Partway into "Black and White" by Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge, this unusual take on the superhero genre. Each author writes one of the protagonists, I think, which makes for a refreshing read and helps with keeping the characters' voices distinct.
It's set in Chicago (New Chicago, rebuilt after a natural disaster in an alternate-timeline present day) in the 2100s. Jet is this superheroine with shadow powers that are gradually driving her insane, because access and control over the shadows doesn't do you a ton of favors other than being incredibly powerful, and she's one of the city's mascot superheroes. However, rather than the city, she works for this monolithic multinational group called "CorpCo," which is less than aboveboard with its dealings. She means well, loving helping the public and defending justice, and also wants to bang her new assistant. Her former best friend, the other protagonist Iridium, is a light power who defected from the superhero academy and became a villainess who runs the South Side's criminal underground. Robin Hood type, robbing the rich and other criminals, CorpCo holdouts, and corrupt officials and using the money to finance awareness of political corruption and maintain the underfunded ghetto she controls.
It's massing up for some crazy shit to go down, and I want them to both be master criminals together to bring down The Man™ and for Jet to finally screw her hot new assistant. Pls. Just do it Jet
Carter Flores
Do not bully Akka
He's a good boy who did nothing wrong.
Dunyain scum must be removed.
Josiah Powell
Do you guys know anything about Grace of Kings by Ken Liu? Any good?
Evan Watson
Question about genre: How much Sci-fi must be present for a book to actually be sci-fi? For example, i understand that Starship Troopers and War of the Worlds as sci-fi, however, would it be sci-fi if a book dealed with, say, alien abductions, if the focus is the search for the missing people (which is quite mundane) and the author never gives an actual evidence that aliens were involved, instead only giving hints in the form of expeculation made by the characters (which might as well happen in our world)? I mean, the talk about aliens might me all over the place, but does that make it sci-fi or would it just be mistery fiction toying with the reader and pretending to be sci-fi (maybe to cause surprise later)?
Jordan Anderson
Read pic related. A modern scifi mixed with fantasy novel (others include the iron dragon's daughter, and the cogweaver trilogy).
Read those to get a feel of how scifi blends with fantasy. The two are interchangeable, one deals with man's progress and dependence /integration with technology. The other deals with man's progress /conquering of a foe/ideal etc, and his dependence/integration with mysticism and faith in a higher power.
If you can't tell the difference afterwards... I can't help you.
Jack Baker
sci-fi is a story/narrative that either directly involves or is set within a world possessing scientific principles/technology/research/theory that currently does not exist
if you're asking for how to differentiate from fantasy, it's the same thing except fantasy doesn't blame science for its fictional elements but instead /magic/ or something similar
Joshua Mitchell
300 pages into Seveneves, I'm enjoying it a lot more than expected. I guess it's fresh to have basically contemporary sci fi, as I've been used to reading space operas that deal with interstellar or even intergalactic human societies and technologies. I guess that makes Seveneves and their characters a lot more relatable.
But holy shit people weren't exaggerating when they said that the book has a huge SJW vibe. It's not about most major characters being women - that much actually makes sense in the context of the story.
It's more stuff like a female character has a thought like "did he just interrupt me (the president) because I'm a woman???" or "that guy only became the leader because he's a man" or "strong kyke puts rich white guy into completely helpess submission hold". This kind of stuff happens literally every tenth or twentieth page or so.
Meanwhile, no character goes into any of the other social issues that we still have, or even larger issues of humanity as a whole (political, whatever). All the focus is on women-stuff and sexism in a time and place where the characters should care the absolute least about it (end of the world scenario).
And maybe it's just me, but as an actual STEM girl I feel a bit patronized.
It's just very obvious that the author has a huge bias going on and it's extremely distracting from an otherwise (imo) very good novel.
Elijah Rodriguez
Excellent, read it at once.
Zachary Johnson
Salaam /sffg/. What are some sci-fi and fantasy books influenced by Islam and Islamic culture? I've already read and enjoyed Dune btw.
Peace be upon you.
Landon Ross
Just ordered Shades of Grey by Fforde on top of something else on Amazon to get free shipping
What am I in for?
Jason Cruz
Throne of the Crescent moon
Inshallah
Dylan Ward
>reading Fifty Shades of Grey unironically TOPLEL, also, not \sffg\.
Camden Stewart
user...
Thomas Butler
Salaam mate. There's a bit of Islamism in Hyperion (and Fall of Hyperion), one character is a Muslim and his story involves a brief badass Islamic exploit.
Jackson Rivera
lord of light was real good
David Ortiz
>Question about genre: How much Sci-fi must be present for a book to actually be sci-fi? Zero science is sufficient, so long as you have spaceships. Just look at Star Wars: not one scientific concept or what if scenario yet the entire world recognises it as sci-fi... >Out of the Dark Proper sci-fi despite the genre mash that happens in the middle and overtakes everything leading to a big deus ex machina. Essentially, it explores the clash between humanity and a technological race with a different social structure. Worth reading even if it gets derailed with no foreshadowing.
>iron dragon's daughter >sci-fi Hell no. It has magitek but it lacks proper sci-fi. And it has a terrible genre shift 100 pages in that will make you curse the author to an early grave. If you're going to read sci-f from Swanwick, try the Darger & Surplus series. Even the short stories have more sci-fi than the Iron Dragon's Daughter.
Henry Garcia
What'S the genre shit? I dropped the book 90 pages in heh
Josiah Wood
There's a classic science fiction novel called 'La Planète des Singes' that deals with a very Muslim-like race of beings which is discovered on another planet.
Luke Stewart
Hello anons, help me build this list?
Fantasy: Chinese: Grace of Kings by Ken Liu Islamic: Throne of the Crescent Moon
Science fiction: Chinese: Three Body Problem Islamic: Dune
Eli Roberts
Kek I'm repeating myself here but Hyperion also focuses a lot on Catholicism. (for sci-fi)
Xavier Martinez
>possible alien abduction set on modern earth sounds more like a horror/thriller blend
Grayson Green
For Out of the Dark it moves from sci-fi alien encounter to fantasy horror. For Iron Dragon's Daughter it ends up being the lewd exploits of an angsty and bitchy vamp (in all sense of the term) cunt. I don't know what genre it is called but I'd love to find out so that I can blacklist it.
Juan Stewart
I'd mark it for socioreligious observations in general. The biggest focus was on the Shrike and Templar cults.
Fehdman Kassad and his erotic lovecraftian encounter with a time traveling babe has to be one of the craziest things I've read in scifi.
Jeremiah Long
>For Iron Dragon's Daughter it ends up being the lewd exploits of an angsty and bitchy vamp (in all sense of the term) cunt. That actually sounds more interesting than the beginning of the novel though... I wanted a little girl protagonist encountering lewd situations, but I didn't get that nor was the plot engaging in any way.
Nathaniel Hall
The Shrike is indeed the object of the novel, but I'd argue he certainly fills a prophetic role in the story.
Kassad's chapters were all excellent. The entire encounter from his hospital ship being attacked and fighting the Ousters in zero-g is incredible. Some of the most intense fiction I've ever read. Although if you're bringing up Lovecraft then I'd refer more to the first chapter with the priests and the cruciform.
fugg I just love Hyperion
Jaxon Lee
For me it was the opposite: beginning promised exciting tale of revolution against elf-scum with magitek dragon bombers in an ovetroped dark fantasy world. There's passengers for every train, keep reading and see if you like the other part.
Chase Jones
I have so much other stuff to read in my backlog, if an author doesn't click with me 50-100 pages in I usually don't bother nowadays. It's not like I bought the book.
Adrian Morales
i just finished do androids dream of electric sheep by philip k. dick and i enjoyed it even though it seemed very abstract. should i continue reading his works or explore other authors? i've heard really great things about gibson's neuromancer and how it's supposedly "cyberpunk," can someone explain the difference between a non-cyberpunk sci-fi like electric sheep and cyberpunk sci-fi like neuromancer?
Josiah Martinez
Neal Stephenson is not a good writer. Cryptonomicon has basically the same stuff except it's a computer nerd showing up the jocks who think the information superhighway is actually a highway.
Reamde is pretty much the same too. Who wills stop the international terrorists? A bunch of World of Warcraft programmers of course! and a Spetsnaz guy because presumably Stephenson read a Cracked.com article about the Spetsnaz.
Ryder Edwards
Ayoo Hol up /sffg/. What are some sci-fi and fantasy books influenced by Portugal and Portuguese culture? I've already read and enjoyed The Alchemist btw.
Also Dick is way better than anything Gibson. Check out at least Ubik and A Scanner Darkly by Dick eventually.
Andrew Brooks
The Moneta sex scenes are fucking hot desu
Charles Nguyen
i'm just confused because it seems like electric sheep meets most of the criteria required for it to be considered cyberpunk, but it probably only appears that way to me because i don't have a lot of experience with the genre.
Bentley Green
Just finished the last one and I d have to say these books a super comfy. A bit of cloak and dagger, a bit of politics, a bit of magic - can recommend them for some cold November nights.
Aaron Wright
Yeah but she transformed into the Shrike. Instant boner killer, literally and figuratively.
Bentley Gutierrez
Speaking of /sffg/ sex scenes, what would people say has the most frequent ones while the rest of the book has at least average and not terrible writing? Everyone always only mentions the GRI ones, I'm fine with almost anything.
Alexander Collins
Indeed, I buy them for my mother.
Ayden Long
The Years of Rice and Salt.
It's pretty awful tho
Grayson Collins
What makes it bad?
Luke Bennett
The Alchemist may as well be one of 10 worst novels of the century, this general has reached new lows.
Lincoln Reed
What does /sffg/ think of "Wargods own"?
Are there any more fantasy books where the gods directly interact with us puny humans and grant us blessings?
Joshua Harris
Cyberpunk usually involves things like cyborgs, virtual reality, hackers, fighting against the system/the man from the perspective of relative lowlives, in a heavily technologised world. Some of Dick's novels definitely had an influence on cyberpunk but they exist just outside it.
Landon Powell
What's the wildest fantasy battle you've ever read?
Ayden Anderson
The Dune series or just the first book? Because it turns out there are other muslims beside the Fremen.
Hudson Allen
>somehow all the different characters look exactly the same
bravo tumblr .
Robert Garcia
I thought it was quite good.
I think some people around here don't like it because it is very non-autistic, if that even means anything.
Dylan Russell
Just finished Red Rising #1.
Why'd they make my two favorite character's deaths inconsequential? I thought Titus had so much potential as a character. At least Pax died like a badass.
Ian Thompson
That's kind of the point. Kudos to Simmons for being able to manipulate your fucking biology through mere words
Asher King
Well lads I just submitted my first short story to a magazine. Good way to get distance between the first draft of my novel and the first readthrough/second draft.
Aaron Torres
I've only read Dune and Dune Messiah.
Dominic Wright
Wow, someone actually liked and emphatised with the characters in that book. Felt too YA and a bit cliche for that to me. Also, the death of Pax will be constantly reminded to you in the sequels. It wasn't inconsequential in the way that it continued to annoy me.
That said, the trilogy was an okay ride, despite the on-cue plot twists and the Gary Stu and muh wife's memory.
For a better colourtocratic dystopia check out Shades of Grey.
Oliver Collins
the latest guy gavriel kay novels are based on ancient china
Elijah Richardson
Estonian fantasy: The Man Who Spoke Snakish No translated science fiction I can name though.
Angel Collins
Those are probably the best books in the series, but in book 5 you'll get a deeper introduction to another zensunni faction.
Mason Foster
Going off of this, what would be the difference between scifi and speculative fiction? Would a published prefer speculative fiction be submitted to their scifi department?
Jayden Harris
Speculative fiction is a more appropriate label than sci-fi, after the success of Star Wars and Star Trek. Now, the meaning of the label is reduced, so whatever is sci-fi has to contain a narrow set of conventions, in order to satisfy readers who have equally narrow tastes.
The stress is on future technology and/or space. Theodore Sturgeon would hardly be considered now, with his tales of magic jewels, and telepathic orphans.
Eli Rivera
speculative fiction is, for now, a label with broader scope and less baggage
Matthew Bennett
Speculative Fiction is a more broader term IIRC that encompasses pretty much all fantasy, scifi, urban fantasy, historic fiction, supernatural horror, etc.
However the term is also used by authors who are writing something a bit different from the usual wizards and spaceships, since magical realism/slipstream stuff is less common and relatively unknown, and perhaps want to put their stuff in a more literary light.
Michael Ward
speculative fiction is to sci-fi what trekkers are to trekkies
Connor Thompson
Trudi Canavan's Age of Five is all about gods fucking around with humans
She's not a brilliant writer but I enjoy her for fun adventure books
James Richardson
Tad William's Shadowmarch series, kinda. Gods haven't been seen for a long time (at least a thousand years) but they are still very much real. Mostly all you see are a few demigods and other relatives of them.
Gavin King
Oof.
Thomas Gonzalez
truly a wtf am i reading moment
Daniel Lewis
I read 'Uprooted' thanks to the previous thread and it's this cute, light romantic fairy tale with comedic moments.
Every time the guy calling himself/called the Dragon appears it's quite hilarious because he's supposed to be this nigh undefeatable immortal wizard that everyone's scared of, but he's also the very stereotypical male tsundere (and constantly stuck in tsun tsun mode to boot - think high school anime) and spends the entire book flustered over the female protagonist and maintains that it's n-not because I like you b-baka (in quite the literal manner because idiot is one of his favourite words.)
>What are you doing, you idiot? >“Of course I’m keeping you out of the way, you idiot.” >Don’t you dare waste my time, you outrageous idiot
Jacob Cruz
Depends what the theme is here. China is a place and Islam is a religion.
Brody Davis
>Dragon is cute male tsundere Jesus this is accurate. Also I hope the author writes more like it.
Isaac Gonzalez
He had quite the sweet - dere dere - side too which was quite humorous during the plot shenanigans.
It's quite different in both tone and prose from Jemisin who quite clearly loves tragedy and suffering intermingled with 2deep4u.
Nathan Barnes
>interesting chapter sets up a load of stuff >next chapter opens with TWO YEARS LATER Fuck you Sherwood Smith
Joshua Sullivan
>next chapter opens with TWO YEARS LATER That's how it feels to be cucked by a book.
Ethan Baker
This guy sucks at writing but somehow I'm addicted.
Ethan Jenkins
I like the sub-plot in the newer books about the B-Team diplomats. Reminds me of the old "Retief of the CDT" series by Keith Laumer.
Jacob Hill
River of Gods was aite
Eli Campbell
Calling Hyperion and its sequel 'Islamic' or having notable Islamic content seems a little misleading to me. I don't remember it really well but Kassad didn't really seem to be religious.
It did have a lot of Bible and Judaism stuff because of that one dude (Rachel's father) and his entire question about giving Rachel up and its parallels to Abraham and his sons
Alexander Butler
It's really fucking strange that Simmons went from a pretty good depiction of a Muslim character in Hyperion, to a "RAGH! MUSLIMS!" meltdown with Ilium/Olympos.
Bentley Long
t's really fucking strange that Simmons went from a pretty good depiction of a Christian character in Hyperion, to a "THE POPE IS EVVVVVVUUUULLLLLLZ!" meltdown with Endymion.
Aaron Williams
I'm curious if there's any books like a higher-brow version of the Mass Effect atmosphere that you guys can recommend. Something focused more on conspiracies, corrupt corporatism, economics, drama, science horror, etc. but within that futuristic outer space setting. I have yet to read Dune, but I presume it touches upon this.
Cooper Cox
I'd be interested in this too
Lincoln Gonzalez
Pandora's Star + Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton is the closest I've gotten to it. cool universe but it suffers from (in my opinion) too many POV characters so it takes a while to grab you.
Adrian Hughes
Thanks.
Jason Edwards
>That part in Cryptonomicon where its that one guy's protracted account of his pantyhose fetish
Anthony Reyes
>awful Its one of the few works of alternate history not marred by Great Man fallacies or "If only X won the Y war" lost cause wank.
Jack Clark
Not *exactly* what you're askkng for, but Mass Effect is heavily based on Revelation Space
Wyatt Jackson
Reading the third book of WoT, and I have to say I'm getting really tired of Jordan spending paragraphs describing the appearances and backstories of characters who were already introduced in the previous books. Does he keep doing that throughout the rest of series?
Carter Peterson
>or "If only X won the Y war" lost cause wank.
"What if Hitler was a gay black woman who traveled back in time to lead the CSA to victory?" -by Harry Turtledove, introduction by S.M. Sterling
David Foster
How is The Emperor's Blades?
Dylan Rivera
First two books are pretty enjoyable.
Third book feels extremely rushed and nothing ends satisfyingly. Basically a mistake from start to finish.
That said, I really enjoyed the first two books, which is why I'm so salty over the ending.
Carson Baker
Can a Novel be done in third-person Limited and Omniscient?
John Johnson
Narrative dropped the f-bomb. Gave up. The f word is rude whether or not it's used in context xp, the author's treatment of the female characters in the novel left many things to be desired I literally do not give a shit about the average male main character, especially when the women are ill-used in the narrative in general. I disliked the objectification of women in this book. Every female in these pages is either a soldier or a prostitute, and is only there to serve the purposes of the men-characters in the plot. I have nothing against female soldiers, but those portrayed in this book are cookie-cutter, G.I. Jane types, which is not fair to the real women who serve in the Armed Forces.
I hoped this objectification would be different for Adaire, the princess and the only non-soldier/non-prostite female character, but even she ends up in some man's bed by the end. While the sexual content is not graphic, it is frequent and degrading from a female's perspective
Colton Hill
Cool, I'll give it a try, especially after 's review
Evan King
You should also try the reviews on goodreads
Anthony Cruz
Additionally, it's apparently as good as Brandon Sanderson and Patrick Rothfuss.
Carson Ramirez
>Talking shit about best girl Ha Lin
I will end you
Isaac Collins
Isn't that book edgy YA trash though?
Hudson Howard
Not particularly.
Jonathan Richardson
I've seen the similarities, but is that statement based in fact at all?
Colton Adams
Maybe he had a midlife crisis that converted him into an edgy New Atheist?
William Evans
That gets me pretty excited. Gonna move up the book in my backlog!
Nathaniel Anderson
started writing a "story" in my head while sitting on the toilet.
It was about a guy in first person narrating his visit to an abandoned keep on the edge of civilization. There weren't any ghosts or skeletons or monsters, just him exploring a pleasant ruin by himself.
It was kinda relaxing, I could almost feel that sort of "sun on your skin but it's really windy" sensation.
Dunno if I should try writing some of it, the first person was kinda erratic so I'll probably mess up what was in my head (which will fade away anyway). Anyone interested in a non-story about some guy poking around an old-ass structure?