/sffg/ - Science Fiction & Fantasy General Thread

>kid being the usual waste of space to humanity
>why is a kid in a book annoying to an adult
>why should the ignorance of a kid piss me off
>I'm too stupid to understand they were a kid
>let me post about it every thread to notify everyone I'm stupid as fuck, and have no right to be reading books where comprehension and logical thinking is required
>*releases awesomeness*
>I did it again

nice pasta, but we need to make it longer

Whomever showed this summer reddite fags to spoiler needs to be put infront of a firing squad. And riddled with 1000 freedums a second.

I'm a few months away from finishing my low fantasy debut novel. It's not my first manuscript, but it is the first thing of mine that I want published once I've polished it. Assuming it finds a publisher, would it be valid to worry about unreasonable demands from editors? E.g. telling me to add sex scenes even though it's gratuitous and I hate writing (or even reading) smut.

I want the amish to leave

trips confirm amish should leave

you know you're humblebragging, right?

Do any of you have a particular story that you love? So you excitedly look up the author and read the rest of their shit only to find that one story was an exception and the rest are all beyond shit?

I just had that moment. Read something, loved it, looked them up and found everything else they've done is pure romance shit and smut. The one I liked was mostly bildungsroman with a little action/romance on the side. God their prose and humour was so fucking perfect too. Fucking women authors and their smut.

I enjoyed this book a lot. An alien being from planet 'Anthea' (probably Mars) lands on Earth, disguising himself as a human. He soon begins to amass a fortune by patenting the inventions of his more technologically advanced species; his ultimate aim being the salvation of his near-extinct race. The narrative follows his progress as he makes friends, and others become increasingly curious about him. Tevis has a way of writing that is effortless to read, a realist style with relatable characters, thoughtful allusions - Icarus and Rumplestiltzkin - and his dialogue rolls off the page. There's a lot in here about human nature; hedonistic, unthinking, capable of good and bad. The protag also seems to be a stand-in for the author. Anyway, it's among the best SF I've read, and doesn't feel at all dusty and irrelevant for being written in 1963.

>google it
>it's original
>i know feel stupid for calling it pasta

Sounds nice, will give it a try. When I googled it apparently there is a movie.
(Is every book a movie at some point?)

Yeah, sorry, I was just trying to give my question some context. I'll go flagellate myself now.

The David Bowie movie from 1974, yes. I haven't seen it, but Philip K Dick was apparently nuts about it - about a quarter of his Valis is a thinly veiled allusion to it. Although the movie is meant to have a very different tone, more surreal and dreamlike. I'll be seeing it for myself this weekend.

>anti-dinofag is reading a 1963 book
What?

>lmao Kellhus, we [the dunyain] have usurped the consult
>the inchiroi are byproducts of us from the future
>know that the tekne is logos, logos is tekne!
>behold the salvation the no god!
>Die Daddy!
>the second apocalypse begins for real

Now we wait for some years to know what happens next.

Has anybody read Rob Kroese?

>author self inserts himself into the novel as the main protagonist
>R on his space suit to boost his own ego

Hmmm ok
I more meant the entire putting on clothes and costumes etc, the whole "I remember taking away all the costumes"
a page before the death was a little WOWZA but hey it's still 10/10

Ender's Game
Scarlet Plague
Adam Roberts

So far I'm done with the first draft of my novel and while I do something else for 6 weeks to later go back and read it with a fresh mind, I had a couple of people read it. I've gotten mostly positive reactions, but a lot of them seem to get hung up on something.

You see, one of the characters who is a Vargr (A mind-magician that can take control of the animal they're connected with) finds himself in a situation that he can't get out of alive. Thus, before dying, he puts his mind in his companion animal and "survives".

Most of the people who have read it considers it somewhat awkward to have this wolf strutting about that only the Main Character and other Vargrs can understand.

What do you think based on this alone? Does it really sound that weird?

Does he fuck other wolves?
Sex questions are real

Hmmm ok
I more meant the entire putting on clothes and costumes etc, the whole "I remember taking away all the costumes"
a page before the death was a little WOWZA but hey it's still 10/10

What should I read next, /sffg/? These have all been friend's recommendations. I dislike the Vorkosigan books, loved dune and neuromancer, liked the others.

>ads
install an ad blocker you reatrd

Give me a book/collection just like tales of the dying earth, I don't feel like reading anything else

Based on Neuromancer you could try some PKD, who was sort of the precursor to cyberpunk with things like Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, or Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson which is a sort of exaggerated pastiche/parody of the genre. Not sure about Dune, I haven't found anything that similar and Herbert's other works are sort of underwhelming.

I actually like Nynaeve. She's literally the best tsundere I've ever read about.

Never read either but I heard Wolfe and BotNS etc is Vance-esc

Stross if you want some agressive cyberpunk
Blindsight if you want to join our Shilling Coalition

Iain M Banks, Ian McDonald, Bruce Sterling, Pat Cadigan, Michael Swanwick, Alastair Reynolds

feel like there's someone obvious I'm forgetting as well but fuck it

Is he exactly the same (personality/abilites) as before just in wolf form ? If so, then it might be a bit weird. These sorts of transformations could become more interesting when they bring about a serious conflict such as forgeting your old self or becoming too much wolflike.

Doesn't that necessitate a root?
I think I'll read PKD, he seems important to the genre, thank you
Which Stross novels senpai?
Could you specify your favorite novels of theirs?

For real though, what books of Egan's are neat?

adaway needs root, dns66 doesn't

What's some mythology that has never been used for a fantasy setting? Alternatively, what are some works based on rarely used mythology?

Anybody read Book Of Tongues by Gemma Files? Because I'm reading it right now and it's fucking amazing.
>Old West Preacher in the Civil War
>Gets Hanged
>Getting hanged gives him magic powers
>His lover is a blood-hungry gunslinger
>they drink absinth and kill people
>Crazy Aztec goddess wants to shake shit up
It's a straight fucking masterpiece and somebody needs to confirm this.

I don't think I've ever seen Babylonian fantasy. Biblical cultures in general are underused - Tim Powers' Anubis Gates is the only one that really springs to mind for Egypt. Pre-Islamic Persia is doing a bit better thanks to the Arabian Nights, and Mieville has picked up bits and pieces like khepri from Egypt or golems from Israel. Very little Eastern European either, I feel like there's scope for a really gruesome Baba Yaga book.

Iain M Banks: the Culture novels generally. Consider Phlebas is the first one and a pretty good starting point; I also personally like Excession a lot.

Ian McDonald: River of Gods

Bruce Sterling: Islands in the Net

Pat Cadigan: Tea From An Empty Cup

Michael Swanwick: Stations of the Tide

Alastair Reynolds: Revelation Space

there's hella Eastern European stuff, it's just usually more literary/fairy tale based and less the kind of Big Epic High Fantasy that certain people tend to focus on

Thanks senpai

Nynaeve is a very poor tsundere because she spends too much time on the tsun and not enough on the dere. Being a good tsundere is all about balancing the two.

How do you tell the story now that he has become the wolf? Does he think different? the novel forces the reader to put himself in the wolf's shoes? Or does he still think like a normal human?
Those are not question you have to answer here, just some that might make me feel weird if they aren't properly written.

New Black Company when?
Soldiers Live, mainly due to it's rather bitter ending disappointed me. I hate such endings.
I heard the author had plans for more books in the series

Book of the New Sun was rather good lads, I must say.

Guys where can a get an Unholy Consult epub or mobi?

B-ok.org

forum.mobilism.org/viewtopic.php?f=1293&t=2143244&hilit=the unholy consult

If I cant find some classic sci fi at my local library, should I buy it? I want to read Old Man's War and Arthur C. Clarke and a load of other authors, but usually I only find their lesser known works instead of the classics.

P I R A C Y

Reading on a screen is garbage, and I don't have an ebook or anything like that.

*Smooths Skirt*

You stole from too many stories. You'll get shredded.

>Reccing Consider Phlebas to a culture noob
The book is not only bad on its own terms, its a bad intro to the culture. Go for Player of Games as an intro instead.

Buy one.
It's much cheaper in the long run

You need to read more.

Japanese is over used (by the Japanese themselves)
Greek / Roman over used
Egyptian over used
Hindu over used
Chinese not so much but getting there
Norse over used
American Natives over used / underused
European over used as fuck
Steal from African countries, the Caribbean or South America

State of the art is a short story that shorthand explains the premise of what the culture is, I'd recommend that.

>there is no spurdo for Black Company
Someone make a croaker one. Make sure to mention soul catcher and lady.

I feel I can speak for everyone here in saying that an extensive personal collection is a must!

Hey /sffg/,
I'm wondering if you've got any advice. I recently started a project where I sit down and write every night. Just whatever starts to flow. I've noticed that I really like writing fantasy, and I've started shifting towards actually piecing together something that approaches an ongoing narrative about a young man in a "middle-earth" like setting who is just exploring and trying to chisel out an existence as a sword for hire. Good stuff!

My problem is, I notice that my writing becomes very static and formulaic at times. Like, I'll be writing about him wandering down the road and I get caught up in describing what feels like every step. I occasionally get out of this rut and have a few parts that actually read smoothly, but the rest of it is very "stiff".

How do I got about showing the world that surrounds my protagonist without getting caught up in explaining everything he encounters in a static fashion? (In particular, how do you do this in a "fantasy" or alien setting, where the reader may not be familiar with some of the concepts that are intrinsic to an unusual or unfamiliar world?

Orphans of Chaos

Don't know what that has to do with the post you quoted, but is that book worth a read?

This sounds familiar...

Don't write about middle earth unless it's for personal use. Tolkeinesque fantasy is the worst.

Also it sounds like you are a world building fag. Write your world, everything you want to describe, then have your protagonist explore it, animals inhabit it, people live in it.
If you want start small scale. Describe your room or basement in miniscule detail. Then have a mouse or ferret explore it. When you confident you got everything, write your orc territory stealth novel.

Where to start with Vance? Dying Earth? Is he influenced by any other writers?

Try the great dinosaurs. Pic related.

>death came swirling down

>tfw finished all 5 of the books in time
>tfw reading a 1000 page novel atm
>tfw can't meme with the best of them

Anyone know where I could get GW's Castle of Days (any format)?

It's real bad.

Foundation had some interesting ideas but the characters were thin and the plot just kind of meandered its way into the combined robots and empire universe. It didn't seem very focused and it was obvious he was making it up as he went.

What fantasy book has the most interesting non-human races?

I got one used for 30$, have read like 15 books on it since. Pays for itself senpai. Buy it used, lot of people buy them and never use them.

Interesting how?

Sci-fi set in the not so distant future with solid predictions? I liked the tech in rainbow's end but the plot felt flat.

In your own criteria, the one that most interested you.

Is this a joke or are you doing Jon Snow fanfiction without knowing it?

Honestly, the most interesting races I've seen were in H. Rider Haggard. They're all human, but Dutch, English, Portuguese, Bantu all have distinct national characters aside from their personalities; like how escaped slaves know that if they find Englishmen, odds are they'll be opposed to slavery. Of course there are exceptions to these national characters, but mostly it's played straight, rather seamlessly with their personalities whether they're heroes or villains.

State of the Art is also pretty weak as far as culture stories go, and while I enjoy Notes on the Culture it would probably come off as dry to someone unfamiliar with the series. There are solid arguments for all three of the starting books. Consider Phlebas is a great story that has weaknesses with pacing. Player of Games is more solid technically but lacks that first novel imagination. Use of Weapons combines the strong points of both, but then you're starting three in (not that there's anything to stop you from doing that). I tend to default to recommending release order.

Bas-Lag

Bakker has dickgirls

>Book of the New Sun was rather good lads, I must say.
Good lad

I got a copy from amazon (UK) a few weeks ago for £12.50 but now it's £17.99

You've done well user.

I have it as an EPUB which I got in an old and possibly dead torrent. This place should allow EPUB uploads, think of the amount of piracy we could get done.

I have a complete collection of Gene Wolfe's Solar Cycle works gathering dust somewhere on my hard drive that a kind ega/lit/arian uploaded here a few years ago, like way back in 2013 or so. Let me have a dig around.

Does it include Plan[e]t Engineering?

Not sure. Here's the README from that user.

And here is the file.

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:7bb0a89fed1286bf3ea158bae3d20fef006feaae&dn=SCCC-GW.zip&tr=http%3a%2f%2ft.nyaatracker.com%3a80%2fannounce&tr=http%3a%2f%2fretracker.mgts.by%3a80%2fannounce&tr=https%3a%2f%2fopen.kickasstracker.com%3a443%2fannounce&tr=http%3a%2f%2ftracker.tfile.co%3a80%2fannounce&tr=http%3a%2f%2ftracker.yoshi210.com%3a6969%2fannounce&tr=http%3a%2f%2ftracker.city9x.com%3a2710%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2fpackages.crunchbangplusplus.org%3a6969%2fannounce&tr=http%3a%2f%2fpt.lax.mx%3a80%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.opentrackr.org%3a1337%2fannounce&tr=http%3a%2f%2ftracker.tfile.me%3a80%2fannounce&tr=http%3a%2f%2fgrifon.info%3a80%2fannounce&tr=http%3a%2f%2fretracker.telecom.by%3a80%2fannounce&tr=http%3a%2f%2ftracker.torrentyorg.pl%3a80%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2foscar.reyesleon.xyz%3a6969%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2fthetracker.org%3a80%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.cyberia.is%3a6969%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.halfchub.club%3a6969%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.tiny-vps.com%3a6969%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.vanitycore.co%3a6969%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2fpublic.popcorn-tracker.org%3a6969%2fannounce&tr=http%3a%2f%2fretracker.bashtel.ru%3a80%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker2.christianbro.pw%3a6969%2fannounce&tr=http%3a%2f%2fasnet.pw%3a2710%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.acg.gg%3a2710%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.xku.tv%3a6969%2fannounce&tr=http%3a%2f%2fns349743.ip-91-121-106.eu%3a80%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2fzephir.monocul.us%3a6969%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.torrent.eu.org%3a451%2fannounce&tr=http%3a%2f%2ftracker.devil-torrents.pl%3a80%2fannounce&tr=http%3a%2f%2fretracker.spark-rostov.ru%3a80%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2fpeerfect.org%3a6969%2fannounce&tr=http%3a%2f%2fshare.camoe.cn%3a8080%2fannounce&tr=http%3a%2f%2ftracker.electro-torrent.pl%3a80%2fannounce&tr=http%3a%2f%2ftracker.tlm-project.org%3a6969%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.zer0day.to%3a1337%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.justseed.it%3a1337%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3a6969%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.cypherpunks.ru%3a6969%2fannounce&tr=http%3a%2f%2ftorrentsmd.eu%3a8080%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.swateam.org.uk%3a2710%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.doko.moe%3a6969%2fannounce&tr=http%3a%2f%2ftorrentsmd.com%3a8080%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.leechers-paradise.org%3a6969%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.christianbro.pw%3a6969%2fannounce&tr=http%3a%2f%2ftorrentsmd.me%3a8080%2fannounce&tr=https%3a%2f%2fopentracker-milanesi.rhcloud.com%3a443%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.tvunderground.org.ru%3a3218%2fannounce

Remember to thank kind anons that upload things like this in the first place. Not me, the original from years back.

>Being a good tsundere is all about balancing the two.
Hell no.

"That's woman's circle business"

I picked up Red Rising because a *lot* of the people at Worldbuilders were goofy over the books, and, by extension, the author Pierce Brown.

Earlier this year, when I went to a convention where he was going to be in attendance, the Worldbuilders team told me that if I didn't capture Pierce like a Pokemon and bring him back to the office with me, I shouldn't bother coming home at all....

I got to hang out with Pierce there, and he was irritatingly polite, witty, and charming. That, combined with the degree of slavering fanaticism the Worldbuilders team was showing him, convinced me that I should really give the books a try.

And I wasn't disappointed. They're good. In fact I'd go so far as to call them great books.

I suspect a lot of people compare them to Hunger Games, but I think that's disservice to he books. Red Rising has a much deeper, richer world, more in-depth characterization, and a more complex plot.

That said, if you *liked* Hunger Games but you wanted more of those things, this book would probably make you happy as a pig with six tits. (Yeah. I don't know what that means. I mean, pigs already have six. But I'm honestly curious if people actually read these reviews of mine all the way through. So this is an experiment of sorts to see who is paying attention.)

So yeah. Good characters. Good Worldbuilding. Good Action. Good book. Worth your time.

You realize that graph says exactly what I stated, idiot? The good tsundere has an exact 50/50 balance of tsun and dere split right down the middle.

So why don't you take your infographics and go back to /pol/ where you belong.

I think it refers to how there are usually a large number of piglets energetically trying to get at a tit so imagine how happy it would be to get them all to itself

>everyone I don't agree with is /pol/