/sffg/ - Science Fiction & Fantasy General

I asked too late in the previous thread. What are people's thoughts on Faithful and the Fallen?

It sounds interesting, but I've been burned by too many flat YA Mary Sue characters in some recent fantasy like Blood Song and Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.

Reynolds peaked with the Revelation Space series.
I've been trying to get through Blue Remembered Earth for a month plus now and it just sucks. There's absolutely nothing happening in it.
Revenger was better but it still feels like someone's first scifi novel, not something written by an already very well established author. Same goes for Slow Bullets. (Incidentally, what's this obsession of his with writing on human skin?)

Hamilton's "Night's Dawn" trilogy has several revenge sub-plots IIRC. Decent space opera but he always disappoints with the endings of his books.

I liked His Dark Materials as a kid. Don't know how it holds up now.

>Revenger was better but it still feels like someone's first scifi novel,
The book gives off the impression that it tries to cater to the young adult audience, but it didn't get enough of the tropes for it, like how there's no overthrowing the government or no teen romance. But the world the book is set in is interesting and, it seems to me, not explored enough.
I liked Blue Remembered Earth as a part of the trilogy, as many plotlines continue with the trilogy. You just have to drudge through the elephants.

A political history of science fiction which offers a good overview of the libertarian, conservative and Marxist strands of the genre. Really interesting stuff:
catb.org/esr/writings/sf-history.html

The Traitor Baru Cormorant

Absolutely can't fucking wait for the next book.

>But the world the book is set in is interesting and, it seems to me, not explored enough.
Absolutely agree on that. The world he built for it was wasted on Revenger. Maybe he'll revisit it in a book for adults one day.

I'll finish BRE on principle but I'm not holding my breath for something amazing in it. I'm only halfway through, having read a LOT of better lit on the side, and there's just so much less meat on it compared to being halfway into Revelation Space or Chasm City.

Not that the Revelation Space books were perfect either. I remember a few times where it felt like he wrote 150 pages about something and then edited it down to a few paragraphs. The pig army taking over the ship in the Episilon Eridani system for example was just a handwave going "and then they took the ship and were off!"
Maybe he has an editor breathing down his neck about this stuff. I still recommend Reynolds to people who want to get into contemporary scifi, though. Him and Banks. RIP.

Tiger, Tiger.

Mini Spoiler: Its a retelling of The Count Of Monte Cristo set in Space

I dunno. Traitor was a relatively self-contained book, and I'm concerned the author's politics will get in the way of his writing. Traitor was fine but when the Dickinson is openly saying he wants to use his work to push his political opinions I feel like he's rolling the dice.

The Demon Princes series by Jack Vance.

Dem princes, mane

I'd like to imagine I'm walking through the forest like Lord of the Rings please.

thanks britbong

Is DK Holmberg the most underrated fantasy author?

...wow

Stop shilling your shitty books here holmburg

Moe's is fucking disgusting, never eaten anything I liked there. Even their tea is terrible.

>Just think of the potential: a world with private military companies, Singapore-tier city states, industrial powers with apocalyptic theocrats as leaders, all vying for power in a geopolitical contest with some influential characters wielding magic to influence events and form their own isis-esque cults.
So basically The wind up girl with magic?

Most interesting thing I've ever seen written by a libertarian. Overall it makes sense, but I'm not sure of some details.

I don't really see how you can call the techniques of the New Wave being absorbed into the genre as a whole a "defeat". Isn't that exactly what the proponents of a change in style want?Admittedly I haven't read any manifestos by New Wavers if they're out there.

I would agree with hard sf being the root of the genre, but the constantly vital core? I dunno. What was the last hard sf book to get wide acclaim? Blindsight? It didn't even win the hugo in its year. Is Ancillary Justice hard sf? Three Body Problem?

>Early "scientifiction" mostly recycled an endless series of cardboard cliches: mad scientists, lost races, menacing bug-eyed monsters, coruscating death rays, and screaming blondes in brass underwear.
>implying that wasn't just Sturgeon's Law
>implying Asimov did not also recycle an endless series of cardboard cliches

Stop lying bro...

Can anyone tell me why all my autistic super smart friends all read high fantasy? Why is this a thing?

I have no idea, but there seems to be a preponderance of people on the autistic spectrum who solely (or at least primarily) read scifi and fantasy.

They probably read what's interesting to them. I'm sure they don't autisticly seek out "everything high, and only high" fantasy book.

>Shitty books
They be not shit

Possibly they do a lot of dense professional reading for their work/education and want something lighter in their free time?

But if his friends are like my friends they read their high fantasy as if it were dense professional reading.

people who like the new ready player one movie by spielberg of course shit is riddled with futurised 90´s stuff

Are Kim Stanley Robinson's global warming/climatic change books like New York 2140 and Green Earth (Science in the Capital) good?

We don't even have Moe's in my country. I just think the names are funny. Relax, man.

To the frustrated guy from the last sffg, audiobookbay is back up.

Reading some Heinlein. Starship Troopers was great, made me order the other two in the publisher's catalogue (SiaSL and MiaHM). Started with the prior, saving the latter for last as I heard it's his magnum opus.

About 450 pages into it, without spoiling, does it get better? I absolutely loved the first third, and the second third was still pretty good. It seems to be devolving into some martial free-love hippie sex cult enclave story, although I flicked ahead and this section ends in a chapter or two so I'm wondering (hoping) it moves onto another topic after that.

>does it get better?
No. Stick with the juveniles, his later work is him using his fame to push his fetishes.

In hopes of getting more suggestions, I'm gonna ask the same thing I asked last thread. Anybody here have any recommedations for "speculative" poetry collections? I already own a few CAS books, any other suggestions? Any classic, renowned poetry that doesn't necessarily take place in the real world?

maybe CAS's mentor George Sterling (e.g., "A Wine of Wizardry")

You can find plenty of sf poetry on the internet. Physical collections are harder to find.

Print out a couple from a website and go to Staples to make a booklet out of them.

How much you groked so far?

> ctrl f
> "stars my destination"

I knew this board was full of plebs

> The Strain

Avoid. Reads like a dull movie script.

Finally finished Unsong today and oh boy, that wordplay is some of the most elaborate I've ever seen. Liked the ending, too, even though some of the characters could have done more things. What did y'all think of it?

>famous director writes a book
>it reads like a movie in prose form
Big shocker

>ctrl f ing a book that has been discussed to death
The good thing about this general is, unlike outer lit, we don't discuss the same 3 books ad nauseam, we discuss different things.

>reads goodreads blurb
>W.T.F
Seriously wtf? This reads like the hey hey azuriel anime with just a mishmash of tropes and high-jinx

>why don't you discuss the 50-year-old book I like all the time
anyway why don't you ctrl-f tiger tiger if you're so not-pleb

Which is the best introduction to the Culture Series by Iain M Banks? Should they be read in order?

I hear Player of Games, and I also hear don't start with Consider Phlebas, which sounds like a good idea because I started with Consider Phlebas and it soured me on the whole series.

Can we add "To Kill a God" to the recommended charts?

old meme

You don't have to read them in order but it's not a bad choice either.
I think I actually did start on CP but I liked it. Player of Games probably is a better introduction to the series, though.
They can be read in any order really but there are a few recurring characters and I think reading them in the other they were written works just fine.
Don't miss his short stories either. Scifi lends itself nicely to short stories and Banks produced some decent ones.

The Algebraist is NOT a Culture novel, but it pretty much feels as one. Worth reading certainly.

youtube.com/watch?v=R9oZaP-my5E Books similar to this video?

Thanks y'all. Will check it out. I'm still surprised Iain Banks was able to push out so many books in varying genres. What a talent

>Fucked up Covers Edition
I've been thinking of buying this book because of the cover and the fact that it's about genetic manipulation. I like science fiction stories about the grotesque and the uncanny and I'm curious if there is something in the story like this thing from the cover (I'm not getting my hopes too high though).

>hey hey azuriel anime
Which one?

It's more of a really long adventure novel with multiple POVs, peppered with digressions into historical/religious/philosophical/scientific trivia, author's opinions and some really bullshit puns

Ashara Dayne!

I think everyone's already read it

So maybe you enjoyed it in its time, books become dated, I don't understand why people resist this.

Yondemasu-yo, Azazel-san

>books become dated, I don't understand why people resist this.
Dinosaurs are the worst offenders / deniers in that regard. They don't want to believe that their precious nostalgia reads like shit to a modern audience. They then proceed to shit on modern novels.

how does /sffg/ feel about the Dunk & Egg novellas?

Yup, same goes for movies.

Dunc and Amos were my jam when I was a kid.

How many more years before peace talks?

are we going to have to wait out butcher's steampunk series first?

i-it was supposed to be out November.... they said so last year ... I fucking hate his "shit reddite cats say in a steampunk setting" series.

How old is vaelin when he enters the order? I can't find any mention on whether he's 12 or 18 or what

>over 500 ratings
>book hasn't even reached a point where mini ARCs could be sent out
>book was expected since 2013
>may 2017 Still working on it
Yea. Never getting it .

>nostalgia
I wish you wouldn't promulgate this stupid meme. Many of the "dinosaur" books I've read were written decades before my birth. I certainly do have nostalgia for terrible books, but they are generally works of modernity. Do you seriously think we're a gaggle of doddering octogenarians? Call them dated all you want, just drop the nostalgia bit please :3

Just for that I'm gonna force orgasms on a catgirl tonight. You brought this on yourself.

shit i thought i was the only one who liked the dresden files.
everyone i talked to them about hates it cause its popular.

I'm sure she will be generally appreciative of your efforts and, appearances notwithstanding, genuinely impressed by your technique.

what do you guys think about the idea that Ferrovax is literally satan? Butcher said he's significantly more powerful than all the six fairy queens put together, which is odd considering that Micheal killed a dragon in the past despite struggling with the denarians. Given that the knights exist to protect humans from the fallen it kind of implies that dragons are an unholy threat, especially after remembering that Satan is supposed to take the form of a 7-headed dragon in revelations and knock the stars from the sky with his tail.
Butcher also confirmed that Ferrovax will reappear in the final three books, one of which is titled "empty night"

I'm also going to diddle C. J. Cherryh into orgasming and breaking her hips

>shit i thought i was the only one who liked the dresden files.
When I post my charts all the time and I have Dresden Files at the top? You don't look at charts do you? It's even in the OP.

You posted this last thread. I haven't touched a Dresden book since 2013/2014. I've read over 400 books since then. I can't remember that character's name, probably will of I get book 16 to read.

She doesn't need them to write, but enough of your granny fetish.
How're memes? Have the devil's playthings been busily conjuring some fresh pictorial invective?

innit?

Thanks. I marathonned this last night.
Can't wait for the next one.

Ringworld is kinda bullshit, I don't see how it would work. I mean it's a classic and I like it but it's also so much bullshit:
>People looking super weird in the future for funsies. Star Trek ToS makeup department with Hunger games tier effects.
>Literally invincibility in a spaceship because it can basically "stop time" inside it during an impact freezing everything as is
>kinda weird alien races
>one being a furry
>one being.. pic related...
>characters in general being kinda one-dimensional with only the humans showing a range
>The Cat-Klingons just want to fight and be the strongest and conquer and don't care if it kills them as long as they fight
>the 3 leg faggots are literally afraid of everything
>Some fucking weird main plot points like major spoiler: Literally breeding people for luck, to make an almost unkillable person for which everything always works out in the end
>Forcing people to do what you want by giving them orgasms
Really.. Ringworld is kinda meh, the best thing about the book really is the concept of the Ringworld itself, but even that's not super interesting compared to some of the other terraforming projects going on.

I can't imagine making Ringworld an interesting watch unless you just "kinda take the concept" and make a whole new fucking thing out of it, Like they did with World War Z. Has the name, but has absolutely ZERO to do with the book. (keep in mind I'm not saying WWZ was a good movie, I'm listing it as an example for something with the same name but being disconnected from the actual work)

>Trudi Canavan.
Her books would actually be decently enjoyable as a cute little time waster if someone edited out the SJW subplots.

I don't mind a little social commentary in a book but out of nowhere it just fucking goes: BTW THIS SOCIETY FUCKING HATES GAYS BUT THIS OTHER ONE DOESN'T AND I'M GONNA SAY VERY OPENLY WHICH ONE IS FUCKING RIGHT AND WHICH ONE IS DUMB.
Which is even more retarded since it's somewhat of a medieval setting, where hate towards gays actually served a purpose to the community.

>can't handle Niven
gb2/Sanderson/

Interesting read, thank you.
>. . . before the rise of political correctness ritualized these behaviors in other forms of art.
Accurate, objective description.
>circa 2002
>. . . the only form of politically-inspired award presented annually at the World Science Fiction Convention is the Libertarian Futurist Society's "Prometheus".
If he does another update, he might as well just excise that aspect of the argument.

Overall I like the premise of libertarianism being the de facto ideology of science fiction. For one thing, I can amuse myself by claiming it to be a necessary adjunct to envisioning fantastical developments like FTL drive.

Oh I can handle it. I actually like it, but a BIG part of what makes ringworld work is YOUR imagination. There's lots of "well this is fucking weird but fun to imagine".
Try watching a show with an 8 foot cat and a 3 legged 2 headed cow / snake / octopus mixup having a serious discussion about their plans.

That's actually something that's not left to the imagination.

Why is Veeky Forums so anti-libertarian?

Because it's the retarded sissy-boy of ideologies, equally hated by the left and the right.

>Only ideology that doesn't lick boots
>sissy-boy
Alright then

because it's the most retarded of ideologies, bar ancap. plus it's essentially the fuck the poor ideology

Self evident shit.

yo where's our Clark Ashton Smith excerpt for the day?

Kinda, so won't dispute.

>fuck the poor ideology
I hope you don't really think that, just shows how little you know

No one's going to argue with you because everyone here has argued with a libertarian before and we're all tired of it.

We're anti- pol/itics. Please keep your posts related to Veeky Forumserature. Political discourse in service of textual discussion is welcome, but off-topic interjections here will tend to end in pointless excrement flinging on all sides. Thank you and have a nice day senpai desu.