/lit/ - Literature

based OP
why so dead sffg

You better start posting, lads.

How do I come up with a neat magic system for my story? Or should I just go straight hermetic magic and save my effort for elsewhere?

>>16411411
I just make up the magic on the fly; the "system" I guess is "magic can do whatever the story needs."

>>16411418
That’s not a bad take, but my story has a military setting so I think to fit that, it needs to have some rules like the rigid discipline of a fighting unit.

>>16410829
Why didn't you let us rest? We could have been freed from this digital coil.


Also fuck e william brown

>>16411424
In that case you have to go with hard magic system. Just copy one of already existing magic systems, modify if needed. For example tame or summon spirits/magical beings from another world. They come in many varieties (suited for battle, support, intelligence work), but mc is some special dude (for reasons revealed later in the story) who attracts some super heavy hitter or some very special spirit.

>>16411411
>How do I come up with a neat magic system for my story?
You don't.

>sanderfag a hack
Say what you want, /sffg/, at least sunsets don't find Sanderson's characters squatting in the bushes.

>muh sexy contralto
He’s not wrong but he seems obsessed. Also, what’s with all the stuff where characters get cucked? in the ringworld books I understood it in context but in the integral trees it’s like an ntr doujin

>>16411846
Characters are usually more interesting and compelling when they're forced into weird and uncommon situations.

Sunrise revealed the general, facedown in the reeds of the shallows of a small pond. The hours slipped by while the sun climbed to an effective height. Suddenly the corpus levered itself aloft, dripping brown slime, and staggered away. The haggard face moaned.
"I must write what I do not read!"

recs for this feel?

>>16412032
Which feel? Having absurd sex with a fairy (that stomach deformation though) or absurdly calling her mommy?

>>16412063
I feel like the former is way more discernible than the latter though the latter is preferable

>>16412112
Ok, so it's just pretense and not the actual mother or what?
Also, I'm just leading you on.

>>16411424
Different guns could have different abilities due to the ammo/whatever.

>>16412194
>Ok, so it's just pretense and not the actual mother or what?
pretense, definitely

>>16411411

Personally I prefer things based off of alchemy "rules" of equivalent exchange. For example to throw a fireball or what ever you need to use a pinecone or rock to magic it into a fireball. I think that's pretty cool desu

Just bought an audiobook version of pic related which is named after

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-body_problem

and wondering if anyone else had a hard time following characters names because theyre not english(my audiobook is the translated version so its in english) just every single name is chinese and they seem to blur on me, the characters are each unique but I cant seem to follow the names very well yet

do they eventually stick or am I just retarded?

>>16412382
also looking for more hard sci fi suggestions, I don't care for fantasy sci fi (star wars, star trek, etc)

Are there any fantasy books out there that fulfill the three key aspects of myth?

>>16412409
Lyonesse
The Wizard / Knight
Little, Big (maybe)

>>16410829
Im trying to find a certain fantasy trilogy made in the 80's. Basically an isekai but the protagonist is a huge cunt. Anyone know what im talking about?

>>16411926
aristotle devotes an entire chapter to characters and five chapters to plots

The main character or tragic hero must be neither supremely good nor supremely bad: he should be a person of rank who is basically good, but comes to grief through some great error (hamartia). A woman may have the kind of goodness necessary to be a tragic heroine, and even a slave may be a tragic subject. Whatever kind of person is the protagonist, it is important that he or she should have the qualities appropriate to them, and should be consistent throughout

Every one of the dramatis personae should possess some good features; what they do should be in character, and what happens to them should be a necessary or probable outcome of their behaviour.

The most important element of all is plot: the characters are created for the sake of the plot, and not the other way round. The plot must be a self contained story with a clearly marked beginning, middle, and end; it must be
suficiently short and simple for the spectator to hold all its details in mind. Tragedy must have a unity. You do not make a tragedy by stringing together a set of episodes connected only by a common hero; rather, there must be a single significant action on which the whole plot turns

In a typical tragedy the story gradually gets more complicated until a turning point is reached, which Aristotle calls a ‘reversal’ (peripeteia). That is the moment at which the apparently fortunate hero falls to disaster,
perhaps through a ‘revelation’ (anagnorisis), namely his discovery of some crucial but hitherto unknown piece of information

After the reversal comes the denouement, in which the complications earlier introduced are gradually unravelled

thats the quick take on it unless you want to read the entire book dedicated to it

>>16412493
chronicles of thomas covenant?

>>16412247
Gun Meister Online

What you fugs reading?

>>16413094
Just finished Childhood's End by some hack boyfiddler.
Pattern Recognition by William Gibson in progress.

>magic system

>>16412032
The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson
>human male baby is kidnapped by an elf and the elf's sister raises him as her own son.... and then when he's older they become lovers

>>16413476
based book.
he also bangs his real sister

>>16412032
Sauce of pic? You can give me the artist's name too.

>>16412626
That's the one. Thank you

>>16413094
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paoplini
It's nothing too special, I have some nitpicks for it. Some characters are a bit shallow, some justifications for actions seem pushed to drive the plot to some destination. And the basic premise/setup of the book is still eerily similar to Eragon, but it is fairly well disguised.
But on the whole it is competent sci-fi in a new fictional universe that isn't stupid.

>>16413414
>making this post

>>16413704
>reading anything from that author after reading eragon

>>16413094
Elric of Melnibone. I want to write similar fiction so reading the saga, and then I'm going to read Conan.

>>16413094
Super Dimensional Wizard AKA Warlock's Apprentice. Kept my interest so far but getting a bit slower now in the 1500s.
Going to start on some new trial reads of chink stuff.

>>16413521
>>16413476
lmao I just read a piece on this book and apparently the author had some pretty rigorous consulting with the based department before publishing

>>16413735
I read and liked it a lot when I was 13 or something. Didn't get through all of them though and I have no desire to go back to that. But I was interested how he has developed in the last decade since completing Eragon.

>>16413553
>>16412032
Nevermind. Thanks to this anon >>16412063 I looked for fairy and stomach deformation and found it. Thanks.

>>16413094

>>16414004
Does anyone fuck one of those monsters?

>>16413094
At the risk of derailing the thread, The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian. I'm planning on starting The Expanse soon too.

>>16413728
>Responding to that post

>>16414083
How are you enjoying Conan? That's the next series I'm planning to read.

>>16413094
About 30 pages into Gormenghast

>>16414131
Not that anon but if you've never read Conan you're seriously missing out. Howard's style is amazing and, while endings are usually obvious, it's still a hell of a ride every time.
Wish he didn't off himself so early, Howard had so fucking much potential.

>>16414077
Yes.

Any fantasy books that incorporate monster girls but still manage to be good?

>>16414190
I only found out he offed himself yesterday. I've been meaning to read his stuff forever, but I stopped reading for a while. Will do soon.

>after defeating the demon lord, Celestine, the beautiful silver haired swordswoman, and her party of adventurers, including her hot orc boyfriend, go on an adventure to find a magical crown that can restore the bird people's lost wings
Anime when

>>16414344
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/50056549-mask-of-the-template

>>16413094
Ecce and Old Earth

>>16414397
Read Worms of the Earth RIGHT NOW, bro. It's a Bran Mak Morn story, but it's one of Howard's best.
>In an obituary for Howard, H. P. Lovecraft said " Few readers will ever forget the hideous and compelling power of that macabre masterpiece, "Worms of the Earth"".

SFF AUTHORS SUICIDE
Thomas M. Disch
Robert E. Howard
Leopold Lugones
Walter M. Miller Jr.
A. R. Morlan
H. Beam Piper
John Polidori
James Tiptree Jr.
Ned Vizzini
Edward Lucas White
Surely there must be many more.

>>16414409
How many ants were cucked by moths in this?

>>16414600
Since you're the author of this post, when will you an hero?

>>16414169
what are you thinking so far? it's been on my tbr list for ages.

>>16413704
Similar how, like the whole "evil empire with a few remnants of resistance" thing that he nicked from Star Wars?

I'm still laughing at Blaise Corvin being mad and getting btfo and dropped by his readers because he tried to force in tranny shit into his books. His tears of rage at lost readers and subsequent disappearing from the public eye for a few months was delicious.

I hate being a girl into scifi.

>>16414763
a/s/l?

>>16414786
CRINGE

>>16414600
You can add me to the list in five years :^)

Anyone trawled this for choice passages yet?

>>16414795
You are, in fact, cringe.

>>16412382
Making notes in lists can help you understand a book better. I made lists for Wuxia books and it got to sticking after a while.

>>16414861
Isn't that coming out till November?

>>16413094
Might start a Poul Anderson story. I found something to read in this thread.

rec me some stories with a trans protag.

>>16410829
> 8 hours from last post in the previous thread to the OP post
NICE! Let's increase it every time from now on!

>>16415203
Altered Carbon.

What, did you means Transgender?

>>16413094
Halfway through the Player of Games and it’s DANGEROUSLY BASED so far

I can't believe Iain Banks tricked me into reading Feersum Endjinn. I'm going to have to reread Against a Dark Background to get the taste out of my mouth.

>>16415292
It really is a fun story. I wish more western writers would do stories about people playing high stakes games, I hate that the genre is almost entirely locked to manga

>>16411411
Turning everything into a system is the death of modern fantasy. Here's an idea, make magic itself a character and give it its own agenda, now you have a force in the plot that is both consistent and interesting without turning it into a video game cliche.

>>16413094
Re-Reading WoT, the slog is less of a slog than I remember, and Howard's Conan short stories.

>>16413094
Perry Rhodan, I‘m just 52 books in so there‘s still enough to keep me occupied for some time.

>>16410829
The Trouble with Peace, First Law World #9 / Age of Madness #2 - Joe Abercrombie (2020)
Having read Best Served Cold is recommended for background information.
There's a recurrent problem for me with Abercrombie's characters. Too often they fall into caricature and I have quite a difficult time suspending my disbelief in taking them at least moderately seriously. In this book this was especially the case with Savine and Leo.
There's a scene that is repeated from the viewpoints of several different characters to show all the different reactions people could have and why they have them. Maybe it's meant build up tension, but since it's so obvious what's going to happen that I hope it wasn't. I wasn't able to appreciate how the scene came across.
It's quite possible I didn't notice it before as much in previous books, but there was an overabundance of plot contrivances that I thought pushed the "rule of cool" excessively relative to my expectations. Although I liked the scene of characters meeting without realizing who each other was, it rather strained my credulity.
The extended battle scene reminded me of The Heroes and that isn't a favorable comparison for me. By the end everything felt so very unnecessary and wasteful. That wasn't a good feeling. Whether that was the intention or not, as a reader I wasn't able to appreciate it. As an example though of "war is bad and people have bad reasons for it and it ends badly for everyone involved", then yes that clearly came across and is agreeable. Ideally, for me anyway, the enjoyment and ideals go together, rather than the latter detracting from the former. It didn't help that the outcome for the battle was obvious from well before it began. It made for painful reading because of the combination of incompetency and delusion.
The second book of the first trilogy was the weakest of the three and I'm hoping that's the case with this trilogy as well. However, my speculations and what I'd want to happen have already likely far outpaced what will happen, so I'll have to be careful to keep my expectations in check. If Book 1 was Savine's book, then Book 2 was Orso's book, then perhaps Book 3 will be Rikke's book.
Overall a worthwhile read weighed down by an accretion of expectations, it is the ninth book after all.
Rating: 3.5

>>16415547
>and Howard's Conan short stories.
Based.

>>16415646
>pic
Not sure if it's related, but I really enjoy The Frost Giant's Daughter. It felt very different from a lot of the other stories.

I'm in Mexico and want to improve my spanish by doing some reading.
Any mexican sf/fantasy worth looking into?

>>16415665
It is, anon. That's art from a French comic adaption of Frost Giant's Daughter.

>>16415675
Not mexican, but Borges obviously.

>>16415675
Cuentos de la Selva - Quiroga
Las fuerzas extrañas - Lugones
I don't know any SciFi except La Invención de Morel by Bioy Casares.
Borges and Cortázar, but they'll be difficult.

God fucking damn, Hyperion is great.

bitch ass here, what major writers have influenced star trek or written for it?

>>16415888
E. E. Smith

In the middle of Rendezvous with Rama.

I like all the detailed unveiling of Rama and how fast the story moves, but I wish the Endeavor's crew was more defined in both characterization and their number, because it seems like there's a new character on the ship whenever their hobby becomes useful in the expedition i.e. here's a boating enthusiast to pilot our makeshift boat across the cylindrical sea! This crew member's a space mormon so he can bring up the thematic relation of Rama to Noah's Ark! Here's a cocky young hot-shot we haven't mentioned yet whose daredevil athleticism will lend itself to flying an air bicycle to the other side of the ship! Without getting to know the crew they all seem to make everything that isn't the discovery appeal of the book pretty forgettable-- I haven't read much Hard Sci-Fi but I hope it doesn't all follow this pattern.

>>16415506
I thought it would be like Akagi with mind games and clever tricks, instead you get told over and over how complex the game is and the main character gets insights about how to win but you never find out what that actually entails. The book isn't badly written, just a let down. At least the Culture Minds stay in the background in Player of Games, they become very irritating characters in Hydrogen Sonata.

>>16416147
I honestly can't think of anything outside of Japan written in the plot style of Akagi. Maybe Intacto.

I've become too obsessed with a song of ice and fire and I fucking hate myself for it

A few months ago I read The Trilogy and Krzyżacy by Henryk Sienkiewicz.
I loved both, how do I find more of this kind of stuff?

>>16416267
Wikipedia is your best bet and Goodreads' similar books. Try it with every one in the series if there is one.
Or check if his short stories are included in anthologies or book series (with classic titles) and check those.

Why ask about historical fiction here?

>no ASOIAF RPG
>no Stormlight Archives RPG
>Obsidian STILL hasn't made their Wheel of Time RPG
Why are video games taking place in the worlds of fantasy books such an unused well of material? What would you want to see the most?

>>16416315
>Why are video games taking place in the worlds of fantasy books such an unused well of material?
Because American licensing laws are extremely fucky and publishers will grasp at any straw they think will get them a cut of the profit.

>>16416302
A lot of people seem to think this is just the general speculative fiction thread

>>16416362
I mean if you talk about it outside of this thread you will be met with "OMG START WITH THE GREEKS GO BACK TO YOUR CONTAINMENT THREAD"
and there's not enough support for an entirely different general for other forms of speculative fiction

>>16416371
Not really. There are I, Claudius threads and Augustus and other historical novels posted almost daily.
You just have to be more specific or else only the few who've read those books would know what the faggot is looking for in other "similar" books.

>>16414751
farmboy finds dragon and eagerly bonds with it, learning magic - > xenobiologist finds alien parasite organism and accidentally bonds with it, learning ancient alien nanomachine technology powers
although the author occasionally tries to remind us how horrifying and against the protagonists will the whole experience was, how deadly and body horror-y it was, that is when he isn't describing how cool it would be to have a space-dragon, I mean alien parasite.

>>16416436
Also, just asking for recommendations is seen as low-brow on every elitist board.

>>16416362
/sffg/ - speculative fiction fans thread

>>16410829
Thread got archived right after I posted it, so once again asking you lads to check it out if you're interested.

Any books that match this moodboard?

>>16415888
Harlan Ellison

>>16415547
I'm listening to The Eye of the World audiobook and I'm liking it more than when I read it. Maybe I'll even keep going after book 1.

>>16415514
This. Magic doesn't need to be forced into a system like that, because it erases any character that surrounds it. The big problem with these magic systems is that they struggle to stay relevant in the grand scheme of the story. We don't need to know all the minute details of something like that. Just whittle it down to its details most relevant to the plot (I.E. the One Ring or perhaps even the law of alchemy in Full metal Alchemist) and just leace it at that. Someone earlier was talking about Eragon, and I think that is a perfect example of why magic systems are retarded. I have never seen a man write himself into a corner with such finesse, or rather lack of. He breaks his fucking story trying to fit in his stupid fucking magic only to make the story even shittier for it. To >>16411411 I have this to say: Don't bother making a full autistic magic system, just make it about the details willing to the plot, and what those details mean to the characters. For a quick example, make the magic incredibly destructive by nature, and have characters discuss the nature of how magic is flawed due to its ability to only harm and not help: to destroy and never to create. It could be a story about man's obsession with power, leading them to become lost in a pursuit that brings only pain. Just stop with the fucking magic systems

>>16415888
Asimov seems like a huge influence

>>16416940
magic was too op in eragon, it could do everything and only cost energy, and it took like 0 energy to pinch blood vessels in someones brain

>>16413094
Took a break from working through Conan to read Dune. I can see why people like Dune so much, but I think I prefer Howard to Herbert.

Any recs for series without magic?

>>16417266
Maybe you want historical fiction, try The Warlord Chronicles.

>>16417266
kard edward wagners kane

>>16415888
Theodore Sturgeon

is there a reason why in the battletech novels noboby seems to focus fire components? lasers are randomly hitting the legs etc, is it due to computer countermeasures or just struggling to hit the enemy at all while they are moving?

is there an infographic for scifi horror?
any recommendations for stuff like southern reach or blindsight by peter watts?
or the themes explored in the album planetary clairvoyance by tomb mold

>>16416371
The fucking religious christcucks rejects from 2^3chan are slowly taking over outer lit. In a year or so, because they are constantly banned off the board for off topic shit, they will behave like lit has always been a religion board.

>>16416214
If it weren’t for the show ASOIAF would be as beloved and respected here as much as BOTNS

>>16413094
just started through the crippled god

>>16416940
Fucking based. I've been writing and trying to be active in the royalroadl forums and those autists are always asking about what are the "rules" and what's "allowed." Kid, you're writing a web fiction. You can do whatever you want.

>>16417135
I renember a scene where Eragorn was sitting in a courtyard with four balistas aimed at him from above and he was worried about being shoot at because then he might hurt some humansin self defence

bros I just ordered some used Kane books and I'm very excited.

>>16414409
Is this about insects as well?

>>16417707
bbbbased

>>16416022
>I haven't read much Hard Sci-Fi but I hope it doesn't all follow this pattern.

>>16417629
Haha no. You're comparing a talentless, make-it-up as you go along hack to Gene Wolfe. I sincerely hope sffg wouldn't have the taste of mainstream readers who gobbles up that shite because its so digestible to them people without taste

Any fantasy book that made you feel like this?

could we make a dunyain irl?

Spoonfeed me Christian fantasy books that aren't trash nor LotR.

>>16414653
>ants were cucked by moths
Explain...

>>16418216
Catholic priest pedo enabler, we don't have christcucks books for you.

>>16418216
The Chronicles of Narnia.
Pilgrim's Progress

>>16418216
Till We Have Faces - C.S. Lewis
Not sure if it counts as full fantasy, but it definitely has fantasy elements if you count Ancient Greek-type gods/goddesses. Definitely more heady than your average fiction though.

>>16418216
lightbringer

>>16418244
dilate

>>16418216
sci fi but still
A canticle for leibowitz

Do you prefer your fantasy lean more heavily on politics or action?

>>16417629
LOL you are dumb. ASOIAF is what happens when you make subversion your number one priority: a series that fell apart after 3 books and will never be finished by the original author because he painted himself into a corner by focusing so much on subverting expectations. BOTNS will still be studied by scholars for decade to come.

>>16417707
So long as they're not those terrible Gateway editions.

>>16418504
not really fantasy but the politics in battletech was really good

>>16418216
Three Hearts and Three Lions

>>16418504
Adventure > Action > Politics

>>16418200
Wanna volunteer as a whale-mother?

>>16418504
Definitely politics. Any recs??

>>16418504
Romance, but not girl romance, like love triangles and bestiality.
I prefer sweet courting, hand holding, and brutal ntr.

>>16418643
>>16418543

>>16418504
Politics, mostly because so many writers can't write a fast-paced and exciting fight scene to save their life. So many start making these excessively long and overly detailed mechanical descriptions that completely rob the action of any sense of urgency or danger. If anything, your writing should probably start to reflect the speed of the action. Short, abrupt sentences, that's often the best. Less descriptions for the action itself, but how the speed and power is experienced by those in the fight or observing it.

So I'll take a book with clever tricks and betrayals over any with loads of action in it any day of the week.

>>16418504
it depends, politics can be good if it is not sjw

>>16416022
I just finished the series today and the third book focuses more on a few individual characters. I would not call it hard sci fi at all tho. I liked the first book the most, the second and third kinda go off the rails and start to be all over the place. Still an enjoyable read and story tho.

>>16416315
I don't want to see games using any (good) existing material because just like in the movies it is impossible to adapt even a 300 hundred novel into an 1-2 hours worth of dialogue/conversation

>>16418748
you mean like this

She swept the alley and spotted broken yellow tape leading into a small, unfinished building. She sprinted inside, he’d led her into a perfect area, it was remote enough she wouldn’t have to worry about interference.

He was waiting for her. His pale sunken face had enough scars that it was clear he was a fighter, few enough that it was clear he was good.

‘I knew something was wrong, he said. You don’t get to be where I am without trusting your instincts. Well. Come on.’

Veris dashed in, he was big, stronger than her. His arms bulged, cybernetics.

She threw the knife at his face, he covered up and the knife bounced off his arm, he threw a straight punch at her which she sidestepped. She fired off a volley of punches into his body, her steel coated knuckles met resistance. His body was protected as well. She ducked another wild swing, he clearly didn’t have her orthodox training, but he had experience.

Well so did she, she’d fought cyborgs before and knew how to fight against them. They were strong but they had their weaknesses. Most had slowed reactions as their body fought their enhancements. She circled, firing off more punches, parrying and slipping his counters. She was faster than him, but she wasn’t doing much damage.

She landed a solid hit to the temple, he staggered, she’d hit metal, but he’d still felt it. He covered up and she pressed the attack, but suddenly he leapt forward, arms wide. She stepped to the side and fired out a powerful kick, but he took it on his arms and kept coming. He dove in and grabbed her hips, smashing her against the wall.

She struck down on his arms trying to break his grip, but he was too strong. She went for the joints but didn’t have the leverage to break out. He was crushing her. He dragged her across the wall, her fingers scrabbled, looking for a weapon. She felt several of her ribs crack, she couldn’t breathe. Her fingers closed around something sharp and rammed it into his thigh. He howled and let go, blood spurted from his wound and he staggered back.

>>16418504
Both are good and hardly mutually exclusive, but it is a requirement that it has at least one of the two in a good deal. Reading The Shadow of the Torturer has been a dull affair in large part because it lacks sympathetic characters and a motivated plot. I can understand the academic respect the series has earned but I can't bring myself to care for its main character and by extension the world he inhabits. Politics and action aren't the only vehicles for drama in an interesting story but they're most often the easiest to use.

>>16418907
/2

Veris saw a hammer next to the pile of nails that had saved her life and swept it up. She came at him, cracking him in the knee which buckled. His legs were vulnerable! She circled, dodging his clumsy swipe, she swung the hammer again, cracking him in the side of the head. He staggered, and she struck him in the knee again, something broke and he fell to the floor.
She dashed around behind him and swung the hammer again, it bounced off the back of his reinforced skull but drove him into the floor. The head of the hammer shrieked as it bent, almost snapping off. Veris spun the hammer in her hands and swung. The claw smashed through the top of Alessdro’s skull, blood and brain matter splattered in her face. Veris could hear herself panting. Blood trickled down her hair and down her face. She collapsed, falling to the floor. It hurt to breathe; she pressed a hand against her ribs. Some of them were broken. She tried to breathe shallowly but her oxygen starved body fought her. She rose to her feet unsteadily, letting the hammer fall to the floor. She staggered out the door, her left hand pressed against the wall for support, leaving a bloody trail. She wondered how long it would be before someone found the body. Above her the clouds burst, the acidic rain stung, but it helped keep her moving. It was only pain, after all.

>>16418748

>>16418167
>>16418522
Don’t ever reply to me again

>>16418216
The Wizard Knight

>>16418292
You have it here bois. The conan fag, discord tranny, S&S homoerotic anon are all one and the same. It seems he is a christcuck too.

>>16419121
E Pluribus Unum

>>16418913
>>16418907
Wrong thread. It's terrible.

>>16419121
LEAVE
THE
CLOSET

>>16411411
Make it fully elemental
Or don't

>>16418556
>>16418504
Why not all three?
>The Chronicles of Amber

>>16418167
The original Fire and Ice trilogy was a well plotted story. Then he got offered millions of dollars to keep writing a story that had already ended. I wouldn't have said no either.

Is science fiction and fantasy the same thing?

>>16419380
They have different sets of tropes unless it's a mash up

>>16419380
Science Fiction is under the umbrella of Fantasy in the broadest sense.

>>16418504
I like action but it has to be over quickly. There's a somewhat recent trend of action dragging on and on with a bunch of POV shifts, and my God it's awful.

>>16419675
That umbrella is called speculative fiction.

>>16419380
The science in science fiction may as well be magic so sure.

>>16410829
When writing an isekai story, how can you justify why a typical Isekai protagonist tends to gather a harem of attractive female companions, besides him rescuing them and/or being nice to them in a moment of need, being powerful, or simply being attractive? My best idea is that the society of the Isekai world doesn’t have any stigma against powerful men having concubines. That is, of course, assuming that there’s no magical element at work, and how should such a magical element be handled if it is a factor?

What about power levels, then? How can you make sure that you make them powerful enough to matter, but not OP for the setting? Are there any powers, traits, etc. that should be avoided, and if so, why?

>>16420077
>That umbrella is called speculative fiction.

What's the HxH of fantasy series?

>>16420292
It's a common opinion. Even Jack Vance favored the phrase in a 1976 interview. He even discussed historical fiction and while he didn't specifically include it he and the interviewers didn't seem to consider it outside the umbrella.

I guess I consider science fiction, hard scifi especially, to imply that your magic system has to comply with known physical rules or have a plausible exception. The level of knowledge necessary to repel neckbeards would seem a tiresome barrier to entry.

>>16420224
> justifications
Irrelevant

> trying to use logic, reason, or rationality
Counterproductive

> trying to be serious about something innately not serious
Foolish

>>16418748
I think the problem is that authors don't realise how outclassed they are by movies in this fashion, and also fail to use the strengths of their medium to compensate. A big problem with movie fight scenes is that that you can usually tell when the script just blatantly says "And then they fight" it feels like a flashy waste of time due to a lack of story relevant details, one short idea stretched to be a few minutes long. It is even more egregious in books. The problem isn't that books offer worse fight scenes, but those fight scenes just need to be more meaningful and less.flashy, something that modern writers don't really understand

>>16420224
Readers of isekai fantasy don't care about your justifications or how realistic or logical the scenario is. They are just fine reading outlandish scenarios with bare bones explanations that have minimal effort put into fleshing them out. Because the reason they read those stories is for the power fantasy and harem antics. Your job is to simply make the girls likable and cute. The protagonist can be whatever. Having a bland forgettable protagonist doesn't seem to hinder the success of these stories in any way.

>>16418504
I feel like action has a pretty low ceiling. After a certain point it's more about the emotional catharsis and ties to the narrative than the literal action taking place, and in that sense it just becomes a matter of how well crafted the story was and the skill of depicting action becomes moot. On the other hand, political intrigue has a lot more room for authors to show their skill in writing suspense. You can pace it out over a longer period of time and weave in a lot more detail and subplots. It has the potential to be very complicated and clever. But because of that, it gives authors a lot more rope to hang themselves with. It's pretty easy to think your doing a good job setting up hints only to give away too much and ruin the suspense, turning the whole thing into a tedious slog of getting to the conclusion all your readers already figured out several chapters ago but your characters for whatever reason haven't managed. You can also make it too convoluted with not enough hints which can just frustrate readers and make them feel you're being unfair or deliberately obscure in your writing. So that's why I feel intrigue is more interesting, because when it is done well it presents a puzzle for readers to figure out.

>>16418183
what is "this"?

>>16418504
Neither

>>16421297
Sounds like you aren't a manly man.

Adventure Fantasy > Every other type of Fantasy.
This is nonnegotiable.

Discuss.

>>16420224
World where the majority of men have been killed by some great calamity, for the sake of keeping birth-rates up, males are allowed to have multiple wives if desired and this is considered culturally normal. It's still dumb fetish shit, but that's how I'd do it. Don't steal it from me or I'll fucking sue.

Wintersteel is coming out 6th October https://www.audible.com/pd/Wintersteel-Audiobook/B08J8BJV3T

What are the best Strugatsky stories?

I liked Roadside Picnic well enough. Thinking of reading Hard to be a God next.

>>16418504
Characters > all. Good characterisation elevates everything else.

I prefer action to politics, but only if the author knows how to use it which is incredibly rare. Excalibur by Cornwell is a good example of perfectly structured, tense, and cathartic action.

Are the people in this thread different than the rest of /lit/ posters?

Does this have quality control?

>>16422353
huh

>>16422362
We talk about stuff you can't in the other threads, so it self moderates since there's no reason to spend time funposting.

Do Asimov's Foundation books hold up? I've never read them.

>>16422259
Finally. That half a book him and Dresden gave us is fucked up.

>>16422467
>not expecting another half-book now
wew

>>16418504
Characters>Adventure>Action>Politics. Politics should be used to facilitate these things. It's up there with superfluous flavor like setting and 'magic-systems'. A tool to be used to polish the core of your work, which should be the aforementioned plot/characters/adventure/action. Sadly, it's much overvalued by retarded reddit neckbeards who enjoy the wookiepedia style of storytelling, wanting to know the extended backstory of a faction or country that is ultimately nonsensical and means nothing in the grand scheme.

>reading ADWD
>it's a Quentyn Chapter

>>16418529
whats wrong with them

>>16422561
They've been woke censored.

>>16420224
I had my book revied by a pretty harsh reviewer, and despite having harem shenanigans and multiple women in love with him he actually really liked the main character and thought he was cool. I think that's part of having it be accepted, because if your protagonist is the type of person you'd expect others to flock to, it makes more sense that multiple women will be attracted to him, especially if he isn't overbearing, trying too hard to get into the girls pants.

But if you try too hard yourself to make a character like this you might end up making an unlikable, highschool mary sue fuckboy that everybody hates the guts of. So the solution is make all your characters likeable, and make sure your main character has a strong personality that just logically pulls in girls. Or you can use magic as well.

>>16422373
Huh?

>>16422690
HUH!

>>16422362
No^2

>>16416552
Fionavar tapestry

>>16422301
bumping this as I'm also interested.
>>16422259
even though I disliked the last book I think I'll give this one a chance. I forgot most of the story to be honest.

Is Dune: Messiah an underrated book out of the main six Dune novels or is it just me? I remember liking a lot of what I read about it but people don't seem to bring it up as much as God Emperor or the first book. Some great scenes though

>>16422362
It has periodic regulars but mostly serves as a convenience store for young folks out of /b/v/a/. They stop in, ask for some recommendations based on some interest they found outside of reading and generally move on after getting a feel for what they like: perhaps to some other social media outlet. The regulars tend to advocate for an author or subgenre but it's usually mellow and effort ports are uncommon.

I'm working on abridging the Sanderson trilogy of Wheel of Time. It will take me more time, so I figure now is a good time to get some more people to proof read the Jordan books. The abridged series thus far:
> Approximately -25% cut to each of books 1-6.
> Books 7-8 combined into one.
> Books 9-11 combined into one.
> TBD: Books 12-14 combined into one.
I've had one round of beta, but it's nice to have more. If there's interest let me know and please indicate whether you're a WoT noob or re-reader.

>>16423011
Truly autism produces amazing results of shocking waste.

>>16423011
Please delete Egwene

>>16423011
Only interested if this "abridged" version consists of cutting out Perrin and Egwene entirely and rewriting the plot so it makes sense with them being written out and not touching anything else.

>>16422893
100%, the people I talk to who have read it mostly rate it 4-5th out of the 6 originals but I really enjoyed it for what it was

>>16423011
Not nearly enough. Needs to be cut down to a trilogy overall.

>>16417861
No, but he does introduce a forest of spider people. Weird fetish.

>>16418267
Re-upping this rec, I think it's the most emotional a book has ever made me feel

>>16410829
Are there any "space western" books? Not played straight like Firefly or some shit, but something with the scope of something like Blood Meridian or Lonesome Dove, but set in space.

Most of the space sci-fi I've checked out just doesn't click with me (Hyperion, The Expanse books, anything by Asimov, Clarke, or Heinlein), but I like westerns, and I know that 'space western' is an actual genre (with stuff like Firefly or Cowboy Bebop or something).

>>16423196
I have a vague sense that Hilari Bell wrote something in that vein, but it's been fifteen years since I read any of her work so I might be entirely wrong

>>16414409
So, what else do you guys recommend by Adrian Tchaikovsky?
The less drug infused, ridiculously self aware, schizco inner monologue the better (that was my least favorite thing about Children of Time)
>Cage of Souls
Dying earth vibes
>Redemption's Blade
Something about elves dating orcs (probably bad)
>Shadows of the Apt series
How generic, etc

>>16423343
Guns of the Dawn is a genuinely great book. Setting-wise it's jane austen + Heart of Darkness + a smattering of magic, but mostly it's just really well written.

>>16423343
Where did you get drug infused and self aware inner monologue from Children of Time?

Dogs of War was a good sci-fi thriller that’s a lot more intelligent than it first let’s on. I loved CoT though, so take that how you will.

Are there any good books with a post apocalyptic setting that's already kinda rebuilding some small societies/governments?
Kinda along the lines of New Vegas.

>>16412389
I'm reading Ken Liu's latest collection (he translated The Three Body Problem). His stuff is pretty great. AI and the Singularity are the main ideas put forward. Fairly easy language but dense.

>>16423359
Oh, right, I think someone shilled it in an old thread but I forgot to include it in the list.
>>16423365
Mostly from all the human chapters, starting with the lady doctor which was barely readable just for how intrusive her thought process was. And Holsten, getting jostled everywhere, interrupting the narrative and his thoughts, was pretty rough too.
I get how both characters have these "traits" which would fit the prose style (obsessive and manic super genius scientist and absolute helpless passive man) but it's just not the kind of frantic action I enjoy reading, at least not for 600+ pages.

>>16423432
>I think someone shilled it in an old thread
It was probably me.

>>16423434
I did some shilling for it too, it's a pretty good book

>>16423196
lel, your expectations are too high,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUfJuOp7Dck

>>16423381
>good
That's the keyword and the mystery.

>>16423196
behold the power of a search engine results page

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/space-western
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/84085.Best_Space_Westerns
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpaceWestern
https://best-sci-fi-books.com/15-best-science-fiction-western-books/
https://vocal.media/futurism/best-space-western-sci-fi-books
https://bestsciencefictionbooks.com/space-western-science-fiction.php
https://topscifibooks.com/best-space-western-books/
https://bestsciencefictionbooks.com/lists/list/Crowd/Space-Western-Books

>>16410829
AAHHH THANK YOU ANONS
Cyberpunk on that sci-fi chart

What are some red flags that you see in fantasy books?

>>16423622
>golden age

In terms of metal, what age are we currently in Fantasy and SciFi?

Can we ever go back?

>>16423630
go ask /metal/ in mu

>>16423381
Dawn of Flame - Stanley G. Weinbaum

>>16423625
It was written by a woman or all the top reviews on goodreads are from women

>>16423625
That it exists.

I had never in my life heard anything about Cyberpunk until 2 or 3 years ago due to Cyberpunk 2077

>>16423658
>It was written by a woman
I'd put a time frame on this, there are lots of great books written by women, it's just the last fifteen years where publishing houses seem to have forced them into the same kind of things as blacks, where they can only write about being victimized.

>>16423676
Congrats on finally being 18. What was it like being born this century?

>>16423381
There was a really amusing one that I can't remember where they based their religion and government on Sherlock Holmes novels but I can't quite remember the name.

>>16423625
>female writer looks like a Tumblr user and posts about social issues all the time
Why is this so fucking common now?

>any male writer writing a female teenager or young adult
Always bad. Every single time

>>16423690
I'm 26 :( I didn't used to read before and I'm not from USA, where this genre is better known, I think
AND maybe it was 7 years ago now that I think about it. This was my first contact
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvVjkqB3LH0

>>16423625
Main character is a village outsider who no one understands because they have a special power, that shit belongs in YA and needs to stay there.

>>16423708
Deus Ex? The Matrix? Blade Runner? Alita? Ghost in the Shell? Blame? Akira? None of this ring a bell?
What stone have you been living under?

>540 pages

Longest page count so far. Uncrowned felt really rushed so I am glad he listened.

>>16422405
Mostly yes

Sup guys. Been a while. Looking for another recommendation. I'm looking for something smart. The last thing I read was "Of Killers and Kings" by Will Wight. And it was retarded anime battles. And I just don't want to read that right now. Sci-fi or fantasy, doesn't matter. I just want to sink my teeth into something with substance.
Also, to the anon who keeps recommending Pirates and seafaring stuff: No. Just no.

This is everything 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**, Penric's Demon*, Penric and the Shaman*, Penric's Mission*, The Library At Mount Char@, The Farseer Trilogy**, The Elder Empire series(Shadow)

Ongoing:
Cradle(Will Wight)**, A Song of Ice and Fire**, The Elder Empire series(Sea), Vorkosigan Saga**, Liveship Traders*

Skipping:
The Prince of Nothing, The Book of the New Sun, The Black Company, Malazan, The Song of the Shattered Sands@, Borne, The Mermaid's Tale(V.D.Valdron)@

*liked
**liked a lot
@disliked

>>16423779

The Lies of Locke Lamora

>>16423779
>looking for something smart
>doesn't want to read BOTNS

Mask of the Sorcerer

>>16423755
ju-just Matrix I guess
but I didn't know that was Cyberpunk. Nobody refers to Matrix as cyberpunk, anyway
I had never seen Blade Runner until 3 years ago (both), neither Ghost in the Shell. I don't know what is Blame and Akira. Deus Ex maybe 6 years ago...
I've lived in a cave a long time to be honest holy shit

>>16423779
Hyperion

>>16423767
Now with 50% more filler!

>>16423779
Sword in the Storm
Lions of Al-Rassan
Red Rising
The Red Knight

>>16423809
It's okay, you can go back now to the cave.

>>16423856
:´(

>>16423625
>new
>popular
>female writer
>from a big publisher
>epic fantasy
>grimderp
>writer's twitter is full of nothing but TDS

>>16423787
Giving this a go now.

>>16423790
Looking into BOTNS again. If I can get a copy of the audiobook NOT narrated by Jonathan Davis. I think it's available.

>>16423818
Looking into this too.

>>16422362
People here actually talk about books, occasionally. So it's pretty different from outer /lit/ where people never talk about books if they can help it, unless it's about using them as props in social media photos. The classification of posters here are as follows:
>transients from other boards asking for recommendations after noticing this is the only thread on the entire board with a sensible topic
>aspiring authors begging for world building / general writing advice
>cynical regulars who respond to the above two with sarcastic remarks
>avid genre fans who give earnest responses to the first two types (these types are ephemeral, and either vanish or transform into the third type before long)
>blogposters who occasionally update the thread with their opinions on something they read recently
>author fanboys who do nothing but post about a particular author (fewer of these than there used to be)
>garden variety autistic spergs with petty obsessions
>the occasional pseud from outer /lit/

>>16424091
You forgot to include yourself.

>>16423779
>The Mermaid's Tale(V.D.Valdron)

Huh?

>>16424189
What are you confused about?

just finished the trouble with peace. do i start pic related next or wait a week for the new dresden files book?

>>16412626
Holy shit, I read the wiki and have never seen a more schizophrenic shitpost of a series

>>16423381
Emberverse stuff is pretty for (to me at least) basically all modern tech stops working leaving everyone to get back into medieval stuff, I’ll warn you now though there’s a L O T of Tolkien shilling almost to the point where I’m expecting the author to write a scene where a man named “Rolkien” is fellated by every single female character

>>16424285
My friend is a fan of it, but I think it's mostly nostalgia for his edgy atheist days in high school.

I loved Pushing Ice - mostly easy to understand, loved the grim circumstances, and the core mystery.

But I quit House of Suns after 30 pages - so complicated and boring.

Should I read anything else by Reynolds? Try House of Suns again? Or quit?

>>16413094
i'm 80% into one of The Expanse books but I can't be fucked knowing it's just going to be another shitty space battle. Also the writing seemed really bad all of a sudden for some reason.

CATS ARE THE BEST READING BUDDIES

>>16424418
The entire RS universe is good. Lots of novels and short stories within. His best short story is Diamond Dogs. I also read Terminal World by him but was underwhelmed. I liked Pushing Ice as well.

>>16424519
Is RS as easy to follow as Pushing Ice?

Maybe I'm lazy or stupid but I don't have the patience for books that are too challenging.

>>16424528
Yes? There is a main trilogy and there are lots of stand alone short stories you can pick up which require no RS investment beforehand. There is also another actual novel series within RS but only two books are released currently.

>>16424528
I read it recently and it's not challenging, nor interesting

>>16424558
what was it lacking for you?

>>16423700
>any male writer writing a female teenager or young adult
You mean any writer. SJWism has made it impossible for anyone to write a good female character.

>>16424602
No, I meant what I said. You’re just a lonely sperg

>>16424444
Is expanse worth getting into at all, would you say? I’ve got leviathans wake downloaded

>>16423926
>checking an author’s twitter
Do people here really?

>>16423032
I very much enjoy the overall mythology of the series and it's been great editing practice.

>>16423630
Pretty much all of art is in a ghetto age right now. Live action tv and western animation went through a brief renaissance, but those only lasted a couple years. I’d need to look up the dates, but since about 2012-14 or so, society has been pretty artistically dead for years now. It’ll come back eventually.

>>16423049
No can do, I like Egwene.

>>16423053
Perrin's arc has been spruced up significantly w/ the 9-11 combination. And the last dragging bits will be deleted from 12-14. I won't be deleting either character, and I like Egwene, though her slow parts have been tightened as well.

>>16412032
R Scott Bakker

>>16424845
You at least getting rid of most of the tower politics and random Aes Sedai POVs?

>>16423126
You're welcome to try your own cut. I think you would lose a significant part of what makes the series excellent by dint of cutting that much. (E.g., the slow build up to Consequences in Lord of Chaos) Though I will be going back and doing one last overall pass for another glance at books 1-3. Perhaps I can combine them. But as it is, it'll be a 9 book series, which is hardly the most offensive length for an epic fantasy.

>>16424798
The books are fine but not exceptional. Stick to the show.

>>16424861
I don't know how extensive a cut you mean, so I hesitate to say yes...but yes. The tower politics suffered a lot in the slog for the same reason Perrin's arc did (not having the conclusion of introduced problems in the same books feels long even if not so many pages are devoted to the issue). So it feels faster for sure. Though I enjoy politics a lot so I never suffered through those passages the way I did during Perrin's moping.

And this bias is why I'd like to have more beta readers. I am primarily making this abridgement for myself, so I'm ok w having a certain amount of stuff left in just cuz I like it. But I'd love to have more eyes on stuff I might have missed so I can make informed cutting decisions.

I don't have all the stats for PoVs off the top of my head. But for example Lord of Chaos went from 47 unique PoVs in original to 37. Which is not the most dramatic cut, since the LoC requires a few one-time PoVs for important scenes. Other books are down to about 30 PoV iirc. PoVs that are one-time are the first to go when I cut them and innkeepers that aren't special don't get named haha.

>>16424798
It's alrite. Just read 2-3 chapters and if you like it keep going.

As a writer in 2020 how can you write a fantasy universe that doesn't copy elements from other fantasy universes like LOTR, GoT, and so forth. How can one possibly be unique anymore when so many fantasy ideas have already been played out whether it be magic or dragons or special powers and equipment.

>>16424972
You can fuck off for starters

>>16424972
It's called creativity.

>>16424972
you don't need to be 100% original

>>16424972
Explore in books and experiences outside the established genre. If you're really meant to be a writer you'll find your voice and have something to say. If not, plenty of writers have made good livings as imitators.

>>16423420
I will look into his other work tonight when I got more than a few minutes

>>16423381
Google empire building fantasy in goodreads.
The ones I give you, you will call trash.

>>16424972
No one is 100% original, Tolkien is very much inspired by mythology, fairy tales and the bible.
It's what you do with it, how you take what already exists in the cultural heritage and put a new spin on it. Sapkowski is great at this, despite maybe taking too much from Elric, but other than the character tropes weaves together other things uniquely.
That's how it works in IP law too. Everything is derivative of something, because humans and creativity don't exist in a vacuum.
I think the most pretentious thing a friend of mine said was "They thought Dostoyevsky was the end of literature, but Thomas Mann proved them wrong". Tho i think he stops at Mann lmao.

>>16424091
>>garden variety autistic spergs with petty obsessions
Fuck you and fuck E William Brown too if you think my obsession is petty, or that I'm autistic.

any books with magical cats?

>>16423586
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gla6FVEnJcg

>>16412032
So you want books were humans with little to no affection growing up, put their dick in inhuman things?

>back cover of the three stigmata of palmer eldritch says "dick was a poor man's pynchon"
PYNCHED AGAIN

>>16417266
George RR Martin asoiaf

>>16425258
The master and margarita
Life and opinions of the tomcat Murr
Darconville's cat (sort of)

>>16416214
If you’re into theories and that kinda shit check out Preston Jacobs on YouTube, this fucker and his videos consumed the better part of a year for me until I finally shed the GoT bug

>>16425258
Sure.

>>16425311
And then you probably fell under the sway of some other figure.

>>16424972
Seems you have excessive Anxiety of Influence.

>>16423622

Difference Engine:
It's steampunk.
It sucks because it literally has no ending - the story just cuts off.

fa/tg/uy refugee here,

Is this the thread where people discuss sci-fi that they're writing? Or just stuff they're reading?

The guy doing the abridgement is doing so because he thinks it'll help with being a better writer by knowing what and how to write using wot as a basis. Also said he'll be adding in his own fanfiction to it as needed. Then afterwards he'll write his own series, which inevitably will be wot fanfiction though he'll deny it. It's all rather silly.

>>16425343
There's a writing thread called critique thread where you can post what you've written and have anons comment on it.

>>16425343
depends are you writing something like pic related?

>>16425334
I was about to read it

>>16425373
Don't let some random decide what you'll read for you.

>>16425370
I am not, I'm writing about cute cyberpunk girls killing chicoms

>>16425357
I saw it, I tried it, I kind of got redirected here, but skimming the thread gave me the impression they were wrong.

>>16425410
It wasn't that they were wrong so much as that person didn't want you there.

>>16425422
Guess I'll just keep plugging along with a dead genre then.

>>16425440
Not really true, but ok

>>16425470
Who is publishing cyberpunk nowadays? I could use something to look forward to after a dense philosophy book

>>16425258
Sabriel
Art of the Adept
The next thread should be cat-focused, in honor of longcat. This one should have been but I wasn't around to ninja the new thread.

Do people like flying boats and sky islands still?

>>16425258
If you like urban fantasy, the October Daye series features them heavily. One of the male leads is Tybalt, king of cats even.

>>16425348
Lol, abridger here. Who are you responding to? I'd be interested in hearing how you practice writing. Ideas on that always welcome.

Can't promise my first series I write myself will be good obviously, but considering the topic/inspiration (and the fact that it is sci-fi) it will by no means be WoT-lite. But I'll keep the danger of that in mind when I write it.

>>16419121
You will never pass subhuman

Just finished this for the first time and holy shit was it bad.

Are any of his books better, or did I fall for a meme? Should I just go back to Heinlein?

>>16425762
Stop by Clarke so you can gain 2/3rds of the righteous disdain you should have for the Big Three.

>>16425799
Been there done that, no interest in going back.

>>16422893
It is. First Dune is would not be as good without Messiah.

>>16425253
All I did was describe a set of clothes and you're declaring they fit you.

>>16425343
These threads are for discussing books, not writing, but aspiring authors of scifi and fantasy often come here instead of the general writing critique thread since /lit/ sneers at genre fiction.

>>16425646
I do

>>16425948
I see that hasn't changed. That's why there is a story thread on /tg/, but that went downhill after the demise of /wst/ and the break with /qst/

>>16425258
Alice in wonderland

These are the same, right?

>>16425663
Writing wot in space without the excesses probably would work. It wasn't meant to be an insult. Originality is overrated.

>>16425321
Nah he just had some cozy videos is all, and high school was boring.

>>16424806
Yes. I don't want to give my money to lunatics.

>>16426465
You seem like a mild lunatic.

>>16426476
Give me your home address.

There is nothing better than watching weak willed, effeminate beta males get turned into bitches who need a strong man to press and fill them.

New
>>16426615
>>16426615
>>16426615

>>16426600
I think you're in the wrong thread

>>16413094
Just started Reaper's Gale. I love the Malazan series so far, but it just seems like Erikson is obtuse just for the sake of being obtuse, so I have some mixed feelings.