What? I frequently see remarks along the lines of “I skipped Sansa’s chapters,” “I always skip the Tom Bombadil segment,” and “I skip all the passages with Denna.”
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I make an effort to remain objective, but what the hell, guys? Do you, for example, start watching a movie and then quickly skim over the dialogue? Do you think the author is making any progress with this? This completely eludes me. If you are humans, may one of you please explain it to me?
Full quote:
J.R.R. Tolkien has become a sort of mountain, appearing in all subsequent fantasy in the way that Mt. Fuji appears so often in Japanese prints. Sometimes it’s big and up close. Sometimes it’s a shape on the horizon. Sometimes it’s not there at all, which means that the artist either has made a deliberate decision against the mountain, which is interesting in itself, or is in fact standing on Mt. Fuji
Would love to see some opinions. Alternatively fantasy works that figuratively are standing on Tolkien’s work.
Helloooo! I’m Hannah (H. M.) Long and I write fantasy books! This is also the first time I’ve ventured onto Reddit, and this is a whole new world for me.
I wrote Hall of Smoke, Temple of No God and Barrow of Winter, which just came out on Tuesday! There’s also another book coming in Hall of Smoke’s Norse-inspired fantasy world, called Pillar of Ash, January 2024. These books are full of warrior priestesses, axes, meddling gods in the flesh, cinematic action and all the northern atmosphere.
I have another book coming out this year, Dark Water Daughter, which opens up my second adult fantasy series! It’s got pirates, pirate hunters, weather witches and warring fleets on winter seas. It was so much fun to write and I can’t wait to share it with everyone on July 11th.
I’m also here to do a giveaway! Everyone who comments a question will be entered to win a shiny final copy of Barrow of Winter, open to Canada, UK and the USA. Winner will be …
So I don’t really know how to phrase this question but did anyone ever notice how a lot of ‘classical fantasy’ seems to be inspired by Bree from Lord of the Rings? Obviously LOTR is the most influential fantasy ever, and I did hear once from somewhere that D&D campaigns influenced a lot of how we see classical fantasy (which were in turn influenced by the Dungeon Masters being inspired by the LOTR books) but does anyone know if the whole ‘feel’ of Bree (adventurers on a quest stopping by a shady inn) was itself inspired by something Tolkien might have read? (Much like the whole dragon hoard idea with Smaug being inspired by Beowulf) or is it really just a case of a tavern being a convenient place to set your fantasy?
Not sure if this is accepted here, but in case it is, I’d like to thank every member for all the great comments, recommandtions and discussions I have witness since I joined the r/Fantasy subreddit. You guys are amazing and thanks to this wonderful community, I have had many nights of fantasy escapism and magic. My depression hasn’t kicked in weeks, I’m not crying at night and I’m sleeping like a baby after a bedtime story, albeit me being my own narrator.
So thank you everyone, I love you.
Like the title says, I’m looking for authors with superior prose and world-building. I’m on book 2 of Mistborn and while I love Sanderson’s world-building (I’m an especially huge fan of Stormlight) I’m starting to find his prose lacking and ready to turn to a new author for my fantasy fix.
Bonus points if part of the author’s skill with prose is expressed through descriptions of nature like Tolkien.
Edit: I really appreciate all the responses! Below is a list of some of the suggestions I’ve received so far.
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I just started reading the book recently after seeing the movie countless times and quite honestly it quickly became one of my favorite books.
So I got the part where he went to dinner with Courtney and some couple he found annoying. So he was talking about how the girl wanted a diet coke but her boyfriend kept trying to convince her to drink alcohol. So at some point she says she wants rum in the coke. But Bateman suggests she should have Pepsi instead. Then he says everyone looked at him disapprovingly.
And then, out of nowhere, he gives a long detailed description of what he saw in some threesome porn video he rented. After that, he goes on about some Stephen Bishop record he bought. Then he takes the reader back to the dinner scene and the conversation about Pepsi and Diet Coke.
So, without spoiling the rest of the book, why does Bateman do this?
No country for old men is one of my favorite books ever made, period. Including one of my favorite movie adaptations. I’ve read Cormac McCarthy since I was a freshman in high school, first being Blood Meridian (another phenomenal read, definitely recommend).
Me reading it at a young age probably got to me more for me being young, but still years later it still manages to frighten me sometimes. I don’t know how to describe it, I’ve read many horror titles, which scared me more than this book, but No Country For Old Men is one that still surfs through my brain from time to time. Not because of the violence and thrills, just because of Anton Chigurh himself.
In the movie he isn’t too different from the book, but he’s more calm and melodic to his killings, and seems to give no emotion at all. The book isn’t too different, but what he is like when he kills people is way more unsettling to me. The book makes Anton seem like a deranged lunatic, the movie makes him seem as if death took form …
As some of you may be aware, r/Fantasy is running a Top Novel poll, and a couple of us thought it would be fun to do the same thing on this sub.
Participating is simple: you vote by commenting in this thread, which will be open for 7 days. After it closes, I will collate the results and post them.
1. Make a ranked list of YOUR top TEN favorite books/series/short stories in a new post in this thread
Post your top ten favorite series or individual books in a ranked list. Short stories and novellas are welcome as well as novels! If the book is part of a series, then we’ll count is as the series. For example, if Ancillary Justice is your favorite book in the Imperial Radch trilogy, then it will be a vote for the Imperial Radch trilogy, so try and list the series as well as the book if possible. Standalone novels (i.e. Fahrenheit 451) will count as themselves. Your list can be shorter than ten, but not longer. Also, please do not agonize over the ranking; this is a fun internet …
If we dig through the stuff in gutenberg press, we’ve seen this before. Somewhat *weird*, outdated things that don’t turn out too well. Technology that were hyped for its day, but turned out to have limits or were replaced by something else. Values dissonance in sci-fi, like… the racism bits. Or sexism bits. Or really weird values from the late 19th to early 20th century that don’t quite it in right now in the year 2023. Mostly because I’m really interested in seeing how people, limited and placed in the circumstances of the
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My one would be a novel I once read of a hypothetical utopian future. And get this, they managed to give everyone access to music! How? By creating a massive system of pipelines, and having orchestras, one after another, play at different times of the day. There’s even an entire giant schedule book you can use to listen to them all! This book was made in 1890, which was pretty much the only reason I could find …
Hey !
I just realized that from time to time I’m still thinking about a very evocative and well known “everything is fleshy” part in one of Greg Bear’s books but I’ve never seen that kind of thing again in another SF book, at least not on the same scale.
My knowledge is unfortunately lacking, but I’d really like some recommendations with this grotesque “architecture+living tissues” combination.
I’ve also loved the 2022 video game Scorn, which is pretty much the kind of vivid imagery I’m looking for, but in book form.
So yep, I’m looking for some living flesh walls in my SF books (bonus points if massive, and/or Gigeresque biomechanical).
Thanks a lot in advance for your help ! (added two images for reference)
https://i.imgur.com/VRNObTr.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/C0upXvM.png
edit: Yay, thank you all for the answers and recommendations. There are some very interesting books that fit perfectly in the comments, …
I’m looking for stuff that goes far into the future, I’m really into world building and lore, so that’s also a plus. Preferably free to read, or on audible if not (don’t really have too much disposable income for books right now sadly). Any suggestions are appreciated. Thank you 🙏
I’m looking for a book I read about 10 years ago. It is a book in the science fiction genre set in the future on Earth. In it, humanity has gone into space with the help of supercomputers that are capable of thinking. Somehow, humans have been wiped out (at least on Earth), but the supercomputers continue to survive. The supercomputer that is responsible for the earth then conducts its own experiment to repopulate the planet with humans, there is a human simulation to see this process through. In one of the chapters, we then encounter the newly planted humans discovering seafaring. Can anyone recognize the book from these hints? I suspect it had a green cover and was rather shorter.
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already found Genesis by Poul Anderson thanks u u/sinebubble