/SFfg/ - Science Fiction and Fantasy General

The Journey So Far Edition
It's nearing the end of January.
>What Have you accomplished for sff so far?
>Any new sff goals?
>Sff books discovered that you wish to share

FANTASY
Selected:
>imgoat.com/uploads/6d767d2f8e/21329.jpg
General:
>imgoat.com/uploads/6d767d2f8e/21328.jpg
Flowchart:
>imgoat.com/uploads/6d767d2f8e/21327.jpg

SCIENCE FICTION
Selected:
>imgoat.com/uploads/6d767d2f8e/21326.jpg
>imgoat.com/uploads/6d767d2f8e/21331.jpg
General:
>imgoat.com/uploads/6d767d2f8e/21332.jpg
>imgoat.com/uploads/6d767d2f8e/21330.jpg

NPR's Top 100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books:
>imgoat.com/uploads/6d767d2f8e/21333.jpg

SF&F author listing with ratings and summaries:
>greatsfandf.com/authors-full-list.php

Previous Threads:

Other urls found in this thread:

novelupdates.com/series/when-a-mage-revolts/
youtube.com/watch?v=ZyhrYis509A
twitter.com/SFWRedditGifs

What should I read if I like the malazan series? Also what are good, but not dated cyber dystopian books?

Reading GotM, does it ever stop setting up every scene with a some horrible image of a field of rotting baby corpses or some other stupidly grotesque imagery?

third for webnovels are novels too

sanderfag a hack

Ohhh, I still hafta read that thing huh? Got a few days left...

Today is the 25th, meaning the 27th is in two days, meaning that this is the last thread before we get to see if anyone except me actually participated. In the next thread we discuss this story and pick the next one!

>What Have you accomplished for sff so far?
I've finished HG Wells Classic Collection I, the second book in the Farseer trilogy and before the month is over I'll be done with the third and last. I've also bought Roadside Picnic and the Foundation trilogy.

Asked in the last thread but it died. Any sci fi horror recommends? Open to whatever

Didn't read :P
Might read next time or not :3

If I make the next thread I will try to remember to name it Reading Trial Edition and use that pic.

Well, I read it. At least the possibilty of dialogue is set. I guess.

>Didn't read :P
F in pieces.

The 'Trial' is there to indicate that this was a test run lol

>I read it
Disregard Fs, cruising speed regained.

Speaking of webnovels, am I the only one who found most of Wildbow's naming choices for class-S threats infuriating?

>Khonsu should have been Chronos
>Khepri should have been Beelzebub
>Simurgh should have been called Ziz by people other than Tattletale
>Glastic Uaine should have been Mab

>Open to whatever
Taking you up on that. Horrorish I guess, mostly just a dark setting. Fun cover though.

Not the original asker, but is this actually good or is it something you just know of?

Is this a good parody? Like, is it actually worth reading?

>tell us your other 4 before I will consider even looking into this.
user asked me this in the last thread, in response to my assertion that A Voyage To Arcturus is in my top 5 /sffg/ books.

In no particular order, except the first being my favourite, my other top 4 are:

Gene Wolfe - The Book of the New Sun
Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings
Philip K Dick - Ubik
Borges - Labyrinths

Probably doesn't help you much. It's a fairly safe list. Moreover, Lindsay's Arcturus is absolutely nothing like any of them. It's very difficult to describe... do you know how when you're reading Book of the New Sun for the first time, at certain points you have no idea what's going on, but you keep reading because of the ideas and vivid imagery and sometimes just the prose? It's sort of like that. It's essentially an exploration of philosophical/religious themes, but completely raw and fantastical.

>Asked in the last thread but it died. Any sci fi horror recommends? Open to whatever

Philip K Dick's "Three Stigmata" is absolutely horrifying.

There's also Roberts' The Meme Itself, but that's more horror as an excuse to explore philosophy.

Three Stigmata is actual horror.

I was about to correct you before I remember that horrifying scene where the protags fucking knee gets pulled out, that was pretty metal

Any recommendations on books like Doctorow's Little Brother and Homeland? Does not have to be YA (better if not, actually), just a fiction book that deals with though internet+law stuff

I know it's a test run.
We could all just chose a book though, make a goodreads group about said book, then shitpost about it to our heart's content.

Looking for a new series of Fantasy books and I was thinking of starting Wheel of Time. Is it good/worth it or should I pass on it?

It would help if you told us other fantasy series that you enjoyed or disliked

Good idea.

Pretty new to reading novels in general but so far I've read and enjoyed: Song of Ice and Fire, Witcher, Stormlight Archives and Lord of the Rings.

So pretty basic shit so far. Been looking for recommendations and a friend told me about Wheel of Time, but I've heard mixed things about it.

For the convenience of anons who haven't read those books, user here is referring to The Meme Itself.

I'll just underline my own opinion that the above is fairly conventional horror, which Three Stigmata is genuinely one of the most horrific and disturbing things I've ever read. PKD wrote a lot of books, Three Stigmata is the only book that he was unable to proofread once he finished the first draft, because it scared him too much. Apparently he never re-read it.

>which Three Stigmata is
WHILE Three Stigmata is

guy who asked, i'll check it out. thank you!

thanks. i'll check it out.

I haven't read Wheel of Time myself. What I've heard from people is that it starts strong in the first few books and then gets weaker. From my POV it's never been worth the time investment.

Also, as a fan of LotR and Song of Ice & Fire, one of my favourite fantasy series is the Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb.

The story spans the trilogy but if you love the world then there's loads of more books set in that world. It's one of my favourite fantasy series. Possibly the best "coming of age" traditional fantasy story imo. Hobb's characterisation is second to none.

Please respond.

thanks for responding. i hated ubik but ive read and loved everything by wolfe and borges. ill give it a go. thanks for the rec.

Another month passed. Big Fatty Zhang and the others trembled in fear, worried that Bai Xiaochun really was killing himself from working too hard. Even as they were working up a plan to go get rid of Xu Baocai, a huge rumbling could be heard coming from Bai Xiaochun’s hut.

As the sound echoed about, the spirit pressure of the second level of Qi Condensation erupted out from the hut, spreading for dozens of meters in all directions. As soon as Big Fatty Zhang and the others sensed it, they looked up with expressions of shock.

“Little Junior Brother has broken through!”

“The second level of Qi Condensation! He hasn’t even partaken of the Ovens’ snack arrangement for more than half a year, and he’s already reached the second level of Qi Condensation! That’s pretty rare!”

“It took me a whole year to reach the second level of Qi Condensation….” Even as they were making exclamations of shock, a crash could be heard as Bai Xiaochun’s door opened, and he burst out, looking exhausted and disheveled. However, his eyes were glittering brightly.

Big Fatty Zhang and the others were just about to hurry over to offer congratulations when Bai Xiaochun flashed through the air and nimbly landed on the bamboo fence that surrounded the Ovens. He clasped his hands behind his back and tilted his head up proudly, looking off into the distance with a profound gleam in his eyes. He looked every bit like a proud, lonesome hero.

Big Fatty Zhang and the others exchanged dismayed glances.

“What is he standing there for? He looks so weird….”

“Did little Junior Brother… get possessed or something?”

Almost as soon as they looked over at Bai Xiaochun and his odd appearance, they heard his voice echoing out, sounding proud and wise.

“Xu Baocai is a consummate Chosen among the servants of the Spirit Stream Sect, matchlessly vicious, and famous far and wide. His cultivation base is even in the terrifying second level of Qi Condensation. However, my cultivation base is also in the second level of Qi Condensation. A fight between us will be an even match. It will likely be a fight talked about in all the lands, a battle that will shake the entire sect. However, it must be fought, no matter how much blood and gore flows, no matter how many bones are shattered and tendons… wait a second. No, this battle is far, far too important. I have to keep practicing cultivation!”

Having finished speaking, Bai Xiaochun looked around for a moment, then flicked his sleeve and returned to his room. The door slammed shut behind him as he began another session of secluded meditation. Big Fatty Zhang and the others swallowed hard, and exchanged glances. Finally, Third Fatty Hei said, “Don’t tell me we gave Junior Brother some spoiled food?”

Second Fatty Huang shivered and replied, “Oh no! This is bad! Junior Brother is drunk on spiritual energy! He’s gone crazy from cultivation…. We mustn’t provoke him now!”

What went so right?

Posting some OC I made a few months back, starting with

...

If I'm looking for generic fantasy adventures, which books in the warhammer setting should I read?

...

what was meant by this

>cyber dystopian books
The Stars My Destination

i really wanted to but i just started classes again so ive been busy. ill definitely participate in the next one. especially if we get to vote on the book.

Recommend me a book based on this phrase:
>can't rape the willing

Friday, Robert A. Heinlein.

Somebody rec good magic gunfights.

>What should I read if I like the malazan series?
Probably The Black Company and The Drenai Series

there was a good one in novelupdates.com/series/when-a-mage-revolts/
I think it was around chapter 250 or so
I guess it wasn't technically a gunfight since only one side had a gun but I think it counts

xianxia writing style:
protagonist: "hey you, what is the name of that city over there?"
farmer: "oh, that's Big City Name"
protagonist: "Big City Name?!?!"
narrator: "Xen Shaofeng's eyes glowed with a ferocious glow, for Big City Name was the home of the legendary cultivation school Thousand Purple Cauldrons"

Hull zero three
Metro 2033
The Strain by Del Toro
Clive Barker

i made a thread but i think it belonged here instead

so this:

>Among the sovereign Demons with explicit access to this world, Doom scarcely bothers with the affairs of Noninfernals and Lesser Spectral Consorts, while Shadow Fiend passes through almost exclusively on collecting expeditions. The Shadow Demon, however, has always taken a deep and abiding interest in the material plane, as if sensing that mastery of this gritty dimensional nexus might be the key to total domination of all realities. Summoned first by minor wizards, the Shadow Demon granted every wish and put on increasingly impressive displays of power until he had the full attention of the greatest demonologists, and through them the various lords, tyrants, autarchs and hierophants who depended on sorcery to buttress their mundane power. So great was his deception that all his summoners considered themselves the master and Shadow Demon the servant; meanwhile, he eroded their identities and made their minds his own. In the end, most members of the cult were hollow puppets, extensions of his evil will. What Shadow Demon's next step would have been remains open to speculation, for around this time, Nevermore the Shadow Fiend bit into a particularly nasty-tasting soul and discovered that it held nothing but a foul nougat of Shadow Demon's essence. Alerted that a coup was underway, and that the ancient equilibrium of the Umbral Pact was about to be destabilized, Doom and Shadow Fiend briefly joined forces to destroy the burgeoning cult. Combining spells of incredible force, they undid Shadow Demon's centuries of patient work, reducing his cult to smithereens--and all its members to a bloody splatter. Nothing remained except a tiny speck of demon shadow. Immortal and irreducible, this mote of evil was enough to seed the Shadow Demon's next scheme, and in fits and starts, over further centuries, he began to regroup. Whatever that speck of shadow touched, it tainted, and its influence gradually grew. A chaos of damaged parts pulled together, reknit, and combined to give Shadow Demon a form even stronger than his former. He is all but complete now, and his plan for infinite dominion lacks all of its former weaknesses. It would seem that such a being of pure malice and malevolence, a threat to all creation, would be forever out of place in our world...yet Shadow Demon does not lack for followers.

Is a neat little excerpt from Dota 2's wiki. I don't play the game but I got linked to the wiki by a friend and I've been reading all the biographies of the characters in the game. They are neat little quips and I was wondering if anyone knew of a repository where more stuff like this exists? Short stories maybe? Or just general writing?

scp

>Gene Wolfe - The Book of the New Sun
>Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings
>Philip K Dick - Ubik
Absolute shit tastes. Don't want no recommendations from your pretentious pseud ass.

...

Whomever wrote this should be shot asap.

how about general sci-fi? scp is good I'm reading it now. is there a broader repository of literature somewhere?

Absolutely not, Bai Xiaochun is the best Xianxia protagonist because he never learns a goddamn thing.

the time has come to reveal your top 5 /sffg/ books

Is there a way to avert this from reaching the natural conclusion?

>vampire hypnotizes autistic kid into luring his friends away and shooting them

i got you pham. here's how you solve this problem:
>tab back into your writing program (word/librewriter/whatever)
>hit ctrl+A
>hit delete
>start writing something less retarded

if you need anything explained further I'm here for you

I'm a newb to /SFfg/, but I've read Dune, Hyperion and Book of the New Sun as they seem the three most shilled sci-fi/fantasy books on this board. What do I go to next after these? (I liked them btw)

Orphans of Chaos.

lotr, sandersmeme, OP shit.

iv read three stigmata. please tell me what i thought of it and what i understood to be its themes

the only stuff that i can think of as being creepy was the barbie drug land thing. but since barbie is hot and i always thought of the song/video barbie girl, it was fun and sort of hot for me

youtube.com/watch?v=ZyhrYis509A

Tried LotR in the past and didn't care for it, will check out the others, thank you.

Pls rec me the lit equivalent of a B-movie

I'm not necessarily looking for "so bad it's good", but just like crazy out there ideas, kind of semi-surrealistic, outsider fantasy

Dinotopia.

would it sound better if I specified the following?

>the vampire in question is a middle-aged, morbidly obese female warlord
>the killing is politically motivated and serves to end a stalemate
>the autistic kid is one of her dhampir and was chosen specifically because his lack of obvious vampirism, harmless appearance, gullibility and absent grasp of secrecy or subtlety makes him the object of least concern in every situation

Fuck yea buddy totally what I was looking for. Anyone got any more jems?

I don't have any top 5. I've read hundreds upon hundreds of books. Hell, last year I read 101 books. You think I keep track that "these 5 out of the 1200 books I read are my favorite"????

Read Fat Vampire by Adam Rex

*spankings intensifies*

>please tell me what i thought of it and what i understood to be its themes
Low iq user. I thought you would have killed yourself by now.

Daniel Black
Trysmoon saga

He's probably way happier than you are desu, stop projecting and bullying low iq user.

Are you the user that watches William's twitch/whatever? How far along is he with regards to releasing something?

honestly any time iv seen it talked about its put for as one of dicks most nonsense books. i think a radio dj was talking to him about it and said it the perfect example of a drug fueled pkd book because it was so crazy and random but then pkd shoots back that its literally the only book hes ever wrote where he wasnt high off his ass the whole time

im not some common poster as you seem to think i am. i just wanted to see how many buzzwords and silliness Veeky Forums attacked to it. its a fine book i guess but i think iv read almost all of his other books and like them more

...

You really think that's bait. I read about 130 books last year. I know it's hard for some poseurs on this board to imagine but there are actually dedicated readers in the world.

You know what's annoying? Having one really fun idea that you want to write a story around, creating a solid story around it with a bunch of characters and themes that feel so perfect...

and then you realize that one idea you started with doesn't fit the rest, so now you've got a story to write, but then you'll have to wait until after that to introduce your flavorkinetic MC who kicks monster ass with applied food science

As a rule, I don't trust any book that puts its breach from cliche in the title is worth the brain cells it costs to read it. though I remember liking abraham lincoln: vampire hunter when I was like 14

Flavor user... how did you go from molecular tastes to brainwashed autistic children?

It's a long story, but when I first settled on the idea, I thought its uselessness was hilarious and started building off of that by making the MC's journey satirical. Yes, he's the chosen one with magic powers, but the powers are useless, the one doing the choosing was a bastard and the thing he was chosen to do was horrible.

From there I just compounded it by making him act the way any normal person would when they find out about magic and assume he's going crazy. All this shit sort of pointed towards dark fantasy/horror so I tried building into that by having some of the more minor threats into monsters associated with hunger: vampires being a prime example

The problem was, as I built out his conflicts, the people around him, and his personal arc, I found that the first story – which needed to conceal a lot of the other plot elements – was perfectly self-contained and a whole different genre from the rest of what I had planned. In the end it made more sense to make this a different story and just cut away the connections

>TL:DR
The story grew in ways i didn't want it to, but what did grow fit together a lot better than the other stuff I came up with so I decided to cut away the fat and go with what I had

>We could all just chose a book though, make a goodreads group about said book, then shitpost about it to our heart's content.
Nah, I'm no fan of outsourcing to goodreads/irc/discord/whatever, Veeky Forums related stuff should stay on Veeky Forums or it leads to fragmentation and "inner circles".

I would also recommend Farseer trilogy over WoT. I'm not as big of a fan as user but it's on about the same level as WoT and way shorter meaning if you do not like it there is an early exit point before reading more set in the same world.

Are you the user who was asking for zombie info forr the past few seeks

nah, I've been asking about different stuff.

This story is... I'll admit its got flaws. I still have to work out how a lot of things are going to figure in, and I'm honestly not happy that I don't get to use a single one of my meticulously thought-out superpowers or gods for this, but my other ideas won't come together and this one has some heart to it and I think that's what counts

no one cares about you or how many books youve read. this notion should be familiar to you since it is practically the same situation of your useless and meaningless real life in which you are lonely and unloved. and no, by replying to this it will not get any better.

Veeky Forums is for adults only, you can't be here if you're 12.

...

I'm surprised you think Tolkien and PKD are pretentious. Where is the pretense in enjoying Tolkien? Who is that going to impress? Tolkien isn't inaccessible just wordy. PKD is also fairly easy to read, the narrative may sometimes be disjointed but he conveys stuff in a straightforward way.

Gene Wolfe and Borges sure, they're undeniably complex, but if you sincerely enjoy them then there's no pretension. I don't think a pseud would actually re-read tBotNS.

Could you give me a quick rundown for both? Not spoilers, just basic plot.

How long will we have to wait, bros?

Depends whether we can impede Trump or not.

NEVER EVER

This anthology was pretty good. You can find it for dirt cheap online too

I'm sure I was on Veeky Forums and lit longer than your ass. Plus I have the added benefit of never using reddite, like you did, before your ass migrated over here.

>bragging about how much time you spend here

I started browsing four chin when I was 16, back in 2003.

Also,
>not getting the joke
>R*DDIT
Ok :-)
Assuming people make fun when they actually don't is a clear sign of pic related, which is absolutely ugly on men.

How much did you like BotNS? Because there's also Long and Short Sun to read.

What's the point of reading if you can't remember what you've read?

>tfw you get closer to writing something that isn't complete shit every day

>spend more time lurking /sffg/ than actually reading