriend (who for once is a successful career woman), and before they can figure it all out the newly turned were gets abducted and taken hostage. The plot was actually fairly OK, and although I felt there were some decisions I wasn't too sure about (like, the girlfriend turns into a herm wolf; a "proper" one, not like in the LL Rand series), there was a good mix of grim scenes without getting too bad, coupled with the new wolf figuring out her new self, plus their relationship. But the pacing was way too rushed, and of course they aren't just the werewolf-romance typical mates, no, they are the super-special-fated-mates-with-ribbons-and-rainbows. It's really overdone. Had potential, but didn't quite make it.

Has anyone read American yakuza by Isabella? Im wondering if its worth a look as its cheap on amazon

Does anyone have the link for mellisa brayden's strawberry summer? Can't seem to find it anywhere

Just read Natasha West's Joined at the Hip. Fun romantic comedy; basically the heroine tries to rob a store, but ends up getting cursed to stay close to the clerk. Maybe not laugh-out-loud funny stuff, but amusing enough. I liked it.

>>2324205
It's a rather trashy novel with some fairly silly parts, but fun enough. Just don't take it too seriously and it's OK, in my opinion. Besides, not too many lesbian crime bosses around (Cain Casey is the other one, but that got its own problems. And Cash Braddock, which is a great novel - except for that end, urk).

>>2323178
Unfortunately can't say I enjoyed it much. This whole "the love of my life left me so I turned into a psychopath" plot didn't really convince me, and I don't think it was that well-written either.

>>2324278
http://www59.zippyshare.com/v/JN2X0eTQ/file.html
Enjoy

Convent of the Pure and sequels by Sara Harvey. Trilogy of novella's about a half angel demon hunter and a secret society of half angels. I really wish these were longer so that society part was more fleshed out. They have warriors, necromancers, inventors, its some cool shit. Also the third book becomes really muddled with characters dying and coming back to life, demons being introduced then banished and so on. But other than that, I enjoyed them, fine way to waste an afternoon, MC has a ghost girlfriend and she is trying to get her back to life, her impulsiveness often comes back to bite her, there are cool fights and I liked the adventure aspect in the 2nd book.
If you hate special snowflakes, this might not be for you.

>>2324451
Also read Romancing the Inventor by Gail Carriger. You guys already talked about it in the previous thread and I really enjoyed it. It's a small scale steampunk romance between a maid and a genius inventor both of whom are working for a group of vampires. It's just really cute, they interact nicely. I hate this kind of foppish vampire so I liked how unsympathetic they were made to be.

long-time fanfic writer about to branch into original fiction, it's like holding a ping-pong ball your entire life and then someone tells you to hold a wrecking ball. Could use some encouragement lads

>>2324916
What do you want to write about?

>>2324935
I have a decent idea of my premise/plot

it's not /u/, although I've written tons of /u/ fics in the past. Just want some encouragement since even starting it terrifies me. 100k words jesus christ

>>2324916
I tried it once and abandoned it, I don't even know how to name my original characters.

>>2324916

As daunting as it may be, at least you have some experience with writing fanfic. I'm currently diving into my first novel writing project with no previous writing experience and am in way over my head. So at least you arent alone and if anything your work will be more competent and well written compared to those of us just starting out. We're all terrified but we're also all in this together sis. Godspeed.

>>2324938
So you have experience with writing, you have your original idea, but you're still scared of words? Looks to me you don't want to do it enough to actually do it.

>>2324940
Many try, few persist.

>>2324940
>>2324948
thanks lads, good to know others are (were) fighting the good fight

>>2324950
It's not a question of want, it's just so incredibly difficult to start. I know my premise and a general idea of where I can take it, but no idea how to start (I often struggle with the opening paragraphs/pages of stories). And since the opening will decide the course of the rest of 100k words, a fuckup here could be massive.

>>2324940
>I don't even know how to name my original characters
I use an ancient wizard method for character naming. Let me share it with you!

make a list of names
add numbers unique to each name
roll a die
name your dykes
???
profit

>>2324950
Trust me, it's not the only project I've abandoned.

>>2324954
I've always just dived right into the story to keep the momentum going and I can work backwards and do a proper beginning later if I want, or start in medias res if I feel that works best. I just really try to avoid blank page syndrome by bulldozing right into the story. Sometimes it evolves naturally in ways that I didn't expect, and sometimes it doesn't and that's where rewriting comes in.

>>2324966
I do that too with fanfics, but fanfics are much more forgiving of fuckups since they're shorter.

I dislike starting in media res because it's too difficult to connect things

>>2324954
I agree with >>2324966 that the beginning can get worked on later and it is probably better that way in the end. I doubt any author has the foresight to write involved stories from start to finish without going back to sneak in clever thoughts that make it all work. That being said this level of detail rarely shows up in /u/ work so maybe it doesn't matter so much.

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Can anything be said about audiobooks? I want to try em out. Anything on Audible that you would recommend?

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>>2324954
>And since the opening will decide the course of the rest of 100k words, a fuckup here could be massive.

That is a very very unhealthy and ineffective way to think about writing stories. Read about the writing process of any successful writer, and you'll see that they go through multiple drafts before coming up with something they're satisfied with. And that's the secret really - your first draft, that first opening you put down on the page? It's going to suck, and that's okay.

The trick is that you need that messy, terrible first draft in order to have something to work with. You can't carve out something good if you don't have any material to carve. If you've abandoned projects before, I suspect this kind of thinking is the reason why. Your first draft is going to be all over the place, you're going to discover things about your characters that you didn't expect, you're going to get snarled up in the narrative flow, you'll have brilliant ideas that don't fit but need to be included anyway, you'll fall into gaping holes in your plot structure, and learn a million other things about yourself and your writing style - and you need to accept that, and accept it's just a first draft. Put the editing demon away, that comes later once you finish the first draft and work out how to write another one or edit it into something truly good. 100k words will fly past if you just sit down and write without agonizing over every single sentence. That's what editing and redrafting are for. You can do it, you just have to accept that you're going to write 100k words of raw material first.

>>2325147
There's a version of Carmilla interpreted by phoebe fox, rose leslie and david tennant.

Just imagine a movie adaptation with this cast.

I was poking around mobilism a bit, and found this "Jen Madden Mystery" series; supposedly about a "lesbian, part-time bi" PI ...
> When her agency retrenches her, she falls for a dominant lesbian who orders her to sleep with specific men.
> ... confirming she's being used as a bedroom assassin - although medical tests prove there's no way this can happen.
> So Jen is forced to become the detective, helped by a male reporter to whom she's becoming attracted.
> It's one woman against the world. And she has only her nous and sexual flair to get her through.
Second book is just as great
> ... who wants her to investigate the relationships of the cult leader's sister - a drop-dead beautiful dominant lesbian.
> Eventually Jen, now the orgasmic plaything of everyone and every sex ...
It's good to get the occasional reminder that despite the mediocre quality of a lot of FF novels, it could always be worse.

>>2325149
d/a but my biggest trouble with writing is doing it in a way that doesn't rip off the writing styles of my favorite mostly non/u/ authors. Everything I want to do has been done perfectly already (just without the /u/) and I'm struggling to write something that isn't derivative.

>>2325370
All writing is derivative.

>>2325370
If I were good enough to "rip off", say, Baru Cormorant, I would sacrifice a thousand novels in holy fire and most definitely not complain about it.

Is there any sister x sister incest? Where they're actually blood related.
Preferably with good angst over starting such a taboo relationship.

Anyone know of good romances involving a single mother?

>>2325516
Fated Love by Radclyffe
Popcorn Love by K.L. Hughes
Courting the Countess by Jenny Frame
Heart Block by Melissa Brayden

>>2325456
Would love to know too

>>2325456
Sounds like a intresting concept havent seen any so far closest ive seen is a book about mother and daughter who didnt know they were related till late in the book

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>>2325370
All creation is recombination.

More importantly, all writers learn first by copying, then by adapting the styles of those before them. Embrace it, because the purpose of doing so is to understand how and why those styles and stories work - you can only begin to find your own voice when you discover your quirks, preferences, turns of phrase or characterisation, all those little things creeping into your writing. In the end, you take a million different parts from other writers, recombined in a way that is unique to you, with emphasis on the parts and concepts and ideas you're most interested in.

Every writer feels the anxiety of influence - but it's an illusion. Be derivative. Re-use, re-work, re-combine, and you will find something new at the end of the process.

>>2325516
G Benson - All The Little Moments (heroine has adopted kids)
Kate Sweeney - Winds of Heaven (one (rather cute) kid there and pregnant with a second)
T Novan - Madam President (the president already has children, but it's not the biggest topic of the novel)

For something a bit more exotic
Dejay - Redemption (one of the characters takes care of her dead daughter's children)

>>2325524
Urk, you had to remind me of Courting the Countess. Annoying novel.

The Girls of Alycone by Cary Caffrey. Sci-fi with FTL and spaceships and whatnot. MC is a cyborg supersoldier/ninja trained with some other girls but for the first time these trainers are a pretty benevolent bunch. Other groups try to grab the girls for their own nefarious plots. It was fun, lots of action scenes and bits of politics.

Seeing the massive library of Radclyffe in the recent torrents, would anyone be so kind and point out the less angsty/dramatic ones?

>>2326183
it's strange how you can be 90% certain the writer of this is male

>>2326183
>literally using a katana - a regular fucking katana, not even some sort of enhanced sci-fi katana - to cut through body armor that can block even bullets

my disbelief can only be suspended so far

>>2326671
To be fair, she is superhuman, she says she cut at a weak spot and she later switches to higher caliber rounds indicating that her first rounds were weak.

>>2326671
I didn't read it so maybe this doesn't apply to your suspension of disbelief but bullet proof doesn't always also mean cut proof. Not sure how many people bring katanas to sci-fi gunfights but light weight armor designed to stop only bullets would potentially be in this category.

anyone got a link for Behind the green curtain by Riley LaShea?

Does anyone happen to have a link for KD Williamson's Forever Mine? The one contained within the large Calibre torrent is formatted rather horribly :(

>>2318825
Last thread is dead though

>>2326897
The archives are working.

>>2326908
The thread in question isn't showing, just 6 other threads

>>2326917

http://archive.loveisover.me/u/thread/2285097/

>>2326183
Just read the sequels and I enjoyed them. Book 2 has this tension because it's a situation where the MC knows she's walking into a trap but she has to do it. It had huge action scenes and a plot that moved though the enemy cyborgs were underutilized. Good cliffhanger ending.
The third book has smaller scale action and there's a sad amount of filler but it ends the story satisfyingly and though the author created some dangling plot threads they were insignificant. My only problem with the series is how the MC's powerlevel seems to swing. She's always competent and badass but sometimes she can take 400 hundred heavily soldiers in an open desert and other times she's having problems with 20 mad max villains, not to mention the stuff that supposedly happened between books 2 an 3. But honestly it's minor.

>>2327072
So after this, I wanted to say, I don't read much sci-fi at all, anyone got more sci-fi where the MC is extremely deadly and kicks lots of ass?

>>2327072
Book 3 I personally felt was just a waste of time. You knew the plot couldn't continue until the "book 2 end consequence" was fixed, so basically I spent all the time sitting there waiting for exactly that to happen. And that took until the end of book 3.

And it's been a bit too long, but I also vaguely remember that this whole "the lady who started the program is actually a good person" thing never really convinced me, and that entire book was yet another argument as for why she/her program is horrible. Yet that part pretty much gets ignored.

Anyway, you could look at Rasmussen's Dark Reach Wars. It's kinda Mass Effect-like. If you want something really over the top Cipriano's Maverick, although despite having a lesbian heroine there's no romance. Or, if you don't care about bi and don't except any more depth than in Alcyone than maybe Brown's Perilous Waif. Entertaining enough first novel, but I'm vaguely expecting the worst for the second novel.

/u/ scifi novels have a significant tendency to be kinda full of pacifist vegetarian mind-linked lovers and such. Doesn't always mean there can't be also some ass kicking (like in the first Merker's Output, maaaybe), but more often then not they're more inclined to anti-violence attitudes.

>>2327093
Yeah that's what I meant by filler. They figure out their goal a third into the book and then they go on some extended fucking about where the only thing achieved is her finding Suko. Plus there's that car battle that happens on their way to the ending that though fun, it comes at a point where I just wanted to say 'get to the ending already!' I am a sucker for plots where the MC becomes a hero/legend though, it's my weakness so that and some other things made me enjoy the third book. I saw the author is writing a fourth and I have no idea what it's about from his sample, but it does have the interesting tidbit that the events between books 2 and 3 basically shattered the MCs home which was interesting.
Too bad about the sci-fi thing. I understand the need for non-action sci-fi and I recently read Ammonite which I loved, but sometimes I just want to see an MC bust some heads.

I just read the girls of alcyone and I felt the relationship between the MCs were really underdeveloped. For 80% of the story they weren't even together. The prose was also prosaic though serviceable. Overall it was good enough for me to finish the first book but not good enough to continue.

>>2325456
into the forest by jean hegland. read at your own risk.

Just finished Foz Meadow's A Tyranny of Queens. It's one of those "let's be really diverse and add every possible combination of gender and sexuality, including attack helicopters" kinda novels, but neither gender nor sexuality is ever really much of an issue here, so it's nonetheless not one of those that are more annoying than anything else.

Altogether I'd say it's better than the first one, although I'm not entirely sure why. Perhaps because the goal is clearer, and it works more reasonably towards an actual finale.

I also particularly liked Safi's first part - the first novel was portal fantasy, highly traumatic for the would-be heroine, and at the end of it she returned home, scarred and scared. Now she has some sort of post-fantasy-world-traumatic-stress disorder, and obviously can't truly talk to anyone about it. It's a really interesting theme. Unfortunately, it's ultimately a minor part of the plot. I think I could've read an entire novel about this ('Every Heart a Doorway', basically, I guess). Oh well.

Other thing's I don't like is that "this needs to happen because of the Story" thing they got going. It's like the fantasy plot mechanic of prophecies, instead that it's stories here. It gives everything an unnecessary deterministic touch, and I don't get what's the point of that.

But overall, despite only getting a little /u/ romance at the end, I think I'd recommend it.

Fuck whoever recommended Tricky Wisdom. The characters were annoyingly shallow (having mood swings doesn't make you a "complicated" character) and their actions so very boring. Plus there's the bombshell at the end and the MC lacks any substance, preferring to act suddenly in love for no reason, no build up she's just a loyal dog. Also, bisexuality is disgusting. I do not recommend this series if you're looking for good writing or romance.

>>2327590
I didn't rec it and I didn't even like it, I agree that the love interest is really annoying and so is the best friend, but what are you on about? I don't remember a twist at the end and LI's bisexuality was just an "oh I loved a guy once" thing and plays very little into the plot.

>>2327613
You can't expect reason from a purityfag.

>>2327590
Might have been me, but, somehow, inexplicably, I just seem to be unable to feel bad about having wasted your time.

Any recommendations for "in love with my (best) friend" kind of books?
About someone finding out that her friendship is more

Basically Her Name in the Sky only not it.

>>2327622
Still more reason than any bislut

>>2327666
>Any recommendations for "in love with my (best) friend" kind of books?

Dating Sarah Cooper by Siera Maley
On the Outside by Siera Maley
The Gravity Between Us by Kristen Zimmer
Taking the Lead by Michele L. Rivera
Prairie Heart by Marian Snowe
Snow Globe by Georgia Beers
Prom and Other Hazards by Jamie Sullivan (short story)

^The ones I can think of off the top of my head. I know I'm forgetting some more I've read. BFFs to lovers is my fucking jam.

>>2327766
It's always odd when one best-friend has a crush on the other and the romance actually happens for a different love interest, like in "Solve for I". Kinda makes me feel like reading something NTR-ish, which of course makes no sense, but eh ...

>>2327613
I forget how to spoiler on my phone. Basically - the love interest is all pissy and shitty and yes it comes back to her being a biscum because she's hung up over her teen pregnancy and her dead son. And the MC is a cardboard cutout of emotion. "Everything's cool, she's a total bitch and has issues so I'm gonna act like a Mary Sue all of a sudden and just fall in love with her because she's a bislut who treats me badly and would have had a 7 yo kid." That writing didn't do anything well

>>2327646
I was disgusted by the writing and it made my night puzzled.
But i hope you get recommended a book that ruins your week.

any recs from stories where a woman disguises herself as a man?

anything besides backwards to oregon cause ive read that

>>2328328

Part of 'Tipping the Velvet' by Sarah Waters
'Passing as Elias', by Kate Bloomfield
'Monstrous Regiment' by Terry Pratchett, side lesbian couple and... main... if powerful yuri goggles... (worth it, I think, it's a great book).

>>2328328
For the classic "woman joins military disguised as a guy" thing:
Selina Rosen - Sword Masters. Not exactly a literary master piece, but, eh, FF; it's within expectations.

And Django Wexler's Shadow Campaigns; one POV anyway. Basically Napoleon retold as a fantasy novel. Kinda (at least unlike in the Honorverse nobody is called Rob S Pierre).

As a /u/lit/ newbie, I've plowed through all of the titles in the recommended books pic somewhere up top, and just about all of Jae's and Robin Alexander's stuff. Could I get some recommendations on other must-read authors? Think fluffy mindless romances with witty banter and (somewhat) believable plot development. Radclyffe seems to be a popular suggestion on Goodreads but I'm not entirely sure on which book to start with.

>>2328328
Broken Coil by Sy Itha
Sword of the Guardian by Merry Shannon.

>>2328328
Not sure if its any good or not but a story just popped up on mobolism that fits this its during the civil war http://forum.mobilism.org/viewtopic.php?f=1292&t=2056858&hilit=Lesbian+F%2FF+LGBT+GLBT+ff&sid=8879a5ad1a45d29a45c5a2576eb9124c

>>2328486
>Broken Coil by Sy Itha
>Sword of the Guardian by Merry Shannon.
This. They're both great.

>>2328481
I really like Fated Love by Radclyffe

Does anyonehave Harper bliss. The pink bean series?

>>2325535
>mother and daughter who didnt know they were related
Please name that book!

>>2328792
Im your mother by michaelann grey
http://www81.zippyshare.com/v/A2Dfjvbt/file.html
Its not my favorite book but its the worst ive read.

>>2329020
That true or hyperbole?

>>2329028
Meant to say not the worst i read

>>2329020
Forfit a word should of said not my favorite but not the worst ive read sorry.

>>2327590
>>2327613
>>2327622
>>2327680
>>2327879
If she fall in love with a girl then you would stop complaining about bi-hitler

Looking through upcoming kindle unlimited releases and noticed the 4th dynasty saga book comes out the 8th

>>2328481
I'm fond of KG Macgregor and Karin Kallmaker. I'd recommend reading later novels from both of them, then moving backward if you like their styles.

>>2329049
Unless it's badly written. Not op. I would like to read books that at least one of the mc is homo so I can relate. I can only imagine how dissatisfied a person with a recommendation who didn't flag it as what it is.

>>2329233
I don't care that they're bisexual. It's just that to be bisexual they have to make a point of having sex with multiple dudes or getting pregnant - that's always part of bisexual's life and I'm not interested in reading about that. Added to the fact the situations were just not written well. Language was poorly used. Humor never landed well. All together a disappointing package. Do not recommend.

>>2329159
I'm a bit worried about that one. I mean, it's not a series where I expect super-high-quality anyway, but it was originally meant to be released on the 1st and then got delayed to the 8th, which is the maximum delay Amazon allows. So, yeah.

I expect loads of proofreading misses at the least.

Can anyone recommend me a tragic romance? Preferably with the death of an MC, the ultimate treasure would be an MC that sacrifices her life to protect/save her significant other, but basically anything that makes you cry from despair.

any recommendations for any unrequited to requited love or enemies to lovers books?

>>2329297

This isn't going to be the most unusual recommendation, but try Robin Alexander's The Summer of Our Discontent. Childhood enemies turned lovers with the usual RA tropes - streetwise old lady, slapstick comedy and decent writing albeit somewhat predictable plot.

I'm also rather fond of M.E. Logan's Lexington Connection - mob boss' daughter meets cop and they're both oblivious about the other's background. A lot of reviews mention the hinky timeline that seems to be a little inconsistent and the author doesn't really elaborate on how the timeline flows in the story. That threw me off a bit during my first read-through but the story/characters were oddly compelling to me but YMMV.

>>2329292
Well, here's a bunch with love interests dying. Not sure they'd make anyone cry, but:
Mystery series:
Nicola Griffith - Aud Torvingen (killed)
Anne Holt - Hanne Wilhemsen (cancer)

Fantasy:
Seth Dickinson - Baru Cormorant (executed)
Nel Havas - Sekma (illness)
Sam Ryan - Dynasty Saga (illness)
Cherry Potts - The Dowry Blade (killed)

>>2329310
Talking about "may or may not work for you" picks, I enjoyed CK Martin's Dirty Little War quite a bit. It's about a small-time-criminal's daughter and a mob boss' daughter, who for various reasons shouldn't be anywhere near each other.

Also KG MacGregor's Anyone But You for something less "dangerous"; one is working for the oil industry, the other an environmentalist.

>>2329253
What about korra and asami?

>>2329292
Didn't make me cry but the love interest dies kinda sacrificing herself for the MC if I remember correctly
Anchor Leg by Jack Croxall

>>2329314

>Also KG MacGregor's Anyone But You for something less "dangerous"; one is working for the oil industry, the other an environmentalist.

Does anyone happen to have a link for the epub, by any chance?

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>>2314028
Has anyone read this book? Can you tell me if it's good?

Anyone have good suggestions for books where the mc returns to their hometown after leaving on bad terms such as issues with family or a love gone wrong.

>>2329684
Atramentum by MJ Duncan

>>2329470
What about them? Lesbians. They just didn't know it yet. Never messed with Mako onscreen so theyre still viable as goldstars.

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>>2314028
Can anyone point megood books with characters that are super-heroes or have powers?
I just read Not your sidekick and I ended up wanting to read more about this subject

>>2329994
Ive only read some of this book so no promises if its all good recently got a sequel though. Almost certain both are on mobolism sequel is for sure http://www.bellabooks.com/9781626397453-prod.html

>>2329994
>>2329998
And also Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey.

Any novel where same sex can have biological children?

>>2330054
Ammonite by Nicola Griffith
Caelano series by Jane Fletcher
Deep Merge by Linda North
The MCs have biological kids in Changeling by Jenifer Lyndon.

>>2330054
The dreamer, her angel and the stars by linda s. north

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>>2329994
You also have the Echo Branson serie by Linda Kay Silva : http://www.goodreads.com/series/72279


It starts simple enough, by the fourth book it feels like an x-men setting. You've got 7 books published so far.
Unfortunately it's been 3 years since the last installment (apparently the author changed her pen name to Alex Westmore, changed publisher and started other series, so I'm not sure if she dropped it or not).

Nevertheless it's a really entertaining read, each book is more or less of a standalone and she does enough recap so if you missed one book you won't be lost.

She has other interesting series with a bit of paranormal/super powers in it under both pen names Silver legacy (demon slaying)

She did a bit of zombie stuff with Riders of the apocalypse serie (wich is the same as the Men eater serie under her other pen name).

Her other stuff are less in the fantastic genre but still interesting: Delta logs serie (cop stuff), Across time serie (time travel), Plundered chronicles (pirate stuff) and Umbra Mortis saga (guardian angel stuff )
As she is quite prolific you'll have a bunch of stuff to read.
You can find most of her stuff on amazon, and some books have been shared on mobilism (search under both names).

And I know it was rec on a former thread : The Dark mirror serie by Marie Castle
http://www.goodreads.com/series/121961-dark-mirror-series

It's basically a paranormal serie (with a bit of withcraft instead of superpowers) in modern setting

>>2330167
Echo Branson is also one of the few FF series in that corner that, refreshingly, isn't too focused on the romances. Admittedly that's also half the reason I only read the first ... 4? Or 5? And Silva/Westmoore seems to have a bit of a tendency to just stop writing her series. I'm not sure we'll see another Silve Legacy book either.

Kinda similar to that series is Jody Klaire's Above And Beyond. She's writing pretty fast right now, so it'll be up to book 5 soon-ish. Covers some fairly dark themes and I'm not always quite happy with how the author handles that stuff which is the main reason I haven't gotten around to book 4 yet, but there's some great tension and so on going on, so I'd so for a FF series it's a pretty good one (if with some issues).

For more YA-ish superheroes, April Daniel's Dreadnought. It's TG, but eh, who cares. After the deed is done it's FF. For more "adult" classic superheroes there'd be Chris Strange' Don't be a Hero. Well, the heroine is a lesbian anyway.

I've dug around the more obscure FF novels, hoping to find some different:
Jeanine Hoffman's Stranger than Fiction. This seems to be by and large a typical urban fantasy shifter thing, with the - rather interesting - twist that she turns into a doe. Although I've seen the occasional side-character turn into prey animals, I've never seen it for a heroine. So that's interesting, but a) there's a bit too much "eco friendly / alt medicine preaching", and b) it's friggin' expensive for some unknown writer writing some UF novel of questionable quality. Tsk.

Samantha Myers' The Wolf's March. It's a fantasy shifter-thing, but just comes across as ridiculous. Like, to join the army, the heroine is told to take out a bandit fort alone. So, half-way to the fort she already gets peppered with arrows (they glance of her leather armor, so they're probably shooting foam ones or something). Once she finally reaches the bandits, 3 of that dozen plus confront her (instead of closing the gates and just keep shooting her). She kills them, and although she's wounded and exhausted by then ... the rest runs away. Riiiight. Returning, the (female, future love-interest) general makes her her squire - and immediately gifts her an armor made of obsidian-gold-silver alloy. Riiight again.
It's all very meh. Maybe it'd get better once it gets over the rather ridiculous opening, who knows.

And C. Drying's Contingent of Magenta. There a conflict between humans and some aliens that live beyond a gate-like thing, who are, you've guessed it, magenta skinned. They're also matriarchal; more importantly though, they have got some "revere the mother" thing going (and the human heroine agrees that women that had children are flat-out better than those who didn't have any). Anyway, humanity sends the heroine to assassinate the matriarch for killing a bunch of humans some years back, but not all is as it seems ... might be interesting, or might be complete rubbish. Difficult to tell from the preview.

>>2330167
I read a pirate series by Alex Westmore. Same dilly, romance as part of a long non-romance plot. Not the best writing. Also, it was pretty obviously a Xena uber

Anyone have any good shape shifter romance suggestions? was looking through some and saw winter pennington is coming out with the 4th kassandra lyall book on halloween of this year and am looking forward to it

>>2330167
Thank you for your help

>>2330552
Meghan O'Brian's "Wild" is pretty great. And the whole Garoul series by Gill McKnight is pretty great, though that's more straightforward werewolf fiction. Not sure if "werewolf" and "shapeshifter" fiction groups are especially different.

>>2325535
After they found out but kept fucking, that shit was just weird...

>>2330639
For me atleast werewolf is covered under shapeshifter and shapeshifter is just a broad coverage

>>2314028
Does anyone know some tomb raider style book?

Anyone have any book besides the 4th of the commitment series by karen badger i cant seem to find any but the 4th which is on mobolism.

>>2329738
>>2329741
Fuck off.
This is why men shouldn't be allowed to write. They always try to make lesbian stories about them. Male genocide when?

>>2330552
Marciella Heartstorms Along Came Cyrene is kinda fun if you're looking for a different type of shifting; it's about two fae who usually are human but also have their fae-forms. Half the fun is guessing what they actually are, so I won't spoil that.

For wolfs, Danielle Parker's Faoladh and David King's Licantropa Sogna are OK. For cats, maybe Jae's Second Nature.

Can't say any FF shifter romance I know is exactly brilliant, but they should at least be entertaining enough.

>>2330942
Oh, and it's just out, but Niall Teasdale's "Misfit Magic" is about a bunch of dragon shifter going to a dragon magic school, basically. Obviously they're all skimpy dressed lesbians having sex with each other.

I thought it was so~so; I mean, despite the sex and all it's not quite as bad as lots of his usual work is regarding some choices (for example, the heroine has a harmless job in a bookstore, and doesn't work as a waitress in too short skirts), but it also felt a bit unmotivated. Typical special-girl-going-to-magic-school, some snobbish bullies around, some evil necromantic plot, some powerful people taking interest in her, having sex with her roommate etc pp We've all read about those things before. Well. Essentially, if you're really bored, there's worse to read out there.

>>2330639
>Meghan O'Brian's "Wild"
Where is the white panties trigger warning, onee-sama?

>>2330552
Pure of Heart by Danielle Parker is the most recent I've read and it was pretty good. Looking forward the sequel.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26822647-pure-of-heart

>>2330980
Wild involves a psychopath that entertains a plan, at one point, to rape one of the MCs. The other MC foils said plans before they get too traumatic, so I forgot to mention, sorry. That's the most triggering the novel gets.

>>2331082
>before they get too traumatic
d/a but is it another one that gets foiled moments before penetration? I fucking hate that shit. Actually maybe I'll just skip it. Not that desperate for /u/lit yet.

>>2331090
Shapeshifter-chan chases him away from her door as a dog before he even gets near her apt. Prospective-rape-victim-chan literally has no idea she's in danger till weeks later.

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>>2314028
So...I'm in the middle of the book and really enjoying the whole focus on the investigation.
But what is killing me is the romance between the main characters ... I just can't feel the chemistry between them or ship them together, which is obvious they will be.
Gosh ... I'm so torn between loving the investigation narrative and cringe every time the couple has a romantic interaction.

>>2328486
>Sword of the Guardian by Merry Shannon.
I love the pacing, the comedy and unpredictability. Any more like this?

>>2331102
Ah, but you forgot the scene in the beginning
When she's attacked in the park. I don't remember entirely, been a long time since I read it, but I'm fairly sure it got to the point where she was on the ground and the attacker on top of her. I think. Might be mixing that up.

>>2331104
Ah, come on, embrace their weirdness. Especially Meg. Meg is glorious. And at least they're not pseudo-Xena-couple #5064.

Besides
there isn't much romance in the first novel anyway, is there? I mean, they actually agree with your opinion that they don't make sense as a couple at that point, don't they? I vaguely remember some pro/con list they make.

>>2331109
Oh, you're right, I forgot. Been a while. Yeah, general almost-rape-murder trigger warning on Wild. But I still remember it being a good book. Even a bit comfy, though that might just be me remembering my favorite parts.

>>2331106
That was the first /u/lit novel I read, like 4 or 5 years ago. Still remember it super fondly. Does anyone have an epub of the sequel, Prayer of the Handmaiden? I just found out that I missed it's release, and I've been hype for it forever.

>>2331112
>Prayer of the Handmaiden
http://www73.zippyshare.com/v/hgLfjGrW/file.html
Personally, I found it a bit meh, mostly because of half-assed fantasy parts. They were in Sword of the Guardian as well, sure, but they were in the background as a part of the setting, not in the foreground as the focus of the plot.

But then again,
>/u/ literature
>standards

>>2331112
Yeah, I didn't think it was too harsh either, and I agree, there "romance" is pretty cute, if incredibly sexualized. They basically have sex whenever they're alone in a room. Any room. Either way, there's some other novels with psychopaths out there that are seriously much worse; heck, even Hunter's series, since it was just mentioned - although not so much about the heroine - is "darker".

But with those things everyone has their own perception, I guess. For example, I recently read the "Gin and it" preview - supposedly it's comedy, written by a lesbian, and the reviews say its funny. But the preview ends at a point where some guy puts nipple clamps on a bound weapon against her will; how's that funny?! Maybe I'm overly sensitive about that sort of thing or something, but I didn't read the rest; who knows what else the author thinks is "funny" ...

>>2331116
Now how exactly did I mix up "weapon" and "woman"? Sometimes I confuse myself.

>>2331109
I'm in the middle of the book but if I remember correctly, the only one that is attacked is not the main character but the victim that is later found.
But it may be that you are remembering correctly and I have not yet arrived in this part ... Who knows?
Yeah, they don't have much romance going on, but I don't know ... I just find that the two characters are very "meh" individually and together as well.
It's true that I like Meg, she's funny at times, but ... I read the synopsis of the other volumes and they seem to focus more on the romance but at this point in the narrative I don't know if I'll buy the other books. Not to see a couple I don't encourage to see together

>>2331115
Thanks nee.

I moved to /u/lit straight from reading classics, like Heinlein and Vonnegut and Hesse and the like. It was quite a culture shock, standards-wise. I think that was actually kind of a relief, though. I remember thinking that Sword of the Guardian was critically meh as hell, but it was easy and comfy, and that that was probably what I should expect from most /u/lit books.

That being said, Tipping the Velvet and Ammonite are both critically amazing books, imo. Anybody else know of /u/lit books that are actually good by high literature standards?

>>2331127
Traitor Baru Whatsitsname is pretty good. Though I don't have enough experience with English literature to tell whether I'm being objective or not.

>>2314028
I finished reading some tomb raider comics and now I'm in the mood to read something in this style but with gay content. Do any of you have a suggestion?

>>2330753
>>2331151
Never heard of any /u/lit about tomb raiding or similar. You would have better luck with Lara and Sam fanfics >>2326208

>>2331131
The Traitor Baru Cormorant was genuinely top-fucking-notch storytelling, prose, pacing, and structure, coming from a literature postgrad. Obviously it's not everybody's cup of tea, and things like satisfaction with characterisation vary from person to person.

>>2331158
Is the character gay?

I see Baru get a lot of praise but I don't want to read it if the final have cliffhangers or feel incomplete.

Can I read it and still be satisfacted without a sequel?

>>2331160
She is.
The book is probably one of the better examples of grey morality. Baru is a borderline villain.

>>2331169
Answer from the author himself:

Q: Hi Seth. Is this book readable as a standalone novel (e.g. the Hobbit is a standalone and LOTR is its sequel), or is it specifically book 1 of a series/trilogy?

A: You can definitely read it as a standalone. The ending will leave you with questions, but it's written as a complete story.

>>2331173
Thank you!

>>2331169
There are some open plot threads by the end but the story itself works as a standalone and doesn't need a sequel to be complete. It's basically an origin story. There is an epilogue though and that creates a ton of possibilities for sequels.
As for satisfaction, the ending is not the happiest ending ever but I think it's a satisfying conclusion to an origin story.

>>2331169
There's sequel hooks and Baru's far from reaching her goal, but the novel stands on its own and there's no cliffhangers, close to something like the first Star Wars film.

>>2330015
Excellent taste, onee-sama.

>>2331115
Ooh, this is getting nice and angsty right off that bat. Me like.

I just remembered that things got a bit rapey at one point in SotG. Is there much of that in this one?

I would like to try this again, because it yielded great results (for me) last time. Somewhat off topic, so feel free to ignore (or report):

Looking for suggestions of good books with female protagonists, without any romance. Genres free.

I just want something in a fantasy that doesn't read like a teenager wrote it on livejournal. Is that so much to ask?

>>2331342
Do you mean lesbian protagonist with nearly zero in the way of relationships/romance? Or not in the romance genre? If you mean the former:

Whatever Gods May Be (Sophia Hagin Kell)
Six Directions of Space (Alastair Reynolds)
Slow River (Nicola Griffith)
Miles to Go (Amy Dawson Robertson)
Adijan and Her Genie (LJ Baker) - established relationship but not exactly romantic
One Saved to the Sea (Cat Kingsgrave)

If you mean female protagonist that is not a lesbian, you're in the wrong place (though I'd love to give you recs in any other setting).

>>2314028
Do you guys know a good slow burn romance?
Bonus if when there is sex the thing is hot

>>2331365
I'm trying to get through Breaking Legacies by Zoe Reed. It started somewhat promising but unraveled quickly. Daughter of Mystery and Nightshade are the only ones I like, but they're not quite high fantasy. LJ Baker's spoof was fun to read though I don't think it would fit your needs.

I want a good gritty high fantasy with a lesbian protagonist and a good plot. Like Mistborn, just Vin is a lesbian. If only.

>>2328486
Does anyone have a zippyshare link for The Broen Coil, by chance?

>>2331365
I liked Dragonoak, although it gets a bit tumbleh at times. Especially in the second book.

>>2331322
Can't recall any rape scenes, though the whole religion thing starts to feel like a cult by the end of the book.

>>2331511
http://www114.zippyshare.com/v/gzm1EmQv/file.html

>>2314028
Does anyone know of any stories with mentally ill (of any sort) protagonists? I would prefer character rather than plot focused stories ie. not just trashy romance

>>2331432
>Do you mean

I meant female protagonist, peroid. No romance, no mention of sexuality. It's happened.

>>2331436 Breaking Legacies by Zoe Reed

Thought this book was great. It did get really dark sometimes but I loved the relationship between the protagonists and their families. If anything you should read it for that.

>>2331432
And I forgot to thank you. Sorry 'bout that.

Dynasty 4, Divine Empress, is out. Has some of the typical weaknesses of the series and if you completely dislike the first ones you probably won't like this one either, but, heck, it's an actual, ruling lesbian Empress. Doing Empress stuff. I probably would have liked the novel for that alone, although it has a bunch of other things going for it, too. Maybe not the "emotional highlights" of the 3rd novel, but other entertaining things. Really enjoyed it, and I honestly think the author is getting better, even if proofreading still is an issue.

First novel Lymee was fairly Mary Sue-ish, good at strategy, good at combat, everyone lusting after her, inventing stuff left and right. Now, she's basically a fairly normal person who doesn't have enough time to keep her personal combat skills up, who's exhausted her knowledge of modern inventions, who makes the occasional mistake, who's sometimes lenient and sometimes ruthless ... who, granted, still has everyone lusting after her (but she's the Empress, so that's fair), but by and large just tries to do her best at running her country. I like it.

>>2330170
>It's TG, but eh, who cares. After the deed is done it's FF.
That's not how it works. At all. But thanks for pointing out a book to not bother with.

>>2331885
Bah, not everyone is so small-minded. Besides, it's fantasy. 100% transformation. Mentally she was already female, the body followed, what else is there?

But, eh, sure, I wouldn't have mentioned it if I hadn't thought that some couldn't get over it.

>>2331726
Any links for Divine Empress? Just starting this series.

>>2331983
It's on mobilism. Make sure to lower your expectations.

>>2331996
Best not have any expectations with FF novels ever, but since the first is by far the worst in that series by the time you get to the forth you really should know what you'll get ...


Anyway, finished Yuriko Hime's Love Disorder, which is a YA-ish romance about a 17-year old aspiring designer and a 21-old year old actress with split personalities. I thought the idea was kinda interesting, and it was ... OK. Setup felt a bit forced (scratch that "a bit", it was incredibly forced and stupid), and the plot often was fairly "ah, typical novel development", but, eh, the topic was entertaining enough. Could have been worse.

Why are there so few well-written FF novels? Why is there so much trash? This makes me sad every time I think about it.

>>2332001
Most writing is shit and a small niche is going to have even less of the good stuff.

>>2331649
It was just so juvenile. There were contrivances, conveniences, and impracticalities. You can't just fashion clothing from a freshly skilled pelt. Hunting isn't as easy as asking a hawk to find something every few hours. There is also no way that someone who can be possessed by the enemy can just wander around a festival because she herself said she's fine now. The introduction of magic was half-assed at best. The parties in the book were ridiculous insertions. The entire scene where they enact revenge on man who kicked the protagonist's dog is immature and had no point. The dreams in the second half had no purpose. I could go on.

I think it could have been good with a critical editor, but it ended up being shallow and immature.

>>2331643
Yes, it has, though there tends to be some mention of some sort of romance or at least a relationship. Hugh Howey writes a lot of stories with strong female protagonists. So does Alastair Reynolds. But those recs don't belong on this board. And no problem. I hope you enjoy at least a few of those, despite the small amount of relationships involved. I guess Slow River has a relationship, but it's toxic and important to show the protagonist's growth.

>>2331996
Not seeing it there, only the first three books. Eh... will just wait till its posted there I guess...

>>2332001
It's the same within each niche genre. There's very few well-written dystopian books, cyberpunk books, pirate adventure books, etc, simply because the overall amount of works in these genres is small. So if we assume that the amount of well-written books for each genre is a fixed percentage, obviously you'll find more quality stuff in broader categories. It's an over-simplification, of course, but you get what I mean.

It doesn't help that a lot of FF novels are romance-focused, and a lot of amateur writers consider romantic genre to be ez mode that doesn't require much effort, so it's fine to just go full ham on it.

>>2332020
FF authors also seem to be fairly stubbornly resistant to improving. For example, I recently picked Schubach's latest urban fantasy thing up - now, urban fantasy, that's basically the genre that already screams "it's going to be rubbish" (in terms of quality, not necessarily in terms of fun), but that guy wrote - what, 30 novels by now? 40? And the writing is still the basic, choppy mess. Should he at some point pause and maybe think about what's actually good about his novels and what could improve them? Sigh ...

And of course ama.com basically praises the novel as the second coming of Tolstoy, 5/5, best thing ever. Doesn't help keeping perspective, I expect.

>>2332003
Now you're just nitpicking.

>>2332146
>listing a few glaring problems with the novel is nitpicking
Sure, anon. I'd recommend reading quality fiction to get an idea what good writing is.

>>2332251
But why would anon want to read "quality fiction" so they end up enjoying simpler books less?
And I'm not saying they should avoid great literature. Just, isn't it a good thing to be able to adjust your expectations and find enjoyment in a wider range of books?
Your points about the clothing and hunting can be seen as nitpicking. They're not that important. The author dared to imagine, so what?

>>2332269
I'm not the anon you were replying to, but the author didn't "dare to imagine". They got lazy with details which then breaks verisimilitude and immersion. This is some basic stuff.

>>2332276
Again, nitpicking. You're trying too hard to make a passing scene into something important.

>>2332280
Look sweetie, I haven't even read the damn book. If a writer can't keep their shit straight then it's unlikely I'm going to be enjoying their work. If you can then more power to you, but that's not an excuse for poor writing, it just means you can stomach it easier.

>>2332281
>I haven't even read the damn book.
>I have authority to comment about the book's inconsequential passages

You are a fucking dumbass.

>>2332280
Not one of the anons you were talking to, but if what >>2332003 says is true, it's not just "a passing scene". Immersion is built on numerous small details that make the world feel alive. If you're reading a book about, say, survival, characters finding food, weapons and shelter left and right breaks the immersion, just like characters suddenly out of nowhere being able to hunt like pros, find edible plants, skin without damaging the pelt, etc.

"Daring to imagine" works when you're dealing with something that's either unusual to the real world or simply does not exist there. For example, I'm not going to fault an author for writing about aliens with tentacles for arms, because, hey, why not, evolution is a weird process. But I am going to fault that author for writing about aliens with tentacles for arms being able to perform the same tasks as humans, because you don't need to be a genius to realize that tentacles aren't capable of the same level of precision as hands with opposing thumbs.
Same way, you don't need to be an expert in hunting to know that the prey doesn't just jump into your lap and beg you to kill it. So seeing this breaks the immersion for many people.

>>2332384
Look, the average reader is not going to have their immersion broken reading that book.

That anon lumped irrelevant sentences with scenes that got the plot moving. The party scene? Got them to fucking and to confessing their feelings. The magic and dreams? Moved the plot. The protagonist is a huntress. Sewing pelt? That's good enough for the average person to understand. They're not gonna care how fresh it is because it's not important.

This is just the case of nitpicking and not liking the plot. Which for the second part, is fine.

You guys just read the goddamn book if you're gonna argue that the author's writing is bad.

>>2332394
That anon was voicing their opinion on the quality of the writing, not talking about an average person's view on what's important for the immersion and what isn't.

>just read the goddamn book
>first person POV
>twenty pages in and the MC is already "the best hunter in the kingdom"
My standards are not that low.

>>2332397
Thank you, I will.

Indie novels just generally tend to be weak in the details, that's not something that only plagues FF releases.

Anyway, read Sword of the Guardian somebody mentioned here. Woman-disguised-as-man-soldier trope is always fun, in my opinion, but a lot of those scenes and developments felt completely cliché.
So the bad guy's army has near completely deserted, yet it's impossible for the good guys to take the castle because he casually dug a moat around the palace. Right. Totally not a mechanism to get a personal confrontation for the finale...
And so on. I mean, it was OK. But I kinda hoped for something better (this is of course the curse of expectations).

>>2332400
I honestly thought Talon and Shasta were going to have a magical child, a gift from the Goddess. Goddammit.

>>2332405
I expected one of them to get raped (hey, I know my FF fantasy, it's what usually happens ... ).

The Goddess was annoying anyway. What's with those anti-gay commandments? And tearing her priestesses away from their families? And letting everything get that bad instead of exposing the bad guys early on and perfectly solving the problem instantly? "Loving goddess" my ass. Disgusting, tsk.

Also one of those FF clichés, of course the female goddess "of spirit" is the good one, while the male one "of flesh" is the evil one (I'm not referring to the gender-roles, I mean that yammering about spirituality and such).

>>2332404
>>2332405
>>2332410
Third time's the charm, eh?

>>2332412
Misogyny much?

>>2332506
I'm confused - what gave you that idea?

>>2332412
In the second book it's explained that none of that was the Goddess intention, just the people who followed that started the traditions

>>2332566
I expected something like that. Yet again, why doesn't she just tell them? (there's probably some explanation for that, too, but it just goes on like that...)

It's of course entirely subjective and probably just plain has to do with me disliking the idea of having such an "obvious" god around, but I like my fantasy deities to be more unfathomable, mysterious and removed from their priests. Not just dropping in to have a chat with the priestesses - that only leads to loads of unsatisfying theological questions, in my opinion. OR alternative, they're really very human, just with godly powers (so like the Greek/Romans etc). Then it's just expected that they do random things just because.

My favorite fantasy god is probably the Kencyr's Three-Faced God. Put up some general rules, did some appropriately cruel things and then left everyone to their misery, very godly, screw the mortals, I approve.
Also interesting, since it was just mentioned "the Heavens" in Dynasty: maybe it had something to do with the heroine, or maybe it didn't. People around her think so, she dismisses the possibility by and large. Other fantasy series would just dig out some random prophecy and make it perfectly clear. But I hate prophecy plots.

>>2332586
I just think of gods in these books as Daedric "gods". Not actual gods, just some spirits that decided to mess with humans because they're fun and make for good nutritional food for your demonic pets.

>>2332394
This is my last post on this story. I can't lower my expectations. I don't want to read The Sun Also Rises every day, but I expect a basic level of writing in any fiction I pick up. I want to read a well-written, well-crafted story with a well-characterized lesbian protagonist because that is what I enjoy reading. I don't like reading things that a below par, especially when I pay to do so. If I want to read trashy stories, I can just browse fanfiction, and I don't want to read trashy stories. I want to see the lesbian writing genre get better.

>scenes that got the plot moving
Specifically, anon: there's a difference between natural story progression and forcing the plot along. The dreams didn't even do that because the friend showed up to tell them where the LI was being held. No dreams required. They could have "fucked" much more realistically if several pages hadn't been dedicated to stealing a man's wig at a party. That scene ripped me out of the story and made me wonder what I was reading. Was this mature hunter that took care of her family since childhood--whose family was in danger--really spending her time stealing some dude's wig? It would have been much more emotional if they'd progressed to sex from the protag's rush to leave. I can't imagine why she'd wait so to leave if she knew that her family was in mortal danger. She should have been riding out ASAP on a fast horse to get home and whisk her family away.

The writing style wasn't as bad as many, but again, with a good editor, these silly, immature scenes could have been crafted into a darker, more closely plotted, enjoyable, and emotionally engaging story. There is a way to twine all those aspects that were just thrown in later into the story in hints so that it feels fated, not ham-fisted.

I seem really critical, but I usually just delete books I dislike. This one has a lot of promise, which makes me want to make it better, I guess.

>>2333052
I pity you because all your critiques appear as if you wanted to be the one to write the story and therefore disliked everything that was happening in a way that you did not want.

Like for example calling Kiena a mature hunter. Did you miss all the times she joked around and told funny stories about her brother?

Obviously can't change your 'high expectations' but I wouldn't call this book bad in any sense just because it doesn't reach your immersion expectations.

>>2333052
>I want to see the lesbian writing genre get better.
I'm with you, anon.

/u/ taught me through many compromises and disappointments that most of the good books I expected to find in /u/lit will probably never be written in my lifetime unless I start scrabbling together my ideas and write them myself.

>>2333064
You can be mature and still crack a joke or two, you know. Just saying.

>>2332400
>>2332410
>>2332412
>>2332586

I just finished the second book today, after the first one being one of the first /u/lit novels I read, years ago. (as I was annoyingly going on about earlier in thread).

It was all huge and epic, and I really liked all the fucking angst. It's been a while. But this book is more about fleshing out the fantasy universe, rather than a pure character story. I liked how it put limits on the gods, it made them feel exactly like D&D gods.

Thankfully no rape. I was worried because a) /u/ fantasy novel, and b) there was lots of talk in the first act of an historical character, that was in the same position as one of the MCs, that famously got super-raped to the point of total life-ruinage.

The climax was pretty fucking epic. The main characters weren't especially likable, but the MCs from the last novel feature heavily, and more of them was nice and welcome, for me.

Finally, I like the implied setup for the next hypothetical novel. future Princess Brita x lesbian antichrist. fuckin hype. I guess we'll see that one in another 5 years.

Read Briana Bates' Craft Mage: Fire Touched. It's better than the first, with some fun ideas, but it's still just so badly written. Not quite as atrociously unreadable anymore, but ... shouldn't have been released like this.

>>2333104
Didn't plan on reading it, but maybe worth a look then. Although, given that it's a FF series, the third novel will probably never appear.

I much prefer Lady Knight to Sword of the Guardian for women disguised (sort of) as men

>>2333360
Lady Knight is sooo fucking gritty though. And the ending was downright depressing.

What's more, I don't think Rhiannon from that book was ever disguised as a man. She was just hyper butch and scarred beyond recognition.

>>2331127
The other Victorian books by Sarah Waters, 'Affinity' and 'Fingersmith' and very much this.

Another one by Nicola Griffith, 'Slow River'.

The Alpennia series is really, really good, good prose, good plot, good solid fantasy lit.

'Afterimage' by Helen Humphreys. Yuri is only there in a collateral way, but still an amazing book.

'Orlando' by Virginia Woolf, 'Carmilla' by Sheridan Le Fanu and 'Carol' by Patricia Highsmith are classics of the genre, so there you go.

'Kissing the Witch' by Emma Donoghue, interwoven short stories, absolutely excellent. She has some other lesbian-themed novels that are very highly regarded, but that's my favorite.

'The Child Garden' by Geoff Ryman and 'The Fortunate Fall' by Rapahel Carter. Sci-fi and dense as fuck, but they are both pretty good if you are into that. They are BLEAK, though, you've been warned.

Almost anything by Jeanette Winterson is queer and critically acclaimed, I have not read anything by her yet, though.

Pretty sure I am forgetting a few..

source: very tired lesbian lit phd student

>>2333407
Holy wow, I cannot wait to dig into one of these. Prob gonna start on Griffith and Waters, since I know them. But a /u/ Virginia Woolf novel? Never heard of such a thing. Pretty hype.

Thank you for sharing from your well of experience and wisdom, onee-sama-senpai-chan

Would someone post a zippy of adijan and her genie by lj baker?

>>2333407
I'm saving this. Thank you, learned oneesama.

>>2333524
http://www45.zippyshare.com/v/5uBQM8k3/file.html
It's in the Calibre FF library as well.

>>2333545
Thank you. Ive been looking for it for a while

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>>2333071
>/u/ taught me through many compromises and disappointments that most of the good books I expected to find in /u/lit will probably never be written in my lifetime unless I start scrabbling together my ideas and write them myself.

Me too, sister. I've been doing this for too long and the kind of stuff I love will only see print if I do it myself.

/u/-lit writing group when?

>>2333469
>>2333531

Hope you enjoy all or some of these, you know what happens with some classics and some /u/ endings, even in quality books... I'll write some more if I remember them.

And yes, a /u/ Virginia Woolf novel! /u/ among other things... kind of. It gets pretty convoluted with the genre of this one. It's a sort of biography slash love letter to her lover Vita Sackville West,with magical realism and timelessness and gender shenanigans? I love that book, it's weird as hell.

Just finished Matt Doyle's Addict. Book 1 to a cyberpunk-ish, noir-ish scifi mystery FF series; quite well-written, actually.

I should first mention that I absolutely love weird shit, though. This might not be quite as outrageous as some other FF novels, but I'm fairly sure the author is into this whole furry scene, so in this future setting we get people who basically use exoskeletons for playing as animals. The love interest does this, although it plays no major role during this first novel and there's only a little romance at the end.

Not actually exploiting this is actually about my biggest complaint I have about the novel - Chekov's gun, right? If I you have sciencey-panther-shifter in the plot, have her run someone down. Or at least the heroine awkwardly trying to pet her (admittedly they awkwardly talk about it).

Otherwise, to go back to the quality debate, there's the occasional detail that I felt was done a bit weakly (like the IP addresses); there could have been some more convincing techno-babble, and it hit full mystery trope when the heroine confronts the bad guy and they talk to each other, outlining the entire case and motivations and exchanging some cooking recipes and so on ... the mystery, as such, wasn't that great either. OK, but not great.

But I had my fun. I like novels that try something new, and I can't say I ran into this "combination" before. Hopefully the second novel won't screw the series over.

>>2333565
That would be neat. We could have weekly prompts, for around three pages long and share them so we can laugh at/constructively criticize each other's work. I think it's important to write often, and especially to get outside of one's comfort zone by using prompts to write about something different.

>>2333720
>and exchanging some cooking recipes and so on ...
Heh. Am I a pleb for liking scenes like that?
I love reading about each characters reaction when certain details are revealed. I guess it scratches the same itch as talking to other people about the book.

>>2333565
>>2333898
A third anon here. Let's do it. I'm ready to cringe, laugh, and cry with some of you.

Can anyone recommend a good read with lots of sex?

>>2333565
Now.

>>2334155
Ok. Do you think it would be easiest to start a new thread or keep it in the lit threads?

>>2334167
I think it should be kept here. I can't imagine that it'll be an issue for most who post and lurk here.

Is there any /u/ rape erotica? I can't seem to find any at all except in the form of one-off short stories. At the very least, an abusive BDSM relationship would be an acceptable compromise.

Read Sarah Ettrich's A Voice in my Head. Small short story with a ... rather massive twist in the end. Kinda interesting, but unfortunately not a full novel. Nonetheless I have to say Ettrich has a bunch of good ideas. I quite like her novels, usually.

>>2334245
What about all that Robin Roseau rubbish? Plenty of abuse there.

>>2334275
Is it rubbish because you don't like the content or because the writing's bad?

>>2334283
Depends on which one exactly we're talking about. He's wrote tons of novels under different pseudonyms (Julia P. Lynde among them I think), but basically all feature some element of forcing someone, sometimes torture/humiliation, then having them fall in love nonetheless. Sometimes it's not so bad, sometimes it's just plain insane. You'll have to poke around a bit.

Writing, by FF standards, is kinda OK. He writes very "log-entry-esque", but at least it's readable.

>>2334299
Awesome. I'll do researching. Thanks for the lead!

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>>2334193
Alright. Then this week's prompt is:

>Something sexy happens at my best friend’s house!

I think it's important for people to write something, even if they don't feel entirely in the mood. I believe that writing is like a muscle, and the more you use it, the stronger it gets. About three pages is a good goal, I think, so we don't get too bogged down in worldbuilding.

Here's my submission:
https://pastebin.com/m6KQ0SXH

Also, I want to go to one of those writing symposiums with a stack full of sticky notebooks filled with /ll/ stories and see how many women blush and look away embarrassed and how quickly I get politely asked to leave

>Get email from Eleanor Beresford
Holy shit!
>"I just want to let you know that my prequel novelette, Fairies and Felicitations, is free on ..."
Okay, yeah, it's not like I care about the third book or anything. Totally fine. Mhm.

>>2334147
Thirteen Hours - Meghan O'Brien
Behind the Green Curtain - Riley Lashea

>>2334331
Maybe its a sign the next ones on its way by drumming up more readers
Hopefully

>>2334309
Not bad for first person although it makes the writing smack of cheap erotica. For a short story (especially smut) it is the way things are done but I wouldn't want to read that type of narration for an entire book. Ending was great though. Got a laugh out of me.

I suggest challenging yourself by rewriting this in third person and working out ways to retain the important details without forcing them to be told in mundane detail by the MC's inner voice. If you are serious about writing, especially to publish, then it would be in everyone's best interest.

>>2334331
Just one well regarded series sequel this year would be nice.

>>2334418
To add some further advice to this anon, I've found the trick with first-person perspective is not to write it any different than how one would in third person - and it only works if the POV character's voice is significantly unique and different that being inside their head is a remarkable experience.

>>2334434
>I've found the trick with first-person perspective is not to write it any different than how one would in third person
Mmm, but in what way? Because there are obviously things that are okay in third person that you need to avoid in first.
Like being too descriptive of other characters' expressions. That'll make your MC seem impossibly perceptive and informed.

>>2334440
Well, you have to be aware that you are writing from the perspective of a person - in the example you gave, you would be descriptive of characters' expressions, but based on the biases and impressions and desires of the POV character. What does she see and think, rather than what is going on from a detached camera angle? We all interpret how people around us feel from observing them and watching their expressions - and we can be wrong, mistaken, impose our own meaning, misunderstand, intentionally misunderstand - or perhaps we don't care what this person is feeling so we're not paying attention. Same goes for a protagonist in first person perspective, and this applies to everything she mentions on the page - what matters to her?

The trick is to remember the concept of 'camera distance' applies to emotions as well as visuals. We're right in the protagonist's head and we don't need every tiny detail, we only need the things that are important to that character.

Just finished Jennifer Pelland's Machine. Not a lesbian romance, to be clear, just featuring a lesbian heroine. Basically it's about the issue of what makes humans human; when the protagonist gets her memories copied into an artificial body, and she has to face life knowing she isn't "really" herself, and not in a flesh-and-body either.

It's an interesting exploration of the theme, even if a bit preoccupied with robot sex. The heroine likes abusing herself, so that features males in some instances.

End was in my opinion the weakest part. The situation just got more and more complicated, and then the author kinda decided to pull the plug and pretty much left everything unanswered. Cop-out, essentially. Of course, the question was fairly unanswerable. But that didn't mean the plot could have been a bit more decisive of where it ultimately went (an open-end component is fine, but this basically resolved nothing).

>>2334309
I loved how the widow casually refers to her husband's death as "mysterious boating accident". Admittedly, "mysterious boating accident that conveniently left me available" would have been even better.

Decided to give Breaking Legacies a try after that argument earlier in the thread. Boy, was that >>2332003 anon right about conveniences.

I can deal with the MC meeting a witch that gives her just the right magic potion. I can deal with her and her LI finding a shelter in a snowstorm that not only has people who are happy to help her, but also happen to be her late father's buddies/ex-comrades in rebellion. I can even close my eyes on a palace where a blood-soaked foreigner can walk away from killing a royal family, despite there being witnesses. And, hell, that whole part about being a descendant of magic voodoo people? Fine, happens in every other fantasy book. I can live with that.

But when, after the MC spent six month trying to find someone all while having nightmares about meeting that someone, she just conveniently meets a character who conveniently tells her that her dreams are, quite conveniently, not just dreams, which conveniently confirms that the person the MC was looking for is conveniently alive; and after that another character who conveniently knows the location of that person conveniently appears, conveniently ready to give up that information, after which the MC conveniently teleports three hundreds miles to that location, conveniently just grabs the person she was looking for for six months and conveniently teleports away without being caught or even harmed; that's about where I draw the line. It's just pointless after this point; you know the MC is going to dragon magic ex machina her way out of any trouble, so the tension is non-existent.

>>2334309
I like having a prompt, but I think it's bit too broad. "Something happens" isn't too much to work off of. Cooking, changing lightbulbs, playing videogames, bathing or something like that would get the creative juices flowing in a moment. I'm sure we'd still get very different takes on a subject like that.

Tried "When A Fox Is A Thousand", which might or might not be about a fox getting a 1000 years old and thus becoming immortal. Frankly, after reading the first few chapters and most of the time being confused what the heck the point was, I kinda gave up and just skimmed through the rest. I'm just not made for multi-POV novels that are this ... subtle.

Well-written though, and the chicken-stealing is hilarious. She's a fox. Of course she steals chicken. Even if it means just grabbing frozen ones in a grocery store and walking out with them.

I either missed something brilliant or escaped something plain confusing, but this one was not for me.

>>2334531
I don't care what you do then, I'm not the F/u/hrer. I just chose that because I already had something in mind.

>>2334542
Don't take it the wrong way, I'll still write something for it. I only wanted to say that it's better to have at some elements to build up an idea from.

>>2334548
Well, my intent was to have it be a bit broad. That way, anon can write a story about a schoolgirl getting tied up by her best friend, a schoolgirl getting it on with her best friend's mom, an adult woman getting in on with jogging partner, etc. But if a specific events work better for everyone then that's fine too. I can totally see where you're coming from.

>>2331127
My list of lesfic is more exclusive to my tastes of just being good fiction. I've posted this before, and it has some that the other anon recommended.

Good in General:
Nicola Griffith
Whatever Gods May Be (Sophia Hagin Kell) and sequel
LJ Baker – Lady Knight in particular (quite dark)
Nightshade (Shea Godfrey) and sequel
Miles to Go (Amy Dawson Robertson) and sequel
Agape trilogy (Aspura y Gonazoles) – religious themes
Sara Waters – I’ve only read Tipping the Velvet but I can vouch for that
Six Directions of Space (Alastair Reynolds) – scifi novella, lesbian protagonist
Grass Widow (Nanci Little) – do NOT read First Resort; I’m still bitter about it
Forty Love (Diana Simmonds)
Ash (Malinda Lo) – Huntress is also good
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café (Fannie Flagg)
Elemental Logic series (Laurie J Marks)
Qualities of Light (Mary Carroll Moore) – YA novel
Her Name in the Sky (Kelly Quindlen) – YA novel
Daughter of Mystery (Heather Rose Jones); sequels also excellent
One Saved to the Sea (Catt Kingsgrave) – novella
Lee Winter

Good for the romance genre (even if I list only 1 book, I’ll often purchase and enjoy more than that from the author):
KG MacGregor
Karen Kallmaker
For Me and My Gal (Robbi McCoy)
Parties in Congress (Collette Moody)
Pitifully Ugly (Robin Alexander) – I like most of her stuff, but this is by the far the best
Jane Fletcher – Shadow of the Knife is by far the best of hers though it’s rather dark
Cool Side of the Pillow (Gill McKnight); unlikable protags in many stories; Garoul series is fun
Roses and Thorns (Chris Anne Wolfe)
Laughing Down the Moon (Eva Indigo)

>>2333407
>>2334733
Thank you both for the lists. I only recently started getting into lesfic so these are quite helpful.

>>2334309
Here. Written in a single sitting. I went with the age gap theme for lack of better ideas of my own.
https://pastebin.com/2frvzwvq

Finished Natasha West's Julia Hawke series. Had some nice moments, but it felt a bit too saturated with typical romance misunderstandings and character developments.
Also, "turbulent" relationship or not, there's an age difference of almost 20 years between them, which in my opinion stretches credibility to the point where it really should be a major part of their problems - but it isn't. Not impossible, just many of the small niggling things that make the series kinda meh.

What I liked is the reasonably unlikeable older woman. An anti-heroine for romance, basically. I think that's what I'll look for as a next book, even though I'm skeptical about finding anything.

Dirty little war by c k martin was intense. Had me genuinely worried for the main couple. Could have been longer with more to the ending but it was different than the usual les books i read.

>>2335000
Much underrated, that one! I can only second that. Fresh topic, with good characters and an interesting plot.

Sure, it's no literary masterpiece, but there's little wrong with it. I'd probably even read a sequel.

Unfortunately the author's other books aren't as good, in my opinion. The urban fantasy ones are basically "the usual stuff", and the mystery ... unremarkable?

Anyone heard anything about the sequel to Goblin Fires by Brantwijn Serrah? I enjoyed the first one alot more than expected

>>2332030
sometimes i wonder if shit writing is easier to sell, especially for "lowbrow" genres.

'cause sometimes i remember how garbage a lot of the population is at basic reading comprehension.

>>2335086
This is endemic to the romance genre as a whole. /u/lit magnifies the effect since the majority of the books are romances.

>>2334534

Both. It's a brilliant novel, but not for everybody, because you are 100% right, it is confusing as hell. Honestly, I think it's the kind of novel that only works when you are looking for something like that very specifically.

>>2335086
I can accept that some people don't really care too much about proofreading and such, or even about the overall quality of the prose, as long as its comprehensible, but some FF novels on KU get so bad I found they were harder to read than something by Kant, just because the author didn't give a crap: The Queen's Garden Mage with its horribly structured sentences, for example. Just randomly letting them run into each completely disregarding any grammatical rules or proper punctuation its horrible to read and difficult to follow as the author does it all the time. But 4.2 stars, people like it.
Or Monroe's Go To Hell.
> I had a tendency for my mouth to over ride my butt.
Erm. Sure. If you say so.

I don't get how that's still enjoyable. Sometimes sheer stubbornness makes me wade through one of those novels, but it just completely sucks any ounce of joy from the experience, no matter the content. I don't get how people can shrug that aside.

Of course, more power to them.

>>2335103
Yeah, I think that was kind of the problem. I was just randomly rummaging around the depths of ebook libraries, and then that came along, and it really wasn't the right novel for that moment. But kudos for the author for doing something so different.

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>>2334870
Very nice. I wonder if Anne left that wine cupboard unlocked on purpose.
Meanwhile, my devious plan to promulgate age-gap yuri is proceeding apace.

K.S. Trent's Fairest. I like the unique ideas in this (Snow White didn't get her happy end and turned into Maleficent, the evil queen and her were in love, Sleeping Beauty becomes a witch) but it was just to short to do much with all that, MC falls in love in no time, most of the story is non stop angst and exposition.
I do adore the thought of two beautiful witches becoming queens though, I love sorcerer queens and I appreciated that the end of the story was everyone just sitting down and deciding where to go with their situation.

Some of Melissa Brayden's books. I read the first two Soho books, her most recent book, How sweet it is and First Position. She is probably one of the more formulaic writers, her stories all being about gorgeous, sensitive femmes falling in lust, deciding they shouldn't, coming together anyway, breaking up then finally getting a HEA. She's pretty good at most of these steps but I have to say that she's extremely weak when it comes to the breakup part and this is not just me saying I dislike breakups. Her breakups are almost always about really abstract and illogical thoughts brought about by a coincidence. Sometimes they kinda tie into a character arc like in Kiss the Girl, but it's still frustrating.

City of Hope and Ruin by Kit Campbell. A completely unremarkable YA book except for the premise being smashing to different archetypal (is that a word?) YA books together. YA heroine one is a tough, cold survivor girl living in a post apocalyptic city where she fights monsters every night. YA heroine two is a sweet but determined girl living in a fantasy village who has a special heritage and is trying to save her family (she's also the gf of the most popular guy but she wants more).

>>2335416
A Question of Counsel by Archer Kay Leah. It's about something I've been wanting more of, lesbian fantasy politicians. It doesn't feature that much in terms of politics though, it's a pretty short book about a conspiracy situation and the MCs romance with her new secretary.

Ex-Wives of Dracula by Georgette Kaplan. This started pretty fine but the dialogue became extremely distracting by a certain point and there were some eye roll worthy twists. Also why on Earth would you use sparkly vampires. The book even acknowledges that nobody likes those.

Femme 4 Femme by H.L Logan. Straight girl puts out an ad looking for femme friends thinking it just means gals, hilarity ensues. I liked this romcom quite a bit but the premise is discarded way before the halfway point and there's an unnecessary childhood friends thing.

I've actually read a ton of stuff recently but nothing was worth talking about and I haven't posted for some time so I just grabbed my most recent reads. I'll just try and reread something good I guess. Or start on Fire Logic.

Just started reading Ancient Ruins since it was suggested and talked about a few threads back.
Been starting, getting quickly bored with, and discarding a bunch of books lately, but this one seems pretty interesting so far. Could use a pass from an editor though.

I was in the mood for some scifi.

Finally read Ammonite. Don't really know why I didn't do it earlier, and not sure how much blasphemy I'm committing by saying this, but despite it being clearly well-written I thought it was rather uninspired. I don't think it did enough with the female-only idea, if that's what the author wanted to explore, why ignore the potential problems (like, does the virus turn every woman also into a lesbian? Apparently...)? And it feels just so typical FF scifi - with more quality maybe, but of course there's some sort of empathic sense, of course there's some anti-hunting sentiment, of course the wise, noble native tribes are totally better than the corrupt civilization etc. Basically every FF scifi novel does this. It gets old.

Also, the heroine was boring.

I also read JS Fields Ardulum, which is about the heroine picking up an empathic/telepathic vegetarian girl (surprise!). Well, it doesn't pretend to be hard scifi, I think. It's not as well-written as Ammonite and I thought some of the science was rather dubious (like the travel times in space), but there's lots of this that I did like. One, while there's bad guys around, nobody here does anything because they are mwhahah-evil. They just have different opinions. Two, this features loads of aliens and isn't very human-centric, in fact, the protagonist herself isn't human. Nicely refreshing, although none of the aliens are as such "very alien". I mean, there's those she calls "beach balls" (basically balls with ears) but everyone acts fairly "normal". Probably a side-effect of them all discussing this same issue of those telepathic-aliens, so they needed to have some sort of common ground, but the novel could have done more there. Three, people die, lots of them actually, and none of those deaths feels contrived just thrown in for the drama.
So pretty good altogether. No romance, but there'll be a sequel, so maybe then.

>>2335416
I loathed Brayden's Kiss the Girl. The entire thing felt cheesy and fake. Every time there was dialog I had to fight not to roll my eyes. Won't be touching that author again.

>>2314028
What was the best book centered on a police investigation you've ever read?
I'm reading a book by Jessica L. Webb and it's being a disappointment.
The action and suspense scenes are not at all exciting

>>2335783
Kate Martinelli by Laurie R King or Jude Devine by Rose Beecham for US police ... people. Kate Allen's Alison Kaine technically also features a police officer and is pretty fun, but her investigations aren't too focused on her job (which she later quits).
There's other, but I didn't find them too convincing.

For non-US police officers Hanne Wilhemsen by Anne Holt (trivia time: a former Norwegian minister of justice) or Cari Hunter's Dark Peak series (here be Brits). Lindy Cameron's Kit O'Malley is an Australian PI, but she gets involved in police business quite a bit, so ... technically there's Claire McNab's Carol Ashton for Austrian police officer, but I didn't manage to like the series all that much (but I love her Kylie Kendall series, heh).

>>2335783
I really enjoyed Keepers of the Cave by Gerri Hill. Goodreads has a nice synopsis of what to expect. The sequel is also pretty good.

So I'm reading Bennett's Attack of the Lesbian Zombies, which is about a zombie-apocalypse where only lesbians survive and all the female zombies turn into lesbian ones, meaning they're after vaginas and can only be killed by you know. De-vagination. But to be turned into a lesbian zombie, they had to have their vags bitten off, so that kinda doesn't make sense. And in the scene with the bow, how the hell did they manage to shoot the zombies standing in a circle around the heroine between their respective legs? Trick-shots bouncing off the floor?

And are those really the issues I should concentrate on while reading this?

>>2335547
>Ammonite
Ammonite is good just because it's well-written lesbian fiction. However, Slow River is significantly better.