/sffg/ - Science Fiction & Fantasy General

How does /sffg/ feel about William Hope Hodgeson and his novel House of the Borderlands, would you say it is pure dying Earth or proto? I've often heard that Dying Earth has two names attached to it; Jack Vance and Gene Wolfe, but I think Hodgeson's works echo some of it. Especially in things like Borderlands and The Night Lands.

>started reading Leviathan Wakes
>pretty fun, pulpy sci-fi
But my god. The whole "we switch between two peoples perspectives each chapter" can go fuck itself hard. I wouldn't mind it so much if it wasn't the worst kind of cliffhanger chapter ending every single fucking time.
>A fuckhueg space battle is just about to start. everything is exiting as fuck, torpedos launched, railguns railed and whatnot
>ok lets go back to Mr. Detective on station going through someones apartment for clues.
Fuck. right. off.

Other than that, I'm enjoying it.

I'm on the Severian fights MAGICMAN to protect Severian part of Sword of the Lictor. Berry fun series.

First two are great, third kinda goes off the deep end but the writing is still top notch. Just finished reading it last week, trying to decide if I should go Liveship traders next or skip right to tawny man

Here is the thread

...

I just started Chain of Dogs and I hear Coltain is supposed to be based. So far he seems okay.

Good trilogy for a newfag, these were literally the first fantasy books I read after LOTR many years ago.

QUICK. NAME THE FANTASY CLICHE YOU HATE THE MOST.

They're pretty good, but sometimes they like to hit you over the head with their themes.

As an aside, his books caused me to *hate* the Kindle collective highlights feature. You'd be shocked at how much simple conjecture and common sense gets lauded as the most profound thing since Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit.

Coltain is a bitch boy scrub Duikers the real OG

That's actually the impression I'm getting, seeing as Coltain was more impressed with Duiker than Duiker was with Coltain, and he's supposedly just a historian and he's some kind of Attila the Wickan.

Half elves

Two threads can cause mod intervention

Then ditch the thread that doesn't have /sffg/ in the title. This isn't rocket science. This user posted a better pic, too.

Nah. I use a filter to bump the general to the top of page 0 as long as it has the right keywords in its subject field, that one has no keywords so it didn't get bumped and I'm not gonna dig through the index/catalog to look for it every time I check this board. Next time don't fuck up your thread amigo.

The Commonwealth Saga. I can't recommend it highly enough.

>THE CHOSEN ONE
>THE ONE
>THE SAVIOUR
>THE CHOSEN SAVIOUR

>not using Thread Watcher

Lindybeige has an Interesting opinion to make half elfes halway decent again. Greanted his idea is supposed for RPGs but I think it translates just as well into fiction: youtube.com/watch?v=KGFXcTsLJlg

Fuck the other threat then. If you type sffg in the catalog this one comes up, the other doesn't. this one it is.

BIG BAD!
>Ok why does he want to destroy the Land?
>Because he is Evil!!!
>Ok yeah, but what's his gain in destroying all life that exist?
>SO HE CAN RULE THE LAND!!!!
>The dead land? With no one in it? why?
>Because he is so super evil!!!
>Does.. does he need corpses for necromancy?
>no.. He's just evil. Don't you get it? He's evil!
>Does he like.. want to prove a point at least? have some hidden gain? Stock in the "revitalize wastelands" company?
>Dude.. what are you not getting about being evil?
Unimaginative bad guys can fuck right the fuck off. If you have big evil in your story you damn well better make sure that he has some plan beyond his "plan for destruction" and a proper reason where one can go "yeah ok, It's a dick move and needs to be stopped but I can see how you would benefit from doing such a horrible thing"

It's not that different really. Angsty half-elves have been done.

D&D elves are a dead end. They're hardly even fey anymore.

saveversusallwands.blogspot.com/2016/06/ten-reasons-why-i-hate-drow.html
>Ideally, all elves should be dangerous, mysterious and somewhat creepy. Creating a new category of elves that are almost defined as such, effectively means that elves in general (all the other elves) will not be dangerous, mysterious and somewhat creepy.

Sexy sorcerers/assassins. The entire sexy male assassin subgenre should be purged with fire, only women and retards read it.

Also elves being oppressed.

Select all in pic related please.

>a proper reason where one can go "yeah ok, It's a dick move and needs to be stopped but I can see how you would benefit from doing such a horrible thing"
People do self-destructive things that they won't benefit from all the time.

the "all fantasy after Tolkien is riddled with cliches to the point where it's basically the D&D movie" cliche.

So you think "mwa ha ha I wanna rule the world" is a good motivation?

Why not? Ruling the world means you get all the world's taxes and all the world's manpower. Plus, there's all the prestige that goes along with becoming the god-emperor of fantasyland. It may not be "deep" or "complex", but it's definitely solid.

And really, the idea that a villain must be so deeply troubled with le super deep and sympathetic backstory is a shitty cliche in and of itself.

I didn't even say that, but yes. It's nowhere near a bad motivation, especially when there's limited space to spend on more important things.

Worked for Trump.

"mwahaha" is the only honest reason to rule the world. There isn't a valid reason otherwise; it's simply too much hassle.

Night Land is solidly dying earth, House is arguable.

Hi Sebastian

Enjoying it so far, completely blown away by level of smart bullshit, but what the fuck with Lynch's mommy issues? On one male character there are three females, incredibly capable of handling themselves. Sometimes it feels like I'm reading through femdom fanfiction.

Getting betrayed by your master or best friend.

What are some non-shit Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels with good characters who I can self insert into and escape my shitty life?

Nope, sorry

It's not about angst.Have you even watched the video? it's about making halfraces not "best of both worlds" superpeople. giving them a reason to be disliked by society and some serious flaws other than "oh you are not fully either but really you are better than either"

D&D has some serious flaws anyhow.
>imma use this dagger
>you can't
>why?
>It's not your weapon class
>It's a fucking dagger. You take it and you stick it into people
For fucks sake.

Yes I watched it, and I'm telling you it's been done before.

Nobody claimed it as an entirely new concept. Just something that's more interesting than the "spock" halfelves "Oh he looks exactly like on of theirs and most all his traits are identical but he's a half breed and thus different somehow but not really"

Currently reading The White Luck Warrior. Getting sort of tired of the over-elaborate prose, but the good moments have so far made it worth it.
Also, Tekne supremacy.

For me it goes something like this:

First trilogy is awesome. It is flawed in many ways however it feels personal. You can tell Bakker was passionate about what he wrote. You have many great scenes and moments that you don't get anywhere else also it's very "honest". Bakkker had as many rape,murder,torture etc scenes as he wanted without getting the feeling that the editors fucked him over.

Overall, amazing books, with Cnaiur being a badass , Proyas being a complete narcissist, Kellhus and his past, the emperor...there are many interesting and mysterious things if you are willing to give the series a chance ( and if you like these kinds of books)

Book 4 and 5 felt more subdued. They where better written in some ways and more coherent, it's obvious Bakker spent a lot of time on his craft...still it felt kinda fake. Like he sold out. Even so, if you are a fan of his style and the series there where plenty of interesting things happening. It just didn't pack the same punch as the first time.

Anyway, the Great ordeal is like the comeback. I have read all the books and while I loved them the first trilogy was a lot better in my mind. TGO is like Bakkers redemption ark. I feel like he said fuck it to the editors and others and went full Bakker. There are maybe 2-3 parts in the whole book where "full bakker" was too much but the good parts of the book overshadow those.

I was impressed. TGO hit me hard and it was just so masterfully done. I was afraid that this will be another Malazan where the ending was a major disappointment(still great but after all that hype I expected more).

I am much more optimistic now about the end book. Even so these books are in my top 5 series of all time. If bakker can mirror or even exceed TGO it will take the top spot for sure

>magic sword
>redheaded princesses

If you like that picture, and you liked the way that Clockwork Orange was written, you should read Riddley Walker.

Guys can anyone remember the name of that russian torrent site with an ass load of books?
Library something I think.

>farm boy "hero" still has all of his teeth

>jokes during fight
>sex in medieval environment is something clean and decent

Soldiers horsing around before battle is one of the best underused tropes.

People lose teeth these days mainly because of decay and that is caused by high sugar foods. There was less sugar in medieval times and faux-medieval so that actually makes sense.

What did you guys vote for?
goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-fantasy-books-2016
goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-science-fiction-books-2016

>reading books written in current year

>Implying I read more than one
lol

>reading books in current year

Why are you fags on lit if you don't even read?

I've seen someone else in other thread said he didn't read anything for the year, and someone else say they don't even read.

You seem to have misquoted me user.

gen.lib.rus.ec?

what's the most fun way you've described laser combat or seen it described?

A sheeting of planes of red from the walls for me, for infantry with lasrifles mounting a large offense from a wall. Or the whamping and the buzz, for a scene involving a more intimate of fire (one char with a sharpshooting rifle and another with just some small piece of junk)

Is this worth reading?

No

This trilogy is his weakest. Read House of Suns or Pushing Ice instead.

When blind men who are controlled by small men who are riding them were fighting the holy warrior virgins got shot by laser artilery in TBotNS,

Danke.

>tfw you;re finally making progress on your science fantasy story but then you realize the plot depends on you using a time travel mechanic that doesn't make sense

fuck!

How can time travel not make sense?

It's not that it doesn't make sense so much as it doesn't line up with my beliefs and the stance the the series. In terms of time travel I only believe in time loops since that's needed for a deterministic universe. However, the main character can see through time, which wouldn't be so bad except that the future changes when she wasn't looking at it.

I could address that with the fact that the entity responsible functions on the laws of quantum physics, but the entire point is that her own path has already been observed so it shouldn't have gone off the rails.

I just read Rendezvous with Rama in one sitting today and really enjoyed it. Should i bother reading the sequels? the reviews dont seem great

/sffg/, I have a character problem. One of my characters comes off as a flamboyant, manic industrialist, but is really a scheming psycho. What do I do with his secretly undead assistant? Make her cold and emotionless, or make her act like she's flirty and trance-like to make her eerie?

Foundation Trilogy

>cliche you hate the most

made up names and languages

Gateway by Pohl lol

I don't think so.

Post more about the role of the character, the tone you want to set about the book, etc. I don't think we have enough info to make a decision that would fit with what you want to do

The enemy gains complete power over the main character, and tries to deceive him and win him over to their side instead of eliminating him then and there

>tfw you can't come up with a decent inbetween adventure from

So stepping between branches of a parallel universe?

Fuck, phone posting.

It was meant to be.
>an inbetween adventure from would be hero meets heroine to they defeat the bad guy at the end.
Essentially I need a second act environmental survival arc that allows the two heroes to grow closer and trust one another.

the basic idea is she's someone he grew up with before she started to realize how fucked up he was at some point she died and he made a pact with an entity to gain the power bring her back, but said power was incomplete, and so she came hollow.

from there the version splits. Either as a zombie she's his thrall, in which case she's an actual threat, or she's not and recognizes he's dangerous, in which case she's secretly helping the person he's deceiving unlock their own powers.

In the former case, the entity who made the pact with him in the first place will aid the protag in her place, knowing that though he's bound by an unseen master to help the industrialist he fears that the pact may have been a mistake (note: this entity is not a demon, more of a neutral spirit)

I like the concepts you're working with. Hope you can manage to finish it.

I would - myself - go with cold and emotionless, ...
but an idea i thought of and liked is that of an otherwise "incomplete" version of her that was brought back. You wouldn't be able to tell this at first, you'd write her like any other minor character, but then as the story progressed, you'd subtly have her repeat the same few phrases and do the exact same actions over and over again, until a character gets a chance to have a one-on-one conversation with her and finds that she's "programmed" to say certain things and do certain things and can't think on her own. Like, she just doesn't respond to a lot of stimuli, and can get caught in infinite feedback loops because she doesn't have the intelligence to act on her own, she only exists to 'Appear' alive and functional to others.

I think if you could pull that off in a gradual and unsettling way it would be a pretty cool reveal. Just a thought. I like the idea of an apologetic spirit caught in a compact with the psycho

>tfw I have so little hope left for any original books that I'm reading little-known sequels to perfectly self-contained stories

I want to get into Moorcrock's stuff but I heard it is heavily bogged down in lore 90% of the time and you'd need to have known about his other heroes to fully enjoy references in other works, all I've got is The Prince in Scarlet Robe trilogy but where would you suggest I start?

I only read one book on the fantasy list so I didn't have much to choose from. Half the titles on there look like Twilight-tier dreck though.

>all this YA shit
>no bakker

Is Red Rising any good?
Is it worth reading?

How is bakker not YA shit?

It's YA.

All Fantasy is YA you mong.

Is an appendix in a fantasy novel a bad sign?

...

No, most Gene Wolfe books have an appendix

Exactly, his books are shit

It's excellent. The edgy first-person present tense writing style starts to feel natural after a while, and the pacing is way better than it should be.

Yes

>Gene Wolfe

It's YA. The edgy first-person present tense writing style keeps feeling edgy and the cheap backstory motivation of the main character never ceases to be repeated. The pacing is action packed but predictive at times, as when something good happens, something bad does not long after.

No

Is Gene Wolfe YA?