/sffg/ - Science Fiction and Fantasy General

I'm about halfway through reading Roadside Picnic. Are the other books by the Strugatsky brothers also worth reading? The only work of theirs I ever see mentioned either here or any other literature websites is Roadside Picnic.

I enjoy Sanderson as basically a modern Pulp Novel writer. Sure his work isn't 100% amazing, but they are fun short reads, his Dialogue is getting leaps and fucking BOUNDS better with every book.

Why didn't you link to the other thread cunt?

I was trying to get rid of you.

You're trying too hard. I've felt that kind of thing before. Usually what ends up breaking it is a sudden whim to read a particular book. "I can;t decide on anything, but I could try this on for size" and it just goes from there.

>Should I read Count to a Trillion?

Did you read all three Golden Age books?

Anybody noticed how strangely similar the name Rick Deckard is to René Descartes?

No duh, it was the first thing I noticed.

I've been saying that for almost a year but my luck finally ran dry. I've spent the entire time re-reading the dresden files, and if I don't find anything new I'm probably re-reading the orphan's tales next

Re-reading is fine. Backtracking can be helpful to any thought process, including the intellectual project of being a reader.

You went where you did, and didn't know where to go, and now you are going back to see where you've been and where to go next. Makes a lot of sense if you think about it.

When I get like that I often take a break for another form of media (watch a TV series, read a comic book, or something) and then when I feel an urge to read again, I dive into as many suggestions as I can find and just start reading whatever catches even the slightest bit of interest first. Getting ebooks on the internet really helps with that.

What kind of ridiculous bullshit is this. Its easy to write all the time if it isn't fucking good.

You
Me
the sea~

> Its easy to write all the time if it isn't fucking good.

then why is it hard for me

Hard to be a God is fantastic

i just finished 'the stars my destination' and wtf happened at the end? i was really enjoying it until the last 40 pages.

What's the best China Mieville book to start with?

A good writer

Probably that one, or New Paris (haven't got to it yet myself, but anons seemed pretty positive and it's short).

You have standards?

Could be two things, you are apprehensive to actually try and publish bullshit, and though you say you want to, you don't really or it could be that you are possibly insecure like me and don't finish anything. Anyway good luck.

Sounds good, thanks. According to the synopsis, though, it's part of a shared universe with most of the other Strugatsky books. I won't have to read the rest of them, right? It's a standalone novel that just happens to share a universe with the other books?

He went "some men just want to see the world burn" with the PyrE, then with his super jaunting powers travels the stars looking for interesting shit and also chilling with the cargo cult from time to time.

Forging Zero

I read two of the books a couple of years ago and enjoyed them. However, I was much younger back then and my tastes have changed. Has anyone recently read them and can comment on whether or not I'd enjoy them if I hate YA books.

Look at this fucking pleb lads.
He probably only reads autistic fantasy.

Books that make you excited about the future?

The Culture series by Ian M Banks.

Culture utopia best utopia

How's A Darker Shade of Magic?

That one and Embassytown are my favourites. Just pick whichever one you feel like you'll enjoy more.

>time for the hate

Hopefully this will be the last time you see this version. I read a few books that I wanted to see if I should put them in, and feel like it's time for an update.

Hopefully you die in a car accident.

Can anyone recommend a scifi book, or series, that tackles the science of life away from Earth?

I'd prefer if it was set on the moon, or Mars, and not in a very distant place. I'd like to read something that tackles the engineering of colonies, the cultivation of agriculture, and even the psychology of living so far away from where you were born.

Already was in one a few years ago(got hit by a car) walked with with a few scratches.

>Veeky Forums has gotten to the point where the genre shits are more willing to praise this hack then mock him relentlessly

You're living on borrowed time, boy.

That's because his books are very enjoyable and surprisingly don't feel as pretentious as you'd expect.

I'm going to write a high urban science fantasy superhero epic and it'll be published by 2025.

Perdido Street Station

I want more writers like him. Not personally but style wise.

Not as pretentious and boring as Wolfe, but also not as plain as Sanderson. Good middle ground.

>praise this hack then mock him relentlessly
No, you have it backwards. We mocked him relentlessly, then we praised him.

Why do you keep reading Sanderson if you hate him so much?

Anyone here read "Random Acts of Senseless Violence" by Jack Womack?

Why did you prove my point for me

Isn't he a far-right loon who constantly preaches in his books? Isn't everything he writes completely florid and purple?

What point, that you have brain damage?

You could try this. It's mostly set/dwells on people living between Ceres and Saturn, and the way they've adapted their culture and biology to living so far from Earth. However, your mileage may vary depending on your tolerance for certain tropes which pop-up in the last-third and are out of tone with the first four-hundred pages. The sequels are okay too, but with less focus and more 'monster of the week' vibe about them.

Tag

"Red Mars" by Kim Stanley Robinson is the first of a trilogy set on Mars. It's focus is more terraforming than colony outpost though.

Absolutely great, a forgotten gem, very much like a darker Robocop comic, a child of its time (early 80s). I've recommended it to quite a few people and everybody loved it. The Elvissey books are all fun to read, even though they're all way over the top.

I was mostly pointing out that you used 'then' when you should have used 'than.' Oh no, how embarrassing for you.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

>It's focus is more terraforming than colony outpost though.
Also fine with me.

I just want to see how different authors tackle the science of "life abroad" space style.

Military and/or civilian are both welcome and appreciated.

Not me, I will always mock him. My way of remembering when Veeky Forums had actual taste.

yes and yes.

>military life away from Earth

If you haven't already, read Forever War.

Good to hear! Bought it just yesterday, I'll move it to the top of my to-read pile. The SF Masterworks are pretty great for bringing more obscure books back

Seconded. Forever War is the best military sf book by far

For me it will always be tied with Starship Troopers. They're both so good I can't decide which one I like best.

Alright /sff/, let's try something.

Recommend others a book you want them to read but with one condition: it can't be a book that was mentioned even once in the last dozen threads.

Red rising

Alright...Bring the Jubilee, by Ward Moore. I'm confident that wasn't mentioned

Easily "Finch" by Jeff VanDerMeer. I'm probably the only user in this thread who has read that and it's a shame because urban fantasy has a reputation for being shit and this book actually does it right.

Meant to reply to

I've read it, I just re-read it not a week ago.

>i want obscure books but no one responds to me with what I want when I ask plainly
>i know, Veeky Forums are a bunch of idiots who can't read in between the lines
>I'll trick them into suggesting obscure books for me
Might have worked on /v/ (where you are probably from), but not here in sffg.

I'm hearing more and more about Vandermeer lately. Finch, his short story book thing and Southern Reach trilogy. All of their short descriptions sound quite interesting, I think I'll finally check him out.

autism

The feels when Finch has to kill his best friend because he's too far gone with the fungi infestation. That hit me hard.

I finally got yall fossil fags measure.
You don't want fun books ("kiddie prose" as you call it) you want books that have hidden political, and socioeconomic messages strewn throughout all the pages.

You want books that preach conservatism, and humanity divided. You want books with the faux Christianity prevailing over all other, and enslaving the populace to a new world order.

Fuck all of you.

Shit book fuck off

Doesn't mean it's not true

Fuck off frog poster

I find it funny how you have created this "fossil fag" boogeyman in your head and you keep tilting against this particular windmill

All this because you fail to realize the simple concept that we like good books regardless of their age.

No, he actually doesn't preach much, even if Golden Age has a clear political line.
Large swathes of "fossil" science fiction and fantasy is leftist. The only conservative authors that I know are Wolfe, Chesterton, Lewis, Tolkien. Peake, Dick, Le Guin, Lem and others are left leaning.
But, yes, I want this en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributism
It was even largely developed by Chesterton, even if Belloc is the superior philosopher.

Try Whose Justice? Which Rationality? by Alasdair MacIntyre.

>Philip K Dick
>left leaning

This guy wrote to the FBI because he though "Stanislaw Lem" was actually not a single person but a group of Sovietic masterminds.

Wolfe is conservative?

How could you not mention Heinlein, the most famous conservative Scifi author

But yes, in general scifi and fantasy is leftist. That's because the majority of artists are leftist, in practically every genre or field. I wonder what that says about conservatives...

Heinlein's political beliefs can hardly be summarized by a simple "he was conservative", it was a lot more nuanced than that.

>reading comprehension

anyone hyped for worm 2? It should be starting within the next month or two.

tfw a webserial with average writing completely btfos every other take on superheroes out of the fucking water

>Wolfe is conservative?
Oh yes. Book of the New Sun is very political, in a sense where it's clearly inspired by Aquinas' political philosophy, as well as metaphysics. In short, it's catholic.
>How could you not mention Heinlein, the most famous conservative Scifi author
Because he's shit and his conservatism is just militarism which is really, really dumb. Assuming Starship troopers wasn't 100% ironic.
>But yes, in general scifi and fantasy is leftist. That's because the majority of artists are leftist, in practically every genre or field.
As far as quality artists go, I can't say that's the case. In recent years, sure. Historically? Not so much. Even now I'd say it's close.
>I wonder what that says about conservatives...
Nothing, because the amount of quality conservative authors in literature and philosophy and science fiction and fantasy that stand out as giants of the respective field is extremely high. If we stick to sff alone, they dominate it.
And that makes him be any less of a druggie anarchist mystic any less?

Wasn't that when he was really insane?

In any case, I don't really think he had consistent politics.

It's really not. Other than free-love, he embodied and supported most conservative ideas.

>Because he's shit and his conservatism is just militarism which is really, really dumb. Assuming Starship troopers wasn't 100% ironic.
Dumb conservatism is still conservatism. And there wasn't a shred of intended irony in Starship Troopers.
>As far as quality artists go, I can't say that's the case. In recent years, sure. Historically? Not so much. Even now I'd say it's close.
Quality is pretty much irrelevant. Of course I mean recently. Are you going to claim with a straight face that even close to half of musicians are conservative, for example? It isn't close. Same with authors.
>Nothing, because the amount of quality conservative authors in literature and philosophy and science fiction and fantasy that stand out as giants of the respective field is extremely high
Maybe if we exclude the last century, but clearly that's what we're discussing here.

its ok shitchart user

Anyone here read this and if so any similar books they would recommend?

>YA
Please leave

>Dumb conservatism is still conservatism. And there wasn't a shred of intended irony in Starship Troopers.
I don't want to include him for the same reason I don't want to include J. K. Rowling. Championing crap for the political opposition just means you want to argue the worst instead of the best.
>Quality is pretty much irrelevant. Of course I mean recently. Are you going to claim with a straight face that even close to half of musicians are conservative, for example? It isn't close. Same with authors.
I don't know about musicians, probably not.
About authors? Plenty are as far as quality goes and I think that's important. Who cares about the YA feminist authors? I don't see why anyone should care about nameless shit authors.
>Maybe if we exclude the last century, but clearly that's what we're discussing here.
Why would we exclude the last century? Last century is full of amazing and plentiful conservative authors, the only way to avoid them is to do so intentionally.

Didn't worm end in a way that completely defies any attempt to do a sequel?

>YA
Forgive me if I'm wrong but the general is fantasy right, or does YA stand for something else, completely new to Veeky Forums

>"It was wonderful," Sarene replied. "However, there is one thing I have looked forward to even more than my wedding."

>Raoden raised an eyebrow.

>She smiled mischievously. "The wedding night."

Fucking dropped. what a slut

you guys told me sanderson's characters were pure

"young adult" books.

Or maybe it's just that a lot of conservative SF/Fantasy authors are able to keep their political views separate from their works.

Regardless, one should hardly be surprised or shocked to find that a genre of writing fantastic tales of the future or magical lands to be populated by authors with progressive viewpoints.

>Heinlein, the most famous conservative Scifi author

I think Heinlein ended up "conservative" by virtue of his views not changing much over time. You start out with the wildly futuristic "lunar society is mixed race and poly" and "the main character isn't white" in the 50s, but by the time he dies this is just "grandpa is being creepy again".

Oh I see, I suppose that's correct, but I'm not a very good reader so It was a nice easy read

...

people on Veeky Forums who read YA were just awkward in high school and want to relive their lost childhood and vicariously experience teenage romance

what do you have against that