fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #5320 ]

⌈ Secret Post #5320 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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[Star Trek: Discovery]

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[Babylon 5]

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[simsecret LJ community]

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[Babylon 5]

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08. [SPOILERS for iCarly 2021]

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09. [WARNING for discussion of rape]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 00 secrets from Secret Submission Post #761.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Why is it so had to find books that sound interesting to me? Particularly newly published books, and especially science fiction and fantasy (my favorite genres that I've been reading since I was a kid). I browse bookstores or Goodreads looking for recommendations and so many books just seem so predictable, or just fundamentally uninteresting.

Like, with science fiction - it feels like most books can be slotted into a small handful of categories. There's the self-consciously literary science fiction, often slipstream-influenced and dealing with contemporary issues of identity. There's the near-future science fiction, the books about astronauts in realistic near-earth spaceships or about ecological collapse. And there's the endless adventure riffs, which rarely have any really original ideas and just move the same tired science-fictional concepts around in slightly different configurations, each time with snarkier protagonists. And all of it is just totally uninteresting to me. I just don't care. And the same patterns are true, with some details changed, with fantasy.

It's just such a slog. And it's frustrating because it feels like there must be the kinds of books that I want to read out there still - it feels like they're just buried under this pile of things I fundamentally don't care about, but that apparently dominate the tastes of the reading public.

I don't even know what I'm asking for here - just complaining, I guess. Bah humbug get off my lawn, etc, etc, etc.

Is there a genre you haven't read much or any of? Taking a break from your favorite genre and trying a new one might be fun and give you a new perspective on SF and fantasy when you come back to it. Even in genres you don't care for, I'd suggest looking for books with elements that you like or even, if you can find them, lists of "[genre] books for people who don't like [genre]."

+1
Or older books you haven't read before, and sometimes binging on translations of books from different countries can help renew my interest.

Because we're at a time where we're poised on the edge of enormous ecological collapse. The only future is horrendous and we all know that. Sci-Fi used to be this thing of wonder because there was hope for a glorious future. Now we know that's not true, reading sci-fi means either reading about happy futures we know won't happen or reading about disastrous futures which just remind us of our impending doom.

There's no comfort to be had from sci-fi right now.

(Cozy Werewolf Anon)

I know how you feel in the idea you don't know what you're asking. I get it. And okay, it really does come down to a couple things. Publishers will only publish like ONE new thing and then dozens of knock offs of that new thing if it does well, and go right back to the same old if it doesn't. There are some things they can't figure out how to market at all. Due to the pandemic, though they aren't advertising it, publishers are cutting new authors and pulling back on book releases. AND... indies who are on Amazon and Wattpad and who MIGHT be good get buried in algorithms unless they are willing to play 'Zon's pulp fiction game and I have no idea how you get more people on wattpad. (Plus the whole review system thing on the 'zon for indies is BAD. Too many indie authors trying to be NICE instead of being HONEST.)

So, the ONE site I've found for scifi fantasy where the algorithms AREN'T against you... is Royal Road. The only issue being (to me) is there are indie authors on there who use it as a test ground for 1st drafts before pubbing them to the 'Zon.

I get it, I want less huge paperback sales that take up aisles and aisles, and less "let's reprint Asimov and Tolkien AGAIN and face them OUT." (Don't get me started on the shelves of Jordan and Ben Bova.) I HATE as an author, especially an indie author, I have to try to be this social media GURU which means I get an audience who doesn't even really WANT my books. And I just don't WANT to see another book by John Scalzi okay. (SIGH.)

Look, I've been here long enough and if you haven't checked out my Sons of Anarchy style werewolf scifi biker stories yet (by which i mean they are really slice of lifey) then they probably aren't your cuppa tea. And that's fine. Give Royal Road a whirl, at least... it's free!

I think the best way to find stuff is to be very specific about what you do and don't want to read. Do you like urban fantasy but hate vampires? Do you like fantasy with non-fantasy-Europe settings? Do you like sci-fi with AIs or aliens? Do you want romance in it, or not? Do you want it funny or serious (or a little bit of both)?

I also agree with mixing it up some. Read some other genres. You also don't have to limit yourself to just stuff being published now - go back and look for underrated stuff from years ago.

[ SECRET POST #5320 ]

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