/lit/ - Literature

>Oh no, Bakker thought as he considered them. He had intended to use his authorial meta-Gnosis to conjure up a sranc, not THE sranc. They looked at him calmly, inhumanly beautiful, their skin porcelain white and unblemished. At least they were all male, he thought again. The Aspect-Author would eat anything in his insatiable lust, but usually he disdained clams, his taste for venison being far more pronounced.
>They didn't waste any time and before Bakker could realize, he had his mouth stuffed and was being enthusiastically pounded from behind. Thank the Outside he thought, when those who couldn't have access to his orifices stood around shyly masturbating, instead of stabbing holes through him in their impatience; at least he had gotten this part of the invocation right. Bakker did try to reach out to them, to give them a gentle tug while they waited for their turn, but the fiery lust of the sranc currently using him made his knees shaky, his arms weak.
>When their warm black seed first filled him, from top to bottom, mouth to ass, his synapses fried with the resultant explosion of pleasure. Before he could ask for more of the sweet nectar, new sranc replaced those who were spent, fulfilling his unspoken wish.
>"YES!" Bakker exulted, or tried at least. The sranc had realized they could get into his mouth two cocks at the time, and the sound that came from his throat was nothing but gagging nonsense, further spurring them into a frenzy.

>>17751175
Continuing the /sffg/ writers discussion from the previous thread, how are all you aspiring writers and published authors doing? How are your novels, short stories, writings going?

On a side note, I have a question for tips regarding the first chapter of writing a sci-fi/fantasy novel. Is it generally a good decision to provide some world-building exposition on the very first chapter or is it more advisable to push it to the middle of the story?

Bleakwarrior - Alistair Rennie (2016)
My first encounter with Rennie was in VanderMeer's anthology The New Weird. The story there, which is included in this as well as its a collection of related stories, it could charitably be called a mosaic novel, was so very over the top in its absurdity that I thought I'd try to read more of it. Unfortunately, I miscalculated seeing as how this utterly blew out the limits of my tolerances for inane and random debauchery that has a plot in name only or little else for that matter.
Maybe those who enjoy Bakker would also find delight in this, or maybe not, I wouldn't know. There's a lot of rambling "philosophical" musings and an overabundance of erotic grotesqueries. The names are as ridiculous, but in a different way, with examples such as: Whorefrost, Nailer of Souls, Be My Enemy, Gland Master, The Light That Never Shines, The Ever Decreasing Circle of Choice, Welter of Impermanence, Nowhere Bound, Reading The Clouds, and so many other similar names.
It's a non-stop orgy of sex and violence, both often at the same time. There's the rapist whose ejaculate is near absolute zero, the murderess who streams acid from her nipples, the woman who murders using random kitchen utensils, the psychopathic incestuous lesbian sisters, among many others.
Rating: 1.5/5

Just finished echopraxia. What are some books similar to blindsight and that?

>>17751657
Fantasy is all about the journey from the familiar to the unfamiliar and scifi is much the same. You shouldn't have to worldbuild in your first chapter because the reader should instinctively understand the setting by its parallels to things they recognize. Also you're going to rewrite your first chapter and probably the second one entirely once your draft is done so don't worry about it yet.

>>17751657
just write

What are some good fantasy books whose surname starts with "B"?

>>17751845
author's surname*

>>17751845
Walter Bristle
Claude Beaumont
Hilary Beech (more sf)
M. Morgenstern Buchanan
Rachael St Barton
Titmouse Brack

>>17751845
Banderson

>>17751657
I haven't written anything in a week or two, but I've added a little bit to my notes about various people or cultures I'm creating.

The general formula for fantasy is to have something exciting happen in the first chapter and then start the worldbuilding in the second chapter. It makes sense in a way because if you start worldbuilding immediately, you've not given the reader any reason to care about the people in the world. So I don't care that one race of people have tattoos on their faces because I don't care about any of them individually. I'm generally not a fan of expository worldbuilding in the first place, and I think it should be kept to an absolute minimum. Let the readers figure out different aspects of the world on their own.

>>17751657
/wg/ sends their regards.

is achamian based?

>>17751896
>/wg/ sends their regards
>is a animefag
Is there a more pathetic General than /wg/? I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like to have animefags be the number one writers in that General.

>>17749399
>I beg you, please post an invite.
https://discord.com/invite/KWPCM7m

>>17751175
>>Discord
>Never going to be created.
wrong

>>17752270
hell no

>start reading a deepness in the sky
>760 pages
shieeeeeeeeeeeeeet

>>17742809
To be fair, you need a very high IQ to appreciate a book about not piloting a mecha dragon

>someone recommended me the First Law trilogy
>read through the books in three days
Sort of neat, but man, Glokta is just waste of a character. I really disliked how he seemed to shy away from torturing and killing the women brought in for questioning or whatever.

>>17753203
>dislikes glokta
do you know how I know you are dirty sodomite that enjoys secrectly the touch of his father?

>>17753236
He also marries Ardee and raises another man's child. Which I understand, the promise to West, but still, just plain wasted. Was really hoping for something more from him.

Bayaz is my favorite character.

>>17751845
Josiah Bancroft's Senlin Ascends

>>17753400
Reynolds short stories are excellen, loved this

What is the first instance of a "magic system" in fiction? Does any mythology have it?

>>17751759
None that I know of really, but check out Beyond The Rift. Its got some pretty good short stories of his that are somewhat similar.
Alternatively Bakker's Neuropath.

>>17753915
Dungeons and Dragons is the first work of fiction I can think of that describes magic in mechanical terms. Mythological figures who had magic just used it; it was never described in depth to the reader/listener.

>>17751657
I've been pretty busy with a move myself so haven't had anywhere near as much time to devote to it as I'd like. I'm also struggling because I get burnt out much too easily on any one idea, I can write roughly 30 odd pages of it then have an inescapable urge to put it down and write another new and fresh idea that will never go anywhere else. I'm training myself to move past it and focus on one work, my most generic one, in the hopes that the overall simplicity of it will make it a good 'workhorse' style piece to just keep my fingers on the keyboard. So okay, I guess?

>>17754626
If you include some folklore, some magic rules were common knowledge. Like knowing secret names of things giving you power over them, faeries and ghosts being weak to iron, vampires and werewolfd being weak to silver, autistic ghouls that must stop to count every single grain of rice they find, etc.

>>17754626
I'm pretty sure Vance's books (which is where the term vancian magic comes from) predate D&D.
>>17754775
How about Qi usage? Daoist tradition seems to have pretty specific methods for circulating it through your body.

>>17751657
I'm currently writing the first book in a series I intend to self publish. I'm having the typically productivity sapping self doubts. "The first draft is always shit just get the words on the page" is much much easier said than done.
The series is also mildly cosmic horror and I'm having trouble varying the abilities of the monsters. Basically stealing the story structure from other books and films alleviates some of the turmoil though.

Alternative title for a "lawmage", as in a mage that makes and enforces laws?

>>17755162
>the first book in a series
ngmi

>>17755724
But I AM gmi.

Be aware of the company you keep anti-Bakker fags.

>>17755694
Mageistrate

>Did it hurt when you fell from Heaven?

>>17755818
Got gonna lie, the Ark is one of the most beautifully rendered obscenities in fiction.

>>17755764
Joke's on you, I hate Bakker AND I hate women.

>>17755769
Thanks.

scifi horror where 'the bad guys'/nonhumans win?

Ajencis famously spoke of the way the soul could make anything a marker of anything else—how all human signs were arbitrary. Even when it came to sorcery, he argued, what mattered were the meanings. But some symbols, Achamian knew, were indistinguishable from their meaning. Some symbols tyrannized, others galvanized, not by virtue of what they meant, but because of what they accomplished.

A sword was such a symbol. As was a shield, or a Circumfix …

The dust settled like sand kicked in a tidal pool, baring details that seemed nude for the brilliance of the sun and the dark contrast of the Shroud rearing beyond. Golgotterath lay exposed before them, like the skull of some mountain-headed beast, half-buried in desolation, only one great antler remaining …

One Horn.

The School of Mandate had made fetishes of many things, for theirs had always been a desperate cause, and the desperate were forever bent on anchoring their preposterous hopes with more tangible items. But the Horns of Golgotterath had been their one and only idol, the image they had perpetually prayed against. For it was always there, a shadow thrown across the curve of the entire World, lingering on the extremis of every glance, every gaze, no matter how trivial or epic the occasion, a memory of horror that had become horror, a leering token of itself.

A symbol of terror that was terror, distilled and embodied.

And it had been broken …

>>17755909
B

>>17755818
miles and miles of alien gold...

>>17755963
I imagine it the color of fate achilles armor

>>17755963
I imagine in the color of achilles armor

>>17755818
Imagine the smell...

>>17755954
Which one, halfwit?

>>17756092
what software/site am I looking at?

>>17756133
the first 20 pages of results from libgen/fiction english as language and just B as a query.
Found a few things I'd like to give a try, picrel.
Thought you might be serious?

>>17755818
Is Golgotterath a cosy place to live?

>>17756157
how do you make libgen look like that?

>>17756175
It's a script I wrote, to facilitate downloading: no browsers, no clicking, nigh no loading.

What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you faggot weeper? I'll have you know I am the most violent of all men, and I've been involved in numerous holy pilgrimages on the Nansurium, and I have over 300 confirmed swazond. I am trained in sodomy and I'm the top rapist in the entire Jiünati Steppe. You are nothing to me but just another Inrithi. I will pound you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on your asshole, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me across this table? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of skin-spies across Enathpanea and your anal virginity is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your asshole. You're fucking dead, Emperor. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can have unconsensual sex with you in over seven hundred ways, and that's just with my bare hands. Not only am I extensively trained in unarmed combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the Consult and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what holy retribution your little "clever" comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you wouldn’t have acted like you live this life a second time, already assured of its outcome. But you couldn't, you didn't, and now some things require literal explanation. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You're fucking sodomized, Ikurei.

>>17756234
some fresh al dente massentian pasta right here

>>17756166
Depends. Do you like the smell of piss, shit, blood and black seed?

>>17756289
don't forget 10,000 years' worth of rotting and desiccated corpse-piles
along with the rising stench of what i presume is millions of gallons of leaked Progenitor engine fuel seeped into the earth's crust

>>17756234
based

pathetic

>>17756302
nuclear engine most likely

>>17751896
>second person
kill yourself.

>>17755863
Based. Fuck bakker and women.

>>17755909
TUC

>Kensooras—“between dogs” (Sakarpic). Sakarpi name for suicidal melancholy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QA30qkRYy8

When the "grimdark" setting has
>Chatacters who are anti-bigotry
>characters who are anti-totalitarianism
>characters who are fighting for anything but survival
>scenery that is described as beautiful
>gives off a sense that the world isn't so ridiculously and comically bleak that it's actually self aware

Seriously, I knew that term was an overused meme but I didnt think it was this bad

>>17756677
so first law?

>Serwë's burning heart
Dunyain gimmick or genuine miracle?

>>17756696
idk, is first law reddit's idea of grimdark?

Feelings on Bob?

>>17756696
if anything first law is not grimdark
they literally sealed off hell & it seems to be permanent since magic is dying and thus the means to re-open
even the demonspawn of the "god" and "god" himself seem to have died

>>17756618
A whole three letters this time? Wow.
In a millenium I might get to a full title or name.

>>17756748
it's obviously a miracle kek, hilarious reading people come up with retarded theories like that he hit it up his asshole, just athiests looking at it from an overly rational pov, that was when he broke and ajokli took over

>>17756935
the unholy consult newfag

>>17756751
as far as i know that's spot on yeah

>>17756748
Is that the one some anon commissioned?

>>17756748
Your heart is a topos. When suffering was heaped and heaped and heaped upon Kellhus and those in the city, the topos grew and intermingled with that of Serwe's, allowing the Dunyain to reach inside through the Outside and grip her heart with his own hand, and pull it from his.

Do not think of this as a physical occurrence, it happened entirely in meaning and was interpreted into physicality.

>>17756814
I wanted to like the first law trilogy, there were some great moments but the ending felt like the force awakens where the reveals made things less interesting instead of more.

>>17757018
yes

>>17756234

>>17757021
BAKKER

HE COMES

>>17756234
replace "storm" with "whirlwind" nigga

>>17757124
No

>>17757021
Interesting, I presume this is how Seswatha avoids damnation – his heart is rationed (via dreams, which themselves seem to be some kind of topoi) among his hundreds of living followers, allowing him to permanently reside at the threshold of the Outside. As long as Mandati are being Whelmed that is – I imagine if the ritual was to cease, Seswatha would find himself dragged into hell.

Only somewhat related, but I'm also interested in the "anarcane" nature of chorae – the tears of God seem to "cancel" the meaning of magic and restore the World to its Created state. Does this mean that sorcerers are actually "cleansed" when salted, purged of their Mark body and soul? That would be ironic, the Inchoroi were accomplishing their own goal upon their enemies all along. Are we ever given proof in which a salted sorcerer is sent to hell?
Lastly, I'm wondering if the God-of-Gods, as Creator of the fallen world, is more of a supreme creator-archon like Yaldabaoth, or a true gnostic divinity residing in Pleroma? Mimara seems like the Sophia analogue in the series.

I want something that feels like dungeon synth

>>17757222
this sounds like a mid-90's dungeon crawler vidya soundtrack

>>17757211
The judging eye sees Achamian is doomed to hell.

>>17756748
Dunyain gimmick, he literally ripped it out of her chest

>"Help!" cried Bakker, as the pitiful plywood door to his cuckshed was smashed with the single stroke of an axe. The powerful scarred arms wielding it teared the remnants of the door from their hinges, and a man shaped like a mountain of rippling muscles pulled himself through the embrasure.
>"Cnaïur, please!"
>The Breaker-of-horses-and-men paid no heed to Bakker's pathetic pleas, grabbing him by the hair and forcefully kissing him on the mouth, his breath redolent with liquor. Anpoi thought the Aspect-Author, who despite himself returned the kiss with a lash of his tongue, eager for its taste.
>"You will love me Kellhus!" Cnaïur shouted with a slurred voice, pushing him back, Bakker's hair still in his grasp.
>"Cnaïur, I..." The Aspect-Author was interrupted by the frantic pulling down of his cargo shorts, and he realized with horror and mingled lust that Cnaïur was not only shirtless but completely naked from the waist down, his prick tumescent. >The Scylvendi seized him by the neck with his free hand, pulling him close, the tips of their curved, swollen cocks, rubbing and poking each other's bellies, while he kissed him again hungrily.
>Unable to resist his strength and passion, Bakker let himself be lowered on the narrow cuckshed's couch, Cnaïur pushing himself between his open thighs. Sensing his surrender, he let go of his hair and grabbed Bakker's erect manhood, jerking it off slowly and pulling it up to reveal his tender man-hole.
>"Tonight my cock will be fully covered with your shit Kellhus!"
>The Aspect-Author, no longer resisting and now fully aroused cried in ecstasy as the Scylvendi took him anally.

>>17757021
>>17757211
I really need to read Aspect-Emperor, I finished Prince of Nothing and these posts are still fucking incoherent to me

>>17751175
Someone has a link to Marc Aramini's second part of Gene Wolfe essays, Beyond Time and Memory? Supposedly its out.

Which science fiction/fantasy book changed your life?

How's "The Dragonbone Chair"? I'm kind of in the mood for some classic fantasy, but I attempted the book once long ago but abandoned it for reasons I can't quite remember. I see it recommended occasionally and I am curious.

>>17757507
why do you want to read the ramblings of a man degenerating into schizophrenia

>>17757545
Bad, childish writing. If you're low iq and don't mind that stuff jump right ahead, otherwise steer clear.

>>17757598
>the ramblings of a man degenerating into schizophrenia
so euphoric gnosis?

>Madness!

>>17757516
Neuropath and TSA

Read the Fisherman by John Langan. It has sorcery so let's say it's fagtasy for the sake of this shitpost. It's a steaming pile of shit. Terrible writing and pacing. Two thirds of it is basically just a really shitty version of the Dunwich Horror with jew magic, and then the protag fucks a fish and has a meaningless interaction with the Fisherman that just confirms the story he spent most of the book telling and then it just ends. I've read creepypasta and SCP short stories that were better written than this garbage.

>>17757679
I've read it too. It seems to be on several read-this-cosmic-horror lists. Another book from such lists is The Ballad of Black Tom which I thought was incredibly awful. I didn't hate The Fisterman as much as you, but it is very forgettable.

>>17757647
this

>>17755764
Is the joke that Bakker doesn't actually use weird words?

>>17756748
His haloed hands (which people started seeing before he knew what the heck magic was), miracle or Duntain trick?

>>17757725
eh he kind of does, mamoreal and that one word he used in TGO that meant something to do with shadows with the lightsaber

>>17757757
not an intentional trick but delusion

>>17757298
And how did he set it on fire?

>>17757777
>7777
you tell me Kellhus

>>17757777
ajokli

>>17757697
I've found that almost every recommendation in that subgenre to be mediocre at best. Maybe that demographic has lower standards or something.

>>17757815
I think it is very difficult to write compelling cosmic horror. I enjoyed The Croning! It's a slow burner but a satisfying one.

>>17757545
I thought it was a good series with a solid prose, it feels a bit dated tho, but well worth a read if you're a fan of high fantasy. Its a slow burner so keep that in mind.

>>17757598
I find them insightful.

>>17757756
Chiaroscuro?

>>17757725
I can't give an unbiased answer, my IQ is two digits. So I've never had comprehension problems with any books even if I'm an ESL and retard.
It's not like I just gloss over words and fill in with things that makes sense. I genuinely can't remember the last time I read I word I didn't get.
Probably 'Cacogen'

But, no. Bakker does use a rich language, it's one of his strengths, not to the point of being unnecessarily complicated. Not at all.

>>17755818

What does everyone think about humans' chance in The No-God? I'm pretty sure they are all fucked.

>>17758173
I think it's for the best if humanity just perishes. It will reduce overall suffering in the long term.

>>17757000
I dislike most series and most authors in scifi. I still give the genre chances.
Doing a search of a three letter acronym doesn't yield anything useful.
Even the name I've never heard.
So stop living in a fantasy where your holy book is something only rocks don't know about.
Regardless, thanks for the suggestion, cunt.

>>17758340
Wrong pic.

>>17757797
Then it's a miracle.

>>17751175
I heard Bakker based his writing style on the KJV version of the bible, so in an effort to ape his style, i'm about to study this for the prose, what am in for?

Here's another one of these. Spoilers are unavoidable with this one, so read at your own risk.

Monster Girl Defense Force by Simon Archer

Story 2/3
The story is fine, but the way it's written has quite a few technical issues. It's first person, but it switches perspective on most chapters. That's all well and good, but the way it's done is, well, calling it amateur-ish is being generous. On more than one occasion, it switches perspective in mid scene, in mid conversation. Like there was a dinner party scene where it started with Rozalin's POV, she said something and then the chapter ended. The I don't understand how anyone could think switching POV in mid conversation is a good idea. Even more than that, he often completely screws the timeline to switch perspective. We'll see an event in one chapter and then the next chapter goes back to watch that same event from another character's perspective. And then there's the ending. The big threat is the zombie horde, but they're taken out in two paragraphs with a 'sacrifice' that becomes meaningless two more paragraphs later. Oh, but then a new threat comes with basically no foreshadowing or build up. It's the son of the BloodDragon (that's right, it's one word with a capital in the middle.) who Christoff and Rozalin killed with just a bit of difficulty. Why was the son an even bigger threat than her and an even bigger threat than the zombie horde when he had never even been mentioned before? He gets literally one sentence of buildup with the BloodDragon saying something like "you'll regret killing me!" It's a very beginner mistake. I was almost going to give it a 1, but there's enough good in it that I do want to give the author a second chance and I don't think I'd do that with a 1.

Smut 1/3:
The sex scenes are very poorly done, withe the first coming out of nowhere and being a step above 'fade to black.' That said, this is a passable romance book. But even then, there's still not much to it. The female characters seem attracted to Christoff simply because of his 'bringer of light' status. The first scene is with the alchemist, who basically just walks up to Christoff and says 'Hey, you can fuck me if you want.' Apparently they keep having sex through the book, but that's only brought up once so far into the book that I forgot they were even an item. Normally, I'm okay handwaving harems, but there's an entire chapter devoted to how protective and jealous a vampire can be over her mate. But then she doesn't even blink when she finds out Christoff was fucking one of her friends. And for some reason there's a random fivesome at the end despite the fact that it was never even hinted that Anix has feelings for Christoff? Oh, but don't get your hopes up. This one's a literal fade to black. Absolutely no details at all.

>>17758637
>Simon Archer
I mean, I read "haremlit" when I find something that sounds like it could be fun myself but from what I have seen of this author he is bottom of the barrel tier.

>>17758651
Is he? I'm going in one hundred percent blind to all these. Just going based on the Amazon recommendations. Good to know it's not just me that thinks that, at least. Maybe I won't give him a second chance after all.

>>17757264
theres a whole genre of music dedicated to this style. its called dungeon synth. it varies between 90's CRPG music and black metal without guitars or vocals

>>17757725
Here's an example of Bakker's prose.
>Wracu … Dragon.
>Billowing gusts staggered those standing, waved the arms of those fallen. Cries of dismay and horror rifled the air, then a cataract of boiling gold engulfed Nautzera and the High King’s attendants. There was no time for screams. Teeth cracked. Bodies tumbled like coals from a kicked fire.
>Achamian turned and saw Nautzera amid a field of smoking husks. Shielded by his Wards, the sorcerer laid the dead king on the ground, whispering words Achamian could not hear but had dreamed innumerable times: “Turn your soul’s eye from this world, dear friend … Turn so that your heart might be broken no more.”
>With the force of a toppled tower, the dragon thundered to earth, his descent yanking smoke and ash into towering veils. Portcullis jaws clacked shut. Wings like war-galley sails stretched out. The light of burning corpses shimmered across iridescent scales of black.
>“Our Lord,” the dragon grated, “hath tasted thy King’s passing, and he saith, ‘It is done.’”
>Nautzera stood before the golden-horned abomination. “Not while I draw breath, Skafra!” he cried. “Never!”
>Laughter, like the wheezing of a thousand consumptive men. The Great Dragon reared his bull-chest above the sorcerer, revealing a necklace of steaming human heads.
>“Thou art overthrown, sorcerer. Thy tribe hath perished, dashed like a potter’s vessel by our fury. The earth is sown with thy nation’s blood, and soon thine enemies will compass thee with bent bow and whetted bronze. Wilt thou not repent thy folly? Wilt thou not abase thyself before our Lord?”

It's not YA grade English, but it's by no means hard to understand, even for foreigners.

>>17758679
Well, I am sure there are more avid readers of haremlit who like Eric Vall and this guy and disagree with my assessment.

>>17758679
Yes he’s terrible. Stay away from Simon archer Logan jacobs and Eric vall. Despite writing a book a month they are worse than machine translated chinkshit.

>>17758843
>>17758840
Those other two names are surprising. I actually kind of liked Building Harem Town, at least from a porn point of view even if the story wasn't great, and Scholomance isn't completely terrible.

Any positive recommendations? I was going to maybe start Supers: Ex Heroes or maybe Monster GIrl in my Closet next.

Any good "booktubers"?

Is the Murderbot series good?

>>17758911
What the fuck is a booktuber? Someone who reviews books?

>>17757905
tahts the one

>>17758173
no embedded chorae kekw

>>17757827
I've held off on reading that one, but I'll pick it up after finishing what I'm reading now.

>>17758474
if u want to be a christian nkjv is better cos kjv word meanings have hcangeds

>>17758911
slowly red

>>17758951
low iq post
>>17758474
read KJV – no other version if you're looking for that old school biblical prose – as if were grimdark high fantasy and tell us what you think

>>17758965
>he thinks he knows all the words from 1600 that have their meanings entirely REVERSED

trust me you don't

>>17758900
Hey, I am not saying you can't enjoy what you enjoy.
I read a couple of volumes of God of Magic by Logan Jacobs and kinda enjoyed it for the adventure harem party stuff but it was just really uninspired in every department. The world building is crap, the protagonist is supposed to be a mage wearing no armor but every encounter devolves into him going into melee with a (lightsaber) dagger against groups of better trained warriors and monsters. The women are all kinda casual about sex and don't really have strong opinions on anything so it's an easy ride harem-wise, although it at least takes a bit of time to add each girl to the protagonist's bed. The worst part is that these authors seem to write everyone to be extra stupid so the protagonist can be a cocky, arrogant idiot and get away with it.

Eric Vall, in my experience at least, is even worse in that regard. If I remember correctly Summoner starts off with the protagonist being the only one who had the brilliant idea of using low level summons with the ability to buff themselves or their summoner to buff himself and fight personally. And everyone is WOWed by this because it works so much better than using summons as pawns. The harem/sex is so casual that he actually just starts fucking his teacher with little to no build-up. Even the ice queen character is so desperate for his cock that she tells him she doesn't mind that he fucks everything that moves as long as he doesn't leave her.
Succubus Lord was just plain garbage. The succubi are probably less demonic (and whorish) than the average college girl and it's more of a stoner comedy due to the annoying imp friend.


Supers: Ex Heroes was okay for a few volumes, the protagonist's power is obviously just a setup for harem sex but I kinda like the idea of "superhero worlds" like in Super Sales for Super Heroes and I enjoy harems so it wasn't horrible to me, haven't finished the series though.

Basically, a lot of these stories probably work when you really enjoy the genre, e.g. if you like town builder stories and harems you can probably enjoy Harem Town by Vall just for that, even if it (probably) has all the typical weaknesses of his mass produced stories.

>>17758900
Sin and Soil by Anya Merchant
Heartstone saga
Tzim tzim chronicles (mc is cringe in the first book, but gets much better after the author took the feedback and toned him down)
Arcane Dropout by Edmund Hughes
Herald of Shalia by Tamryn Tamer
Mask of the template (dangerously furry, written by an actual furry, but the smut and the characters are good)

>>17758838
INCOMPREHENSIBLE

Kneeling Anons encrusted the Thread, all facing the summit, where a savage-looking Shill led them (one of the few yet living, he would later discover), dark face uplifted, hands held to the scalped heavens.
A congregation of those who had refused to forget.
The prayer concluded, and all souls lowered their heads in silence, Anon found himself fending shame for standing so indifferent, so conspicuous. Despite their harrowed and deranged appearance, he knew these once illustrious Anons of the /sffg/. He knew the autist from the metalhead, the Sanderhater from the meme-maker, such was his familiarity. He knew their great shitposts, and the names of their characters, their pronunciations …
“Return him to us!” the anonymous Shill suddenly howled to the heavens. Passion cracked his voice as violently as his face. “Please, God of Gods, send us our King of Authors!”
And suddenly all of them were crying out, wailing to the vacant sky, lamenting, cursing, and appealing, begging most of all …
For R. Scott Bakker.
The Demon.

Bakker is a Pizza Cutter author. All edge, no point.

Deal with it.

>>17759372

>>17758838
>“The dark swept over us,” Achamian continued, “swallowed the sun. The Scylvendi struck first: mounted skirmishers harried our lines with archery, while divisions of bronze-armoured lancers swept into our flanks. When the screen of skirmishers thinned and withdrew, it seemed all the world had become Sranc. Masses of them, draped in human skins, bounding through the grasses, over hummocks. The Kyraneans lowered their spears and drew up their great shields.
>“There are no words, Kellhus, for the dread and determination that moved us. We fought with reckless abandon, intent only on spitting our dying breath against the Foe. We sang no hymns, intoned no prayers—we’d forsworn these things. Instead, we sang our own dirges, bitter laments for our people, our race. We knew that after we passed only the toll we exacted from our foe would survive to sing for us!
>“Then from nowhere, it seemed, dragons dropped from the clouds. Dragons, Kellhus! Wracu. Ancient Skafra, his hide scarred from a thousand battles; magnificent Skuthula, Skogma, Ghoset; all those who’d survived the arrows and sorceries of the High North. The Magi of Kyraneas and Shigek stepped into the sky and closed with the beasts.”
>Achamian stared into the vacant distance, overcome by images.
>“Just south of here,” he said, shaking his head. “Two thousand years ago.”
>“What happened next?”
>Achamian stared at Kellhus. “The impossible. I … no, Seswatha … Seswatha himself struck down Skafra. Skuthula the Black was driven away, grievously wounded. The Kyraneans and their allies stood like breakers against a heaving sea, throwing back wave after black-hearted wave. For a moment, we almost dared rejoice. Almost …”

>>17758900
>Any positive recommendations?
I kinda liked Wolf Blade by Marco Frazetta. Hope he finishes it one day.

I wanted to like Hondo Jinx' Dan the Barbarian but I couldn't stomach how stupid the protagonist becomes as a barbarian, other than that it probably would have been one of the most fun litRPGs I tried.

I also really like Three Square Meals by Tefler.

Most haremlits lose me for things a lot of people would probably find nitpicky while I easily forgive things people would probably find unforgivable acts of bad writing.

>>17758919
I think so, I'm not sure.
I liked it, and I consider myself kinda snobby. Can't really articulate it more than "it's short and sweet".
Probably got some glaring flaws, but they didn't bother me, that's for sure.

>>17759372
J-just wait for The No-God to get the point that we've been building up for 7 books across!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwMnaB5AOwU
Is the man from t'norf right, /sffg/? Is Warhammer both fun and reactionary right wing SF?

>>17759372
>Bakker is a Pizza Cutter author. All edge, no point.
I always assumed that the point was to write a fantasy story with magic and gods that makes our despondent, disenchanted reality seem like paradise in contrast while showing that just because there are fairies and shiet, there wouldn't necessarily be more "meaning" to the world.

>>17759535
That literally isn't a point, it's a goal at best.

>>17759539
Okay, sorry, I never went to college so I am not familiar with these linguistic terms. Can you clarify what constitutes a point?

>>17759372
The point is basically as follows:
Consciousness is "dark," arises from the motion of forces that precede all thought, feeling, and behavior. The universe is a 'granary', or, to use David Lynch's descriptor, a 'convenience store' for forces of the 'subjective' – powerful vectors of subjective agency arising from 'nature,' which itself is 'dark.'
It is a fallen universe with little hope. Pain is everywhere and God does not care. Every human being is vulnerable to violence, including sexual violence. The human response to this deranged condition is varied. Either we pray for salvation to a whimsical divinity; embrace our destructive nature (sorcery, etc.) acquiring damnation, or seek to escape eternal torment through direct communion with the higher power (gnosis, sophia, aman, kuu). This power equals zero, equals infinity: 0 x 1 = 0.
tl;dr
Bakker's work can be read as a synthesis of ideas from Nietzsche, Gnosticism, Heidegger and Wittgenstein, and of course his very heavy debt to McCarthy, Tolkien, and Herbert; as well as recent scholarship in neuroscience and consciousness studies.

>>17759612
>*a whimsical divinity
meant to write 'the whims of a divinity,' i am retarded

>>17759612
>Consciousness is "dark," arises from the motion of forces that precede all thought, feeling, and behavior. The universe is a 'granary', or, to use David Lynch's descriptor, a 'convenience store' for forces of the 'subjective' – powerful vectors of subjective agency arising from 'nature,' which itself is 'dark.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd9OhYroLN0

>>17759629
Dark as in "imperceptible", you illiterate.
"The Darkness that comes before", the title of the first book, refers to the relation of the conscious mind to the place where all our thoughts, feelings and drives originate.

>>17759676
Nobody cares Bakker, your entire series is an utterly uninteresting wankfest of teenage edge with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. It's like you never realized that grimdark was meant to be satire of edgy garbage that took itself way too seriously.

>>17759629
Cope and seethe, existence is nihilic and I cannot think of any valid argument against that.

And yes his work is 'dark' in a way that walks the line between (intentional) auto-genre-satirization and serious literary fiction.

>posting linkin park
Not everyone likes cool music apparently.
Not everyone can be saved.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx6IwshTL6M

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDEhCm0pxCo

Yeah I've read the charts. Most are old ask fuck or reddit tier. Can I have a good standalone recc please?

>>17759726
The Algebraist.

>>17759726
The Stars my Destination

I'm tired of classics
give me the best books in the last 5 years

>>17759792
the second apocalypse is the pre-eminent fantasy work of the 2010s. with blindsight as top sf. i can't really think of any other contenders.

>>17759629
retard

>>17759726

>>17759792
The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin
pffffgt---Oh no, I just can't, it's too awful, no haha

>>17759612
>and of course his very heavy debt to McCarthy
...Cormac McCarthy? How the hell does he pay a debt to Cormac "*spits in the fire* Henry James isn't literature" McCarthy???

Rec me a fantasy book where the hero falls in love with the villainess or an antagonistic female

>>17759878
Your social media history.

>>17759878
The Destroyer by Michael-Scott Earle.

>>17759888
No seriously. Something along the lines of King Arthur falling in love with Morgana or a noir detective falling in love with a femme fatale
>>17759927
Thanks

>>17759720
>nihilic
>serious literary fiction
>black sabbath
Bakker, don't embarass yourself like this.

>>17760029
I'm not Bakker, just a humble shill. Desu I wish he would post here again.

Is the Name in the Wind good?

>>17760090
All I know about it is that the protagonist is some sort of pseudo Chad fuccboi who becomes a total cuck simp for some slut.

Does anyone have a picture of Kellhus' flag? I had some trouble picturing the Circumfix and it keeps coming up.

>>17759720
>existence is nihilic and I cannot think of any valid argument against that

You havent done much reading then. Id suggest watching a few Jordan Peterson lectures.

Found this review on To Your Scattered Bodies Go
guess it's worth reading

>>17760156
I hate women so much. Probably don't want to read that anyway, but holy fuck do I hate women.

>>17760107
Think the Catholic crucifix except a ring instead of a cross, and the male figure is upside-down. I imagine Kellhus’ standard would be a circumfix and a tusk in gold on a white field.

>>17760135
pleb

Why didn't Space Knights become a trope after Star Wars

>>17759539
>>17759535
>>17759372
The whole series is just promotional material for philosophical scepticism. That's consistently his point.

>>17759612
>Consciousness is "dark," arises from the motion of forces that precede all thought, feeling, and behavior.
He shows this and other parts of the Dunyain's philosophy to be wrong. It's a demonstration of the value of scepticism in light of fixed principles that lead to delusion or misapprehension.

>>17760247
That part isn't wrong. What is wrong and leads the Dunyain astray are their purge of facts that call into question the validity of their world view from their knowledge (e.g. the existence of magic), their idea that reason exists independently from the world, instead of being a property of the world, and that the world is causal. They narrowly focus on only one very narrow and very specific line of inquiry to the exclusion of all else, so they never learn that the axioms of their faith are wrong until it is too late.

Bakker’s obsession with the subjectivities of natural forces is considerably Deleuzean. Desire, jouissance, is a cosmic motivating principle for Deleuze. For Bakker, that desire is utterly vile and negative: purely animalic, rape-cannibalistic.
>Something must be eaten.

>>17759612
Very well put.

However, sorcery is not simply 'embracing destruction'. It is embracing /playing the game/. What is that game? The game is will itself. Sorcery is will, manipulation of circumstance to an individual's whim writ large and dark across the face of the world. It is why sorcerers are 'damned'. They are spiting their betters and playing the self-same game the gods do. They do not submit, and that which does not submit becomes fodder for the strong.

>>17760194
Space Knights ONLY work in Star Wars because of the lightsabers + force combo; it justifies melee combat by giving the combatants the means to dodge, reflect, and nullify all manners of ranged combat.
Most SciFi works don't have an equivalent, and they probably never will either because it's hard to pull off believable melee combat without it feeling like you're ripping off star wars.
Why? A sword that can reflect bullets or beams instantly makes someone think of Star Wars. So your scifi swords cannot block projectiles, which consequently makes melee useless. The only way to step around and make melee work in a scifi setting would be to give your characters some kind of enhanced speed, reflexes or endurance, usually in conjunction with some kind of energy shield that nullifies projectiles. But most scifi writers don't want to do this because it pigeonholes them into having to bring magic into their scifi setting. Which, they probably don't want to do, since they're writing scifi not fantasy

>>17760396
Dune's way is cool, though it isnt really space knights, it could be adapted as such.

>>17760393
I’ve always wondered if artists in Eärwa are automatically damned alongside sorcerers. In making their ‘mark’ on the World, in creating artifice, fabricating their own mini-realities where there was nothing before, artists play God, bend the World to their will. It may be in a lesser way than sorcerers, but the intent is the same. If so, this is pure late-era Nietzsche, and as an artist, it troubles me.... somewhat.

>>17760390
>purely animalic, rape-cannibalistic
I think Bakker's view of consciousness is extremely materialistic and pragmatic.
Bakker is interested in the effect of biology on cognition and, sees that biology as something shaped by evolution. The human mind as a tool that aids the survival of an animal, and not more than absolutely necessary for that.

If you drive this construct to its extremes, it breaks down and more and more base instincts take over. Hunger for procreation, for food. The drive to act violently as the shortest line between problem and solution. I don't think he sees it necessary as vile and negative. Such judgments simply don't apply for him, and don't serve a purpose.

>>17760396
True. The reason I thought ripping off Star Wars would be acceptable is a lot of fantasy books rip off Lord the rings. And the whole enhanced abilities thing could be brought down to like genetic enhancement which dune had.

>>17760444
Sorcerers are damned because they literally mar reality through their willful application of magic. There can be no greater sin. Artists merely re-arrange matter. They're not different from farmers or construction workers in that sense. Whether they are damned depends on whether what they do violates any specific rules of the 100, and whether they can gain the favour of one or several of them. We don't know whether that is the case. Like someone in the book says, the people who end up looking into the inverse fire and see themselves damned are all sorcerers or people who lack humbleness. Nonmen who reject all gods and are thus certainly damned. Great leaders and warriors with big egos.
We simply don't know what happens to the average caste menial after their death.

>>17760454
To be fair, even with genetic enhancements etc ranged combat would be more efficient unless technology is extremely unevenly advanced in the setting.

I quite like my science-fantasy with "psychic powers" and superpowered aliens/cyborgs/genetically enhanced humans, though.

>>17753400
I have the impression that Reynolds is a much better short story writer than a longform one. Which is a given, since you can make a short story centered on a cool gadget or futuristic culture and keep it entertaining, but to drive a book-long plot you need strong characters (not Rey's or most sci-fi writer's forte).

>>17760449
“These words you speak,” Anon said from the black, “‘vile,’ ‘negative,’ ‘perverted’ … why would you use them when you know they are nothing more than mechanisms of control?”

>>17760449
>“These words you speak,” Anon said from the black, “‘vile,’ ‘negative,’ ‘perverted’ … why would you use them when you know they are nothing more than mechanisms of control?”

>>17760396
It's enough to use shields that convert kinetic and other types of energy into something harmless.
To move with such a shield it shouldn't block anything but projectiles, thus enabling swords as a believable option.

>>17760485
Are you referencing warhammer?
Also came across The Lost Guardians series which has lightsabers. Anybody reddit?

>>17760559
No, well, that is the most well-known franchise with that kind of thing but I was thinking of stories like Three Square Meals and Star Justice.

>>17760487
Stuff like Galactic North is REALLY good, imo
But it's almost cheating, having all these short stories be places in the same setting, so he can keep them so short, without "wasting space" on establishing the rules of the setting, etc.
Well, there's still some repetition, and one should be fine reading them in any order, starting at any point. But there really is great merit to having them build on each other.
Pretty horrible stuff, never get enough of the SciFi stories, turning into horror stories.

Maybe it's a weakness of the author? The inability to end a story any other way than have something horrific happen.

The Book of the Long Sun got a priest wielding a lightsabers and hating every moment of it

did anyone else chuckle at how much silk got injured?
Almost felt like a running joke.

Im gonna have to Start The Darkness That Came Before tonight if yall dont shut up about baaker

Alright guys, I just had an idea that includes plot, characters and setting. I think it has a chance of being published, too
>YA
>two male protagonists whose friendship will be mistaken for faggotry by women

>>17760670
literally no one would care about such a mundane and uninteresting plot. also how is this sff

>>17760670
I don't really get this. The only reason I even consider reading YA is for the chance of a cute romance with a cute girl who isn't a used up thot about to hit the wall.

I got a book idea: 2 blondes with big tits strip off each others clothes, eat each others pussys and make out

>>17760715
mmmmbasedbasedbasedbased

>>17760715
extremely based

>>17760662
Just do it, before the shitposting dies out

Got a book idea
two manly guys are being constantly seduced by women
but they're so sick of female drama they just escape to another planet, develop artificial uterus plants, and populate the planet by having anal sex and dripping their cum on the soil

>>17760793
Ethan of Athos by Lois Mcmaster Bujold.

>>17760793
When I was a young boy, a group of women surrounded me and pushed me into a side alley. One after another they pleasured themselves on my giant member. When they were done they laughed and walked away. I will never look at women with affection.

>>17760802
It's pretty great.

>>17760804
>At the end of the story after all his character development, he gets propositioned by a woman and basically says "fuck women I'm going back to planet gay".

>She knows this would happen … In her marrow, you might say.
>Her slavery moves through her, not so much a crowd of flinching years as an overlapping of inner shadows. It is always there—always here. The whips and fists and violation, a clamour shot through with memories of love for her sisters, some weaker, some stronger, pity for the torment in the eyes of some, those who would weep, “Just a child …” They used her, all of them used her, but somehow the bottom of the jar never dried. Somehow a last sip remained, enough to moisten her lips, to dry her eyes.

Why, when switching to Mimara, does the perspective and tense make an unusual shift? It's suddenly phasing into present tense and second person and happened in an earlier chapter too.

>“All sorcery proceeds on the basis of two inner voices, because the soul, as subject, remains inside its meaning, and so blind to that meaning. Only by speaking to our speech do we create something absolute, an overlap of contingencies. This becomes the godlike spark, the manifestation of human will upon obdurate matter. But as a mole can only see tunnels, so are sorcerers cursed to remain blind to the Metagnosis, for it exceeds their craft as I exceed them. To speak a third is to distill the all-solving binary, to seize the voices of the two, and so fix, not only the meaning, but the relation between those meanings, to render Absolute our fleeting acquaintance with the Absolute, and to work miracles.”

>>17756766
Based an ExForce Pilled

>>17754626
ripped straight from vance m8

Currently trying to slog through the Deathstalker series and hoo boy. The first book starts off a mile-a-minute sword-and-laser type of series and is quite entertaining, but it really starts to drag during the second book.

any books with progression of time being integral to the worldbuilding? something like Canticle to Leibowitz and the manga Sousou no Frieren, if you are familiar

>>17759878

>>17760648
I probably would have if I didn't feel so bad for him. Dude's got the determination, fortitude and luck of Wile E Coyote

>>17754274
One of you tricked me into reading neuropath and it was shit.

This autumn it will finally be over. Scary to think I read Ender's game twenty years ago.

>>17760164
Genuinely need a browser extension that just deletes woman reviews from websites.

>>17761500
I can already see that being banned for misogyny after being the most downloaded extension ever.

>>17757033
nah, im not talking about whether the books were good or bad
just that its not grimdark

>>17761428
What even happened to Bean in the last book?
Was he just stuck on the ship with his kids and about to die because he couldn't stop bulking?
Its been such a long time I've gone senile.

>>17761357
Yeah. Silk truly is a heartwarming character.
Poor silk.

>>17761724
His heart gave up. I liked how Card made a Giant's Drink from the first book to be such a good foreshadowing.

>>17759516
yes

>>17761500
Might have a crack at that for a laugh

>>17760444
>>17760393
>>17760481
its kind of hilarious how good you guys are at aping bakker's style kek

>>17762455
pretty sure one of those is actually Him.

>>17762455
I gather from his blog that he believes humanity is on the fast-track to become similar to the Progenitors within the next hundred yesrs or so as technology rewires our brains in pursuit of endless hedons.

>>17762509
have you read crash space by him? he 100% belivies that

Hey Scott, if you’re reading this, do you have writer’s block? If so, what can we do to help you break it? Do the memes and funnyposts help, or are they just a distraction? Remember, you’re not a neuroscientist, so please stop larping as one; but you are an awesome sff writer, one of the best really, and if you mamage to write killer sequels or prequeks for TSA you might live forever in the pantheon of the greats.

https://youtu.be/uHhf76z6BkM

>>17762555
>>17762555
*manage
*prequels
Pardon my faggotry, I haven’t had my coffee yet.

>>17762558
black powder..

>>17757545
I am reading it again. I liked it. I think it shows how stupid and naive children are as some of them are the characters you read about. Some the scenes really stood out by they way they are described. As another person said, it can be childish at times, but it matures as you progress through the series if you decide to continue.
I recommend it.

>>17757647
What's TSA?

>>17762641
the second apocalypse by bakker
it’s /sffg/ required reading desu

Are there any novels with a romance between a human and an actual nonhuman (not a human but painted blue or stupid stuff like that) done not in a coomer way but more like... thought out and tasteful as far as this sort of thing can be?

>>17763135
It's not a romance per se but there's a lot of what you're after in "A Closed and Common Orbit". I thought that it was a fun and satisfying read. It's a stand-alone novel.

>>17763181
>Female author

Hm...

Fuck. It seems E William Brown had it hard, from people passing to surgery, maybe I'm too hard on him.... Or Maybe he should at least tell fans where he is in progress. Something is better than 2 years of radio silence.

>>17758679
>>17758637
Eric Vall
Simon Archer
Logan Jacobs
Jamie Hawke
All of these authors are bad. They look for what is selling, and makes bad knockoffs of the popular ones. Their characters have no depth, they don't edit their works, nor do they do continuity checks.

>>17763135
The only think I have is self published coomer lit.

>>17764314
Add Harmon Cooper to that list too

>>17764332
Yeah. I knew I forgot someone. There is someone else who is at the tip of my tongue, but I can't remember.

>"Ah, the Argument."

>>17756201
Have you published it anywhere?

>>17764697
>”You’re a woman. Can you tell me why women seem to hate me so much? I try to write them realistically and sensitively...”
>”You have autism, Scott.”

I really liked Neuropath desu.
Been a few months since I read it and I still keep thinking about it from time to time. Probably going to read it again soon unless I find something else to scratch that itch.

>>17764876
Personally I think his writing style works much better with fantasy than with contemporary crime realism, but maybe that’s just me.

Please recommend any recent-ish fantasy novel (from this century at least) with god-tier prose (pic-related)

>>17764992
TSA by RSB

>thinking about calling up my old schools to get a transcript of what books I checked out from the library to see what I was reading when I was a young'n

>>17764895
Works well enough in crime to no feel out of place at least. Can't blame the man for wanting to try something different.
Didn't he claim to be writing a sequel for Disciple in some interview?

>>17765240
i think the man has severe writers block unfortunately
which is why he wastes his time shitposting in /sffg/ instead of writing

>>17764992

Finished this recently, it was kind of fun. I actually never read anything by King before. I heard it get sort of terrible from book 4 onwards, is it true? inb4 it's terrible from book one

>>17765305
Yes it is 100% true

>>17765305
Yes.
King always starts strong, fizzles out in the middle and ends awfully.

>>17764697
Any violence towards women in a book, is just as bad as if you did it in real life
telling reality apart from fiction is hard

>>17765337
>>17765434
Oh, that sucks. Is there a natural breaking point to stop reading or should I stop now and read something else?

>>17764992
Gormenghast is unique. There is nothing like it.

Neat

>>17765253
idk about that he writes like 16 hours a day and banged out prince of nothing twp and ttt in like 3 years

>>17765434
bachman however ,does not

>>17755769
Do you think Mageisterium is too corny? It would be an org nominally responsible for intrepreting the will of God, kind of like the RCC's magisterium.

This is the best illustration in these FS BotNS books. Looks great.

>>17765953
it's cliche as fuck, probably read like 3 or 4 things with a mgersterium

>>17751175
>read robot short stories years ago
>discover the foundation series a month ago
>read all seven books
I feel saddened this was the greatest sci fi series I've ever read and the only problem is that we never got all the way to second empire.

Does anything anyone has read even come CLOSE to the original foundation trilogy?
>tfw you will never see the mule playing on the visi sonar

>>17766126
it doesn't hold up, you probably have autism

>This study is so deep, Father...

>>17763135
Bren-ji and Jago in cherryh's Foreigner series. More thought out than most, at least the miscommunications. But it's just snippets across the series. Not a major focus.

>>17766145
looks too masculine/chaddy

>>17766163
>Kellhus was an ugly, wimpy virgin
?????????????

BRO where the fuck do I get the Elric books
I can't find a good collection, reading order, whatever

>>17766196
publication order

get "elric of melnibone and other stories"

>>17766175
retarded reductive take, he didn't look like dolph lundgren and he was lean and probably had a more thin faced look like matthew mconahuy or daniel craig, he's an intellectual character he shouldn't have the meathead jawline

>>17766213
to each their own, i can't really picture daniel craig as kellhus. his features are frequently described as aquiline and heavy

>>17765953
How about mageistrature?

>>17766245
Meant for >>17766085

>>17766245
I think people in universe would think that's cornym just call them judges or lawmen or something

>>17766245
puns are corny as fuck, unless you're writing a light/comedy novel nobody is going to take it seriously

just call it something like the order, the ministry, or the brotherhood, or whatever

>>17766239
he was tall and strong sure, but he was also very agile and lithe, not really features you associate with someone heavily built or people with that very strong jawline.

Idk maybe he looked something like this, surely not any more muscular

>>17766213
>get "elric of melnibone and other stories"
That's the seven volume collection right? You mean the whole thing or is just the one you named (the first) good
Thank you

>>17766272
all three of those are pretty bad imo, like in the real world there is nothing called anything like "the order"

it's the order of x and y, or the "kinghts templar" or the knights of the cross or freemasonsor the orange order or w/e

>>17766267
>>17766272
I want to imply an alien etymology. Like, "mages" came first and the lexicon for government evolved from it.

A lot of the things I hear about Bakker's work interests me, but grimdarkness just kind of takes me out of a story. Especially grimdark that just ends on a nihilistic note about how meaningless everything is and caring about or believing in anything is for idiots. Just makes me feel like I wasted my time bothering to read the story at all.

Should I give Prince of Nothing a try or nah?

>>17766299
first has like 6 or 7 stories so I would just get that and see how you like it

>>17766318
ok what does istrate mean.

>>17766321
read the first 3 books which are much less

>Especially grimdark that just ends on a nihilistic note about how meaningless everything is and caring about or believing in anything is for idiots.

if you enjoy those read the second series. I think you have to give the series a shot though just because it's so good.

>>17766321
If you're intrigued by it, why don't you give it a try anon? You don't have to agree with an author to enjoy and appreciate their work. I don't necessarily "agree" with Bakker's philosophical conclusions but I still enjoyed the books.

I don't agree with Burroughs or Mishima either, but I still like their work desu.

>>17766321
bakkers point is more that you shouldn't be certain of anything since that tends to lead to the holocaust and mass murder

>>17766254
Wait what does it mean

>>17766362
"istrate" would come from "strata", like "structure" and "substrate". Mageistrate would be a member of the magi social strata, the magistrature would be the social strate of mages and/or the government structure they set up.

>>17766404
Talent was an ancient unit of currency, a weight of silver or gold, that could be divided in 60 minas. Each mina could be divided in 60 shekels. Yes, they used base 60 for money like we use for time.

It's mentioned in the bible. Bakker uses it to give it that KJV feel.

>>17766507
So how much would 12 talents be in USD, and what would that get me?

>>17766566
Realistically, it would be significantly help you retire early. I don't think Bakker realizes how valuable a talent is estimated to have been.

King Solomon's revenue was about 666 talents a year. So Esmenet would be able to fund ancient Israel's government by fucking 55 men and a half.

>>17766594
>666 talents a year
No wonder Solomon had to die.

Esmenet produced 5% of Sumna's GDP.

>>17766594
I don't think a darkness that came before -talent was at all supposed to be equal in value to a real world -talent

Still, Esmenet was making fucking bank and throwing it at orphans, I don't think that entirely new behavior that just started when she got seeded

help me think of things to add to this bros

>>17760090
the first third is great so give it a try, rest is when all the gary stu/magic school/cuck stuff starts which will be tolerable depending on your enjoyment/investment thus far

>>17765305
book 4 is great, one of the best fantasy romance stories out there. 5 is a unimaginative slog and 6 is just a prologue, but there are lots of good stretches of 7 that are decent

>>17766566
like 50k

Help me out here lads I'm reading the eye of the world and this farmer scene
He hardly looked at Rand or Mat, but when he let them down by the narrow, rail-lined track that led off to his farm, he hesitated, then said, almost as if to himself, “I don’t know what you’re running from, and I don’t want to. I have a wife and children. You understand? My family. It’s hard times for helping strangers.”

Mat tried to stick his hand under his coat, but Rand had his wrist and he held on. He stood in the road, looking at the man without speaking.

“If I was a good man,” Mull said, “I’d offer a couple of lads soaked to the skin a place to dry out and get warm in front of my fire. But it’s hard times, and strangers.... I don’t know what you’re running from, and I don’t want to. You understand? My family.” Suddenly he pulled two long, woolen scarves, dark and thick, out of his coat pocket. “It’s not much, but here. Belong to my boys. They have others. You don’t know me, understand? It’s hard times
Happens twice.... in two different chapter 31 and 33 almost world for world... did I download a shitty version of the book or something?
I was enjoying the story so far but this really took me out of it.

>>17766777
look at the scene where esmi is possessed

>>17766507
Thank you anon. Sounds expensive, but I just read the passage it's being referenced (I think) and I guess that's the point

>>17766777
I feel bad for them. They never had a chance.

What the actual fuck did Bakker mean by green-lighting this cover art?

>>17766777
HOW
I
HATE
THIS
WORLD

>>17766880
How often are covers chosen by the author and not the publisher?

>>17766880
His first intention was to market the serie as BDSM homosexual erotica.

>>17766880
“If they read this far they probably won’t give a fuck”

Heh

>>17766887
>>17766897
>>17766985
WHO IS THIS MAN AND WHY DOES HE LIKE STARING THROUGH CIRCLES SO MUCH

seriously it was probably because his publisher was shit and he had stockholm syndrome with them and burnt bridges, he cared more about and used his publisher capital on things more important than covers

>>17766985
I was ASHAMED to be seen in public with this book.

>>17767027
you didn't just take off the dust jacket?

>>17767042
mine was just like a extra fat pocket-book, soft cover

>>17766880
I'm not buying any physical copies of Aspect-Emperor until they get some decent fucking covers
I know you're here Bakker

>>17767120
i would sell my firstborn child like esmi did for a leatherbound, gold embossed, limited edition collection of the whole series

>>17767163
How much would I have to pay for one of these?

>>17767163
>reading shit of the rings

>>17767190
these are super limited signed LotR books, i think they go for something like $50K (aka one night with esmi)

>>17767213
filtered kek. do you know where you are?

>>17766985
>>17766880
Were those the first covers?
I remember seeing something like that ages ago at a shop and immediately dismissing them. Must've been right around the time of the first series' conclusion if it was Bakker, which is weird since my backwards country didn't usually get more obscure authors this early.

>>17767221
>$50K

>>17767240
Maybe the publisher did it on purpose to spite him for being such a stubborn dickhead with the edit.
At least we got our 5 chapters of cannibal rape in TUC, and the series is much better for it.

>>17767274
whew i need to be more careful with spoilers here, i'm only on TJE
it really sounds like shit goes fucked in TUC

>>17767288
One of Bakker's great skills is actually not graphically describing the horrible stuff, but rather evoking it and causing the reader to imagine it in its absence. That to me is much more disturbing and powerful than straight-up gore.

Anyways anon, buckle up, you're in for one wild ride.

>>17767321
I know exactly what you're referring to.
>Who are the Dunyain?

>>17767221
Yes I do know where I am. I helped start the General, and I know I read more books than you (nearly 3k), Lotr is utter shit. The hobbit is the only good thing Tolkien wrote.

Read the hobbit for the first time
it was ok but not as good as I expected
are the other books better? also, should I read silmarillion next?

>>17767447
The Hobbit is meant for kids which is probably why

>>17767447
you shoudl read LoTR because the hobbit is an excellent introduction to it.
I would advise you to read the Silmarillion after if you loved LoTR, i know it's not to everyone's taste you need to love Tolkien's writing in order to enjoy it.

>>17766846
It's the same scene, everything between them is a flashback.

>>17767503
I somehow missed it, rereading it again it seems like there is some indication but at the same time I wish there was a clearer line draw between flashback and scene.

Maybe I'm just a brainlet who can't read right.