Anticipation Edition
Recommendations:
>Fantasy
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(For the Computer illiterate) http://i.imgur.com/igBYngL.jpg
>Sci-Fi
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(For the Computer illiterate) http://i.imgur.com/gNTrDmc.jpg
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>What are you currently reading?
>What are some of your expectant sff releases for 2016?
>Who is your most anticipated new author?
>What do you do when a book is building up to a glorious climax, then walks away leaving you dry?
Old thread >>7692308
>>7702339
>>What are you currently reading?
Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz, good shit
>>What are some of your expectant sff releases for 2016?
Bakker's completion of the Aspect Emperor trilogy, and Sott Lynch's new Gentleman Bastards book
>>Who is your most anticipated new author?Myself
>>What do you do when a book is building up to a glorious climax, then walks away leaving you dry?
Call it disappointing and make sure I don't commit similar mistakes in my own work
>>7702339
>currently reading
Under Heaven and
>expectant releases
I'm hoping for the finale to Hobb's Fitz series, but I doubt that will be this year. Thorn of Emberlain and Oathbringer should be enough to entertain me in the fantasy space. Still have too many scifi classics to read to bother keeping up with that genre's modern output.
>most anticipated new author
If they're new, I probably don't know about them, so I'm incapable of feeling anticipation.
Last thread someone asked for folklore tales, Croatian Tales from Long Ago by Ivana Brlic Mazuranic. Translation is kinda shit because the author made Slavic words into English so it just sounds really strange if you know the original.
On the anon who wanted Lotr quality in sf, Book of the New Sun, Lord of Light, Lathe of Haven, Solaris, A Scanner Darkly.
>>7703266
LotR's prose, structure, framing, or character development is not very elegant, so I'm not sure I'd use its quality as a measure to compare SF works with. If you said LotR tier, or LotR equivalent of SF, then yes, those works would suffice.
>>7701660
Surprisingly to me it was a Forgotten Realms book, City of the Dead by Rosemary Jones. I read through it in a few hours.
I read a lot of fantasy, I definitely have at least two times as many fantasy books as I have science fiction books, but there is nothing really really standing out that was as entertaining as a lot of the science fiction books I've read.
>>7702400
>>7702406
lewd
>>7702339
>What are you currently reading?
The Orc King by Salvatore. It's probably my breaking point with the Drizzt series. So far I could handle bad books but the whole premise of this one is "the orcs have a right to their kingdom even though they invaded our country. we really shouldn't judge them and their weird religion, we should give them a chance. also the state will defend them with force for no apparent reason against people who want to get the orcs out and declares those outcast." it's literally how the immigrant crisis is handled in Germany.Wake me up!
>What are some of your expectant sff releases for 2016?
I haven't been keeping up with the newer stuff.
>Who is your most anticipated new author?
That anon here who wants to publish.
>What do you do when a book is building up to a glorious climax, then walks away leaving you dry?
Feeling disappointedand hoping that there is a sequel that fixes it.
>>7703285
What are your picks, then? That's the only thing people are interested in, not your banter.
>>7702339
>>What are you currently reading?
The Thing Itself by Adam Roberts. Philosophical Science Fiction, think Fermi Paradox and Kant. A pleasant surprise for me, took a chance with that one. Never heard of the author before.
>What are you currently reading?
Player of Games, (Iain M. Banks). I just finished Consider Phlebas, heartstrings still twinging from the ending.
>What are some of your expectant sff releases for 2016?
>Who is your most anticipated new author?
My only plan for this year was to finish reading the Culture series. I'm naturally lazy so I didn't really want to cram in a rigorous schedule, but (so far) it looks like I can finish them within a month each, at the very most.
>What do you do when a book is building up to a glorious climax, then walks away leaving you dry?
Smoke a joint and reflect on the ones that got away.
Are there any modern equivalents of Horacio Quiroga? Especially his horror themed stuff
Really any modern "weird fiction" will do. I'm currently in the middle of a short story collection by T.E. Grau and getting a kick out of it but I'm not sure what else is out there that's modern and derives itself from weird fiction without being like "DUDE SHUGGOTHS LMAO"
>>7703423
Every few years I come back and reread the list of Cthulhu Mythos deities article on wikipedia.
Every few years I notice more terrible terrible inclusions.
>>7703464
Yeah, which is why I'm asking for weird fiction derivatives rather than modern mythos stuff which is pretty trash even for someone who loves low brow genre fiction.
>>7703468
China Mievelle?
been reading a bunch of short stories lately. Godlike Machines, Engineering Infinity, a couple others in the same series and The Forever Magazine. I especially enjoyed
The Regular by Ken Liu, cyborg detective stuff
Troika by Alastair Reynolds, russians go see about a big dumb object that appears in the sky
Alone by Robert reed, wall-e just wants to be left alone on his huge spaceship
any short story recommendations? i'd like to hear about anon's favorites.
>>7703334
>Adam Roberts
isn't that the guy who wrote all those atrocious parody books?
>>7703489
Fire Watch by Connie Willis is neat
>>7703489
I like Reynolds, so I suggest you read Minla's Flowers.
And other stuff by him, like Sleepover for example.
>http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/
>THE READER'S LIST
>1. ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand
Is it good?
>>7703654
Because the wikipedia page describes it as a sci-fi novel?
After reading a couple of things on wikipedia about her I'm not so sure I wanna read it anymore, though.
>>7703660
That's a pretty common response. Rand's politics are pretty ugly but from what I understand it's not a bad book if you can separate it from the author and her followers.
>>7703672
I don't know if I can read with a free mind a book by a woman who says the individual should be free to do whatever he wants until he steps on the liberty of someone else and then proceeds to cuck her husband with a man 27 years younger and already married, get mad when he has another lover and tells him that if he's any morals he won't have another boner ever again.
Makes me kind of want to dismiss all her work.
>>7703687
People are hypocrites who rarely live up to the ideologies they espouse. You have to be able to take ideas at their own merit, because the people behind the ideas invariably suck.
>>7703693
That's why a degenerate book by a degenerate author will always be superior.
Jokes aside, while what you say is flawless, I feel like it's not enough, at least for me.
>>7703687
I'm sure there's some kind of argument to be mad about separating a creator from their work is dishonest but I'm too lazy to articulate it.
>>7703285
>LotR's prose, structure, framing, or character development is not very elegant
It is the definition of elegant you uncultured swine.
>>7703519
I don't think so. He's a hoity-toity lit professor, so he doesn't parody, he engages. Salt is probably the best answer to The Dispossessed and New Model Army is some of the only modern lit that discusses Hobbes.
>>7702339
>>What are you currently reading?
Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chaing. Good so far. I'm not usually one for short stories.
>>What are some of your expectant sff releases for 2016?
Bakker's next one.
>>Who is your most anticipated new author?
I have no opinions on authors until I read their work.
>>What do you do when a book is building up to a glorious climax, then walks away leaving you dry?
Give it a 7 out of 10.
>>7702348
>Bakker's completion of the Aspect Emperor trilogy
Pretty sure the last book has been split into 2 parts, so it won't be completed this year. At least that's the last I read about it anyway.
Why womans so sucks at writing fantasy?
>>7703834
I don't think they necessarily do t b h. Fantasy is 90% shit and 10% good. It is also 90% male and 10% female. Therefore only 1% of fantasy books are both good and written by a female so it's unlikely you've read any of them.
>>7703834
FMA tho
>>7703885
I hope u mean brotherhood senpai
Opinions on Bakker's Prince of Nothing trilogy? I'm thinking of giving it a shot.
>>7704103
That's not about alchemy
>>7703741
I meant these. And yeah I was right.
>Anon XDDDD
>What?
>You really need to read that hilarious parody book! :DDDDDD It's so funny!! :DDDDDDDDDD
>>7704107
No, but it's fantasy written by a woman.
>>7704118
Yeah but I'm not that anon want want more cool alchemy
>>7702339
can anyone recommend a good scifi to me?
havent read a good one in years. last one was snow crash and it was quite bad. maybe it was due to stephenson's style, but without the interesting connections he made with ancient summerian civilization i would have probably dropped it midway.
anyways, stuff i read and loved: neuromancer, dune, brave new world, enders game, illuminati trilogy, hyperion
>>7702339
Is there a good fantasy chart yet
>>7704173
I got you son. First couple sequels are good too
Also if you haven't read any Dick I really recommend that you do, especially if you liked Illuminatus
I'm reading Feist's Mara of the Acoma trilogy.
>>7703834
Robin Hobb is good.
>>7704220
thanks, will try this one.
>>7704173
the infodumps about the Sumerian is the only thing I dÃsliked about Snow Crash.
Anyway the stuff you loved overlaps completely with my favorites, so giving you some recommendations:
Older:
Jeff Noon - Vurt
Greg Egan - Permutation City
William Gibson - 'Blue Ant' trilogy
Newer:
Cory Doctorow - Makers
Dave Eggers - The Circle
>>7704295
in general i'm not a big fan of infodumps but for some reason i thought he had something interesting going there with the comparison between enki & ashera and rife's operation. the short parts about the rat things were ok too now that i think about it.
thanks for your recs, i will look into them!
>>7702339
>What are you currently reading?
Vacuum Diagrams by Stephen Baxter, finally taking the Xeelee plunge after liking his other stuff (Time Ships, Long Earth etc)
>What are some of your expectant sff releases for 2016?
Right now just The Last Days of New Paris by China Mieville - it's about a "surrealism bomb", can't wait to see what that entails.
>Who is your most anticipated new author?
Can't think of anyone actually, I'm sure there's some newcomer burning up the field but right now I haven't caught wind of them. Recs?
>What do you do when a book is building up to a glorious climax, then walks away leaving you dry?
This happens a lot with Neal Stephenson, it's disappointing but at this point I've just accepted that the trip is always gonna be better than the destination.
>>7703834
>This meme again
>>7704101
I really like the rape, gay and incest A Prince of NothingBut seriously, it's a good read, even if Bakkers philosophizing can last a bit too long.
>>7704337
That Sumerian flavoring made it far more palatable imo.
>>7704532
>3 or 4 women wrote decent fantasy books
>women are as good as men when it comes to writing
Yeah, no.
Any recommendations for military Sci-fi? Something along the lines Glenn Cooks Black Company series, but in space?
>>7704912
Try Starfist. It was going pretty well (Although there are one or two stinkers) Fifteen books in all, It's a fucking shame it got cancelled though. I really wanted to know how the war against the Skinks panned out.
About done reading the Solomon Kane stories.
God damn they're badass.
Some are even better than Conan. Love the ones in africa.all these parts where Kane links freakish things to the "old world", or when he likens mankind to maggots feisting in earth,.. Love it.
relating to their insignificance..
I need more.
REH offing himself is such a damned tragedy. Ifonly he knew his heroes would last this long...
>>7703732
LotR really isn't. Tolkien modeled his prose on biblical literature, and basically used duct tape, when he realized he left plot holes that his children pointed out. Often his description, scene depiction, combat, and character interactions lack finesse, which is surprising considering the body of literature he was influenced by. Then again the influences may be part of the weakness. The Norse and Finnish epics were not written with the modern pacing that has developed, but that is the pacing that LotR resembles. Overall it's a well written work, but that's what it is, merely well written. Hardly the finest prose of the 20th century.
>>7704103
Dorohedoro is weird and cool, but has a pointless meandering plot.
>>7704176
No, but I know how a better one could be made. Reduce the list to a summary of top 10, then make a chart of the top 20, arranged by sub genres. The last chart should be expansions of sub genres, and an extra chart could include the eclectic/obscure picks.
>>7704295
You are an underdeveloped mind and a fool.
I NEED MORE REH IN MY LIFE
>>7705060
something something fedora
>>7705014
I hate REH so I was delighted to find that he killed himself.
>>7705077
Screw you , fag
>>7705077
He was a racist and a bigot, and I'm not surprised someone as dumb as you reads him.
I really wouldn't mind either if you killed yourself.
>>7704935
Thanks, I'll give it a read.
>>7704822
Ever stop to think that until recently, not as many women read fantasy? Female fantasy authors aren't worse, there are just less of them.
Go read some Hobb or Le Guin.
>>7705122
Nice bait
Used it myself one time
>>7703900
Brotherhood IS the manga, faggot.
>>7704912
How about The Lost Fleet series? It's a bit silly though.
The blade itself is SHIT
JOE ABERCROMBIE IS SHIT
>>7705540
You are a pleb if the very deep underlying themes did not strike your heart true.
>>7705540
I'm not him but the underlying themes were not relatable to me, and I did not feel attached to any of the characters. Game of Thrones is appallingly long, but it had reasonable uncorrupted characters like Eddard Stark and Jon Snow. Pretty much every main character in First Law is completely fucked up.
What is your favorite "magic" system to come out of a fantasy series? I'm a big fan of Feruchemy from the mistborn series.
>>7705261
minus a few important pieces that were only animated in the 2003 series. Even calling Brotherhood a standalone story is a stretch.
And please, there's no what that deadly sins religious nonsense is more entertaining than Aryan magic not so equivalent exchange.
>>7705740
>magic system
I like books, not video games.
>>7705418
Silly in what way?
>>7705791
I don't understand what you're trying to imply, you might want to take a step back and actually think about what you want to say before vomiting words into a post.
>>7705740
Feruchemy is showing to have some interesting applications. I'm really curious to see what happens with Hemalurgy.
>>7705741
Brotherhood was purely based upon the source material which is the manga. The first anime--the 2003 series you are talking about--deviated in certain aspects and was different.
>>7705816
Magic a best when it's not explained. The only people who like magic system are MMO playing sperglords.
The only exception is Dying Earth.
>>7705041
>LotR really isn't.
It really is.
>Often his description, scene depiction, combat, and character interactions lack finesse
Not really.
> Hardly the finest prose of the 20th century.
Show me something more elegant then.
Any good fantasy novels that have some really interesting, non-cliche big scale monsters as main focus? Maybe have them have some intelligence. Little human politics.
>>7705182
>Female fantasy authors aren't worse, there are just less of them.
More, especially in urban fantasy. Also many more women read fantasy than men.
>>7705907
Define non-cliche
>>7705935
Dragons and Giants I guess. Not to say Dragons aren't fine, but they should have a significant twist to the common dragon other than appearance. Or rather all the monsters should have something unique about them. I want it to make you you feel something other than brute force meets brute force kind of conflict.
>>7705899
Do the work for you? No way you suck, stay in your hole.
>>7705859
did you even read my comment? or have you really not watched both series?
>>7706037
Guess you can't. Stay pleb, pleb.
>>7706070
Said the pleb in the plebbit hole.
>>7705122
>racist and bigot
>dumb
Racism might be bad but it isn't stupid.
The fagget that suggested Red Rising.
Is that heart thumping the same shit in Hunger Games with the two finger salute?
This is so fucking cringey. The flying is is tech, not actual supermen.
>>7706074
Just waiting on some better prose. Give me your best shot.
>>7706079
Wait, did you think "genetic supermen" meant people from Krypton? Do you actually read?
>>7702339
Which of you cunts got Sanderson's new YA book?
Cosmerefag?
>>7706079
>Is that heart thumping the same shit in Hunger Games with the two finger salute?
No. Most of the Hunger Games feel of it drops out after he becomes a Gold, it's all Roman battles and backstabbing and wearing cloaks on the decks of spaceships after that.
>>7706134
Was it one of the superhero books? I just couldn't continue after the first.I couldn't forgive him.
Good guys not having superpowers was the point, the entire point. I know it's a cool magic system but it needs to just be villains, that's the premise. And whoop de doo, we had a super among us the whole time. Nice twist.
>>7706096
When he said "actual gods" and "people flying like supermen".
I though the golds were genetically modified(mutated) to have superhuman abilities.
Not fucking super mario brothers grav boots shit.
Pic related, just imagine it gold instead of red.(did some quick work in gimp)
>>7706134
Calamity? I don't read his non-Cosmere stuffother than the first Legion book.
Check one of the many online book downloading repositories.
Have any of you guys read Lyonese? I picked up the trilogy for p cheap and I'm about to start it. Never read any Vance before. What should I expect?
>>7705883
Having a grounded system of magic makes the world more relatable and understandable.
If you don't have magic make sense, you get shit like elminster and tom bombadil it removes any sense of consistency.
>why didn't they just ride the eagles to mordor
>>7706483
Life is boring if you always know all the answers to everything.
So did Kassad actually fuck the shrike or?
>>7706483
If magic makes sense it sure as hell ain't magic. Another thing City of Stairs got right.
>>7707126
Miracles =/= magic
>>7707107
Moneta was sacrificed to the Shrike and became the Shrike's messenger. So while Kassad did have sex with Moneta, he also happened to have sex with the Shrike by proxy.
But more importantly, Simmons fucked the second half of Hyperion, then further fudged things with 3 mediocre sequels. I don't understand why sf writers can't seem to tie up good endings.
>>7707620
What are some SF stories with satisfying endings?
>>7707717
Asimov's Foundation trilogy ends conclusively.
Dune ends with as much gravitas as Greek myth.
Ender's Game is soft sf, but has a fitting climax and denouement.
Boulle's Planet of the Apes has one of sf's most well executed endings, but unfortunately it's too well known.
>>7707752
Any good ride off into the sunset ones? I've been in the mood for a comfy/pulpy space adventure.
>>7706483
No, it makes the book into a video game novelization.
If you're going to have magic there's literally no reason to go into details.
Also read the fucking Lotr you /v/irgin.
>>7707761
The Witches of Karres, whose quirky sense of humor is very similar to anime. It ends with the protagonist and a cute girl riding off into space.
>>7707774
Looks fun, thanks.
>>7707769
>no reason to go into details
How so? Doesn't this depend entirely on the book?
So uh, what do you guys think of Michael Swanwick?
Severely underrated author imo, proficient in both science fiction and fantasy without being derivative.
>>7707769
So is Dresden Files a video game novelization?
Jim Butcher already outlined the limit of the magic that Harry can use. I guess that means the book sucks, there is no way for there to be an easy asspull, thus Deus Ex Machina.
You nostalgic faggets really need to fuck off, no one like deus ex machina.
If you write a novel, and write yourself into a corner, pulling a deux ex machina to resolve shit will only make you lose your readership.
There is a reason everyone hates Terry Brooks, and why Sanderson, Butcher, Weeks, and the rest of those faggets are best sellers.
They don't insult their readers by implying we are too stupid to see when they are writing with their hands up their ass.
>>7707820
Dresden Files indeed suck but for completely different reasons.
>>7707820
>There is a reason everyone hates Terry Brooks
he's way too repetitive but I found he can be pretty decent when he's not trying his hardest to be Tolkien.
The Voyage Of The Jerle Shannara trilogy is probably the best thing he's written if only because it doesn't rip off anything.
>>7707769
You're letting your own irrational hatred of video games cloud your judgement.
>>7707752
So are the other Foundation books not worth reading? The ones after the trilogy?
>>7707826
That was pretty neat once you realize they're fightingan AI
>>7706483
>magic
>making sense
I want vidya playing, hard SF spergs out of muh fantasy.
>>7707890
>if I don't like it then it's bad
Sounds like you're the sperg
Speaking of vidya, any of you faggots looking forward to Tides of Numenera? It's based upon Clarke's Third Law and I'm pretty hard for it.
I feel like I'm stating the obvious but there is a serious in-universe motivation for not flying the eagles to Mordor and anyone who takes this as a legitimate "plot hole" is a fucking retard that didn't actually read the book.
I had to say it.
>>7707820
>There is a reason everyone hates Terry Brooks, and why Sanderson, Butcher, Weeks, and the rest of those faggets are best sellers.
And theres a reason why Tolkien, Martin, Howard, Rowling, and Lewis have outsold those autists.
>>7707897
I'll give you the first three but Rowling and Lewis are shit.
Also I find it humorous that you can't see the irony in liking fantasy books but not fantasy video games.
>>7707899
It doesnt matter of you don't like them, they've outsold memers like Sanderson and will continue to for the next hundred or so years.
And I do play fantasy vidya, but not for the plot. Becausd like almost all video games, the stories are always incredibly trite. And having mana and shit only works in video games because thats how the mechanics work
>>7707897
>book sales equal book quality
So Dan Brown and John Green are actually phenomenal writers? Who knew.
your argument is bad and you should feel bad.I just realized, what is it with shit writers and surnames that are colors?
>>7707909
The Witcher games have a plot that is miles better than fantasy books like Eragon even though they're vidya.
You can't just generalize like that, there will always be exceptions.
>>7707890
>I will decide what a author should and should not write
>he can't infringe on my happy feels from the books I read in the 80's
Fuck off
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2016/02/16/what-i-want-out-of-twitter/
Other posts made by Scalzi:
>Why doesn't anybody read Scifi any more ;_:
>Seriously, only 80k sales? We brought a ad in times square!
How does he have so little self awareness?
>>7707917
The witcher game was based off of books.....
>>7703672
>Rand's politics are pretty ugly
On college campuses maybe.
>>7707925
You know your ideology is pretty shit when a video game can BTFO it
>>7707924
The plot wasn't.
>>7707942
>You know your ideology is pretty shit when your country loses to the combined forces of a single state
>>7706483
>>7706483
>If you don't have magic make sense, you get shit like elminster and tom bombadil it removes any sense of consistency
That's how I prefer it.
Magic should be something unexplainable, out of reach, with only a thin thread grounded in reality.
I hate fucking tabletop games and rpgs.
>stats
>hurr throw a dice
Garbage.
>>7705740
I like the one one in this kids fiction series I read when I was a kid.
MAGYK! TURNS ALL VOWELS TO Y'S FOR THE FUCK OF IT!
>>7707954
>Every fantasy novel should be like Wheel of Time where magic-users have basically unlimited power that continually escalates.
>>7706373
neve rread it. it's arthurian legend though, isn't it? If you are into that then go ahead and give it a go. Vance is usually considered a good writer.
>>7706483
>elminster
I will have you know that Elminster is firmly grounded in the forgotten realms rules. the only difference is that he's an insanely high level character and even he fucks up.
the last 3 or 4 Elminster books are literally about him fucking up, everyone scheming against him, fucking up his schemes and nothing else.
>>7707761
Friday by Heinlein.
>>7707875
they're very goodI dare say they're better than the original trilogy because they connect the foundation story withthe robots storyand in a meaningful way.
>>7707893
it's supposed to be planescape torment part 2 without the planescape license.
I'll wait for the first steamsale and all bugs being removed.
>>7707909
>Becausd like almost all video games, the stories are always incredibly trite.
that is sadly true.
>>7707962
That's not what I said, retard.
>>7707963
>I will have you know that Elminster is firmly grounded in the forgotten realms rules
That's bullshit and you know it, none of the forgotten realm novels are grounded in the actual rules, like the wizards are fucking spontaneous casters for fuck sake.
>>7707954
>i never read the books i am professing hate for
>let me talk out of my ass about shit i know nothing of
>>7707917
>The Witcher
>good
When will this meme end? This is why people consider genre literature and videogames shit, when it really isn't and probably isn't even a thing.
>>7707986
Name a better fantasy videogame than The Witcher, familia.
Last ten years obviously, you won't cop out of this with the usual Planescape or BG.
>>7707917
The Witcher games have better plots than most of the books.
>>7707989
Dark Souls?
>>7707996
>All the Soulsborne games
We were talking about plot. Those games have none and what little they do have is some generic save the world thing which has been done to undeath,
>>7707960
I liked this one when I was little because it was so fucking edgy.
>>7707999
>Those games have none
>what retards believe
>>7707922
Damn, and I like Old Men War. At least I didn't buy it.
>>7707980
is not.
>>7704101
I liked the rape, gay and incest of Prince of Nothing series.
>>7708010
I ordered this a few weeks ago, the last book (which is the first of course) should arrive this week. I swear I'll be thoroughly disappointed if there isn't much rape, gay and incest in it and I'll never listen to you memers again!
>>7705907
Perdido Street Station maybe?
>>7706373
I've only read the first one but it's good stuff.
>>7708012
There's plenty of that. As long as you can take Bakker's writing you'll be fine.
>>7708013
>Perdido Street Station; or, I took a creative writing class in college
>>7708005
I buy every new Scalzi book just so he can continue shitposting on twitter, It's a goldmine of the most autistic you'll see outside of /mlp/.
>>7708021
Just making a suggestion. I wish people would stop crying like a bitch every time an author they dislike is mentioned.
>>7708047
/lit/ is Stop Liking what I Don't Like: The Board
>>7708004
Yeah if you have to dig for the plot on online forums because the game itself gives you jack shit aside from some scrawny item descriptions, that's actually a bad thing.
>>7707986
>"x is a thing"
>listen to my opinions, guys, they really matter!
>>7707910
Dunno, T.H. White is pretty good though.
>>7702348
>Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz, good shit
awwww yeah! Really, really good and under-discussed here.
Sad that he published so little...
You may enjoy The Weird, edited by VanderMeer, which is ~1100 pages of similar short stories and novellas, including Schulz
Or try Jean Ray, who published in the 1920s/1930s, he's in that collection too
>>7708067
wait, reddit actually discusses the dark tower?
fuck you guys, I'm out.
>>7707942
So by BTFO you mean the John Oliver treatment?
>>7708059
So I got through a lot of The Witcher and it was basically about dwarf racism and witch sex. Dark Souls had better stories than that, implied, in the background.
>This land is peaceful, its denizens kind.
>>7708077
>look dude, the plot is just not there
>IT'S IMPLIED!
oh am I laffin
I liked DS, but come on.
>>7708070
Don't forget to take
https://www.opendemocracy.net/transformation/araz-hachadourian/ursula-k-leguin-calls-on-fantasy-and-sci-fi-writers-to-envision-alt
With you, repost it on a biweekly basis and downvote any comment that points out she recently bitched about how Amazon are devaluing literature because people aren't buying her book at full price.
>>7708081
It was really well implied and you had to be touched to miss it, yeah. But I guess collect-the-porn-cards was better because it was upfront, yeah. That's what makes writing quality.
>>7708083
Regardless of her going senile in her old age, Earthsea is a fucking amazing saga.
I was joking about defecting to reddit, but I still find it funny that you have links at the ready to throw against any perceived "SJW", there's probably plenty more where that came from.
>>7708083
>because people aren't buying her book at full price.
>checks for her supposed bitching
>apparently http://bookviewcafe.com/blog/2015/06/01/up-the-amazon/
>>And the independent booksellers that were and are the natural habitat of the non-best-selling book have been driven out of business — first by the chains that operated as part of the BS Machine, and now, decisively, by Amazon.
>>As a book dealer and publisher, Amazon wants no competitors, admits no responsibilities, and takes no risks.
Anon, you really need to work on your reading comprehension, that has nothing to do with the price of her books.
>>7708089
Reducing The Witcher to a funny little throwaway sidequest is really dishonest.
I concede that dark souls has a lot of implied things and I even read about them during my playthrough but it still strikes me as lazy.
>should we do a Priscilla backstory?
>Nah, just give her some one liner.
>>7708083
>recently bitched about how Amazon are devaluing literature
I read that article. The comments section was full of people blasting her for standing up for publishers against the little guy. She had to backpedal, it was awesome.
>>7708094
>Earthsea is a fucking amazing saga.
It is.
> any perceived "SJW",
That's a term used by a subculture to describe another subculture. Vehemently denying that SJWs exist is admitting that you are one. I'm not even in that struggle and I'm tired of all the
>so-called SJW
>if you use the term SJW your opinions don't matter
>only mouthbreathing racists say SJW
The term can even mean "people who feel a little angry when they see the letters SJW."
>>7708097
>Anon, you really need to work on your reading comprehension, that has nothing to do with the price of her books.
It certainly has nothing to do with non-best-selling books not being sold anymore. Amazon is an amazing habitat for those.
>>7708100
It's called subtlety.
>Should I give my grieving family a backstory?
>Nah. For Sale: Baby shoes. Never used.
>my face when Dark Souls really did permanently ruin any Souls discussion always and forever
>>7708106
>Vehemently denying that SJWs exist is admitting that you are one.
This strikes me as more than a little fanatical and also very convenient in that it provides you with an endlessly self-replicating enemy to fight.
>we finally did it, we killed all the SJW! Now there are no more of them.
>no more you say? HE'S ONE OF THEM, OPEN FIRE!
Also I wasn't denying that they exist, just trying to point out that LeGuin isn't and has never been one. She's an old school feminist, nothing to do with those modern feminazis.
>>7703285
>LotR's prose, structure, framing, or character development is not very elegant
This one of those things that I hear a lot from uneducated litbros that is, frankly, wrong. And it stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of just what the Lord of the Rings is meant to be.
First, Tolkien more or less invented the Fantasy genre as we know it(more accurately reinvented if you've read up on western folklore and Arthuriana). Second, The Lord of the Rings is distinctively separate from The Hobbit in its design and execution. Tolkien recognized that English culture, unlike the Greek's and the Italians, Lacked an epic of their own(Beowulf is fragmentary and was not at all respected by contemporary scholars). To this end, Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings as if it were a translation of a much older work. A lot the prose is written to reflect this. If you've read my boy Homer's shit, you're familiar with the unavoidable issues caused by even the best translations and, as a result, find Tolkien's epic quite sensible, but if you're reading LotR because you love the polished genre works that evolved in the decades following it(and with no experience with translated epics) you'll find the whole thing, well, rather inelegant.
>>7708117
But right-wing SJWs are still SJWs.
>>7708123
>right-wing SJWs
>right wing SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIORS
Do you even read what you write?
Since when do right wing people want social justice?
>>7708130
In one sense, the term SJW is ironic, because they don't believe that what intersectionalists work towards is really just, and they're not really warriors. In another sense, they are social justice warriors because they're fighting a social justice war.
>>7708097
Read her Salon interviews, she literally complains that people aren't buying postmodern Anarcho–Marxism–Leninism–Maoism–feminist literature because Amazon told them not too.
>>7708140
Wait, that anon says that people aren't buying specifically her books "for full prize", now you sidetrack and complain that she wants people to buy "other" books? I don't get you guys
>>7708140
Meanwhile she writes The Telling, where all the bad guys are bland commercialist commissars and the good guys smoke weed and do yoga. She dropped subtlety and gray characters like she dropped psi.Did The Telling get better? I really wanted it to get better.
>>7708147
Don't know what the other anon was on about. She's still prissy, entitled, and delusional. It wouldn't matter if she hadn't written such staggeringly great books, and if she wasn't attacking the very thing she should, by her own philosophy, be defending.
>>7708097
>http://bookviewcafe.com/blog/2015/06/01/up-the-amazon/
I forgot how great of a personality Leguin is.
She accidentally reveals she doesn't know how bookstores work.
>Fading BSs must be replaced constantly by fresh ones in order to keep corporate profits up. This fits well with a good deal of reader desire and expectation, since to many readers much of the value of a BS is that it’s new: everybody’s reading and talking about it.
>then trash and replace
For those of you that haven't worked in a bookstore before replacing old stock and poor sellers with new and popular releases is a daily task that requires dedicated staff.
paperbacks are also defaced and stripped on site.
>>7708117
>LeGuin isn't and has never been one. She's an old school feminist,
Camille Paglia's an old school feminist. Le Guin rode the original SJW wave.
>omg I didn't make my protagonist black, why didn't I make them black and a woman? Terribly sorry, everyone, I wasn't so woke back then.
>>7708202
>omg I didn't make my protagonist black, why didn't I make them black and a woman?
>yfw the protagonist of the first Earthsea book is black
>yfw the protagonist of the second Earthsea book is a woman
She took a lot of shit for it too, back when doing that actually required courage and wasn't the accepted norm.
Confirmed for not knowing what the fuck you're talking about.
>>7708226
>Native Americans are black now
wewlad
>>7708226
And she later apologized for not doing it more. And for erasing women by using "he" as a general pronoun. Do you even love her enough to read her essays?
>>7708250
>Do you even love her enough to read her essays?
I admittedly only read Earthsea, fucking loved it though.
Are The Left Hand Of Darkness and The Dispossesed good reads?
Do you guys know of good medieval/ancient or pseudo medieval/ancient music?
Something like Igrayne's Dance in Excalibur or these.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YOL-Cm5RmQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaG1SleCuRA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZFbFyyFICs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o7PSpaJfTY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6ELmE_n3R4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0Waczk7F6k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcBVWIHzZRk
>>7708003
>edgy
What? I don't remember it being all that edgy? What are you referring to?
>>7708296
Andreas Scholl - English Folksongs & Lute Songs
Matthias Loibner - Lichtungen
>>7708296
A lot of gothic and darkwave bands are very pseudo medieval
Helium Vola's lyrics are in middle german I believe
>>7707831
I love video games, but they hardly make for good novels.
>>7707820
It's equally trashy as a video game novelization and Sanderson can't write for shit.
Quality fantasy always had a fine line of mystery to it and for the most part was intelligent enough not to go in extremes either way so it wasn't awful like Rowling or Sanderson.
Now as neither of the authors you mentioned is any good and their readers can't see it even if it's quite clear, they have no reason to pretend you are intelligent readers and thus clearly target the video game book type of audience.
Read a good book for a change.
>>7707805
Autism of magic has thus far always been trash as it takes over the elements which make the skeleton of a good novel.
THIS IS NOT VIDEO GAME DISCUSSION GENERAL.
IT'S THE FUCKING FANTASY BOOK DISCUSSION GENERAL.
GET THE FUCK OUT
>>7702339
I'm reading the Expanse series. I'm on Abaddons gate right now.
One of the best Sci fiction I have ever read
>>7708404
These threads are shittier by the post. Sad really, it used to be quality discussion of quality authors.
>>7708287
yes
>>7708387
>helium vola
>metal
>>7708413
>>7708404
>>7708545
>gothic darksomething bands
I assumed it was metal, my bad.
>>7708413
Then add some quality discussion to spark more, and if you can't, shut up and stay home like the spineless bitch you are.
>>7703562
>Minla's Flowers
nice one anon.
just finished Ian Banks' Excession and went on read that one and another short of his called Thousandth Night which was also alright. Gonna see if his Revelation Space series might catch my fancy.
>>7708296
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaRNvJLKP1E
>>7708404
>IT'S THE FUCKING FANTASY BOOK DISCUSSION GENERAL.
It's actually the science fiction and fantasy general and that triggered me!
>>7708181
>paperbacks are also defaced and stripped on site
This angers me but I suppose it's for a good cause?
>>7708792
>>paperbacks are also defaced and stripped on site
I don't understand. What does this mean, and why do they do it?
>>7708401
I dunno, anon. I've always thought a system keeps magic grounded so that you won't just expect some bystander to fart spells left and right then save the day but then I also understand the need for ambiguity when a setting demands it or if it isn't the scope of the book.
It's the same reason I often times like my sci-fi tech explained and well thought out unless it isn't needed by the book. It's a novelty of sorts but it's nice when it's there.
>>7708820
I knew it's something like that but as someone who grew up with A Brave Little Toaster, this mildly upsets me.
>>7708835
>kafkaesquely overstocked
One of us has a really loose understanding of kafkaesque
>>7708843
One of us hasn't read Kafka's Great Wall of China.
>>7708834
Pulling off farts is about shit writing, not autism
>>7703834
Robin Hobb
Elizabeth Moon
Katherine Addison
Naomi Novik
>>7709327
>tfw didn't know Robin Hobb is female
>What are you currently reading?
Finishing Malazan
>What are some of your expectant sff releases for 2016?
Deaths end.
I really enjoyed the dark Forrest. Although I am disappointed, it originally was scheduled for January.
>>7709327
>Katherine Addison
No Anon, just no.
>>7709531
You know she's the same person as Sarah Monette right? Goblin Emperor is, if anything, a weird little side project.
>>7709680
I haven't read Goblin Emperor, but it can't be any worse than Melusine, which in my opinion was fucking terrible.
Could anyone recommend me some good fantasy books where the main character is living a double life. I have always found this really entertaining.
>>7709789
Double Star.
>228 posts
>more than 50% of them are offtopic
>Christians, politics, feminism, music, video games,
Well I guess that is the end of the general
>>7710052
>I'm being a newfag and nobody can stop me!
Welcome to /lit/
>>7708121
Maybe I should've cleared up my position. I grew up on LotR and have read it many, many times. I'm also well grounded in the background you just delineated, indeed I have read several book-length studies on Tolkien. Ultimately it's inelegant on the broad scale, even taking account of its narrative aims. We can agree to take different positions, but I still think Tolkien could have used more modern writing techniques to aid flow and scene depiction.
>>7710052
You can't count. Those are more like 15% percent of the thread, still pretty bad, but not as bad as you are.
>>7710129
>but not as bad as you are
Why do I have a feeling that you want me to dominate you?
>>7703805
>Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chaing
My nigga. I gotta reread it.
>>7710297
Your fantasy, freak
>>7710311
Don't play... you got a hunger that needs filling. Your vacant wet walls cry at the period of a forced diet.
>>7707963
Asimov's mind aged so fucking beautifully. As soon as I read the first page of Foundation's Edge I had a shit eating grin because I knew the old boy was still sharp as ever.
Holy shit, I'm the biggest idiot in the world. I only just realized this halfway through the fourth fucking book.
So, in Game of Thrones, the Night's Watch wears cloaks made of black wool. Where do you get black wool? From a black sheep. Like how Jonand most of the night's watchis the black sheep of his family. Four fucking books it took me to realize this.
>>7710871
Wool and leather are generally dyed black using oil, an acid, and rust.
>tfw can't remember any of Lord of the Rings and haven't read Hobbit/Silmarillion but my Dad wants to retwatch the film trilogy with me
What do I do lads? Read the books first or just watch the movies with my Dad and read the books later?
>>7711078
The movies are better
>>7708296
Faun
Percival
>>7711078
What trilogy? If it's the Hobbit don't even bother to watch it, read the book. If it's LOTR you've already read it so watch it.
Then read the Silmarillion, you fucking pleb.
>>7711554
No I've read none of them, I meant I barely remember watching the movies
>>7711556
Why are you here? Go read the books. The Hobbit movies are awful and LOTR movies are decent but still aren't anywhere near the books. If you barely remember the movies it's an opportunity to enjoy the books more.
>>7711572
>Why are you here?
It's 12am famm
>>7711573
>it's 12am
It's 11am.
So?
>fantasy books with a surprise sci-fi major twist or inclusion
YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Random Amazon self-published titles carry some surprising mindfucks.
>>7711689
>still being impressed by this
This is literally something that's been done constantly since at least the early 30s. Fucking Conan met an alien once.
>>7710052
never browsed /vg/ or /sp/, have you? after the initial craze, pretty much any kind of general devolves into (waifu-) offtopic discussion
>>7711704
I wish people would talk fantasy waifus.
>>7711707
Floriel vs. T'sain, go
>>7711695
I suppose I've been unlucky in what I've read in the past, or didn't pay much attention. Really cools tuff.
>>7710871
>black wool only comes from black sheep
you must be either retarded or very uneducated.
>>7711695
>Fucking Conan met an alien once
Wait, what? I've read all the stories and I don't remember this.
>>7711078
>Dad wants to retwatch the film trilogy with me
Your dad is a nostalgic faggot who lives in the past.
