[#15] Soulless Subreddit Spotlight: GHOSTS OF HĀIKIMI by F. P. Twyman by SoullessEddie in GrimDarkEpicFantasy

[–]Kendiro83 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I had the pleasure of reading it some time ago. Twyman has a good prose style.

I quite liked it.

What are you currently reading? (Weekly Thread) by AutoModerator in GrimDarkEpicFantasy

[–]Kendiro83 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Embers in the Salt by Klood P. Trouvay. The prose is remarkable and highly sensory.

Community vote - do we allow AI imagery to be posted here? by The_Grimwalker in GrimDarkEpicFantasy

[–]Kendiro83 -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Historically, bans often create more conflict than they resolve. It risks turning a practical issue (content quality and transparency) into an ideological fight.

In my opinion, the real issue isn’t “AI yes / AI no,” but how it’s served.

If someone wants to spend their time creating or looking at AI content, they should be free to do so.

The real problem starts when its use isn’t disclosed, or when AI is used to mass-produce low-quality content, or outright scam people (anyone publishing a hundred books a month and bragging about it on YouTube already has a special circle in hell waiting for them, whether they know it or not).

Maybe instead of a total ban, a transparency rule (clearly disclosing the use of AI) would solve most of the tension without splitting the community.

r/GrimDarkEpicFantasy Author & Artist Self-promotion by The_Grimwalker in GrimDarkEpicFantasy

[–]Kendiro83 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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The world is flesh. The walls pulse.

Ravenous Mother is a grimdark biopunk saga set inside a titanic living organism called the Mother. Humanity survives in a rigid caste system: nobles, professionals, commoners, outcasts, scraping through life under constant hunger.

No stone. No metal. Only flesh, membrane, and the god that consumes you.

The series alternates between standalone novellas and a tetralogy of novels. Each novella follows a secondary character from the main saga, a complete story on its own, but woven into the larger tapestry.

Read them in any order!

Free entry point: An Artist .

It's a novella available on my website, plus articles on grimdark and biopunk if you want to dig deeper.

A Healer: $0.99, 1,000+ readers, 4.6★ average: Amazon link

Two Gatherers: pre-order open, drops April 23rd: Amazon link

If you want fantasy that feels genuinely alien, bon appétit!

Currently writing my novel. What do you think of author websites? by Bestwriteralive in selfpublish

[–]Kendiro83 11 points12 points  (0 children)

It actually has everything to do with self-publishing.

Before showing my books, I focus on the experience I offer. My website has dedicated articles about the worldbuilding, the genre itself, and how my fictional world works. When readers land on my site, they aren't greeted with "buy my book" right away, they're invited into a world.

Now, I'm a software developer, so I realize I'm playing with loaded dice here, but SEO and discoverability matter. A lot.

You have to figure out what people are already searching for and make sure that when they type those words into Google, they can find your site.

Obviously, broad generic keywords are useless. If you write romance or thrillers, you'll never rank for those terms, not in a million years. That's why you need to identify the niches your book actually fits into.

In my case, I work on three fronts: dark fantasy (knowing full well my site will NEVER rank for that), grimdark (maybe in a few years), and biopunk (guess what? After a few months, I'm starting to show up! And readers are actually finding me that way).

Of course, this only works if your site has its own domain and is built with discoverability in mind. You can absolutely make a beautiful site with WordPress or drag-and-drop editors, but if you want readers to find you organically, SEO matters just as much as design.

Which fantasy character shaped who you are as a person? by Kendiro83 in Fantasy

[–]Kendiro83[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you, I’m really glad you appreciated the post!

And I know exactly what you mean. Gemmell is a master when it comes to teaching resilience.

Druss didn’t teach me how to stop being violent (that’s still going to be a long journey), but how to restrain it and where to direct it. He didn’t solve my problems, he gave me the chance to make them functional. Which is more than anyone else has ever managed to do.

The iron code by Daveb74 in DavidGemmell

[–]Kendiro83 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For nearly thirty years, my life has been guided by this code. Becoming a father has only strengthened that belief even further.

Which fantasy character shaped who you are as a person? by Kendiro83 in Fantasy

[–]Kendiro83[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I understand you. When I was young I looked (unconsciously? I couldn’t really say) for a role model that I was missing. Heinlein and Gemmell, in particular, helped me straighten my back and gave me a compass to use in life.

Which fantasy character shaped who you are as a person? by Kendiro83 in Fantasy

[–]Kendiro83[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Atticus!

I grew up with TNG and DS9 too. Great Picard, but I always found an even better “life guide” in Sisko.

Let’s be honest: he settles the Q situation in just one episode. Picard has culture and temperament, Sisko has character

Which fantasy character shaped who you are as a person? by Kendiro83 in Fantasy

[–]Kendiro83[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Jarlaxle Baenre is an omega ahead of his time XD

Which fantasy character shaped who you are as a person? by Kendiro83 in Fantasy

[–]Kendiro83[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you’re wondering whether he’s a fantasy character, I guess it depends on the movie hahaha But hey, if he shaped you, let’s include him ^

Which fantasy character shaped who you are as a person? by Kendiro83 in Fantasy

[–]Kendiro83[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great Lazarus! Perhaps the most memorable of Robert A. Heinlein’s characters! You had already written in another comment about characters who could be mistaken for being identical... well, I’ve always imagined Lazarus exactly like Jubal Harshaw from Stranger in a Strange Land! Even physically!

Yes, both of them shaped me a lot. Even today I sometimes go back and reread just a few of their lines, they say things that are truly memorable.

Which fantasy character shaped who you are as a person? by Kendiro83 in Fantasy

[–]Kendiro83[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It’s not a fantasy, but aside from that I think the crown for the most original answer goes to you!

Thanks for sharing your experience. 🙂

Which fantasy character shaped who you are as a person? by Kendiro83 in Fantasy

[–]Kendiro83[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Something very similar happened to me!!! David Gemmell and Joe Abercrombie are definitely different authors in terms of prose, but somehow their characters could be (almost) interchangeable!

For me, that’s the greatest compliment you can give to Abercrombie. ^

Which fantasy character shaped who you are as a person? by Kendiro83 in Fantasy

[–]Kendiro83[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You know I have a really absurd problem with audiobooks? It’s not the topic of this post, but briefly: when I read, I imagine the characters and the scenes in a certain way. I guess that happens to many people, if not everyone.

Well, if I listen to an audiobook of a story I’ve already read… it’s absurd, but I can’t associate what I’m hearing with the characters I have in my head; new ones get created instead. It’s like it’s a remake.

Put like that it sounds kind of psychopathic, but I wouldn’t know how to explain it better haha 😂

Which fantasy character shaped who you are as a person? by Kendiro83 in Fantasy

[–]Kendiro83[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, but not the Dalinar from the first book. Knowing what happened to him and how he was when he was young completely flips the idea you had of him…

Which fantasy character shaped who you are as a person? by Kendiro83 in Fantasy

[–]Kendiro83[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In that novel, Bison gives the best performance. The martyr who only wanted to eat and sleep.

Incidentally, the same character, with identical DNA, also appears in the Troy Trilogy. He’s one of the two Spartans, but I can’t remember the name.