Best Novel: The Everlasting by Alix Harrow

Best Novella: The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar

Best Novelette: “Never Eaten Vegetables” by H.H. Pak

Best Short Story: “In My Country” by Thomas Ha

Best Series: Old Man’s War by John Scalzi

Best Graphic Novel: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin, adapted by Fred Fordham

Best Related Work: Inventing the Renaissance by Ada Palmer

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: Sinners

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: Murderbot, “All Systems Red”

Best Game or Interactive Work: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Best Editor, Short Form: Neil Clarke

Best Editor, Long Form: Diana Pho

Best Professional Artist: John Picacio

Best Semiprozine: Uncanny

Best Fanzine: nerds of a feather, flock together

Best Fancast: Hugo, Girl!

Best Fan Writer: Jason Sanford

Best Fan Artist: Yuumei

Best Poem: “Hex Supply Customer Support Log” by Elis Montgomery

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book: Coffeeshop …

I’ve noticed that many video games, manga, manhwa, anime, and isekai novels explore the classic theme of a group or party of (summoned) heroes facing off against a Demon King or Demon Lord and his elite four, or some other number of high-ranking generals.

According to my research, the four demon generals are most likely based on the “Four Heavenly Kings” of Buddhist mythology.

And in many comments across various platforms, the view is expressed that the influential JRPG *Dragon Quest* established this entire popular adventure or sword & sorcery sub trope.

But is that actually true? What are your thoughts?

I’ve read through my share of DNF posts to great satisfaction, shock, or catharsis. Haven’t we all?

But, I’ve not yet seen (and I’ll be the first to admit this may be credited to my very sporadic, chaotic browsing habits), anything of the opposite nature.

So, what are the prose y’all were reluctant to put down? Which stories made you want to start again the second you absorbed those last few words? What have you Finished so Many Times that you can basically recite it verbatim?

Give me you FMTs! (Finished Many Times)

Mine are:

The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

The Witcher Series by Andrzej Sapkowski

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Attwood

The Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden

Pretty much the title. Obviously, it never will be but share your thoughts on where you think the story was heading story wise.

For me, the trick was the most annoying relationship in the book was one that Kvothe would NOT succeed in and that is the best thing Rothfuss could have done.[](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1w1qbfc/comment/p6n1zy5/)

Yes, I speak of Kvothe and Denna AKA The Anti-Romance. Basically, that it’s interesting qualities is that it ISN’T one and that it fails despite Kvothe’s attempts at hammering reality to make it work aka Jay Gatsby.

I think the trick to appreciating Kvothe and Denna (and we’ll never know so I go with what I like most) is that there is no relationship. Kvothe desperately wants there to be but Denna says that she is not financially secure enough to have any relationship that isn’t transactional (i.e. with a rich dude). Kvothe refuses to accept this and unlike all of his other problems, cannot clever his …

I was reading Sons of Darkness and saw the obvious parallels between crippled hero turned torturer, Shakuni, and the other crippled hero turned torturer, San dan Glokta, when I came across this familiar sounding passage:

Sons of Darkness (Mohanty):

“Shakuni’s teeth grated against each other as he locked his jaws to trap the scream. It still managed to screech out of him. His nose sprouted mucus into his hands as he breathed in heaving gasps. His crippled body shivering with the effort to stay up right. Am I laughing or crying? The bandages on his shoulder stank worse than shit…”

The Blade Itself (Abercrombie):

“His remaining teeth grated against each other as he locked his jaws together, but a high-pitched, jagged moan still whistled from him. Am I screaming or laughing? How do I tell the difference? He breathed in heaving gasps, through his nose, snot bubbling out onto his hand, his twisted body shaking with the effort of staying upright.” …

In the past year I’ve bounced off of both The Lies of Locke Lamora and the Assassin’s Apprentice so I was just curious what other widely praised books on this sub other people have put down.

• BEST NOVEL: The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (Tor US; Tor UK)
• BEST NOVELLA: The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (Tordotcom; Arcadia UK)
• BEST NOVELETTE: “Never Eaten Vegetables” by H.H. Pak (Clarkesworld, Issue 220)
• BEST SHORT STORY: “In My Country” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld, Issue 223)
• BEST SERIES: Old Man’s War by John Scalzi (Tor US; Tor UK)
• BEST GRAPHIC STORY OR COMIC: A Wizard of Earthsea: A Graphic Novel, written by Ursula K. Le Guin, adapted and art by Fred Fordham (Clarion Books; Walker UK)
• BEST RELATED WORK: Inventing the Renaissance by Ada Palmer (University of Chicago Press US, Head of Zeus UK)
• BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM: Sinners, screenplay by Ryan Coogler, directed by Ryan Coogler (Proximity Media, Warner Bros. Pictures)
• BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM: Murderbot: “All Systems Red”, written by Paul Weitz & Chris Weitz, directed by Roseanne Liang, based on the book All Systems Red by Martha Wells (Apple TV)
• BEST GAME OR INTERACTIVE WORK: Clair …

I’m looking for pieces of fiction where other creatives responded with their own works or adaptions.

A famous example would be Robert Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers”:
“Ender’s Game” is widely thought to be a response to it. So are “The Forever War” and “Old Man’s War”. The movie adaption also discusses the topics of the book by satirizing some of its themes.

Another example is “The Ones who walk away from Omelas” by Ursula K. LeGuin. This website collects stories about Omelas by authors who responded to the scenario with their own stories, developing new themes, expanding or contradicting the original story.

While writing this post I remembered “The problem of Susan” by Neil Gaiman, which is a response to Susan’s treatment in C.S. Lewis’ “The last Battle”.

Do you know any other discussions in the form of novels and short stories?

I’ve read ”Starship Troopers” eight times and loved it, so I decided to finally read “Forever War” and “Armor”. FW was interesting and well written, but over all I wasn’t really into it. Then I read Armor and it thoroughly knocked my socks off. I’ve always preferred when sci fi books focus more on character rather than making the setting the focus, and Felix to me became an all time favorite protagonist in Sci Fi. I didn’t even mind the POV switch to Jack Crow, I felt it was a well warranted device to give Felix‘s story perspective. Though I did feel like the reveal of Felix’s traumatic past was unnecessary. I think the book had more legs just focusing on Felix in the war, rather than explaining how or why he got there.

Wow, what a book. I’ve had it on my “to read” list for a while but the book is hard to summarize so without any idea what it was about it kept getting overlooked, which was probably a mistake.

The galaxy wide internet concept was a neat idea especially for 1993. For me, it really modernized the feel of the book. “The net of a million lies” haha. Feels like my time scrolling.

The Tines chapters started off as more intriguing than the characters at Relay but in the middle of the book that reversed for me and I do think the final parts dealing with them could have been a bit better. Still I liked the story there too, and the Tines themselves were a unique idea for an alien species.

Looking forward to reading the second book as soon as my library has it available.

Overall 8.⁵⁄₁₀

I just read Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling and was kinda impressed for how little I’ve seen it mentioned. This sub has it mentioned only 3 times in the last 12 months! But I think it’s as good as other books recommended substantially more.

It’s writing and plot are well done, it ages well and fits into the classic sci-fi cannon. The 80s sounds recent but is becoming a while ago…

I think it has some weaknesses, like the narrative voice or drama is a bit emotionally shallow compared to the subject matter (lack of urgency?), along with the episodic chapters and time-jumps I could see it not resonating or being memorable to a popular audience. But still in a sub like this I think a lot of people would enjoy it.

“We had talked, and I thought, ‘God, what a great legacy to leave for my grandson.’ So I started working out. I got bigger. Then, just the reality of it… because I did read! I did read for it. It was so hard for me to memorize my lines, which I never had a problem with. And that was my mind and body starting to tell me, ‘You don’t want to do this.’ I was one of the leads of Stargate at 33 to 44 and then stopped. Now, at 62, to be the lead, I just have no desire to live that way again.”

He also spoke on Dave Bautista as the live-action Kratos:

“With Ryan, I thought that was absolutely the right choice. He’s played all the games. He’s a gamer and new father; like, who better? Then when he got hurt, it was like, are they going to take time to read with and call people back? So when I heard the name of Bautista, I thought, ‘Didn’t he just lose like 100 pounds?’ So I hope he’s going to be great. …

Hi reddit. I’m Bruce Campbell. You may know me from Sam Raimi’s THE EVIL DEAD, MANIAC COP, BUBBA HO-TEP, BURN NOTICE, CRIMEWAVE, XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS, and other stuff.

I recently wrote, directed, produced, and starred in ERNIE & EMMA, a road-trip comedy movie that’s really close & special to me. I’m taking it on a tour this fall in more than a dozen Alamo Drafthouse locations. Hoping to see you there.

Synopsis: Widowed pear salesman Ernie Tyler travels to scatter his wife’s ashes in places she specified, each location stirring memories that help him process their marriage, his work life and his future.

Here’s the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lUAbQfKc94

Ask me anything! I’ll be around at 12 PM ET today to answer your burning questions.

Hi reddit. I’m Wile E. Coyote, full-time coyote and part-time actor. I’m starring in COYOTE VS ACME, alongside my fellow co-stars Will Forte, John Cena, and Lana Condor. It’s out in theaters everywhere now from Ketchup Entertainment. I’m here to answer your questions.

When ACME products fail him one too many times in his dogged pursuit of the Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote decides to hire a down-on-his-luck lawyer to sue the corporation.

• Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-43VeYGiPM
• Director: Dave Green
• Tickets and Showtimes: https://www.coyotevsacme.com

Ask me anything! I’ll stop by at 10 AM PT/1 PM ET today to answer anyone’s question (except Road Runner’s).