Fiction Thread (Books, Games, Whatever)

[111]

Since this is at it's core a site for people that create fiction, I thought we should have a thread for discussing it. Please bring up your favorite stories, regardless of medium. 

 

If you have a cool quote from whatever you're talking about, feel free to post!

 

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I'll start off with a series I've been reading recently. 

https://www.goodreads.com/series/96465-the-riyria-revelations

 

The author self published the first edition (which makes it extra neat in my book) but now it's a lot easier to get a hold of. I don't really want to spoil too much about the plot but...

 

Things I like about it:

 

- Magic as an "Art" rather than a science

- A gritty version of a 'post-tolkien' world. Humans are very racist.

- Love, Danger, and Death all taken seriously

 

The last part that I like is the way women are treated in the work. The setting is very traditional, and the start women have very little power, all the women are side characters (Farmer's Daughters, Princesses, Prostitutes), who are constantly controlled and belittled by men in positions of power. The titular pair of male characters (Royce and Hadrian) seem like the main heroes of the story (and the first books are almost entirely from their viewpoints). However as things become chaotic and social orders of the period get blurred, and the female characters find themselves in positions to actually affect events. It's really well done in my opinion. 

 

“So,” Royce said, “you want us to escape from this prison, kidnap the king, cross the countryside with him in tow while dodging soldiers who I assume might not accept our side of the story, and go to another secret prison so that he can visit an inmate?”

Arista did not appear amused. “Either that, or you can be tortured to death in four hours.”

“Sounds like a really good plan to me,” Hadrian declared.“Royce?”

“I like any plan where I don’t die a horrible death.” 

[Zhavi]

I love Kameron Hurley. Mostly because she's weird, mostly because she's rough around the edges, mostly because she doesn't hold your hand and you wander around her stories lost until you can put enough pieces together to mostly understand what the everliving fuck is going on.

 

Also she tends to write irreverently, which I love.

 

Also, bug punk.

 

The first line of God's War:

 

Nyx sold her womb somewhere between Punjai and Faleen, on the edge of the desert.

 

Just a bit I like:

 

Nyx watched the woman’s hands – soft hands, hands that hadn’t seen much of the desert. The filters kept out the worst of the sun. This was a queen who would never have to be scraped for cancers.

 

“I guess I should say I’m sorry about your mother,” Nyx said. “Her dying.”

 

When Queen Abyyad died, Nyx had gotten drunk and told Rhys to thank God for her dying. Rhys told her God didn’t work that way. It hadn’t put a damper on her spirits.

 

“I never liked the old bitch anyway,” the Queen said.

 

“Not many people did,” Nyx said.

 

“Nyx?” Rhys said quietly.

 

She waved him away.

[LiadansWhisper]

Bought this book last night, stayed up all night reading it:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Promise-Fire-Kingmaker-Chronicles/dp/1492626015/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477616995&sr=8-1&keywords=promise+of+fire+amanda+bouchet

 

I didn't expect to like it, but it was really quite well done.

 

Now I'm waiting for the sequel, dammit.

[Warren Castille]

I just started the Stormlight Archives. My last run with Brandon Sanderson was when I mainlined the entire Wheel of Time series over the course of six months. I like it so far, but I don't want to have to wait thirty years for a conclusion.

[Caspar]

I am fond of Neal Stephenson. I am slowly making my way through Cryptonomicon.

But as I have too many other distractions, it can take me years to finish a novel now. After Gibson's Mona Lisa Overdrive, I was so drained I couldn't finish off Idoru. It's not the same as when I was younger and I would put everything into finishing a novel within a day or two.

 

When I could listen to audiobooks at work, I was moving through every Lovecraft work in sequence. I think I've listened to most of them, but the ones that stuck are a bit more sparse.

 

Previous books I read that I liked were Glen Cook's Black Company.

I bought Boneshaker by Cherie Priest on a whim and it was fairly entertaining.

An older translated book I enjoyed a lot was Yukikaze by Kambayashi Chohei.

I also liked Slum Online by Sakurazuka Hiroshi. It was a bit difficult reading Ernest Cline's Ready Player One after having read it, because Slum was not as heavy on the wish fulfillment and was a bit more focused. (I like fighting games and the exploits felt more believable, like the kind you'd actually see in games.) There were less extraneous plotlines and themes too.

 

As a big fan of Louis Cha, I've only been exposed to TV adaptations of his Wuxia novels, and although English is a diluted experience I believe I'd have a lot of fun reading the Deer and the Cauldron.

 

I've been meaning to give House of Leaves a try someday. My friend owns it and says I would like it.

[Warren Castille]

House of Leaves isn't so much a book as it is an experience. That sounds kind of dumb in text and I don't want to overhype it, but everyone should give it a try.

 

After I finished it it was all I thought about for several days.

[111]

I just started the Stormlight Archives. My last run with Brandon Sanderson was when I mainlined the entire Wheel of Time series over the course of six months. I like it so far, but I don't want to have to wait thirty years for a conclusion.

Brian Sanderson writes like a crazy person, don't worry. He poops out books like... poops. 

 

I highly recommend his Mistborn Series. The newer set of tales is better, but the original is still good. The books are set about 500 years apart in the same universe, and I enjoy how the complexity of the themes increases as well technology. The original mistborn trilogy is more of a creation mythology (Literally, even) and deals with simple themes like good versus evil, the corruption of power, and balance. 

 

The new ones (set in a comparable time period to late 1800s america) deal with less epic but more nuanced issues like the meaning of justice, order, and class struggle. 

 

In any case, some company just dropped 270 million to make movies from his books. So I think everyone is going to be seeing a lot more Sanderson.

[Delilah Scythewood]

Man...there's so many...hnngh...shit. Shitshitshitshit.

 

Because I spent much of my childhood with Jehovah's Witnesses and with a stepmother who knew I liked girls, I wasn't allowed to do a lot of common things like sleep overs or go to the mall with friends except maybe once or twice a year. I had my own laptop but wasn't allowed to use it except for an hour a day. So, naturally, I turned to books, video games, and TV (in that order).

 

Most of what I list will be books!

 

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Brian Jacques' Redwall Series

 

I read these in middle school but man. I loved this series. It has an order that you can read in though if you were to start some where in the middle you could still do pretty well for yourself at grasping context and the like. The actual chronological order of the books can be found here which is how I suggest people read them. It also spans over multiple generations of the Redwall citizens which are a collection of mice, moles, shrews, rabbits, and other woodland creatures. Their enemies? Usually things like rats, weasels, etc.

 

Quotes:

 

“No doubt your sword is indeed a beautiful thing. It is a tribute to whoever forged it in bygone ages. There are very few such swords as this one left in the world, but remember, it is only a sword, Matthias! It contains no secret spell, nor holds within its blade any magical power. This sword is made for only one purpose, to kill. It will only be as good or evil as the one who wields it. I know that you intend to use it only for the good of your Abbey, Matthias; do so, but never allow yourself to be tempted into using it in a careless or idle way. It would inevitably cost you your life, or that of your dear ones. Martin the Warrior used the sword only for right and good. This is why it has become a symbol of power to Redwall. Knowledge is gained through wisdom, my friend. Use the sword wisely.”

 

“Knowledge is a thing that one cannot have enough of. It is the fruit of wisdom, to be eaten carefully and digested fully, unlike that lunch you are bolting down, little friend.”

 

However, one of the things that always got me about the series was the food they would talk about. Hell, there was even a picture book illustrated about it. As well as a recipe book with favorites such as Mole's Favourite Deeper'n'Ever Turnip'n'Tater'n'Beetroot Pie and Squirrelmum's Blackberry and Apple Cake. You can find the recipe book listed here.

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Cassandra Clare's Infernal Devices Series

 

I didn't read this series until I was in college. It's a companion to the Mortal Instruments/City of Bones series that she did that became a movie (blegh) and a show (woo). Definitely check out the show instead of the movie. Show takes some creative liberties but it still stays true to the spirit of the books. Plus the actors look their parts SO WELL. HNNNGH.

 

Taking place in England a few generations before the Mortal Instruments and introduces some of the ancestors (as well as some characters like Magnus Bane) of the Shadowhunting families you see later on. It was a beautiful prequel to the Mortal Instruments and had a rich storyline over three books. The last one, Clockwork Princess, makes me cry every time I read it all the way through without fail.

 

“If Jem dies, I cannot be with Tessa,” said Will. “Because it will be as if I were waiting for him to die, or took some joy in his death, if it let me have her. And I will not be that person. I will not profit from his death. So he must live.” He lowered his arm, his sleeve bloody. “It is the only way any of this can ever mean anything. Otherwise it is only —”

 

“Pointless, needless suffering and pain? I don’t suppose it would help if I told you that was the way life is. The good suffer, the evil flourish, and all that is mortal passes away,” Magnus said.

 

“I want more than that,” said Will. “You made me want more than that. You showed me I was only ever cursed because I had chosen to believe myself so. You told me there was possibility, meaning. And now you would turn your back on what you created.”

 

“They say you cannot love two people equally at once,” she said. “And perhaps for others that is so. But you and Will—you are not like two ordinary people, two people who might have been jealous of each other, or who would have imagined my love for one of them diminished by my love of the other. You merged your souls when you were both children. I could not have loved Will so much if I had not loved you as well. And I could not love you as I do if I had not loved Will as I did.”

 

While some of my favorite quotes are the sappier ones, there's definitely heavy themes in this series. Also warlocks ftw

 

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J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood Series

 

"Okay. Right. Horror meets romance meets erotica meets fantasy meets hip hop. Throw in some leather and some Miami Ink shit, stir with a baseball bat and a tire iron, sprinkle on some baby powder, and serve over a hot bed of Holy-Mary-mother-of-God-this-has-to-work-or-I'm-going-to-be-a-lawyer-for-the-rest-of-my-natural-life. No problem." - J.R. Ward from her insider's guide.

 

Originally, she was a lawyer. Sick of that shit, she made the Brothers and it has been one of my favorite book series ever. I was skeptical at first after seeing the saucy covers and a friend telling me it was about vampires, but after the first book? I was hooked. I wanted to learn more. Not just about the character but about their history. I wanted to learn about the creator of their race, the Scribe Virgin, and I wanted to learn about The Omega who seeks to destroy the vampires out of jealousy because it cannot create life.

 

There's also Lassiter, a fallen angel who is sort of...around? He is one of the more obscure characters that I feel won't get a story for himself until the very, very end. Dammit. Very sassy metrosexual.

 

Like most romance series, each book focuses on a couple. But it's more then just the couples that are focused on. It's also an ongoing story and plot where you may meet a character in the second book but not get the full story until book six while J.R. tosses teasing snippets at you that makes you want to beat her skinny little ass six ways to Sunday.

 

Her description of the series above speaks for itself. My favorite part, however, has always been the character interactions. The wit, humor, sarcasm, and dialogue has always been so raw and real. More so then any other book or series I have ever read.

 

If you check out her site, you can read all the random shit she posts. Another thing that I love about this series is that she writes up little snippets of their lives even while she works on the other books. Playlists, deleted scenes...you name it.

 

Red Sox repositioned his hat. “Well, ah…let me know if you pick up shit from me, k? There are some things that I’d prefer to keep private, feel me?”

“Roger that. Although I can’t help it sometimes.”

“Which is why I’m going to take up thinking about baseball when you’re around.”

“Thank fuck you’re not a Yankees fan.”

“Don’t use the Y-word. We’re in mixed company."

 

They’d just left when Zsadist came in at a dead run. “Shit, shit, shit…”

What’s doing, my brother?”

“I’m teaching and I’m late.”

Zsadist grabbed a sleeve of bagels, a turkey leg out of the refridge and a quart of ice cream from the freezer. “Shit.”

“That’s your breakfast?”

“Shut up. It’s almost a turkey sandwich."

 

This was why people got mated, Rehv suddenly thought. Fuck the sex and the social position. If they were smart, they did it to make a house that had no walls and an invisible roof and a floor that no could walk on-and yet the structure was a shelter no storm could blow down, no match could torch up, no passage of years could degrade.

That was when it hit him. A mated bond like that helped you through shit nights like this.

 

Rhage stepped out in front of him, "Hey, hi! How are you?" Hollywood stuck his hand out. "I'd like to introduce myself. I'm the piece of meat that's going to force you headfirst into your buddy Quinn's Hummer as soon as it gets here. Just figured I'd introduced myself before I rope your ass and throw you over my shoulder like a bag of sand."

 

After a moment, Wrath turned to John. "This is Lassiter, the fallen angel. One of the last times he was here on earth, there was a plague in central Europe-"

"Okay, that was so not my fault-"

"-which wiped out two-thirds of the human population."

"I'd like to remind you that you don't like humans."

"They smell bad when they're dead."

"All you mortal types do."

 

"I… What are you saying, Zsadist?" she stammered, even though she'd heard every word.

He glanced back down at the pencil in his hand and then turned to the table. Flipping the spiral notebook to a new page, he bent way over and labored on top of the paper for quite a while. Then he ripped the sheet free.

His hand was shaking as he held it out. "It's messy."

Bella took the paper. In a child's uneven block letters there were three words: I LOVE YOU

Her lips flattened tight as her eyes stung. The handwriting got wavy and then disappeared.

"Maybe you can't read it," he said in a small voice. "I can do it over."

She shook her head. "I can read it just fine. It's… beautiful."

"I don't expect anything back. I mean… I know that you don't… feel that for me anymore. But I wanted you to know. It's important that you knew."

 

"I'm going to talk to her."

"And how's that going to go? You're just going to walk up to her and say, 'Hey, I know you've never seen me before, but I'm your dad. Oh, and guess what? You've won the evolutionary lottery: You're a vampire. Let's go to Disneyland!"

[Martiallais]

House of Leaves isn't so much a book as it is an experience. That sounds kind of dumb in text and I don't want to overhype it, but everyone should give it a try.

 

After I finished it it was all I thought about for several days.

 

Can second this for House of Leaves. It's...definitely something! It took some getting into but once I reached a certain point in the book I couldn't put it down.

 

I've also heard good things/recommendations for the Mistborn series so that's on my list, same as Black Company, I think it is? But next on my 'to read' list is the Dark Tower series.

[111]

House of Leaves isn't so much a book as it is an experience. That sounds kind of dumb in text and I don't want to overhype it, but everyone should give it a try.

 

After I finished it it was all I thought about for several days.

 

Can second this for House of Leaves. It's...definitely something! It took some getting into but once I reached a certain point in the book I couldn't put it down.

 

I've also heard good things/recommendations for the Mistborn series so that's on my list, same as Black Company, I think it is? But next on my 'to read' list is the Dark Tower series.

 

I've been meaning to read house of leaves for a long time. Someday I'll have to finally take the plunge.

 

As for Mistborn, I highly recommend. The first trilogy is good but not mind blowing (You can tell Sanderson is still figuring out the stories he wants to write) however his later and current stuff is just fantastic. A plus for him is that he very much likes to write female characters, so there are quite a few good ones in his novels.

 

[Warren Castille]

So far I've finished the first Mistborn book, but I picked up the Wheel of Time's New Spring before beginning the second of the Mistborn books.

 

I'm current on Stormlight, which is only 2 books, but I continue to think about it. November seems to far away.

[111]

So far I've finished the first Mistborn book, but I picked up the Wheel of Time's New Spring before beginning the second of the Mistborn books.

 

I'm current on Stormlight, which is only 2 books, but I continue to think about it. November seems to far away.

OH MAN I am so ready for new stormlight book. 

 

Mistborn is honestly one of his weaker works at this point, but it's worth it because the 2nd Mistborn Series is amazing, and its even better with the context from the first set.

 

Edit: OH and after finally playing the Witcher 3, I've started reading the books. They're really good, and I don't think I've ever read any fiction quite like them. Wheras the character is a super human killing machine, but also the equivalent in social status to a wandering plumber. He's a lone wolf who has been stripped of some emotions, but instead of a edgelord he's just wants friends and love. He hunts monsters for a living, but won't kill any that are sentient.

 

It's a good series, full of contradictions.

[Warren Castille]

Well, finished the first Mistborn trilogy and I quite like it. Probably going to reread The Death of WCW again before ordering the second series this weekend.

[Pascaleret]

I'm hooked on Sanderson stuff. I love the novels themselves but I love the whole same universe, different planets thing going on there. Seeing things pieced together, seeing characters pop up from other novels. It makes for good re-reading material for me.

 

also, stick memes

[H.H.]

Shameless shilling, but a tabletop RPG whose development I've been following and occasionally/joyfully playtesting on-and-off for the past two-to-four years, Song of Swords, finally got to its Kickstarter phase.

 

Many fechts soon, fellow dickstabbers.

[Cygnus]

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett is without question my favorite book, it's gotten me through the worst times in my life. Sometimes you just need to laugh.

 

This is on of the silly but great quotes. 

 

IT'S THE EXPRESSION ON THEIR LITTLE FACES I LIKE, said the Hogfather. 

"You mean sort of fear and awe and not knowing whether to laugh or cry or wet their pants?" 

YES. NOW THAT IS WHAT I CALL BELIEF.

 

I actually felt sad when I heard Pratchett died last year. That man brought me so much joy.

[Delilah Scythewood]

1JG6f5_37tg

 

IS IT MARCH YET?

[Faye]

J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood Series

 

I haven't read all this series yet, but it's great. I love vampire smut and I have no shame.

[Val]

I'm a pretty big Dresden Files fan :v mostly because it's like a more adult Harry Potter, imo, with a lot of pop culture references. I met the author, Jim Butcher, at Dragoncon last year. He's a pretty cool dude.

 

I've read all of the Witcher books because I'm a nerd, and they're pretty good too if you're into it.

 

Lately I've been reading The Kingkiller Chronicles (Name of the Wind, Wise Man's Fear) and they've been pretty good too

[Delilah Scythewood]

J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood Series

 

I haven't read all this series yet, but it's great. I love vampire smut and I have no shame.

I love how it has great smut but also a great story and character development. It's not all flat and just...eeeeee!

[Sylentmana]

I've mostly been reading old D&D novels. I just finished The Ring of Winter and I'm about to start the Dragonlance Chronicles original trilogy.

[Warren Castille]

I've heard good things about Kingkiller and intend on checking that out, but I just accidentally-on-purpose ordered the entire rest of the Cosmere set (that's printed) so I've got a lot of Sanderson on my plate in the coming weeks and months.

 

I did get a chance to devour Ready Player One and I was really conflicted on how I enjoyed it: Namely, I couldn't tell if I did or not. The premise and world-building were neat, but the fucking writing kept getting in the way of the story. Not to mention the ultra-liberal soapboxes that were stood on at both the beginning and towards the end.

 

In my downtime I read the very end of House of Leaves again, and I can say it's the only book in memory that has hurt me on a deeply emotional level.

[Val]

I've heard good things about Kingkiller and intend on checking that out,

 

Kingkiller is pretty good so far. I think I enjoy the first novel a lot more than the second for whatever reason. The second seems to be a bit slower? I'm nearing the end and I just don't think I'm nearly as interested in it as I was the first. With the first, I read nightly (with a hedgie pal) and finished it pretty quickly. This one I tend to read every other night or so and I'm not nearly as intent on finishing it off.

[EliBallard]

Someone recommended the Malazan series of books to me so I grabbed one when at a Half-Price Books recently, eager to dive into it, I haven't really read anything in years.

[Orlog]

I've been slowly (and I mean fucking slowly) working my way through Leviathan's Wake by James S.A. Corey, and it's been one of my favorite books in a long time.

 

I'd say it's nior detective story meets political space drama. The writer has a real flair for writing out things believably even down to stupid things that you honestly wouldn't think twice about. For example, there's this bit about how Belters (those being the people who work/live on an asteroid belt) tend to have their own physical idioms, due to the need to be able to communicate while wearing space suits. It's simple, but I'm glad for the attention to detail.

 

...Also, apparently it's a TV show now? Damn, I am out of the loop.

 

“When Miller had started working homicide, one of the things that had struck him was the surreal calm of the victims’ families. People who had just lost wives, husbands, children, and lovers. People whose lives had just been branded by violence. More often than not, they were calmly offering drinks and answering questions, making the detectives feel welcome. A civilian coming in unaware might have mistaken them for whole. It was only in the careful way they held themselves and the extra quarter second it took their eyes to focus that Miller could see how deep the damage was.”

 

"The circle of life on Ceres was so small you could see the curve."