coyo7e posted:

Hey now I'm pretty sure that Pegasus centaurs do not have dicks coming out of their chest

Stuporstar posted:

Someone post the John Varley centaur sex chart.

fritz posted:

Ulio posted:

Any good new/modern fantasy series? I tried stuff like Powder Mage, Night Angel and Prince of Thorns recently but didn't get hooked like I did on other series.

Powder Mage I dropped it at the third novel, Night Angel I dropped it at the 2nd. I finished Prince of Thorns series but the "twist" actually made me not like the world.

I have read most of the well known series like LOTR, GOT, Malazan, WOT, Mistborn, Earthsea, Belgariad, First Law and Discworld. Finished all of those except WOT/Malazan. Lots of historical fiction stuff like Bernard Cornwell's works too.

Just any newer fantasy series. By new, I mean anything that came out in this century and is completed.

I already have started many series which have no ending in sight... Thats why I stopped reading big Shounen Manga's seen they take like 10 years to end. Only Berserk is worth that kind of punishment.

meinstein posted:

Should I be glad I have no idea what's going on in that chart?

quote:

They are centaurs with three sets of genitals who can reproduce in a seemingly-infinite variety of combinations: everything from self-fertilization to 12 parents is possible, and Varley includes a handy chart at the back of the book with every possible combination.

quote:

During the trip, we begin to learn what drove Cirocco to her alcoholism. As the price for the discontinuation of the Angel/Titanide War, Gaea has made the Titanides dependent on Cirocco to have children. Only her saliva can activate the eggs they produce, so that they can be implanted in a host mother to grow. The responsibility for an entire race's survival is more than Cirocco can bear; with resignation from her position as Wizard impossible and suicide ruled out by her love for the Titanides, her only release is alcohol-fueled oblivion.

Ulio posted:

Any good new/modern fantasy series? I tried stuff like Powder Mage, Night Angel and Prince of Thorns recently but didn't get hooked like I did on other series.
Just any newer fantasy series. By new, I mean anything that came out in this century and is completed.

Stuporstar posted:

This is the one that got me:



Sometime in my late teens I went through every bookstore in my area looking for SFF books with interesting psychedelic covers and noticed that most of my favorites were by Gene Szafran. I scanned them and stuck them on a website around 2000 because there was hardly anything about the artist up there at the time. It's now gone, but I still have the images, so I tossed them all up in an imgur album: http://m.imgur.com/a/Y2qb8

At some point I actually decided to read everything in my hoard, which led me to discover that I like Robert Silverburg (at least his golden period between 1967 - 1972), and helped me discover hidden gems like The Waters of Centaurus by Rosel George Brown. Unfortunately, it also introduced me to some of Heinlein's most heinous work like Farnham's Freehold, The Sixth Column, and Methuselah's Children. I've since gotten rid of a bunch of them, so all I have left are these crappy scans. Oh well.

fritz posted:

https://io9.gizmodo.com/351869/socio-sexual-politics-in-the-body-of-a-giant-cyborg-near-saturn

fritz posted:

https://io9.gizmodo.com/351869/socio-sexual-politics-in-the-body-of-a-giant-cyborg-near-saturn

Hedrigall posted:

Titanides come in two sexes, male and female. Both sexes have a rear vagina and uterus, and a large penis in the position where a horse's penis would be. Both sexes also possess humanoid breasts and can thus give birth to and suckle young.

Male Titanides have a frontal penis analogous to a human penis, and female Titanides have a frontal vagina. While sexual intercourse using the horse organs is indulged in casually between individuals of all sexes, so-called frontal intercourse is reserved for intimate relationships. The product of frontal intercourse is always a small, spherical egg a few centimetres in diameter. These eggs are often kept as keepsakes or mementos of special occasions. They are sterile unless first treated with the Wizard's saliva.

An egg which has been made fertile can be implanted in a rear vagina and "quickened" by rear intercourse. After that, the egg will develop into a young Titanide.

All Titanides can have eggs implanted. The Titanide who receives the egg is called the "hindmother". The Titanide who quickens the egg is called the "hindfather". The Titanides whose original act of intercourse produced the egg are the "foremother" and "forefather".

There is special case: a female Titanide may use semen from her ventral penis to produce an egg, transferring it by hand. If the egg is made fertile, she may then implant it in herself and quicken it with the same source of semen. The resulting offspring is a clone of the mother. Semen from the ventral penis can only produce an egg in the same individual who produces the semen. This is the so-called "Aeolian Solo" method of reproduction.

Stuporstar posted:

A surpising lot of those Szafran covers actually represent the content of the books themselves (which was sadly uncommon) though you'd have a hard time guessing from the covers alone. Reading the Heinlein stuff in particular, I'd get part way through the book, look at the cover and go, "Ohhh!"


I laugh, but Varley's one of the few authors whose bizarre creepy sex poo poo isn't a total turn-off for me, because he writes such human stories full of honest compassion, totally misogyny-free, and his entire transhumanist world makes for some of the most interesting stories I've read. I can't hate the guy. He's as sweet as Santa Claus, it's just you find lots of dildoes in his toy bag.

Also thanks for linking your original post. I forgot I actually took part the last time it came up rather than lurking as usual. It led me to this:

Ulio posted:

Any good new/modern fantasy series? I tried stuff like Powder Mage, Night Angel and Prince of Thorns recently but didn't get hooked like I did on other series.

Powder Mage I dropped it at the third novel, Night Angel I dropped it at the 2nd. I finished Prince of Thorns series but the "twist" actually made me not like the world.

I have read most of the well known series like LOTR, GOT, Malazan, WOT, Mistborn, Earthsea, Belgariad, First Law and Discworld. Finished all of those except WOT/Malazan. Lots of historical fiction stuff like Bernard Cornwell's works too.

Just any newer fantasy series. By new, I mean anything that came out in this century and is completed.

I already have started many series which have no ending in sight... Thats why I stopped reading big Shounen Manga's seen they take like 10 years to end. Only Berserk is worth that kind of punishment.

General Battuta posted:

The Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jemisin, might manage to win a Hugo for every book in the trilogy (2/3 down)

Ulio posted:

Any good new/modern fantasy series? I tried stuff like Powder Mage, Night Angel and Prince of Thorns recently but didn't get hooked like I did on other series.

Powder Mage I dropped it at the third novel, Night Angel I dropped it at the 2nd. I finished Prince of Thorns series but the "twist" actually made me not like the world.

I have read most of the well known series like LOTR, GOT, Malazan, WOT, Mistborn, Earthsea, Belgariad, First Law and Discworld. Finished all of those except WOT/Malazan. Lots of historical fiction stuff like Bernard Cornwell's works too.

Just any newer fantasy series. By new, I mean anything that came out in this century and is completed.

I already have started many series which have no ending in sight... Thats why I stopped reading big Shounen Manga's seen they take like 10 years to end. Only Berserk is worth that kind of punishment.

Ulio posted:

Any good new/modern fantasy series? I tried stuff like Powder Mage, Night Angel and Prince of Thorns recently but didn't get hooked like I did on other series.

Powder Mage I dropped it at the third novel, Night Angel I dropped it at the 2nd. I finished Prince of Thorns series but the "twist" actually made me not like the world.

I have read most of the well known series like LOTR, GOT, Malazan, WOT, Mistborn, Earthsea, Belgariad, First Law and Discworld. Finished all of those except WOT/Malazan. Lots of historical fiction stuff like Bernard Cornwell's works too.

Just any newer fantasy series. By new, I mean anything that came out in this century and is completed.

I already have started many series which have no ending in sight... Thats why I stopped reading big Shounen Manga's seen they take like 10 years to end. Only Berserk is worth that kind of punishment.

anilEhilated posted:

Seriously, now: Acts of Caine by Matthew Stover. Starts off as an adventure romp with a thoroughly unlikeable protagonist, ends in... I don't even know what it ends in except it's a total clusterfuck in space and time. Very fun throughout.

Ulio posted:

Any good new/modern fantasy series? I tried stuff like Powder Mage, Night Angel and Prince of Thorns recently but didn't get hooked like I did on other series.

Ulio posted:

Any good new/modern fantasy series? I tried stuff like Powder Mage, Night Angel and Prince of Thorns recently but didn't get hooked like I did on other series.

Powder Mage I dropped it at the third novel, Night Angel I dropped it at the 2nd. I finished Prince of Thorns series but the "twist" actually made me not like the world.

I have read most of the well known series like LOTR, GOT, Malazan, WOT, Mistborn, Earthsea, Belgariad, First Law and Discworld. Finished all of those except WOT/Malazan. Lots of historical fiction stuff like Bernard Cornwell's works too.

Just any newer fantasy series. By new, I mean anything that came out in this century and is completed.

I already have started many series which have no ending in sight... Thats why I stopped reading big Shounen Manga's seen they take like 10 years to end. Only Berserk is worth that kind of punishment.

NoneMoreNegative posted:

New Fantasy: I'm only about a third into The Fifth Season, first in the 'Broken Earth' trilogy and I can see why is was a Hugo winner. Ok, wiki says it's 'Science Fantasy' but it feels Fantasy enough to mention. All three books are out now, so you can go hog wild.

Harrow posted:

Anyone have recommendations for other SF/F writers who also happen to be good at writing prose?

Harrow posted:

Anyone have recommendations for other SF/F writers who also happen to be good at writing prose?

NoNostalgia4Grover posted:

My man.
Have you read David Weber?
The man has two million ways to describe spaceship battledamage, and ONLY spaceship battledamage, it truly is a gift.
Why is there no IRONY tags?

Ulio posted:

Any good new/modern fantasy series? I tried stuff like Powder Mage, Night Angel and Prince of Thorns recently but didn't get hooked like I did on other series.

Powder Mage I dropped it at the third novel, Night Angel I dropped it at the 2nd. I finished Prince of Thorns series but the "twist" actually made me not like the world.

I have read most of the well known series like LOTR, GOT, Malazan, WOT, Mistborn, Earthsea, Belgariad, First Law and Discworld. Finished all of those except WOT/Malazan. Lots of historical fiction stuff like Bernard Cornwell's works too.

Just any newer fantasy series. By new, I mean anything that came out in this century and is completed.

I already have started many series which have no ending in sight... Thats why I stopped reading big Shounen Manga's seen they take like 10 years to end. Only Berserk is worth that kind of punishment.

Harrow posted:

I'm about halfway through The Obelisk Gate and it really only gets more and more fantasy, which is fine by me. I went in expecting something closer to science fiction, with orogeny treated sort of like psionics in some soft science fiction, justified with pseudo science, but it really is treated more like magic.

One thing I love about this series is that it's well written. Jemisin is way better at the mechanical, putting-words-together part of writing than most fantasy or science fiction writers, and that's really important to me. She uses language precisely and artistically, not in the utilitarian or (on the other extreme) overblown ways a lot of other SF/F writers do.

Anyone have recommendations for other SF/F writers who also happen to be good at writing prose?

Harrow posted:

Anyone have recommendations for other SF/F writers who also happen to be good at writing prose?

Harrow posted:

Anyone have recommendations for other SF/F writers who also happen to be good at writing prose?

Bhodi posted:

He's stopped writing non-YA fiction for now but there are 8? 9? books to enjoy in the low fantasy world of Joe Abercrombie which I mentioned last page and IMO are better than all the above except mayyybe acts of caine which I really enjoyed probably because I'm a known sucker for mary sue power fantasies

quote:

Looking back at that August post you’ll see my plan for these books was to try and draft all three before thinking about getting the first ready for publication, which given these are full length 180,ooo word adult books is extremely ambitious. It’ll mean a long wait for the first book but hopefully a regular publishing schedule thereafter, no unforeseen glitches in the release dates and, most importantly, a trilogy that’s as cohesive and well-finished as I can manage. I’d hate to publish a book, get half way through the next one and think, balls, wouldn’t it have been great if I’d done x/set up y/changed character z.

The trouble with this plan is there’s always pressure to publish new books, and you’re aware that new releases is what pushes your backlist sales, and no one wants to spend too long out of the marketplace and risk their hard-earned profile gradually decaying, so when you suddenly leap back on stage TA DA! no one gives a poo poo any more. So there’s a balance to be struck between the desire to get it as good as possible and the need to just get it out. I know we all like to think of artistic concerns as the only things that truly matter but, well, you have to be realistic, right? There’s no point writing brilliant books if you lose the support of publishers, the interest of booksellers and the attention of readers.

But, for the time being I’m sticking with the plan and seeing where it takes me. Each book’s in three parts, so nine in total for the trilogy, and I’ve now drafted four, which is to say all of book one and a third of book two, around 250,000 words so far. It’s rough, and will need a lot of work when done, but it’s the revision and refinement that I generally most enjoy, and so far I’m pretty pleased with the way it’s shaping up.

Neurophage posted:

I've only finished The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, but I found Jemisin's prose flat and the dialogue uninspired at best. It read like an above-average YA novel. Are her later books better?

Ornamented Death posted:

He hasn't stopped writing non-YA fiction, he's just working to get most of the writing done on a new trilogy before the first book comes out.

From his blog: