/sffg/ - SciFi and Fantasy General

>Fantasy
Selected: i.imgur.com/3v2oXAY.jpg/
General: i.imgur.com/igBYngL.jpg/
Flowchart: i.imgur.com/uykqKJn.jpg/

>Sci-Fi
Selected: i.imgur.com/A96mTQX.jpg/
General: i.imgur.com/r55ODlL.jpg/ / i.imgur.com/gNTrDmc.jpg/

I hope my new op didn't get posted, shitty mobile internet, so not sure

Three of Sixteen ruled but now the Broken One reigns.

>no game company will hire me to write MMO lore
>I'll just fill a tepid book series with all my classes and skill trees

What are you reading, faggots? I'm reading Libriomancer.

Let's get some discussion going.

What is your
>favorite sci-fi technology (inertial suppression, solar flamethrower, etc.)
and what is your
>favorite sci-fi concept (exploring an alien structure, violation of mathematics being the end-all of technological prowess, etc.)
question mark

>one handful of series that does it to this extent
>raising a fuss in every single thread
wololo

My favorite SF concept is the death feedback in Shinsekai Yori, I think. Cool stuff

Generally I prefer magical science fiction (science fantasy?) to techno SF.

Vacuum Diagrams.

I actually do too. I love it when it's included subtly at times but futurism is appealing stuff.

Shadow of the Torturer

I need an epic fantasy recommendation that's good from the beginning, with interesting characters, so that I can keep myself entertained while I'm stuck sitting around for several hours at a time the next few days.

Way of Kings

Ah so it did get posted, but everyone moved here.

What are you talking about?

Interesting characters is the requirement.
This thread.

I didn't think Gardens of the Moon was that bad. It's kinda hard to follow because Erikson doesn't explain anything. You just need to slowly absorb facts about the world until you have a good base of suppositions to work from. I'm only on book three, so I can't say much to it as a whole.

WoK is boring though because Shallan chapters are shit and while Dalinar chapters were fine, they were more than out-shined by Kaladin chapters.

The way I see it, in WoK it's Kaladin > Dalinar > Shallan
in WoR it's Dalinar > Shallan = Kaladin.

In WoR it's still Kaladin > Dalinar > Shallan but a lot of Dalinar chapters rise past their normal mediocrity and a lot of Kaladin chapters are smacked with the pacing stick, causing them to suffer in quality.

C. J. Cherryh's Fortress series. Heavily focussed on the development of two characters. One an heir to the throne, and the other a summond revenant (naive, guileless, and no memories). The series is finished and ready to go. A personal favorite.

Comparing Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser to Riyria is absolutely fucking stupid. The former is about two adventurers in a strange, dangerous world and the latter is about a grizzled old twenty year-old trying to find the meaning of life. The former is sword and sorcery and the latter is high fantasy.

You might as well compare The Dispossessed with that My Immortal fanfic.

Why would you bring this up again

The only thing we need to know is that Riyria is garbage.

I'm the maker of this chart who's been spamming it in all of the recent threads, and I'd just like to take the time to apologize for it. I realize not that it's terrible, and I fear I may have led a few gullible people into actually reading some of these books. If any of you have, I'm truly sorry. As you may have guessed, I have a neurodevelopmental disorder that had previously prevented me from understanding why everyone consistently called my chart crap, but I've since realized that they were just being honest with me. This isn't to say that urban fantasy can't be good, it can, but obviously I've failed to capture that with this chart. This is one of my rare moments of lucidity, so if by chance you see me shill this chart sometime later on, please do both of us a favor and ignore me.

I honestly can't tell if this is legit or just a really well written troll post. In any case, I enjoyed it, good job.

>My Immortal
I always get triggered and realise that Zelazny wrote This Immortal and not My Immortal

>try writing fantasy constantly
>realize every fantasy work I've tried to write would end up being fucking massive
>get discouraged
>start reading fantasy novels
>realize fantasy novels are mostly garbage
>get encouraged again
>cycle repeats
Help

Don't bother writing. Only bad writers have these excuses.

Try writing something that isn't fantasy

Read good fantasy that isn't massive. Imitate it but with your own ideas thrown in.

Due to nice covers I want you guys to tell me about Sabriel and Black Sun Rising.

Would there be a market for good, new sword & sorcery?

Learn to write creative non-fiction, literary memoirs and personal essays, the do fantasy.
Write fantasy as you would real life. With dungeons and dragons, but also being down to earth and having consistency.
Also you're gonna have to stop whining and buckle the fuck down if you wanna get anything done.

If it's truly good and brings something new to the table, probably. If it's just average, probably not.

Write it and see. It's the only way.

>Would there be a market for good, new
There will almost always be a market for something that's both good and new, so long as books are still being bought. It's the "good" part that's really hard to stick.

Some people should start a website together with several web serials and random short stories being posted on it. Like four or five authors all contributing to an ever-growing body of work, with any serial that gets completed being available as a PWYW ebook or print-on-demand books, and possibly short story collections as well. The site itself could subsist on book sales, donations, and possibly merchandise.

I just want the edited and ebook version of Worm to finally come out. He's been teasing it for like 2 years now

I didn't know Wolfe was still writing so much nowadays. Mostly shorter works though apparently. And they seem to be getting pretty weak reviews. Does he not have the energy to write another "great"?

Anyone read his "The Sorcerer's House"? It sounds pretty cool

I haven't read the serial but I'd consider buying an ebook of it.

For serials I prefer a series of adventures, more like you might see in a pulp magazine, over one long novel.

I think some authors take time between their big works.

He hasn't written a great novel since Wizard Knight. Right now he's just having fun, I don't think he's trying any more.

>letting reviews sway you in any capacity
BLEH! WEH GEH GEH!! SNEH!

Reviews for those books are usually from Wolfe fans.

It's been a long while, has it not?

I really hope he writes something big before he goes, but at his age it might be unlikely.

LEH! SPEH HEH!!

>Anyone read his "The Sorcerer's House"? It sounds pretty cool
It's good, but really feels like it's only half a book and was really meant to have a double.
>Does he not have the energy to write another "great"?
"Home Fires" is very good.

I didn't read it yet, but how good is it in Wolfe hierarchy? When was it written? 2007?

...

He looks good for his age, but I don't think he feels driven any more. Unless death of Rosemary will somehow make him at his deathbed reveal the greatest melancholy story ever he was hiding all along.

Is there a way for serial fiction to be properly monetized in this day and age? A lot of the stories I write are epic fantasy in the sense that they often follow grand plots, but I usually find myself focusing on little adventures along the way that wouldn't necessarily feel "connected" in the grand scheme of things.

more images like this, please?

Trying to write something that takes place in the faerie world, but I keep second guessing myself and getting snagged. I thought it would make more sense for there to be no humans at all, but then part of gets hung up and thinks that's stupid and just sets off a 'trying to be different for no reason' flag.

Like what, reviews?

...

>Reviews for those books are usually from Wolfe fans.
Wolfe fans are usually fucking morons. Seriously. (BotNS was fun, but really, it wasn't that great.)

yes, with the positive/negative. are these yours?

Faeries are generally more interesting when there's a human perspective. One of the intrinsic things regarding faeries is their relationship to the mortal world and their generally capricious nature.

Just some guy, who's actually pretty well read

I don't think so. Some alternatives would be to find a way to connect the little stories, or to write your series as a sprawling novel, and write those shorter adventures as short stories. Or make them longer and just put out side-quels to the main series.

New Sun is the most profound sff novels ever written, up there with the most high literary achievements like The Divine Comedy and The Brothers Karamazov.

Need one of these for the Lankhmar books, not made by dated user.

any books with good mermaid portrayals? please and thank you!

He hasn't read Lankhmar. Have Elric

>Is there a way for serial fiction to be properly monetized in this day and age?
Patreon, I guess.

>I didn't read it yet, but how good is it in Wolfe hierarchy? When was it written? 2007?
There is no hierarchy, you tard.

>music in the audiobook version
Christ

Based on this opinion he'd probably like but not love Lankhmar. Even though he's used D&D as an insult twice and the Lankhmar books basically inspired D&D.

That's what I was thinking, but if I left out humans entirely, then the lesser fae creatures would take their place in the narrative. Especially since so many are humanlike anyway. I'm just thinking that if it takes place entirely in Faerie, then it wouldn't make sense for humans to exist at all.

What I was thinking was making faeries sterile with each other, so they still need to kidnap or enchant a mate or child to have offspring of their own, but being fae, they would obviously get bored or their partner would escape so there would still be changelings and things.

...

Excellent taste

whats his blog or whatever?

Not this one.

...It doesn't come off generic at all, none of the Tolkien lookalikes did anything he achieved.
His elves and orcs and the dark lord are not generic in the same way greek tragedy is still fresh, even if it's been influential.

well...alright, then. noted. i do like that girl's hair a lot, though.

One of the only 0 rating reviews kek

Not going to post it in public because I don't want him to get memebombed since I kind of like him, but throw a random book name and I'll see if he reviewed it. He reads classics and such as well.

get over yourself. it was great for its time, but not its just a standard good vs evil fantasy with elves and orcs. comparing it to the greek tragedy is frankly retarded. the guy said that it wasnt the fault of the book, but that doesnt make it any less outdated

i wont memebomb him. i just want to browse his posts. would you send it to me over skype or something?

The mermaids are genetically engineered chinese secretly training off the US coast for a colony on Jupiter. I'm dead serious. They are encountered briefly at the end of the book.

That actually sounds way cooler than it probably is in the book.

Don't give in. Don't share it.

never mind, i found him by reverse image searching, and i can see why you were concerned. are you a weeb, user?

kek

Ya got me

I agree. If that was central to the story instead of a bizarre afterthought, it might have been an okay read. Maybe I was just expecting more. I confuse a lot of 'P' authors (Piers Anthony, Frederick Pohl, Poul Anderson, Jerry Pournelle, etc) for some reason.

Grandpa won't like this one

He's good, but I'm massively triggered by the Wolfe review

Why is multiple perspectives a positive? I would call it a stylistic choice with the potential to be good or bad.

He probably just shortened it to "interesting"- or "well done multiple perspectives" since a lot of books with multiple POV tend to have quite a few boring ones that you don't want to read about.

>crisp prose
It's nonexistant prose, devoid of all life
>fine rich setting
Rothfuss did a richer one
>good dark atmosphere
If hundreds of pages weren't spent on a boring brittish wanker who bitches about women, maybe
>good characters
the women he wrote were such trash he need to explicity make every one but the main romantic interest a fucking mindless drone to make her have a sense of personality, which even then was pretty shit. Same goes for the said wanker. Glokta was mediocre, but entertaining and Logan was just there.
>Multiple perspectives
There was at least 1 completely redundant one
>fine story
Yeah, cheap Martin knock off that even does a worse job than the not so good original

The book is just pure garbage

People here should write similar short reviews when they finish a book so we can have some decent discussion and get people to read new books.

Some of his late short stories are powerful once you get them. Sea of Memory from 2013 is actually about living with Alzheimers, but it hides behind a strange SF trope of arriving in a place where all times exist simultaneously. The subtext in his late novels is often profound but the surface reading isn't as fun as New sun/fifth Head/peace.

Is the Farseer Trilogy good?

That's the problem with his newer fiction, he has too little on the surface and too much subtext so the reading experience is just mediocre. I mean better than most sff, but in context of Wolfe you always expect more.

It's decent but the ending is ASS

I have to agree with him here, only read the first book and it's pretty uneventful

Considering all the wolfe shitposting, how many of you guys love his works?

About two or three are really obsessed with him, most others think he's just "good" and not much more.

IMO there is no merit in reading anything of Wolfe besides the Solar Cycle.

Game of Thrones

Listing known wolfags
Connor
Combiner
Pinkyivan
Marc Aramini
bBrown

Who is missing?

Who?

Why are you pretending to be me....

The extent you Dinosaurs would go to, to false flag is crazy

>extent
Writing 50 words in which it's clear he's just insulting you isn't very far

If I like older books AND newer books, am I some kind of dinosaur centaur thing? Like a brontosaurus with a human face or a stegosaurus with a human upper body where its neck should be?