/sffg/ - Science Fiction and Fantasy General

[Anonymous No.20553644]

Illicit Market Edition

Previous Thread:>>20548489

>Recommended reading charts (Look here before asking for vague recs)
https://mega.nz/folder/kj5hWI6J#0cyw0-ZdvZKOJW3fPI6RfQ/folder/guIyhAzS

>Archive
>>/lit/?task=search2&search_subject=sffg

>Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1029811-sffg

[Anonymous No.20553653]

be the scifi you want to read, anons

[Anonymous No.20553676]

>>20553653
How do I go from zero to hero in a month?

[Anonymous No.20553717]

BAKKER IS KING

[Anonymous No.20553731]

Is there any sci-fi series where there's an ancient but stagnant empire that genuinely helps humanity against hostile aliens?
One that humanity is like a child compared to

[Anonymous No.20553872]

The Grey God Passes vs Worms of the Earth. Which is Howard's best story?

[Anonymous No.20553883]

Is it science fiction if the technology is 100+ years old? Is it fantasy if the focus is technology?

[Anonymous No.20553892]

>>20553883
Science Fiction and Fantasy are nebulous terms, they have been used to describe each other in the past.

[Anonymous No.20553905]

>>20553883
Steampunk is considered sci-fi, and a big influence on the subgenre is Jules Verne and other authors we now consider sci-fi, though they weren’t called that at the time.

[Anonymous No.20553975]

>>20553883
https://pastebin.com/MiMMCCN6

[Anonymous No.20553981]

>>20553355
Too high or too low? I have it as 4 on GR. The next one I rounded down though.

>>20553358
It doesn't need to, but shared settings tend to have a lot. A few other examples are Dr. Who (600+), Forgotten Realms, Star Wars, Star Trek, and Warhammer.
Other general examples can be found here: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LongRunningBookSeries

Then there's also the question absurdly long single works as well.

>>20553883
It can be both at once as well. Really all it is overall is a signifier for whether someone might be interested in it.

[Anonymous No.20553986]

Is the Poppy War series worth reading?
Please no >woman author

[Anonymous No.20553991]

>>20553981
As someone who reads Doctor Who novels, I am 99% certain there are not over 600 DW stories.

[Anonymous No.20553997]

>>20553986
No. It's "fuk wypipo communism is cool": the series.

[Anonymous No.20554000]

>>20553883
>muh genres

[Anonymous No.20554006]

>>20553986
Seeing as I often see YouTube bloggers talk about it I've always avoided it.

[Anonymous No.20554007]

Journey to The Center of The Earth really should've been titled Journey To Iceland. Took them long enough to make their descent. Despite a few contrivances, it was still an enjoyable read. Started on At The Earth's Core next.

[Anonymous No.20554061]

[Anonymous No.20554065]

[Anonymous No.20554066]

[Anonymous No.20554070]

>>20554066
now thats a creepy face and it doesnt look at all to the description of the demon form

[Anonymous No.20554075]

>>20553991
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?4550

[Anonymous No.20554079]

>>20554066
>>20554070
oh whatever is the blood mask right, I had forgotten about her existence, she hasn't even been mentioned in years

[Anonymous No.20554081]

>>20554075
This includes a bunch of audio scripts and magazines/special issue things so yes, I was correct.

[Anonymous No.20554082]

I miss the litRPG review anon

[Anonymous No.20554088]

>>20554081
If you extract only the numbered novel series volumes, or look at other sources, it's still over 600.

[Anonymous No.20554131]

>>20554082
The theme for the /sffg/ gr group for next month is self-published works. I've wrote some stuff about self-published works before, but I've given almost none a serious chance. So, for next month I'll also be trying to finish some. I don't know that It'll work out. I'll probably be entirely trashing them and make the whole thing an exercise in futility, but that's how whims go. Maybe I won't actually even finish any. I won't know until then. This was decided a few months ago here when I didn't allow self-published works as part of the theme.

I'll have more to say about it as next month draws closer. The tentative schedule is to have each of the following for the week shown:
Self-published novels
Western web fiction
Eastern web fiction
Gamelit/litrpg

[None !SFFG.n1h7M No.20554147]

>>20553644
Treachery's Tools, Imager Portfolio #10 - L.E. Modesitt Jr. (2016)

Thirteen years had passed by and problems that were thought to have been resolved by drastic actions turned out not have to have been. If anything, everything had become worse. Having solely treated a few obvious surface-level symptoms of societal upheaval led to greater fundamental problems later on.

Tax policy was still important, but it wasn't the central issue this time. Instead, the land-rich cash-poor aristocracy wanted to regain the authority they had over four hundred years ago to wipe out the upstart merchant class and anyone else who wouldn't obey them. The merchants were ascendant, what with their shares, futures, exchanges, banks, and general profit-seeking above all else.

Alastar remained relatively static, unless you count being married and having a daughter as character development. His reformation of the collegium was well underway and many practices seen in the first few books were shown to
have started at this critical time.

Various parts of the story were somewhat a rehash of earlier books and there was a quote about history not quite repeating itself. The latter half was battlefield conflict, which was alright but not that particularly interesting or enjoyable.

Rating: 3.5/5

[Anonymous No.20554213]

>>20553981
>>20553355
A look at my novel ratings only shows that it's roughly:
5: 5%
4: 30%
3: 40%
2: 20%
1: 5%

Maybe that's way too harsh. Should 5 be the Top 20% of books read? Even some of the 5s I have are questionable to me. I don't intend for it to be so low, but that's how it is. I don't have any interest in trying to develop an "objective rating". I likely try to read too much that has too low of a chance that I'll enjoy it, but that's fine.

5: 25%
4: 50%
3: 25%
2: 0%
1: 0%
Would that be an ideal distribution for finished books? I don't know.

[Anonymous No.20554227]

>>20553986
For me, no.
>>/lit/thread/S20102516#p20103683

For the group, not that much overall. The last book apparently upsets a lot of people who liked the previous two.

[Anonymous No.20554229]

>>20554213
In an ideal world with a consistent standard for ratings, the first one would be fair. In reality, the second one is more functional, because people are retarded and anything rated 1-2.5 is more or less the same realm.

[Anonymous No.20554467]

>>20553644
We need more Conan stories with sci fi elements, like Tower of the Elephant. I’m sure stories not written by Howard suck balls though.

[Anonymous No.20554511]

Has anyone noticed people like GURM boil down other writings into “ideas” and don’t really care about form? Even GURM’s books are close to TV than Literature.

[Anonymous No.20554535]

>>20553731
Animorphs
Star Control 2
The Multiverse War by Christopher Nuttall

[Anonymous No.20554596]

Read Cradle!

[Anonymous No.20554609]

>>20554596
jesus christ delete this.
also pretty sure yerin isn't tanned like that.

[Anonymous No.20554681]

>>20553883
i like to read sci fi from the 60 or 70 and see hoe some things have caught up with them and others are still way far off

[Anonymous No.20554694]

>>20554131
I recommend to read The Wandering Inn after a few other stories, will allow you to appreciate the difference in quality compared to the typical webnovel shit.

[Anonymous No.20554801]

>>20554694
how does malazan manage to have a lower word count than wheel of time?

[Anonymous No.20554810]

>>20554467
Just write your own original stories. I don't like the idea of Conan becoming public domain and people shitting out their own versions. It was bad enough the first time it happened.

[Anonymous No.20554828]

>>20554810
Howard mastered plot, character, and action. I can aspire to it but I feel like I’d tarnish it if I tried my hand at something inspired by him.

[Anonymous No.20554835]

>>20554801
Because that's only counts the main series books.

[Anonymous No.20554838]

>>20554828
As long as it's your own creation I don't see the issue. But slapping "Conan" on the cover would tarnish things for sure.

[Anonymous No.20554857]

>>20554596
Why do fantasy books always have the most cursed fanart imaginable?

[Anonymous No.20554961]

>Want to get into sci-fi
>Every author appears to use modern names and reference places/companies/things on Earth which I hate
>Find Alastair Reynolds and all his shit sounds great
>Decide to read his first book before the standalones to introduce the universe and mysteries
>Three POVs which takes place at different times _and_ go both forward and back in time, have flashbacks, and changes POV every half page to three pages
>Author likes to use made-up technobabble to describe things without giving a description of the technobabble
>Can only get through an average of ten pages a day because reading it is so exhausting but I actually really like the story

Also, the breeze fingered the windchimes.

[Anonymous No.20554967]

[Anonymous No.20554970]

>>20554857
>Why do fantasy books always have the most cursed fanart imaginable?
This the kind of fan art webnovels like The Wandering Inn get

[Anonymous No.20554972]

>>20554961
>Decide to read his first book before the standalones to introduce the universe and mysteries
He writes books not in the Revelation Space series.

[Anonymous No.20554979]

>>20554972
Wanted to read The Prefect but was told it might spoiler a few things from RS so I just decided to go with RS first and skip the other two in the trilogy

[Anonymous No.20555000]

>>20554979
Eh not really. It takes place during the highest point of technological advancement, in a region that isn't exactly explored in RS itself, while the main bulk of RS takes place afterward, sometimes long afterward. But sure, your idea won't hurt.

[Anonymous No.20555066]

>>20554961
>>Author likes to use made-up technobabble to describe things without giving a description of the technobabble
That's what technobabble is, retard. If it made sense, it wouldn't be babble.

[Anonymous No.20555083]

Reading in chronological order rather than publication order is rarely advisable.

[Anonymous No.20555157]

>>20555066
For verbs, sure. You should still provide a basic description for an adjective. He uses technobabble to describe the appearance of structures and things around characters a lot which is frustrating

[Anonymous No.20555282]

half the posts in this thread are utterly contextless avatarfagging identical to the last 700 threads

[Anonymous No.20555312]

i'm learning french. what sci-ci and fantasy books originally published in french should i read?

[Anonymous No.20555317]

>“Who are you? What business do you have with me? You can’t be asking me to power-level you, right? If you’re a pretty girl, this brother can carry you to victory with me,” narcissism filled Sinfully Handsome’s voice when he spoke, and he gave others the hint of being a hooligan.

>Shi Feng was instantly dumbfounded when he heard Sinfully Handsome’s words.

>Girl?

>Carry you to victory?

>Just who was this person?

>Even a person like this could obtain the Flaming Sun Scripture? Was this world already in such a mess?

>“Hey, speak a few words, why don’t you? Are you dead? Don’t tell me you’re a tranny, right? This brother doesn’t have that kind of taste,”
Sinfully Handsome suddenly started panicking.
Wtf lol I love litrpg now

[Anonymous No.20555338]

>>20555317
This prose reads chinese. It's not just webnovels either. The Three Body Problem also had really stiff and ackward prose. Guess the language just can't be translated into pleasant sounding English.

[Anonymous No.20555346]

>>20555338
it can, it just requires effort while these kind of translations can be done with deepl

[Anonymous No.20555400]

>>20555338
This translation is close to original which is fine.

[Anonymous No.20555448]

>>20555400
Borges would bite your head off for typing this.

[Anonymous No.20555460]

>>20555400
>This translation is close to original
yes, that's the issue

[Anonymous No.20555551]

>>20555460
Not really an issue, it seems structure of chinese grammar translates to English pretty well.

[Anonymous No.20555558]

>>20555555

[Anonymous No.20555562]

I just finished part 4, blew my socks off. I assume part 5 is more of an epilogue than anything else, think im going to give it a few days to digest what I just finished before reading that. How do the other 3 books compare to WOK?

[Anonymous No.20555622]

>>20555312
Try some Michel Houellebecq books.

[Anonymous No.20555650]

>>20555562
I need to re-read WoK so I can read the other three that have come out since, but it's 1000/1300 pages :c

Is Shallan's story as much of a slog to get through as I remember or did you enjoy it? It's been over a decade for me

[Anonymous No.20555684]

can someone recommend a book released this year

[Anonymous No.20555690]

>>20555562
Idk why but as much as I enjoyed first two books, the third was horrible. It made me think Brando hired a ghost writer. Everything felt wrong. I heard the newest book is even worse, but I am probably done with the series.

[Anonymous No.20555696]

>>20555551
you're ESL or brain damaged

[Anonymous No.20555703]

>>20555690
re-read them

[Anonymous No.20555727]

>>20555650
I wouldn't say it was a slog, but I definitely enjoyed the Kaladin and Dalinar/Adolin chapters way more. If I ever reread them like you are, I'd probably skip the Shallan chapters desu. Glad I read them on the first read though.
>>20555690
Fuck sake , I'll give book 2 a go and then see if I wanna continue from there then

[Anonymous No.20555733]

>>20555703
No

[Anonymous No.20555737]

>>20555703
>re-read them
not worth the effort desu
I have many more books on my list, why would I re-read average fiction? It's not Hobbit to be read again and again

[Anonymous No.20555743]

What does /sffg/ think of Ed McDonald's grimdark Raven Mark series?

I really enjoyed the trilogy but the terminator part and completely writing out a main character and item in the third book dropped it down to a 3.5/5 for me. In general the third book felt like it needed a better editor.

[Anonymous No.20555760]

>"A remarkably assured fantasy debut that mixes the inventivness of China Mieville with the fast-paces heroics of David Gemmell."

Holy shit what an incoherent, unreadable piece of shit promotional quote. What sort of person actually understands it?

[Anonymous No.20555762]

>>20555743
What's it about?

[Anonymous No.20555772]

>>20555760
Sounds interesting. What book?

[Anonymous No.20555801]

>>20555760
>tfw modern literature doesn't have proper names for literary techniques so critics all resort to referencing authors
What a Dickensian, Nabakovian, Borgesian, Lovecratian, Sandersonian, Bakkerite tour de force.

[Anonymous No.20555816]

Has anything interesting been written in the last five years within the sci fi or fantasy genre?

[Anonymous No.20555818]

>>20555762
>https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/33916060
Been a long while but I think it was about a leader of a mercenary group having to take on shit jobs from his god-like wizard master that he has something of master/slave contract with. The wizards are the masters of the human cities and they and their engine protect the cities from evil wizards called the Deep Kings and their drudges which I think were a mix of corrupted humans and monsters.

Takes place in a post-apocalyptic steampunk world iirc.

[Anonymous No.20555821]

>>20555816

[Anonymous No.20555824]

>>20555816
>Has anything interesting been written in the last five years within the sci fi or fantasy genre?

[Anonymous No.20555833]

>>20555816

[Anonymous No.20555850]

>>20555684
>>/lit/thread/S20476506#p20477412

>>/lit/thread/S19990801#p19990812

There's various others I've tried reading, but didn't like as much it didn't finish and didn't post here. Some others have liked those though.

>>20555816
Yes, I think quite a few had been. For you though? Who knows. There are a few that have been relatively highly read from that time.

[Anonymous No.20555896]

>>20555818
For what it's worth, it's not quite as fantasy as it sounds. There's not many wizards and a lot died off previously, they've been bluffing the Deep Kings with an engine that no longer works, and a lot of the story is dealing with shit like traitors within the cities and frontline bases from what I remember. MC is just trying to survive in a world that's trying to kill them, standard grimdark style

[Anonymous No.20555910]

what are the most tragic and premature deaths of sci-fi & fantasy authors?

[Anonymous No.20555944]

Thoughts on science fiction magazines?

[Anonymous No.20555947]

>>20555816
I'm sure there's a lot but it depends on what you're into. Murderbot Diaries and Kings of the Wyld are both within the last five years

[Anonymous No.20555972]

>>20555910
Lovecraft t b h.

[Anonymous No.20555976]

The issue Martin ran into with ASOIAF is, ironically, one of this own hand… he spent five books subverting expectations, killing key characters, torturing and scattering the survivors to the ends of creation… and only now realized that there’s no way in hell he can actually bring them all back in one place and piece together a story that makes sense in just two books. The problem with endless deconstruction is that, eventually, you have nothing left to build with.

That legacy is why Martin will never write the book – the old hippie has made his life’s work a refutation of classic fantasy like Tolkien, and admitting that maybe he was wrong? That would sting worse than even declining sales. Better an unfinished book with a ton of questions than a badly ended one that disproves its own central thesis.

[Anonymous No.20555988]

>>20553429
Yes, but it's Gemmell's very first novel and he only wrote it because he thought he was dying of cancer so whatever flaws it may have are easily forgivable.

[Anonymous No.20556026]

>>20555821
I enjoyed this book, I wished it was longer, a very comfy read.

[Anonymous No.20556043]

>>20555910
Depends on what you mean by that. Robert Howard killed himself at 30. Suicide isn't that uncommon overall.

>>20555944
Too many misses for most people to read them, they're far past their time, and web serials have overtaken them popularity. The free online magazines are more popular than the paid one as well. It's something people like the idea of, but do nothing with. I've mostly only read one magazine over time.

[Anonymous No.20556081]

>>20555816
I'm currently reading this, it has a Nordic mythology theme and I'm liking it so far.

[Anonymous No.20556091]

>>20555562
>finding a penny after digging through shit

[Anonymous No.20556145]

>>20553986
I read the first book and I didn't really feel any desire to continue the series. As the name suggests it's an allegory for the Opium War, and unfortunately that's all it really is. The fantasy world in which it is set feels scarcely thought-out, more concerned with making the references to its historical inspiration blindingly obvious than anything. The magic and other supernatural elements are not understated, if anything they're over-emphasized for how poorly explained and grounded they are.

The other thing I feel is worth mentioning is the feminist bent this book has. I ordinarily do not gripe about this sort of thing as long as the story and characters do not suffer for it, but oh how they have suffered in Poppy War. It'd be one thing is the portrayal of the protagonist were more nuanced, but it isn't. I can deal with a morally gray character I'm not supposed to like, but they have to have other qualities that makes me want to follow their story.

[Anonymous No.20556163]

One more try. Anyone know this book at the top?

[Anonymous No.20556182]

>>20555816
Yeah I've read lots of books written in the last 5 years. I have no idea what you find interesting though. Probably not the books I enjoy or else you'd have read them already.

[Anonymous No.20556191]

>>20555976
>and only now realized that there’s no way in hell he can actually bring them all back in one place
Why would he need to?

[Anonymous No.20556201]

>>20556163
It's "Penisology Rising"

[Anonymous No.20556211]

>>20555562
Second book is a nice compliment to the first. Your enjoyment of it will be tempered by the amount of focus that Shallan has. If you can't stand Shallan (as many people here cannot) then you'll probably not like the second book as much as the first, even though it has some of Kaladin's best scenes in the entire series. It's those scenes you'll be reading it for. For me, Shallan is tolerable, so on the whole book 2 was great.

Unfortunately books 3 and 4 the series takes a turn. It's hard to succinctly describe what goes wrong, but if I had to try I'd say "scope creep". Oh sure, it was baked into the plot from the outset and it was probably always going to end up like this because huge sprawling interconnected cosmere etc, but it still feels bad, man.

[Anonymous No.20556218]

>>20556182
>Probably not the books I enjoy
why's that? you only read pozzed garbage?

[Anonymous No.20556226]

>>20556218
Thank you for taking the bait, I knew it was you.

[Anonymous No.20556230]

>>20554961
>made-up technobabble
It's not made up, it is hard science.

[Anonymous No.20556233]

>>20556182
Wow so you've read every fantasy book published in the past 5 years and found that you enjoy none of them? I mean most books written suck it's just easier to find old books that are good because they've already been read and reviewed.

[Anonymous No.20556235]

>>20554801
It's only 10 books vs WoT's 14. While Malazan's books are longer than the early WoT books, the last 7 or so WoT books are on par with Malazan's average novel length.

[Anonymous No.20556239]

>>20556233
Please don't reply to me with schizo rants.

[Anonymous No.20556246]

>>20554694
I dislike this charge immensely because it creates false equivalences between continuous narratives and multi-narrative shared universes.

[Anonymous No.20556253]

>>20556239
>schizo
Nice to see another 2016+ newfriend in the wild :D

[Anonymous No.20556257]

>>20554979
You should try House of Suns first, it isn't set in the RS universe but it is a good book to get used to his style of writting.

It has two main POVs (plus another which is a back story) and they are separated by chapters for the most part.

[Anonymous No.20556259]

>>20556253
No other way to describe your unhinged reply that makes no sense.

[Anonymous No.20556262]

>>20556259
>your

[Anonymous No.20556266]

>>20556262
See there you go again. Keep your dissociative mental disorders to yourself, thanks.

[Anonymous No.20556267]

>>20555816
The Bloodsworn Saga

[Anonymous No.20556282]

Newfags are like Sanderson. They only have a handful of terms and descriptors that they repeat en masse.

[Anonymous No.20556291]

>>20556266
Yep, you know you're a pseud when you try to when a book argument by calling someone a schizo.

[Anonymous No.20556295]

>>20556291
ooooops i mean win I MEANT WINNNNNN

[Anonymous No.20556309]

Is it strange that it took me until like 2/3 into The Eye of the World to get invested?

[Anonymous No.20556320]

>>20556230
What? Do you not understand what hard sci-fi is? Everything can be made up and called whatever the fuck they want, it just has to be mostly realistic or theoretically possible. You know, like alien bird people, alien tentacle people, whatever technology powers their cities, ships, implants, etc.

Just looking at the first few pages on Google's ebook preview, they talk about a razorstorm which appears to be a weather phenomenon and I don't think they ever give a proper description of what the fuck that is. Google only has 27,000 results for it and it's the name of a brand, so I don't think it's can actual thing.

[Anonymous No.20556329]

>>20556309
No. The second book is way better. The next few are good too. I quit on book 7 because Robert Jordan expects you to remember every small character from every single book even if they were only there for a page.

[Anonymous No.20556335]

>>20556163
Why do you not provide any context or information?

[Anonymous No.20556344]

>>20556309
kinda, yeah
>>20556329
>I quit on book 7 because Robert Jordan expects you to remember every small character from every single book even if they were only there for a page.
honestly, if you can't do this you might start thinking of asking your mom wether she did drugs while carrying you

[Anonymous No.20556352]

>>20556282
>Newfags are like Sanderson. They only have a handful of terms and descriptors that they repeat en masse.
It's not as if there's a 101 of literary terms for /sffg/, people barely know what they are talking about or call literary devices wrong names because they dont know any better.

[Anonymous No.20556358]

>>20556335
Sadly, I don't have any. For all I know it could be a fucking biology textbook. The cover just suggests /sffg/ to me.

[Anonymous No.20556373]

>>20556358
Where/how did you acquire the image?
Why is it named lotr maybe
Literally any other information in general.

[Anonymous No.20556375]

>>20556344
It's not that I can't, I just don't want to. There was more to why I quit the series. As the books go on it seems more and more like Jordan was grasping at straws to keep the book length up. Not that there wasn't any entertainment or that there was no story to be told. There was it just didn't need to be 300,000 words per book. So you get a lot of boring shit that happens and it just becomes a pain in the ass to get through. I've thought about picking it back up but I just don't want to re-read the series.

[Anonymous No.20556408]

>>20556375
This is why I detest a lot of fantasy especially since so many are bloated for word count and designed to be never ending series/trilogies. The padding and excess is so blatant consumerism or in litrpg/Royal Road, patreon bait. But even traditionally published novels fall into the same, gotta get more books in trap.

The Wheel of Time drags hard. I reread books like Lord of the Flies and Of Mice and Men and it still impresses me at how succinct those stories are. Word count is short as fuck. Barely a word wasted, everything kept going and going. The first Game of Thrones book had the same energy, no excess fat or filler. Just enough details to keep it interesting but everything boiled down to just what's needed. Even the first Harry Potter book is just under 80k words - a novella by today's standards, but gets through so much world building and story and character you'd think it was longer.

Later ASOIAF books are bloated carcasses compared to the first book and maybe the 2nd/3rd. Later HP books get trashy and bogged down, especially with teen drama. So I feel the issue isn't unique to Wheel of Time, by a symptom of writing-to-market and pump-up-word-count/books writing style.

[Anonymous No.20556414]

>>20556375
>So you get a lot of boring shit that happens and it just becomes a pain in the ass to get through.
i didn't find any of it boring. can't relate
perhaps you were just filtered

[Anonymous No.20556476]

>>20556081
Hehe men die.

[Anonymous No.20556521]

>>20556329
>Robert Jordan expects you to remember every small character from every single book even if they were only there for a page.

This bothers me too every time a writer does this. I get that multi-book story lines expect you to read the previous books (with the character introductions) . But would it kill the author to slap a short description on a resurfacing character?

Like
>Wait a minute, who the FUCK is Bob? Oh it's the burly, one-eyed God Captain of the Butt's Watch... well why didn't you just say so?!

[Anonymous No.20556525]

>>20556476
>Men die, she lives
Does it mean she rules supreme over men?

[Anonymous No.20556575]

>>20556521
>a short description on a resurfacing character?
but you guys are complaining about too much padding?

[Anonymous No.20556588]

>>20556521
>burly, one-eyed God Captain of the Butt's Watch
Sounds like somebody I would remember.

[Anonymous No.20556600]

>>20556575
How often does this actually happen? If they just add a short sentence as a way of reminding the reader, I doubt even large series would go over an extra page or two. It's plenty justified

[Anonymous No.20556672]

Anyone else reading Virtuous Sons here?

Is Xianxia, but with greek philosophers. Quite hilarious to read Socrates beating the shit out of the Young Master.

[Anonymous No.20556734]

>>20553644
How is the Dune audiobook? Is the narrator good?

[Anonymous No.20556807]

Lads, Reverend Insanity has been spammed so much that I'm considering reading.

[Anonymous No.20556904]

>>20556807
Whether or not you're sincere, this literally what a shill would say.

[Anonymous No.20556921]

>>20556807
>Lads, Reverend Insanity has been spammed so much that I'm considering reading.
It's the only passably good Chinese webnovel, but it's still brutal to read. I advise to read just the first arc and then drop it, it's just not worth it.

[Anonymous No.20556946]

>>20552713
I'd start with Dragon's of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, and Dragons of Spring Dawning. That's where I started back in the day. Then add other books with decent reviews if you liked those. I remember quite enjoying the twins books.

[Anonymous No.20556964]

Good shit. I think The Hinterlands was my favorite.

[Anonymous No.20556981]

>>20554857
I don't know, but if you're not very talented please stick to making Lego fanart.

[Anonymous No.20557003]

>>20554131
When I self publish my stuff please trash it

[Anonymous No.20557021]

>>20555816
I haven't published my stuff yet so no.

[Anonymous No.20557025]

>>20555562
>>20555690
The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance are two of my fave fantasy books period. They really got my hopes up for the series and then I read book three. It really does feel wrong, lazy, or poorly edited. I'm really done with Brandon Sanderson after reading book three. Sanderson gets a lot of deserved criticism, but in my opinion his biggest problem is that he's just shitting these books out. The reason the first two books are so great is that he sat on the first one for a decade and then rewrote the entire thing. It's no surprise. The biggest enemy of fantasy writers in general seems to be their own success.

[Anonymous No.20557049]

>>20556329
I never had this problem with WoT. That said, there have a been few times reading Malazan that I've been scratching my head trying to remember a character that has been gone for a full book.

[Anonymous No.20557096]

if you have bad memory then just use the fanwiki or get an ebook

[Anonymous No.20557104]

>>20556964
That one, Winter Market, and Burning Chrome were the best ones I thought.

[Anonymous No.20557132]

is caveman fantasy a thing? i want to read about cavemen fighting dinosaurs.

[Anonymous No.20557135]

I think I am too stupid for books. I tried reading some tales from earthsea books and just had no idea what was going on

[Anonymous No.20557138]

>>20557132
Clan of the Cave Bear I guess?

[Anonymous No.20557140]

>>20557135
Read Cradle

[Anonymous No.20557141]

>>20557135
>I think I am too stupid for books. I tried reading some tales from earthsea books and just had no idea what was going on
Earthsea feels more like a philosophy book about love than actual story. Try some actual fantasy with a story, like Wheel of Time or some shit.

[Anonymous No.20557142]

>>20557135
That's because you were reading something by a female writer.

[Anonymous No.20557145]

>>20557135
Just scale it back

[Anonymous No.20557150]

>>20557096
sounds like a great way to get spoiled

they usually can't help putting "STATUS: DECEASED" right there in the sidebar

[Anonymous No.20557178]

I refuse to read sandermeme.
simple as.

[Anonymous No.20557181]

Any modern western fantasy where the MC is NOT a gigantic cuckold? One where, dare I say it, the heroine/s are virgins?

[Anonymous No.20557186]

>>20556734
I thought the narration was decent but the book itself was shit. I dunno, maybe the narration actually did a disservice to the story, or maybe I'm not the target demo for what is essentially YA from the 60s.

[Anonymous No.20557189]

>>20557181
>Any modern western fantasy where the MC is NOT a gigantic cuckold?
heaven's laws: prodigies

[Anonymous No.20557192]

>>20557189
actually scratch this. it's not exactly "modern western fantasy", it's english cultivation but there is an entire plotline that revolves around this kinda

[Anonymous No.20557193]

>>20556807
Lord of the Mysteries is by far the better Chinese webnovel available. I'm only halfway through book one but plan a review. Having read Reverend Insanity's first book, it's a night and day difference in terms of worldbuilding and character writing. The Sequence magic system is fascinating as fuck and while I did like the Gu worms (RI's cultivation system), Sequence potions shit all over it.

It's still Chinese though and the translation I have is ROUGH. As is just... Chinese writer's mentality with reiterating information or attraction and familial bonds. This is the 3rd Chinese writer who's used 'baby fat' as a means of describing the cuteness of younger women but it always comes off... odd, predatory. Maybe it's because of the bear scene in RI.

[Anonymous No.20557194]

>>20557145
I never read Goosebumps, but I did read the Star Wars Goosebumps knock-off books. Don't remember what they were called though.

[Anonymous No.20557197]

>>20557193
All this takes time to describe, but it happens in an instant

[Anonymous No.20557199]

>>20557197
kek

[Anonymous No.20557204]

>>20557178
He basically writes anime books for westoids who think they don't like anime books

[Anonymous No.20557213]

>>20557150
>they usually can't help putting "STATUS: DECEASED" right there in the sidebar
that only needs to happen once. after that you should be able to resist the urge to look at that specific part of the infobox

[Anonymous No.20557214]

>>20557204
Does everything he write read like YA? My coworker keeps recommending him to me and is mad I won't read his books but I just fuckin refuse.

[Anonymous No.20557216]

>>20557142
does /sffg/ hate ursula k le guin?

[Anonymous No.20557217]

>>20557216
No, just one repressed faggot who spams Twitter buzzwords.

[Anonymous No.20557218]

>>20557216
Yes

[Anonymous No.20557220]

>>20557104
I really like Dogfight and Burning Chrome. I think New Rose Hotel is weak, although the story is good I don't like the way it's told.

[Anonymous No.20557221]

>>20557214
His adult novels read like YA and his YA books are insulting to children

[Anonymous No.20557225]

The past few /lit/ threads have been shit and that is disappointing.

[Anonymous No.20557226]

>>20557132
https://goodman-games.com/tftms/2022/06/03/a-look-at-caveman-stories/

[Anonymous No.20557230]

>>20557132
You can google and find your answer, why don't you do that?

[Anonymous No.20557280]

>>20553644
Is this the meme trilogy for /sffg/? If you had to make your own trilogy (three works or three authors), what would it be?

[Anonymous No.20557285]

>>20557280
Forgot to attach image.

[Anonymous No.20557289]

>>20557280
>what would it be?
Why would you care?

[Anonymous No.20557303]

>>20557285
It'd have to be those three. I haven't read most of those from Asimov but the foundation series and caves of steel were both very enjoyable.

[Anonymous No.20557314]

>>20553644
Have have the recent /lit/ threads been so shit?

[Anonymous No.20557317]

>>20557314
Summers here, which already lowers /lit/'s shit quality to shittier levels.

[Anonymous No.20557323]

>>20557317
I wonder if that explains why whenever this thread reaches the second and/or third pages, someone bumps it with an inane question or answer.

[Anonymous No.20557326]

>>20557323
Just some zoomer that thinks should be active 24/7.

[Anonymous No.20557341]

>>20557096
They just want to bitch about non-issues.

[Anonymous No.20557345]

>>20556329
>>20556521
All of this could be easily solved if you just wrote it down on some notepad or something. Christ, its like you fucks don't even think.

[Anonymous No.20557351]

>>20557314
>>20557317
>>20557323
>>20557326
You’re welcome to leave.

[Anonymous No.20557354]

>>20557351
Don’t seethe, other people have notice /sffg/ shit quality recently.

[Anonymous No.20557364]

>>20556807
Honestly, you could just read some edgy shadow the hedgehog fanfiction, and you'll get about the same quality, if not a bit more.

[Anonymous No.20557374]

>>20557354
You can’t even spell. Maybe you’re bringing the quality down yourself.

[Anonymous No.20557378]

>>20554596
>>20557140
I will never read cradle, with how much of an annoying faggot you are.

[Anonymous No.20557382]

>>20557364
It’s that bad?

[Anonymous No.20557388]

[Anonymous No.20557391]

>>20557374
He's right though.

[Anonymous No.20557398]

>>20557382
>It’s that bad?
Yeah, it really is.

[Anonymous No.20557400]

>>20557388
>warm black seed shot put from his PHALLUS. his PHALLUS, still throbbing, he gripped the PHALLUS hard and look the whore of sumna in her eye before he began tugging the PHALLUS more so

[Anonymous No.20557402]

>>20557193
They're the only two xiaxias with actual plots. I prefer RI but I admit LotM is much stronger out of the gate and directly ties everything in. The climaxes aren't as strong though imo. RI is a lot more "in retrospect this all fits together" but the first time through it reads like unrelated self contained arcs.

[Anonymous No.20557406]

>>20557402
>RI is a lot more "in retrospect this all fits together"
Because the author is a shit writer that kept on changing the story. Just read Lord of the Mysteries

[Anonymous No.20557412]

I really enjoy Glen Cooks writing style.
Reading the dread empire series now after finishing black company a few weeks back.

I love how he can summerize but with great detail a lot happening over a period of time then knows when to slow things down again. His books have very little filler. I feel like I didn't understand what people meant by the excess filler in something like stormlight, but after reading this I do.

[Anonymous No.20557415]

>>20557412
I tried the black company and found his language a little too modern for the setting.

[Anonymous No.20557422]

>>20557406
>changing
Hah! I see you've never read it.

[Anonymous No.20557430]

>>20557406
Retcon. The proper word is retcon.

[Anonymous No.20557461]

>>20557422
And you're the fag who denies and makes up bullshit.

[Anonymous No.20557463]

>>20557415
Interesting, that's something I found refreshing about it. Was tired of all these OC donut steal alternative monster names, cuss words and Syr's.

[Anonymous No.20557469]

>>20557463
Same, would rather have a fantasy book be written in modern language than faux middle age bullshit.

[Anonymous No.20557476]

>>20557469
Is there a bigger pleb opinion than this in fantasy?

[Anonymous No.20557480]

>>20557476
People pretending to like the faux-middle English language.

[Anonymous No.20557500]

>>20557469
I'm stilled baffled that people don't know the difference between thee and thou. I don't know why they insist on writing on a language that they don't know.

[Anonymous No.20557528]

>>20557480
>pretending
Why is it so hard to believe that people may like something that you don't like?

[Anonymous No.20557536]

>>20557220
Yep, Dogfight is very good. New Rose Hotel to me is kind of like an inferior version of Burning Chrome. Gibson likes the trope of a guy falling in love with a girl and how that plays out in the cyberpunk setting. More than half the stories in Burning Chrome follow that formula more or less, and Burning Chrome is the best one.

[Anonymous No.20557552]

>>20557528
Because more often than not the authors or writers who do it, are shit at it.

[Anonymous No.20557589]

>>20557528
You can stop being contrarian, anon.

[Anonymous No.20557602]

>>20556408
> Later ASOIAF books are bloated carcasses compared to the first book
Did you even read them, or are you just parroting what others are saying?

[Anonymous No.20557610]

>>20557476
no

[Anonymous No.20557612]

>>20557589
I enjoy antiquated language in fantasy. I'm not being contrarian- I find it atmospheric and immersive.

[Anonymous No.20557617]

>>20557469
Go read your YA, Sandersoi faggot.

[Anonymous No.20557618]

>>20557612
If done right, which is rare. For the most part, it’s distracting.

[Anonymous No.20557630]

>>20557618
Aside from Worm Ouroboros, what other novels do this?

[Anonymous No.20557642]

>>20557630
Not him, but are you being serious?

[Anonymous No.20557645]

>>20557642
What other fantasy novels 'done right' use that kind of language?

[Anonymous No.20557654]

>>20557645
Wycliffe's Bible

[Anonymous No.20557674]

BAKKER
IS
KING

[Anonymous No.20557691]

I have two solutions [Spoiler]ignoring the "real" solution being that some stories just aren't stories[/Spoiler]
>the story is being made up on the fly by Vince and Dave
>the colorado kid got Mandela Effected into a different universe and came back, and the only reason it's not exposed is that he made a bad choice of final destination in picking Haven where the islanders keep everything to themselves
>>20557536
You can really tell in his novels that Gibson recycles his material but I didn't notice it in his short fiction before. He's lucky that it's good material.

[Anonymous No.20557694]

>>20557463
Glad to know someone else feels the same way. I’m also tired of fantasy writers making up their own languages. I know Tolkien is the father of fantasy, but that doesn’t give them the excuse to just shamelessly copycat him.

[Anonymous No.20557708]

>>20557691
Crtl+S how could you fuck something that easy.

[Anonymous No.20557714]

>>20557708
Would you believe I forgot the command and had to try typing it out?

[Anonymous No.20557737]

>>20557181
TWI, unironically

[Anonymous No.20557741]

>>20555312
Incal

[Anonymous No.20557753]

>>20557737
No

[Anonymous No.20557777]

>>20557737
>TWI
So is it the author who does it, or just one fag who finds any excuse to spam it.

[Anonymous No.20557793]

>>20557741
how do i get hold of this

[Anonymous No.20557816]

>>20557714
No, I wouldn’t believe.

[Anonymous No.20557834]

>>20557816
Then I'll admit to phoneposting.
My new theory is that Vince and Dave mention that feature stories are always lies because they focus too much on one detail instead of something else. They focus a lot on how there isn't one specific detail. Maybe that's the lie of their feature story.

[Anonymous No.20557860]

>>20557412
>Glen Cooks
I like his Garret P.I series more.

[Anonymous No.20557900]

>>20557412
How does glen cook compare to Guy Gavriel Kay?

[Anonymous No.20557931]

>>20557900
Leagues apart.

[Anonymous No.20557935]

thoughts on kushiel's legacy?

[Anonymous No.20557947]

>>20557900
Guy Gavriel Kay is the better writer.

[Anonymous No.20557952]

>>20557935
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/129931039?book_show_action=true

[Anonymous No.20557966]

>>20557952
Thanks, I won't be reading it.

[Anonymous No.20557977]

>>20557935
Coomer-tier for zoomers.

[Anonymous No.20557999]

>>20557138
It’s a good book, that no one here will ever read it because the main character is a woman.

[Anonymous No.20558023]

>>20557999
I'm not into Prehistoric fiction. I think its stupid and shouldn't exist to begin with.

[Anonymous No.20558025]

>>20557999

[Anonymous No.20558027]

>>20557999
Anons here have read it and you're being silly.

[Anonymous No.20558036]

>>20558027
Why do you lie? What do you gain from it.

[Anonymous No.20558076]

>>20557777
>So is it the author who does it, or just one fag who finds any excuse to spam it.
One guy that uses every chance he has to shill it, it's annoying as fuck.

[Anonymous No.20558122]

>>20558023
>I'm not into Prehistoric fiction
Clan of the cave bear is different in that the author did her research on the time period. Really, at times, it feels like you’re reading history.

[Anonymous No.20558140]

For me it's stories about handsome space rogues saving sexy space princesses and then having raunchy space sex with them.

[Anonymous No.20558143]

>>20558140
Okay, but who asked?

[Anonymous No.20558144]

>>20558143
...touche'

[Anonymous No.20558151]

Is jhereg worth reading

[Anonymous No.20558166]

>>20554596
The Lego one made me more inclined to read it anon.

[Anonymous No.20558172]

Requesting loli stories.

[Anonymous No.20558178]

>>20558172
Kys pedofreak.

[Anonymous No.20558191]

>>20558151
How about you read it anon and tell us.

[Anonymous No.20558215]

>>20557947
I do read his work, but I consider them more historical fiction than fantasy.

[Anonymous No.20558233]

>>20558166
Why? Both of them are equal shit.

[Anonymous No.20558235]

>>20558178

[Anonymous No.20558258]

>>20558233
Lego at least looks fun.

[Anonymous No.20558261]

>>20558258
I mean, not really.

[Anonymous No.20558262]

>>20558235
Stupid frogposter.

[Anonymous No.20558272]

>>20558261
Orthos is fun

[Anonymous No.20558275]

>>20558262
Someone needs a hug? I hope you get feeling better fren.

[Anonymous No.20558282]

>>20558272
Looks kinda cringe.

[Anonymous No.20558292]

Looks like In the Shadow of Lightning is out.

[Anonymous No.20558322]

>>20558292
Is it good

[Anonymous No.20558330]

>>20558172
>>20558235
>>20558275
Nobody wants you here, take the hint and leave already.

[Anonymous No.20558343]

What happened to dinosaurposting?

[Anonymous No.20558344]

>>20558343
That never happen

[Anonymous No.20558346]

Threadly reminder to report and ignore him.

[Anonymous No.20558349]

>>20558346
Would be better if he got ban.

[Anonymous No.20558351]

>>20558349
To he fair, mods do delete his posts and ban him, he just ban-evades and continues.

[Anonymous No.20558370]

>>20558351
Why don’t they range ban his IP, pretty sure they always do that.

[Anonymous No.20558372]

>>20557186
I think God Emperor of Dune is really good. All the other books are indeed mediocre. Herbert's writing style is old man screams at sky for 90 pages before any relevant plot development.

[Anonymous No.20558399]

>still reading genre fiction

[Anonymous No.20558400]

>>20557186
Dune is not fucking YA. It's basically a thought experiment on desert ecology and geopolitics blown up into a medieval science fantasy.

[Anonymous No.20558403]

Okay, so I read pic related and it's actually not bad. Are other books also decent?

[Anonymous No.20558409]

>>20558403
Why don’t you read them and find out.

[Anonymous No.20558410]

>>20558399
What's your favourite novel, anon?

[Anonymous No.20558417]

>>20558410
Finnigan's wake

[Anonymous No.20558450]

>>20558399
No one else in /lit/ reads.

[Anonymous No.20558452]

>>20558410
Why are you even replying to him?

[Anonymous No.20558466]

>>20558452
Some people can’t help but reply to low-effort bait.

[Anonymous No.20558474]

>>20558403
>Okay, so I read pic related and it's actually not bad.
If you like the book, why don't you just read the sequel?

[Anonymous No.20558478]

>>20558400
>Dune is not fucking YA
It really is, you have to be blind to not see it.

[Anonymous No.20558493]

>>20558403
>X of Y
>Not A X of Y
>Or The X of Y and Z
low effort on Maas' part here, I'm disappointed

[Anonymous No.20558494]

>>20558400
>Dune is not fucking YA
The main character is a young adolescent that is coming of age and turning into a leader of people. It has themes of love, friendship, family ties, and conflict. That's as YA as it can get

[Anonymous No.20558505]

>>20558494
It does tick a lot of YA checks, but still, to call it YA is a bit extreme.

[Anonymous No.20558513]

>>20557345
Fine. I'm, new to reading books like this (way more per month than i used to read in a year) and discussing them.

My comment didn't speak of an absolute truth but merely how i felt. I didn't make notes about stuff like that before, but i'm open to doing it now if it comes down to it.

I am also trying to figure out some sort of basic Do's and Don't list on what kind prose fantasy readers usually like to read and what they don't. Now, my stories have always been *there* vaguely, so their core really doesn't change, i'm just trying to finally fight them into an understandable form.

Pic not related, although actually reading GoT has been on my list for years.

[Anonymous No.20558518]

>>20558513
>I am also trying to figure out some sort of basic Do's and Don't list on what kind prose fantasy readers usually like to read and what they don't. Now, my stories have always been *there* vaguely, so their core really doesn't change, i'm just trying to finally fight them into an understandable form.
You have to go to the writing general for that.

[Anonymous No.20558523]

>>20558322
Think of the lightbringer series but with magic glass instead.

[Anonymous No.20558526]

>>20558518
I am there also. But i have found tons of good book suggestions here, and the discussion around them is helpful.

And this thread is less depressing ^^

[Anonymous No.20558532]

>>20558513
Jesus, why do you fags come here. We don’t give two shits what books you’re writing. Fuck off.

[Anonymous No.20558534]

>>20558526
>And this thread is less depressing ^^
Yeah, no shit, we just want to talk about books, not some deluded wannabe writers

[Anonymous No.20558541]

>>20558523
>Think of the lightbringer series but with magic glass instead.
Never read that series.

[Anonymous No.20558551]

>>20558541
This book is not very gripping because McClellan is a slightly diluted version of Sanderson (and also his student) and has trouble conveying emotions.

[Anonymous No.20558554]

Probably asking in the wrong place but does anyone know if there's much of a market for translating xianxia and other chinese genre fic by request? If so, how do I go about finding people? I googled but it mostly gave me years old forum posts.

[Anonymous No.20558556]

>>20558554
Google.

[Anonymous No.20558558]

>>20558532
No worries. I completely understand where you are coming from and i won't do it again. I'll continue lurking.

[Anonymous No.20558562]

Finally... a truly fantastic xianxia protagonist. It's been so long. Halfway through Book One of Lord of the Mysteries. Loving it. The amount of subtle setup established in idle conversation that comes back in a major pay-off is fantastic.

[Anonymous No.20558567]

>>20558558
Didn’t mean to blow up on you, we have other fags that try to make /sffg/ into their own personal writing general.

[Anonymous No.20558572]

>>20558562
Yes, its better than reverend insanity.

[Anonymous No.20558581]

>>20558567
Yeah, no problem.

T:>>20558558

[Anonymous No.20558586]

>>20558513
>what kind prose fantasy readers usually like to read
Considering Brandon Sanderson has the most godawful bland prose I've ever come across it's safe to say there is a substantial portion of the market that doesn't give a fuck about prose.

[Anonymous No.20558590]

>>20558556
>I googled but it mostly gave me years old forum posts.

[Anonymous No.20558602]

>>20558590
Try bing.

[Anonymous No.20558617]

>>20558586
Nobody but pseuds care about prose.

[Anonymous No.20558638]

Any Arabian-nightsesque fantasy recs beyond Klarkash's Zothique and Tanith Lee's Tales from the Flat Earth?

[Anonymous No.20558640]

>>20558638
None that I can think of.

[Anonymous No.20558662]

>>20558551
I'll have to take your word for it.

[Anonymous No.20558667]

>>20558638
That’s one ugly ass cover.

[Anonymous No.20558677]

>>20558667
It's fake, you idiot.

[Anonymous No.20558689]

>>20558554
>Probably asking in the wrong place but does anyone know if there's much of a market for translating xianxia and other chinese genre fic by request?
No, very few read Chinese webnovels here. Try reddit?

[Anonymous No.20558703]

>>20558689
Maybe a niche forum?

[Anonymous No.20558711]

>>20558343
>What happened to dinosaurposting?
It died out, like every other type of posting.

[Anonymous No.20558714]

>>20558554
>how do I go about finding people? I googled but it mostly gave me years old forum posts.
Reddit should be your first choice, maybe some Asian forum?

[Anonymous No.20558715]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkH2AmNwqk0
wuxiabros...

[Anonymous No.20558716]

>>20558715
What bros? only you read wuxia.

[Anonymous No.20558720]

>>20557645
Tolkien

[Anonymous No.20558723]

>>20558513
God, that art looks awful and ugly.

[Anonymous No.20558730]

>>20557003
No

[Anonymous No.20558732]

>>20558554
Have you tried the old forums?

[Anonymous No.20558733]

>>20558403
>Are other books also decent?
Yes, they also get darker and more mature.

[Anonymous No.20558772]

>>20556373
It just turned up in a fucking Discord one day. I seriously know fucking nothing.

[Anonymous No.20558793]

>>20553644
Is The Killing Star still unfindable? For the life of me I can't believe it's never been reprinted.

[Anonymous No.20558867]

>>20558772
You should've asked about it then at the time then, or even now.

[Anonymous No.20558879]

>>20558772
The 'people' who post in discord don't read much nor frequent these threads often. Keep your relevant questions to your relevant clique.

[Anonymous No.20558940]

>>20558617
>t. coping brainlet

[Anonymous No.20558978]

New thread
>>20558977

[Shiller No.20559038]

>>20558076
It's not me, not at home at the moment, good to see people started checking out TWI. At the very least they read something novel, even if they dont like it