Weird Creatures and Races edition
Recommendation Charts:
>Fantasy
Selected: http://i.imgur.com/3v2oXAY.jpg
General: http://i.imgur.com/igBYngL.jpg
Flowchart: http://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 your favorite weird creatures and races from science fiction and fantasy? Any good bestiaries?
>>7937357
What are the most highbrow books of Scifi/fantasy?
>>7937364
Eye of Argon
>>7937364
I suppose Anathem qualifies in terms of the relatively recent.
The Ascians. I loved their language and pathos.
How come Heinlein's books are trash but his short stories are gold, yet no one ever talks about them?
>>7937364
Gormenghast
>>7937357
malazan book of the fallen - seguleh
>>7937364
I think some of Simmons' books qualify
>>7937382
Because people often don't care to pick up short stories.
People confuse quantity with quality
78 days until The Great Ordeal.
Are you hyped yet?
Pleb edition brah
Anyway just finished Golden Age, it was decent enough. Not great, had lots of lacking elements most with characterisation, but had a strong plot and interesting world. Quality entertainment overall. Will start with The Phoenix Exultant in a month or so.
>>7937364
Stranger in a Strange Land + Mote in God's Eye for sci-fi (it's the titles).
The Homeric Cycles, Sagas, medieval Italian literature and the fantastical bits of the Big Four Chinese books for fantasy (it's the fact they're so damn old).
>>7937462
S E W R A
E
R
W
A
>>7937364
Book of the New Sun, Fifth Head of Cerberus, Peace by Gene Wolfe
Titus Groan and I'm assuming the rest of the trilogy by Peake
Silmarillion, Lord of The Rings and Children of Hurin by Tolkien
Collected stories by Borges
Napoleon of Nothing Hill and Man Who was Thursday by Chesterton
>>7937381
Ascians were just beta neets who got cthulhu-memed into invading the commonwealth. theyre no more interesting than the idiots here, in fact they just parrot meme-phrases from government prescribed documents, just like dawkinfags
>>7937483
It's communism bro
>>7937480
3rd Gormenghast book is a meme. Only read the first two.
>>7937533
Is it now? Care to explain why?
I also probably won't come back to it in some time, it feels complete and I want to finally get around Vance and finishing more Wolfe as far as sffg goes.
>>7937549
For some reason he thought having the third Gormenghast book set outside of Gormenghast was a good idea. Also he apparently had some disease while writing it and just slapped some manuscripts together to finish it in time and it shows. Gormenghast was supposed to be a really long series originally but Peake kind of went mental and had multiple nervous breakdowns in his final years so yeah.
The only reason you guys like Dhalgren is because the say the N word a bunch of times, talks about rape and has gay sex.
I wonder if all the books lit likes has sex, rape, gay sex and verbal obscenities?
>>7937600
You are a visual obscenity
What's a good Middle Eastern mythology, Arabian-Nights sort of book? Like pic related only non-YA
>>7937598
Didn't he die young? Maybe he just wanted to finish it while he still could.
And on being supposed to be long, I can see that, 1 year per 400 pages like the first novel.
>>7937619
That twelve kings shit from last thread sounds in that area.
>>7937357
>strange races
>just take a human and put a bug on the head
China you unimaginative hack
>>7937639
Well that's my stance also. Any good story can be told within 1500 pages, anything else is filler
>>7937639
While I like the concept of stand alones or even duologies more, there simply isn't that many good books in that forte. There's only really... Guy Gavriel Kay, that's it.
Posted this in the last thread but it was dead so here I go again:
Are the Earthsea books worth reading? And are the books kind of stand alones and wrap up well or are they a continuous story?
>>7937647
No Neil Gaiman love?
>>7937634
bit harsh there.
>>7937654
Dropped Neverwhere because it was awful, might try American Gods sometime because it sounds interesting but not too impressed by him. His best work is Sandman which is long.
>>7937631
I may actually check that out; for whatever reason there's a dearth of stuff with rocs and djinn.
>>7937357
>not linking the previous thread so we can get memed
>>7932051
>>7937664
>most sf in general
Yea, I noticed most sci-fi is given to standalones.
My comment was on fantasy, which seems to be really into trilogies and long-running sagas.
>>7937664
Eh don't consider any of those good except Zelazny who has only like two noteable stand alone books. And true, most SF is stand alone I was thinking of fantasy mostly.
If you want a good stand alone fantasy go read Bridge of Birds.
>>7937684
Hughart?
Started The Black Company a few days ago, and I'm kinda torn on it so far
It is cool and entertaining that it reads like fantasy vietnam, and the prose is decent considering that, but it seems like Cook skips over big events, and his paragraphs read rather choppy and all over the place. I know its supposed to be the memoir of a mercenary veteran, but does this style improve later in the series?
>>7937699
Yeah.
I found The Golem and the Jinni a pleasant enough read for a recentish standalone.
Anyone read The Fifth Season by Jemisin? I see it's nominated for the Nebula awards
>>7937364
Puzzling that Solaris hasn't been mentioned yet, especially given the premise of this general.
Are there any SFF review or blog sites you guys are following? If so which?
>>7937735
I somehow always forget I've read it even if it's really great.
Also I posted only high brow fantasy.
>>7937758
Bestfantasybooks.com
Meme url but alright annual and sub genre lists.
Any fantasy recs where the protagonist goes through a arena kind of tournament or series of one-on-one fights?
>>7937758
Just a few small ones, mostly retro reviews.
yellowedandcreased dot wordpress dot com
gnomeship dot blogspot dot co dot uk
sciencefictionruminations dot wordpress dot comdamn you spam filter...
>>7937700
The style doesn't improve.
Even the premise, the idea that it's a story told from the bad guys' perspectives, falls apart when it's revealed thatthere is a bigger badder villain, and the "good guys" are all secretly fighting for him.When the main character hooks up withthe villainess (who is revealed to be a virgin somehow despite the BBEG being her husband for five centuries),it turns into cringey waifu-bait.
The first book is okay. The rest is skippable.
>greg bear's blood music is on several of those lists
i read it some time ago and i thought it was absolutely terrible. the premise was very interesting, but it read like a scientist with an interesting idea writing a book without having any idea on how to write books. i would advise people to stay away to be honest, even if it sounds like an interesting read. it's the only book of his i've read though, after reading his short story in the mirrorshade anthology, which i liked. perhaps his other books are alright, and this was just a fluke.
Is there any high brow game of thrones or Lord of the rings?
>>7937966
you will probably get recommended book of the new sun once again
>>7937966
Try The Red Knight by Cameron. Its got lots of POV like GoT.
>>7937364
Anything by Issac Asmiov
>>7938035
>Asmiov
>highbrow
I've been leery of these sff generals, but I suppose it's better than having this kind of embarrassment floating around loose in the board at large
>>7937619
H.P. Lovecraft's Dream Cycle sort of blends the Greco-Roman, Middle Eastern, Eastern and Nordic mythologies, and many of the stories are very reminiscent of One Thousand and One Nights' tales.
I think you'd like Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, which is very similar to the tales of Simbad the Sailor, but I'd recommend reading The White Ship, The Doom that Came to Sarnath, The Cats of Ulthar, The Other Gods, Celephaïs, and The Nameless City first. They are all fairly short stories that you can read online:
http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/fiction/
>>7937989
Something wrong with the recommendation?
>>7937717
It's got lots of rape and gay, but no incest. I found the narrator unfuriatingly glib at first, and if you can't handle second person narration don't read it. The author definitely has an agenda, but it doesn't detract from the story. It's pretty grimdark . There's no resolution and it ends with massive sequel bait.
Whether all that stuff puts you off or not is up to you. I liked it a lot and I'll read the sequel since I wanna know what's up with the mysteries.
>>7937966
The Prince of Nothing
Tell me about the Xeelee books. Do they scratch the hard sci-fi itch?
>>7937357
does the prose in Dune get significantly better after the first 25%? Not even a highprose fag, but jesus fucking christ, the book is a cringefest.
>>7938281
i think it gets better as you warm up to all the new words and stuff starts happening
>>7938281
I don't remember the change or minding it, but I was 16 when I read it
>>7937382
No one ever talks about short stories. I don't know why. I guess longer = better than in terms of status, somehow.
>>7937610
Your mom doesn't mind spreading her thighs and wet walls for my face though.
>>7937465
The one thing I liked about Golden Age's characterization, and it was probably just an accident, is that Phaethon is the viewpoint character and everything he does automatically feels pretty justified to the reader, yet everyone he interacts with thinks he's a dick, and on further thought he sort of is.
>>7938327
Short stories trigger my autism, they're always spread across different anthologies and editions, so unless a writer was popular enough to have the "complete stories of" published, you can't get them all in one place.
>>7937928
>implying you don't want centuries old virgin pussy
![51hehlpvSEL._SX312_BO1,204,203,200_[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/o3zitrh.jpg "51hehlpvSEL._SX312_BO1,204,203,200_[1].jpg")
>>7938275
The lack of transhumanist themes, typical of 90s SF, makes them feel a bit dated. That said, I think they're solid overall, and there's a ready-made sampler of them in the form of the short story collection Vacuum Diagrams. Read it, and if a story seems particularly interesting there's probably a novel-length treatment.
>>7938332
He is decent enough, but other characters aren't especially well done. I mean it's certainly not bad there, just not the best.
>>7937717
I read it and was scratching my head at the tranny part, with he, she and her penis was showing i was like what?
All in all I enjoyed it, loved the rape, could have done without the gay.
>>7938158
>no incest
Remember they used to force him to breed(literally, humans are like stock in pens in this world) his daughters to make a stronger stock.
>>7938352
Wright has improved somewhat but his ability to write women has been consistently hampered by what appears to be a bizarre combination of cheesecake and white knighting.
>>7938327
Short stories tend to leave me unfulfilled and dissatisfied. Maybe it's the lack of immersion.
The exception would be the stories of someone like Borges (or Kafka) who compresses whole novels into a flawless diamonds of short narrative.
>>7938367
How interesting is the rest of the series?
>>7938366
>loved the rape, could have done without the gay
You should put that on a bumper sticker.
>>7938375
Sounds like you need Wolfe in your short story life.
Also Flannery O'Connor.
>>7937862
just watch anime
>>7937862
You mean like a gladiator slave? Had some books with it, but it wasn't the main plot. It was just a ladder to propel the protagonist forward, and give him a reason for hating those in power/how birthright and the system was set up.
>>7938378
Definitely worth it if you liked Golden Age. The density of cool shit exposition goes down in favor of pushing the narrative forward, and power levels get a tad silly in the last book, but you should keep going.
I mean, come on: you really aren't curious what happens to him after he stumbles out the emergency exit of the space elevator?
>>7938150
Yes. Because you fags recommend it for everything.
>hey /sffg/ I've been wanting to fuck my mother for a long time, but I know this is wrong. Can you suggest some books that would take my mind off it?
BOTNS
>hey sff, i just lost my dog, suggest me some fantasy books with dogs to talk my mind off it?
BOTNS
PLEASE FUCK OFF
>>7938422
I am. Just not enough to right now start with it. Planned on Graham Greene and more serious stuff for a week or two.
>>7938429
The irony is that BOTNS covers both of those topics so you're actually on point
>>7938429
Fucking kek it has both of those, so I actually would recommend it for those topics
>>7937382
>Heinlein's books are trash
nice opinion piece there
>>7938437
I read all the books. The point I'm making is that they look for the SMALLEST resemblance to what you asked for, so they can suggest it.
What they do is the equivalent of recommending Infinite Jest to someone asking on lit for a book to better his tennis technique.
>>7938474
Yea, I agree Wolfefags are a little too fanatical around here, but I enjoy the books.
Thankfully other names are popping up so the meme will die out soon.
>Mark Lawrence
>Math PhD
>severely disabled child
>gets laid off from scientist job
>writes fantasy books full-time now
How much do these guys with publishers make per book (print or e-book) anyway? He mentioned on reddit that the Kindle eBook $1.99 sale netted him $0.27 per purchase.
I bought some of my first sff books for the first time in a while yesterday but no fucking nearby store carried Downbelow Station.
Related, is it worth buying physical books if it's just a shitty paperback that'll break?
>>7938474
People ask for trivial things, how many books do have the specific x someone is asking for?
And of course this particular question was for high brow fantasy, Wolfe being one of the most high brow recommendations one can make.
>>7938486
Paperbacks are good if you don't want a kindle. If you have one, why?
>>7938350
Thanks for the feedback.
I'll probably read the first novel in the series and go from there if I like it. I'm mainly looking for more hard sci-fi in the vein of Reynolds, especially the Revelation Space universe.
>>7938486
They must make enough if they get a decent contract or become 'prolific' (if that's the right word? Perhaps successful is better although that's vague) enough.
>Alastair Reynolds
>PhD in Astrophysics
>worked for European Space Agency
>quit so he can write hard sci-fi full time
Dude has a ton of material too.
So how is this?
Seems controversial even within his fanbase.
>>7938580
MC is a Mary Sue
>>7938432
Yeah I'm taking a break from reading SF for some professional reading right now. Rest of the trilogy though, worth it when you get around to it.
>>7938601
>thuh murry soo
when will plebs learn that this isn't a magic phrase?
>go to Rakhat
>get raped
What's this whole puppy thing I keep hearing about?
>>7938701
Lefties infiltrated the scifi genre and bitch when people hate that they voted for their politics.
>>7937491
no shit, he fought in the korean war. did you just start reading wolfe?
>>7938499
I don't have a kindle but I have an iPad Mini and hundreds of epubs from here. I guess I want a physical collection to keep around one day and get rid of all my childhood books.
Vinyl records and books seem worth collecting, even if the environmental impact is bad. Movies not so much.
>>7938701
Autism. Lots and lots of autism.
>>7938701
It's literally nothing; It's a retarded /leftypol/ conspiracy theory to explain why speculative fiction is dying. Ignore it.
>>7938367
>bizarre
Not bizarre at all
You can see this combo in the paramount white knight fiction writer Rothfuss
>>7938701
SJWs have their circlejerk going on with awards
People who are not SJWs figure out how the system works and vote in some of their authors for lulz
SJWs proceed to throw a hissy fit and take their ball home with them
>>7938473
>liking heinleins books
You're a trash person with trash taste
>>7937663
I dropped neverwhere too. American gods is eh, has its moments. Just go in with low expectations. He's overrated as fuck
>>7937374
hahahaha. i had no idea other people had read this
>I'm just now reading that Tor backed out of their 10-year publishing deal with Scalzi after a single book
I'm dying.
>>7938898
Ironically in how they went about trying to clear the field, they just managed to shit it up worse for those of us with no stake in the retarded "SJW fiction vs right-wing fiction" drama.
>>7938898
i wish "SJW" wasnt a term
Jesus H. Christ, this prose is god awful, does it get any better in the 2nd book?
>>7938996
I tried my best to read the 2nd one but have been stalling. The first book felt like an adult Harry Potter with a self loathing bitch ginger as the main protagonist. I was rooting for his death in many scenes.
>>7938996
The second book is even worse than the first
What exactly makes Sanderson's books animelike?
>>7938996
I remember giving this book a shot after seeing it have a 4.5 on goodreads (back when I thought that meant something ) and also seeing it recommended by every fantasy book list. How can something so bad be so universally loved and praised? It makes me not want to live on this planet anymore
>>7939040
The combat and action scenes are straight out of shounen manga.
45 pages into Dhalgren and it's breddy gud. What's the rest of the book like?
>>7937959
He keeps missing for me.
City at the end was awkward and meandering. Most of the book reminded me of a bunch of people shouting about doing something and descriptions of cats.
It's like this meme book I read a long time ago.
>>7939092
it's phenomenal
but it should have been 400 something pages and not 900. the back end is just too much sex and sex with a minor they're just ballin all the time its mad and strange
still one of my favorite books though. have you read Stars In My Pocket Like Grains of Sand? it's probably my favorite by him, only one I've read as good as Dhalgren but its a nice 350 or more pages (although desu I wish it was twice as long)
>>7939092
It stays fairly consistent, the last section is the most confusing.
>>7939143
Seconding the recommendation for Stars in My Pocket, Delany did actually have a sequel planned but I have no idea how much of it he wrote. The part where Rat browses the information cubes is amazing. Ditto when you find out what the 'dragon hunt' involves.
>>7938942
Where? Google cant find anything related to that.
>>7939087
>Really?
No.
It's actually even worse, they didn't even accept his first submission, he's supposed to be authoring a book every year for them.
>make a magic system with rules
>IT'S SHOUNEN MANGA AS A BOOK WAHHHH
why do you people do this
>>7939252
>Don't explain magic
>Slap deus ex machina anytime it's used
>Explain magic
>"It's just like anime ;)"
>>7939252
It's more like reading a combo list in a video game manual.
Any other authors who have managed to construct Mythopoeia as dank as Tolkiens?
>>7939252
anyone who has ever used "magic system" or "world-building" should be shot.
>>7939259
There's absolutely nothing wrong with deus ex machina as long as its earned.
>>7937634
I just started reading Perdido and this seriously annoyed the fuck out of me. I can understand that forbidden love is a useful narrative tool, but the fact that it's just a goddamn bug head just makes it feel so hamfisted. Who the hell is really going to get nasty with a shitty proboscis jawn waggling around in their face?
>>7939323
Why?
>>7937357
>What are your favorite weird creatures and races from science fiction and fantasy?
Tleilaxu Masters
>>7939334
As long as they have holes to accommodate dick, someone will fuck it
>>7939397
>all men united by dick
>>7938366
This breeding scene is in the fifth season?
I've always really liked the Face Dancers in Dune, though not really another race
>>7939320
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorship_of_the_Bible
>>7939334
She probably does anal
>>7939815
>It's not an anime because of the power levels or le maguc system
No, it's just LN-tier
>>7939040
How do you not see it? His characters are mostly shallow, even if they can be entertaining, worldbuilding that focuses on one new element and pushes it to the extreme, acrobatic action with big power spikes, and crazy twists. I like his books, but those are all very typically anime elements, just mixed in with lots of traditional high fantasy.
>>7939320
Malazan Book of the Fallen
>>7938996
I liked KKC for a time because it had some redeeming qualities to it but then I read the Last Unicorn and discovered Rothfuss stole all of them. I'm not talking about indirect influence, literally word by word theft.
>mfw reading first book of WoT
Please tell me the small village trio mans up and stops being a bunch of bumbling imbeciles. So far the character with the most balls is Moiraine and she's a fucking woman.
I especially cannot stand Bland Al Thor. Does he even possess something resembling a personality?
>>7940003
It's only going to get worse
>>7937634
Its a preexisting thing in Egyptian mythology
>>7940003
>reading first book of WoT
Found the problem.
>>7938580
A worse Name of the Wind.
>>7940083
Gr8 b8 m8 I r8 8/8
>>7940092
Keep using your old memes, old man. You won't faze me.
Anyone else feel like a huge chunk of Fantasy lately is based too much on humans and their politics? I'm actually really craving something with interesting non-humans, aka not giants and elves. Something with mythical monsters like hydra, cerberus and the like perhaps. Anyone got something?
>>7940104
>liking Rothfuss over Wolfe
I'm not even gonna argue, you're either a troll or a plebeian and neither case is worth my time.
>>7940125
>liking a fun book more than a overly long wikipedia page
woah!
>>7940212
>I've only picked it up because the author was suing his agent for elder abuse
That's a weird reason to pick up a book for.
>>7940120
Yeah that does bother me something. The best example I can think of for non-human fantasy literature is the Warrior Cats series and The Amulet of Samarkand.
And Samarkand has a Djinni protagonist who uses footnotes to depict his lines of thought.
>>7940120
Yes.
Read The Worm Ouroboros. Read actual myths too, obviously.
>>7940273
>the Warrior Cats series
>anything but utter shit
What.
>>7938115
Don't know if it helps you but the translation of the Arabic words are as follows:
The man in the top left is called "The Sultan of Demons"
The ball he holds says (top) "Life", (right) "Death", & (left) "Sleep"
>>7940062
They weren't into trying to be quirky and weird
>>7940279
I said best example. Not a series I can praise or recommend to anyone.
>>7940369
I didn't realise you meant there were literally two series of non-human fantasy literature.
>>7939092
>45 pages into Dhalgren
Is this because you saw me complaining about the gay and rape earlier?
>>7940296
Oh, thank you. It makes sense
>>7940459
kill yourself
>>7940273
>guy who shilled warrior cats in outer lit and got rebuffed
>trying to shill it in SFFG
>>7940423
I put it down and started Dune instead.
I felt like I should cease reading it without getting too far into it, and start it over again after I read Dune, since I that's a glaring hole in in my to-read list. Dune is more "essential" than Dhalgren anyways.I'm 35 pages into it.
u guys are making me feel bad for starting Sanderson ;_;
>>7940628
If people told you that getting your dick sucked is bad, would you feel bad for getting head?
Read what you like, elitist fags have come up in our general and they do not like fun things.
They will have you reading non fiction soon enough if you listen to them.
>>7940628
>Affording anyone else authority over how you respond to a work.
Come on.
>>7940651
>If people told you that getting your dick sucked is bad, would you feel bad for getting head?
If he was Catholic it would be bad
>Read what you like, elitist fags have come up in our general and they do not like fun things.
This general was always elitist, it's not "your" general
>They will have you reading non fiction soon enough if you listen to them.
There's no conflict between fiction and non fiction.
No one really cares if you read or like whatever, it's the excuses of fags like you who need to pretend he isn't just brainless entertainment that are annoying.
>>7938996
Nah, i liked it.
>>7940826
I bet you also eat shit
>>7940628
>being ashamed of what you like
There's nothing wrong with liking Sanderson or anything.
It's only shameful if you pretend it's more than it is.
77 days until The Great Ordeal
Are you hyped yet?
so I read a canticle for leibowitz and BOTNS recently.
I love them both and I am looking for more in the same vein.
Ive been reading through a bit of Dying Earth by Vance but I prefer bigger, longer stories like BOTNS
thanks for any help
>>7941125
Anathem has maths-monks on a far future Earth, and it's 900+ pages so definitely a big, long story.
That sound like what you're looking for?
>>7941125
I'll notice how both are pretty Catholic and I'll point you to Chesterton, Napoleon of Nothing Hill and Man Who was Thursday in particular.
>>7939856
>Malazan Book of the Fallen
>Some goofy nerds DnD setting
>Anywhere near Arda in terms of depth
>>7940832
Well, I dont, & its, literally, the best fantasy book of our times...
>>7941846
Has fantasy truly fallen so low?
Okay /lit/
I'm just visiting because I want something good, I prefer fantasy but I can definitely do sci-fi,
I haven't read any of the recommended reads, but which one should I go for?
Something that I could really learn to like
I'm reading Johannes Cabal The Necromancer right now. It's really good. I thought it would just be a fun read, but I have to put it down about half way through. Chapter 6 blindsided me with tons of emotions. I'm tearing up like a baby.
>>7942171
scott lynch - the lies of locke lamora
>>7942171
I probably shouldn't have to tell you that I'm >>7942175 but you should really check out Johannes Cabal The Necromancer.
It's about a guy, named Johannes Cabal, naturally, who sells his soul to Satan for the knowledge of necromancy. See, problem is that the vacuum of the lack of a soul creates a lot of distortion in magic, so Cabal finds it hard to do the same experiment twice and have it yield the same results. So he goes back to Satan for his soul back, but Satan says he can't let Cabal keep both his soul and necromancy. Cabal has no choice but to strike a deal with Satan. So now, within the time span of a year, Johannes must get 100 people to willingly sign their souls over to Satan.
I really enjoy the author's prose and voice, Johannes Cabal is a great character, and it's full of varying types of humour, ranging from dark and dry humour about death to simple slapstick humour.
>>7940693
Hi Wolfe shill
Only first 3 Chronicles of Amber for kindle. Bit of a kick in the teeth.
I get my neetbux tomorrow, what should I buy on Thriftbooks SFF?
>>7942464
>proud to be on welfare
>>7941871
Name a better one.
>>7942469
I just signed up with a local mental health nonprofit that gets work for people with mental illness. I'll be getting a job and climbing up out of NEETdom soon enough. I've been told Nietzche's idea of "will to power" would help me greatly. This isn't /SFF/ related however so I'm just going to stop talking here.
>>7942171
I like to shill the Faction Paradox books, it's technically a Dr. Who spinoff but doesn't really share anything with it's parent series apart from time/space travel. My favorite's "Of the City of the Saved", it's about a city the size of a galaxy that exists at the end of Time, into which are resurrected every human, pre-human hominid, and post-human who ever lived. They don't know how they got there, who made the City, or why they're now immortal. And then someone gets murdered, which shouldn't be possible.
In general Philip Purser-Hallard is my nigga, he's doing a "modern day Knights of the Round Table" trilogy too if that's more your style.
>>7942607
>Dr who spinoff
Aaaaaaaand you lost me
>>7940003
The characters are pretty frustrating, their weird ticks never go away. If you see a joke, get ready for it to be repeated like 1000 times in the future.
The characters pretty much suck, the reason that I like those books is the world and the complicated, huge story. It gets more exciting around the end of book 2. I'm on book 7 and there are like 12 different subplots, and the plot grinds on very slowly, but it is supposed to resolve pretty well in the last few books by Sanderson, so I plan to keep going.
>>7937364
Titus Groan.
>>7942479
>got a job interview Friday but don't have high hopes forpassing the drug test
Strangely enough, I'm not too worried since I still have a future regardless of if I get this job or not.
>>7937364
Jorge Luis Borges.
G. K. Chesterton.
Lord Dunsany.
E. R. Eddison.
Mervyn Peake.
Salmon Rushdie.
>>7942627
There's no real connection beyond "this is a universe with time travelers" and they might namedrop a planet occasionally. I get why tie-in stuff turns people off though, read one too many Star Trek books back in the day myself.
>>7942748
Ok that's good to know, because Dr who took things too far for my tastes
>>7942745
wheres Delany?
>>7942791
In the pomo trashheap.
100 pages into the Prince of Nothing and enjoying it. So Thanks to the Bakker shill who shilled me
>>7937357
There was a search engine for book pdfs someone recommended to me in one of these threads a while ago but I've misplaced the book mark.
Can anyone help an anon out?
>>7942791
He's an ostentatious tryhard.
>>7943042
You're welcome senpai.
Strap in and enjoy
>>7943098
http://libgen.io/foreignfiction/
This has stuff. You'll need a proxy if you live in a non-free nation however.
>>7943104
I liked how he got pounded out by that bard after only like 5 pages
>>7938947
"Pretentious fuck wits" sounds too harsh though.
>>7943128
That was Akka right?
Please do not bully the Akka
>>7943140
I asumed it was the Kellhus guy. Either way, nothing bullying about enjoying some sweet boipucci
>>7942745
Which of Chesteron's is considered fantasy? Napoleon?
Will Rothfust ever release the third proper book in the Kingkiller Chronicle?
>>7943236
I heard his editor made him scrap his draft
>>7943183
The Man Who Was Thursday.
>>7937862
Heart's Blood, yo.
>>7937966
Lord of the Rings is highbrow. If you don't think so you didn't read it properly.
>>7943116
So once you living outside the US you can access it without a proxy?
>>7938350
>The lack of transhumanist themes, typical of 90s SF
Fire Upon the Deep won the Hugo in 93.
>>7939196
You'd think VD would already be all over that.
>>7938996
>Two hundred plus drafts
>"Over 14 years, I revised almost everything. I would move, add, or delete chapters. I reworked entire plotlines. I tweaked tone and pacing. I added characters and subplots. I read my manuscript at least 20 times, trimming out words and phrases, making the prose leaner. I looked at every instance of the word "that" in my manuscript, removing the non-essential ones. I also had over 100 beta readers. After talking with them, I would change the manuscript based on their feedback.
>>7939856
So you're saying Lodoss War is less anime than Sanderson?
>>7941174
I read Man Who Was Thursday because of Deus Ex. I'm still wrapping my head around it.
>>7942791
In Sri Lanka taking over Clarke's boy lovers? Who cares?
>>7943501
I read genre fiction for the same reason I eat fast food, and I'm eagerly awaiting the third book in the Kingkiller Chronicles. It's cringy as fuck at a lot of points, but I've read worse.
>>7943501
>Who cares? I mean the first two were awful, why even think about reading the third?
Because I liked the first two and I'm hoping to like the third as well.
>>7943501
>They meet God and the point is how God rules us in the end and in the strangest ways
I know that. I got thatSunday is Jesus and Satan at the same time.I'm just wrapping my head around it.
Especially when I read Chesterton's non-fiction. I wonder, how could he write that? How could someone so faithful write that? How could an irreligious person even come up with the idea?
I really, really like that book.
>>7943547
You don't need a reason to like something, you just do.
>>7943547
>>7943552
Yeah, I don't know. It's just fun. Not good, but when I walk through the bookstore, I'm picking between it, an unending number of Tokien travelogue ripoffs, bullshit erotica, and Dresden ripoffs. When I find something that doesn't fit into those categories, I'll often pick it up, just because it's not quite as cliched as everything else.
>>7943152
I got the impression that the first pages took place thousands of years ago. during the first apocalypse.
>>7938481
>Implying Meme Wolfe will ever die.
The memeing has been going on for over a year now (close to two by my count)....It's officially time to expand the meme trilogy to a tetraology (how fitting) to include Wolfe.
>>7943549
It isn't God and Satan simultaneously I think. It's a strange novel for sure, had me v confused and amused simultaneously.
And his non fiction is not as good, it's way too erratic and non systematic for me so I really read it mostly for style and keks and he does provide some great keks.I'm religious and I can't see the world as poetry like he did, his companion Hilaire Belloc is the preferred author for me
>>7943552
You just do but for the most part are aware of what you do and don't like.
>>7943558
Too bad no one was good at Tolkien ripoffs.
>>7943583
You speak true young lad, we need to shill harder.
>>7943584
To be entirely truthful with you my family, I also don't like original Tolkien, so take that as you will.
What's a good, grand space opera to read?Also please recommend one without stupid ass American names. I fucking hate books that start out with "Bob Anderson triggered the q-drives as the United Colony of Mars came into view through the viewports" jesus fuck it's SCI-FI think of something more unique
>>7943584I am also religiousand I absolutely love Chesterton's non-fiction. Definitely agree on the style and keks. My favorite passage is where he talks about how God makes the sun rise every morning because He just hasn't gotten tired of it yet.
Not God and Satan simultaneously, but the anarchists are the detectives simultaneously, and they're put through that incredible tension so they can better enjoy the feast at the end, and the loser in the beginning who's just an anarchist is the one truly missing out, and he wanted to dethrone God but God was on that throne anyway - I need to reread it.
Haven't started on Belloc yet, though I'm looking forward to it. Heard he makes you want to go on a crusade.
>>7943602
Would you rather have zany mythology names? If so, Golden Age. Main character's name is Phaethon. Socrates shows up later on.Literal Socrates.And the Nothing as the opposite of an Althing is pretty clever.
Has anyone else read this? I really enjoyed how much the fantasy of it was just everything being chaotic and honestly unpredictable.
>>7943645
That sounds bretty gud, will check it out.
I tried reading Pandora's Star, since apparently Reynolds is "the" premier space opera writer of the day, and I feel bad, but honestly the names took me out of it. "NASA Pilot Wilson Kime", I'm sorry, that just murders my imagination.
Give me something that's not Average Joe #235
>>7943655
sorry, *Hamilton wrote Pandora's Star, not Reynolds
>>7943602
I like Revelation Space
>>7943645
I remember the most his comparison of Christianity to atheism in dogmas, as the first has one it's like a cross, it grows and fills mind and soul while atheism is like a circle that just makes you run in it pointlessly.
Belloc is hardcore, his style is almost historical dialectic where he spins a narrative and explains today and reaches for tomorrow. And out of the British two books by him he actually did predict something, first being the holocaust and second a kind of reconstitution of slavery
>>7943673
Me too.
Hey sffg, what do we think of le guin's stuff, specifically these books? I haven't really read any fantasy since I was 14 (unless magic realism counts) or so and these are the only books that have really stuck with me. The first is a god-tier coming of age story in my opinion, written simply yet beautifully. The next is okay, and the third is almost as good as the first. I never read the fourth and don't know why it's included with the other ones, it's basically an adult book whereas the others are YA/children's.
I've read some of her sci-fi since and while it's not amazing it's nice and thought provoking. She has a way with making believable and touching characters that most other fantasy authors lack.
>>7943779
First three god-tier, didn't read the last one either.
Ghibli sucks, other movie adaptations suck harder.
>>7943732
hi5
>>7943583
>The memeing has been going on for over a year now
it's been going on since at least 2008, which is when someone on /lit/ told me to read wolfe
>>7943934
Beats me. Haven't read it as it doesn't particularly interest me but I've heard positive things.I read The Prefect instead.
>>7943934
I enjoyed it. It explores many themes, including identity and generation ships in a way I found interesting.
Didn't know it was a standalone when I read it. Some characters transfer over to the main Revelation Space saga if I remember correctly, so you might want to read RS in order of publication, though the timeline is a bit messy. The Prefect didn't have any reacurring characters iirc.
>>7944081
Not him but tell me more about the generation ships.
You're right. The Prefect didn't have any characters that were in the main trilogy since it took place during the 'golden age' before the Melding Plague.
