>what are you reading
>what you plan to read next
>shill a book that isn't a meme
>brainlets need not apply
FANTASY
Selected:
>imgoat.com
General:
>imgoat.com
Flowchart:
>imgoat.com
SCIENCE FICTION
Selected:
>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
Previous Threads:
Other urls found in this thread:
b-ok.org
dropbox.com
youtube.com
twitter.com
first for webnovels are novels too
I will be away for a couple of days, so you'll have to do without my constant posting for a couple of threads. Happy reading!
Downloads: b-ok.org
sanderfag a hack
>what are you reading
Nonfiction.
>what you plan to read next
Mists of Avalon.
>shill a book that isn't a meme
Howl's Moving Castle is well written, comfy as fuck and have not been posted much the last year or so.
>brainlets need not apply
Flag
What is the consensus on Lord of Light on here?
just say R'hllor
Mentioned and shilled from time to time. I've never seen anyone say anything bad about it.
Well in that case;
dropbox.com
>finish all of mainline Dragonlance
>sadfrog.exe
>start the Prefect sequel
>it's actually really fucking good
>already read 1/4th of it
wow wee /sffg/
what's this?
>unironically using papyrus as a title font
Does anyone actually keep up with the disparate 'zines like Cucksworld, Apex, BCS, etc.
My impression is that 99% of the stories are terrible
So is there a list of D&D fiction that's actually good/readable like there is for WH40k stuff?
>My impression is that 99% of the stories are terrible
Hi welcome to genre fiction.
>Hi welcome to genre fiction.
Or literally anything else.
hows this?
Just finished the third book of the Gentlemen Bastards, eh it was okay. Then go to look if there's any info on the next book.
Ugh, another fantasy writer that starts a long series and gets increasingly slower with each book, least he doesn't seem to be quite as bad a Rothfuss or Martin. Yet.
But guess I'm not getting invested in this series
>>Magic: History, Theory, Practice - Dr. Ernst Schertel, annotated by Adolf Hitler
Edgy, sure, but interesting to see how Hitler thought and what he thought about something like magic.
>>History of Santhaaria
It's a large .png of a collective-creation, standard-fare fantasy world. A couple people working on it claimed up to 10-12, 000 people worked on it over the years. Whole website serves as a favourite example of how fantasy & worldbuilding can go wrong.
>>Maps of Meaning
The original, 10 years out prior to Bordan P Jeterson's reductivism of Campbell, Jung, et al's works. This one is Peter Jackson's intro to Cultural Geography, and how those two are intertwined.
Will also shill for two others, first up:
>>Archaeology & Folklore
This is Amy Gazin's edit, and part of the TAG (Theoretical Archaeology Group) series. If you're curious about humanity and how aspects of humanity have changed, or how we discern meanings and messages from the past -- much of the time with concrete examples -- most of the series is worthwhile. I'd suggest leaving out the Managing of & Theory of books because they're drier, less-applicable-knowledge kind of read.
Last shill, even if it is a rather imprecise blob of a meme:
>>Fief, A Look at Medieval Society from Its Lower Rungs
Can't say I care to know how many grains of rice are shat by peasants and dumped on the streets every hour, but this is the next best resource for estimation. If you learn by concept, the revised edition is an immaculate tool; if you're hard for exact quoted figures, precision, and rock-solid accuracy, maybe not the best resource.
>For actual SFF, and not just books that help me write, Ian McDonald's Dervish House is my nightly read.
Seconding Howl's Moving Castle.
I did for a while, but got a promotion at work and traded time spent trying to sieve that shit for a 30% raise.
It's fantastic. Fairy-tale-ish, written with a really light touch.
IIRC the delay for the Locke Lamora books has been because he got divorced and then got married again (to a woman who has published like 10 books in the same amount of time as the delay lol), so he's got a reasonable excuse.
Oh yeah, I don't lump him in with douchebags like Rothfuss who seem to delay just to delay, hopefully he'll be back to a more reasonable schedule after this book
>The Worm Ouroboros is a heroic high fantasy novel by English writer Eric Rücker Eddison, first published in 1922. The book describes the protracted war between the domineering King Gorice of Witchland and the Lords of Demonland in an imaginary world that appears mainly medieval and partly reminiscent of Norse sagas
>The Worm Ouroboros is often compared with J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (which it predates by 32 years). Tolkien read The Worm Ouroboros, and praised it in print.
>Also, while The Lord of the Rings is written mostly in modern English, Eddison wrote The Worm Ouroboros largely in sixteenth-century English, making use of his experience translating Norse sagas and reading medieval and Renaissance poetry; a nearly unique approach among popular fantasy novels
>The tale's morality has also been described as uncommon in modern fantasy; in particular, it differs sharply from Tolkien's heroism of the common man in a fight against evil and C. S. Lewis's Christian allegory. The Demon lords hold to the Old Norse warrior ethic of loyalty and glory. The leaders of Witchland are regarded as noble and worthy opponents; in the final chapter, Goldry Bluszco compares them very favorably with the "uncivil races" of Impland.
>“But because day at her dawning hours hath so bewitched me, must I yet love her when glutted with triumph she settles to garish noon? . . . Who dares call me turncoat, who do but follow now as I have followed this rare wisdom all my days: to love the sunrise and the sundown and the morning and the evening star.”
Don't judge a book by its title font.
Martin, Rothfuss, Sanderson... not a fan.
After seeing the video of Gurm having a happy with bubbles, toy cars, and the pool at the stone-colored dollhouse I kind of feel for the man. Seems like he's stuck in a place where he genuinely cares about his readers but can't decide what to do or how to fix the show vs books thing, and he knows he's not getting any younger. Seems pretty isolated, and just didn't give himself the right work habits before he adulted into a default operation mode.
Rothfuss seems like an arrogant fuck who coat-tailed on the backs of established magic systems and doesn't give much of a fuck about his readership. Comes across as if he's doing a market trend analysis and altering his books to suit that, rather than just, y'know, putting pen to paper and respecting the people who pay for his works. Then again, Star Wars exists.
>Star Wars existed, prior to Disneyfication.
Sanderson... don't know how to describe the distaste for that one. A kind of admiration or respect for someone who knows/figured out using philosophy and critical discernment to worldbuild. Yet also a strange dissatisfaction with his character, or how he presents himself and his works. Feels like the fantasy-fiction equivalent of the hipster-trash musician who wants to be seen as intelligent moreso than applying effort to develop it.
I don't think you can really lump Sanderson in there, you can make an argument against what he does put out, but at the very least the guy has a work ethic instead of seemingly trying to milk his supposed status as a nerd celebrity like Rothfuss does while never actually putting out the actual material that made him popular(and Sanderson could have easily have done that after the Wheel of Time books and a couple of his own, instead he continually puts out new material including stuff that's different from his normal works like Steelheart or some of his short stories)
I guess I've just developed a burning dislike of Rothfuss to the point I don't like seeing anyone else even compared to him.
You can't stop me!
Be free little one!
how is jonas a part of miles?
Anybody got a epub of the sixth Amazon's Pledge book by Sarah Hawke? It's not up in the usual places.
oh shit its out already?
yes
what are you thoughts on oathbringer? I felt it was a hunk of shit.
Everyone starts talking about xianxia as soon as I finish what I think is supposed to be one, Cradle was really good. Read that because it's Will Wight though, not because of the genre, he could probably write mlp fanfiction and make it worth reading. If that even counts as one since it's not chinkshit. Might have been talked about before but my brain blanked it out.
>>what are you reading
Red Mars, was kind of boring for a while, but it's pretty interesting now that I'm nearing the end.
>>what you plan to read next
Would like to read Arm of the Sphinx (Book II of the Books of Babel) but the audiobook hasn't turned up on pirate sites yet. I might start The Dragons Path or I'll continue with one of the several series that I've only read the first book of.
>>shill a book that isn't a meme
Uh, Senlin Ascends (Book I of the Books of Babel)
cradle has been talked about plenty
>find erotica audiobook
>it's read by a man
>>it's read by a man
that means its aimed towards women.
It's not though
which book
daniel black
i wouldnt consider that erotica.
just because something has sex in it doesnt mean its erotica.
by that logic pretty much everything that has graphic sex in it is now considered erotica.
Well ok.
I still don't want a dude to narrate me sex scenes.
Just reread this book.
It's absolute literature-kino, even despite being classified as YA.
>the attempted poisoning
>head in a box
>references to "severed children"
>mysterious conscious particles
>seductive woman abducting children
>armored bears and witches
>edgy atheism
>experimenting on children in the north
>that fucking ending with the betrayal, the door between worlds and Mrs. Coulter and Asriel.
What's not to like?
forgot image
Yeah it came out last month, she's working on a scifi story now IIRC.
Would you mind posting it please?
a month and its still not on mobilisim or on irc?
holy fuck.
here i am going insane because the third book of heartstone saga has been out for a few days and im refreshing mobilism every few hours since release and checking like twice a day on undernet and irchighway.
jesus people are slacking.
where is book 1/2 of that
is it on undernet
oh neermind it was on mobilism
I guess google is getting seriously faggy about not showing "piracy" stuff
just use the search on mobilism.
also yandex is way better for piracy stuff.
its actually kind of amazing how much shit yandex finds. the chinks seem to not give a fuck at all.
Same speech patterns and improptu jokes and likely to have originated from the same place. Moreso, there are hints that his attachment to Sev as Jonas stems from Sev having saved him in his past(but Sev's future). Sev also meets a boatsman in the scene where he Eata, Drotte and Roche who has the same speech patterns and jokes so it might be a cultural/occupational quirk. Then again, it might not. It might very well be that Jonas the robot was repaired using Miles the man's parts. Or he was the man transformed into a robot and his memories became muddled.
Him Eata, Drotte and Roche go to the Sanguinary Fields* is what I meant.
>Gentlemen Bastards
Never tell anyone to read past the first book.
Considering how long time Rothfuss spend editing the first book and how much worse the second actually turned out from an editing perspective I believe he's stuck in some kind of editing hell, desperately trying to turn his third doorstopper into something readable to save his opus.
Heroes!
мoжeш cкaзaть мнe oдин лeгкo и хopoший книги в pycccкий язык??
я нe хoчy читaть книги для дeтeй, нo я инocтpaнeц и eщe нe гoвopить нeплoхo
I don't understand a word. Write in english pls. Cпacибo!
Ah, i get it.
Moжeшь пocoвeтoвaть мнe oднy лeгкyю и хopoшyю книгy нa pyccкoм языкe?
Я нe хoчy читaть книги для дeтeй, нo я инocтpaнeц и eщe нe мoгy гoвopить/читaть пoлнoцeннo.
How are the other Black Company books?
I read the first trilogy and enjoyed it, are the others worth it?
I don't think Sanderson's ever presented himself as some kind of writing genius. In fact, he freely admits that his prose is the weakest part of his writing.
He's always struck me as very down-to-earth, especially for writers, who often tend more towards narcissistic neurosis.
And i can't, sorry. All i read in russian is hardcore classic stuff like Petersburg by Andrei Bely or The heart of Parma, or Cherdyn - Princess mountains by Alexsei Ivanov. This shit is hard even for native speakers.
Well hm. You can try this tho:
Apкaдий и Бopиc Cтpyгaцкиe - "Bтopoe нaшecтвиe мapcиaн".
It's short and funny but very deep and i think this is their best work.
я нaчaл изyчaть pyccкий языкь в пpoшлoм гoдy и тo я нe мoгy гoвopить хopoшo. Ho, я мoгy нeмoнoгo пoнимaть и тoгдa хoчy читaть oдин книгy пo pyccкий. Знaeшь нeкoтopыe нe cлoжнo и пpocты книги кaк тo?
yea this lol
I'll look it up, thanks! nvm this
yeah northern lights is excellent, wasn't sure about the knife one nor the final conclusion, but holy shit steampunk ultra-greenwich with magic little girls was excellent
Quick, /sffg/! Post real maps that would make good fantasy maps
the white human bard spends the adventure impregnating as many brown elves as possible
I've been reading a lot of classic sci fi lately and you can tell that these people wrote for money. Jack vance and poul anderson for example can be really atrocious at times. You just can't write as much and as rapidly as they did without sacrificing a good deal of quality.
>Jack vance and poul anderson for example can be really atrocious at times.
they were better than about 99% of current science fiction writers
They really weren't and neither was Asimov, their influence on the genre notwithstanding.
no one says asimov has fantastic prose or anything though. i am saying that you are a dumb edgy faggot though. youre statement is meaningless anyway
>hurrrr sometimes vance and anderson are amazing and live up to the hype! but sometimes some of the random books they put out dont
ok
> neither was Asimov
Good sci-fi has almost always been about the ideas and story than the actual quality of the writing.
good reply
But this is the:
>Author couldn't be bothered to actually be creative with the geography, so he just scribbled some wrinkled lines on a piece of paper
shape.
Bullshit. Wolfe, Herbert, Dick or LeGuin got beautiful prose. Clarke, at times, leaves you grasping for air.
The 26th Years Best SF edited by Gardner Dozois
I found it in a secondhand library for $8AUD, perfect condition, so I figured why not
> almost always
> almost
Of course there are exceptions but most of the classic aren't noted for there literary merits.
> Clarke, at times, leaves you grasping for air.
Got to disagree with you on this one. Clarke was competent at best. His prose was always kind of flat.
>As you know Bob, Good sci-fi has almost always been about the ideas and story than the actual quality of the writing.
id like to point out how retarded it is for meme wolf to set it in worst america. all the climate and geography features and whatnot are exactly the same millions of year in the future as they are right NOW? its a setting where the point is that its so far in the future and so much has happened that everything is totally different, people dont even remember what the english langue was but people are still drinking meme tea? south america is still full of jungles and mountains and large rivers and you can still island hop to the south poll?
i had some idea that it was set in some crazy place like Australia where draining seas have created a land bridge to asia or that the polls have flipped and south was north and north was south...but nope sev is just chilling out in Buenos Aires...
> Wolfe
Maybe
> Herbert
Nope
> Dick
Nooooooooope
> LeGuin
Eh
> Clarke
Nope
I'd like to point out you're retarded.
>states that the climate and environment have changed
>also states that the climate and environment are actually exactly the same as they are now
hmmm
You're still retarded.
No not really. Modern authors, no matter how bad, take more time to write their books, and thus come out more nuanced and better put together. The average anderson or vance novel is little more than a series of random events and pointlessly strung-togehter incidents.
Good ideas + shitty writing = shitty novel. Good ideas could be hard to come up with, but if you cannot convey them to the reader in a gripping manner then they're not worth shit.
No disagreement from me but someone like Azimov was a great example of amazing ideas but only a workman-like writer and honestly that was enough.
>azimov
Neck yourself
Good argument.
Don't be such a fucking babby. You knew what he meant
they still had better prose, you can argue about the structure of their books but as far as writing goes Anderson and Vance were far more talented than almost anyone else working today
Any revenge fantasy on a scale similar to Monte Cristo? That was one fo the most satisfying books I've ever read. The fact that he even got a happy ending with his greek waifu was even better.
I can't help you in fantasy but two choices come to mind in science fiction. Alfred Bester wrote The Stars My Destination deliberately as a SF Monte Cristo and it's lively stuff. Jack Vance's Demon Princes is entirely an intergalactic revenge sequence over 5 books against a group of crime magnates.
Best Served Cold by Joe Abercombie
>Neil Gayman
haha
and the Engineer series by KJ Parker.
There's also Talon of the Silver Hawk by Ray Fiest, but that's deep into the Riftwar series.
While I do think they've gotten worse, and not just for purely ideological reasons, they've always been well over 90% garbage. Panning through the river of garbage for gems, or even passable writing, is practically its own hobby.
It's good, and a little lighter-hearted than Vance's usual. It does get rushed towards the end, but that's the price you pay for an author actually wrapping up his story in three even-length volumes.
Xianxia is a rather particularly Chinese genre. Cradle might be xianxia-influenced but it's not the real deal.
Golden Compass/Northern Lights is great. The problem is that Pullman ultimately bit off more than he could chew as an author and the series declines in every way after the first book before culminating in a retarded ending.