SF & F Mega-thread: I had to google 'spock pirate depilatory'

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value-brand cereal: May 2, 2008

Hi thread, I was wondering if anyone had recommendations for books similar to Void Star by Zachary Mason? I'm not sure how to describe it. Mystery with very abstract ais and memory theft? Rotating POV with wannabe samurai and weird tech ghost?

I also have a little request / suggestion. Can author names also be mentioned in addition to titles? I'm reading from page 700 and onwards to find recs, and it's a little tricky to figure out who wrote what.
Thank you if you do. I'm still getting familiar with this threads shorthand and personal familiarity with literature haha :p

Oh also I was unimpressed with Martha Well's Witch King. The chapters about the past seemed really redundant, especially near the end when it felt dragged out. I kinda wish the flashbacks were varied memories of the titular witch king's relationship with who betrayed humor even his past in general. As a character I just didnt care about him. Ooh ih wow he's THE Demon shellacking guy omg?!? Well why not show that? I think the most was a brief quip about 'oh I'm not a demon. I'm The Demon'. And that ending was.... hm. Flimsy.

Yours truly, Grayson Saunders.

ps thank you pradmer for the sale links. My wallet hates you but my brain loves you.

# ¿ Jan 28, 2024 20:40

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 04:42

value-brand cereal: May 2, 2008

Thanks for the recs everyone! They sound really interesting!

By the way, someone some time ago was asking for scifi / fantasy (?) books by Black authors featuring Black men as main characters.

The Liminal People by Ayize Jama-everett Book 1 of Liminal series [scifi]

quote:

The Liminal People is the first of Ayize Jama-Everett's Liminal novels. Membership in the razor neck crew is for life. But when Taggert, who can heal and hurt with just a touch, receives a call from the past he is honor bound to try and help the woman he once loved try to find her daughter. Taggert realizes the girl has more power than even he can imagine and has to wrestle with the nature of his own skills, not to mention risking the wrath of his enigmatic master and perhaps even the gods, in order keep the girl safe. In the end, Taggert will have to delve into the depths of his heart and soul to survive. After all, what really matters is family. New Author Foreword. The fourth and final Liminal novel, Heroes of an Unknown World, will be published in February 2023.

I read a little bit of it, but decided I needed to be in the right mindset to tackle it. It's a little grim. I tapped out at the brief scene of Taggart healing a trafficked pre pubescent girl of rampant STIs whose mother was selling her to both a mercenary leader and other people

The Getaway by Lamar Giles [scifi]

quote:

Welcome to the funnest spot around . . .

Jay is living his best life at Karloff Country, one of the world�s most famous resorts. He�s got his family, his crew, and an incredible after-school job at the property�s main theme park. Life isn�t so great for the rest of the world, but when people come here to vacation, it�s to get away from all that.

As things outside get worse, trouble starts seeping into Karloff. First, Jay�s friend Connie and her family disappear in the middle of the night and no one will talk about it. Then the richest and most powerful families start arriving, only� they aren�t leaving. Unknown to the employees, the resort has been selling shares in an end-of-the-world oasis. The best of the best at the end of days. And in order to deliver the top-notch customer service the wealthy clientele paid for, the employees will be at their total beck and call.

Whether they like it or not.

Yet Karloff Country didn�t count on Jay and his crew�and just how far they�ll go to find out the truth and save themselves. But what�s more dangerous: the monster you know in your home or the unknown nightmare outside the walls?

Disclaimer. This is YA genre, so the main characters are teens / 18 yo. Also disclaimer hey there's some explicit modern slavery of Black americans complete with some torture scenes . Fair warning.

The Beautiful Side of the Moon by Leye Adenle [he's Nigerian!] [fantasy]

quote:

What would happen if God forgot who he was? Drawing on age-old African story-telling traditions, modern science-fiction and contemporary thriller writing, award-winning Nigerian author Leye Adenle (Easy Motion Tourist, When Trouble Sleeps) conjures up an entirely new way of seeing the world.
The central character, Osaretin, thinks he is just a modest IT guy living in Lagos - but it turns out he is much, much more than that...A delightful, playful, thoughtful adventure in speculative fiction by one of Nigeria s most exciting new writers.

No comments as I haven't read this yet.

The Changeling by Victor Lavalle [fantasy]

quote:

When Apollo Kagwa's father disappeared, all he left his son were strange recurring dreams and a box of books stamped with the word IMPROBABILIA.
Now Apollo is a father himself -- and as he and his wife, Emma, are settling into their new lives as parents, exhaustion and anxiety start to take their toll. Apollo's old dreams return and Emma begins acting odd. Irritable and disconnected from their new baby boy, at first Emma seems to be exhibiting signs of postpartum depression, but it quickly becomes clear that her troubles go even deeper. Before Apollo can do anything to help, Emma commits a horrific act -- beyond any parent's comprehension -- and vanishes, seemingly into thin air.
Thus begins Apollo's odyssey through a world he only thought he understood, to find a wife and child who are nothing like he'd imagined. His quest, which begins when he meets a mysterious stranger who claims to have information about Emma's whereabouts, takes him to a forgotten island, a graveyard full of secrets, a forest where immigrant legends still live, and finally back to a place he thought he had lost forever.
This captivating retelling of a classic fairy tale imaginatively explores parental obsession, spousal love, and the secrets that make strangers out of the people we love the most. It's a thrilling and emotionally devastating journey through the gruesome legacies that threaten to devour us and the homely, messy magic that saves us, if we're lucky.

I read this and loved it. Hwever that was back in 2021 so I have no recent comments on it, sorry.

David Mogo Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa [fantasy] [He's also Nigerian!]

quote:

Lagos will not be destroyed
The gods have fallen to earth in their thousands, and chaos reigns.
Though broken and leaderless, the city endures.
David Mogo, demigod and godhunter, has one task: capture two of the most powerful gods in the city and deliver them to the wizard gangster
Lukmon Ajala.
No problem, right?

I remember enjoying this quite a bit. An ordinary man trying to tackle an impossible task!
Fair warning there's some attempted forced marriage and odd treatment of hijabi women wearing hijabis or not. I forget the specifics, just got weirded out by it.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2024 18:12

value-brand cereal: May 2, 2008

re c s e cooneys saint deaths daughter

Wow that's a lot of rape for such a twee quickly white girl plot.

I also hate that the rapist is described as psycho in the summary. Psychosis does not make people rapists!!! gently caress you!

# ¿ Jan 30, 2024 21:55

value-brand cereal: May 2, 2008

Remulak posted:

I read it like a month ago and don�t remember this at all. Mainly I remember a few great scenes surrounded by other forgettables.

Really weird I forgot the Bad Stuff, I only recall the generalized threat towards women in general.

I�ll buy their next novel, but IMO this is a sale/KU book.

Ravenfood posted:

Yeah I'm about halfway through and don't remember any of that. I want it to either be better or be worse. Every time I think I'm done a good scene comes along and I decide to keep reading.

Major plot spoilers for Saint Death's Daughter by C S E Cooney. CW for marital rape, trafficking?, sex slavery, sexual abuse.
There is a male character named Mak who is a shapeshifter. He had a consensual lover back in his home country, but Nita [the psycho in the summary] murdered his lover, mind controlled and kidnapped him to bring him back to her own home country. Nita made him her sex slave [in addition to regular slave] and forced him to marry and impregnate her under the threat of erasing all his memories of his home country and previous lover. Nita also forbade him from committing suicide after a first attempt, with mind control magic. So basically he's a imported house sex slave a la those house slaves in Dubai or whatever. Oh, Nita also seduced with mind controlled a person in some Bird court to rape him over several days and then murdered him when she was done. If there was more rape, I don't know. The character is a little repetitive in that trait.

I quit at that point because I hated the quirky white girl writing. Sorry I can't do doctor who fanfic voice anymore. It's incredibly weird nobody had mentioned the vast amount of rape. I get that the character is a bad person, but man. That's still rape even if it's woman on man. Does the quirky writing make people ignore that? It's weird. And don't get me wrong, I've voluntarily read that poorly written Captive Prince book. I don't break out in hives just because there's poorly written rape in books. It's just man, is there other ways to make the character a bad person? Give me a lil variety. How about some more child abuse murder attempts? Bullying peasants?

By the way someone else wanted stories featuring hosed Up Forests. I know it's too late at this point, but fwiw I know of two short stories.

From 'Lost Places' by Sarah Pinsker, a single author short story anthology.

Specifically the two stories 'Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather' and 'Science Facts!'

The first one is my favorite of the two. I love weird ways of writing a story. In this case, it's in the form of a comment section / mini forum for a song on a music lyric website. The story mainly takes place in footnote type comments in between the song lyrics about a mysterious forest and its inhabitants. No wait please it sounds more interesting than how I wrote it!! Here's a small excerpt. In my epub version there's links back to footnotes and quotes. It's very neat imo.

quote:

→This song, included among the famous ballads documented by Francis James Child, is an allegorical tale of a tryst between two lovers and its aftermath.�Dynamum (2 upvotes, 1 downvote)

>That�s awfully reductive, and I�m not sure what allegory you�re seeing. There�s a murder and a hanging and something monstrous in the woods. Sets it apart from the average lovers� tryst.�BarrowBoy

>Fine. I just thought somebody should summarize it here a little, since �about the song� means more than just how many verses it has. Most people come here to discuss how to interpret a song, not where to find it in the Child Ballads� table of contents.�Dynamum

→Dr. Mark Rydell�s 2002 article �A Forensic Analysis of �Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather,�� published in Folklore, explored the major differences and commonalities and their implications. In The Rose and the Briar, Wendy Lesser writes about how if a trad song leaves gaps in its story, it�s because the audience was expected to know what information filled those gaps. The audience that knew this song is gone, and took the gap information with them. Rydell attempted to fill in the blanks.�HolyGreil (1 upvote)

>I�ve found my people! That�s the first time somebody has ever beaten me to mentioning Rydell�s work in a conversation before. I got a state grant this year to make a documentary about him and his work and his disappearance. It�s going to be called Looking for Love in All the Lost Places. I named it after his blog. Have you read his blog? It�s a deeper dive into the stuff in his article. More personal, in the way an academic article isn�t supposed to be.�HenryMartyn

>No, only the article. Didn�t know he disappeared either. I�ll check it out!�HolyGreil

>@HenryMartyn it�s been two years since your last post on this tune. I keep hoping to get news about your documentary.�HolyGreil

The second story is about a group of campers and their camp counselors taking a trek into the woods, and stumbles across a piece of land marked forbidden.

Also the fantasy gothic novel, In the Night Wood by Dale Bailey.

Two honorary mentions as they're horror, not scifi or fantasy.
Briardark by S. A. Harian
This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer

# ¿ Jan 31, 2024 17:45

value-brand cereal: May 2, 2008

A Proper Uppercut posted:

Looking for some more low stakes/cozy SFF for audiobook listening. I've found that style works better in case my attention wanders. Some stuff that worked well was Murderbot, Wayfarers, Goblin Emperor and the sequels, Legends and Lattes and the sequel.

Anyone have any suggestions?

If podcasts are ok, I suggest the Lost Terminal podcast.

quote:

How do you learn to be human if there's no-one around to teach you?

A hopepunk podcast following the journey of a little satellite trying to understand what has happened after Earth stops returning his calls.

New episodes Mondays

the website https://lostterminal.com/
Please note the Seasons link leads to a page summarizing each season which may be spoilers. I suggest searching for the podcast wherever you listen to them instead The transcripts can be consistently found on the official patreon page, not the main website. I'll link it here. https://www.patreon.com/lostterminalpod

It is incredibly charming and endearing. It includes some pretty decent lgbt characters and even tactfully too, wow! I really enjoy the interactions between Seth and his friend(s), as well as the neat parts about telecommunications. Who knew ham radios and satellites were so fascinating? The episodes at usually 15 to 20 minutes long. But they can be shorter if you choose to skip the included music interlude in every episode.

It's also one of the few sources that portray (medium plot / recurring character spoiler) Dissociative Identity Disorder and the System members with any sort of tact, compassion, or realism to the real life version. Honestly theres a lot of compassion in this world setting and I half wish I lived there.

# ¿ Feb 15, 2024 02:52

value-brand cereal: May 2, 2008

parara posted:

Oof, Sarah J. Maas. Nah you can have fun with that one on your own.

At least it's not Chani Lynn Feener's Devils of Vitality. Lmao.

In other news. Premee Mohamad's 'The Butcher of the Forest' was a neat short story [novella?] of fairy tale forest fuckery. I really need to finish this author's Beneath The Rising trilogy.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2024 07:34

value-brand cereal: May 2, 2008

Groke posted:

I am ever so slightly hesitant to start on this, for the admittedly silly reason that Klara is coincidentally the name of my (human) daughter and I feel trepidation at reading about someone with that name having anything bad happen to them.

Goddamn, I'm a big softy.

If you dont mind ebooks, there are some apps that have name / word replacement filters for books. My moon + reader app does this. It comes in handy for when main character shares my real life name :v:

It does weird medium out when that happens. Or worse, when the romance novel features a love interest with my sibling's irl name lmao

# ¿ Mar 14, 2024 18:57

value-brand cereal: May 2, 2008

fritz posted:

Aren't AIs in that setting born as humans and then uploaded into a matrix?

IIRC, no. They are gestated in a organic human womb and when they're born, they're implanted directly into their spaceship body. So basically a inorganic AI brain/body that somehow forms in a organic human womb, but it's inorganic from the start. Though it's been a little while so feel free to correct me if I've misunderstood it.

I believe this is a point of contention in another short story wherein the main character and her friends are sort of kidnapped by the USAmerican faction of space farers who are repeatedly, torturously trying to shove the AIs [kidnapped from their native spaceships] into organic human american bodies to obvious failing results because the americans think that's the body they're supposed to be in. Dysphoria trans racism cultural genocide etc metaphor!

# ¿ Mar 16, 2024 16:32

value-brand cereal: May 2, 2008

Someone who read both the Hamlet play and Em X Liu's 'The death I gave him' please tell medium what you think. Because my schooling focused on Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer, and this book feels like very well written fanfic except not fanfic at all. Modern interpretation? I mean that as a compliment.
Well the sex scenes between Hamlet and Horatio were cool. I really did enjoy the prose, it was a lot better than Liu's 'if found return to hell's novella imo.

ps Yospos voice: gently caress and cum in your computer.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2024 20:23

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 04:42

value-brand cereal: May 2, 2008

Late, but I'm suggesting The Singing Hills Cycle series by Nghi Vo. Fantasy genre novellas, all standalone, sometimes deals with heavier topics like war but not in a traumaporn, Poppy Wars level.

# ¿ May 3, 2024 18:20

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > SF & F Mega-thread: I had to google 'spock pirate depilatory'