WRITERS EDITION
>What are you reading for inspiration?
>How many words have you written recently?
>Tell us about it, so that I can steal all your ideas.
Monthly Reading for April: We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Monthly Reading books: drive.google.com
Fantasy:
imgoat.com
imgoat.com
Flowchart:
imgoat.com
Science Fiction:
imgoat.com
imgoat.com
General:
imgoat.com
imgoat.com
NPR's Top 100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books:
imgoat.com
SF&F author listing with ratings and summaries:
greatsfandf.com
Previously:
i love maylayzan (:
A wild poll appear: strawpoll.me
Gene Wolfe, patron saint of /sffg/, died a little more than a week ago and I've seen some posts suggesting that we should read one of his books next month to honor him. Do you think we should have a Wolfe exclusive month next month?
(Download for current book can be found in the OP, with about a week left there's still time to join if you have not yet.)
me too
I was thinking of reading some Arsine Lupin to help inspire a story about a gentleman thief in a fantasy setting.
Then I remembered Lies of Locke Lamora is already a thing so I'm back to square 0.
>Then I remembered Lies of Locke Lamora is already a thing so I'm back to square 0.
Well you might help addicted people like me get my next fix since next book never ever
whatever you think of has already been done even a fusion of ideas you may have
Well after how Republic of Thieves turned out that's probably for the best.
Also a fair point.
do people appreciate overtly complex plots and subplots within subplots these days?
why the fuck is that deterring you?
who cares about being "original" (good fucking luck with that) just make a good product and it will be enjoyed regardless
just started book of the new sun
what am i in for
people get frustrated when a subplot gets dropped and seemingly forgotten for several books then randomly brought back into the storyline
see grrm
I'm looking for any excuse not to commit.
Lies and slander.
you could be the best gentlemen theif in a fantasy setting writer ever just give it a go user ;)
But I love necromancy shit
yeah someone talked about Darkstar in a got thread on Yea Forums and it brought me back to my ASOIAF days and how I've pretty much forgotten everything.
GRRM is fucked, he'll never finish it and if he does, he won't tie up all the loose ends.
Perhaps I shall "borrow" some ideas and see what I can cook up.
yes yes waste thousands of hours of your neet existence trying to write that book yes yes good
*feeds off your wasting lifeforce*
Summer soon, what else is a man to do when it's too hot to venture outside where mosquitoes dwell?
winter arrives user leaves the house a shell of his former self
And so user became the greatest victim of his thief-character, who went on to steal his precious youth away.
Gf gave me a book to read.
"The Name of the Wind" it's alright, I do prefer sci-fi though.
Any one here read the book, what am I in for?
if you aren't joking never listen to her ever again, she's stupid and probably also a shit person if she can enjoy this enough to force it on others
Oh boy here we go again...
She wants you to be comfortable with the fact that she's sleeping with other men. But don't worry, you'll have her smile, her heart, all for yourself...
oof, you have to break up with that bitch now because Name of the Wind is neckbeard Twilight and the main character Kvothe is the Justin Bieber of fantasy.
Oh and she's probably also cheating on you or at least wants to.
That bad?
Kinda figured, she tends to read young adult stuff. I been reading it on the pot from time to time.
Fuck, she's a good fuck though so I'm go miss her, well parts of her.
It could've been worse. If you had found yourself excited to see where the story goes you wouldn't have gotten any continuation since Rothfuss said he won't write more until Trump gets impeached.
Best of luck to you.
Oh kek, I don't think she's heard that.
Considering that my gf is not anti-trump, I wonder where she'll land on this one.
It's incredibly popular and highly rated by most reviwers, and features a female characters that cucks the MC. So of course /sffg/ hates it.
>incredibly popular
Is it really INCREDIBLY popular?
more like it's incredible that it's popular
If you go by sales and the amount of posts it generates then yes.
This I can get behind.
yes, incredibly, and its not twilight popular either. /sffg/ is the exception, not the rules
Ah so that's why when she was asking how I was enjoying the book she took a few minutes to badmouth Deena(?). I kinda figured, she comes off as an annoying thot.
Just finished the first draft of a space opera novel at 83k words. There’s 3-5 books in the series I’d imagine. Depends on how tight I can keep the narrative and how large or abundant I can create the arcs.
In the distant future, mankind lives away from Earth within the utopian space station, Algo. With all their needs and wants care for by a “Mother” an advanced A.I. And The Forever Society, an order of super scientists which created all of it, the lives of those aboard the megastation are existences of abundance and chemical inebriation. The main character, a girl named Luma who races jet packs for sport begins to suspect things aren’t right behind the veil of the perfection.
When forces beyond her control draw her into the dealings of the Forever Society, Luma will find herself set on an adventure across new worlds and dimensions to protect Algo and those she cares for.
Brave New World meets The Rocketeer, meets golden age of science fiction.
would read
Sounds like wholesome fun.
Would read!
I've always wanted to write a fantasy series but i feel like I'm too much of a brainlet.
You're in luck! Fantasy is written with the heart, not the brain!
Looking for something like pic related but in book form.
Also why the fuck do good stories have to go off the fucking rails so often?
This series is BASED!
So what is this Islanders and Wanderers I keep hearing about? It got 46 ratings on goodreads, yet I keep seeing it everywhere.
i read throne of glass
better than neuromancer
Read Dorohedoro some weeks ago. I really enjoyed it, more because of the atmosphere and the surealistic setting. The story was kinda meh.
Maybe check out or Neuromancer, they are cyberpunk but are as chaotic. Else I dont know much.
alright which on of you reccomended declare to me when I asked for a spy novel. I really enjoyed the spying parts and then it becomes dude modern fantasy lmao. What are some great spy novels that dont involve any magic? Preferable ww2 or cold war settings featuring agents on the ground doing spy things in enemy territory.
Anybody read any of the Babylon 5 books? I'm kinda big on the TV shows but I'm not sure if the books are worth reading. If they are, which ones would you recommend? Is it fan fiction tier or actual lit?
I don't know how to genre this short story I'm writing for this competition. Cyberpunk, maybe?
Three bored teens who are daily users of the worldwide VR-internet return to their favorite childhood warsim (Theatre: East) of WW3 that has long since been abandoned by its devs. Assuming the role of a tank crew, they'll traverse the Belarusian battlefield, finding that weirdos, hackers, modders, roleplayers and the Chinese have broken the game beyond recognition. It'll touch upon the subject of entertainment in the future, nostalgia, the constant struggle against boredom and world wars becoming video games.
Currently, I got 5,5k words and more coming. Need a title though, can someone help me with that?
>What are you reading for inspiration?
god, i can't even remember everything I read for research. I know I read Un Lun Dun for one thing, a bunch of books on food science and chemistry as well, plus a large handfull of science articles and history/wilderness survival blogs, and a metric fuckton of Wikipedia articles on japanese and native american mythology. That's not to mention hours of watching NileRed and HTME videos on YouTube.
Honestly, I wonder if I should include all the physics stuff that inspired this story in the first place, but mostly I just researched this for me.
>How many words have you written recently?
Ive... uhh... that's kind of a personal question, don't you think?
Deprecated
Follow-up for It depends. In the hands of a skilled writer, a complex plot can mean the difference between good and amazing, but its difficult to tie up in a satisfactory way and even my favorite examples of complex storytelling ended horribly
user, anyone can write fantasy as long as they have the dedication and courage. you just need to have an idea and feed it
>dedication and courage
Fuck.
>SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY GENERAL
I was thinking of making my own thread, but I'll try here first.
Is there any science-fiction book with a humans vs aliens story set mainly after a destruction of Earth? Or, alternately, a story of a human living a "far away from planet Earth" life after being abducted by extra-terrestrial aliens?
I really need this fix so bad.
Pic is a good example.
I was gonna set a personal writing challenge for next month but I have to travel for work so that might not happen. My novel is basically Power Rangers I guess. People get robot suits and use them to fight something. (I'm inspired more by Lord of Light than Power Rangers, but it's the easier comparison.)
Mote in God's Eye? I didn't like it but you might. Recommending Hyperion is a stretch, since it's mostly humans vs. humans with one alien thing fucking shit up, but maybe that one as well.
That could work. It sure fits the abandoned part.
Spiral Wars kinda, at first its mostly humans vs humans but there's definitely the feeling of (((aliens))) being a major contributor.
Thoughts on Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy?
Im currently on the first book. I'm finding it a little generic but with potential i suppose. Some characters are interesting others are super bland
>WRITERS EDITION
fuck off already
I'm trying to vote yes but my vote does not seem to be registering?
Truly this is democracy as it was always meant to be.
An unique experience.
>I don't know how to genre this short story I'm writing
Sci-fi, any more detail is for autists.
I enjoyed it but the way the series "ended" was awful.
Everytime.
>Titan AE
Based. The Foundation series could work, but honestly it's not that good. Three Body Problem series does not really fit your description but might scratch your itch anyway.
Abercrombie is a retard and his book (the first one) is an glorified information dump.
Just finished reading War Game by PKD, was the whole point that every toy was a trap and that each was designed to harm Earth?
>Toy soldier set convinces kid losing is ok because if youre persistent with a losing strategy you win
>Cowboy suit is basically a "shut out the world and look at this light box" while it all goes to hell
>Board game teaches them that giving up their posessions is a winning strategy
Went ahead and finished reading the Belgariad and while cliche as fuck it was pretty comfy. Was actually a nice change of pace from the whole "watch me subvert fantasy tropes" meme that fantasy authors seem to love now. Though I heard the sequel series is just the same plot copy and pasted so I'm not going to bother with that.
I don't have a bad thing to say about the Belgariad. I totally agree it's cliché, it's very simplistic but it's also super comfy. The sequel is just more of the same but that's not a bad thing.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Okay ahaha. Emma is actually browsing Yea Forums right now not even joking you guys. EMMA FUCKING WATSON IS ON THE LITERATURE BOARD OF Yea Forums
Even if she does she wouldn't come here. We'd just scare her off.
We didn’t scare butterfly off. And she wants my penis :3
5th head of cerberus was complete trash
go away
Thoughts on Too Like the Lightning? I asked a few threads ago but got no replies.
If we do a Wolfe book next month, which? The Knight was really good, but it doesn't really stand on its own without (the latter half of) The Wizard. BotNS is longer and if people here were going to read it they would have already. Lots of people seem to have already read Latro and 5th Head. Maybe Peace? I've not read that one.
Long Sun is much more accessible than BotNS and its link to BotNS isn't at all essential to get what's happening in LS.
Old as salt.
Plenty of fiction has people infected with plant spores that use humans to reproduce.
it's really not that bad
the romance is just Rothfuss trying to write something engaging that isn't stereotypical.
the book has a sort of twang to it, hard to describe. parts may not sit well with you. Kvothe is aaalmost a self-insert type of character, but not to the point of being obnoxious (most of the time)
i rate it 7/10, most certainly above average and nowhere near as bad as the prejudiced on this board like to claim. Rothfuss, however, is a total faggot and has no idea what to do with book 3 and will make every excuse in the book to drag its release out, so just read the first one to make your GF happy and move on. maybe try to take something away from the book that you could educated her with.
Is that pic what your gf does you? Withheld pleasure?
Simon R Greene has a magical James Bond series. It's trash though. You might like it perhaps.
Long or Short Sun would be cool. I love BotNS but I never really went into the later ones because I felt it was almost perfect already. ("Almost" because the first half of Urth kinda sucked and the storytelling contest could have been straight up removed with no consequence.) Maybe others are in the same boat. I dunno how long they are, though. Maybe one of those or Peace, then.
Cold Fire Trilogy
Hull Zero Three
The Word for World Is Forest.
Also, one other argument for Peace is that Wolfe called it his favorite work of his own. So if we're doing it in his memory, that'd be fitting.
You got replies.
You were told to go check the archive.
>The main character, a girl
Dropped
Didn't sound very interesting to me otherwise though.
I’m at the point in writing where I can make the character whatever. I could’ve made the MC anything so just for shits and giggles I made them black and female since Everybody is all up in arms about race and gender and I’m going to write the story anyway, so..... I said fuck it it doesn’t matter that much to me. Let’s be honest, those features don’t make the character, their personality, triumphs and failures do. It’s a shame others can’t separate such basic features from societal stereotypes and just get on with writing the damn story. I didn’t even have to try to get the past the bechdel test
that DONT involve magic
is there any really good historical fiction that involves greek or roman mythology besides latro?
gottem Yea Forumsro! :)
Imagine being literally gay. I only read for waifus.
Is there any series like gentleman bastards that stays good?
nothing wrong with that
now female authors on the other hand...
Sorry, eyes are weary from work.
t. proofreader
>WRITERS EDITION
>what is Hope Mirrlees, Ada Palmer and Susanna Clarke
Retardbros...
Anyone here ever read The Speed of Dark? Read when I was a kid. It's a pretty realistic character study on an autistic man with savant-like pattern-matching skills that make him and a team of other autists valuable assets to a biotech firm that employs them for something to do with protein folding or somesuch. A treatment that would cure his autism is discovered and most of the book is him weighing the pros and cons of taking it or not. He has a crush, does fencing and etc. Very comfy if nothing else. Googled it and found out it apparently won a bunch of prizes back in the day.
For a few years it was my favorite book because the main character's inner dialogue is exactly how I actually think, no idea how the author pulled off that one
Thanks, I'm going to try every one of these and hope I get what I'm looking for.
Try The Spy Who Came in From The Cold or any other of the famous ones by Le Carré. It's pretty much at the other end from later James Bond type stuff so even if you don't like it at least it'll inform what kind of spy novel you like.
/sffg/, I'm sorry and I know this is super off-topic even for me and I'm going to say on-topic stuff too but I need to post this video because I'm not sure how to react to it. Even going "what the fuck" seems inappropriate
I've heard good things about Circe and Song Of Achilles, but honestly? Most stuff centered around greeko-roman myth is either YA or some other form of media.
It's weird, you'd think there would be more of that stuff, but the pickings are just fucking slim.
user, don't give up! I went 25 years without finishing a single goddamn thing and I managed to write a novel. If I can do it, there's no reason you can't
user, don't change anything. I think you're approaching your story the right way and if this is the vision you had it's probably what's right to you too.
Honestly, one of the things that bothers me about just about every female protagonist in SFF is that when writers hear "strong female character" they take it literally and focus on a tough no-nonsense action heroine like they're trying to make the next katniss everdeen. There's no variety, they're all the same expressionless cardboard cutout!
I have the impression, from the prologue to my somewhat posh edition of the Odyssey I read ages ago and no longer remember that well, that there's historically been a healthy tradition of writers and poets making fanfiction based on the Odyssey and Iliad that persists even today with stuff like the Penelopiad. But it is probably marketed to the Last Temptation of Christ "middle brow" audience that's simultaneously too "grown-up" for regular genre fic and not educated enough on the actual classics or history to find them embarrassing.
What are some ideas that you guys want to see being exhibited more in fiction books?
>read 2 out of 3 books in a trilogy
>Realize I am going to zip through the last book
>Look for more from the same author in the same setting so I have something to read when it's over
>Read description of one of the standalone books
>The very first sentence spoiled the end of the trilogy
How do I forgot a spoiler
Concoct a scenario where having a false spoiler to another series could be interpreted as a promotion for the other work.
Realize it's the journey and not the destination that matters. Unless it was a mystery book in which case you're fucked.
Fantasy world is actually a far future earth, and the characters find tech/knowledge from the past
What it would be like for women to also be felines.
I feel like that's an overplayed twist.
So how many of guys have read Black Leopard Red Wolf?
what series?
has the isekkai variant that uses the reveal to bring the MC to their knees in defeat been done to death?
Only case I can think of is Planet of the Apes.
A Fire Upon the Deep
Apparently one user a month back or something liked it.
so this is the power of self publishing
I only know of two, planet of the apes and that thorn trilogy whatever the fuck it was called
Technically the Shanarra series
how about 'fantasy world is a getaway paradise made by a bitter far future luddite human'
is that still okay
Wheel of Time also.
Yeah. It's all about execution. Any concept could be lame or genius depending on the author's skill.
>Wheel of Time also.
No? I don't think you understand what far future Earth means.
Probably not what you want but I remember reading Q clearance by peter benchley when I was a kid. It's a satirical spy novel I think so if you wanted serious stuff then nevermind
guess it also depends on if it tries to be a big reveal or if it's just there
Wheel of Time is literally set on earth. There's tons of references to it.
No it wasn't. It's a world based on Earth mythology and cultures but it wasn't Earth.
Isn't it implied that time is cyclical and that the setting of Wheel of Time is both Earth's past and future?
>t.brainlet
RJ borrowing heavily from religious and mythological lore doesn't mean it's set on Earth.
Yes, it was. There's even a scene where Nynaeve is staring at an Icon from "the age before the age of legends" and it's the fucking Hood Ornament from a Mercedes Benz. Then there's the flashback with a bunch of 747's crashing into glass tower which are clearly skyscrapers.
How unlucky do you have to be?
I am a big spoilerfag. Preinternet days, before I picked up books to take home from the library or to buy from a bookshop I would regularly have already finished about 50% of the book and had already read the ending, which was just to make sure I didn't pick up shit books.
Nowadays, if it's an anime/manga I read the spoiler threads before I pick a series up. With books, it is harder to find spoilers as barely any books have a summary up on the internet and people are so afraid of generating spoilers that they barely even discuss the book other than "it was bad" or "it was good" in reviews and sometimes I can't even find spoilers for new releases so I am forced to experience the whole thing unspoiled.
Spoilers help immensely in distinguishing shit books from good books. Often with classics they are already unavoidable. Spoilers enhance the book in my experience, unless it's a mystery.
The WoT has era's that we would class as modern and those we would class as ancient. But that doesn't mean they were Earth modern or Earth ancient. It's basically this .
The Age of Legends has Jo-car's which obviously are cars but that doesn't make it Earth you numnut. The fact they were powered by magic and flew may have been a clue.
Are you kidding? Did you actually completely miss all of the stories Thom tells in the first two books? He directly references Queen Elizabeth, Neil Armstrong landing on the moon, Mother Teresa, and the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novels.
It ended after a battle between "Mosk and Merk" who fought with "lances of fire that pierced the heavens". This is very obviously a corrupted retelling of a Nuclear war between Moscow and America which was the last battle of that age.
>"A silvery thing in another cabinet, like a three-pointed star inside a circle, was made of no substance she knew; it was softer than metal, scratched and gouged, yet even older than any of the ancient bones. From ten paces she could sense pride and vanity."
Are you being intentionally dense? No on is denying Jordan used our myths and history to create his story. Many of the key character names are based upon Arthurian Legend (pulling a sword from a stone .. come on)
No, it's just so blindingly obvious that it's set in the future, I'm astonished people missed it so completely. It references so many real people and events that you'd have to actually be dense not to get it. I'm not even talking about Myths or History, he references an advice column out of the Chicago Sun Times from the 1980's, several astronauts by name (or near enough), and real brands, even having a the Mercedes hood ornament make an appearance.
It's so obvious, how is this a surprise?
its actually fairly decent. quite humorous too. but i feel like the author has written himself into a corner and has to retcon a lot of things for the story to make sense.
Believe it if you want to. You're wrong and the only person who does but whatever.
He's not so much retcon'd as nerfed the MC because he was so ridiculously over-powered. Still it's a fun but flawed read.
It's not amazing literature or super original but it's fun and well told. Some real fun parts. It's a super quick read too. Get off your high horse and enjoy it user.
I've just started reading the first book, and I am already enjoying the autism a lot. It's ridiculous but I've been hunting for dumb fun for a while now so it fits what I'm after perfectly.
We've already read Fifth Head, so it will be disqualified. BotNS will be disqualified because everyone should already have read it as it's literally recommended every day. Urth, Long and Short Sun will be disqualified because they're sequels to BotNS. Latro and Wizard/Knight will probably also be disqualified on the same grounds as BotNS. Fortunately enough that leave us like 12 "less" known novels and a bunch of short story collections to vote among.
It's absolutely amazing. The most ambitious work of SFF I've read since BotNS.
I haven't even read WoT but
>What are you reading for inspiration?
Eastern Approaches by Fitzroy MacClean
It's an autobiography of one of the original members of the SAS and covers his time as a diplomat in Russia, North Africa in WW2 and supporting partisans in Hungary afterwards. I'm reading it to generate ideas for a space opera I'm planning. Also re-reading Use of Weapons.
>How many words have you written recently?
I've just finished my second draft of a 8800 word chapter for a military sci-fi story I'm planning to release online for free once I've written most of it, as well as laid out plans for chapters two and three. So about 1500 words of total writing so far today, but I doubt I'll be able to do much else until Tuesday. Pic related. Chapter 1.
>Tell us about it, so that I can steal all your ideas.
A PMC based on a space station offers to deploy a team of highly-trained special forces soldiers directly onto your position at a moment's notice anywhere on Earth... for a price, of course. The story follows one of the special forces teams as they deal with a number of different missions for different clientele across the globe. Meanwhile, on Earth, something big is growing in the shadows and it has it's eyes set on the station above...
since we're talking about it, is wheel of time good? I'm looking for a relaxing fantasy book to read and WoT, latro in the mist, dying earth, and the knight are all in the running, but it seems vance and wolfe require a bit more investment
> but it seems vance and wolfe require a bit more investment
WoT is long. Very long. Too long. Most of it is pointless. You will however enjoy the spanking of women and the tugging of braids, as well as the jolly hi-jinks of Mat.
In my opinion the first book isn't very good but the second is already such a vast improvement it's worth getting through the first.
so I should choose it over wolfe or vance? I don't mean investment as in the book length, but I mean as far as how easily digestible it is. I don't want a kids book or anything, but most of what I read is nonfiction so I'd rather the fiction I read be a bit more casual
WoT is definitely a casual read if the time you spend on it is not an issue. Enjoy.
Would read
Any Science Fantasy Novels?
Dune
I know the series are not that popular over here but GRRM writes dumb characters really well - just finished my re-reading of all 5 books and it's amazing how fun Brienne and Victarion chapters are - the dumbest characters in the series, amusing to read.
BotNS, Dying Earth.
Dying Earth is the only book out of WOT, Dying Earth and BOTNS that didn't bore me to tears.
care to elaborate?
go with dying earth if you want something a bit more casual
>WoT
This entire setting seemed to be cliched to hell and the plot too. I wasn't really fond of the writing. The world also felt really small and none of the characters clicked with me.
>BOTNS
I couldn't really bring myself to care about the character and the book and the prose just seemed to go on and on aimlessly.
>Dying Earth
Some of the stories, especially Liane the Wayfarer, are memorable classics. The worldbuilding is pretty unique, even for a fantasy book so old and I really enjoy the way the prose kinda leads you along for the ride without bogging you down Wolfe style. Whether you are looking for writing inspiration or to spice up the world inside your dreams, this is the one. There are books that I enjoy more than this one, of course, but out of these books, I enjoyed Dying Earth the most.
okay sounds good. which books do you say you enjoyed more?
>The worldbuilding is pretty unique, even for a fantasy book so old and I really enjoy the way the prose kinda leads you along for the ride without bogging you down Wolfe style.
Honestly I'd say that's something a lot of old fantasy and SF has going for them because people tended to focus on couple of ideas/approaches and those became the mainstream foundations for future genre literature.
I am more of a scififag but my favourites from the fantasy genre are probably: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Tigana, Lord of Light, the Picture of Dorian Gray, the Coldfire Trilogy and the Chronicles of Amber (this reads much more like YA).
I enjoyed the Fifth Head of Cerebrus from Wolfe too. The plot is very tightly written and the characters are intense and interesting, so if you are looking for something from him, I highly recommend it! (Although this book seems to be scifantasy).
ok thank you for the recs. gonna look into them in the morning
I hope you find something that you enjoy user. Anyway, book piracy nowadays is wild, you can pirate whatever you wish to read and it's super convenient! So if you feel that a book is a stinker don't feel obligated to continue and try and find someone with taste which matches yours.
The foundations are quite different from what we have now. I just sometimes feel that some of the old authors had far better ideas and execution to some extent, it's probably because a lot of the really bad books have now been forgotten by time.
that's pretty fucking cool lad
With the summer around the corner I finally have some time to dive into a book series. Which one would be the best one to start out with?
A. The Black Company by Glen Cook
B. Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson.
As far as I'm aware Malazan boats an enormous (almost autistically large) scope, while the Black Company is much more confined and a bit darker in tone.
Any other recommendation would be much appreciated.
Black Company, because Malazan was inspired by it.
>Come here to talk about how much I love Gene Wolfe's writing
>Wait a sec is this some kind of in-joke
>Its true
I don't even know. Maybe if I'd realised I wouldn't have been reading his books so quickly.
Well you're in luck as most of Wolfe's books are basically written to be reread.
What are some easy sci-fi books for new readers. I started reading recently and have only read about half a dozen novels. Although they were very fun I feel that sometimes the plot just went over my head, due to the books I choose being challenging and my inexperience in reading. So I'm looking for some introductions to sci-fi that are not too hard but also not childishly shallow.
Try the Jurassic Park novels, and Andromeda Strain, by Michael Crichton. They're not the space ships and lasors sci-fi, but sci-fi they are and they're great reads, while also not being door stops.
They're very different from the films, so you're not going to be going over content you're already familiar with either.
I think Crichtons sci-fi works are all generally pretty good introductions to the genre, because he keeps it relatively Hard on the science end, without getting obnoxiously autistic. He also doesn't completely disregard characters and settings like some sci-fi authors do.
Black Company will probably be an easier read. If you go with Malazan keep in mind the first book is kinda dense and doesn't ease you in. Most readers give up there.
this motherfucker right here
The Stars My Destination.
I Robot
>grew up reading mindless pulp fantasy
>wtf I love reading and I want to write but this is too shallow
>move directly on to BotNS
>realize I'm fucking retarded
>know I don't even want to write anything like the infinitely ambiguous puzzle boxes Gene produces
>I just want to write something wondrous with a bit of easily-digested philosophy
>still can't help but shadow myself with Gene's work every time I try to write and wonder how anything I could contribute could ever hold merit
anyone else know this feel
If it makes you feel any better there's always a bigger fish.
Read some shitty YA and remember that's where the bar is.
>flashback with a bunch of 747's crashing into glass tower which are clearly skyscrapers.
So Robert Jordan did 9/11?
Is that pic a tranny or not? Don't want to fap to a guy.
She looks like a dark elf bimbo my fetish
>he doesn't want to fap to the idea of turning a proud warrior twink into a bimbo slut
Why are you even here?
Both true. Part of my problem is that I have no real education to draw from.
Sorry for the derail, but where's a good place to start for a general broadening of perception? Start with the Greeks™? And anything for theology in particular?
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is fun.
>You're wrong and the only person who believes it
>i-i'm right. Your the only person who believes this. You will not change the narrative I had in my head since childhood. You're wrong. Only you think so. Stop lying. You're wrong. Stop it, why are you posting multiple times pretending to be other people. It's only you.
Wheel of time fans are the gayest
>Why are you even here?
It's certainly not for trannies.
You are complete trash.
tuon is white
>Download this and start reading it
>He had no idea why he was supposed to kill the strikers, and it really did not matter. The masters had said it was so, and he must obey. It was a mute point, though, since now that the strikers new his objective, they would do everything in their power to prevent him from accomplishing it. The strikers were now trying to kill him.
>It was a mute point
Seriously?
Who gives a shit? Read things you're interested in. If that's the Greeks then fine. But don't read to appease someone else's autism, least of all Yea Forums's. And don't think "I'll start after I read X", because you'll end up with a lot of things you "have" to read and never writing anything.
You have a point, but the idea I'm attached to heavily involves a pantheon of false godlings, so covering the Greeks could be quite helpful there.
That and maybe something that provides insight into historical Christian institutions/Catholicism might be enough to get started with. I'm not trying to be Gene-tier, at least. I know he wrote BotNS in his 50s.
Just keep reading what you want to read.
If you don't understand it, then look up explanations and try to learn from it.
Eventually you'll learn.
How does reading these things help you with what you want to write?
If you were woke her infidelities would empower you...
Thanks, just read the first few chapters online. Pretty kino bare bone way of writing, leaving enough open for your mind to fill in the blanks. Going to order the first three volumes now.
>first three volumes
I prefer the omnibus format.
This, you should always enjoy reading what you like, rather than reading to impress people. Sometimes I like to read Star Wars books. Sometimes I like to read Gene Wolfe. Sometimes I like to read Sanderson novels. Sometimes I like to read books from the fascinating imagination of Jasper Fforde about the man eating roads that digest people and also spoons and loganberry jam and colours that kill people.
Recently, I have been reading a lot of books published in and around abouts the 1980s. Mythago Wood, which is about an ancient sinister and yet enchanting woodland in Herefordshire which is home to ancient race memories brought to life in the shape of mythagos which is quite fascinating and one which I would highly recommend, it definitely casts aspersions on what it means to be human.
I am currently reading The Mists of Avalon which I saw mentioned by another user in another thread. At the moment, it seems much more an alt hist book than a fantasy book, but it is amazing and thoroughly enjoyable insofar. I don't normally read Arthurian books, but I suspect that that user had a similar taste to me and I suppose I guessed right!
looks like they stole a cover from the Night Angel trilogy
Is pic related real?
>Greeks
All kinds of mythology and perspective on the most well-documented pantheon in history. Also the dawn of western philosophy, for general inspiration.
>historical Christianity/Catholicism
One of the main characters (or maybe the true MC) is part of some kind of institution in which the godlings are revered as something like living saints below their father, the true God.
I'd feel like a massive pseud writing on inspiration I barely know the source of, and these topics are the focus of the majority of the story, so I should at least familiarize myself with them before starting.
would appreciation any recommendations on the Christian/Catholic history, btw
>It was a mute point, though
>It was a mute point
What, it couldn't speak?
>the most well-documented pantheon in history
Surely not. Hinduism is a living polytheistic religion, they must beat the few remaining fragments of Greek theology by miles.
Most well-documented pantheon according to your average rando, then.
See, I need to read some books on gods before writing books on gods.
No you don't. Just make it up. Gods aren't real.
Any good furshit worth reading? I'm interested in non-human protagonists, for obvious reasons. Explicit content not necessary.
There's a book called "The Homeric Gods" that I enjoyed. From what I remember, it describes how the gods and the Greek religion were related to social values. Good stuff.
What is real is religion, and learning about religion and incorporating that knowledge into your writing is a way of building verisimilitude.
>What is real is religion, and learning about religion and incorporating that knowledge into your writing is a way of building verisimilitude.
Perhaps a psychology of religion book would be of more use than a book dealing with specific real religions and their theology?
en.wikipedia.org
How are you defining religion?
Sure, but I think that a specific case would help a writer better flesh out their ideas. Some combination of both background and examples seems ideal. Got any books on the subject, by the way? I could use some.
I guess any sort of organized spiritual practice, generally integrated into society rather than merely being a product of an individual's belief.
>Got any books on the subject
I gave you a link to a wikipedia article, you can pick your own literature out of there for starters. The only correct path is the one you choose yourself, it cannot be chosen for you.
I’ve got a whole series of magic using furs that aren’t weeby or owo or whatever. They’re just furry aliens in a space war.
"no"
The Sunset Warrior
Or what? You'll write a shitty book? Bad news, your first book - and especially your first draft of your first book - is doomed to be shit anyway.
I'm not sure what people find so confusing about BotNS. I read Shadow & Claw last year. Only time I remember being confused was in that bit with Father Inire and the story about the mirrors. I feel everything else was fairly self-explanatory if you were paying attention, and it might be that I just didn't read that part carefully enough.
Should really get around to reading the others.
Have you read the Grey Seer series by any chance? Skaven are technically furshit with nonreal attempt at lewd shit(unless you are a truly sick fuck)
I swear if I had a shot every time they referred to him as "the young warrior" I'd be dead halfway through
Can anyone recommend me an epic fantasy series that's a trilogy/only three books?
LotR
Don't you see fuckin Hethor in Shadow & Claw? Go ahead and explain Hethor to me, please.
It's not bad for genre fiction. Gimmicky, but some of the gimmicks are worthwhile.
Is it okay for an alien society to be exactly like ours, but they're aliens, because it's sci-fi?
It's not so much confusing as mysterious. For example, what was the thing that scared off the man-apes in the mines?
>inspiration
Currently reading a few different nonfiction books on pirate operations so I can more accurately portray the minutiae of the life on a pirate ship
>Words
Since Sunday I've gotten 4k new words down, but with edits on that and previous I'm up to about 6k
>what is it?
MC was abducted from our world back in 1988 when he was 17, spent the last 30 years in this world where everything is a mish-mash of technological and cultural development because nobody develops their own stuff they just wait for it to be abducted from other people's worlds. MC starts the book working on a ship, finds a possibility of a way back home, steals a ship and becomes a pirate captain for his group sailing around trying to accomplish this.
Provided there is some interesting "message" in it, otherwise, no. The most boring thing about sci-fi is that even the most innovative thinkers dream up alien species that are exactly like people, as though they look up in to the stars and see only their own reflection.
So you're writing Guardians of the Galaxy 3?
I say that it is very confusing. There's a strong argument that Hethor *is* the slug in Sword. Agia may or may not be literally a fallen angel or robot. The fucking green man. Valeria, especially given what happens in Urth. The guy in the time tower. The people in the *other* time tower. All of those characters and their natures are related in some way. It's mysterious, but there's also a lot of shit going on to consider if you want to get the full picture. What happens to Sev is mostly straightforward, excepting possibly the nature of Thecla's fate and definitely Little Sev, but the world at large as presented is very hard to grasp.
Sort of, but the gang isnt much of a focus. I plan to have it span 3 years and the characters around the MC change out often.
I'm almost finished with Urth Of The New Sun which clarifies a lot of things and I still have no idea what the point of some stuff was, like the mages in The Sword Of Lictor. (and by "point" I mean what part of the bigger picture do those scenes play in Severian becoming an autarch and bringing the New Sun)
The fun thing about the series is that you think that you get it at first but when you get to the end you feel like you didn't really get it at all. Citadel Of The Autarch's second half throws a ton of twists at you.
The green man is just a dude from the future who gets nourishment through photosynthesis
Yeah no shit, now why is he there? What does a dude from the future being trapped in that time mean?
I didn't even mention the Hierodules, also.
Read and repent scalie
Did you guys really get all the time travel, multi dimension, resurrection etc shenanigans of BOTNS on your own or did you just read about them on the internet? Especially since some of those seem to be somewhat open to interpretation, even more so if you don't read The Urth Of The New Sun.
As I said I've only read the first two books, but I see that as no more of a riddle than the not!Morlocks Severian finds in the ruins of that city (unless there's a big curveball with those guy later in the series too in which case I take it back). All Dying Earth settings run on Deep Time, there's bound to be a lot of weird shit that doesn't necessarily have any greater signfiicance than furthering the setting's aesthetic if you have a human civilization persisting through literal millions or billions of years.
peaty sure the ringwolrd books after the fist one become furshit
It's also likely that Hethor is Father Inire
Any chance the MC changes as well?
>nobody has mentioned redwall
For shame
Maybe because we're not in the middle school library
I mean, if you read Urth, it's very explicit
>middle school library
You'll gain the right to be snobby the day Brandon Sanderson's work stops being a major topic of discussion in the general
Is there a series that has crashed harder than Anita Blake?
Sword of Truth comes to mind but it never started out as good as the Blake books did so the fall wasn't as far.
I do have chapters from other perspectives to be able to explain important parts without them being boring, but no complete MC overhauls. MC is basically bipolar though, where he's either super into what he's doing, and he can be tactical and caring for his men, or he's disconnected and only interested in himself, and is very greedy and such.
I don't feel excitement for a book quickly.
But The Iron Dragon's Daughter and The Dragons of Babel were great novels, weird and totally different from most other fantasy.
I guess this can only turn out as a disappointment.
Has anyone read any Joseph Anderson novel here?
i sometimes read awful pulp on purpose for fun, but I fear this guy is taking himself too serious for me to enjoy it.
>inb4 the town made him stupid
The content of his work is basically never discussed because A. only like 2 people here have actually read it and B. it's trash
The only discussion is people shitting on it
Redwall's better but it's not for your age group either
>Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.
C.S Lewis
And if you're really that concerned about my reading preferences, I'm currently working my way through Tuchman's A Distant Mirror because I began reading it before I found out it's not in high esteem among medievalists. But just not to drop it prematurely I'll finish before starting Huizinga's Autumn of the Middle Ages, probably followed by A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander and Cities by John Reader. Somewhere along the way I'll pick up one of Pringles Man's books in his honor.
That quote makes me feel better about only reading amazon self published coming of age YA fantasy. but not really lol im a loser
pls spoonfeed me for a fantasy thing, last series i read was powder mage which i thought was quite enjoyable. already read black company, malazan and so on.
read a little of his first book and it wasnt good. its typical beginner writer stuff
Read into the abyss. It's Isekai high fantasy. fun read.
>I'm currently working my way through Tuchman's A Distant Mirror
How are you finding it so far? I really liked the chapter concerning the plague, and the almost apocalyptic implications it had at the time. Never understood why she decided to follow the french Baron though, it doesn't really have any added value in my opinion.
I can recommend The Crusades by Thomas Asbridge, fantastic book.
read the op
What about it?
There's a lot of good material to get through detailed in the OP. It's like super easy to navigate.
You're fine. At the end of the day if you had fun and hurt nobody (well maybe except a few of your brain cells) then who cares, enjoy.
Yes, the plague was my favorite part too. The bit about the flagellants was surreal, straight out of a magical realist novel. Also surprised with all the bullshit Charles of Navarre got away with, you'd think they learn after the THIRD time they let him out of jail and he immediately tried to usurp the throne
>Going to order the first three volumes now.
get silver spike as well. it's essentially the conclusion to northern chronicles of the series. skip port of shadows. utter filler.
So what is your consensus on asexual characters? The main character of what I'm working (already 90k+ words in so it's not like I'm gonna change anything) is a non-gender asexual sterile creature born and bred and later branded for the sole purpose of becoming 'food' for the next incarnation of their living god-ruler
By the end of the book the protagonist meets their god and becomes the next incarnation, and being genderless and asexual plays a role into it fitting into the shoes of the next living god, ruler of the world. Turns out it was the next best option, aside from becoming the food, and when the protagonist escaped their destiny, god manipulated the events in such a way that the protagonist must take their place.
Anyway is this a good twist? I've fiddled with this idea for years, like I said I'm already 90k words in and by the end I'll be around 130-150k words, taking all the edits and everything into account.
The larger story talks about the 4-way power struggle between super advanced dolphins from the future who are seeking to occupy the planet because it will be a fitting water-world (once it's fully melted by their incomprehensibly large sun-ship), the original inhabitant of this ice world which is a singular mind-creature, insanely old and infinitely crafty, the god-ruler of the planet who is a human created by the dolphin aliens, and 3 defectors of the dolphins who went mad (although this plot is in such an early stage, I can and will change almost everything about it. Going mad is such a cheap plot)
Fuck me I rambled. What do you assholes think?
People will describe your story as "interesting" rather than "enjoyable." Have fun with that amigo!
Most of the time travel is blatant (unlelss there's more I missed, which is likely) and I got the resurrections (though not every time they may have happened), but shit like
>when Severian goes back in time during Typhon's reign and there's a nasty old man who looks at him? dude that's Father Inire
no, not at all
Then again, it was the first of Gene's books I'd read and I only read it once, so I guess I can't expect to have gotten many subtleties.
gene wolfe is the dark souls lore video of fantasy writing.
What does being asexual bring to the story? What's your goal and reason? Might as well just make them a eunuch as it achieves the same thing, more in fact.
The Forever war. It is a fantastic book where many parallels can be drawn between the Vietnam war and the events described in the novel.
That sounds like an absolute ride. Please keep going user, I'd like to read it.
Well the main theme I'm exploring for this book is control and how the government enacts control over the population using these creatures, and in turn enacts control over these creatures by making them practically chicken for slaughter. Hormonally induced growth, short life spans, no identity, no race, no gender, no desires except to follow the guidance of their handlers. Kept in kennels, receiving special education, training (and in turn indoctrination). Also no destiny, these creatures get born and die without much of a purpose aside from what they're being assigned to do.
It's a world where the difference in power is so blatant, that the literal actual 'food' of certain individuals has more power than free folk in other parts.
The protagonist is a genetic anomaly in that it has developed a subconscious mind which often informs the conscious mind of things. This means that this unique creature is capable of dreaming and imagining, and indeed many of the things that happen, including the 'trigger' for the story, is that the protagonist has an 'idea'
ironically this corruption of his purity is what ultimately leads him to the throne.
The story is quite self-contained, there and things that go on the background but this story that I'm writing has a singular plot, a single main character and doesn't try to do too many things at once. All those details about the larger story are mostly meat on the bare bones, which will probably be explored in later books / stories if I ever decide to write more once I'm done.
Please recommend me some Spanish sci-fi or fantasy (ideally relatively exciting) that's not especially difficult to read. I want to improve my grasp of the language.
So what are you guys gonna do now that true martial world, martial world, and a will eternal are done
Read cradle
Speaking of cradle are there any similar books? I know it's some specific genre that people shit on except for cradle. I think I'm going to wait until he publishes the next 2 books because they're so short and after I finish I just want more
It’s hard to go back to book series like cradle after reading 2000 chapter long web novels updated every day
Explain how wuxia/xianxia isn't simply gook shonen/seinen
*kills you, your family, and your neighbors for offending me*
*also all the bystanders*
they all share the same power system, just read this and you'll fully understand pastebin.com
what is good wuxia? besides journey to the west or water margin
I want more stuff like the jade empire game
feng shun ji
I looked it up, but only a bunch of feng shui stuff is coming up
Feng Shen Ji, my bad. I misspelled the second word.
Anyone want to throw a recommendation or two at me?
I am trying to write something that involves a lot of fantasy from children's eye view, and more bordering on horror (monsters basically), but my imagination is struggling.
I want to read some fantasy books where they have some pretty out there world building and creature building, just something to expand my imagination and get it to be more creative.
is it a comic book? I can only find manga, and its nontranslated
there's other self pub with similar pacing i.e. sorcerer's ascension but the writing is worse and its more d&d derivative
I never got into fant-horror but the only thing I can think of immediately is some three-word-titled (one is Fear) Star Wars series involving two kids who see and experience a lot of wild kooky shit. I read them when I was 13/14 and felt it was pretty dark but granted that was half a lifetime ago.
I don't know the word for gookshit manga but it's whatever-that-is fully-colored and definitely translated. Lurk around more.
it's enjoyable if you take it for what it is. The author doesn't seem to take himself seriously, but I enjoyed Glotka and West as characters and there was enough to make me read all three
I feel like even though I enjoy horror stories, I really haven't read that much.
I was going to try and find some like plague doctor ooky spooky shit to read if I couldn't find any fantasy stuff, though what I'm looking for doesn't have to be horror. Mostly I just suck at trying to describe fantasy creatures/weather/events or atmosphere.
I need to get in touch with that little fourteen years old that used to love weaving a whole different world in an hour.
She should have taken a few minutes to badmouth Kvothe though. Denna is just following her nature. He is the one attracted to a whore.
I like it
How are the Song of Ice and Fire books?
I dont give two shits about the show and have no intention to watch it, just asking about the books
>amazon.com
>premise is exactly what I'm currently looking for in a story
>writing is immediately godawful, like a babby's first RPG
Are there any books with a similar premise to the Gate manga?
Modern military vs fantasy shitters, not just a tech gap. Besides those russian isekai novels that have literally no chance for translation
Any science fiction or fantasy that explores alternative laws of physics, even alternative logic and math?
>Cameron-Milan
So miles Cameron is writing rpg now?
greg egan is your guy
The first three are worth reading, and you can decide for yourself whether you want to stay invested or not when you get to the 4th.
What's a good book that will restore my zest for life? I'm tired of everything feeling so dull and pointless
The series that crashed the hardest out of them all is the Hyperion Cantos.
Try The Stars My Destination, it's really fast paced and entertaining with a good message
any book where mc gets the girl and they have a bunch of kids with no drama attached.
>the one shining example of alt-right fantasy
>it's shit
absolute kek
what about books where the mc is a genius and even when things go bad for him he still looks like a badass?
Hyperion isn't alt-right. The author turned into a shithead, but the highlight of the first book is the extremely sympathetic Jewish character where his Jewishness is the central thing going on for him in the plot.
It's not altright and you have to stop reading after the second book unless you want to see the world you love turn into a fanfiction of itself.
The second book read a lot like fanfiction compared to what the first promised t b h
Try Stephen Baxter. The Raft is literally him making up excuses to examine a world where the gravity constant is billions of times stronger than in ours
>mfw it’s real
Jesus fucking Christ rothfuss get a grip
how many detours/encounters should a quest have? I'm trying to get an estimate for how much content I need to come up with.
honestly, sounds like the dude just doesn't want to write anymore. I mean, I'm on his side but it's kind of a bullshit excuse to quit writing unless it's because he's so busy doing political or charitable work that he has no spare time any more for finishing his series.
I mean, flatland is kind of the standard, but full honesty, most scifi writers don't have the actual scientific knowledge to back them up.
Asimov's stuff might be for you. The guy was a legit genius and once wrote an entire academic paper about a fictional substance that had an atomic bond stretching forward in time just for shits and giggles.
The dark souls of literature.
Shit, I could barely get through half of the first book
I'm having a hard time finding a copy of Hull Zero Three. What else by Greg Bear is good that I can read while I wait for a copy to turn up at a sale?
>how many detours/encounters should a quest have?
The more the merrier. In my opinion, after reading Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy and playing most Bethesda games, the detours are what's fun and interesting.
kinda off-topic but what do you guys use to read books on windows? calibres built in reader is shit so ive been using sumatra pdf but its kinda too basic for my taste.
tfw no books about a failed, crashed interstellar expedition on a snowy planet with lovecraftian/spook horror elements
well guess ill have to write it myself
So At the Mountains of Madness IN SPACE?
Will read when available.
>reading on a backlit screen
Get an e-reader and save your eyes for old age.
Where do I go after The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Simillarion lads?
Something about a single crew with interpersonal conflicts, spread all around planet, trying to get the main assembly/evacuation point, all encountering mysteries and horrors along the way.
On it!
Not sure how Id handle the flashback sequences to give the present the weight itd require.
this
my paperwhite is so handy, and its so easy to send mobi files to the kindle email for free books
ips panel. its not very bright. but the colors are great. also windows nowadays has a built in color grading mode that changes color spaces to something more easy on the eyes. once i found that i turned it on and never turned it back off.
pic related.
i do have a boox note pro for when im outside.
The Book of Lost Tales, it covers the same material as the Silmarillion does but is slightly different and some of those differences are very interesting, such as there being valar who enjoyed violence and conflict and weren't really opposed to Melkor.
Demon Princes any good?
If you want more Tolkien there's Unfinished Tales, and you can always read The Children of Húrin and The Fall of Gondolin.
Blood Music
Eon
Both Bearkino
Just finished this, I quite liked it. How are the other Heechee novels?
I liked what I read of it, pretty fun for a space western.
I think I will go with the actual Tolkien stuff before moving on to the posthumous Christopher books. Also, how are the little David Day encyclopedia things? A google search seems to suggest they're shitty, but I'm interested in Yea Forums's opinion.
>I think I will go with the actual Tolkien stuff before moving on to the posthumous Christopher books.
But you said you already read Silmarillion?
You're right, probably because it's considered so essential.
The plot of Demon Princes is quite stupid, you need to have a high tolerance for a Gary Stu protagonist who has trained their entire life and is the master of martial arts and wants to enact revenge. The first book reminded me of the Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks so I dropped it after that.
The side characters and setting only seem to exist for as long as the protagonist remembers that they are around. The worldbuilding didn't really feel there, if you get what I mean and it definitely wasn't as interesting as Dying Earth. In fact, it feels like two completely different people wrote DE and DP, like DP was a sellout novel to shill to braindead retards for cash. There are occasional moments of brilliance with the plot twists but other than that, I didn't find anything to recommend about this story (well at least the first one in the series)/
NEW AND SHINY