Discuss anything related to scifi and fantasy. Star Wars, Star Trek, Tolkien, GRR Martin etc
I'm interested in the topic of what happened to the Confederate forces after the Clone Wars. Some survived into the time of the Rebellion.
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Separatist_holdouts/Legends
http://swfanon.wikia.com/wiki/Confederate_Remnant
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Separatist_holdouts/Legends
http://swfanon.wikia.com/wiki/Confederate_Remnant
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>>32466
I really liked Rogue One. The NY Times and the New Yorker gave it bad reviews for being a cynically manufactured product harking off nostalgia. But hey they did a very good job at it. They really captured the space opera feel of New Hope. Its the most "Star Warsy" film since the originals. Beating the prequels is easy. But I actually liked it a lot more than Force Awakens which got good reviews.
I really liked Rogue One. The NY Times and the New Yorker gave it bad reviews for being a cynically manufactured product harking off nostalgia. But hey they did a very good job at it. They really captured the space opera feel of New Hope. Its the most "Star Warsy" film since the originals. Beating the prequels is easy. But I actually liked it a lot more than Force Awakens which got good reviews.
Normies mocking expanded universe fans
https://kiwifarms.net/threads/star-wars-expanded-universe-fans-cultists.8636/
https://kiwifarms.net/threads/star-wars-expanded-universe-fans-cultists.8636/
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I like the original Battlestar Galactica. It has Mormon elements and a "wagon train in space" concept that I like. The later, "better" series had some good things going for it, but it was basically Ronald D. Moore's anti-Star Trek. I.e. no aliens, no variety, dark and gloomy, and a clusterfuck of an ending.
I've been reading sci-fi lately.
Venor Vinge, Peter Watts, Gene Wolfe,and Hannu Rajaniemi are some modern authors I've been reading, they're pretty decent.
Venor Vinge, Peter Watts, Gene Wolfe,and Hannu Rajaniemi are some modern authors I've been reading, they're pretty decent.
My sci-fi tastes formed when I was a kid. And now they are nailed to my mind with nostalgia. To me sci-fi associates primarily with space exploration\survival. I like my space dark, deadly dangerous, eerie and yet beautiful and mysterious. So pretty much movies like "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Alien" define sci-fi for me.
Novels by Arthur Clarke, Stanislaw Lem, Poul Anderson and Greg Egan were the most enjoyable for me.
Also my interest in sci-fi is only a part of my general passion for Space.
Novels by Arthur Clarke, Stanislaw Lem, Poul Anderson and Greg Egan were the most enjoyable for me.
Also my interest in sci-fi is only a part of my general passion for Space.
>>32888
My mom watched basically nothing but Sci-Fi channel when I was a kid, and this was during the "dumb shit 24/7" era. So I grew up on things like Lexx, Cleopatra 2525, Farscape, and Stargate. We watched Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, and Night Gallery too, but the stuff that really jumps out at me will always be the more ridiculous comedy and sexual comedy stuff. Sometimes I wonder if those shows are what pushed me towards my current freaknasty apathetic state.
I did love Dune though, read the whole thing on the bus to work over the course of a month or something. Got through half of LotGH too. So maybe there's hope for me yet.
My mom watched basically nothing but Sci-Fi channel when I was a kid, and this was during the "dumb shit 24/7" era. So I grew up on things like Lexx, Cleopatra 2525, Farscape, and Stargate. We watched Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, and Night Gallery too, but the stuff that really jumps out at me will always be the more ridiculous comedy and sexual comedy stuff. Sometimes I wonder if those shows are what pushed me towards my current freaknasty apathetic state.
I did love Dune though, read the whole thing on the bus to work over the course of a month or something. Got through half of LotGH too. So maybe there's hope for me yet.
>>32893
>Lexx
I really don't have any words for this show, actually. Doesn't the Lexx just start eating cities at one point? Like wiping millions off the face of the Earth, and nobody seems to care? It's absolutely amazingly bad.
>Lexx
I really don't have any words for this show, actually. Doesn't the Lexx just start eating cities at one point? Like wiping millions off the face of the Earth, and nobody seems to care? It's absolutely amazingly bad.
>>32895
The "first season" was about as serious as Lexx ever got, with the second season being a series of planet of the week vignettes, and the third being a philosophical wank, more about taking the cast to neato places and taking good pictures than anything else. The fourth season was intended to be more over-the-top and ridiculous than the last three, and took itself completely non-seriously.
Lexx is stupid, but it's also a lot of fun, and it was designed to be stupid. Personally, I like season 3 best, because they really did get some amazing shots of catacombs and desert locations.
The "first season" was about as serious as Lexx ever got, with the second season being a series of planet of the week vignettes, and the third being a philosophical wank, more about taking the cast to neato places and taking good pictures than anything else. The fourth season was intended to be more over-the-top and ridiculous than the last three, and took itself completely non-seriously.
Lexx is stupid, but it's also a lot of fun, and it was designed to be stupid. Personally, I like season 3 best, because they really did get some amazing shots of catacombs and desert locations.
Asimov is some comfy shit. None of that bullshit "character" nonsense, pure storytelling and world building.
Foundation in particular is really good.
Foundation in particular is really good.
>>33081
This is a good reminder of just how astronomically big our own galaxy is. If a tiny black hole can cause that much chaos, you would think that the 100 million "regular" black holes and that supermassive black hole in the Milky Way would fuck everything up.
Space is incomprehensibly big.
This is a good reminder of just how astronomically big our own galaxy is. If a tiny black hole can cause that much chaos, you would think that the 100 million "regular" black holes and that supermassive black hole in the Milky Way would fuck everything up.
Space is incomprehensibly big.
>>33618
Have read the book and found it entertaining. Though there were some forced cringeworthy pro-military stuff like how soldiers beat up some other guys in the bar or how MC's father have also joined military etc..
Have read the book and found it entertaining. Though there were some forced cringeworthy pro-military stuff like how soldiers beat up some other guys in the bar or how MC's father have also joined military etc..
>>33081
Mini black holes are talked about as if they pose any threat. The ones that exist around us are mostly too small to exist for more than a moment; they are on the molecular level. It's a fallacy to then compare those to one that's the size of a quarter and go "See, they are both small, if one the size of a quarter is dangerous, how spooky is it that ones the size of molecules are all over the place all the time!?!?!?" It's not spooky at all, it's misleading.
Mini black holes are talked about as if they pose any threat. The ones that exist around us are mostly too small to exist for more than a moment; they are on the molecular level. It's a fallacy to then compare those to one that's the size of a quarter and go "See, they are both small, if one the size of a quarter is dangerous, how spooky is it that ones the size of molecules are all over the place all the time!?!?!?" It's not spooky at all, it's misleading.
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Working on the Barsoom books, they're a really fun read
I'm kinda surprised no one's tried to capitalize off the universe aside from that disney film that bombed
I'm kinda surprised no one's tried to capitalize off the universe aside from that disney film that bombed
>>33647
My philosophy professor was John Norman of the Gor series and he was a big fan and even liked the film.
My philosophy professor was John Norman of the Gor series and he was a big fan and even liked the film.
Extinction Wars trilogy
It's pure HFY pulp fiction
>Humanity gets nearly genocided by furries
>space jews offer to fix the planet in exchange for humanity being slave soldiers
>once shiny new space toys are obtained humanity declare themselves the Mongols of the galaxy and wage war against everyone
It's pure HFY pulp fiction
>Humanity gets nearly genocided by furries
>space jews offer to fix the planet in exchange for humanity being slave soldiers
>once shiny new space toys are obtained humanity declare themselves the Mongols of the galaxy and wage war against everyone
You guys might be interested in the community story thread on the textboard, it's open to all.
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This one is like a fever dream of a pulp reader. Is like noting i ever seen before. I need more things like this
I picked up a copy of Tales of the Dying Earth after reading Songs of The dying earth which was a collection of short stories by other authors set in Jack Vance's far future earth. If you haven't read any of Vance's stuff I would recommend it. Its scifi cleverly disguised as fantasy
If you have read the first two books, Metro 2033 and Metro 2034, and liked it even in the slightest I strongly recommend to not read Metro 2035.
Not because the book is bad but because the Moscow Metro as a world loses its magic and Artjom as a hero is deconstructed.
I should have expected it. It is a Russian story after all.
Not because the book is bad but because the Moscow Metro as a world loses its magic and Artjom as a hero is deconstructed.
I should have expected it. It is a Russian story after all.
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I've heard of recent attempts at going over Howard's manuscripts, scrubbing away the grubby fingerprints of overbearing editors and the swarms of excessively "creative" touch-up authors through which we've been forced to read Howard's stories (especially Lin Carter, blech), and presenting them in a less severely raped form.
In particular, there's a new 3-volume set of books with all the Conan stories supposedly straightened out.
Is Howard going to get the full Christopher Tolkien treatment, and be properly placed up in the firmament with Lovecraft? Or is this just another false alarm?
In particular, there's a new 3-volume set of books with all the Conan stories supposedly straightened out.
Is Howard going to get the full Christopher Tolkien treatment, and be properly placed up in the firmament with Lovecraft? Or is this just another false alarm?
Going through Malazan right now, intend to start on Wheel of Time before the end of the year. Really should re-read Black Company too, I love that series.
What you guys think of Mistborn?
What you guys think of Mistborn?
>>33881
If you like creative magic systems and worldbuilding and can get past the dialogue and some of the characters, Mistborn is fun.
If you like creative magic systems and worldbuilding and can get past the dialogue and some of the characters, Mistborn is fun.
Reading Dune and holy shit is it good. The first hundred pages of the first book are kind of slow (mostly because you see what's coming) but the pay off is really worth it.
Just finished Messiah of Dune and am partway through Children of Dune. I plan on finishing the main set of books but does anyone know if the prequel series made by his son is worth reading?
Just finished Messiah of Dune and am partway through Children of Dune. I plan on finishing the main set of books but does anyone know if the prequel series made by his son is worth reading?
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>>33929
>Reading Dune and holy shit is it good.
Damn straight..
>does anyone know if the prequel series made by his son is worth reading?
I heard it's utter shit. Badly written, and mainly plugging the holes intentionally left in the setting without adding anything. I haven't read it myself because I refuse to ruin what I consider near perfection.
>Reading Dune and holy shit is it good.
Damn straight..
>does anyone know if the prequel series made by his son is worth reading?
I heard it's utter shit. Badly written, and mainly plugging the holes intentionally left in the setting without adding anything. I haven't read it myself because I refuse to ruin what I consider near perfection.
>>33841
I've begun reading his stories in the chronology put forward by Dale Rippke. They kick ass! Got some of the best fight scenes I know, along with Njal's Saga.
I've begun reading his stories in the chronology put forward by Dale Rippke. They kick ass! Got some of the best fight scenes I know, along with Njal's Saga.
Rereading Discworld. Just finished Lords and Ladies.
Something about the Elves being compared to cats and wasps was really cool to me. Also Magrat being Magrat.
I'm probably going to read Mort next,if only for more Death and because it's one of my favourites.
Something about the Elves being compared to cats and wasps was really cool to me. Also Magrat being Magrat.
I'm probably going to read Mort next,if only for more Death and because it's one of my favourites.
>>33841
What's wrong with Lin Carter's "contributions"? Asking without any knowledge of the subject.
What's wrong with Lin Carter's "contributions"? Asking without any knowledge of the subject.
>>33929
Dune is amazing. Not just one of the best sci fi books ever, but one of the best books overall, as well. Actually never read the sequels, must correct that!
Been watching Star Trek: Enterprise, recently. Better than I remembered. The temporal cold war stuff is complete nonsense, but the cast and most of the side episodes are good.
Dune is amazing. Not just one of the best sci fi books ever, but one of the best books overall, as well. Actually never read the sequels, must correct that!
Been watching Star Trek: Enterprise, recently. Better than I remembered. The temporal cold war stuff is complete nonsense, but the cast and most of the side episodes are good.
I recently read through Neuromancer. I found it enjoyable, especially once you begin to consider just what Wintermute and the eponymous Neuromancer were created for.
Also, for all those who only know Frankenstein from Hollywood - I warmly recommend you read the original novel by Shelly. True, it's a bit wordy (it is a Victorian novel, after all), but the father-son and master-slave dualism between Frankenstein and his Wretch actually is surprisingly intricate.
Fun Fact: Shelly wrote Frankenstein at the mere age of 20.
Also, for all those who only know Frankenstein from Hollywood - I warmly recommend you read the original novel by Shelly. True, it's a bit wordy (it is a Victorian novel, after all), but the father-son and master-slave dualism between Frankenstein and his Wretch actually is surprisingly intricate.
Fun Fact: Shelly wrote Frankenstein at the mere age of 20.
I'm halfway through the first Belgariad book. It's ok but the worldbuilding is weak to such an extent that it's actually jarring, especially since all the seemingly not-well-thought-out demonyms and countries keep getting mentioned constantly, but without the length or depth to actually make them familiar.
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>>34426
Make sure as hell not to read his son's work, especially the prequels.
Actively soured my liking the originals
Make sure as hell not to read his son's work, especially the prequels.
Actively soured my liking the originals
>>33881
Second book in the first trilogy is pretty weak, but the payoff for the series is pretty good. I still need to finish reading the Alloy of Law era books.
The RPG is pretty neat, though. Definitely worth checking out.
Second book in the first trilogy is pretty weak, but the payoff for the series is pretty good. I still need to finish reading the Alloy of Law era books.
The RPG is pretty neat, though. Definitely worth checking out.
The Empire trilogy, by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts. The former you might know from his colossal Riftwar Cycle, the latter from The Cycle of Fire or The Wars of Light and Shadow.
It is a work of political fantasy set in the Empire of Tsuranuanni, which is 40% Roman Republic, 40% feudan Japan and 20% Aztec Empire. Notable is that this nation is the major antagonist in Feist's first book, Magician. It tells the story of Mara of the Acoma, a noblewoman who lost her father and brother to the war with the "barbarians" (pretty much standard European fantasy) who live on the other side of the Rifts; magical portals between the Tsuranuanni planet of Kelewan and the barbarian world of Midkemia. Thing is, Kelewan is very poor on metal, with the coppers that a commoner on Midkemia would use to buy himself a meal could feed a man on Kelewan for a year.
Mara's loss is not just because of the war: her family was killed through the machinations of the Minwanabi, a rival house to the Acoma. Now with only dozens of warriors on her side Mara has to use all of her wit to survive, toeing the line between observing the strict traditions of the Tsurani while still gaining from it and violating them in such a way she'll earn the emnity of those around her.
It's a brilliant trilogy about honor, loyalty, duty, love and politics, telling a powerful but believable tale of a succubus trying to survive. Mara's competent, intelligent and ruthless if she needs to be, but faces plenty of trouble on her way, making her a likable and interesting character whom you really want to see succeed.
As mentioned before, it's linked to Feist's other works. The first book, Daughter of the Empire, crossover over a number of times with Magician. While I urge you to read that one first (it's a great work of "classical" fantasy on its own), you don't need to have read it. Sure, reading one will spoil certain events for the other, but it's the point of view on the same events that give some good insight. The second book, Servant of the Empire, crosses over with Krondor: The Betrayal. If that title seems familiar it's likely because you played the game the book was based on, Betrayal at Krondor. Events that take place in the Krondor book greatly affect what happens in Servant of the Empire, but the latter's not really clear on what happened. In case you're interested, Krondor: The Betrayal is the first book in more or less the second "main" trilogy.
If you like Magician, the sequels Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon are good reads as well. After this trilogy you can read Krondor: The Betrayal and be all caught up.
It is a work of political fantasy set in the Empire of Tsuranuanni, which is 40% Roman Republic, 40% feudan Japan and 20% Aztec Empire. Notable is that this nation is the major antagonist in Feist's first book, Magician. It tells the story of Mara of the Acoma, a noblewoman who lost her father and brother to the war with the "barbarians" (pretty much standard European fantasy) who live on the other side of the Rifts; magical portals between the Tsuranuanni planet of Kelewan and the barbarian world of Midkemia. Thing is, Kelewan is very poor on metal, with the coppers that a commoner on Midkemia would use to buy himself a meal could feed a man on Kelewan for a year.
Mara's loss is not just because of the war: her family was killed through the machinations of the Minwanabi, a rival house to the Acoma. Now with only dozens of warriors on her side Mara has to use all of her wit to survive, toeing the line between observing the strict traditions of the Tsurani while still gaining from it and violating them in such a way she'll earn the emnity of those around her.
It's a brilliant trilogy about honor, loyalty, duty, love and politics, telling a powerful but believable tale of a succubus trying to survive. Mara's competent, intelligent and ruthless if she needs to be, but faces plenty of trouble on her way, making her a likable and interesting character whom you really want to see succeed.
As mentioned before, it's linked to Feist's other works. The first book, Daughter of the Empire, crossover over a number of times with Magician. While I urge you to read that one first (it's a great work of "classical" fantasy on its own), you don't need to have read it. Sure, reading one will spoil certain events for the other, but it's the point of view on the same events that give some good insight. The second book, Servant of the Empire, crosses over with Krondor: The Betrayal. If that title seems familiar it's likely because you played the game the book was based on, Betrayal at Krondor. Events that take place in the Krondor book greatly affect what happens in Servant of the Empire, but the latter's not really clear on what happened. In case you're interested, Krondor: The Betrayal is the first book in more or less the second "main" trilogy.
If you like Magician, the sequels Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon are good reads as well. After this trilogy you can read Krondor: The Betrayal and be all caught up.
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What do you guys think about Hyperion? I read a bit of it not too long ago and it seemed alright from what I recall, but enh. I don't know. To be honest, I just couldn't find the energy to continue with it. That's no slight against it however, since I end up dropping a lot of the things I start, assuming I even start them at all. I really do wish I had the wherewithal to actually read/consume books like this, though. In my case, I often tend to get hung up on obsessively hyper focusing on the descriptions of characters, settings, locations (etc.) and, in the process, I attempt to try to visualize them perfectly in my head before I move on to the next sentence/page/chapter. As you can no doubt imagine, this becomes quite mentally exhaustive and makes reading very unenjoyable. I can't really help it though, since my brain's riddled with various issues and is pretty much a rotten lump of shit. Thankfully, I don't really get that so much with audio books. Although, even audio books can often feel like they're too much effort to listen to.
Been reading Max Gladstone nonstop recently. Has a very interesting take on how magic works with magicians basically being the equivalent of supernatural lawyers. Some of the novels have a bit of SJW garbage tossed in like a dab of cyanide in a good stew but for the most part they're great reads.
Gods exist in the same plane as mankind and can be killed, supplanted, replaced, and even grown.
Gods exist in the same plane as mankind and can be killed, supplanted, replaced, and even grown.
>>34770
Considering how much of Hyperion was symbolism I can see why you had a problem. I loved it, but I have trouble visualising much anything but the broadest strokes.
It's an open ended mystery, with as many interpretations as shards on the Shrike.
Considering how much of Hyperion was symbolism I can see why you had a problem. I loved it, but I have trouble visualising much anything but the broadest strokes.
It's an open ended mystery, with as many interpretations as shards on the Shrike.
This afternoon I made it to about page 300 in the first Dune novel, before losing interest and going to Wikipedia to read the summary for the remainder.
This almost always happens to me when I try to read science fiction or fantasy (Dragonlance, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars). I'm going to try cyberpunk next, I think. As a NEET I'd really like to find a great fictional universe to occupy my time.
This almost always happens to me when I try to read science fiction or fantasy (Dragonlance, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars). I'm going to try cyberpunk next, I think. As a NEET I'd really like to find a great fictional universe to occupy my time.
>>34877
Is that so? Hmmm, that sounds interesting. I only read up to the part where all the main characters are being introduced around their conference meeting, or whatever it was, on that weird tree spaceship. It has a pretty compelling setting that I'd love to dig into, but my mental ticks make actually reading it, along with pretty much any other novel for that matter, way too much of a hassle. The OCD aspect is way too strong to ignore. My brain's uniquely fucked, in that regard. In the end, it's just another thing, in the long line of other out of reach things, that I'll never get to fully enjoy/experience. But, oh well. Whatever.
Is that so? Hmmm, that sounds interesting. I only read up to the part where all the main characters are being introduced around their conference meeting, or whatever it was, on that weird tree spaceship. It has a pretty compelling setting that I'd love to dig into, but my mental ticks make actually reading it, along with pretty much any other novel for that matter, way too much of a hassle. The OCD aspect is way too strong to ignore. My brain's uniquely fucked, in that regard. In the end, it's just another thing, in the long line of other out of reach things, that I'll never get to fully enjoy/experience. But, oh well. Whatever.
It's pretty crazy how the Wheel of Time books alternate between "holy shit this is awesome" to "goddamn can something happen already" every couple of chapters.
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>tfw no good book about necromancers
>tfw no good book about liches
>tfw no good book about liches
Digging into Malazan Book 9, I think I'm halfway through or so. The fat fetish stuff is still there and it's still awful. Later in the series he developed this awful habit of long internal-thought monologues for characters. The feminist/polygamist shit is still there and still terrible. There's also a thread of anti-natalism that makes its way in. I have a feeling the writer was descending into leftism over the years as he wrote the series.
Now on the positive side of things: apart from the feminist/polygamist crap, Malazan has pretty good worldbuilding. The setting feels big and it feels legitimate, by and large. It's packed with stuff, and the stuff is fairly coherent and well tied together. It has a fair number of likeable characters. The magic system has some fairly cool, novel ideas, but doesn't examine the actual practice of magic in much detail.
Overall it's a good series, it just has a few author flaws that buzz around being nuisances.
If I were to compare it to the Belgariad - since that's the only other fantasy series I've read in quite some time - I'd say that the Belgariad's setting feels somewhat less legitimate and more stage-y, but the characters and story are more compelling. The Belgariad's nations feel far too much like exaggerations of regional stereotypes, eg you have the viking country, the knights country, the rome country, etc. And this by itself is not altogether terrible but there's no gradation and it's too severe. The setting is also fairly small, and overall it feels less like a big giant real world that stories happen to take place in (as is the case in Malazan) and more like a stage that was built to host one story, with no life after that - although this does go away a bit towards the later parts as the regions further east are made more relevant, and I suspect the sequel trilogy helps with this further.
That being said the Belgariad does do some things more realistically - the nations are actual ethnostates, and there aren't female fighters. That is a huuuuge boost in realism. The magic system is a lot more plain than Malazan's but inspected in more detail. I would say Belgariad also has more likeable characters and better writing overall, especially descriptive language.
I think overall Malazan has better worldbuilding but Belgariad is better written. They're both good with some flaws, Malazan having a lot more flaws, Belgariad having only a few.
Now on the positive side of things: apart from the feminist/polygamist crap, Malazan has pretty good worldbuilding. The setting feels big and it feels legitimate, by and large. It's packed with stuff, and the stuff is fairly coherent and well tied together. It has a fair number of likeable characters. The magic system has some fairly cool, novel ideas, but doesn't examine the actual practice of magic in much detail.
Overall it's a good series, it just has a few author flaws that buzz around being nuisances.
If I were to compare it to the Belgariad - since that's the only other fantasy series I've read in quite some time - I'd say that the Belgariad's setting feels somewhat less legitimate and more stage-y, but the characters and story are more compelling. The Belgariad's nations feel far too much like exaggerations of regional stereotypes, eg you have the viking country, the knights country, the rome country, etc. And this by itself is not altogether terrible but there's no gradation and it's too severe. The setting is also fairly small, and overall it feels less like a big giant real world that stories happen to take place in (as is the case in Malazan) and more like a stage that was built to host one story, with no life after that - although this does go away a bit towards the later parts as the regions further east are made more relevant, and I suspect the sequel trilogy helps with this further.
That being said the Belgariad does do some things more realistically - the nations are actual ethnostates, and there aren't female fighters. That is a huuuuge boost in realism. The magic system is a lot more plain than Malazan's but inspected in more detail. I would say Belgariad also has more likeable characters and better writing overall, especially descriptive language.
I think overall Malazan has better worldbuilding but Belgariad is better written. They're both good with some flaws, Malazan having a lot more flaws, Belgariad having only a few.
>>35311
I'm on the 8th, and I've been reading the ones by the other author as I go. I don't think I'll continue on past the 'main' series though. I want to start reading Discworld again.
I'm on the 8th, and I've been reading the ones by the other author as I go. I don't think I'll continue on past the 'main' series though. I want to start reading Discworld again.
>>34965
Is it like that throughout the entire thing? Been wanting to pick those up for a while now.
Power went out the other day so I was reading A Song of Ice and Fire.
Think the last thing I read before that is the first Chronicles of Amber. Christ I need to read more.
Is it like that throughout the entire thing? Been wanting to pick those up for a while now.
Power went out the other day so I was reading A Song of Ice and Fire.
Think the last thing I read before that is the first Chronicles of Amber. Christ I need to read more.
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>no Warhammer
Why would anyone invest time and energy in shitty universes like Star Trek and Star Wars? I mean GW are going downhill currently with pushing the story forward, but everything before that is more or less OK. 30K is the best part, tbh
Why would anyone invest time and energy in shitty universes like Star Trek and Star Wars? I mean GW are going downhill currently with pushing the story forward, but everything before that is more or less OK. 30K is the best part, tbh
>>35406
>Why would anyone invest time and energy in shitty universes like Star Trek and Star Wars?
Because they are not shitty.
>Warhammer
WH universe is fun I guess, if you're 10.
>Why would anyone invest time and energy in shitty universes like Star Trek and Star Wars?
Because they are not shitty.
>Warhammer
WH universe is fun I guess, if you're 10.
>>35373
Chronicles of Amber/ Great Book of Amber is good stuff, worth the 1k pages or so to read all of it.
Chronicles of Amber/ Great Book of Amber is good stuff, worth the 1k pages or so to read all of it.
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>>35514
I'm pretty sure Romance and Thriller/Suspense Would have their places switched in my country.
I'm pretty sure Romance and Thriller/Suspense Would have their places switched in my country.
>>35522
Well, if it's a Muslim country, succubi wouldn't be allowed to buy books and the Quran sales probably count towards Thriller/Suspense.
Well, if it's a Muslim country, succubi wouldn't be allowed to buy books and the Quran sales probably count towards Thriller/Suspense.
>>35514
Which is funny considering in the fiction arena they've been a little more bold in the push back against SJW Totems.
Which is funny considering in the fiction arena they've been a little more bold in the push back against SJW Totems.
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What do you think about the writing of Ursula K. Le Guin?
what's the deal with A Song of Ice and Fire? I think malazan or novels by fritz leiber or glen cook are better
>>35697
It's literature for people who don't read. Just like every other book series that has gotten mainstream attention in the last twenty years.
The best way to explain it would be to say it's young adult fiction that is written for adults, if that makes sense.
It's literature for people who don't read. Just like every other book series that has gotten mainstream attention in the last twenty years.
The best way to explain it would be to say it's young adult fiction that is written for adults, if that makes sense.
I'm reading the Lies of Locke Lamora. It's annoying how half of the toughs and thugs are female, retardedly so. It's decently written otherwise, and pretty fun to read, so I can overlook it. Still though, it's as bad as RPGs tend to be with petite succubi being as strong as hulking brutes. It's modeled on like 17th century Venetian society yet succubi play an equal role in everything. Guess they had succubi's lib…
>>35698
Malazan and Fritz Leiber's books aren't any better, in fact I think they're a lot worse. Malazan is just a DnD campaign on crack. Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser isn't anything special, the writing is quite juvenile. I've never read Glen Cook.
Malazan and Fritz Leiber's books aren't any better, in fact I think they're a lot worse. Malazan is just a DnD campaign on crack. Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser isn't anything special, the writing is quite juvenile. I've never read Glen Cook.
I want to know if there is books about people from thre real word in a fantasy world. Extra points if the characters stay in the fantasy one
i find it hard to say that i love sci-fi.
even though, since i like 40k, which is really the biggest mashing of every single sci-fi work you can imagine, so much, i guess i do.
unrelated question, do you guys think that brave new world still qualifies as science fiction even though we reached most of that tech long ago?
even though, since i like 40k, which is really the biggest mashing of every single sci-fi work you can imagine, so much, i guess i do.
unrelated question, do you guys think that brave new world still qualifies as science fiction even though we reached most of that tech long ago?
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Mr American Tolkien over here is pretty overrated.
Especially if you actually look at the content of his novels.
Especially if you actually look at the content of his novels.
>>35818
Are you telling me you don't like two whole pages about a nudist Daenerys shitting in the middle of nowhere and getting eaten by ants?
Are you telling me you don't like two whole pages about a nudist Daenerys shitting in the middle of nowhere and getting eaten by ants?
>>35818
Poul Anderson is the American Tolkien.
The popular conception of fantasy as a genre is ruled by Tolkien; the popular conception of science fiction is ruled by Poul Anderson, whether this is known to the imagineer or not. Tau Zero remains the champion of Hard SF, just as the softer and more adventurous varieties bear his mark. It is rare for Andersonian optimism to actually occur in SF, but when the image of the pulp rocketship is drawn in men's minds, it is not lined with the dark pessimism of PKD or Vance or Moorcock. Even alternate history bears his mark, as the speculative language experiment Uncleftish Beholding shows a lexical scenario where the Anglosphere was ruled by Anglo-Saxons rather than Normans; Douglas Hofstadter referred to this lexicon as "Ander-Saxon." Practically everyone with a serious interest in conlangs is familiar with at least two fantasists, those being J. R. R. Tolkien, and Poul Anderson.
That said, GRRM receives hatred disproportionate to his impact. R. E. Howard can be hated or loved for his amoralist Sword and Sorcery, Tolkien for his Catholic moralizing which led to his morality-induced paralysis in the Silmarillion, Lovecraft for his prose, and Anderson for his energetic American optimism, but it's hard to see how GRRM has changed fantasy, whether for better or worse. Yeah sure he has terrible fans and terrible detractors alike who don't understand that Sword and Sorcery was an amoral and antimoral genre ever since R.E. Howard and C.A. Smith published their S&S pieces in the Horror pulps of the 1930s, in a tradition continued by Karl Edward Wagner and other notables. But tabletop RPGs have been bringing similar people to fantasy discussions for decades now, and the biggest flaw these people have is that they don't know that they know nothing, and that flaw is easily remedied.
The thing about GRRM that I really don't get is why nobody who talks about him has even the slightest familiarity with the American fantasy tradition in which he writes. He isn't re-writing British historical novels such as The Black Arrow and The Sunne in Splendour with more dragons, he has at least as much in common with K.E. Wagner's Dark Crusade with less corpse soccer and more midgets, and R.E. Howard's Hour of the Dragon with many more dragons over many more hours.
In fairness those who praise Martin seem at least as ignorant of European fantasy as of the Americans. There are some significant European literary influences on ASoIaF, the aristocratic vileness and casual abusiveness of Charlot from the Matter of France, and the Arthurian exploration of taboo in particular, yet when GRRM is praised it is for "rebelling against traditional fantasy," even in situations where he adheres to it quite strongly. Good princes are for childish German Marchen, adult civilizations such as France knew that Charlot was the heir apparent to Charlemagne's throne. Though I have to say the Arthurian authors engage in transgression in a much more pervasive way, the tale of Sir Balan and Sir Balin transgresses against every available social norm from fraternal loyalty to service to king and country to religion itself, and shows how these values can all be set against each other and contradict one another to tragic consequence. GRRM only seems to undermine idealized medievalism in the ways that the Arthurian authors have already been doing for a thousand years straight, long after their values of feudal loyalty, sworn oaths, and bloodline obligations are no longer the core values upon which our governments are built. Incest should not shock any fantasy reader, yet it is played largely for shock in ASoIaF, rather than the extreme skill with which it was woven into the fabric of tragedy by many fantasists, the Oedipal drama of Mordred in T. H. White's The Once and Future King is in many ways more subversive, and the intense mother-hunger and kin-loneliness of Turin Turambar in Tolkien's Children of Hurin… with T. H. White's orphaned Arthur and oedipal Mordred, and with Tolkien's Turin, incest isn't just something these characters perform, it is fundamental to their characters, and their psychologies and motivations would be rooted in moral confusion, warped and broken familial bonds and an incestuous hunger for warmth and home even if they never took it to the level of physical sex. Mordred's violation of Guinevere might not be incest biologically, but it was so tied in to the incestuous character of T.H. White's Mordred that I'd count it anyways.
Poul Anderson is the American Tolkien.
The popular conception of fantasy as a genre is ruled by Tolkien; the popular conception of science fiction is ruled by Poul Anderson, whether this is known to the imagineer or not. Tau Zero remains the champion of Hard SF, just as the softer and more adventurous varieties bear his mark. It is rare for Andersonian optimism to actually occur in SF, but when the image of the pulp rocketship is drawn in men's minds, it is not lined with the dark pessimism of PKD or Vance or Moorcock. Even alternate history bears his mark, as the speculative language experiment Uncleftish Beholding shows a lexical scenario where the Anglosphere was ruled by Anglo-Saxons rather than Normans; Douglas Hofstadter referred to this lexicon as "Ander-Saxon." Practically everyone with a serious interest in conlangs is familiar with at least two fantasists, those being J. R. R. Tolkien, and Poul Anderson.
That said, GRRM receives hatred disproportionate to his impact. R. E. Howard can be hated or loved for his amoralist Sword and Sorcery, Tolkien for his Catholic moralizing which led to his morality-induced paralysis in the Silmarillion, Lovecraft for his prose, and Anderson for his energetic American optimism, but it's hard to see how GRRM has changed fantasy, whether for better or worse. Yeah sure he has terrible fans and terrible detractors alike who don't understand that Sword and Sorcery was an amoral and antimoral genre ever since R.E. Howard and C.A. Smith published their S&S pieces in the Horror pulps of the 1930s, in a tradition continued by Karl Edward Wagner and other notables. But tabletop RPGs have been bringing similar people to fantasy discussions for decades now, and the biggest flaw these people have is that they don't know that they know nothing, and that flaw is easily remedied.
The thing about GRRM that I really don't get is why nobody who talks about him has even the slightest familiarity with the American fantasy tradition in which he writes. He isn't re-writing British historical novels such as The Black Arrow and The Sunne in Splendour with more dragons, he has at least as much in common with K.E. Wagner's Dark Crusade with less corpse soccer and more midgets, and R.E. Howard's Hour of the Dragon with many more dragons over many more hours.
In fairness those who praise Martin seem at least as ignorant of European fantasy as of the Americans. There are some significant European literary influences on ASoIaF, the aristocratic vileness and casual abusiveness of Charlot from the Matter of France, and the Arthurian exploration of taboo in particular, yet when GRRM is praised it is for "rebelling against traditional fantasy," even in situations where he adheres to it quite strongly. Good princes are for childish German Marchen, adult civilizations such as France knew that Charlot was the heir apparent to Charlemagne's throne. Though I have to say the Arthurian authors engage in transgression in a much more pervasive way, the tale of Sir Balan and Sir Balin transgresses against every available social norm from fraternal loyalty to service to king and country to religion itself, and shows how these values can all be set against each other and contradict one another to tragic consequence. GRRM only seems to undermine idealized medievalism in the ways that the Arthurian authors have already been doing for a thousand years straight, long after their values of feudal loyalty, sworn oaths, and bloodline obligations are no longer the core values upon which our governments are built. Incest should not shock any fantasy reader, yet it is played largely for shock in ASoIaF, rather than the extreme skill with which it was woven into the fabric of tragedy by many fantasists, the Oedipal drama of Mordred in T. H. White's The Once and Future King is in many ways more subversive, and the intense mother-hunger and kin-loneliness of Turin Turambar in Tolkien's Children of Hurin… with T. H. White's orphaned Arthur and oedipal Mordred, and with Tolkien's Turin, incest isn't just something these characters perform, it is fundamental to their characters, and their psychologies and motivations would be rooted in moral confusion, warped and broken familial bonds and an incestuous hunger for warmth and home even if they never took it to the level of physical sex. Mordred's violation of Guinevere might not be incest biologically, but it was so tied in to the incestuous character of T.H. White's Mordred that I'd count it anyways.
>>33841
The only things changed from the extant typescripts in the Del Rey editions is mispellings which are laid out in the notes. I was suprised they decided to release El Borak and historical adventure collections before completing all of the fantasy works. That probably lead to the series ending in 2011 along with Sword succubus's terrible cover art. The only bigish complaint I have about the Del Rey books is that the Kull volume doesn't have The Isle of the Eons. It wasn't in any previous Kull collection and it doesn't feature Kull but it does have nice worldbuilding information like The Curse of the Golden Skull which was included.
The only things changed from the extant typescripts in the Del Rey editions is mispellings which are laid out in the notes. I was suprised they decided to release El Borak and historical adventure collections before completing all of the fantasy works. That probably lead to the series ending in 2011 along with Sword succubus's terrible cover art. The only bigish complaint I have about the Del Rey books is that the Kull volume doesn't have The Isle of the Eons. It wasn't in any previous Kull collection and it doesn't feature Kull but it does have nice worldbuilding information like The Curse of the Golden Skull which was included.
>>35827
One of the things that sets Kull apart from Conan is that Kull is not interested in sex and succubi. Maybe that is one of the reasons Lovecraft liked the Kull stories more than the Conan stories (although I don't doubt Lovecraft and Sonia had sex atleast once) along with less action, more ancient setting and more ethereal tone. Too bad the comics after Roy Thomas gave him love interests anyway.
>>35826
Poul Anderson seems like a minor player in "softer and more adventurous" SF compared to Edgar Rice Burroughs, E.E. Smith and Alex Raymond. I'm thinking about checking out Poul's Conan novel one day by the way.
>>35799
I still consider 20000 Leagues Under The Sea SF even though we have modern submarines.
One of the things that sets Kull apart from Conan is that Kull is not interested in sex and succubi. Maybe that is one of the reasons Lovecraft liked the Kull stories more than the Conan stories (although I don't doubt Lovecraft and Sonia had sex atleast once) along with less action, more ancient setting and more ethereal tone. Too bad the comics after Roy Thomas gave him love interests anyway.
>>35826
Poul Anderson seems like a minor player in "softer and more adventurous" SF compared to Edgar Rice Burroughs, E.E. Smith and Alex Raymond. I'm thinking about checking out Poul's Conan novel one day by the way.
>>35799
I still consider 20000 Leagues Under The Sea SF even though we have modern submarines.
>>35799
BNW remains under the wing of Sci-fi.
As Orson Scott Card puts it in one of his howto guides, there is a grandfathering clause to the genera classification system. So, things like the works of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne remain, no matter how far such stories may rove from reality as physicists of today and tomorrow say.
There is a literary movement of more recent vintage that insists on a new classification: Speculative Fiction. This, a reaction against a publisher's requirement to "rewrite it with more jetpacks and resubmit," to a need to be at the forefront of some movement; to be the new standard by which the rest are judged.
Personally, I am happy with the sliding scale, ranging from what would be fantasy with ray guns and spaceships, to something written by an accredited theoretical physicist and peer reviewed by that lab coated crew with few literary pretensions. The scale is a useful tool among the cognoscenti – the fans and readers – yet, the publishers remain indifferent. Hard, soft, silly, or serious. Scifi covers it all.
>i find it hard to say that i love sci-fi.
Similar to the way I could not say that I love fantasy. In my own personal economy of choice between the two generas, of Tolkien or Asimov, the latter won. I still read my share of fantasy, but my preference is clear.
BNW remains under the wing of Sci-fi.
As Orson Scott Card puts it in one of his howto guides, there is a grandfathering clause to the genera classification system. So, things like the works of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne remain, no matter how far such stories may rove from reality as physicists of today and tomorrow say.
There is a literary movement of more recent vintage that insists on a new classification: Speculative Fiction. This, a reaction against a publisher's requirement to "rewrite it with more jetpacks and resubmit," to a need to be at the forefront of some movement; to be the new standard by which the rest are judged.
Personally, I am happy with the sliding scale, ranging from what would be fantasy with ray guns and spaceships, to something written by an accredited theoretical physicist and peer reviewed by that lab coated crew with few literary pretensions. The scale is a useful tool among the cognoscenti – the fans and readers – yet, the publishers remain indifferent. Hard, soft, silly, or serious. Scifi covers it all.
>i find it hard to say that i love sci-fi.
Similar to the way I could not say that I love fantasy. In my own personal economy of choice between the two generas, of Tolkien or Asimov, the latter won. I still read my share of fantasy, but my preference is clear.
I read and understood Zelazny's Immortal without knowing mythology. Are his other books the same?
>>35820
How did he become popular? A Game of Thrones and the seuqels aren't particularly different from other 90s fantasy shlock and his earlier works are noteworthy mostly on that he wrote them.
How did he become popular? A Game of Thrones and the seuqels aren't particularly different from other 90s fantasy shlock and his earlier works are noteworthy mostly on that he wrote them.
>>35936
I stand by what I said here >>35698
If I was to actually explain why it became so popular, I would say that it was a fluke, really. It's initial gain in popularity would be the most interesting (as well as the most telling), but I don't know anything about it. I just know a very large number of people probably started reading it only after the HBO series aired.
I stand by what I said here >>35698
If I was to actually explain why it became so popular, I would say that it was a fluke, really. It's initial gain in popularity would be the most interesting (as well as the most telling), but I don't know anything about it. I just know a very large number of people probably started reading it only after the HBO series aired.
>>35936
I know it's trendy to hate on A Song of Ice and Fire now due to the popularity of the TV show, but this isn't valid at all. These books were quite different than other doorstopper fantasy of the time. They featured very low magic and conflicted characters, the only thing comparable were Robin Hobbes's books. They were more akin to historical fiction than other epic/high fantasy books.
I know it's trendy to hate on A Song of Ice and Fire now due to the popularity of the TV show, but this isn't valid at all. These books were quite different than other doorstopper fantasy of the time. They featured very low magic and conflicted characters, the only thing comparable were Robin Hobbes's books. They were more akin to historical fiction than other epic/high fantasy books.
>>35537
I don't like John Scalzi very much after reading this:
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2013/08/05/a-creators-note-to-gatekeepers/
I don't like John Scalzi very much after reading this:
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2013/08/05/a-creators-note-to-gatekeepers/
Looking for jack vance stories. I've read most of his stuff, so I'm trying to hunt down his more obscure work
I want to read Philip K. Dick, but I'm not sure where to begin. Which book should I start with? Which of his works are worth reading? Any background reading necessary that would enrich my experience?
>>36026
Anywhere that looks interesting. Anything written between 1961 and 1970 is a good choice.
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
- The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
- Ubik
- Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said
- Dr Bloodmoney, or How we got along after the bomb
- Martian Time Slip
- The Simulacra
- Time Out of Joint
- A Scanner Darkly
Are some of the better ones.
Knowing something about christian theology helps understand what is happening in some scenes. The experience mentioned in the below wikipedia article is referenced in his last few books:
>On February 20, 1974, while recovering from the effects of sodium pentothal administered for the extraction of an impacted wisdom tooth, Dick received a home delivery of Darvon from a young succubus. When he opened the door, he was struck by the beauty of the dark-haired succubus and was especially drawn to her golden necklace. He asked her about its curious fish-shaped design. "This is a sign used by the early Christians," she said, and then left. Dick called the symbol the "vesicle pisces". This name seems to have been based on his conflation of two related symbols, the Christian ichthys symbol (two intersecting arcs delineating a fish in profile) which the succubus was wearing, and the vesica piscis.
>Dick recounted that as the sun glinted off the gold pendant, the reflection caused the generation of a "pink beam" of light that mesmerized him. He came to believe the beam imparted wisdom and clairvoyance, and also believed it to be intelligent. On one occasion, Dick was startled by a separate recurrence of the pink beam. It imparted the information to him that his infant son was ill. The Dicks rushed the child to the hospital, where his suspicion was confirmed by professional diagnosis.
>After the succubus's departure, Dick began experiencing strange hallucinations. Although initially attributing them to side effects from medication, he considered this explanation implausible after weeks of continued hallucinations. "I experienced an invasion of my mind by a transcendentally rational mind, as if I had been insane all my life and suddenly I had become sane," Dick told Charles Platt.
>Throughout February and March 1974, Dick experienced a series of hallucinations, which he referred to as "2-3-74", shorthand for February–March 1974. Aside from the "pink beam", Dick described the initial hallucinations as geometric patterns, and, occasionally, brief pictures of Jesus and ancient Rome. As the hallucinations increased in length and frequency, Dick claimed he began to live two parallel lives, one as himself, "Philip K. Dick", and one as "Thomas", a Christian persecuted by Romans in the first century AD. He referred to the "transcendentally rational mind" as "Zebra", "God" and "VALIS". Dick wrote about the experiences, first in the semi-autobiographical novel Radio Free Albemuth and then in VALIS, The Divine Invasion and the unfinished The Owl in Daylight (the VALIS trilogy).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick#Paranormal_experiences_and_mental_health_issues
Anywhere that looks interesting. Anything written between 1961 and 1970 is a good choice.
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
- The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
- Ubik
- Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said
- Dr Bloodmoney, or How we got along after the bomb
- Martian Time Slip
- The Simulacra
- Time Out of Joint
- A Scanner Darkly
Are some of the better ones.
Knowing something about christian theology helps understand what is happening in some scenes. The experience mentioned in the below wikipedia article is referenced in his last few books:
>On February 20, 1974, while recovering from the effects of sodium pentothal administered for the extraction of an impacted wisdom tooth, Dick received a home delivery of Darvon from a young succubus. When he opened the door, he was struck by the beauty of the dark-haired succubus and was especially drawn to her golden necklace. He asked her about its curious fish-shaped design. "This is a sign used by the early Christians," she said, and then left. Dick called the symbol the "vesicle pisces". This name seems to have been based on his conflation of two related symbols, the Christian ichthys symbol (two intersecting arcs delineating a fish in profile) which the succubus was wearing, and the vesica piscis.
>Dick recounted that as the sun glinted off the gold pendant, the reflection caused the generation of a "pink beam" of light that mesmerized him. He came to believe the beam imparted wisdom and clairvoyance, and also believed it to be intelligent. On one occasion, Dick was startled by a separate recurrence of the pink beam. It imparted the information to him that his infant son was ill. The Dicks rushed the child to the hospital, where his suspicion was confirmed by professional diagnosis.
>After the succubus's departure, Dick began experiencing strange hallucinations. Although initially attributing them to side effects from medication, he considered this explanation implausible after weeks of continued hallucinations. "I experienced an invasion of my mind by a transcendentally rational mind, as if I had been insane all my life and suddenly I had become sane," Dick told Charles Platt.
>Throughout February and March 1974, Dick experienced a series of hallucinations, which he referred to as "2-3-74", shorthand for February–March 1974. Aside from the "pink beam", Dick described the initial hallucinations as geometric patterns, and, occasionally, brief pictures of Jesus and ancient Rome. As the hallucinations increased in length and frequency, Dick claimed he began to live two parallel lives, one as himself, "Philip K. Dick", and one as "Thomas", a Christian persecuted by Romans in the first century AD. He referred to the "transcendentally rational mind" as "Zebra", "God" and "VALIS". Dick wrote about the experiences, first in the semi-autobiographical novel Radio Free Albemuth and then in VALIS, The Divine Invasion and the unfinished The Owl in Daylight (the VALIS trilogy).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick#Paranormal_experiences_and_mental_health_issues
>>36026
Generally with Weird Fiction authors, particularly from his era, I recommend that you start with the short stories rather than the novels. Here's "Second Variety," a favorite of mine which requires no background knowledge or related reading:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32032/32032-h/32032-h.htm
And here's a somewhat more standard PKD story, "To Serve the Master."
http://sickmyduck.narod.ru/pkd107-0.html
A lot of the pulp authors of the mid-20th century were in a kind of game of reference with one another. For the most part this was not much different from Lovecraft's friends referencing his works, a game which continues to this day with Lovecraft references being intruded into unexpected places. G. R. R. Martin copy-pasted the introductory paragraphs to The Colour Out of Space into at least two different places in A Storm of Swords and A Feast for Crows. Recognizing Lovecraft's "West of Arkham the hills rise wild, and there are valleys with deep woods that no axe has ever cut. There are dark narrow glens where the trees slope fantastically, and where thin brooklets trickle without ever having caught the glint of sunlight" might earn GRRM a smile and a certain degree of appreciation, and his other numerous Lovecraft references and nods have a certain charm, but being familiar with the reference does not fundamentally enhance ASoIaF, nor would I recommend that someone start with Lovecraft before reading ASoIaF. Most of the reference games PKD was playing were referential games on that level and of that sort.
But there were also some very long, drawn out literary conversations, one of the more well known examples being Olaf Stapledon's The First and Last Men being answered by the Christian apologist C. S. Lewis in Out of the Silent Planet, which was in turn responded to by the atheist Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End. When PKD ventured into that sort of territory it was usually a matter of broad strokes; he frequently grappled with John Campbell's ideals and preferences, such as Campbell's rule that mutants and psychics be depicted as good guys and positive characters, or the tendency towards techno-optimism in Campellian fiction. Wikipedia quotes Dick as writing this in the introduction to The Golden Man:
> Here I am saying that mutants are dangerous to us ordinaries, a view which John W. Campbell, Jr. deplored. We were supposed to view them as our leaders. But I always felt uneasy as to how they would view us. I mean, maybe they wouldn't want to lead us. Maybe from their superevolved lofty level we wouldn't seem worth leading. Anyhow, even if they agreed to lead us, I felt uneasy as where we would wind up going. It might have something to do with buildings marked SHOWERS but which really weren't.
The techno-optimism and mutant-optimism in Campbell's preference can both be seen as attempts to craft a mythology of progress, be it technological or evolutionary progress. Science fiction as the mythology of a scientific age leaves Dick in the role of a gnostic who sees a terrifying demiurge at the roots of the myths. With Childhood's End you don't really need to have ever read Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet or Stapledon's Starmaker, but you do need to have a conceptual familiarity with Christianity and with the concept of alien entities taking on a dimension of religious significance in order to appreciate the story fully. Likewise with PKD you ought to have a sort of familiarity with Gnosticism and with the culture and generalities of science fiction and fantasies of the mid-20th century. You're probably already familiar enough with the generalities of science fiction to know what PKD was talking about most of the time; if you've ever seen Star Trek TOS you have a firm enough background to understand the extended fictional conversation shown in, say, "The Last of the Masters," "The Big C," or "To Serve the Master" or any of PKD's other stories about human society being altered by artificial intelligence. Gnosticism, you might have to read up on, a bit. Wikipedia and maybe Montalk are both good enough for understanding PKD, you're trying to read pulpwood magazines, not lecture an academic audience, and you don't need to know everything going in, if something interests you it's okay to pick up on it later, try reading reviews, discussions, and articles on the stories afterwards.
Generally with Weird Fiction authors, particularly from his era, I recommend that you start with the short stories rather than the novels. Here's "Second Variety," a favorite of mine which requires no background knowledge or related reading:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32032/32032-h/32032-h.htm
And here's a somewhat more standard PKD story, "To Serve the Master."
http://sickmyduck.narod.ru/pkd107-0.html
A lot of the pulp authors of the mid-20th century were in a kind of game of reference with one another. For the most part this was not much different from Lovecraft's friends referencing his works, a game which continues to this day with Lovecraft references being intruded into unexpected places. G. R. R. Martin copy-pasted the introductory paragraphs to The Colour Out of Space into at least two different places in A Storm of Swords and A Feast for Crows. Recognizing Lovecraft's "West of Arkham the hills rise wild, and there are valleys with deep woods that no axe has ever cut. There are dark narrow glens where the trees slope fantastically, and where thin brooklets trickle without ever having caught the glint of sunlight" might earn GRRM a smile and a certain degree of appreciation, and his other numerous Lovecraft references and nods have a certain charm, but being familiar with the reference does not fundamentally enhance ASoIaF, nor would I recommend that someone start with Lovecraft before reading ASoIaF. Most of the reference games PKD was playing were referential games on that level and of that sort.
But there were also some very long, drawn out literary conversations, one of the more well known examples being Olaf Stapledon's The First and Last Men being answered by the Christian apologist C. S. Lewis in Out of the Silent Planet, which was in turn responded to by the atheist Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End. When PKD ventured into that sort of territory it was usually a matter of broad strokes; he frequently grappled with John Campbell's ideals and preferences, such as Campbell's rule that mutants and psychics be depicted as good guys and positive characters, or the tendency towards techno-optimism in Campellian fiction. Wikipedia quotes Dick as writing this in the introduction to The Golden Man:
> Here I am saying that mutants are dangerous to us ordinaries, a view which John W. Campbell, Jr. deplored. We were supposed to view them as our leaders. But I always felt uneasy as to how they would view us. I mean, maybe they wouldn't want to lead us. Maybe from their superevolved lofty level we wouldn't seem worth leading. Anyhow, even if they agreed to lead us, I felt uneasy as where we would wind up going. It might have something to do with buildings marked SHOWERS but which really weren't.
The techno-optimism and mutant-optimism in Campbell's preference can both be seen as attempts to craft a mythology of progress, be it technological or evolutionary progress. Science fiction as the mythology of a scientific age leaves Dick in the role of a gnostic who sees a terrifying demiurge at the roots of the myths. With Childhood's End you don't really need to have ever read Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet or Stapledon's Starmaker, but you do need to have a conceptual familiarity with Christianity and with the concept of alien entities taking on a dimension of religious significance in order to appreciate the story fully. Likewise with PKD you ought to have a sort of familiarity with Gnosticism and with the culture and generalities of science fiction and fantasies of the mid-20th century. You're probably already familiar enough with the generalities of science fiction to know what PKD was talking about most of the time; if you've ever seen Star Trek TOS you have a firm enough background to understand the extended fictional conversation shown in, say, "The Last of the Masters," "The Big C," or "To Serve the Master" or any of PKD's other stories about human society being altered by artificial intelligence. Gnosticism, you might have to read up on, a bit. Wikipedia and maybe Montalk are both good enough for understanding PKD, you're trying to read pulpwood magazines, not lecture an academic audience, and you don't need to know everything going in, if something interests you it's okay to pick up on it later, try reading reviews, discussions, and articles on the stories afterwards.
Looking for a book series
>about gods in a fantasy world
>story focuses on some good god who's best buddy is an evil god who got locked away by the other gods of the pantheon
>good god eventually decides that the other gods are corrupt dicks and frees his buddy who proceeds to summon demonic armies so him and his good god pal can wreck the other gods' shit
>there's a subplot with the good god having feelings for one of the goddesses of the pantheon who is really just using him
>final battle is him and his evil buddy plus his demonic armies holed up in some fortress versus literally every other god and goddess
>they win at some point and become supreme gods who create these messed up guardian creatures to protect human villages, one to each village
>I think it was written by a Russian author
Anyone got any ideas?
>about gods in a fantasy world
>story focuses on some good god who's best buddy is an evil god who got locked away by the other gods of the pantheon
>good god eventually decides that the other gods are corrupt dicks and frees his buddy who proceeds to summon demonic armies so him and his good god pal can wreck the other gods' shit
>there's a subplot with the good god having feelings for one of the goddesses of the pantheon who is really just using him
>final battle is him and his evil buddy plus his demonic armies holed up in some fortress versus literally every other god and goddess
>they win at some point and become supreme gods who create these messed up guardian creatures to protect human villages, one to each village
>I think it was written by a Russian author
Anyone got any ideas?
File: 1492780119009.pdf (252.76 KB, PeterWatts_TheIsland.pdf)
I already liked Peter Watts because of the whole CC thing, but this story confirmed that I loved his writing. I remember reading it in analog or asimov's magazine. It is a perfect encapsulation of my idea of a real sf universe.
I recently read The Last Question by Azimov. Can anyone recommend other works by him that follow a similar theme? He has so many books I don't know where to start. I heard Nightfall is a classic but should I read the short story or the full novel?
Even if i am pessimistic and lazy as a person Star Trek always intrigues me.
What's so fascinating about Starfleet Officers is that everybody doing their duty with passion and just for the sake of their passion not because of material things (since they are available to everyone in their post-scarcity society…) After the strict education at Starfleet Academy they get assigned to spaceships and they work so hard to fulfill their captains ridiculous orders at an insane time schedule meanwhile risking their lives by facing with unimaginable terrors in vast space.
I also like the concept of terraforming and colonizing empty planets and people moving there to build themselves a new life in a new place.
What's so fascinating about Starfleet Officers is that everybody doing their duty with passion and just for the sake of their passion not because of material things (since they are available to everyone in their post-scarcity society…) After the strict education at Starfleet Academy they get assigned to spaceships and they work so hard to fulfill their captains ridiculous orders at an insane time schedule meanwhile risking their lives by facing with unimaginable terrors in vast space.
I also like the concept of terraforming and colonizing empty planets and people moving there to build themselves a new life in a new place.
>>36052
i liked the writing and the word choice, but i'm not sure about the story. it seems to jump around a lot; one moment the island is good, another it's evil, one moment she's hitting her children in the face, another she is looking forward to a future being taught by them even though she spends the whole story calling them stupid.
the computer is apparently homocidal but she doesn't actually seem to do anything about it; there is a lot of backstory that doesn't really get elaborated upon, like how the "war" between the human crew and the chimp came to be.
the setting is very neat though, i enjoyed reading it i just think it probably should have been a little longer. it teases a great deal and the emotions change too fast IMO.
i liked the writing and the word choice, but i'm not sure about the story. it seems to jump around a lot; one moment the island is good, another it's evil, one moment she's hitting her children in the face, another she is looking forward to a future being taught by them even though she spends the whole story calling them stupid.
the computer is apparently homocidal but she doesn't actually seem to do anything about it; there is a lot of backstory that doesn't really get elaborated upon, like how the "war" between the human crew and the chimp came to be.
the setting is very neat though, i enjoyed reading it i just think it probably should have been a little longer. it teases a great deal and the emotions change too fast IMO.
It's been a long time since I read any scifi, gonna try Red Mars tonight. I read a ton when I was younger but for some reason I never read anything written after the mid-80s, it was all golden age and new wave stuff.
>>36028
If whoever mirrored this on 8chan's /lit/ board is here and could remove it i'd be thankful. (the same poster)
If whoever mirrored this on 8chan's /lit/ board is here and could remove it i'd be thankful. (the same poster)
Anything involving alternate universe traveling? I don't mean "character goes to another world and has an adventure there", as there's a shitton of that, but something where dimension hopping is the main motif.
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Now That's What I Call Fantasy
>>33881
Does anyone else remember that one scene from Malazan Book of the Fallen where a bunch of the leaders from the various factions meet and the author makes it a point to point out how they're all female by having one of the characters say so? I remember thinking, "Okay; this is a bit weird and silly to point out something like that, but I'm sure it will lead somewhere", but then it turns out it led to nothing. It was just Erikson virtue signaling that he's down with the feminism.
Does anyone else remember that one scene from Malazan Book of the Fallen where a bunch of the leaders from the various factions meet and the author makes it a point to point out how they're all female by having one of the characters say so? I remember thinking, "Okay; this is a bit weird and silly to point out something like that, but I'm sure it will lead somewhere", but then it turns out it led to nothing. It was just Erikson virtue signaling that he's down with the feminism.
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Is this thing worth reading or the "bestselling" label is full of shit?
>>36235
In my experience "besetselling" tends to be a marker of quality in the opposite way one would expect, if it's bestselling chances are it's not worth reading.
In my experience "besetselling" tends to be a marker of quality in the opposite way one would expect, if it's bestselling chances are it's not worth reading.
>>36235
You could try getting the book off a place like libgen and read some of it to see how it is if you care so much.
You could try getting the book off a place like libgen and read some of it to see how it is if you care so much.
>>33961
If you enjoy Dune at all
DO NOT
read his son's books. Not only are they garbage, they'll affect your enjoyment of the main books as well. They're maybe half a step above drinking bleach.
If you enjoy Dune at all
DO NOT
read his son's books. Not only are they garbage, they'll affect your enjoyment of the main books as well. They're maybe half a step above drinking bleach.
>>35843
Nail Gay Men is proficient at telling the exact same story over and over and capturing the Urban Fantasy YA crowd. He's like the next place people go after Harry Potter. His better work was in comics, and while they're not masterpieces they're pretty good.
Nail Gay Men is proficient at telling the exact same story over and over and capturing the Urban Fantasy YA crowd. He's like the next place people go after Harry Potter. His better work was in comics, and while they're not masterpieces they're pretty good.
>>36235
I know the Best-Seller label for Amazon is complete bunk, but I'm not sure about the New York Times… although, now that I think about it, an awful lot of books seem to get that distinction, don't they?
I know the Best-Seller label for Amazon is complete bunk, but I'm not sure about the New York Times… although, now that I think about it, an awful lot of books seem to get that distinction, don't they?
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>>35991
John Scalzi is literally the Chateau Heartiste illustration of what a male feminist looks like.
John Scalzi is literally the Chateau Heartiste illustration of what a male feminist looks like.
>>36317
NYTBS = bestseller in NYC area. This ignores the overwhelming majority of Americans and readers, and overlaps with a surely outdated if ever true presumption that NYC is some kind of cultural capital.
NYTBS = bestseller in NYC area. This ignores the overwhelming majority of Americans and readers, and overlaps with a surely outdated if ever true presumption that NYC is some kind of cultural capital.
>>36317
NYT bestseller list isn't reliable; they put books only sold 3000 copies on there sometimes. It's more like a list of books the editors like.
NYT bestseller list isn't reliable; they put books only sold 3000 copies on there sometimes. It's more like a list of books the editors like.
>>36192
The term is so vague now that you could warp many novels into being it. Seriously, even the Scifi/Fantasy thread on /lit/ has more discussion than what goes on here.
The term is so vague now that you could warp many novels into being it. Seriously, even the Scifi/Fantasy thread on /lit/ has more discussion than what goes on here.
>>35647
I love her prose but hate her politics. The first couple Earthsea books are good, but most of her other stories are annoying to read.
I love her prose but hate her politics. The first couple Earthsea books are good, but most of her other stories are annoying to read.
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This one is really good, truly is like a fantasy western
>>36355
This vid on the history of the death star had mentioned that the Ancient Sith had been trying to build superweapons, but I couldn't find it in EU side of wookiepedia.
I just learned from this vid, that its actually a canon plot
This vid on the history of the death star had mentioned that the Ancient Sith had been trying to build superweapons, but I couldn't find it in EU side of wookiepedia.
I just learned from this vid, that its actually a canon plot
>>35777
That's actually the most recent annoying trend in Japanese young adult novels. Just look up the word "isekai" and you'll find tons of them. The ones that are generally considered the best examples are Re:Zero (for a serious story) and KonoSuba (for comedy/parody of the genre)
That's actually the most recent annoying trend in Japanese young adult novels. Just look up the word "isekai" and you'll find tons of them. The ones that are generally considered the best examples are Re:Zero (for a serious story) and KonoSuba (for comedy/parody of the genre)
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>>36369
Speaking of Sith, was Palpatine a wizard?
Speaking of Sith, was Palpatine a wizard?
>>36416
The Sith seem more like Nietzschean hedonists. The whole story of the prequels is the story of the fall of a volcel to the sith.
that being said…. maybe.
The Sith seem more like Nietzschean hedonists. The whole story of the prequels is the story of the fall of a volcel to the sith.
that being said…. maybe.
>>36416
>>36432
In the (now non-canon) book about Plagueis, it is explained that Plagueis took him when he was a child and he wasn't near succubi except in political situations.
With that said, I think the Sith order was quite "wizardly" for a long string of time. In the majority of cases, during the "Rule of Two" it was two males studying ancient Sith teachings. Only when it got to Plagueis did he start trying to take over.
>>36432
In the (now non-canon) book about Plagueis, it is explained that Plagueis took him when he was a child and he wasn't near succubi except in political situations.
With that said, I think the Sith order was quite "wizardly" for a long string of time. In the majority of cases, during the "Rule of Two" it was two males studying ancient Sith teachings. Only when it got to Plagueis did he start trying to take over.
>>36416
>When the Force is sensed and moved by emotion, from the very center of the body, and meditated from the lower vital centers of the being, it acts with the destructive power of a storm…and the savagery of a beast." -The book of Anger
Lower vital regions, maybe?
>When the Force is sensed and moved by emotion, from the very center of the body, and meditated from the lower vital centers of the being, it acts with the destructive power of a storm…and the savagery of a beast." -The book of Anger
Lower vital regions, maybe?
>>35777
>>36415
Eh, Russia made this an annoying trend long before that. Just look up the word "попаданцы", though it's usually "people from modern days in WW2", but I've seen such combinations as "Dart Veider in WW2", "Entire fucking USSR from 1960s in WW2", "Russian miners become dwarves" (it was dissapointing shit, but it had some interesting ideas, like how commandments of dwarven religion were actually occupational safety regulations), and of course "Soviet troops in fantasy world". Several years before GATE, no less.
>>36415
Eh, Russia made this an annoying trend long before that. Just look up the word "попаданцы", though it's usually "people from modern days in WW2", but I've seen such combinations as "Dart Veider in WW2", "Entire fucking USSR from 1960s in WW2", "Russian miners become dwarves" (it was dissapointing shit, but it had some interesting ideas, like how commandments of dwarven religion were actually occupational safety regulations), and of course "Soviet troops in fantasy world". Several years before GATE, no less.
There was this book I wanted to read again that I got, and I could have sworn it was called Arcanum. The basic plot was that Not!Germany ran on magic for literally everything - even shipping and movement of goods. Absolutely everything ran on magic. Then, one day, the magic begins to fade. Turns out the wizards are having the same problem in their big tower. Then the bandits on the edge of the country start to get more brazen, and since the magic is dying, so does the king because he rides out in shitty magical bronze armor that doesn't work anymore. This leaves a little 13 year old kid in charge while the country shits itself because there's no magic available, and no one knows how to live without it…
… Except for the Not!Jews, who live in the Ghetto and don't deal with magic. And who are being mysteriously kidnapped for rituals at the magic tower.
… Except for the Not!Jews, who live in the Ghetto and don't deal with magic. And who are being mysteriously kidnapped for rituals at the magic tower.
>>36462
Yeah, and 99,9% of those books are only good for kindling or wiping shit.
Check this out btw http://jakobin1793.livejournal.com/269046.html
Laughed my ass off it. That's the kind of setting I'd gladly read a book about.
Yeah, and 99,9% of those books are only good for kindling or wiping shit.
Check this out btw http://jakobin1793.livejournal.com/269046.html
Laughed my ass off it. That's the kind of setting I'd gladly read a book about.
>>35775
>Is that guy a good writer? most of his books sounds like a rpg from the 90s
His stuff varies in quality, but he's got a knack for worldbuilding and magic systems. He never half-asses either detail and they always play an important role in his books.
Also, the Mistborn series has already been turned into an RPG anyways.
>Is that guy a good writer? most of his books sounds like a rpg from the 90s
His stuff varies in quality, but he's got a knack for worldbuilding and magic systems. He never half-asses either detail and they always play an important role in his books.
Also, the Mistborn series has already been turned into an RPG anyways.
>>36510
Seconding Brandon Sanderson and his works, such as the Stormlight Archive.
Also check out Neal Stephenson, Anathem is godly in my eyes albeit slow to start.
Seconding Brandon Sanderson and his works, such as the Stormlight Archive.
Also check out Neal Stephenson, Anathem is godly in my eyes albeit slow to start.
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>>32207
>>32893
>>33929
>>34426
Bumping this thread, it's really good. Several wizards have mentioned Dune in this thread, so I decided to take their advice. You guys aren't wrong, it's a very good book. I'm not that far into it, but I really love it so far. Any wizard on the fence should give it a read!
>>32893
>>33929
>>34426
Bumping this thread, it's really good. Several wizards have mentioned Dune in this thread, so I decided to take their advice. You guys aren't wrong, it's a very good book. I'm not that far into it, but I really love it so far. Any wizard on the fence should give it a read!
>>36532
I don't know why, but I used an exclamation (!) point. Please don't mistake me for a succubus, I just get too excited when talking about science fiction. My mistake, wizards, I honestly apologize.
I don't know why, but I used an exclamation (!) point. Please don't mistake me for a succubus, I just get too excited when talking about science fiction. My mistake, wizards, I honestly apologize.
>>36319
Scalzi is the living embodiement of networking and asskissing giving mediocrities a lucrative career. I really hope Taleb fucks up Doctorows shit, partly because the guy had a hand in making that guy famous.
Scalzi is the living embodiement of networking and asskissing giving mediocrities a lucrative career. I really hope Taleb fucks up Doctorows shit, partly because the guy had a hand in making that guy famous.
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I'd recommend "More than Human" by Theodore Sturgeon.
>>36319
I think the only thing of his I own is an e-book file for Old Man's War. Otherwise, the only other notable story of his I've heard of is Redshirts.. and yet his name keeps coming up like he's some fiction God. Turns out he's another whiny numale faggot who is pissed about politics he fails to understand who sucked enough journo and Professional Nerd cock to get noticed.
I think the only thing of his I own is an e-book file for Old Man's War. Otherwise, the only other notable story of his I've heard of is Redshirts.. and yet his name keeps coming up like he's some fiction God. Turns out he's another whiny numale faggot who is pissed about politics he fails to understand who sucked enough journo and Professional Nerd cock to get noticed.
I found this from the frontpage of wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_of_Man_and_Woman
https://archive.is/U1FJl
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_of_Man_and_Woman
https://archive.is/U1FJl
>>36313
I love Gaiman. His style of modern fairy-tale like storytelling is often rich and full of great characters. Given, I'm not a huge fan of the long meandering American Gods (out of all his works to get a TV show), and Norse Mythology read more like a textbook
I love Gaiman. His style of modern fairy-tale like storytelling is often rich and full of great characters. Given, I'm not a huge fan of the long meandering American Gods (out of all his works to get a TV show), and Norse Mythology read more like a textbook
All Tomorrows, an online book detailing humanity becoming transhuman, being genetic play dough after losing badly to an alien force, and then humans restarting from that point into something else entirely. The Alien writing the book about them doesn't have a clue what happened to them, they just disappeared on day.
Moorcock really did seem to write a AAR of his deconstructive Drow character long before DND even became prominent. The fact that so many short stories wre used as inspiration for dungeon crawls does not help. It even ends with a end times arc, like one you put out when the other players were bored of it all. Erekose the Eternal Champion is also a good read if you're looking for classic fantasy.
SF wise, I liked the Martian Chronicles for it's frequently whimsical and often terrifying stories in a imperfect future. It even has a consistent timeline.
>>35799
BNW is SF as it portrays what could be the most chilling interpretation of a 'progressive society' out there. The fact that so many find it's cosy dystopia utopian is a very disturbing phenomenon. I do count it as SF, do you consider 1984 SF despite us surpassing the big three in technology long ago?
SF wise, I liked the Martian Chronicles for it's frequently whimsical and often terrifying stories in a imperfect future. It even has a consistent timeline.
>>35799
BNW is SF as it portrays what could be the most chilling interpretation of a 'progressive society' out there. The fact that so many find it's cosy dystopia utopian is a very disturbing phenomenon. I do count it as SF, do you consider 1984 SF despite us surpassing the big three in technology long ago?
>>35777
Check out Gene Wolfe's The Wizard Knight. Uses the whole "teenager transplanted into a fantasy world" thing, but does rather interesting things with it, especially if you read between the lines.
Check out Gene Wolfe's The Wizard Knight. Uses the whole "teenager transplanted into a fantasy world" thing, but does rather interesting things with it, especially if you read between the lines.
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I'll never stop shilling for W.H. Hodgson.
The House on the Borderland is Lovecraft's spoopy goblins + CAS' cosmic vertigo.
The House on the Borderland is Lovecraft's spoopy goblins + CAS' cosmic vertigo.
>>37158
I tried reading The Night Land and it defeated me. I just can't. It is not in me.
I really wanted to be able to stick it out, too. I discovered Andy Robertson's Night Land website through the Domain Science Letters, which straddled the borderland between internet hoax and internet fiction. I don't think there are any copies of the Domain Science Letters left online anymore, and that's a significant loss for fans of Lovecraftiana everywhere. The links that the Delta Green wiki set up for the DSL are no longer valid:
http://fairfieldproject.wikidot.com/andy-robertson
–you could probably use the Wayback Machine to reach them, if you know that they are there. But it is a real loss that no more curious young men will ever again stumble on the research pages on the Yesodic Entities and spend a few minutes (or hours) thinking "wait what is this is this a real thing?"
There were a lot of Night Land materials at Robertson's webpage, including the majority of the fiction he anthologized in his Night Lands collections. I'm reasonably sure I read all of John C. Wright's NL works, and they seemed pretty good, but as a Tolkien fan the way he shamelessly cribbed Sam's glimpse of Earendil through the clouds of Mordor chafed at me.
The successor to Andy Robertson's website exists, but while it has a lot of the Night Land fiction he commissioned it doesn't seem to contain the Domain Science Letters.
I tried reading The Night Land and it defeated me. I just can't. It is not in me.
I really wanted to be able to stick it out, too. I discovered Andy Robertson's Night Land website through the Domain Science Letters, which straddled the borderland between internet hoax and internet fiction. I don't think there are any copies of the Domain Science Letters left online anymore, and that's a significant loss for fans of Lovecraftiana everywhere. The links that the Delta Green wiki set up for the DSL are no longer valid:
http://fairfieldproject.wikidot.com/andy-robertson
–you could probably use the Wayback Machine to reach them, if you know that they are there. But it is a real loss that no more curious young men will ever again stumble on the research pages on the Yesodic Entities and spend a few minutes (or hours) thinking "wait what is this is this a real thing?"
There were a lot of Night Land materials at Robertson's webpage, including the majority of the fiction he anthologized in his Night Lands collections. I'm reasonably sure I read all of John C. Wright's NL works, and they seemed pretty good, but as a Tolkien fan the way he shamelessly cribbed Sam's glimpse of Earendil through the clouds of Mordor chafed at me.
The successor to Andy Robertson's website exists, but while it has a lot of the Night Land fiction he commissioned it doesn't seem to contain the Domain Science Letters.
>>37161
>I tried reading The Night Land and it defeated me. I just can't. It is not in me.
I thought the same the first and second time. I heard there's an abridged version somewhere (though personally I don't like abridgments and never checked it out).
In case you haven't read it, "The House on the Borderland" is not like "The Night Land" at all. They share themes but the there's none of the faux XVII century style or power fantasy stuff.
>Domain Science Letters
I've never heard of them before, but they seem very very interesting.
Some of them are on archive.org, and others on fairfieldproject.
https://web.archive.org/web/20140816060755/http://www.thenightland.co.uk/MYWEB/dslindex.html
http://fairfieldproject.wikidot.com/archive:basics-of-domain-particle-physics
I seriously hope none are permanently lost.
>I tried reading The Night Land and it defeated me. I just can't. It is not in me.
I thought the same the first and second time. I heard there's an abridged version somewhere (though personally I don't like abridgments and never checked it out).
In case you haven't read it, "The House on the Borderland" is not like "The Night Land" at all. They share themes but the there's none of the faux XVII century style or power fantasy stuff.
>Domain Science Letters
I've never heard of them before, but they seem very very interesting.
Some of them are on archive.org, and others on fairfieldproject.
https://web.archive.org/web/20140816060755/http://www.thenightland.co.uk/MYWEB/dslindex.html
http://fairfieldproject.wikidot.com/archive:basics-of-domain-particle-physics
I seriously hope none are permanently lost.
Can anyone recommend me some less fantastical fantasy that's based on older myths and fairy tales?
im starting to get into the star trek universe although I havent watched any yet. I mean I watched a couple of episodes of NG on Scifi a few years back.
Im looking through the universe history, and Voyager seems like the most interesting series to me
the idea of a reformed Borg is pretty cool
Im looking through the universe history, and Voyager seems like the most interesting series to me
the idea of a reformed Borg is pretty cool
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