Essays, Criticism, History etc edition
What are your favorite non-fiction books *about* SFF?
Previous: >>8170521
Recommendations
>Fantasy
Selected: http://i.imgur.com/r688cPe.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/
I decided to go with A Wizard at Earthsea for my next sff read. Didn't read Le Guin in a while and it seems like a good, fun read.
>>8177503
>and it seems like a good, fun read.
It's neither of those things.
nearly three weeks away
get hype boyos
Half way through red knight and I could see why you dinosaurs like it. And when I say dinosaurs, i mean the persons who like stories written in the old way.
In a world with magic, monsters and god, the book focuses on knights(people) and their struggle. Much concern isn't awarded the magical aspect of the novel, it's people struggling against a foe stronger than they are, and using humanity to prevail.... which is a bunch of shit. I don't read fantasy books for authors to wax poetic/philosophical on how great the animal called human is when they come together as one to face a foe, I read fantasy books to see shit people can't do in reality.
Why the fuck would I want to read something that is as close to the crusades, just with fae creatures and greek deity names thrown in.
You think I read to be brainwashed that people are actually nice, when they deserve to be purged from this world? Fuck you pro human scum.
Reading A Clash of Kings at the moment. I am enjoying it more than AGoT, it seems to have a faster pace with more things happening than AGoT did.
>>8177586
>You think I read to be brainwashed that people are actually nice, when they deserve to be purged from this world? Fuck you pro human scum.
Hi Ligotti.
>>8177586
>i mean the persons who like stories written in the old way.
I think you mean "well written books" because that's what you just described.
>>8177586
>Why the fuck would I want to read something that is as close to the crusades, just with fae creatures and greek deity names thrown in.
Because reading for inhuman unrelated to human experience themes are boring.
>>8177542
Left Hand of Darkness is amazing.
>>8177627
"Old way" is:
-magic that isn't explained (not talking deep Sanderson lore shit, I'm talk "i ain't got to explain shit" shit)
-focuses on adventure
-people are the magic, you show how the smallest person can make the difference for humanity
-it's a fucking Knights book, no toilets, and they are just discovering gun powder during the novel
-the GRI i was promised is non existent, even though I'm halfway through the novel(unless you call Michael's cunny and the Drover's cunny GRI.. and those happened behind the scenes)
>>8177711
I didn't find it amazing, but it was certainly a worthwhile read.
>>8177728
>Old way
>magic that isn't explained (not talking deep Sanderson lore shit, I'm talk "i ain't got to explain shit" shit)
You mean "magic isn't explained in a way that a retarded 9 year old would understand", right? because otherwise your wrong.
>>8177490
>Lem writes a whole essay about how PKD is one of the only SF writers he respects
>Dick thought "Stanislaw Lem" was a pseudonym used by dozens of ghostwriters as part of a Soviet conspiracy
Feels bad man
>>8177839
To be fair, by that time Dick was going mental so anything he said should be taken with a grain of salt.
Anyone read this?
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22859850-dark-intelligence
I need a break from fantasy and want some space opera type sci-fi to read. This seems pretty good to me.
>>8177848
Dick was an interesting read only because he was mental, interestingly enough.
I've read 8 of his novels, and he's sadly been getting more and more predictable and 'of the same' with each novel. Not sure if I should read any more of him.
Maybe I've just grown out of him.
>>8177505
hello plebo
>>8177872
Hello woman.
>>8177855
Did you read Hyperion? Because if you haven't, that's the best space opera out there, with maybe Book of the Long Sun which is closer to game of thrones in space by a competent writer without cheap tricks.
>>8177878
We don't have women here.
But you should read Theresa of Avila and Edith Stein.
>>8177881
I haven't read those, but I want something new and set in space as far away from a fantasy type setting as possible.
>>8177903
Oh, forgot, also Golden Age by John C Wright.
Ranking and descriptions
Hyperion- 6 (I think) characters with specific backgrounds converge to a pilgrimage in the end of which is a Shrike, some spooky being which may or may not fulfill their wishes. Read the first two books. A ride for the imagination with strong characterisation, but lackluster in how it all unveils. A good read, especially if you like Keats.
Golden Age is space libertarians with plot twists and insane tech. Well done, but also weak 3rd book. But has the most space in it.
Book of the Long Sun is the second series set in the Solar Cycle, but barely related to the first. Would recommend only if you like Wolfe to get to Book of the Short Sun. It's quite a drag at times, but very intelligent.
>>8177881
>game of thrones in space by a competent writer without cheap tricks.
I'm sold. Beginning reading right now.
>>8177958
It's slow, the reason I make the comparison is that there are at least 15 major, important characters all of whom play a significant role in the plot which serves as Wolfe's exploration of his own prior works and continues with the Thomist admiration for ordination of the universe.
Don't expect something exciting, the first 600 pages cover like 2 days and it grows in scale massively later on.
Read Fifth Head of Cerberus (70 pages, can be found in Best of Gene Wolfe) and if you like what you read give it a go.
>>8177958
It's nothing like GoT, you got baited.
>>8177586
Obivously not the book for you. No one forced you to read this you know.
You're like those people who complain that they didnt like james joyce because they "read books for a story".
It's so whiny and just proves you only wanna complain about shit fuckj
>>8178135
But Joyce has a very nice story, what do they complain about?
>>8177797
>your
Who is the retard who complained that Earthsea had a strange language which was forcing ye old English?
Because this is really straightforward (in a good way).
>Rothfuss ripped off Le Guin's magic
I can loathe the disgusting fuck even more now, glad I picked it up.
>>8177490
How does one get into writing this genre? I'd be more interested in writing like Lem than Orson Scott Card.
>>8176055
>Supposed to have 16 metals because muh 16
>Instead become 23
Bravo sanderson
>>8177728
>-magic that isn't explained (not talking deep Sanderson lore shit, I'm talk "i ain't got to explain shit" shit)
You mean magic is mysterious rather than over-explained? Because even in Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, which is one of the lightest on magical explanation I've found, and which gets shit on by dino-anon in this thread, magic is explained insofar as the characters understand it. In the story when the Gray Mouser is introduced, the magic he uses is explained at least in broad strokes, for example.
>>8177392
Simak has nice ideas and, as I recall, incredibly sincere prose. He feels like a more educated Bradbury.
>>8178430
I've always wondered why the publishing industry is so lax towards plagiarism, It's amazing how liberal the definition of plagiarism has become too; popular authors sometimes even brag about it!
what is a fantasy book about an adventure of people travelling like in lotr? not like asoiaf where its politics and wars
>>8178897
by travelling I mean going from a to b like in the hobbit or fellowship of the ring
>>8177958
It's nothing like GOT with its crude, awful prose which changes POVs every five minutes nor is it full of incest subtext.
Although I hate literary fiction and usually avoids 'dinosaur fiction' except for the really nice ones (I'm not that memer who openly shits on everything though) Hyperion's prose was just magnificent. It was exactly the right number of parts lyrical to convey both the worldbuilding, characterisation and plot without feeling too beige or too purple. I greatly enjoyed how the author did not explicitly spell out every phenomenon but left enough detail to synthesise an explanation. A thorougly enjoyable read.
>>8178932
and with all the marvels between a and b of course
I'm trying to find a book I started reading but never finished ages ago. The only thing I remember about it was that it was a fantasy setting, and the main character receives a grievous head injury at the start (I think they get thrown off a cliff?), some monk-surgeon rescues them and uses some gold coins to make a metal plate for their skull and goes "if you live you owe me the coins, if not it doesn't matter."
>>8178952
I did and nobody responded
(not him)
>>8178954
Probably means no one was interested. Happens to me too.
>>8178954
Link it again this thread usually has a flamewar or two going on and everything else's a blur
Spent 7 hours at bookstore today. Bought 400 SFF. Exhausted.
>>8178897
I honestly can't think of anything more like that.
>>8177503
Le Guin a shit.
>>8179049
I'm sorry, anon.
>>8178897I am trying to write onebut I've heard Belgariad is like that. I've also heard Belgariad is terrible.
>>8179083
>I am trying to write one
Neat. What does your setting look like?
Reading The Worm Ourobouros atm. If this isn't essential Dinosaurcore I don't know what is. Not even Tolkien comes close to this level of archaism
>>8179138
>essential Dinocore
Eddison, Hodgson
>extreme Dinocore
Dunsany, MacDonald
>exalted Dinocore
William Morris
>>8179119
Incredibly big planet with human civilizations rising, gaining modern+ tech levels, and falling without generally knowing about each other; landforms are huge, weather is huge, all kinds of strange and magical creatures keep vast swathes of territory generally deadly for humans; most societies assume the ocean is a myth. I'm trying to create fantasy for a modern audience that does what fantasy did for a pre-modern audience, to recreate the feeling of not knowing for sure what was over the next hill, knowing there's a chance someone you've never heard of like the Cimbri will cross the Alps and burn your civilization to the ground.
I know that's been a theme of SF since Wells, but there's something less visceral about space, something harder to pick up intuitively. I'm trying to make a world we couldn't explore, just like the Romans couldn't really have explored Earth. Imagine if Lewis and Clark had reached the Pacific, but on the other side of the Pacific there was another America to explore, how long it would have taken us to get there and colonize it.
>>8179049
Why would someone buy a book when you could just as easily, if not more easily, download an ebook for free
>>8179182
Why would someone download an ebook when you could just as easily, if not more easily, buy a book?
I get a lot more reading done with physical books.
>>8179212
>it's easier to buy a book
>Go to bookstore
>Purchase book
>Go back home
meawhile
>click a few buttons on a computer at home
>>8179212
Why would someone buy a book when you could just as easily, if not more easily, hire a skald?
I get a lot more reading done with oral sagas.
Anything else like this?
I especially liked the whole "skeleton crew on an ancient, decrepit ship that's taken on a life of its own so much that the crew is afraid to go on certain decks" thing it had going on.
>>8179174
Sounds great. I'm not so sure about the tech though, I don't think post-industrialization phantasies has ever worked for me. The attempt at recapturing the sense of wonder and the unknown that was ever so present until recently in the human experience is admirable though. Sounds perfectly set up for a story about someone undertaking a long and perilous journey through ancient lands and undiscovered places. I'd love to read it if you ever finish it, especially if you are influenced by the great masters of Dinocore.
>>8179275
I'm working on it, but writing is hard. I wish it wasn't.
>>8179049
Why would you buy that many books at once.
>>8179261
You plebs and your audiobooks :3
>>8179294
They were cheap?
>>8179218
You know amazon exists right?
>>8179356
Does amazon deliver to your house in 5 seconds after you purchase?
>>8179407
A fraction of a second, actually, unless you prefer your books on bundles of scrolls or stone tablets or something.
>>8179419
Oh cool tell me how amazon delivery breaks the speed of light then
>>8179407
If you live in a decent sized city you can get it on a few hours
They're working on cutting that down to 30 minutes with amazon air
>>8179299
Maybe it's because i'm not from Clapistan, but 400 books at, at least, 1 buck each(and up), doesn't really seem cheap to me.
>>8179459
We learned how to keep the book and throw away the paper, nerd.
>>8179464
Dude probably got them for a dollar a bag or something like that.
>>8179462
Also this is all assuming you can even find the pdf immediately when it can take a good hour or two for obscure stuff if you find it at all. #bookz exists of course but they have a queue system in place and that can get kinda long
Any brothas writing fantasy?
>>8179287
If it was easy it would not be a task worth undertaking.
>>8179049
400? What the fuck?
>>8179482
>tfw want to write fantasy but I know anything I do write will at best result in shitty fan-fiction tier work.
I like the idea of it being centred around some magic item, and the story is from the perspective of the person holding that magic item. Set in a world where magic items are really common but usually too dangerous for normal people to use.
But it'd just end up being seen as a shitty Lord of the Rings knock off because it's the king of powerful artifacts controlling people.
>>8179482
Absolutely.
>tfw I want fantasy that's not lolmagic and not a cut-and-dried magic system, so I study old alchemy books and they're really boring
>>8179482
I really want to write a fantasy novel with the technology of the late 19th/early 20th century. Men and orcs going at it with bolt actions and what not.
>>8179525
Those are excuses. Either sit down and do it or stop talking about it. There's no loss to doing it, even if it's crap you'll learn a lot and feel good about having achieved something. But if you're a sissy and won't try, don't even pretend like you're considering it.
>>8179563
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcanum:_Of_Steamworks_and_Magick_Obscura
Like this?
>>8179572
Yea I suppose so. Spoiler alert the elves stab the orcs in the back in the war and cause them to go full nationalist mode in which they genocide elves and eastern men en masse in an attempt to gain more living space and free themselves from international capitalism but are ultimately crushed by the forces of men who's rival ideologies have both been subverted by said elves in order to stamp out the spirit and will or the orcs once and for all.
>>8179482
No, I'm planning to do so later when I have finished the two science fiction stories I'm currently writing.
>>8179589
You got it wrong, gnomes are the kikes. Orcs are negroes and elves are germanics and italians. Humans are obviously anglos.
>>8179596
Those elves will accept multiculti and they'll fucking like it.
>>8179610
No, let's just put the gnomes in the oven instead.
>>8179572
Reinstalling. Thanks, so much for finishing one of my stories.
>>8179632
But then they'll get their own gnome-state out of it at the expense of the orcs and be able to operate behind the scenes freely without fear of criticism because >oy remember the gnomes
>>8179482
Yes, a novel where Oberon and the court of Faerie fled a powerful being grown weary of their mischief through space and time to a distant world that is in the process of reincarnating from a realm of animals to a realm of mankind. They found a band of humans that found their way there from classical Japan, and Oberon set himself up as Emperor, hoping that by their disguise they might hide themselves from their creditors.
The heroine is a shrine maiden placed in a fake family sent to spy on the Fairy King, preserving them from the dangers of their underworld journey through her extreme maidenly purity.
Fake family becomes real, fairies become more humanlike, humans become more fey, Romantic poets have cameos as dragons and tree spirits, horse archers hunt stegosaurs and groups of firemen patrol the streets at night, burning away foliage so the town isn't swallowed by the power of this world's life energy.
>>8179659
You just have to make sure to get all of them and win the war against the humans.
>>8179675
I know what I must do.
Thanks anon.
>>8179675
>Human empire covers 1/4 of the planet
>Massive human industrial complex guarded by the sea while your navy sucks
Not gonna happen.
>>8179687
>implying we won't win the war in the east before winter and create Fortress Elfurope
>>8179687
If only the humans had realised that the fight between the Elves and the Gnomes was none of their business.
>>8179687
>Implying the new great magical weapon wouldn't subjugate the human colonies
Remember that elves are the best at magic and that without their expertise humans wouldn't have come very far.
Do you think when including mythic figures you should try to hide it by changing their name, and personality or should you just play it straight?
>>8179780
Depends on what you are doing.
>>8179059
Quality comment friendo, thanks for the valuable input.
Has this become a Divinity: Dragon Commander thread?
>>8179924
It would make a great fantasy novel, religious authoritarian skeletons, hippie pot smoking elves, capitalist dwarves... Are there any fantasy books out there like that?
>>8177490
>ask /sffg/ for non-kiddy fantasy recs
>tell me to get gene wolfe's the wizard knight shit
>order a copy on the amazon webpage
>find out later the protagonist is some teenage shitbird cunt
if i ever run across one of you cunts irl, i'm going to choke the shit out of you for real
In was directed to this thread
is The Dagger and the Coin series by Daniel Abraham worth the read?
Is there anything like the Name of the Wind, but, ya know, good?
>>8177881
oh come on, Wolfe is literally unreliable narrator: the writer, he is full of cheap tricks
>>8180050
>not trusting in the Wolfeman
Post the most memorable scene from the last SFF book you readSame anon who asked for recs on last threads, will get started with worm ouroboros as soon as I finish Lolita
>But Túrin sped far before them, and came to Cabed-en-Aras, and stood still; and he heard the roaring of the water, and saw that all the trees near and far were withered, and their sere leaves fell mournfully, as though winter had come in the first days of summer.
>'Cabed-en-Aras, Cabed Naeramarth!' he cried. 'I will not defile your waters where Níniel was washed. For all my deeds have been ill, and the latest the worst.' Then he drew forth his sword, and said: 'Hail Gurthang, iron of death, you alone now remain! But what lord or loyalty do you know, save the hand that wields you? From no blood will you shrink. Will you take Túrin Turambar? Will you slay me swiftly?'
>And from the blade rang a cold voice in answer: 'Yes, I will drink your blood, that I may forget the blood of Beleg my master, and the blood of Brandir slain unjustly. I will slay you swiftly.' Then Túrin set the hilts upon the ground, and cast himself upon the point of Gurthang, and the black blade took his life.
It's stated early that the sword can act of its own volition, but it never comes up until that scene.
http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/submissions/
Has anyone had any experience with these guys? I notice they have a ton of content conditions which makes me wonder if they get less submissions in general, and might be worth a shot.
I also wrote a couple of horror short stories, any recs on places that might publish them? I've got a few sites that do short fiction already but I'm always looking for more.
>>8180112
The Name of the Wind
>there was this demon spider thing that was interesting and had some mystery to it
Of course, what passed for the "story" had nothing to do with it.
>>8180138
>Extreme Content: We prefer that graphic sex and violence not escalate beyond the level of an R-rated movie. We also insist that sex and sadistic violence not be acted upon children.
>Fairy Tales / Myths: We usually find that fairy tale-style or myth-style narratives don’t provide a gritty or immediate enough perspective to make us feel the texture of the secondary world or the direness of the protagonist’s struggle. Any fairy tale-type or myth-type story probably isn’t right for us.
What sort of faggotry is this? You can't submit classical styled stories because they aren't edgy enough but you can't' get very edgy either.
>>8180176
I think that's just their market. mythological and fairytale stuff is too whimsical or "weird" for normie fantasy fans who like violence and so forth, but only up to a point. Gotta cater to your audience.
>>8180112
The ending of Red Seas Under Red Skies, where Locke and Jean are trying to decide who gets to drink the antidote
>>8180176
Seems fairly reasonable to me. They want something "realistic" but they also don't want porn, snuff or otherwise.
>>8179268
I read the trilogy + Chasm City some 15 years ago (fuck I'm getting old...) and what stuck with me best was the scale, both with regard to time and space. If it's the scary ship part you're most interested in, give Ship of Fools/Unto Leviathan by Russo a try.
>>8179182
>implying you could have found half of these books online
The day you quit the shitty memes yo will realize there's not so much books available on the net.
>>8180241
read better books then?
>>8180266
>best books are the most popular ones
Try again.
>Nothing will happen to me
t. seer 5 minutes before getting head blown off
How could a seer not see that coming? Malazan
...I'm gonna die before The Great Ordeal comes out...
>>8180319
It's a bad book anyway
>>8180290
In bookshops. Sometimes I buy on Amazon or get a page I need from Google Books but they almost have what I need.
>>8180343
No, on the net.
>>8180241
>>implying you could have found half of these books online
Im pretty sure you actually can if you would search for more then 3 seconds.
>>8180235
But how are you supposed to write gritty fantasy without GRI?
>>8180347
Google, Bookz and other IRC channels, Archive.org, torrentz, btdigg, rutorrents, Google Books, the endless stream of DDL Bloggers (at least until MU went down), .edu websites, each countries' national library website, and pretty much everywhere I can go link-by-link.
>>8180368
And what are the grimoires you're not finding there that are available at Amazon?
>tfw you have books on your to-read list that are only at university libraries on the other side of the country
>>8180382
So you really think there's a person who bothered scanning 400+ pulp science-fiction titles then randomly dumped it on the internet? Can you actually find them or are you just telling me that it's there, lost somewhere in the hyperspace?
Anyway, you would be incredibly naive to think there's an obscure, invisible nameless army spending days and nights buying, scanning, editing and publishing for free millions of books on the internet. Google itself don't work this much, and it even got denied the right to make its funds available a couple of years ago by a European court.
However, if I'm wrong, if I'm a retard who didn't search for more than three seconds, I guess you could find an .epub of the books I bought last week in the local bookshop. Could you?
>>8180386
Is this one of those "how did I feel about X book" posts?
>>8180386
Maybe your problem isn't not having what you want as much as not wanting what you have.
>>8180382
I know that feel bro. I can't really justify dropping $300 on a out-of-print translation of a Soviet book on military doctrine, or even $150 on newer books about mining blasting and ore extraction.
>>8180386
>So you really think there's a person who bothered scanning 400+ pulp science-fiction titles then randomly dumped it on the internet?
You said you looked on archive.org.
>>8180398
I have no problems. I can find anything I need. The question is, could you? Because you—I assume you're the same user—suggest everything's available online and that there's no point looking for a book in a shop any more. As the conversation goes on it appears the book must not be a “grimoire”, nor obscure, nor unpopular. Now… Are you telling me you can get everything on the internet as long as it's something that is available on internet? Wow! Great!
>>8180407
YES. That's exactly what I wrote. I just posted “archive.org”.
>>8180050
Lel you actually took it.
It's more mature than anything you've read in fantasy this year probably so I don't feel bad, but taking advice based on one comment without any looking into it is pretty strange you rich American fuck.
>>8180411
>YES. That's exactly what I wrote. I just posted “archive.org”.
And then you said no one bothers scanning pulp SF and putting it on the internet.
>suggest everything's available online and that there's no point looking for a book in a shop any more.
Wait, you were the one with the trunk full of Brian Jacques, Robert Jordan, and Man-Kzin wars. I'm sorry, if I knew you were retarded I would never have brought it up.
>>8180386
>However, if I'm wrong, if I'm a retard who didn't search for more than three seconds, I guess you could find an .epub of the books I bought last week in the local bookshop. Could you?
Dude, you bought Larry Niven.
>>8180085
How are those cheap?
And the Long Sun has no first person, so there's no narrator.
>Start reading what I think is a fantasy book
>Looks like it's modern era
>The author seems to be incredibly misogynistic, woman hating
>Half way through realize I got the wrong book with a very similar title
>It was actually a biography of someone
Well, that took me by surprise
>>8180433
He's a popular author certainly to be on the internet.
>>8180432
>araminiposting this hard
>>8180434
Did you think you were reading the setup to some kick-ass magic realism or what?
>>8180434
hood's breath man, how did you read half of the book without realizing what it was
>>8180436
I just think I got what you're talking about. I'm sorry but I'm not the guy that bought a box of SF books. I'm just fed up of the “y no ebookz” meme.
>>8180445
I think you got something wrong.
>>8180437
But Long Sun has no first person narrator, even if it's written by an in universe character.
It's not unreasonable in the way his other novels are.
>>8180454
You shouldn't have talked about buying 400 books if you didn't want to be mixed up with the anon that bought 400 books.
>>8180439
I thought it was something like, the magic isn't revealed until later in the book, with the first part describing the characters normal lives, and then after that it will all change with magic, until I realized what I was reading
>>8180454
But the anon who asked why they hadn't got it online was obviously referring to the trunk full of Niven, not your super special obscure limited edition pulp treasury.
>>8180455
are you really aramini? man, i was just sniping at random. scrolled and clicked and the first comment i replied to. i bet you really are aramini, you fag. i remember when you got shamed into not being a namefag anymore.
>>8180434
Wow, real life is misogynistic, who would have guessed, maybe the feminists aren't just complaining about useless things all this time... /s
>>8180469
Was the biography at least interesting?
what does /lit/ think of witcher series?
>>8180478
It stopped being interesting when I realized there would be no fun stuff coming
>>8180477
So you are trunkanon? Did you expect someone to be impressed with all of your post-1980 mass market paperbacks? Bertram Chandler, yeah, that's old, but he was reprinted in the 70s at least.
>>8180477
>it's stupid to think Robert Jordan is available online
>>8180494
God… I'm not “Trunkanon”(?) and I'm not the guy who bought a box of SFF. I'm a random anon, I just open 4chan. The discussion is severely derailing.
>>8179182
Because not everyone is a degenerate poorfag who can't even afford a couple of dollars to buy a book like you.
>>8180085
i like how people throw this unreliable narrator thingy without trying to prove it either by the inner inconsistency or by violating the rules of nature (as the nature is set in that book)
i once read a blog post where some silly sheep claimed odysseus as an unreliable narrator, lol, the sole reason it was "muh we know of most of his adventures from his own account"
>>8180501
Sure mate! It's a box full of 400 Jordan's prints! You got me.
>>8180498
i really liked the game, do you think its worth the time to give it a read? im a slow reader
>>8180477
>I thought it was clear. I was just saying it's stupid to seriously think these 400 titles are available online.
Tell me a book and let me see if I can find it.
>>8180513
The game honestly has better writing.
It's just a mediocre read, was for me even in high school.
It's a quick and easy read, it'll take you like 3-4 hours because it reads really easy, but I'd go with something else, unless your only other choice was Name of the Wind or Wheel of Time.
>>8180521
I'm not Anonbox. I just presume it is the case.
>>8180523
already bought the 3 first books off the bat. im kinda compulsive at times.
i got a trip with 20 hour travel time soon, so need something to read, so i thought witchers were a good idea.
Would you recommend anything else? I like the folklore theme.
>>8180530
Scanning books is not that time costly as many people would imagine if a publisher can make a thousand dollars from scanning one book it will easily be worth there time.
>>8180535Croatian Tales of Long Agofor the real quality Slav myth.
I don't know many folklore stuff honestly (there was a chart floating around, but I haven't saved it, maybe some else has it), but I'd go with Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser for a fun read, it's well written, has great characters and is a bunch of smaller stories so you won't get bored by the same long one.
Total pleb here. What is a low brow, just overly violent and fun fantasy book? I'm talking morally ambiguous main characters, dark and edgy humor, etc. Shit like the Blade Itself.
I've read the prince of nothing and didn't like it at all. Closest to perfect I've read was Grunts by Mary Gentle.
>>8180547
Thanks
Whats the difference between those two?
The top one is 10 euro more expensive, but only has 84 pages
The bottom one has 284 pages, and is "classic reprint"
>>8180545
A publisher who desires to sell the book online, sure, but it cannot be applied to older issues. In addition there are publishing houses that don't, and this tremendous amount of unfree titles still need to be bought, hacked if protected then released, which isn't necessary done. Anyway, I rarely need a book not published prior to 1990 so it doesn't help me. I don't want to speak again about this infamous box but it doesn't look like the books were issued in this decade.
>>8180562
Don't get baited m8, the Croatian guy is just shilling books for no other reason that they're from his country.
If you like folklore get The Once and Future King.
>>8180562
Classic reprint probably has the original images and more tales, but I don't think you can fit everything in 84 pages. I assume, I didn't read it these editions. Here's a link to the Tales, you can try one and get the, I'd recommend 300 page version, if you like it.
https://archive.org/details/croatiantalesofl00brli
>>8180567
And it's impossible for the book to be good for what reason exactly? It's a collection of short stories, he can read one in 25 minutes and if he doesn't like it, no reason to read more or buy it.
And For Once isn't exactly the Witcher type folklore he wanted, it's arthurian myth which is not exactly something fresh, regardless of the book being good or not.
>2nd Malazan book
>There's apparently some kind of uprising
>No idea what's going on
>No idea who all the characters are
>No idea what the fuck anyone is doing
The bridge burners? What happened to Anomando Raik why haven't I heard of him or where even the action is taking place this is so confusing
The first book was much more clearer but maybe it will change when I get to the end
>>8180602
He changes the characters often so he can draw it all out and endlessly annoy you.
>tfw I want to write about a certain historical period but I keep running into things I don't know about it
>tfw I keep coming up with tricks for why characters would wear potentially anachronistic armor or I just figure if I can't find out how commoners dressed none of my readers could either
>tfw when I'm too honest to do it
>>8180588
>hmm. Its shorter than i anticipated, i expected more words pr page, not like this is a bad thing, But i would finish it too quick if i brought it for the trip i think.
I got to page 20, really liking it actually.
>>8180593
I've never read, or know anything about arthurian myth, so it might be a good time to try
>>8180567
Any difference with different covers?
>>8180639
dont know why i greentexted that
>>8180560
The Lies of Locke Lamora
The Steel Remains
Tome of the Undergates
The Grim Company
>>8180639
Just click on them and compare? I think the middle one is hardcover and top is paperback.
>>8180593
If it was ever possible to make King Arthur fresh, T.H. White did it.
>>8180623
Just do some research, it's always appreciated as a reader. That being said, if the story is enjoyable, I don't think some historical inaccuracies will really bother anyone.
>>8180651
the page number is different, but im thinking more of the way things are written, do they change anything in different versions?
>>8180679
If it's the same book why would it be? Weird question. Page count depends on font size and things like that.
>>8180602
>where even the action is taking place
The first book took place on the continent of Genabackis, the second is on Seven Cities. Some decades ago the Malazan Empire conquered Seven Cities but there has been a rebellion recently. But seriously don't worry about knowing the "big picture" at the beginning of every novel, just enjoy each character's story. You might want to follow the Tor readalong as well.
http://www.tor.com/series/malazan-reread-of-the-fallen/
>>8179268
Best hard sci-fi. Redemption Ark was my favorite. Many of the side stories were wonderful too.
>>8180319
>tfw waiting for ZTD leaks for days now
I feel like a goddamn JUNKIE
>>8180440
>hood's breath
why did I laugh
Didn't think I'd ever enjoy wanton butchering of language but damned if Chanur hasn't got the literary balls to manage it.
>>8180665
I didn't read it yet, but there's plenty of very different Arthurian works, but none are fresh in the way Slav myth is to most readers.
Freshness doesn't even matter much, as long as the book is good of course, but if one is looking for something different I'd go with something else.
>>8180762
That's the furries in space meme book?
So how is this Hyperion?
Will I enjoy it if I liked Dune, BOTNS, Heinlein and PKD? Should I even bother with the sequels?
>>8180877
The first two were great. Didn't read afterwards. Impressions of people are usually positive.
Disclaimer, I was 15 when I read it.
>>8180877
i dropped it at the very beginning
i like heinlein (especially his works for american teenagers, his more serious stuff mostly meh), semi-like the first book of dune (the rest is meh), like some of pkd (not the most) and like botns
now, i want to read keats hyperion in the nearby future, i bet that hyperion is much better
Can someone explain to me, when I read books that include murder or killing, why do they all say how it
>hurts their soul
>can't sleep
>nightmares
Why would killing someone make you have nightmares or make you feel anything? It's just something you do, I don't understand
>>8180925
I've spoken with veterans and that is definitely something that happens. If you aren't a sociopath, killing a person is a traumatic experience and you will often have nightmares and trouble sleeping.
>it's just something you do
heh, nothin personnel, kid.
>>8180930
>>it's just something you do
>heh, nothin personnel, kid.
I meant that as in, it's done, why give it a thought afterwards?
It never happened to me but then again that wasn't during war so maybe my experience is different
I've read American Gods and neverwhere, trying to go through the rest of the /lit/ recommended reading on urban fantasy but are there any recommendations on more books I should read that are similar?
>>8180942
The best approach to Urban Fantasy is not reading urban fantasy.
>>8180940
>I meant that as in, it's done, why give it a thought afterwards?
If we constantly lived in the present without ever thinking of past things we'd be animals, wouldn't we? It's human do dwell and revisit past memories, asking ourselves whether we could have done anything differently, and I assume this is especially true when it's a traumatic experience like killing someone.
>>8180942
Apparently the web serial Worm is good. But I'd stay from Urban Fantasy that doesn't come from respectable writers as a whole.
Are there any good fantasy post-apocalyptic books?
>>8180963
Book of the New Sun.
>>8180972
You read his best novel, other than that he just has Sandman which is a comic.
>>8177543
is this from prince of nothing?
is really worth it?
>>8180963
A canticle for leibowitz, though that's more science fiction
it is very good however
>>8180972
Go for his comics.
Gaiman is better for writing about books he likes than he is at writing his own.
>>8180963
- The Shannara Saga
- The Broken Empire trilogy
Anything with truly terrorizing non-human creatures, like the kind of thing people are scared of even talking about?
>>8181003
Like leftists?
>>8181012
When will the 2nd age of myth book release?
Considering it's already written
>>8180942
Have you read skulduggery pleasant?
It's a kids series but I enjoyed it.
>>8180942
hi im the first guy to respond to your original thread
im one of the more polite people here, but you didn't take the hint. people like you are generally disliked here.
Who /hype/ here?
Will this conclude the series or is there going to be a fifth book?
>>8180058
I have read the first four books and enjoyed them very much. There are some stretchy bits that are necessary to portrait charater development, and the 2nd half of the fourth book is a bit cheesy for my taste, but all in all it's a good series.
I'd also recommend the "The Emperor's Blades" series, if you like military medieval fantasy that leans a bit more towards the military side and has less (not none) elements of political intrigue to it.
>tfw just finished pic related
That ending was perfect and explains why (spoiler:)Bethod isn't the villain he was made out to be for most of the series.
I simultaneously like and dislike how this book could, theoretically, mean the end the entire First Law series and the three related standalones.
Also, I'd have appreciated some more Inquisitor Glokta background story.
>>8181041
I really want to read this series because it sounds exactly like my shit, but the books are so huge and apparently the writing is fairly dense. I'm kind of in the mood for easy, short books right now. Maybe someday.
>>8181028
Literately found it on the lit wikis fuck off
>>8180112
>But if you didn't have more urgent things to do after supper, you could write a letter, loaf, gossip, discuss the myriad mental and moral shortcomings of sergeants and, dearest of all, talk about the female of the species (we became convinced that there were no such creatures, just mythology created by inflamed imaginations - one boy in our company claimed to have seen a girl, over at regimental headquarters; he was unanimously judged a liar and a braggart).
Never fails to crack me up.
>>8181003
lovecraft
>>8181059
the people who responded told you things readers of gaiman already know, now youre jumping through hoops. gaiman and urban fantasy are trash.
get a clue fucking faggot
>>8181136
4 books on here in 3 different genres fuck you and fuck off, not only on this one but on the other areas of the wiki. I'm sorry I wanted similar books now go fuck off to somewhere else you can have a feeling of superiority
>>8181152
why the fuck is shannara on that list it's complete fucking shit garbage shouldn't even be mentioned anywhere
>>8181156
It also has Name of the Wind and other shit.
>>8181152
Is Garth Nix's Sabriel really kiddy tier?
My sister just lent me the trilogy and I'm all outta fantasy to read so I was planning on starting it tonight.
>>8180437
I haven't posted yet. But I will. I WILL. soon.
>>8180472
This is Aramini. Long Sun is completely full of cheap tricks because it has a first person narrator who is concealed until the last third of the final book; in the original publication the reveal is not in the epilogue and was changed by a copy editor without Wolfe's knowledge (chapter 13 of exodus from the long sun). The change has stood in subsequent reprints but Wolfe was very pissed when i told him about it.
>>8181003
Blindsight had probably the most unnerving take on Vampires that I've seen.
>>8181175
My favorite sf nonfiction:
Encyclodpedia of SF,
Delany's jewel hinged jaw (though we disagree about anthology, his criticism is lucid for a semiotician/post-structuralist)
Jad Smith wrote a very good book on brunner for the modern masters of sf line. Cambridge companion to sf and fantasy are okay ... aldiss's billion year spree. Darko suvin is seminal in the field.
The best book that will ever be written on Wolfe is Beyond Time and Memory, I am certain.
>>8181187
Autocorrect changed ontology to anthology holy fuck
>>8181156
It's in shit tier though
>>8180986
Yes, it's great.
>>8181187
When is it coming out? I finished Short Sun and it was great. His 4th best work from what I've read.
>>8181156
When it was published there was nothing else on the market ... eddings, brooks, the rest was older sword and sorcery type stuff. Since then fantasy and long books have proven either profitable or easy to write, and shannara looks extremely mediocre. Publishing pressures forced it into a prominent place. No ebooks, had to buy what books were on shelves.
>>8180963
Bakker's Prince of Nothing
>>8180925
My father is 75 now but was in early Vietnam in Marine Recon. He has a pragmatic take: kill em before they kill you. Cut a man's throat with his boot knife when he couldn't reach his rifle. He is fine except if you bump into him or he perceives you are trying to push him he kind of over-reacts. Hit him with a cart at the grocery store and he will shove it back into you. But fuck people who impinge on other's spaces. ... they need to learn some people will kill them. He sleeps just fine. This young effete generation is full of simps.
>>8181203
10 more essays to write ... did you watch my short sun vid?!! Go do so if not!!!!!
>>8181220
Damn I forgot. Will do so today.
>>8181226
Be ready!!! That was the first Wolfe story where I knew I got it and everyone else was blind. Fuck the urth list argued with me so hard for years about it. Let me know what you think.
>Still no blood mirror
:(
The more I read Lord Of Chaos the more I am appalled at Rand's utter idiocy, how in the fuck does he not realize thatMazrim Taim is actually Demandred? I mean I'm not sure myself but at this point it's 99% this, either that orLews Therin going apeshit whenever he is around doesn't really make sense.
>finally finish Rendezvous with RamaNothing happens: the novel
I liked it.
>>8181259
I'm noticing the trend, a lot of the classics are "nothing ever happens: the book".
>>8181258
Or Robert Jordan is a bad writer who has some of the most laughably bad villains in all of non-YA fantasy.
>>8181261
Are they really? I admittedly haven't read many 'classics' and I'm trying to rectify that although I'm about to read a 'newer' sci-fi series so it'll be a while. I liked Childhood's End and things happened. I liked VALIS and I don't even know what the fuck happened. I liked the Foundation trilogy plus two sequels and lots of things happened. I liked RwR but nothing happened.
>>8180494
Trunkanon here. Sorry, was unconscious for a couple hours, weird. Anyway, I've got plenty pre-1980 stuff, but I wasn't too discriminatory.
>Did you expect someone to be impressed
No, I expected pity and/or derision. Where do you think we are?
>>8181268
As far as the Forsaken go, so far only the power trio of Semirhage, Graendal and Demandred have been decent villains.
The rest range from "mustache twirling" to "ass clown".
>>8181213
Yeah that I can understand, or a paranoia afterwards, which is natural, like with dogs, if you get bit by one on the street you'll be paranoid about it for a time, for longer if you're young, that's just a defense mechanism but all the other shit remains a mystery to me why some people get them
>>8181267
I noticed my favorite books tend to be in the middle, I guess what people call middlebrow. Not super blown out philosophical and deep, but also not pure entertainment without any merit.
>>8180942
Thunderer by Felix Gilman
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
>>8181049
Reading it atm. Just finished The Fool Jobs, which I had read before in a shot story compilation.
