/lit/ - Literature

sffg april nom CAPTCHA EDITION: https://www.strawpoll.me/19644510
redoing the poll because previous looked vote manipulated

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHhgJQ4INpw

BIRDBOI
I MISS YOUUUUUUU

Is there a such thing as infidelity/NTR done right? Every single instance I see it used, it just seems like it's used for either cheap shock value or an easy way to create conflict.

>>14976573
Finished. Can't believe I didn't put "/ic/ memes for R'lyeh" on the bingo card, what an obvious oversight.

Interesting concept, too many characters to do them justice and therefore lots of shallow plots for each of them instead of one good plot, asspull ending. At least it was better than Broken Earth, which was all high-concept worldbuilding but no plot, but I prefer Inheritance and Dreamblood, which had a better balance of plot, cast, and worldbuilding.

Staten Island deserved better.

>>14978907
>n.k. jemisin
why would you subject yourself to her shit?

>>14978963
I liked Inheritance and I keep hoping the magic will come back.

>>14978705
Did those bird masks actually do anything?

>author has the neet protagonist go ge5 a job so he can pay to win

>how do I into comics?
shit seems expensive and hard to come by but I want to read Spawn

>>14979049
They were based around the theory that disease spread by inhaling bad smells, the beaks were there because they were stuffed with what was basically potpourri. So no they did nothing directly.
However plague did spread by flea bites so being covered up might stop them a bit but only if the costume itself was entirely clean and deloused which wasn't something done with any real regularity.

>>14979074
> expensive
you can download anything worth reading

>>14979205
>reading electronic documents

>>14978522
>Mention My Name in Atlantis by John Jakes
sounds crazy but i'm up for it. thanks

>>14979205
there's plenty that hasn't been digitized

>>14979074

Image are the only good publisher at the moment. DC had it right at the start of Rebirth but fucked it up somewhere.

Yo anyone got any stories with ai gf's?

I want to start reading the Wold Newton stuff by Philip Jose Farmer but apparently Tarzan Alive is one of rarest books to pirate in the history of the internet. I've found torrents with every other book he wrote except for that. Mobilism, b-ok, same thing every book BUT THIS ONE. Not even on scribd. I might have to finally learn to use irc.

>>14979614
the one copy on #ebooks is a pdf that doesn't open so maybe you'll just have to buy this one anon

>>14979606
The long way to a small angry planet has one
but the book is a) not that good and b) exactly the sort of thing posters here who get mad about stuff like pronoun usage would hate so probably not for you

>>14979711
>The long way to a small angry planet
sorry i don't read anything written by women

>tfw the people in your writing group act like they like your book, but you cant tell if they're being nice or just have bad taste

>>14979369
>there's plenty that hasn't been digitized
nope. a few years back there was an autistic collector that literally got things from the 40s and onwards, from several different countries and languages and digitized everything. then leaked it to the internet.
you can still find it by googling "the one and only golden comics collection" or something similar like that. its about 1.2 TB of comics of everything from before 2000. and i mean absolutely everything. heck go and ask /co/ they probably have it.

>>14979711
The sequel, A Closed and Common Orbit, is more specifically about a AI that's become self aware shacking up with with a human.

There's also Murderbot which is about a AI but not a gf.

Internet Archive does digital lending of books where they were supposed to have a limited number of digital copies but have made it unlimited, leading people to call them a piracy website. Thoughts?

http://blog.archive.org/2020/03/27/the-fantasy-books-that-inspired-dungeons-dragons/

BAEN free library has been a treat during this time of social distancing. The Tom Kratman stuff especially is like a long form low IQ shitpost:

https://www.baen.com/allbooks/category/index/id/2012

>>14979074
If you don't have access to the comics, watch the animated series. Live action movie optional and also very, very badly done.

>>14978846
Imajica by Clive Barker has a main character whose cheating is a manifestation of misogyny. He overcomes this character flaw by hooking up with a pansexual magical creature that turns into a gay black man just for him, before going to the story's portal world to humble himself before feminist goddesses and help abolish a patriarchal conspiracy to control the world.

>>14979991
Apparently you have to have to register with Internet Archive to access them. I didn't even know the Internet Archive had accounts.
Can you download a borrowed book? I assume not, since it's only borrowed.

>>14980189
Basically it's the same thing as downloading a book from a public library. You get it for two weeks and then they pull your access.

>>14979003
>I liked Inheritance
The third book shouldn't have been written.
It took a decade for the audiobook to be made it was so bad.

>>14979852
>everything from before 2000. and i mean absolutely everything
Autism is a hell of a dru..condition

>>14980160
That sounds stupid as fuck. Man, seeing some of the shit that's published out there really boosts my own confidence as a writer.

times are so fucking depressing. I wish I could go outside, see friends, go to restaurants. i'm at home and I don't want to do anything that I can do here

>>14980200
I get that, but before I make an account with the Internet Archive just to read books, I'm gonna check if there is a way to download the book. I like having a copy of all books I've read, even if it's just a pdf or epub in my external HD.

>>14980499
An hero, then. I heard many people are having ipods at their tombstones recently.

Rec me any fantasy with unwilling heroes.

>>14979074
i'm gonna spoonfed since i'm quarantined and bored
>https://getcomics.info/other-comics/spawn-origins-collection-vol-1-7-2010-2014/

are there any scifi books like this album?

>>14978705
Are Jerry Pournelle's stories fun BAEN schlock?

>>14980895
I want pucci, will you be kind enough to give me yours?

>>14980917
ask butters, she likes showing her coochie

>>14980915
>baen
Why does he wear the space marine mask?
Since he took half of it off is he going to die?

>>14980925
Who is butters? Oh butterfly? Isn't that a man? The trip was accidental years ago, I used to post as butters too until I lost it and it wasn't fun anymore.

>>14979003
It's never going to come back man. The entire print SF industry jerkcircle is going to tongue her fat asshole no matter what she writes because she's the Designated BLACK Woman. Excessive acclaim has ruined plenty of other writers.

>>14980943
I will never become as racialist and condescending as liberals no matter how hard I try.
>Omg, look people a female ape that can write, it's the eight wonder of the world! Wow, she can even spell! *claps* Let's give her a headpat in the form of a prize.
How can I compete with people who think it's cute that a sheboon writer even exists? That will line up and kiss her ass for nothing, because that's what their religion tells them to.

>>14980971
>t. triggered

>>14981024
No, I'm legit in awe, I don't much like niggers but I just have never looked down on them to that extent. Maybe I should larp a liberal to get away with that sort of thing.

>*Ahem* We need more poor and stupid black women of discoloration in SFFG, they are very lazy and always get bad grades in school, their scribbles are barely readable, so let's do the humane thing and simply publish a few of them even though they are such miserable creatures. To be even more fair to them let's pick the name out of a hat.
>*audience claps and cheers as the presenter takes a paper out of a hat that has been put in the middle of the stage*
>And the next big SFFG writer is... Pasheequa Mombasa.
>*A fat blind old black lady in a wheelchair is airlifted onto the stage, the audience explodes in aggressive clapping and whistles, many shout and chant, the jews in the audience start punching the white sections of it in the face and the anthem of Uganda starts playing*
>I award you all awards and pre-emptively give you the mark of a New York Bestseller for being the most diverse writer of them all.
>*a single tear runs down the cheek of the presenter, the audience goes insane and start to bite and stab one another as they scream praises to the dark mother, blood starts to fill the floor and the cacophony gets worse and worse until the lights in the buildings go out with a bang*
>Finally we have reached peak diversity.

>>14978705
>La plaguetti is upon us!
Italians are such drama queens

>>14978705
sanderson is a hack

>>14980915
His books with Larry Niven are kino.

>Lucifer's Hammer
>The Mote in God's Eye
>Footfall

>>14981208
More like just throw awards at some black woman who,paid a white man to ghost write a story for her

>>14981208
an artful strawman you've constructed there, moshe.

>>14979074
Well... read Watchmen by Alan Moore. And if you like that, Moore wrote a bunch of other comics that are almost as good. I've actually never read Spawn, truth be told.

>>14979991
from what I saw the author actually moaning about it was a hack who writes star wars stuff for disney
probably felt he had to attack it given everything his employers have done to ruin copyright law in the past century

>>14980912
If there exists anything that is as beautifully written as the interlude of the 'Waltz of the 101st Lightborne', I would order it in a heartbeat.

>>14980912
hyperion maybe? i feel like it deals with some of the same concepts.

>>14980246
Well a lot of books sound stupid as fuck when you condense them to a single sentence.

I need something comfy, is The Knight what I need?

>>14979140
>They were based around the theory that disease spread by inhaling bad smells
For people ignorant of germs that was a pretty good theory.

Fuck E William Brown

>>14981208
>writes all that out
>thinks he's not triggered
Topwewladdie.epub

>>14980246
Fun story and some interesting characters outside of the MC and Pie'oh'Pah (a pansexual magical creature that turns into a gay black man).
Judith, Oscar, the Auturch, and various side characters range from decent to good characters

>>14980915
Yes.

>>14982528
Kind of, but it also has great cosmology and a thought-provoking frame to the story. Makes it hard to say if it's comfy or tragic.

This lust older lady is Lois McMaster Bujold. The author of Curse of Chalion.
Curse of Chalion is a story were young ladies are attended on by an experienced rugged older man. The man is knowing, the man is wise, the man is strong, the man is powerful. He's also broken in a a way, but not so much so that he becomes useless. Only enough so that he appears life-lived and well travelled. He's patient and he listens, but also he teaches and he knows better.

This is a book written by a woman who really loves men. Not boys. But MEN.
Throughout the entire length of the book, you are told of the main character's many experiences and accomplishments and failures. Done in such a way, as to make him appear as this interestingly rugged figure: Cazaril. Who is in his mid thirties. And then he's put in charge of these two teenage princesses. Teaching them, grooming them. Making them ready for the world.

And somehow it ends up being a great story.(So thanks to whoever recommended it me)

>>14982864
I actually finished the main three books in the Curse of Chalion series. Called "World of the Five Gods".
All three books are very much the same in theme. Well travelled, road worn noble men, teach women about life. In the second book, the roles are reversed, where instead of a middle aged man looking after two young princesses, you have a middle aged woman, looking after two older princes. But it's more or less the same.

Ista, the main character of the second book is older and he's a mother, but still, she was sheltered almost her whole life due to very irregular circumstances in her past. So her story starts with her finally breaking out of her sheltered existence and doing some travelling. Where she ends up meeting the two princes. And they teach her how to "live, laugh, love" again so to speak.

Again, somehow she turns her lusty fantasies of daddy replacements into a very compelling story. I don't know how she does it.

>>14982985
>I don't know how she does it.
I've only read the first one but it's the depth of her characterization. They're actual people instead of tropes

>>14983063
I know. I was just say "I don't know how she does it" in a joking way.

Are there any comfy fantasy novels with the topic of marriage and/or family in it?

I would like a pleasant book to read while online college classes rain on me.

How do I write fantasy without it being so similar to something like LOTR or ISOIAF? Every idea I have seems so similar to something I've read after thinking about it for a while.

>>14983191
Base your work on something else, read more than just SFFG, expand your horizons. Once you have something original to say you'll know, because you will be looking for something like that to read and not find it. Diving into myth and the esoteric is a great inspiration for instance.

>>14982864
M-mommy

Still searching for a novel I read in highschool more than a decade ago.

MC is a man in a dying tribe who are one of many different sentient species who hunt each other to eat. I think meat is their only food source. He ends up on a journey of course and encounters many hostile races. Its post apocalyptic sort of setting with dilapidated cities.

I remember a satellite crashing, a journey on a river of carnivorous aquatic folk, a skeleton-esque race with maybe four arms that they eat and tastes "sweet". I believe the ending is the MC saving his love interest by sending her off world in an escape pod and it turns out the whole thing is either a reality show or how the various races of the universe settle disputes/wars.

It's not Acts of Caine as I've read that as well.

>>14982985
The third book is much like the first two. The main character Ingrey is an experienced, rugged nobel man, who happens upon a younger nobel woman, and becomes her protector and teacher. But also, he's a danger to her for reasons I don't want to spoil. So there's that added layer of dangerous older daddy replacement. Though, admittedly, there is more parity between He and Her in this story. But he's still way more experienced and stronger than she is. So she relies on him.

I'm really harping on this whole older male thing, because I don't think something like this would normally get talked about. Everyone would let it slide, in order to talk about the other aspects of the book. Too uncomfortable to highlight what I believe to be a form of lust, woven throughout the entire series. The "lust" aspect is not a large portion of the content. Rather, it is a small amount, that adds a lot of flavor throughout it all. Like a vanilla extract.

>>14982623
Can you stfu already? You are getting as annoying as the Sanderson spammer.

>>14982640
Imajica was shit, and you should be ashamed to be trying and memeing someone else into reading it.

>>14982864
>Lois McMaster Bujold.
She's 70. I've been on a porn binge of older women being stuffed by young cock. It surprising how much older women(50+) are willing to take dick on amateur camera. I guess a lot of boomers would be holding their chests if they saw mom in a porno. Or zoomers scarred seeing grandma rammed into oblivion.

>>14983130
>>>/pol/marriage is sacred

>>14983264
It's a long shot. Try this
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9002.Reality_Show_Themed_Novels

Holy based?

>>14983510
What's based? That you're a filthy phonefag? No,that is not based, you fucking normie. kys

>>14979606
Not a book, but the entire Halo series revolves around a 40 year old virgin trying to get into a cute AI’s pants. Would wholeheartedly recommend.

>>14983130
Raven's Shadow by Patricia Briggs
Sunrunner series by Melanie Rawn
Dragonsbane - Barbara Hambly
The Night Land and King of Elfland's Daughter for marriage

>>14983599
>I’m so cool look what device I post from

>>14983510
>lol he said something offensive, so naughty
>"So based!"
When will this low IQ edgelord meme die?

>>14983847
Niggers are rather offensive but I don't think naming your cat Nigger Man is particularly cruel to the animal, it likely never had the misfortune to meet one nor does it know what it means.

What are some good books with exotic, well thought out ecosystems? stuff like weird life cycles, parasites, co-dependencies, etc. and peoples relationship with them. Ive read Dune and pic related and im looking for something that scratches that same itch

>>14983887
Southern Reach trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer. Gets into the weeds of speculative evolution with the theme of how nature could evolve to reject human influence.

>>14983847
t. negrophile

Is this series really as good as people say? The cover looks so fucking bad

>>14984060
It's probably horrible.

Continuing my Journey into fantasy and science fiction. I'm thinking about going further into Lois McMaster Bujold's works. However, if you have a recommendation that you insist is really good, then I'll do yours instead. All I ask is that the characters are good.
Here's what I've read so far:

Finished:
Dune**, Licanius Trilogy*, The First Law, The Broken Earth*, Memory Sorrow and Thorn*, The Wheel of Time**, Nightflyers*, Book of the Ancestor*, A Memory Called Empire*, The Curse of Chalion 1-3*

Ongoing:
Cradle(Will Wight)**, A Song of Ice and Fire**, Borne(chapter 33)

Skipping:
The Prince of Nothing, The Book of the New Sun, The Black Company, Malazan, The Song of the Shattered Sands

*liked
**liked a lot

>>14984144
The Gray House by Petrosyan

Want to get into reading horror. Any reccs?

>>14984144
>Skipping
>The Book of the New Sun

>>14984168
The audiobook sample sounds bad. I only listen on audiobook, because I need my eyes and hands for other things.

>>14984209
What? I don't even remember why I skipped it. That could be the one I thought sucked. or it could be the one with the bad audiobook narration.

>>14984270
Just read you fucking faggot.

>>14984277
Make me.

What are some good books heavily featuring deep woods, maybe even something like a "fantasy survivalism" story if such a thing exists.

>>14983734
I smell another phonefag.

>>14984297
Lotr

>>14984144

Circe

>>14984172
Ringu

>>14984144
Wait.. Are you the fag that "can't read books if there is too much to choose from"?
What about the charts I gave you?

>>14979606
I do. Give me an email and I’ll send you a copy

>>14984297
robert holdstock

>>14984270
>That could be the one I thought sucked. or it could be the one with the bad audiobook narration.
There are two botns. There was one done ages (decades) ago that was "ripped" from cassette at 32kbps. Then there was one that redone recently by syfy audio. Get the recent one if you can't make yourself go through the cassette one.

>>14984418
What about Robert Givestock?

>>14984363
Is Circe good? I mean, you're not just lobbing out lazy recommendations, are you? You stand by it? What are your thoughts?

>>14984378
Yeah, that's me. I alright forgot about that chart. Was I supposed to save it? Because I didn't save it.

>>14984430
Nice guy. He gave me 1000 shares of AAPL because I got dubs.

/sffg/, how close does a character have to be to another in order to be a ripoff?

>>14984419
Is this the recent version? https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Torturer-Book-New-Sun/dp/B0033ZP7JS
Because if it is, then I probably skipped this one due to the narration. Too whispery. Maybe the cassette is actually better. I mean, the actor is probably better, not the audio quality. I'll have to find it.

>>14984448
>Was I supposed to save it?
No. But you complained that you had too much to choose from.

>>14984530
Doesn't matter, what does matter is that if you are ripping off another character the thing that makes him/her good will get lost since you aren't coming from where the author that wrote that character did. It will likely end up as a poor photocopy instead of something as lively and good as the original.

>>14984060
Gladstone is consistently good but rarely compelling from what I've read of him if that makes any sense at all.

>>14984560
Yeah, seeing a lot of options before me, puts me in a paralyzed state of indecision. It sucks.
I have no way of determining which book to pick over another. So I just cycle through the decisions endlessly. Only breaking the cycle by ignoring all choices.

>>14984144
If you liked a Memory Called Empire you'll absolutely like Bujold's scifi, it cribs pretty heavily from her

>>14984600
charts are objectively bad. there's absolutely nothing to go on except for one version of the book cover

>>14984576
honestly, im not sure that's a problem. one thing that bothers me the most about literary characters is that personality-wise most of them dont have a personality. oh, sure the writer may have had one in mind, but in trying to make their character a real person, you run into the issue that real people - even real people in story-worthy circumstances - are pretty generic, boring and unmemorable because all their traits are subtle. flattening and flanderizing in a way give a character more depth rather than less, because it exposes parts of them that would otherwise be unrecoverable from the original text

basically, id rather have an archetype than person

>>14984693
Depends on the type of story, going with a gimmick and such can work fine if it's not about the drama between characters and the like. The more you go into the characters the more complex and nuanced you want them to be though, but never flat and uninteresting.

>>14979991
>((limited)) digital copies
that's a yikes from me

>>14984693
Honestly having this problem with Latro In The Mist, the idea is cool but most the characters are so flat you barely remember who's who. It says a lot when the only characters who doesn't have any dialogue and is 90% of the time known only as "the black man" seems to have just a little more personality than everyone else.

I'm looking for science fiction or fantasy written in exceptional prose, something very poetic or otherwise unique in style. I liked Gormenghast for example, though I'm more interested in something more contemporary and falling short as all modern fantasy seems to opt for ease of reading and too much exposition. Any recommendations?

(absolutely no rothfuck allowed)

William D Arand got taken by corona chan.
He got a book coming out on April 7th and he hasn't updated to say anything about it as yet.

>>14984897
One thing I really liked about Deathless was that the whole thing read like an old school fairy tale, might be something you'd be interested in.

>>14984949

Hey, thanks for the recommendation! I actually read this and quite enjoyed most of it, even though I found that it stretched for a bit and lost some interest particularly in the latter half of the book. The beginning was laid out very interestingly, and the writing style certainly stood out.

>>14984905
All authors will die first because they like to do book signings and conventions. There will be no new books published.
Prepare for only old books.

>>14984897
The Vorrh is pretty much entirely prose porn.

>>14984970
Yeah, the beginning and the ending were definitely the strongest points of the book, the middle wasn't bad but like you said there's a few points where it just drags a little.
Also the handful of random swears were so bizarrely out of place in the fairy tale prose that whenever one showed up it was jarring as fuck.

>>14983420
Semi related, her last book of Vorkosigan Saga it's actually about Miles's mom having lots of babies even though she's already old

>>14984905
Watch these authors pretend that being forced to stay home means they can’t write lol

>>14985062
Like gentlemen bastards where they just cussed for no reason.

>>14984297
You want the Satanic Mill. Main character starts out homeless, becomes apprenticed to an evil sorcerer based on Odin in a coven that performs human sacrifices. The descriptions of nature in that novel really get at the "evil spirits in the Black Forest" motif.

>>14985076
The book also goes by the title "Krabat," right?

>>14985066
You can make babies up to 50. Lots of people see 40 as old.

>>14985055

After having read a few wildly split and opinionated reviews, I'm definitely adding this to my reading list. Thanks!

>>14984897
The Night Circus

>>14985098
it gets really difficult for women to conceive after their 30s

>>14985132
It does, but it is still possible. My friend's mom got him in her late 40's. She is beyond busted because the skin wasn't young and nubile enough to spring back into place. I wouldn't fuck her.

I'm about 30%-40% through the first book of the Licanius trilogy and I'm not sure how to feel about the religious undertones I'm starting to see. Does it ever get heavyhanded and obnoxious?

Where is the best place to start with the works of Guy Gavriel Kay?

>>14984172
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
Borne by VanderMeer*

* YMMV, an anon has told me to never recommend this again

>>14985416
Borne is good cerebral science fiction.

>>14985096
I don't know if it does, but that was the name of a character in the book so it's very plausible.

>>14985120
Erin Morgenstern is one of those Neil Gaiman imitators whose work is just as equally rambling, unstructured, and plotless

>ywn be a teenage girl who multiclasses as a thief, mage, pirate, and fighter after stealing a spoiled emo orphan's magic coat

>>14985343
Will metaphorical Jesus get crucified? No. But it will continue to talk about faith in god and free will.
So don't expect the book to be subtle about it either. It's an essential part of the story.

>>14985041
It depends on the author. The shut-ins will be okay. The sci-fi con party animals, not so much.

>>14985096
Yes, it does!

>>14985539
need to get back into this at some point still on the pretty slow establishing the world chapters

>>14985041
I don't think people realise quite how much of a genre author's income comes from con money

>>14985659
It's entertaining. First book is playful action movie fun that feels like the early Pirates of the Caribbean flicks, second book is a passable filler tournament arc, third book involves lots and lots of exploring the main villain's sad and weepy backstory.

I still liked her Villains series better to the point of it being a favorite, but Shades of Magic is a good, healthy mix of the playful, YA Schwab and the dark'n'gritty Villains series Schwab.

>>14985801
>dark n'gritty villains
I'm only just realising that I'd confused and conflated this with the unappealing Soon I Will Be Invincible and dismissed it without even looking at a blurb

>>14985621
Cool, tried looking up Satanic Mill and all the results were giving me Krabat, so I wasn't sure.

>>14979074
I agree with >>14981563, Alan Moore's Saga of the Swamp Thing is criminally underrated.

>>14985824
Superhero novels are kind of a publishing trend in SFF these days, and Schwab's Villains series was one of the earlier ones in the "superhero novel" wave and remains one of the best things to come out of an otherwise insipid fad.

The great thing about V.E. Schwab's Villains books (Vicious and Vengeful) is that in both style and tone they're more like Frankenstein than The Avengers, and the superpowers are more like a vehicle for the main characters' flaws and self-doubts. It's very noir, with an appropriately emotive origin story for its protagonist and antagonist.

It's very, very technically a superhero/supervillain story, but more character-focused and with none of the capeshit visual trappings.

Anyone have a lead on where I can get some fantasy audiobooks? I have long drives sometimes and would like some stuff to play on the background.

>>14986091
Amazon kindle store page - lots of their titles free for download on audio. Or try your public library for a temporary download.

>>14985198
Ya I know it's not impossible. My old boss finally had a kid but it took her a miscarriage and $15k for some medical thing. Now she's like 50 with a 2 year od. She'll be retired when her daughter graduates high school but she's super happy to have gotten to reproduce.

>>14985523
I'll certainly admit she's slow af. The true conflict wasn't revealed until really late but I thought the conclusion was completely satisfying. I think her prose and ideas were amazing (I don't like Gaiman's prose) and that 's what kept me interested and reading.

>>14978705
>Pat Rothfuss on Twitter: "Just in case anyone was wondering, "I hope you don't die before you write that book I want to read" isn't actually a compliment."

https://twitter.com/PatrickRothfuss/status/1243657754285428742

>>14986228
god, it's like you pissbabies just want any excuse at all to throw a tantrum

>>14983264
If you can't find it you must start writing it yourself

>>14983354
Reading an author's oeuvre to identify their repeated fetishes (sexual or otherwise) is the highest form of reading.

>>14986262
>pissbabies
go back

I can't stand this /sffg/, I don't see a point in it. It's going to be months before life regains anything remotely resembling normalcy and even after that shit's was already bad, it's just going to change for the worse.

I can't enjoy basic things like food, sunlight, human contact or ambiance, and the things I can enjoy I've already burned out on. I'm not seeing a light at the end of the tunnel /sffg/. I'm not sure why I'm bothering sticking around

>>14986335
>WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA MOMMY I MADE PEEPEE!

fuck off

>>14986120
Were you.. her donor?

>>14986338
Not your personal blog

>>14986338
Vary your entertainment, try to learn a new hobby or watch a different type of move/listen to new music. Try talking to people online, things like slowly can be good for this. I just came out of two months of quarantine in China and chatting up girls and trying to learn piano kept me sane. Just try to kill time one day at a time.

>>14986299
But I'm a terrible writer, anon

>>14986008
You waxed poetically for what is in truth an author's cashgrab and late stumbling onto the bandwagon with a capeshit novel.
Fuck off.

>>14985706
Maybe back in the day. Anybody with at least two books published, be it traditional or self has a patreon account these days. Cons are probably huge paydays for the big well-knowns like butcher, rothfuss and gurm, but the small guys like Will Wight and William D Arand, patreon puts meat on the menu.

>tfw Caitlin R. Kiernan's third Signalman book is out this year
I hope the Signalman has to stop Area 51 from getting raided this time.

>>14986465
>I just came out of two months of quarantine in China
>in China
Uh oh... The Winnie the poohs and China created corona by messing with sars as a way to deal with hong kong protesters, it's why they "mapped the coronavirus so fast", they already had it mapped. Better leave.

>>14986338
An heroing is always an answer, anon. If nothing else works out, just an hero. They can't win if you don't play. If all the middle and lower class an heroed enmass, the 1% would suffer. You need a foundation to build on, and all there money would mean shit when everybody else is just as wealthy as them, and they can't use their money to overpower anyone.

>>14986433
no no, i was only mildly attracted to her but there were lots o' cuties at work that i started looking at instead. she's happily married.

>>14986554
how do authors actually make money from cons? it can't be by selling a few hundred books. what are appearance fees like?

>>14986338
i love staying home and not dragging my ass into work. i thought that most lockdowns you can still go outside for a walk or get takeout.

>>14986798
>Seeing work as a sexual meat market
I hope you got slapped with a sexual harassment complaint, you fucking creep

200 members
To what end?

>>14986807
Why do I feel you're a feminist with a vagina? Nothing makes me more diamonds than the thought of making stuck up cunts like you orgasm under me.

>>14986798
>how do authors actually make money from cons
I think the convention pays them to make an appearance, so they can use their names in the ads and draw in people hoping to meet them, like they did with Stan Lee. At least for the big authors.
Small guys lose money. They rent a booth and sell printed copies of their works in hopes that the money they spent will be recouped in future sales.

>>14986798
>how do authors actually make money from cons? it can't be by selling a few hundred books. what are appearance fees like?
they are paid to be there. more often than not conventions also pay for transportation and lodging.
its basically a paid vacation. not to mention all the side benefits like exposure to potentially new fans. interacting personally with people is a good way to grow a following.

>>14985066
Imagine the mileage on those vags.

>>14986807
no i am a qt and good at flirting. people like talking to me. i didn't pursue so many opportunities tho because i just want attention and like looking at beauty but then i ghost everyone because i'm kinda ace 2bh

>>14985357
Tigana or Fionavar

>>14987082
You speak like a meme. This is what happens to your brain after too much time on 4chan.

>>14987178
yes i am Extremely Online but I have fun so idrc that much

>>14987178

>>14987297
basringe

Can someone tell me how Brandon Sanderson managed to get so famous? His writing is complete pleb tier and simple

>>14987493
>His writing is complete pleb tier and simple
You answered your own question. Appeal to the lowest common denominator is the name of the game when it comes to published writing.

>>14987507
I am not even dissing the plot and characters. I am talking about the writing alone, it has no eloquence or subtlety. I remember even GRRM had nice proses at times, but Sanderson is so plain.

>>14987520
YA style writing has moved upwards into New Adult and adult level novels.

>>14987037
Where did you get that idea? The cons only pay for Guest of Honor or maybe "VIP" authors.

>>14987493
>>14987520
Partially his career had a big jump from finishing the Wheel of Time series and he didn't totally botch it.

The banality of his writing serves to grind off anything that might be stellar but to also fill in the valleys, it's simple and easily understood, I'm told his stuff is some of the top sellers that Graphic Audio ("A Movie In Your Mind") releases because of this.

I want to ask for recommendations but I'm always late to these threads. I just finished Cradle series and I have a gaping hole. Tried two books that others said were in a similar vein and they both sucked. Felt like I was reading YA.

>>14988061
For reference, what other books did you try?

>>14988061
>and I have a gaping hole.
Sorry anon, but my dick isn't bad dragon tier. I can't fill that hole for you.

>>14985523
>>14985120
I abandoned the night circus half way through

>>14988914
It's one of those word porn books that's prose and description for the sake of prose and description. At the end of the book you wake up and remember having an interesting looking dream where not much actually happened.

>>14987493
Mormons have a tight-knight community that help each other get published and find the positions and connections they want. Why do you think so many mediocre and overrated celebrities and writers are Mormon?

>>14986486
The only capeshit things about it are that the major characters have superpowers and one of them wears a Zorro mask. There's no Justice League, no spandex tights, no Kryptonite.

Other than that it's much closer to an urban/modern fantasy setting like Scanners. Even has the similar theme of the characters' powers being a disability and a curse.

>>14988954
That anon was criticizing the writing though. Not his philosophy, religion, or ideas. And anon is 100% correct because Sanderson does have a “workman prose”. But I think the worlds and magic system he creates are good enough to mask the mediocre writing.

>>14988954
>tight-knight
tight-knit*
and don't pretend you did it on purpose, we all know you're a dunce aping his betters.

>>14988983
Anon, you can criticize published popular writers and say they do one thing bad and another thing good. To believe they are utterly good in every aspect is very low-iq

>>14987493
If you used to read all the time you would know the answer. Sanderson wrote at a time where there was a vacuum. He wrote enjoyable fantasy that didn't think the readers were stupid fucks, like other authors did. Because of Sanderson a lot of authors had to stop doing deus ex machina asspulls. It's what catapulted him in history. No longer will readers see everything that was established shitted out in the streets because the author wrote himself into a corner.
"Sanderson's laws" was also a controversy, where other well-known authors argued with him that you NEED asspulls, that gave him more press.
I guess him finishing wheel of shit, and cucking jordan helped too.

>>14989007
I think you replied to the wrong post...

Are there any fantasy novels that refute militaristic discourses and eschew the language of violence?

The closest I can think of is Earthsea, maybe Dragonworld.

>>14979614
Corona has your back, faggot
https://archive.org/details/tarzanalive00phil

>>14984060
Loved the concept, but stopped reading after 40% of book 1 for no reason and lost all will to persevere. Idk why, I didn't even dislike it.

>>14984144
Literally kys with this embarrassing list. Skipping Bakker and Wolfe? Liked Jordan? Neck yourself.

>>14984172
As an intro?
Classic: Poe, Blackwood, Chambers
Contemporary: Ligotti, Cisco, Vandermeer

>>14984448
Circe is mediocre, just read Ovid retard.

>>14984897
John Crowley

>>14985523
>reading for the plot

>>14986228
And ofc the NiggerWoman had to offer her two cents, mediocrity atracts mediocrity I suppose

>>14986584
I was just about to start the first book, is it good?

>>14987493
How did Katy Perry get so popular? How did Marvel?

>>14989118

>>14989133
>How did Katy Perry get so popular?
She got casting couched.

I like bleak/depressing science fiction, and I've been trying to find an ebook version of The Killing Star for a while. Amazon has it as an audiobook, but for whatever reason it's not available as a Kindle ebook or from any other ebook outlet I've checked. Haven't been able to pirate it either.

I eventually gave up and bought a used paperback copy, which arrived earlier today. If anyone's interested I can take it apart and scan it once I'm done reading it.

>>14989357
>If anyone's interested I can take it apart and scan it once I'm done reading it.
What level of autism do you have to scan an entire book?

Where does one start with Revelation Space series?

>>14989382
That's how copyright piracy used to be done before the internet.

>>14989382
>>14989553
Some people type up the entire book instead. I've seen people provided their finished product on /lit/ a few times.

Also, scanning isn't that uncommon for some stuff at all and is indeed a regular occurrence, though oftentimes they are being paid to do it.

>>14989357
I, for one, would love an ebook copy of this, friend anon.

>>14989458
With book 1, and then you read in publication order.

>>14978750
I miss Moist boys, any books where they take modern concepts and implement them in fantasy/magical settings?

>>14988550
A Thousand Li and Arcane Ascension.

Which out of these should I read next?

Gideon the Ninth
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City
This is how you lose the Time War

>>14985066
the one second from the right has fucked dogs. don't ask me how I know.

>>14990909
Euro moms really are crazy

Is it worth reading? I was thinking about giving it a try.

>>14990636
Gideon the Ninth is a mix of pointlessly dense prose and cliched, popcorn-flick dialogue. Its publisher gave it a big marketing push, but one that was much more about cultivating the appearance of success than about the novel's actual memorability or merit.

>>14991122
you should read the earlier books first. if you've read all of them, you should know already if you're going to keep reading.

>>14989035
filename
thanks for that.

Is the whole Ringworld series worth reading? I really liked the first one, but I thought the second one was mediocre at best.

jesus christ I want some kind of syrupy pastry right this second but I don't have any in the house. This whole situation sucks ass

Jesus Christ almighty, this book is fucking atrocious.

>>14992916
that book really does seem to be divisive though I'm not sure if it's because of politics, that cuckholdry, or people just hate Kvoth.

Personally, I loved the book because kvoth's perspective let me experience the feeling of being a prodigy again. It's been so long since I felt special it almost made me feel alive again

>>14992981
What's the appeal of NTR?

>>14992991
maybe some people can relate to that pain, or maybe others just like how a sad story lets them build up enough misery to release. Personally, I didn't really have an opinion on the NTR part. maybe I would have a few years earlier, back when I was still bitter about my love life, but when I read it, all I cared about was reliving the glory days when I actually loved who I was

>>14986008
I'll read villains. what are some other capeshit recs. I absolutely hate marvel and desu capeshit in movies usually, but I really liked worm so something more like that could be good.

>>14988061
reverend insanity (there are like 2000 chapters out now but the author annoyed winnie the pooh so its on hiatus for the next few years). Absolute gold standard for chinkshit so if you like that and dont mind a bit of edge read it. Warlock of the magus world is also pretty enjoyable especially the first few arcs.

>>14989118
you mean books written by womemes? i wouldn't know because i dont read them. unironically

>>14986008
>>14988979
The only good superhero novel is Superfolks

>>14993235
The Villains series is stealth capeshit.

If you want more "obvious" capeshit with all of the costumes and pyrotechnics, Marissa Meyer has a YA series called Renegades where the obvious romantic ship is between the supervillain girl and a boy who superheroes for a copyright-friendly version of the Avengers/Justice League.

>>14992991
i disliked the cuck shit although that was way more evident in the second book. As the other anon said the magic and prodigy aspects were what i enjoyed. Also people meme about the writing and it certainly isnt outer-lit tier but its better than most fantasy books, I enjoyed reading it and the sequel even though it was much worse. Rothfuss is a literal subhuman but I didn't find that out until after I read them so maybe thats why I enjoyed them.

>>14993302
what i want is emphatically not the marvel-like ya capeshit. I dont care about costumes I mostly just want cool powers and fights and shit. YA is sort of disqualifying imo unless it isn't super kiddified. I tried reading sanderhacks capeshit books and they had some cool powers and violence but hes just too cringe to be good. If you like capeshit and havent read it you should try worm.

>Philip Pullman is the C.S. Lewis of atheism in fantasy
>Leigh Bardugo is the C.S. Lewis of feminism and Marxism in fantasy
>C.S. Lewis is the C.S. Lewis of fantasy

I am just about finished the second Quillifer novel
It is set in a roughly Renaissance-ish fantasy realm
There is some minor magic, a barrow inhabiting fey pursues and causes mischief for our protagonist and there was a dragon at one point in the story that was promptly defeated with a cannon

It is alright and it is nice to see a fantasy in a swashbucking era rather than yet more knights in shining armor, but the world is so exactly European except for the maps + the realms religion being a pantheon, along with another god called 'the pilgrim', it might as well have been set in a Europe in which mythology was real (like The Broken Sword, The Drawing of the Dark, The Mists of Avalon, The Dragon Waiting, Latro, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, etc)

I don't really get the point of these sorts of fantasies, it is an exactly European culture except for the map and religion - the writer wants to have their cake and eat it too

I've enjoyed every book in this series so far but good lord would it be unbearable if they weren't releasing it one a month over 4 months
>book 1: almost entirely setup, main character too young to affect events
>book 2: decent middle book of a trilogy but it's book 2 of a quartet and ends on a semi-cliffhange
>book 3: 50% resolving book 2 lose ends 50% moving the characters into position for the finale without even setting up the plots.

I can see this netflix style "binge" approach taking off if publishers get hold of completed series that just aren't suited to a yearly release schedule. Although I doubt that'll ever be the case unless it's a wealthy writer who already has industry connections writing them.

>>14993263
Thanks for the recs, anon, I'll definitely try them out. I need my holes filled if you catch my drift, and books are the only thing with enough girth to fill my gaping holes

>>14993263
>annoyed Winnie the Pooh
The fuck?

>>14993638
a nickname for the chinese president

>>14993638
if you read it there are quite a few instances of him blatantly criticizing the chinese government. The main character gets slaves and uses cultural revolution tactics to make them docile so theyll work themselves to death with him.. They literally hold rock golem struggle sessions its absolute kino.

>>14993733
That's it laddy. You ded. Better go out with a boom and rob a bank or something. Or rob a library and tell them you want all their contemporary romance novels for women, then run to the nearest high traffic street and burn them there while nakedly masturbating and shouting over and and over "SANDERSON IS A GENIUS".

>>14978705
>>14978722
It's April somewhere. SFFG BOOK CLUB SELECTION:
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/910863.Spin

>>14993733
post your credit card details, you won't be needing it anymore.

>>14993827
About the infection itself? Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton.

Infections are a lot more common as a background to a post-apocalyptic story: The Stand, Station Eleven.

>>14993474
You should try this if you want an Age of Exploration type setting.
The setting is basically that explorers found a new continent decades prior to the story, inhabited by Dragons, among other things. Dragon blood has a variety of properties depending on the type of dragon, which resulted in something of a Gold Rush as it's basically Oil, Opium, and Gold all in one. The main character he's forcibly drafted into an expedition to the center of the continent searching for a mythical new species of dragon whose blood supposedly allows you to see the future.
Somewhat Indiana Jonesey in terms of aesthetic, lots of jungles, dilapidated ruins, and guns.

>>14993912
have you read blood song by the same author? Is this one better? I really liked bloodsong so if this one is close to the same quality I'll read it.

>>14994035
I haven't read that one, no.

>>14992991
I don't know, but people who freak out at the smallest sign of """NTR""" are subhumans who don't belong on a literature board. Fucking weeaboos I swear to god.

>>14994317
wut

What book should I read before we all die?

I'm writing a book about a guy who gets a job as a security guard at a pharmaceutical manufacturing company, and the company is testing a new drug containing a virus which attacks cancer cells. Also there's a demon living in the laboratory, or maybe it's a spirit of a security guard murdered by the company trying to tell the protagonist about it? The virus pill makes people insane and homicidal by the way (not zombies). I got inspiration from the pill mills, knuckle supper, the body farm, and H.P Lovecraft.
Good idea or should I drop it? Also the dialogue is very stiff and you can tell that the person who wrote it is autistic. Also no, it's not fucking crossed.

>>14994854
Just admit that they're zombies.

>>14994860
But that's gay bro. Can I call them something cooler, like mutants? Zombies as a horror trope is so worn out by now.

>>14994916
Your entire idea is a worn out horror trope.

>>14994923
Hmmm. Good point. Could I save my own ass by making this book out to be a satire of horror clichès?

>>14994975
No

>>14979606
Ai-Ren

>>14995225
Already been done, it's called Origin, from the Konrath Horror Collective. The plot is about an underground lab where they have a specimen which, as far as the scientists can tell, is an actual live Demon.

I'm quarantine reading the Silmarillion- this is so damn comfy.

>>14995225
I too am jewish.

>>14995356
Do any of you know if the three tale novels (Children of Hurin, Beren and Luthien, Fall of Gondolin) are worth reading if you've read the Silmarillion already?

>>14994035
Not that Anon but I've read BS and WF and BS is better but WF is better than the rest of the BS trilogy
>>14993827
It's not sff but just read The Plague by Camus, even though it's a metaphor for the occupation of france it's still the best novel I've read about living through such a thing.

https://forum.mobilism.org/viewtopic.php?f=1293&t=3588099

this any good? looking for stuff to get read. basically i want to get lost in a long series with lots of world building. supposedly this is pretty alright.

>>14995729
Yeah its nice. Though you might wanna read the Warlock series first since its the direct prequel to this. The protag of Warlock is the dad of the protag from this.

>>14995374
Children of Hurin is worth a read. Haven't gotten around to the others yet. However is not a comfy read, much darker than the others.

>>14995466
Too late. It's why you don't post your shit on in the tapir threads or in 4chan until you are done.

>>14989035
>"Sanderson's laws" was also a controversy
How is restating Chekhov's gun in a self-congratulatory manner controversial?

>>14987493

That's what publishers like. Easy, bland, turn-your-brain-off writing that passes the time. Like literary toilet paper.

>>14996001
Because authors like to ass pull.

So now that the world is quarantined, and we can't touch, I'm going to die a virgin, even if I was willing to go and pay a hooker.

What books are we getting released in April?

>>14996363
>getting banned for saying nigger

>>14996690
tor's getting lazier with their release list so it's incomplete (can't remember the other more extensive site an anon linked before)
but from what I've seen on there I'm interested in:
Shadows of the Short Days, 2nd book in Mike Resnick's final trilogy, Race the Sands, new Mike Carey (book of Koli).

Stuff that I might at least take a look at once I can download it: Shorefall (never finished first book in series), new Mark Lawrence (liked series set in the same world but still haven't read the final book in it), The Ranger of Marzanna, The Heron Kings, Eden (tim lebbon), Vagabonds (Hao Jingfang).

Basically there's a ton out that might be interesting but I won't know until I look into them all more which I usually do right before downloading the books.
Better than the past few months which have had very little even worth looking into in terms of non-sequel new releases.

The fuck is with all these green posts?

>>14996690
Velocities (short story collection) by Kathe Koja.

Unsure how much of the work is from her BDSM/alternative horror phase and how much is from her Buddha hippie phase.

>>14997058
It's the annual April fool's prank. The green posts are from users the mods randomly decided are "infected". See the scrolling announcement on each board.

>>14996541
Now all those times you've done erotic roleplay with someone you've never actually met count as real sexual encounters. Congratulations, you're no longer a virgin.

>>14997058
April fools coronavirus meme.

Green posts are coofers. Adjacent posts and direct replies also get the coof.

>>14997131
>adjacent posts
Welp, fuck me then.

So BAEN is the publisher you go to when you want fantasy written by right wing political wingnuts, and TOR is the publisher you go to when you want fantasy written by lefty wingnuts?

>>14997180
Fuck you

>>14986228
He's wrong. He has this retarded "love me for me" ideal. Where his existence is in of itself valuable. When in fact, the reason he is valuable, is that he creates value through his actions. Merely existing is nothing for anyone else to desire. I mean, what's the difference between him and a bedridden vegetable living on life support? Well one is merely alive. And the other is a self sufficient working artist.

>>14997185
baen is correct, if you're being specific about "lefty wingnuts" meaning commies then Brust is the only one I can think of at Tor, if by it you mean any author writing about gender/race/etc then there's easily as many of them at other publishers like Orbit as there are at Tor alone.
All of the full on leftwing companies I can think of i.e. Haymarket, Pluto and Verso either only publish non-fiction or only publish a select few more 'literary' books for their fiction efforts

What will come out first, The Winds of Winter or The Doors of Stone?

he's wrong because there is no "right" way for humanity to live

>>14991594
Didn't some people here like it?

>>14997884
That same poster said they read like four chapters when they posted roughly the same words as their reading club review lol

>>14997949
You're probably thinking of a different poster. My take was that it didn't live up to my expectations, as much as other people might like it.
I love skulls and spooky shit, I love queer romance shit, and I also love pulpy shit about hired guns/swords. So naturally I expected to like it, but it just didn't do anything for me. On top of the incredibly vague fantasy worldbuilding, it suffered from Tamsyn Muir writing in prose that was about as smooth as concrete, and the mercenary heroine falling in love with her bratty princess employer was rushed and lacked the narrative tension of a good romantic subplot.

>>14998125
>I love queer romance shit
Wait, what exactly does the book have? Yuri or fags?

>>14992916
Book 3 when?

>>14986228
>Hating your fans for wanting your art is just such an interesting brand choice but it’s yours to make
rekt

>N. K. Jemisin
>What the actual fucking fuck
Authors shouldn't be allowed on Twitter.

>>14986228
Tbh this is all just coping with their mortality and people pointing out that they may die before even finishing their trivial work is making them uncomfortable because they have no faith in the Lord. It forces them to put their life into perspective and they hate that, they wish to intoxicate themselves with distractions and forget. The fact that their juvenile scribbles is all people value them for is making that even worse, it faces them with the question: is this all that I am, is this what my life has amounted to?

So they kvetch and lash out at their well wishers.

John Bekkos

/sffg/, seeing as that whole "rawring twenties" meme really does seem to be shaping up to be true, how long do you think before we're inundated with that shit, and what form do you think it will take?

Best case scenario
>epic fantasy/fairy tales about people turnded into animals or visa versa
>werewolf horror (maybe werewolf apocalypse given how this decade is starting off)

Worst case scenario:
>Pure furshit
>Werewolf romance

>>14998855
The /a/nime kids have Beastars and BNA. /co/ finished the last decade and started this one with Vivziepop's furry flash animations. Werewolf sex was a key plot point near the tail end of The Magicians' last season.

The writing's on the wall.

>>14998333
>not yuri
The author's preferences would indicate otherwise.

>>14998870
>>14998855
This is what a lack of historical knowledge does to a person. It's actually less now than it used to be, especially in terms of anthropomorphize in cartoons.

>>14998870
god, i didn't even think of Vivziepop but you're right. if that kicks off, it's likely going to be the adult cartoon of choice for zoomers, and half the characters are anthros

I'm going to make the thread when it's time, so don't make it. If you do, it won't really matter that much though since I'll just post what I'm going to post anyway regardless.

>>14998894
oh, im well aware of the history of animation. back before the early 00's furries didn't exist they were an internet subculture that evolved after the heyday of cartoon animals. things are changing now. lately there's been a pushback against cringe culture and kinkshaming, and ever since zootopia came out the furry community has sort of become the forefront. once the trans acceptance fervor of the 10's settles down, the next step is either furries or lolicons and most progressives are hardline anti-loli

>>14998957
A fish doesn't know it's in water.

>>14998957
i'll give you libertarians but are you implying conservatives aren't anti-loli?

>>14999260
Epstein would tell you that plenty of conservatives are into lolis, if he wasn't murdered that is.

>>14999260
the Tories over here in the UK ran a noncing ring for decades

>>14999260
I mean, 4chan is pretty damn conservative and look what we've got here

>>14999355
>4chan
>conservative
No.

>>14999275
>>14999345
epstein was definitely killed but conservatives definitely have pervs too but they're still going to have to put up a show of hating loli. i might be wrong but i can't see a push for bring down ages of consent.

>>14999355
yep the worst of human nature

>>14999427
>>14999427
NEW THREAD
>>14999427
>>14999427