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PaperclipPerfector  10mo ago (text post)   3715 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for March 14, 2025

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Fiction Recommendation Request! And then a related question.

As I recall internet serials and similar megafiction were pretty popular around here, and I'm looking for new recommendations.

To help triangulate: Not a fan of Worm, Twig had really interesting worldbuilding but stumbled hard towards the end for me with the increasingly unreliable narrator arc. I've enjoyed The Wandering Inn, really like the fantasy elements and the interweaving of various mythologies, but probably won't keep going with it once the current arc finally wraps up. Mother of Learning was enjoyable but not truly catching in the same way. Millennial Mage is pleasantly 'cozy' but not the best prose. Just started This Used To Be About Dungeons.

For more traditional or classic fiction, I will always love the works of Ray Bradbury, John Bellairs, and Diane Duane. If there's anybody new with a voice like Bradbury's, let me know!

Now, the question- in TWI, Practical Guide to Evil, and Millennial Mage, gnomes come up. Not really as characters except in limited circumstances, but they're described as outrageously powerful and skilled as technologists. I don't recall that being any past myth regarding gnomes, so is that a D&D thing or derived from elsewhere?

Sorry for double posting, my brain is broken today - after writing my 'fiction recommendation' for the week I began scouring the thread for the poster asking for web serial recommendations and eventually gave up in confusion. I just now realised they're the same post.

Anyway I've recommended it on the motte before, but just in case - There is No Antimemetics Division by qntm sprang from the SCP project, but it's actually great, especially if you like cosmic horror. As I just learned, it is now being published 'properly' and I think it's worth a purchase, but if the scp website drives you mad hit me up and I'll send you an epub version.

Edit: Oh shit, on top of my brain being broken I've also been infected by an antimeme and nobody can see this post

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