Classic heroism edition
Recommendation Charts:
>Fantasy
Selected: http://i.imgur.com/3v2oXAY.jpg
General: http://i.imgur.com/igBYngL
Flowchart: https://i.imgur.com/uykqKJn.jpg
>Sci-Fi
Selected: http://i.imgur.com/A96mTQX.jpg
General: http://i.imgur.com/r55ODlL.jpg / http://i.imgur.com/gNTrDmc.jpg
>What are you reading?
>Who is your favorite hero in SFF?
>Which SFF girl would you want to be your "damsel?"
>>7815288
I've read the first few Gor novels by John Norman and thoroughly enjoyed both of them.
I like reading high brow literature as much as the rest of you autists on this board but there's something so genuinely comfy and refreshing to just escape back to Gor every once in a while and sink into the lore and action-packed absurdity of it all.
A true masterpiece of a series and one I'd recommend any of you guys get into.
Start with Tarnsman of Gor though.
>>7815312
How self contained are they? The used bookstore has several, but not in sequence. I've been thinking about picking some up when they go on sale.
>>7815288
>What are you reading?
Re-reading The Stars my Destination.
>Who is your favorite hero in SFF?
Andrew Harlan from The End of Eternity.That or Conan...
>Which SFF girl would you want to be your "damsel?"
I guess it's Danica Maupoissant from The Cleric Quintett (Forgotten Realms).
>>7815288
>What are you reading?
Gormenghast. I didn't expect this not to be fantasy at all and to be modernism.
>Who is your favorite hero in SFF?
Fafhrd
>Which SFF girl would you want to be your "damsel?"
Dorcas
>>7815288
>what are you reading?
just finished a knight of the seven kingdoms. it was ok. not as good as the other memes.
i had to take a break from the teenage fantasy dribble known as the night angel trilogy. i started the last book but i dont know if i can finish it.
>What are you reading?
Garden of the Moon
>Who is your favorite hero in SFF?
Roland Deschain
>Which SFF girl would you want to be your "damsel?"
Arya
>>7815288
>>What are you reading?
The Thing Itself I'm about to start, no idea what to expect
>>Who is your favorite hero in SFF?
Probably Robin Broadhead from Gateway, love the way he beat the shit out of his gf
>>Which SFF girl would you want to be your "damsel?"
Maybe the bitch from Sirens of Titan, so i could rough-fuck her silly
>>7815684
Reading Gardens of the Moon here as well. Enjoying it much more than I thought I would, considering everyone told me it barely makes any sense and the series only gets good with the second book.
post your Stormlight 3 theories
Recently read The Man in the High Castle, didn't really love it. Am I a pleb?
>>7815944
Yes and no, depending on your reasons
I'm reading Evangeline Walton's retelling of the first branch of the Mabinogion right now.
It's really great just because the story is so fantastic. Her prose is tight and she doesn't try to punch it up or "put her on spin" on it. I'll probably get the other three branches but take a long break between them.
>>7815944
I was a bit older and in college when I first read PKD so I was able to totally dive in and go straight to the more bizarre unstable period stuff. After I read over some of his more popular or mainstream works like High Castle and I found them to be a bit tame.
anyone here read them?
>>7816013
No but I've heard good things from mates? Is it worth a read? I'm a bit of a sino-phile if that helps, how Chinese is it?
where to start with conan lads?
>>7816083
Any by Howard, really. There's kind of a chronology, but for the most part it isn't crucial to any given story.
>>7816083
Howard really only wrote a handful of Conan stories so just pick up any compilation.
Getting one with some Frazetta art would be clutch
>>7815977
How is this?
>>7816083
The novel is the first one. I think.
Big question boys.
Should I bother buying a complete set of the Foundation series off ebay for like £40? All the spines of the books fit together into this nice picture.
>>7816163
I don't know I never actually read any golden age sf
Read (and fast forwarded later on) first book of the Magicians, it's a curious melange of Potter slash fiction (what if Tara Gilesbie was a competent writer?), brony fairytale and 'mature' themes that don't know which rabbit hole to plug into. Wouldn't reccommend to anyone but there are some decent descriptions of magic until it becomes obvious - soon - that the author is just obfuscating the mechanics of the whole process. Feelz = realz etc.
>>7815288
Thecla
What are some books that give you an Alice in Wonderland vibe or some generally good fairy tale ones?
>>7816248
Inb4Croatians tales of long ago.
>>7816248
Croatian Tales from Long Ago as they are an actual collection of fairy tales for children.
>>7816256
It certainly is obvious now.
>>7816254
Eh. it took 12 seconds.
Anyone read the Spellsinger series and could give rough overview of it?
>>7816263
I'm going to shill it like I shilled Wolfe. After that Belloc and Endo.
Also did you like it?
Reading Neal Stephenson's Seveneves right now. There's some good stuff in it but the writing is generally so shitty that something dumb makes me angry on almost every page. Like every single time he uses the A+n notation he has to explain that it means n days after the event of the first page. And he just explained who a character is on page 220 who has literally been the main character since page 2.
I haven't read NS in a while, but I don't remember Snow Crash or Anathema being this, like, totally not giving a shit about prose.
>>7816271
Snow Crash had pretty mediocre prose and really shitty characters.
>>7816268
Haven't read it. I usually like everything that isn't shit, that's why I choose carefully.
I miss Marc Aramini
>>7816283
>I usually like everything that isn't shit, that's why I choose carefully.
>>7816305
don't we all
One day he will come back in glory and show us the way to remake Earth into Ushas.Also how to get sick gains like his.
>>7816306
At least be creative enough for non anime response pictures
>>7816310
Idk I'm a bit on the fat side.
>>7816311
You're not the boss of me.
>>7816319
Anko show me your manko.
>>7816321
Your statement doesn't make sense.
If you like everything you don't need to pick carefully. If you dislike most you do. I'm unsure of what you were trying to say.
>>7816321
It sounds very funny and even after re-reading it 10 times I don't get it.
>What are you reading?
Return of The Crimson Guard by ICE. Trying to keep the Malazan good times going now I finished the main book of the fallen series.
>Who is your favourite hero in SFF?
Jean from The Gentleman Bastards
>Which SFF girl would you want to be your "damsel?"
surely Masan Gilani
Wow, City of Blades managed to blow City of Stairs out of the water. Better protag, better god, tense as a wire the whole way through. If City of Miracles is half as good as this I'll be very happy. Anyone else read it?
Anyone else read The Thousand Names? I feel sort of hypocritical for liking the Powder Mage books but hating this but goddamn the main bitch pissed me off
>>7815944
I guess it depends. High Castle is PKD's most polished prose, but the alt-history (fresh at the time) is a little stale now. Plus the book just trails off.
Just finished this, it was alright. Knowing Donaldson's penchant for an unending climax I'll probably check out the next book.
>>7817066
That ride never ends. It just keeps going and going, backstabs and betrayals, time after time after time.
Didn't expect that after Thomas Covenant desu.
>tfw can't find good fantasy stories to read because I have extremely picky tastes that I can't really put into words
>>7817290
I was kind of like this and then I read Gene Wolfe and I could put it into words
I need something like Harry Potter, in a way that similarly matches the camaraderie. I would love to read something long and intimate where close people dearly care for one other.
Holy shit. I've been ignoring a stupid looking fantasy book in my amazon and goodreads suggestions for like a week now called Working For Bigfoot...
Turns out it's actually a Dresden Files book and it had me grinning ear-to-ear in minutes
>>7815353
Gor books are generally pretty self-contained.
As you read further into the series, you'll find that Norman starts fixating on the idea that women should all be slaves. This starts to take over the narrative of the series after a while, and the actual plot takes a back seat (which is sad, since Norman writes good pulpy fantasy.
The series also has several books that focus on different protagonists than Tarl Cabot.
>>7817066
It's probably my favorite space opera. The way that the identities of the Victim, the Villain, and the Hero are changed is really well done.
Read the first two books of this recently. They're not bad, a lot of the characters are really likeable and all. Unfortunately towards the end of the second book several major characters are infected with extreme stupidity. It's implied they are being affected by magic or something, but reading about otherwise solid characters doing extremely stupid things for apparently no reason never goes down well.
>>7817334
>>7817381
I avoided the Farseer Trilogy for years for this same reason. What the fuck do I want to read a series with titles like Assassin's Apprentice and Royal Assassin for? I'm not 14 anymore.
Needless to say, I now consider it among the best things I've ever read.
>tfw finally reading Gormenghast and it's everything I hoped for
Why can't all Fantasy be this fucking great?
>>7817381
>>7817716
>>7817808
For starters is not written by a manchild. Second like all the good sf/f doesn't try to be sf/f.
>>7817923
Way of Kings is much better desu.
>>7817934
It won't turn true just because you keep repeating it.
>>7817971
First time I posted it Mr. Paranoia. It's true though.
>>7817972
It's starwars/halo tier books. Send that fatty manchild to break rocks in a working camp for a month.
>>7817976
But I hate SW and Halo.
>>7817334Lord of the Rings
>>7817997
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
Thoughts on The Princess Bride?
>>7815288
>What are you reading?
Just started the broken empire and I am also reading the horus heresy : horus rising.
>Who is your favorite hero in SFF?
CONAN
>Which SFF girl would you want to be your "damsel?"
I'm not sure can't think of anyone.
>>7816013
I did.
Dark forest was really good.
And I'm waiting for deaths end to come out.
>>7815288
>What are you reading?
The Complete Fiction of HP Lovecraft. Highly recommended.
>Who is your favorite hero in SFF?
Tough question. I'll have to go with Roland Deschain Of Gilead.
>Which SFF girl would you want to be your "damsel?"
Princess Irulan.
![big_Vance-Lyonesse[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/IK4Ck8w.jpg "big_Vance-Lyonesse[1].jpg")
>>7815288
>What are you reading?
I finished the Lyonesse trilogy a few minutes ago. A few parts felt a bit rushed but I guess that's what happens when a writer finishes an epic fantasy without writing ten thousand pages. Overall I would recommend.
I'm pretty amazed that Vance was able to keep his quality high for so long. Lyonesse III was published just shy of FORTY YEARS after The Dying Earth. And he published other stuff while he was still writing Lyonesse. Even the stuff he put out in the 90s is supposed to be good, if a slight decline from his height.
Just finished the novelette For A Breath I Tarry by Roger Zelazny (from his collection in The Last Defender of Camelot). It's really great. I would highly recommend any lover of SF to take a few minutes and read it.
>>7818723
Will check out, thanks for the rec.
Speaking of great novelettes, there's this short SF story called "Sand Kings" from a young and not-yet-sold-out GRRM.
It's really something. That guy has more talent for SF than he does for fantasy.
Can someone give me a good companion piece for this?
What is Wolfe pulling from? Is it Mallory?
Just started The Wind through The Keyhole this weekend, enjoying it a lot. Feels like being reunited with old friends since I've not read any Dark Tower in a decade or so.
>Everlynne will never dominate you in the bedroom
Why bother waking up in the mornings?
>>7818886
That book is good and the fact that it's good kills me, because it means that King can STILL write which in turn means that the last three Dark Tower books could have been much better if only he didn't fucking rush them.
>>7818920
I avoided it for years because I suspected it would be like the later Dark Tower book and newer Stephen King in terms of quality but it's pretty decently solid so far. Feels like the early books especially, I'm hoping he writes a ninth or something to celebrate the movie coming out but I've got no idea what he could do unless we get a collection of short stories set in Mid-world or something similar like that.
>>7818827
I have no idea, it's all over the place and there isn't much scholarship on him
>>7818929
>I've got no idea what he could do
He says he always wanted to do The Battle Of Jericho Hill.
Think about it. A young Roland and the other Gunslingers' last stand against the armies of John Farson (and maybe finally an explanation of who the fuck he even was, was he Flagg or not, and why didn't he appear in DT?".)
If done right it could be amazing.
>>7817978
And everyone here hates you so take your fat ass out
>>7818944
I asked around and they hate you the most actually.
>>7818938
>Dark Tower: Battle of Jericho Hill
FUND IT! FUND IT!
We barely know what actually happened aside from testimonies through word of mouth but reading about it would be great and yeah, I think it was pretty much giving Flagg wasn't John Farson. Though that MAY have been just a red herring.
Wasn't Flagg Steven's advisor or something like that? It would've been difficult for him to play both roles then again he's a wizard so who knows.
>>7817933
But it does
>>7818723
>For A Breath I Tarry
That was awesome, even when I read it when I was ten and didn't pick up on any of the Genesis stuff.
>>7818946
No, it's Jordanfags and Sandersonfags. Everyone else is ok
Do I have to read other Stephen King books before The Dark Tower? I heard his endings are really bad especially in The Stand (I think I got spoiled, there's a boom or something) and The Shining just sounds like not my cup. Which leaves IT and Salem's Lot, how are those?
>>7818976
IT is actually pretty literary in some parts and Salem's Lot is one of the few with an actual legit decent ending. I say go for those two but probably start with Salem's Lot before you read TDT.
>>7818827
There's a ton Norse and Welsh mythology but I'm not sure where one should look for a companion peice
>>7817692
I've heard lots of good things about it but you're the first I've seen mention it here. Might read it soon
Anyone read Mists of Avalon? How is it?
>>7817290
>gene wolfe
>ursula le guin
>tolkien
>mervyn peake
desu thats about it.
>>7819500
You forgot Sanderson.
>>7819501
>>7819501
WEW LAD
E
W
LAD
>>7819500
>ursula le gender
>tolkien
no
>>7816310
I don't.
The Wolfe threads were good for maybe two of them. The rest were trash though.
>>7818987
>IT is 1100 pages
>>7817034
No it isn't. High Castle has awkward story structure because he used the I Ching to write it.
His best written longer work would be Scanner Darkly.
>>7819599
That isn't even that bad compared to unabridged The Stand which is like 1400, but how a book can end so badly after that many pages is a mystery.
>>7819595
nah most wolfe threads have plenty of quality discussion for 4chan level
>>7819544
Wow, check out this hotshot with his contrarian ideas. Here's your (you), now get out.
>>7819602
>he used the I Ching to write it
>Grasshopper Lies Heavy was written with the I Ching
WHAT THE FUCK
>>7819604
please don't remind me.
>Las Vegas is a STEM libertarian paradise
>gets BTFOed by the literal Hand Of God
>>7819604
King's a hardcore discovery writer. He doesn't even know how things are going to end.
Im looking for something as engrossing as BOTNS. I have read just about everything from Wolfe and I need my fix.
Please help me out
>>7819654
Way of Kings
>>7819653
which has hilarious implications on IT.
>so this band of 11 year olds just battled a Lovecraftian shapeshifting murder demon from outside the universe. I guess they're just gonna have an orgy in the sewers now, idk.
>>7819660
ive read that, while great, not exactly what i am looking for
>>7819676
try Lord Dunsany.
>>7819670
The cocaine did some permanent damage.
>>7819654
It doesn't exist. Not in fantasy anyway. Well Gormenghast is the only fantasy that's also a modernist work like New Sun.
Try Chesterton, Wolfe had great taste and reading what he read is a worthwhile endeavor.
>>7819626
Sorry for not liking your anthropolore dabblers.
>>7819752
Also read Jack Vance, started The Dragon Masters and its pretty great
>>7819799
Is that so Combiner?
Anyway go for Chesterton, Proust, Borges and maybe Augustine and Aquinas since all can be seen in Wolfe. Oh also Melville.
>>7819799
I hear Vance is underrated as fuck.
>>7819544
>tolkien
>no
Next you're gonna tell me that Tolstoj, Shakespeare and Dante aren't worth reading.
>>7819882
Those are great writers. Tolkien is a shit writer even for genre standards.
>>7819544
>ursula le gender
Puppy pls go
>>7819911
ursula le gender is the prime example of referential crap masquerading as quality prose.
>oh, look she reached into her endless erudition bag and pulled a reference to indigenous people of lower amazon's prolapse rituals
>i've read about it in de grasse manuscripts!
>we're both smart, she's my bae now
>What are you reading?
Solaris by Lem
>Who is your favorite hero in SFF?
Shevek in The Dispossessed
>Which SFF girl would you want to be your "damsel?"
do not wish to contribute to bad stereotypes of SFF readers more than these threads already do. just kidding I think these are actually some of the better threads on /lit/ but this question sucks
I just finished Look to Windward by Iain M. Banks, which I thought was fantastic despite having a totally disjointed and uneven plot that probably should have started halfway through the novel instead of where it started. It was my first Culture novel and I was impressed by the dialogue, characterization, and depth and breadth of the world he created. Which Culture novel should I read next? Probably Consider Phlebas, Use of Weapons, or Player of Games - which of those does /sffg/ like the most?
Powder Mage any good?
>>7819925
>do not wish to contribute to bad stereotypes of SFF readers more than these threads already do. just kidding I think these are actually some of the better threads on /lit/ but this question sucks
le gender's reader triggered by sexuality
news at 11
>>7819962
this is not a hugbox unfortunately
come on, tell us
who is your damsel
you like pussy don't you? gets your dick hard?
>>7819993
Your mom.
>>7820000
there, by god! you ughed your way into a bad stereotype and survived. don't be scared in the future.
>>7819993
I like your moist ass pussy.
>>7819925
>do not wish to contribute to bad stereotypes of SFF readers more than these threads already do. just kidding I think these are actually some of the better threads on /lit/ but this question sucks
Women are weak and need to be saved.
>>7815938
I really don't get why people say that. Sure, some of the larger motivations go unexplained but no more than in other books.
>>7819631
shit, I think I get it now, but how the fuck am I supposed to know that?
So is LeGuin a meme or worth reading
>>7820057
worth
>>7819852
He's not really underrated so much as under-read.
>>7818108
>The Girl Who Circumcised A Fairy with a Plastibell of Her Own Making
>>7819925
read The State of the Art first, the Culture-related short stories are a nice and proper introduction to The Culture, then Consider Phlebas and go by publication order.
If you don't like it any more, still make sure you won't miss Player of Games and Use of Weapons at least.
>>7819595
Aramini never started a thread on 4chan. I am in a position to know.
>>7819941
>>7819993
please tell me what sort of godawful SF/F people like you read
>>7820057
100% worth, my favorite SF/F author. guessing the mad people itt have never read her - her protagonists are overwhelmingly male and the commentary on society, gender, etc. is way too subtle to really get anyone smart this riled up
>>7820168
thank you my friend
>>7820184
>please tell me what sort of godawful SF/F people like you read
Mostly Gene Wolfe and Abercrombie for kicks. Big Glen Cook fan. Hopefully will get into Lem later on, I'm drawn towards Fiasco.
I also love Dan Abnett and will probably give Takeshi Kovacs novels a chance despite Morgan dropping the ball with his fantasy series.
>>7820213
you know Wolfe and Le Guin were big fans of each other's work, right?
>>7820249
Wolfe is also a christfag, so what?
>>7818827
The myths are primarily Norse, as gilling, angrboda, lothur/loki and odin/valfather are all featured. Mallory is worth looking into for the violence/bullying of knighthood ... online look up duchy of cumberbatch and he has a bunch of notes on the wizard knight, but a lot of it is using name/allusion strategies I dont buy into ... fair amount of valid observations there anyway. Andre druissi's companion volume lists the names and Norse allusions but the best part of that is the intro by wolfe, which wont tell you much but is genuinely funny. Someone whose name is mentioned in this thread is working on a wizard knight writeup almost as we speak.
>>7820213
I really couldn't stand Abnett's WH40K stuff, but his comics are almost uniformly amazing, him and Andy Lanning (which he usually collaborates with when writing comics) really get how to write group comic books, be it Legion of Superheroes, Guardians of the Galaxy or The Hypernaturals.
>>7820213
>Dan Abnett
His Warhammer stuff?
>>7817334
Kingkiller Chronicle. Try it.
>>7820343
https://duchyofcumberbatch.wordpress.com/tag/the-wizard-knight/
I dont know how to reverse that ... the posts are in opposite of chronological order but there.
Any books like Avatar?
>>7820407
there is a comic or two that span the time between last airbender and legend of korra
>>7820468
>you will never have a 9-year-old gf
What's the fucking point?
>>7820502
Lo, yon damsel seemeth in distress!
>>7820502
but she's almost sixteen...
>>7820468
I heard they suck. Are there any books also set in fantasy asia?
>>7820537
the comics are all right. certainly better than Korra.
and don't know about fantasy asia.
>>7820537
Daughter of the Empire series by Feist/Wurts is asiany.
>>7820057
>>7820184
Early Le Guin is amazing. Her gender commentary is honestly not that good but her Daoism is amazing. Later on she realized the patriarchy had brainwashed her into making her protags male, and she decided to get back at them by making her future main characters female and also by making her books suck.
>>7820537
>Are there any books also set in fantasy asia?
Initiate Brother, Bridge of Birds, Number Ten Ox.
>>7820537
The braided path
>>7820537
Try The Grace Of Kings by Ken Liu. It's like ASOIAF but Dany and Tyrian are swapped out with Zuko and Sokka respectively. It's really pretty great
I'm here to ask the age old question: what series is like ASOIAF but not shit?
>>7818717
Have those two series downloaded. Which would you recommend reading first for a newcomer to Vance?
>tfw I read Lord of The Rings/Simarillion at 8-9 respectively, and now that I'm 19, I'm reading Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms shit
It's horrifically simple, but I think it's charming in its own right.
At least I read a classic every month to make myself feel better about myself.
>>7815288
>What are you reading?
Gardens of the Moon.
>Who is your favorite hero in SFF?
Sam Vimes.
>Which SFF girl would you want to be your "damsel"?
This warrants some serious consideration, can't answer it now.
>>7821057
I had a similar development, only I got into Dragonlance in middleschool and gave up on it.
Are the later wheel of time books really that bad? I'm on book 3, and have 4 and 5 on my shelf. I'm really liking it, so I'm worried about the later books. I've heard their really not much interesting that goes on.
>>7821065
Apparently the last one is the worst.
I'm reading the first one at the moment becauseit's the subject of a lot of Blind Guardian songshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WXeHT661xM
>>7821070
Crossroads or knife of dreams is by far the worst in the series
>>7820950
Everything is shit, it's impossible for you to enjoy anything.
Read the Accursed Kings. It's not fantasy, but it should give you what you're looking for.
>>7820953
Read the Dying Earth first. While I wouldn't say it's his best, it's his first work and his most iconic one. If you have the "Tales of" compilation, read the Cugel stories as well. Those are superb.
>>7821065
You're enjoying the series but it's like you're trying to psyche yourself out of it? Well, to each their own. Crossroads is certainly bad, otherwise it's a bit hit and miss. The Gathering Storm is an exception and ranks up there with 4 and 5.
>>7821070
There's nothing wrong with blind guardian m8, though I prefer gamma ray.
>>7821089
No, I'm just curious about people's thoughts. More just want to prepare myself.
Thoughts on Kelewan Saga? Know nothing about it
>>7821079
I actually really loved ASOIAF until the repetition and exposition started to really piss me off in the third book, then the aimless meandering the following books went through is nearly rage inducing to think about if I knew where things would be after the amazing promise of the first books ending
>>7820213
Have you not read any Lem yet? I personally liked Fiasco a lot more than Solaris but I might not be right in the head.
Also you and everyone else should really check out some of his humorous stuff like star dairies.
>>7817808
Just finished the wheel of time, Sanderson is an acceptable writer and I've read his storm books... But for some reason it all feels too cliche all the time.
I've started grossmans magicians, I've got the black company and gormenghast waiting to be picked up, gormengast really that great?
>>7821222
>gormengast really that great?
Yes.
>>7820537
Under Heaven and River of Stars.
It's mostly historical fantasy though, so expect dynastic China with minor fantasy elements.
Reading Prince of Thorns now. I'm not really that into it, it just seems like a shitty fantasy Blood Meridian so far.
Favorite hero is hands down John Carter.
Can anyone recommend some good sword+sorcery in the vein of Fafhyrd and the Grey Mouser, Elric, Conan, etc?
>>7821261
Have you read Michael Shea's Nifft stories?
>>7821261
Howard's other stuff is pretty good. Solomon Kane, Kull, El Borak, Bran Mak Morn
I'd also suggest Wagner's Kane, much like Conan, only darker
>>7820249
And Jesus thought Hitler was a cool guy, your point?
>>7819141
I liked the rape, gay and incest in Mists of Avalon series.
>>7821057
>>7821064
the dragonlance books turn frustratingly shit after the original books because who wants to read anything about the gods being mad for no apparent reason and abandoning Krynn YET AGAIN for the fantastillionth time?
The strong point of Dragonlance was the focus on its main cast. you can only re-hash and put them in world-endangering peril so many times, it gets old quite quickly.
forgotten realms on the other hand lives from the setting and not mainly from its characters. I can easily do without Drizzt or Elminster, in fact the 1 shot books are mostly much better than those simply because the range of possibilities of the settings allow for such variety, the auther may write anything he likes and it doesn't have to have any impact on the setting at all and may still be very enjoyable.
>>7821471
B-but muh Tasslehoff saving the world!
I've never actually read Forgotten Realms stuff, though. What are these one shot books you speak of?
>>7821267
is there some kind of complete edition of solomon kane available somewhere?
>>7821478
stand-alone books that aren't bound to any other ones or the greater going-ons of the realms. there are one-shots put under labels though, just having a common theme like "The Cities", "The Dungeons" etc.
I can recommend all the books of "The Dungeons", a few of "The Nobles", and most of the "Ed Greenwood Presents Waterdeep" books (Downshadow and Circle of Skulls weren't so good though), especially City of the Dead was comfy as fuck, probably my favorite Forgotten Realms novel, followed by Murder in Cormyr of the Mysteries series.
All books of these lines are standalone books, with varying degrees of quality though and I can't say I have read even half of them:
>The Citadels (didn't really like the first one and the rest didn't look that interesting either, but it plays in the shining east or what its called, that India-like country)
>The Cities
>The Dungeons (Stardeep is a prequel to Abolethic Sovereignty but it was written as stand alone)
>The Fighters
>Lost Empires
>The Lost Gods
>Mysteries (Murder in...)
>The Nobles
>The Priests
>The Rogues
>The Wilds
>The Wizards
plus the completely stand alone books:
>Once Around the Realms
>The Shadow Stone
>The Glass Prison
>Sandstorm
>Dawnbringer
>Venom in Her Veins
>The Rose of Sarifal
and
>The Gilded Rune
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Forgotten_Realms_novels
if you have problems picking them up check ebay, there's usually whole lines offered together at reasonable prices. if you use e-readers I don't need to help you anyway.
>>7821529
Thanks. I'll use a library though. There's shelves of these in there.
Are there any famous sf/f books in English that have been written in another language (apart from russian and japanese)?
Specifically inItalian? I don't follow much the scene, I think I've never read a single modern novel written in my language. Wait, I've actually readEvangelisti's Tortuga, about pirates, once. It was awful, the ending made me rage,literally the white man is killed and cucked by a nigger slave that he helped together with the woman, I can't help but laugh thinking about it now. Oh, yeah, I've also readAlexandros by Manfrediwhen I was young.
>>7821563
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende is a (children's) classic, it's originally in German though.
I think The Nonexistent Knight and The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino were frequently mentioned here.
>>7821535
I cannot guarantee that all (any) of them are good/enjoyable though. Taste varies, especially with such a variety of possibilities in the FR setting.
That one book, Azure Bonds (first book in The Finder's Stone Trilogy) is praised by a lot of oldfag FR players as one of the best and how you should write an FR book etc but to me it felt so fucking boring and predictable, it was basically just written like an adventure, but a bad one.
>>7821572
Ok, but other than those classics? Anything contemporary?
I've never read Calvino, I'm not that interested. I guess there's Eco too but I haven't read nor I'm not that interested in him either.
I have The Neverending Story on my bedsdide but I don't plan on reading it.
>>7821563
Cornelia Funke and Michael Ende for children's or YA fantasy. German.
Lem and the Strugatzkys for adult scifi. Polish and Russian.
>>7821593
>other than russian
>>7821597
Sorry sempai.
>>7821563
Nothing too well known I think. Try
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Italian_fantasy_writers
and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Italian_science_fiction_writers
But I haven't really heard anything about those.
>>7821605
I'm just curious if you guys know anyone, I don't want to read it.
>>7821216
Unfortunately not, I had started some but didn't have the concentration to continue at the time.
>>7821261
I enjoyed the Prince of Thorns/trilogy enough. If you're not digging it now though I wouldn't expect the rest of the series to win you over.
>>7821563
Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino.
>>7820953
I agree with >>7821089 that you should read The Dying Earth first. Little Big Planet is another good early work, also The Dragon Masters. These are both standalones that you can read before wading into longer serial works.
The other Dying Earth stories are also worth reading as well, but I'd probably read The Demon Princes first if you want to tackle a longer series. Lyonesse is a bit more mellow than Vance's norm, not to mention longer -- save it for later.
Vance was ridiculously prolific though, I've barely made a dent in his bibliography. Like PKD, check reviews before you try to hunt down an obscure novel--I'm sure he wrote a few duds, and those are usually the first to go out of print.
>>7821563Ti consiglio gli ebook di Vaporteppa, sono più steampunk che strettamente fantasy ma secondo me oggi come oggi in Italia non c'è di meglio in questo ambito.
>>7821786Mah, mi chiedevo più che altro se ci fossero degli autori contemporanei conosciuti all'estero o chi venisse tradotto, non è che abbia tutta questa voglia di leggere roba italiana.
Sto leggendo L'Artiglio del Conciliatore di Wolfe, appena iniziato, e ho finito l'altro giorno La Terra Morente, il primo volume. Poi starei leggendo anche Anna Karenina. Sarà meglio che mi sbrighi, però, perchè tra un mese esce Dark Souls e per molto tempo gli dedicherò tutte le mie attenzioni.
>>7821770
yeah that's the best one to get into it. contains everything howard wrote.
>>7821824A giudicare dalle risposte il più conosciuto all'estero è Calvino. Strano perché in italia non è nemmeno considerato "fantasy".
Grazie a Dio non conoscono Licia Troisi. Questa gente pensa che Eragon sia brutto, si vede che non hanno mai letto le cronache del mondo emerso.
>>7821988
Yeah, that shit makes me wanna puke everytime I see it, especially because it makes me realize lots of people read it.
>>7822301
He didn't say he's Italian, he simply said everyone hates Eragon here.
>>7822323
And with good reason. Shit's beyond garbage.
>>7822368
Does Eragon fuck the elf in the end? I read only the first two when I was young.
>>7822424No he doesn't, she friendzones him and then he rides off into the sunset.
Not even joking.
>>7822481
Fuck. That's depressing.
Is soft scifi dead? It seems like what remains of the sci-fi fandom is obsessed with autistic hard scifi now.
>>7822548
>It seems like what remains of the sci-fi fandom is obsessed with autistic hard scifi now.
Not really, it's just the Puppies trying to set the whole field back 50 years and make it all space opera about engineers on spaceships again.
Boring as fuck desu, take that fedoralord John C. Wright, he's a perfect example of this creative stagnation.
>let's just do Heinlein and Asimov until the end of time.
Anyone reading The Emperors Blades here? The last book just came out.Talk about a rushed ending
I've got a feeling I'm stepping into some taboo zone here but what's /lit/'s opinion on the Kingkiller Chronicle?
>inb4 it's reddit
also
>What are you reading?
I'm reading the second book in the Magic 2.0 series. Anyone here read it?
>>7822648
Fest king killer book is ok. Second is straight garbage as Rothfuss let the fame go to his head and starts wanking over his self insert
>>7821496
http://www.amazon.com/Savage-Tales-Solomon-Kane/dp/0345461509/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
>>7822667
Is there hope for the third book? I know you're going to read it when it comes out but do you think it's going to be good?
>>7822667
There is nothing more painful then seeing a good book with great prose turn into low-tier fanfiction in the span of a couple hundred pages.
Auri still a qt, doe.
>>7822688
What did you think of theJewRegard of Silent things? I thought it was pretty rude to price it like a full book while only having a quarter of the pages.
Also I don't think the second book's prose was worse than the first's, it's just that it had too much wish fulfillment.
>>7822687
Rumor is he turned in a manuscript to his editor and she completely trashed it and refused to publish it
>>7815288
>What are you reading?
The Final Programme by Michael Moorcock and The Game-Players Of Titan by Philip K. Dick
>>7822723
I bought it through amazon, didn't notice the price. I liked it, thought it's a weird book. I think I have my review on goodreads somewhere.
I should have worded it better - the first book was good and both have great prose. The whole premise was ruined through mediocre ideas.
>>7822733
If it was heading the way of book 2 that sounds like a good editor.
>>7822763
What the fuck was up with that town with the poisoned Maer anyway? The whole town felt like something out of a DnD game, with the quests to save the King, find the traitor, kill some bandits and all that. The only things memorable about the book was Felurian and the new things about Bast, plus the few already established things that were developed a little. Most of the book felt like filler.
Maybe he should have let the book stew a little longer in him.
>>7822688
>great prose
anon, please
>reading scifi novel "The Quantum Thief", written by a Finn
>50 pages in and we've already had "battle autism" and "weaponized meme"
>>7822810
I don't remember that to be honest. I remember how lackluster the warrior-guys were and how everything was kid of meh. I liked his confrontation with Devi and the Cthaeh and the whole lot about Bast but Felurian looked too much like wish fulfillment for comfort.
>>7822824
Sorry I'm not a native speaker, don't have much to compare against most fantasy writer's prose is very "workman" or dry to my eyes like Sanderson, Jordan, Eddings, Stephen King so on and so forth.
Pratchett is good but not great as is Robin Hobb (for me).
Outside of fantasy I think that Thomas Sowell and Theodore Dalrymple are examples of writers with great style.
Sorry I definately don't fit into this board when it comes to literal taste.
>>7822548
>fandom
>>135523275
>>7822906
Rohtfuss does have good prose, he just doesn't like him because he's more popular than his meme writers like Wolfe.
>>7822906
> Sorry I'm not a native speaker, don't have much to compare against. Most fantasy writer's prose is very "workman" or dry to my eyes [...]
> Sorry I definately don't fit into this board when it comes to taste in literature
>>7822919
De gustibus non est disputandum.
People here for sure read more Englsih literature than me and have different tastes. I mostly read fantasy and non-fiction to be "in contact" with the language.
I can just point out what I consider good/great prose.
>>7822906
thomas sowell lmao
>>7822932
What is the point of this post?
>>7822906
yeah like >>7822919 said, >>7822824 is memeing you. Ruthfusss' stuff is good, especially for fantasy.
I remember reading KKC then Stormlight Archives and it really made me appreciate how Rothfuss wrote his stuff. Same thing when I went for Gentleman Bastards to Mistborn. Guess it proves that Sanderson's strong point is coming up with premises, not writing them.
>>7822961
Like I said I'm not a native speaker and my range of experiances in literature is limited. Their books didn't make me want me to claw my eyes out but the prose was just there - like I said "workman like".
Who do you consider to have great prose?
>>7822961
Well then your sense of scale is whack. Good and Bad are defined by the Best and the Worst with everyone else falling inbetween them. Your scale seems to have 'ok' on one side and ' agonizingly bad' at the other. That seems like a 'you' problem here.
>>7822681
thank you
>>7822974
In just fantasy? Wolfe, Chesterton, Borges and Peake. Outside of it? Proust, Joyce, Melvile, Nabokov. There's plenty both in and out.
>>7822985
When I compare them with a book that has actual good prose and not some pedestrian average not claw your eyes out novel, yeah, it's bad or mediocre, depending on if it is Sanderson or Rothfuss.
>>7823012
If most people think Sanderson is average then that's the measuring stick you should use when trying to communicate and idea to another person. 'Good' is shifted depending on the context, not a universal rating. You can have whatever opinion you want on any book but unless you adjust for scale, you should carry a tag around that says 'I think what you consider good is only tolerable so adjust any opinions I express accordingly'.
>>7823084
>communicate and idea
fuck I meant 'an idea'
>>7823233
Nah, it's not 'this is good for a genre'. It's 'this genre fiction book has some good aspects you'd normally wouldn't find in genre fiction'. A book doesn't have to tick every single box on the list to be considered and a genre is defined by what boxes are usually ticked. A good example is Stormlight Archive. Were it not for the crazy fantasy stuff people would call it trash but it's the crazy fantasy stuff that makes it good.
I don't see how appreciating a certain thing for a certain quality of it can seclude you from other things. I like spicy food but I don't expect everything to be spicy.
>>7823264
You don't differentiate between food and spicy food, though, spicy food is just a kind of food, to simplify it.
Am I right in thinking Farseer book 1 is mostly world building? Do the latter books have a bit more oomph to them?
I'm about 50% in (the part where the pirates released the ill hostages) and nothing truly "happened" yet.
>>7822568
>space opera
>hard sci-fi
>engineers
What? I think you're mixing up some things.
>>7822548
New Star Wars pictures look fun. Maybe the books won't be complete garbage.
>>7820053
Yeah it's not that difficult. Less handholding/exposition than you would expect but this does not make it difficult in and of itself. I actually like reading along and discovering how all things put together.
At this point that sentiment is a meme and stupid one at that.
My biggest autism keeping me from starting Farseer is that everyone is named shit like Chivalry, Shrewd and Patience.
How is this shit acceptable?
