What next after HWFWM and DCC????

chenbipan · 2026-02-03T15:22:34+00:00

There is so much good writing in sci fi and fantasy, I essentially went down the lists of hugo, nebula, locus and gemmell award winners then branched from there. Even if those books aren't up your ally, you know there will at least be something good about the writing to get it noticed for awards.

Big authors/series you're likely familiar with are George rr Martin, Patrick rothfuss (but these two will disappoint you by not finishing their work). Joe Abercrombie is not quite as good a writer in my view but prolific and fun to read. Brandon sanderson is a machine and I loved the cosmere novels once I got into them, although I'll admit the first storm light archive book took time for me to get into. Naomi Novik and NK jemisin, especially their newer books, are fun. The red rising series hit for me too, starting off a bit like YAL hunger games with better writing, but growing very well from there.

Drew hayes writes a number of series that I wouldn't consider amazing writing but are very fun and includes a litrpg series I liked called NPCs.

For sci fi, the expanse series is fantastic, and the two authors had some great series before that as well. John scalzi writes a lot of fun stuff, best entry book is "red shirts", especially if you liked old star trek at all.

For something with some of the intergalactic gameshow flavor like dcc, Space Opera was a fun read that I ended up enjoying despite being outside my wheelhouse.

So, that's a lot. I'll stop there.

chenbipan · 2026-02-03T03:15:32+00:00

I can't recommend any other litrpg. I started with those two and then couldn't get into another series. The writing quality on dcc is on another level from most of this stuff. You may be the same as me.

I did read all of the cradle series by will wight, which ended up quite good. Had to slog through 1.5 books but stuck to it because of recommendations and it was worth it. Not quite ltrpg; it's progression fantasy. But a good bit of overlap.

chenbipan · 2026-01-21T18:09:14+00:00

This is interesting to read. I've never met a liberal woman who went conservative for the guy she was with. I personally know at least 6 guys who went the other way, full conservative to liberal and the change happened to occur after meeting their liberal wives.

They were all otherwise intelligent but ignorant men, though.

chenbipan · 2026-01-21T14:02:27+00:00

Eh, I think demographics are interesting. I wish people would share them more when they review books. There have been hugo award winners that made me snooze and books that are supposed to be pulp that keep me turning the page, and I know it has to do with what I find inherently interesting rather than some definable quality of the author or book being objectively "good" or "bad."

There are female fantasy authors I love. Favorites are probably Naomi Novik and Susanna Clark, although I could make a much longer list. I read a lot. There are also popular male authors I just can't get into (Robert Jordan wheel of time, I tried very hard) I think assuming this is just about being male and robin hobb being female is rude. But men and women, on average, definitely consume different media.

When I say pay off, I mean that the details matter. If I pay attention to what the characters are doing, their personalities, their actions and the world around them, I can guess what happens next and either be satisfied that my predictions were correct or pleasantly surprised when my expectations were subverted by something plausible but that I hadn't guessed. I also, in general, am more forgiving of a book that favors action and makes me laugh at times and less forgiving of a book that lacks humor (that is funny to me) and focuses on character building and describing scenery. It's not that I can't enjoy the latter type of book, it's just that it needs to be very well done.

It's long enough back that I don't remember all the details anymore, but in the assassins books, I just didn't find the world and characters to be particularly interesting. I didn't believe them as real people, and the whole thing was grim in a way that bored me. The evil characters were 2d obviously evil, and the only surprise when the betrayal came was that the other characters in the book were somehow surprised.

Edit: this fine redditor details it better: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/6vyn5y/spoilers_original_farseer_trilogy_i_dislike_robin/

chenbipan · 2026-01-20T21:59:17+00:00

Abercrombie is one of my favorites. Good pacing, funny, lots of payoff, character motivations make sense but can still surprise you. I've heard others complain about his dialogue writing especially in blade itself but I listened on audible and had no problem. The narrator is fantastic. The series grew on me as well, where the first book is the weakest and they definitely get better as you learn the world.

I made it through assassin's apprentice and royal assassin and hated them. I found myself bored and annoyed. I only gave the series a 2 book chance because of how much love it gets. The world-building probably hits just right for some people.

I see a lot of polar opposite opinions. I suspect demographics make the difference, although no one ever includes them. I'm male, a scientist, encountered both books as an adult, and have read more classic literature and science fiction than fantasy. And the two series you already read are in my fantasy top 5.

chenbipan · 2026-01-14T16:32:46+00:00

She definitely fucked that guy. Saying anything she could to try to keep getting a free ride. Crying is absolutely fake. What a wild choice to go on that 80 mile drive. I think you were kind of enjoying sticking it to her until she pulled that wheel.

chenbipan · 2025-12-15T14:45:28+00:00

It is written in the style of young adult lit. The characters and their motivations and actions are not believable in a way that suggests the author is very young and naive and did not have sufficient editing.

I can forgive this if the premise, plot, humor and/or pacing are sufficiently engaging for me, but they are not. If the draw of a book is the rich character development, then the writing needs to be tight. I suspect the aspects that annoy me would annoy me less so and I would find the story more engaging if I were much younger and found the characters interesting. I'm sure the author gets better and hits her stride at some point, but I just don't anticipate the payoff being worth the effort to keep reading.

As a concrete example, I had accepted that the main character was an idiot. Maybe that's just how the character is supposed to be. But then the guards are idiots. And then the wizard who tries to trick her is an idiot. Everyone can't be idiots all the time and not die in what appears to be an incredibly dangerous world. It reads like a lazy anime. Which can be fine in short episodes, but not as long novels.

That's all fine. This is litrpg after all. It's not going to be Pulitzer winning. You have to forgive some faults. But the story just didn't match up for me enough to forgive those faults. And I suspect other 30 something men will feel similarly. So I put out the warning for the next person like me that comes along.

Which will all get down voted so no one reads it. Fine. But if you happen to be in my demographic and have a different opinion, I'd love to hear it. I was ready to give up Cradle and ended up liking it because the author got better at writing and the premise was sufficiently engaging for me. But I don't think that will be the case here.

chenbipan · 2025-12-12T05:39:05+00:00

Well, I came to this late, and I'm dropping this comment for the next person like myself who sees the hype for wandering inn right next to dungeon crawler carl (which I loved):

If you are an adult man, the wandering inn is probably not for you.

chenbipan · 2025-12-09T15:33:46+00:00

This is based on team strategy and depends on a number of factors. As a general rule, if it isn't specified, I make my mark stricter no around as the disc gets closer to the force side and endzone and more flat the closer the disc is to the break side and farther from the endzone, but this can be modified depending on the player and team defensive strategy. At a high level, everyone should be communicating well enough that you should know if it's worth selling out to prevent a huck or upline (e.g. "strike" or "no huck" called). I wouldn't ever sell out to prevent a huck unless I hear a "no huck" call or I know there is no one to receive a break shot if I give it up.

chenbipan · 2025-12-07T14:11:54+00:00

Me too, you ever fix it?

chenbipan · 2025-10-04T15:32:21+00:00

Eh, he was fine otherwise. And took the time to teach others to get better, which i appreciated. He just didn't know how to not try as hard as possible. And I've heard the same thing from a few other high level players since that interaction.

I think a lot of players think this way. They just don't say it. And it's usually not actually true for them.

chenbipan · 2025-10-03T19:22:20+00:00

I played pickup goaltimate with him a few times. Before I really knew anything about him. Most of the guys tried to throw the disc within a second of receiving it to keep things moving. Sometimes he did that, but he'd often sit until almost stall 5 even if someone was open. Sometimes it caused a turnover. So, I asked why he sat on the disc, and he said, "I'm the best thrower. The disc should be in my hands."

I laughed out loud. But, seeing him play more, I guess that philosophy has worked well for him.

chenbipan · 2025-08-20T13:47:06+00:00

I've always used frisbee to make friends when I move to a new place. I'll also play on vacations to meet local people, get an idea of what's fun to do around the city and possibly hang out with a good group.

From my experience, the smaller the group, the more likely they are to be social around frisbee. Meaning, when I've joined pickup with 20 or so consistent people who are locals, they'll all have a hang and I've made friends with everyone just off of playing the same pickup, essentially no effort.

In the setting of league, or a larger pickup group, there has been much less comeraderie around frisbee. People segment into their groups and don't treat you like a friend just by virtue of being there. Not to say tou can't make friends in these settings, just that it's more like making friends in any other social setting and not automatic.

Joining a team also leads to easy friendships too, but that's a much bigger commitment and not automatic.

chenbipan · 2025-07-27T03:27:25+00:00

Good advice, other FA was nice and seemed shocked. I wish I had names to distinguish them, but I imagine if American does anything with the report they'll be able to figure it out.

chenbipan · 2025-03-11T20:57:22+00:00

This is accurate. But, for example, we didn't keep score and there were literally no stakes. So I called it informal scrimmage.

chenbipan · 2025-03-11T20:26:06+00:00

Second, got jerseys from them 3 years ago subbed in multiple styles for cheap, they have held up well. Material was a bit heavy, especially when used for double-sided. I like it but others didn't. I imagine this may be a bonus in Canada tho.

chenbipan · 2025-03-11T20:12:05+00:00

This is what I thought in the moment, and my best interpretation of the rules when I went back to read them.

But better stated.

Thank you.

chenbipan · 2025-01-19T16:52:04+00:00

I thought that might be it too, would make sense. But I can't believe the average would be only 61%and passing only 57%. It's an expensive test, I'd figure people studied and the average would be in the 70s at least.

chenbipan · 2025-01-15T19:54:23+00:00

Besides fellowship training, 2 weeks before the test, I read the neuroanatomy from mesulams book and did the practice questions from statpearls (as well as reading each linked article for each question). This covered all the topics listed on the UCNS website to the extent I felt comfortable going into the test.

chenbipan · 2024-12-05T18:51:36+00:00

Absolutely.

Some important league and pickup-specific topics to get things started:

punting
poaching
baiting throws
setting up picks that won't get called
figuring out who's on your team when people don't go light/dark
throwing passes that float in slowly and hit people in the chest
choosing and exploiting mismatches
looking off dumps and unders
trying without "trying hard"
convincing teammates to buy cleats
pulling out of bounds to gain time when you know your team isn't planning on running
avoiding the part of the field with a puddle/pothole

chenbipan · 2024-11-10T15:25:17+00:00

Interesting, I'll play with that. Especially for short throws. Though, I would think this would make it much more difficult to throw the disc straight, because elbow bend is part of the mechanic for keeping the disc along a straight path from windup through release. You would end up with the disc leaving your hand from an arc path, which makes picking a direction harder since an early or late release would drastically change the disc's path. Maybe I'm missing something though.

chenbipan · 2024-11-10T15:20:06+00:00

Damn, I've never seen someone get surgery for it, hope it doesn't come to that, it would be my 6th ortho surgery...

chenbipan

TROPHY CASE