Media in General

How do you feel about Brandon Sanderson? If you haven't already read Mistborn or Stormlight Archives, I'd point you towards them - there's plenty of cool stuff there (IMO, anyway...).

If you don't mind older fantasy, you might look at Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories; there are all sorts of strange and cool things encountered in those.

For something more recent, and if you don't mind incomplete series (as far as I'm aware), you might look at The Kingkiller Chronicle, the two available books at time of writing being The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear. Unlike the Fafhrd and the Mouser stories, this has an over-arching main plot-line, and it includes a variety of strange and magical elements; it also features multiple types of magic, with the most commonly-used being one that I find particularly in-depth and interesting.

edited 18th Jan '15 6:04:07 AM by ArsThaumaturgis

There's also the Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher. Lots of flashy magic, plus political intrigue, multiple cultures, giant battles, and some really creepy monsters.

Can someone recommend some really long fanfictions?

Any fandom(s) in particular?

Harry Potter, Parks And Recreation, The Office, Artemis Fowl, Gravity Falls...I can't think of any more. I'll read almost anything, so feel free to recommend others that I haven't listed.

I went with 'over 200,000 words' for 'really long'. Arranged shortest to longest. Enjoy!

Nature and Nuture, 210k words
BBC Sherlock. "The British Government accidentally clones Sherlock Holmes. Which brings a baby to 221B Baker Street." Sherlock/John

Dancing with Scissors, 242k words
Inuyasha AU. "Kagome's niece is left orphaned by a tragic car wreck, leaving Kagome to raise her alone. Or so she thought...help comes from an unexpected source, Sesshoumaru." Honestly, this one alters so much it's almost original fiction with character names slapped on, but it's still an engaging read. Kagame/Sesshoumaru

Harry Potter and the Battle of Wills, 356k words
Harry Potter. "Snape blows his cover as a spy to save Harry from Voldemort. To win the war, even those who loathe each other must unite, and many lessons are learned in the process." Written post-OOTP

Backward with Purpose series ([1] and [2]), 374k words
Harry Potter. "Harry, Ron, and Ginny send themselves back in time to avoid the destruction of everything they hold dear, and the deaths of everyone they love." Canon pairings

Finding Himself, Dulce et Decorum Est, and I Hope You Dance, series, 489k words in total (first story is 350k)
Harry Potter. "The-Boy-Who-Almost-Died has to figure out what it means that he didn't. Harry's tumultuous 5th year at Hogwarts is Cedric's 7th and final. Bound together by shared trauma, both boys fall under Ministry suspicion ... Who is Cedric Diggory? Cedric!Lives AU". Cedric/Hermione

After the End, 632k words
Harry Potter. A long look at the trio's efforts to figure out who they are and where they're going after Hogwarts and Voldemort. Written post-Goblet of Fire

Dangerverse series ([3], [4], [5], [6], [7], plus numerous one-shots), 1899k words total in the five main stories
Harry Potter. "Lone wolf. Dream-seer. Bright child. Scarred child. Singer. Prisoner. Dancer child. Dragon child. Eight semi-ordinary people. One extraordinary family, and how they became one." Complete re-imagining and re-telling of the HP story, starting shortly after the death of Lily and James, with several key changes and the introduction of new elements which completely change the course of the story. This starts fairly light but shifts darker, much like the canon books, and there are some absolute tear-jerkers later on.

Thanks!

I've just seen Snatch, and it is the most Baccano-like thing I have ever seen, DRRR included. Can anyone point me to more similar things?

Deleted because this is better suited for the anime recommendations thread. Oops!

edited 18th Apr '15 8:03:57 PM by Syrika

I'm looking for works that have mental health as a major theme. Like, how Fruits Basket is all about the ways your upbringing can fuck you up, but you still have the choice to grow and change and be better for it. Or how Homestuck has ended up being about all the ways the multiverse can fuck w you and your friends, but you can still win if you support each other (and reset the timeline enough).

Big list of examples to show what I mean, and what I already like- Cardcaptor Sakura is all about growing up and learning how to deal w emotions. xxxHolic (and, by extension, Tsubasa Reservior Chronicle) is about making connections and the exchanges that have to be made in order to grow. Kobato is literally about a girl going around and healing people's hearts Both Avatar The Last Airbender and The Legendof Korra are about finding your place in the world and balancing it w who you are and what you want The Dresen Files has made a theme out of facing consequences and figuring out when your own expectations of yourself are unreasonable Charles De Lint's works often involve abused women and children as protagonists

I'm trying to think of other works in that vein, but I've got nothing. Basically, I'm looking for things where the main characters are trying to change for the better, and are supported by the narrative and/or their friends. Any suggestions?

Can recommend me more books by Mark Waid? I am reading Irredeemable and Incorruptible but I would like more stories like this.

I've seen humanoid (or humanoid) protagonists having to to take on robotic counterparts or rivals. Said robot rival may or may not be bigger than the protagonist.

But I rarely see the reverse.

I don't know of many works that invert such a scenario. The protagonist is a robot or at least of mechanical nature, and the rival is a organic being that can go toe to toe with the protagonist.

If you know of any works that do contain the inverted scenario, please tell me about the work.

i'm really late to this but oyasumi punpun is all about people with mental problems and how people either fall to them or try their best to overcome or at least be at peace with them.

it's rather dark though, and contains a lot of adult and potentially triggering material, so read it at your own discretion.

I'm looking for some sci-fi or fantasy novels with interesting concepts to read over the summer holidays it is preferable if they are long because I am a very fast reader and want them to last

I believe that this thread, in the Literature sub-forum, is the intended place to ask for book recommendations.

edited 30th Jul '15 1:38:56 PM by ArsThaumaturgis

Thank you

Does Jojo Bizarre Adventure have a comic book equivalent?

I'm looking for that.

I believe you would be looking for the manga version (which is actually the original ): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JoJo's_Bizarre_Adventure#Manga

edited 21st Aug '15 2:42:04 PM by Nocturna

No no, I mean, is there a comic so insane that is comparable to Jojo?

I was listening to a podcast discussing how actors love playing villains because they get to chew the scenery, while the good guys have to be straight-laced and rational. So I was wondering if there were examples of bombastic, hammy heroes paired with reserved, realistic villains.

The closest I came up with was Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, but even though Billy and Hammer are protagonist and antagonist, they're also villain and hero, albeit Card-Carrying of both. Billy thinks the world would be improved by bowing to him, and Hammer punches law-breakers.

Are there any zombie apocalypse stories that start out as being grounded in science, but then part way through the plot it is revealed that there are liches, ghosts, and skeleton warriors?

edited 21st Oct '15 10:18:28 AM by Worlder

Can someone describe the kind of books I like to read? I'm terrible at describing things myself. For a few examples, I liked the Artemis Fowl series, absolutely loved the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series and the Ranger's Apprentice series, and am currently on the last part of the Chaos Walking trilogy.

(also, for the above poster, I don't know any sorts of thing like that... from what I've seen, zombie stories tend to stick to the scientific)

Is there somewhere else to post recommendation requests now?

Anyway, is there any media out there about a magic-user who's 'element' is The Sacred Darkness?

Looking for something where they're the main character, ideally.

edited 11th Apr '18 10:04:45 PM by EriekD

One of my cousins is soon to have twins and I want to make them a special present with different media featuring twins. So far I got Baby Mario and Baby Luigi plushies (as there isn't a mainline game with both playable for the Switch yet), Phenomena books 1 and 2 which has a female twin and a male twin, pre-ordered the Gravity Falls DVD box set (female and male), and ordered a couple of issues of Young Avengers after a recommendation.

But I don't know the genders of the twins yet, not that it matters, but when 3/4 of the ones I've found this far are a girl and a boy and there's no just girls does it feel unbalanced, so do you guys have any recommendations? I searched for Miracle Girls, but 9 volumes are already a bit too many and Tokyopop separated them into many more volumes, Samurai High School is a girl and a boy again as well as not translated into a language either parent understands, I know that D.N.Angel has a pair but they aren't lead characters just confusing love interests, Futakoi has a bunch but it's a harem series so... do any of you have any ideas? I know about The Parent Trap, but they are played by the same person so...