Everything Gaiman (grows old very quickly, though, as he just writes the same book over and over again)
Mists of Avalon
Lavinia

Ilium comes to mind, but I didn't make it a quarter of the way through that book before deciding that the author was invented by marketing. I found nothing to recommend him.

Reading reviews, that's not nearly as myth heavy as anything I'm suggesting. It just looks like standard urban fantasy. Are you sure you don't just mean urban fantasy?

>>16670

From options of doing a search and failing versus just being lazy, my guess would go for the lazy.

>>16674
I wanted to say that this is because I'm more optimistic than you, but I can't decide as to whether or not arguing incompetence is more optimistic than arguing sloth...

>>16675

I'm slowly beginning to believe we may have a tie here.

My Name is Beth

I destroy homes, I tear families apart,
take your children, and that's just the start.
I'm more costly than your lawyer, more bulbous than a whale,
The sorrow I bring is a sight to behold.

If you need me, remember I'm easily found,
I work all around you - in schools and in towns
I work for the state; I work for family services,
I work down the street, and maybe next door.

I was born in a AZ, but not like you think,
I was born a pauper on the kitchen table.
I watch your child's closet, and even the woods,
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>>16628
at the end of which everyone is looking for more meth and no one's even touched the ham.

Meter, mother fucker. Learn it.

>>16680
Ok, I think I understand what you're saying and now it actually seems kinda obvious.

I think I'll need to change quite a few things now so that the point is carried across better.

But anyway, thanks. This will help quite a bit, especially seeing how all the related stuff on the web is just general advice.

>>16681
That's how it's supposed to go, I know. But I have a tendency to overwrite and just engage in your typical masturbatory writing habits unless I control myself.

Having a coherent plot would help me to cut down on the useless shit and just check the whole thing for consistency.

But I'll read what you recommended, definitely.

>>16682

Well, there is your problem. Characters write the plot, not the other way around. Therefore, starting with the plot will force your characters to do things that don't make sense, just to fulfill it.

What I do is similar to this:
>After you sketch out the characters and the core conflict(s), write the end of the story. Then go back and fill in the middle.

After I establish the basic premise, I write the very end. Literally, I write the last line of the last chapter (or epilogue, whatever). So, now that I've established Point A and Point B, I set the characters loose and let them decide how they are going to get there. Oh sure, their fates are sealed, controlled by either Fate or mortal elements outside their control, but their personal journey is still their own to choose and experience. THAT is what ultimately makes the story worth reading, not the "plot". The plot is merely the canvas structure upon which the characters are free to paint their own story. And myself — I am only the medium who relays the story.

>>16687
Well, that's more or less how I intended it, what I have so far is just episodes.

The problem is that you have to be as smart as the characters to figure out what they would do in some cases.

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Undefeated.

>>16652
I'm a rusfag and I found it annoyingly moralistic.

Other than that, I loved the contrast between the MC and the inspector(? been a while, I actually read it back in school, can't remember the names). The fucked up psychological state of the protagonist was also very familiar.

The Happy Prince and Other Stories by Oscar Wilde, in particular the Nightingale and the Rose. i read it when i was small and it emotionally fucked me up.

Good luck on your marketing campaign.

While I understand that the temptation of marketing on a board where you can grab an audience as vast as ours is appealing, you don't really leave give us any incentive to check out your amazon page. atleast tell us what is all about. So far, the only detail you've let slip is that the sequel is darker, which is sorta arbitrary. The cover isn't telling much either, except that it might be a Witcher fanfiction.

Start by chopping out a lot of the 'ing' words, as well as words ending in 'ly'. Try to streamline the piece in general, you'll see how much of a difference it makes to the overall quality.

Only by reading the first line:
Way too many words.
>setting sun
>twilight horizon
Superfluous. Describes the same thing.
Also, avoid beginning several sentences the same way (The setting..., The vague...]).
Try this:
The setting sun painted the empty streets of the noble Academy city orange and red.

I feel you used two opening sentences, both describing sunset in a city. Choose one.

>>16653
Ditch "noble" too, unless it's important or part of the name of the city, which I assumed.

for most people it's a choice between
writing shit and not writing at all
i admire those who can overcome their depression,
angst, fear
to choose writing shit instead of not writing at all
just like me

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>>16644
Unlike you, however, some of these other bad writers have the hope of someday producing something worth reading. True, this piece reeks of amateurism. The difference between him and you, however, is that his is the amateurism of an immature and budding flower, yet indistinguishable as to whether it will become a garden centerpiece or a weed. Your amateurism, on the other hand, is fully developed and wholly blossomed, with no place left to go but death and decay. And not the picturesque death of a wilting rose. No, yours are the melting remnants of fungal fruit.

In short, don't pretend that you're on his level just because his reviews were almost as bad as yours.

>>16645

Copying Bukowski hardly can be counted as being on any level.

>>16432
>I would argue that "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" makes a far better introduction to the works of Phillip K. Dick as does Ubik. That isn't to say they aren't both pretty awesome, though.

well, i would certainly agree on the awesome part

and a good version of Ubik was pretty quick to find
http://213.174.154.66/document.php?file=67250&desc=philip+k+dick+-+ubik+.pdf

>>16433
**than does

>>16432
>1984 (I've heard that Orwell's other works are also worth a read, but I can't yet personally attest to that)

Animal Farm is another popular one and very short. It's also (deliberately) written at a reading level low enough for children and coal miners to enjoy, so probably fits what the OP is asking for, for now at least.

As for the rest of Orwell, Down & Out in Paris & London has already been recommended ITT, and is his next most popular work. It's interesting enough but [most of] the shocking revelations in it are pretty widely accepted today (homeless shelters are dangerous, people who run them are often exploitative, poor people are underpaid and their jobs are really hard, etc.). It's an enjoyable narrative, though, and a good intro to Orwell's non-fiction work.

Homage to Catalonia is probably his best non-fiction, it's his story of his time in Spain fighting in the Spanish Civil War. It's much more political than war based, and IMO it's more worth reading than pretty much all his fiction work as well, including 1984/AF.

Keep the Aspidistra Flying is my favourite of his fictional works, it'll probably resonate with anyone who reads literature but works a non-literature based job (which is almost everyone).

Coming Up for Air is almost as good as Aspidistra

A Clergyman's Daughter is not a fantastic book in my eyes, the plot is really contrived and the characters aren't anywhere near as interesting as in his other fiction

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It seems to have some honesty, but in getting that it's carved itself down to the absolute bone. There is absolutely nothing meaningful being said anymore. I'd almost prefer one of those "lost in a river of sadness, my tears are welling up around me, my scars are overrunning my skin" poems, because even it is terrible it still /tries/ to be more.