Re: Finding new (to you) SFF to read

On 11/22/2024 2:51 PM, Tony Nance wrote:

On 11/17/24 6:54 PM, Ahasuerus wrote:

On 11/13/2024 9:10 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:

On 11/13/2024 7:18 PM, Tony Nance wrote:

On 11/11/24 6:16 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:

On 11/11/2024 10:00 AM, Tony Nance wrote:

[snip-snip]
Where do you go to help you find new things to read?

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https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/

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Excellent - thanks!

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There are about 10 or 20 SF (speculative fiction) groups on reddit BTW. I have already gotten thrown out of one of them (wormfanfic). Here is another one:
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    https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/

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Both /r/printSF and /r/Fantasy are worth a look. /r/PrintSF is a moderate-volume low-drama subreddit with a decent number of knowledgeable contributors who have different tastes. Some like Watts and Egan, others like Le Guin, Banks, Butler, Pratchett, etc. In theory, it covers all types of *published* speculative books/ magazines, but most discussions are about science fiction.
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/r/Fantasy is a high-volume subreddit. Like /r/PrintSF, it covers all kinds of speculative fiction plus SF games, movies, etc. In reality, however, it's mostly about fantasy, especially books. Contributors vary greatly, from very new to the genre to experienced SF authors. Also, it is more likely to contain threads like "A fantasy series that will make me cry and obliterate me" and "Am I the only one crying with [author name's] books?".
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 Excellent - many thanks. Seems like both will be very helpful.
 Also thanks for the info about Worm (below). I'm not big on fanfiction, but I fully expect to give Worm itself a try some time.
 Tony
 

/r/WormFanfic is for discussions of fanfiction based on the work of John C. "Wildbow" McCrae, especially his first Web serial _Worm_ (2011-2013, 1.67 million words). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Worm_(web_serial) has a plot outline, which includes massive spoilers. (Note that _Worm_ spoilers are a very big deal because the serial is one huge secret history, which we learn about one layer at a time.)
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Since _Worm_ is so long and covers so many things -- interesting superpowers, trauma, world-building, clever subplots which you don't even recognize as such until the end of the serial, etc -- Worm-based fanfics tend to concentrate on a subset of the issues explored in the _Worm_ canon. Some authors are interested in character trauma. Some are after "cool powers". Some like to write "fix fics". At this point more than 15,000 Worm fics have been posted.
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The result is that different types of fics tend to be published on different Web sites with different reader expectations and different moderation rules. /r/WormFanfic covers all of them (with limits imposed on discussions of NSFW fics), although their heterogeneity occasionally makes it a challenge.

I found Worm ( https://parahumans.wordpress.com/ ) to be too dark for me even though I did eventually finish it.  I actually got lost near the end of Worm due to all of the threads crashing at the same time.
I vastly prefer Taylor Varga ( https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/taylor-varga-worm-luna-varga.32119/ ).  A serious look at "cool powers".
I am reading "Callsign: Owl" ( https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/callsign-owl.87596/#post-19481594 ) at the moment.  To say that it is crazy is an understatement.
Lynn