If you have been on this sub a while, you already know that systematic downvoting of queer content is a problem on this subreddit. Many a post has been made about this already like this one or this one or this one. But for those of you that haven’t been here as long, I want to make sure everyone knows that this is an issue, especially as we enter Pride Month in about a week from now which typically means an increase of LGBTQ posts. These posts will face more backlash than other non-LGBTQ posts of the same type. I want to give an overview of what this backlash looks like and address some arguments I’ve seen people bring up in the past about this in one place. I also would like to give a couple suggestions about what we can do about this and give people some tips about how to have a more queer friendly experience on this sub.
For all the queer people and allies reading this, I know this isn’t a super lighthearted topic, so I understand if you’d rather skip it. I …
Recently there has been a trend on the fantasy side of BookTube to talk about “the death of epic fantasy” - as if it is a well established fact. I recently watched all these videos and would like to refute each of the main points they make.
The following is a transcript of a video I released today, if you would like to watch that video click here.
Claim #1: Debut authors are not getting multi-book epic fantasy deals.
Reality: Debut authors almost never get multi-book epic fantasy deals, and while that is true now, that was also true in the past. Think of the three most famous epic fantasy authors over the past couple decades. George R.R. Martin wrote 5 books before A Song of Ice and Fire. Robert Jordan wrote 7 Conan the Barbarian books before he wrote Wheel of Time. Brandon Sanderson famously got rejected 13 times before he finally got Elantris published, and even that was a standalone.
Why would an author with no trust from either the publisher or their audience get a …
A little over a year ago, I decided I wanted to read Guy Gavriel Kay for the first time. I don’t know why I knew it was the right time, I just did. I had been aware of Kay’s work basically since I began reading Fantasy, probably at least a dozen years ago now, and I had always planned to read him eventually.
For some reason, however, it just felt like it was time. I’m so glad I did.
So, after reading all fifteen novels (in publication order) over about 13 months, here are my spoiler-free (some small spoilers will be covered) thoughts on each one. If you are a GGK fan, I would love to hear your thoughts and favorites as well.
And if you’ve never read him before, I hope you will take the leap!
So many people have recommended I read ASOIAF lately. I was a huge fan of the show (mostly). But my current two favorite series are unfinished with little hope for continuation (Gentlemen Bastards, Kingkiller) so I’m wary of starting another series that seems like it has no hope of ever being finished. So I guess my question is: is ASOIAF so good that it’s worth reading even knowing it will never be finished? Is the quality of the series so high that it outweighs the disappointment of never knowing the end?
EDIT: Wow was truly not expecting this to blow up the way it did. Am having a blast reading through all the responses. Lots of really really interesting points, thoughts, and recs here. Thanks everyone!! Love the community on this sub.
I first started “The Fifth Season” about a year ago, and DNF’d it about 60 pages in, which I attribute to be experiencing quite a reading slump at the time. This past week however, I decided to pick it up again as I took a break from another book I was reading, and I absolutely adored the reading experience.
Even in the midst of me studying for finals, I devoured this book in a few days, and ordered the sequel the moment I finished. This has probably been one of my most enjoyable reading experiences ever. There wasn’t a single moment that I felt bored or disconnected from the plot, the magic system is intriguing and easy(ish) to follow, the characters are easy to get attached to, and the plot twist genuinely had me slack jawed! The conclusion was so stressful I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the page. Easily a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read for me, can’t wait to read the sequel!!
I’ve just finished John Steinbeck’s East of Eden this morning and it’s now one of the best novels I’ve ever read. It’s also officially now one of my top 5 favorite books of all-time. I honestly didn’t know anything about this novel or Steinbeck before until this January and I’ve found out my mom had the International Collector’s Library edition of it so I decided to borrow it. So this is my first Steinbeck novel.
What I really love about East of Eden is it’s main themes such as the struggle between good and evil and the consequences of favoritism and jealously. I have a huge amount of respect and love for the characters expect for Cathy Ames because she’s the most manipulative and narcissistic antagonist I had ever read about than from any other book.
It’s such an amazing epic and I now plan to read Steinbeck’s other novels including The Grapes of Wrath this fall. It’s a real reading experience that I will …
I have noticed an increase in authors recently who write wildly successful series and then they just stop before they are done. The one that has always stuck out to me is George R R Martin but recently I think that you can add Patrick Rothfuss and Jim Butcher.
I get that fame is a terrible burden and that depression is even worse but that doesn’t entitle you to be a dick when asked about it, even if asked daily. If you do anything in the public eye using your fame from that series to boost your following then you open yourself to being questioned about when that next beloved book is coming out.
I feel like a jerk because mental health is paramount but as I have seen several places “having a mental health issue isn’t an excuse to be an asshole”.
It’s strange. I’ve tried to get into him but I just can’t. I’m too jaded lol and raised on too much “obvious” horror. Once you read Per Semetary, you can’t go back to the “the multifaceted, putrefaction oozing forth from the jagged shards of light that surrounded me defied rational understanding. I felt myself going mad.”
His writing comes off as scholarly, exceedingly formal but stylistically flat to me.
His ideas however? Ooooh man I love those! The guy helped create his own genre of horror but I enjoy seeing other authors interpret it more. The idea of monsters both old, ancient and beyond our understanding lends itself to a myriad of stories and permutations. Take the horror classic the fisherman. The author, John Langan, has mentioned before that while he read lovecraft and appreciated his work, he wasn’t a heavy influence on his writing.
He writes lovecraft by way of his acolytes: king, Campbell, barker, which just testifies to the enduring appeal of the mythos.
Open to any speculative genre.
Please don’t comment, “Not 10 years ago, but…”
Whoa. What a great story. Love the world Reynolds built and the gradual unraveling of the mystery surrounding the main character. Wondering is the rest of rev space is similar?
Stephen Baxter’s “Raft” isn’t really my favorite book in the Xeelee Sequence but the premise of an alternate universe/spacetime where the universal gravitational concept is 10^9 times greater than in our universe, resulting in a cosmos with a passing resemblance to Super Mario Galaxy, makes me wonder about what other “differing physics” universes have been speculated in (relatively hard) SF.
The only other examples I can think of are “fluidic space” from Star Trek Voyager, Xen from Half-Life, and very very minor differences in Anathem, with honorable mention to some spoilery shenanigans that happen in The Expanse. While those examples aren’t considered “hard” SF they’re still presented in a way that invites speculation into the theoretical physics mechanisms behind them.
Just as the title says, are there any upcoming books you’re dying to get your hands on?
Soviet Union science fiction has always been a bit of a blind spot for me (well…not in film: Stalker and Solaris are two of my favorite movies). I’m currently reading Roadside Picnic and Lem’s Solaris, and I’m reading his Futorological Congress next.
What are some of your favorite examples of science fiction from the Soviet Union?
EDIT: My apologies for not being more specific and counting Lem as a Soviet author. I know Lem’s Polish, and I know Poland wasn’t part of the Soviet Union. I should have put something more encompassing like “Eastern Bloc” or “Soviet or Soviet satellite state science fiction.” Apologies to any Poles who saw this!
We see a lot of the same (awesome) recommendations in this community for spec fiction — ie Hyperion, BotNS, Blindsight, Anathem, Dispossessed, Dune, … — so I figured it would be interesting to hear what our community likes that’s NOT genre fiction. Maybe we’ll discover some more typical literary fiction that matches our unique tastes.
For example, thanks to Kazuo Ishiguro’s scifi work (Never Let Me Go; Klara and the Sun), I read his acclaimed work Remains of the Day. Not sci-fi or spec fiction at all. Just a good old fashioned literary period piece. And I loved it! Would highly recommended.
What about you guys? Any favorites outside our wheelhouse?