I started reading ASOIAF a couple weeks ago and I’m a little through Clash of Kings. I have been hesitant to read it because of it being unfinished and the odds of it being finished aren’t great. Also having watched the show I know what to expect with certain story lines so the shock and awe wouldn’t be there. But I have to say, the man can write a story like no other. It’s beautiful and addicting and I can’t get enough. The prose is wonderful and it gives more insight into these famous characters. I now 1000% understand the frustration everyone is feeling on waiting for the Winds of Winter, and I’m not even finished yet.

I see people asking for something to fill the void some specific series left in their hearts. This was especially prevalent about 10 years ago when lots of people finished A Dance With Dragons and wanted something similar, getting recommendations for Malazan and Joe Abercrombie. I experienced it myself very deeply having finished Robin Hobb’s Fitz books, those things really bond with you like a friend and when they’re over it really feels like there’s a hole inside you. Like a real companion has been at your side and now they’re gone.

It might sound cruel but I’m here to tell you the only thing that will work is time.

You can pick whatever book sounds similar to scratch that itch and it’s just going to be either a) not what you expected or wanted or b) an imitation or simulacrum of the real thing. This is not because there absolutely are no books in existence that might do the trick but simply because you have already created an emotional bond with …

In most works of fiction like dnd, frieren, dungeon meshi, and LOTR. Elves are treated as rare, and in some cases going extinct. This always puzzles me since elves also live for HUNDREDS upon THOUSANDS of years. So why are they all so limited? By nature they should be overflowing with population if they live for that long. Do they all just agree to not overpopulated the world? Do they have a kind of pact? This question always puzzled me.

I’ll go first.

The Sword of Truth is a terrible series, written by an arrogant asshole (and ghost written by Ayn Rand), full of sex torture, evil chickens, and deus ex machinae, but it introduced me to at least four words I had never heard before and expanded my vocabulary just that little bit.

Ok, to be fair, I haven’t finished A Discovery of Witches. But I stopped reading when it started to seem like the story wasn’t actually about discovering deep, magical lore and was instead Twilight for Professors. I skimmed reviews and it seems like it doesn’t ever really pick back up again, but it’s been months now and I’m still craving the story I thought I was reading at the beginning.

Her writing started out so patient and well crafted. The setup really pulled me in. I want to search the archives and solve the mystery at the heart of magic. 😭😭😭 Can anyone recommend a beautifully crafted story that can satisfy this need? Or do you disagree? Maybe I should push through the gratuitous romance to reap the reward on the other side?

Thanks in advance.

We always talk about what makes a fantasy book great. Worldbuilding, characters, magic, plot etc. But what about the stuff that makes you drop out halfway through?

Like, book two hits and suddenly the plot forgets what it was doing, the MC is invincible, and everyone talks like they’re on Discord.

Here’s my personal drop list, based on asking my readers what made them bail:

• Side characters vanish mid-series. Book one: deep friendships, emotional bonds. Book three: they get one line and disappear.
• Magic that works until it doesn’t. A fireball can melt a castle wall… unless the villain blocks it with plot armor.
• Villains with zero motive. Just “I’m evil because I like power” and maybe a dead partner.
• Characters who all sound like Reddit. The ancient elf is doing Marvel quips, the villain is making meme references, and no one speaks like a person.
• Character lore dumps mid-dialogue. “As you know, Lord Thraal of the Eastern Wastes betrayed the Seventh Covenant of…” bro, we just met.
• The …

Has any one else experienced a tough book club? I know I’ve had one or two where I couldn’t wait for it to be over just so I didn’t have to hear a specific person talk anymore…

I’ve only read a third of the book but I genuinely think this is a masterpiece and I don’t like to use that word lightly. I’ve been consuming sci-fi media for a long time, be it videogames, books, movies… But I’ve never seen such a fascinating and engrossing worldbuilding like this that makes me go back and reread previous passages in order to fully comprehend all the terminology and concepts.

I have to say that at first I was scared because of all the terminology used but now that I’ve gotten used to it, it actually makes the world feel even more immersive. I don’t know at what point it was (maybe around the 20% mark), but my brain just clicked with the novel and now I can’t stop reading. I’m totally looking forward to what surprises are waiting for me down the line.

I don’t know anyone around me who knows this book and honestly I don’t even know if I could recommend it to anyone lol that’s why I wanted to make this …

A lot of people say that technological progress is slowing down, and that most of the newer sci-fi stories are just re-iterations or done to death recycled concepts that people have known about for a century. We aren’t seeing a lot of innovative new ideas in science fiction these days, and I’m wondering if it’s because of what I just stated or perhaps I am not reading the right books.

I’d hate to think that human imagination is not unlimited, but imaginative concepts seem few and far between these days.

Within the last 5-10 years (not 20-30), have there been any ideas for technology that made you go “WOW! I never could have thought that up!”

I know this is a tall order; but don’t post unless it’s extremely recent and fundamental.

Bad news for Asimov’s and Analog fans. Things look grim.

Earlier this year, Asimov’s and Analog were purchased by Must Read Books, supposed fans of the genre who wanted to revitalize the old brands. They also bought the flailing F&SF, which announced it was moving to quarterly publications and hasn’t released an issue in nearly a year.

Things were rosy at the time as the new owners kept the old editorial staff running. But now there are serious questions about the motives of the new owners as the new contracts contain clauses that, if accepted, allow the publishers the ability to edit published authors’ works and then re-publish them without their attribution.

In legalese, it’s called Moral Rights, and the revocation of this property authors are supposed to have is so bad that upon hearing news of Analog and Asimov’s doing this the Science Fiction Writers Association put out a memo to inform writers of the rights they may be signing away. …

Hi everyone. I am currently reading Engines of god by Jack Mcdevitt and enjoying it so far.

Yesterday, while looking for some book online I noticed that the cover art of the paperback I own is also used in a different book from a different author and afaik the storylines are completely unrelated.

Maybe it’s something normal that I have never noticed but thought it is somehow peculiar.

Do you know of other cases where the same cover art is used in completely unrelated works?

Just finished gnomon by nick harkaway. I had first read titanium noir and loved it, so this one blew me away. Literary sf at its most ambitious. Highly recommend! Thx to this sub, i’m now really into harkaway, thx peeps!

World War Z by Max Brooks and the short story Liking What You See: A Documentary by Ted Chiang are written as a series of interviews. The Evolution of Human Science, also by Ted Chiang, is a single article in a science journal. The Martian, by Andy Weir, is comprised of log entries, and Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, both by Octavia Butler, are written as diaries.

I’m looking for other examples of good, text-only, science fiction written with effective use of unusual structure.

I know there are a few diary-based science fiction novels, so unless they are particularly unusual and effective, I don’t need a long list of those.

Many thanks.

Edit: what an excellent response. Thanks everyone who contributed.

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Dakota Johnson thought “Madame Web” was part of the MCU. When she realized that it was part of the godawful live-action Spider-Verse with no relation to the MCU or even Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, it was too late. So she pretty much slept through the whole movie, speaking in a monotone voice that actually made her performance unintentionally hilarious and added into its status as a modern campy cult film.

Rooney Mara hated doing the Nightmare on Elm Street remake so much that she bragged about giving a bad performance on purpose. She still hates that movie with the force of a thousand suns.

Whoopi Goldberg tried to get away from making “Theodore Rex”, so much so she ended up getting sued for not doing her job, so she asked for a hefty paycheck, and did the movie in a black leather cat suit and a permanent grouch in her face.

Elizabeth Taylor didn’t want to do Butterfield 8. She was grieving Mike Todd and ended up being forced to do it because she …