/sffg/ - Science Fiction and Fantasy General

So will The Magicians sequels be just as full of cheating and shittyness as the first book?

Anime has a lot of recognizable tropes and traits that people reference when they call something anime.

Two men flying around in a giant storm while fighting each other with giant gem fueled swords is something you'll think came from an anime if you never read Words of Radiance due to how over the top it sounds.

>going through Lovecraft chronologically
>even collaborations
>Medusa's Coil
>heard it was the worst
>one twist ending after the other

>he killed her!
>NO, she killed him!
>she's a witch!
>kill her
>fuck, her hair's the witch!
>burn it
>imma burn it all
>or not
>oh shit, the story is real!
>kill her! again!
>you fool, you unkilled her!
>shit, everything is on fire!
>run!
>it was a ghost the whooole time
>or WAS it?
>but worst of all...
>from the very beginning, she has always been...
>a black woman!
>dun DUN DUUUUN!

Oh Howard. You racist fuck. Never change.

Station eleven desu

Just skip to his mid-late 1920s period already; Pickman's Model, Dunwich Horror, The Colour Out Of Space, The Call Of Cthulhu. All 1926-28; he was on fire then. Afterwards he is often too ponderous, long-winded and self-aware.

>What's your favorite Post Apocalyptic Novel?
Shades of Grey - Jasper Fforde

Since there's no historical fiction general, and I've gotten good recs in this genre here before, I'm gonna ask here: Any good books about the golden age of piracy, Nassau Republic etc.?

Nah, next is Whisperer in the Darkness, Mountains of Madness and Shadow over Innsmouth.

I'm dedicated to get through all of it, while following the HPPodcraft for bants.
It's my summer project.
Next I'm gonna attack the related stuff like The King in Yellow, Great God Pan and the like.

I would argue Shadow over Innsmouth is his best, coming from someone who's read it all.

The second and third are more standard YAish fantasy. They involve personal issues, but the focus is a lot more on a magical journey / coming to power (in the second) and redemption / aging / coming to terms (in the third), not the crappy young people from the first book.

The first is the most ambitious and interesting.

...

This. But the Dreamlands stuff is underrated as well.

Yes, also The Re-Animator is surprisingly good considering how different it is from his other works.

I still find myself going back to CoC again and again. (Pun intended)
Muh layers any layers of storytelling are fun as hell. I feel more involved as a reader than in any of his other stuff.
>tfw I've been eyeing the Angell Box at the HPLHS but am poor af
Same. I even enjoyed The White Ship. Comfy af.
Apparently he was just having fun with that and thought of it as comedy. Re-reading it as such, I saw the (morbid) humor.

I'm just happy he left NYC when he did. His racism was getting a little out of hand.

Just looked up what the Angell box was and it seems pretty cool, if I was a rich man I'd probably get it.
Been a while since I read CoC what's up with "Diary" being written in Swedish on one of the books?

The captain in the last arc (the one who ran over big C) was Norwegian.
But I think in the story he actually wrote the diary in English, which is why his widow couldn't read it, but the protagonist could.

>His racism was getting a little out of hand.
Nonsense, can never have too much of it.

I think Mountains of Madness is my favorite, but Innsmouth is a close second. The Rats in the Walls and Dreams in the Witch House are probably my favorite short stories, with the Lurking Fear and the Shunned House as my favorite underrated Lovecraft stories.

Red Hook is best racist story, Arthur Jermyn is second

>I'm just happy he left NYC when he did. His racism was getting a little out of hand.
Imagine what he'd think of modern New England.

Kindly delete this with immediacy.

So I picked this book up on a whim because the description interested me (humans vs gods) and it was actually really fucking good and felt like a strong classic fantasy book from a few decades ago. Which might be accurate because the author says in the foreword he wrote the entire book series already and is just publishing them now. Definitely going to get the next one.

Red Hook was a mess. His stories were slowly turning into excuses to call race war.
Bruh, luckily he never visited England. Even in his time, I think he'd been crushed by the realization that his paradise was just as shit as everywhere else.

>her hair is the witch
>black woman

He was on to something

>CoC
>Clash of Clans
Please this is Veeky Forums

Corruption of Champions is pretty darn Veeky Forums.

>CoC
>not the other... g a m e
oh you sweet innocent soul

The Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodard

What is mythic fantasy?

should I read game of thrones?
is it worth it even I already seen the whole tv series?

It's even better if you already watched it

It will seem brilliant by comparison by the time you get to the second book. But it will never be finished so you'll just be stuck with the shows dumb explanations.

A lot of Lovecraft's stories and deities are inspired by dreams, which he recorded in notebooks. Nyarlothotep, for example, who is a very intriguing figure. This, and Lovecraft's wider prescience and eery subtextual content have made me question whether Lovecraft was receiving information about hidden realities and revealing them unconsciously in his writing; particularly after hearing Peter Levenda's speculations on this topic, which links Call Of Cthulhu with Aleister Crowley. Note also the recurring 'gate' motif that pops up across his fiction, one that should not be opened or crossed; in Dunwich Horror, and the 'forbidden gate' at the end of Pickman's Model.

If you are the kind of reader who believes PKD had a genuine theophany, then it's possible that Lovecraft was also receiving hidden knowledge from a hidden source i.e. 'beyond the gate' of human perception, and transposed these into his fiction by analogy, deliberately or otherwise. Lovecraft as a reluctant prophet.

The topic of these truths; the possibility of pre-glacial civilisation and ancient astronauts as in At The Mountains Of Madness; extraterrestrial gods having intercourse with humans (Yog-Sogot an analogy of the Nephilim.) I'm still not sure about Nyarlathotep and what exactly he is an emblem of, but his eponymous story has the ring of truth, now, that it didn't have when I encountered it ten years ago. Then there is this pervasive gate motif/metaphor. There's a lot going on under the surface of these stories, enough to make me suspect he may be a secret occultist or an unknowing prophet.

The dreamlands are real my friend

Yes, I didn't even mention those. I've read a number of Lovecraft's contemporaries, who write of similar themes (Clark Ashton, Robert Howard, C.L. Moore) and none have the niggling quality of evoking a feeling that there is a greater truth is being revealed by clandestine means.

Actually Lovecraft "stole" most of his more concrete figures and themes from elsewhere.
Mainly from Dunsany, one of the two main influences (the other being Poe).
Nyarlothotep, i.e., was most likely inspired by Dunsany's false prophet Alhireth-Hotep.

As for the more occult stuff. Lovecraft had a large array of weird books. There was this one (I forget the name) by a later discredited occultist woman, who posited all cults and religions had a common source. Lovecraft certainly used this and I believe Crowley did as well.

Don't get too excited, m8. Lovecraft had some fun stuff to write, but it was all quite natural.
He just used his talent to write like an antiquarian (which he learned as an auto-didactic child) to create very realistic prose.
In one letter he wrote, that to pull your readers in, you must construct your literature like a con artist. And that is what he did. That's why he wove the fake shit with real historical events. It was all very deliberate.

...That was on purpose. You realize that he actively encouraged others to use and add to his mythos, right?
Smith the like were all younger authors whom he encouraged and mentored.

Yes, Lovecraft was familiar with Margarat Murray and Helene Blavatsky - Murray of the idea that pagan Europe had an organised religion of 'witches' which was crushed by the Romans and medieval Christians. Blavatsky, the idea of pre-glacial civilisations of Lemuria etc, and Theosophy. I concede that Lovecraft's familiarity and synthesizing of actual esoteric texts could be what is activating my almonds so much; the reference to Theosophy in the first paragraph of Call Of Cthulhu for example.

In any case it is interesting that a sceptic atheist is very interested in occult knowledge, conspiracy theories, and a devotee of recording his dream visions. I'm still keeping a beady eye on Lovecraft's shenanigans.

It'd be like all the Chinese/Japanese people going to Paris and getting destroyed by all the angry French waiters who have no truck for romantic tourists.

Which is to say, hilarious.

I began inducing lucid dreams, which began inducing night terrors and sleep paralysis. All with the hopes of seeing the dreamlands. No cigar. But it's weird out there.

I have wondered if Lovecraft was a lowkey astral traveler. He knew about theosophy and the witch-cult hypothosis. I'm just not sure it was a known thing in the 1920s-30s. So much of his stories are from dreams as his letters attest.

>In any case it is interesting that a sceptic atheist is very interested in occult knowledge, conspiracy theories, and a devotee of recording his dream visions.
It was more an antiquity thing to him. As a child he was into Greek pagan shit, because his Grandfather unironically made him start with The Greeks.
Later, with his anglophile tendencies (and his family becoming poor) he became obsessed with lineage. Which in turn made him dig cultures he deemed "of high stock".

Keep in mind that none of his stories (or very very few) are "super-natural" per-se. They're more horror-sci-fi. That's also perfectly summarized in the intro of Call of Cthulhu. There is a reason he constantly referred to Einstein in his early works. It's not super-natural, it's just... different.

But I understand what you mean with the dreams. Most people don't like his dream cycle, but I do.
Tho I feel that in his letters he may have strongly overstated just how detailed/vivid his dreams really were.
But even in those he's just having fun. In the Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, he has fucking warrior cats. With a military and ranks and everything. Which is cool and all, but a bit silly. I know he adored cats, but come on.

>the idea that pagan Europe had an organised religion of 'witches' which was crushed by the Romans and medieval Christians.

WE

Had he ever taken one step outside of London,he might have literally fainted at the "decadent" dialects.

>Oi dere Howie 'ow's yer mum
>mfw

>Ywn have a black cat named Nigger Man

When he left NYC he toned it down.
Then it was only Nig.

The dreamlands stuff is certainly not as well appreciated as his mythos cycle. As a reader much of his mythos stories are ponderous, where his dreamlands material, I am thinking of (Celephais, Quest Of Iranon, Cats Of Ulthar, Hypno, The Other Gods) is very pleasant in a whimsical way. They at least show that HP could have a more picturesque touch. Kadath is one of the few I haven't read - it doesn't seem like something to enter into lightly. Ditto most of the Randolph Carter stories, Silver Key et al, possibly too baroque and ethereal for my liking.

Still preferable to a pack of filthy Dutch degenerates

>There are two things in this world I hate. People that disrespect other peoples' cultures, and the Dutch
-Howard Philips Lovecraft

Let's be honest. Anything that wasn't either high-born Anglo-Saxon or had a direct bloodline to the fucking Mayflower was degenerate to him.
He hated all races equally.
(Until he actually got to know them well. Then he married them.)

Lovecraft was apparently so racist he caused Robert E. Howard to moderate his views on blacks.

>(Until he actually got to know them well. Then he married them.)
That's usually how racism works.

Lovecraft was so racist, his ex went on to date a black dude.

No, not always.
I can live with his racism, since it's the ignorant weird uncle kinda racism.

>I can live with his racism
Good, I would hate for you to be moved to violence against this dead man.

I'm really tired of everyone and their mother being able to raise an eyebrow in contemporary fantasy.

Haha! I haven't bought a book to read since hisghschool, ten years ago. The only books I buy are ones where I want the author to get some fraction of my shekels, or I want to have around the house so I can borrow to other people or reread when I'm away from all eletronics. Even my college books were all pirated ebooks.

I'm reading the foundation series. When does it get good?

Is that some sort of tortured metaphor?

You can't raise your eyebrows?
wat

Not eyebrows, an eyebrow.

motherfucker i got news for you, everyone can raise an eyebrow

Please user. I'm trying not to fap here.

It gets worse after first book

>reading the iron druid books
>American gods meets Naruto
>mostly enjoyable enough
>in the later books a female character gets more prominence
>suddenly everything a male does towards her is somehow a misogynistic aggression against her
>Her reaction is either to attack them in some way, or at least be super fucking angry and WANTING to attack them in some way
>this is supposed to be justified and right
For fucks sake. How do people deal with this shit? And it's CONSTANTLY going on. I thought about making this post and then went "fuck it, lets just go to bed and read the next chapter" whch literally started with her being on a ferry with a dog, which a bunch of old ladies liked and petted but then a german MALE came along who "only used the hound as an excuse to talk/flirt" to her and that made her feel justified in having the giant fucking wolfhound bark and jump at him (although not bite) How DARE he try to talk to an attractive girl. It's not like that's how the HUMAN FUCKING RACE needs to work in order to survive.
And don't get me wrong. I'm all for a good "absolute sleezebag gets his comeuppance" scene. But fucking hell, EVERY male that even slightly slights her and it's like FUCKING MISOGYNIST PIG

I can rise both of them individually

Female characters are just shit all around. They're only used for virtue signaling and to try to get female readers. Oh, and for author fantasies.

You need to read better books.

This is /sffg/, user.

>muh true literature

Don't forget her poetic pretentious way of writing when it's her POV? Flowery prose up the ass. The prose annoys me more than the feminist shit.

You're a male, you just won't get it

I'm not going to pick up a book that retarded looking even if I was male.

I'd like to personally thank the anons who had such a constructive and thoughtful conversation about lovecraft

Rest of u wanks take notes

It won't get better.

I'm sifting the Dragon Award nominees and trying to pick out some I haven't read yet to try to get through before the voting ends.

Reading Del Arroz's For Steam and Country now and trying to spot the highlights and low spots in the rest of the ballot.

2nd

I'd actually wait until all the books are released. I will have to reread by the time WoW comes because I read them several years ago.

Is Sanderson really worth reading, or should I just try Bakker instead? I read the first several chapters of Way of Kings and it felt too anime and YA. Or does it get better?

>Is Sanderson really worth reading
Not really. but since everyone does it's kinda hard to avoid. Outside Veeky Forums you can't really criticize something you have not read so you have to read at least one book to have any ground to stand on when you refuse to read the rest.

>Reading Del Arroz's For Steam and Country
Is it any good?

...

>Is Sanderson really worth reading, or should I just try Bakker instead?
Those are almost polar opposites so that's a weird statement to make.

I'm currently reading it. Like it so far. Would definitely watch an adaptation.
The authors introduction for the 20th anniversary edition is pretty interesting, with the author reflecting on the absence of mobile phones and stuff.
I guess I should have expected it, but I was still surprised about how much terminology this book has lent to cyberpunk, the Android Netrunner game in particular.

I'm hesitantly looking forward to this

>Is Sanderson really worth reading

I don't think so, I mean that's just my opinion but in fairness you did ask for it

>you are sane you just won't get it

ftfy

Many people have been trying to adapt it for the last 30 years. Guess the cough is a "I will believe when I see it" cough.

Would it even be interesting today? "Heist film but in cyberspace" seems dated for sci-fi. Just seems like heists are done in 2017.

I knew a lot of Veeky Forums was misogynistic chauvinists but really? Veeky Forums?

Ebin reddit spacing, upboated!