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seinen equivalent for normal books?

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Post #496307
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wicked innocence
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7:47 am, Sep 15 2011
Posts: 29


I love books.

Since I was a kid, I have spent months in imaginary worlds, found on sheets of white paper and black letters. Then, I stumbled into manga. It has been 8 years since then, and I seem to be going back to where I was, slowly. Not completely, ofcourse, manga has become a permanent part of my life.

Now, I want to explore certain aspects of literature, because of manga. So I am trying to find out what is the "normal book" genre equivalent of seinen. To make my search and reading options a little easier to find.

Tried googling, but for once, I failed miserably. smile Would appreciate if someone could point me in the right direction. Thankya!

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Post #496308
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8:11 am, Sep 15 2011
Posts: 216


I suppose authors not targetted toward children.

American books don't tend to put everything in the 'young adult' section that should be though.
Like with science fiction you got your 'hugo award winning authors'

Fantasy series apparently tend to be long running series with main characters that can't seem to make up their minds while fighting 'ultimate' evil. Not even about whether or not he should have sex with the buxom elven princess, the childhood friend tavern barmaid, or the Amazonal tribal warrior woman.

maybe its just the fantasy I've read, but yeah, in america you'll do better with hugo award winning author science fiction.

There are a few fantasy comedies that aren't cliched porn but... I dunno maybe terry pratchett, and the LE Modesett Order books and the CS friedmen, And vernor vinge. If I wanted to suggest authors.

Modesett was marginally interesting but also somewhat boring.

Oh and maybe the Riddlemaster of Hed. that was a decent read back in the day.

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8:17 am, Sep 15 2011
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Last edited by animefan22 at 7:01 pm, Jul 16 2020

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5:38 pm, Sep 15 2011
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From your lists, it seems you like harder-edge fantasy. You might try one of my favorite authors, Tim Powers. He writes magical realism - he takes real people and events and combines them with a fantasy element. "The Stress of Her Regard" is about the Romantic poets and vampires. "The Anubis Gate" has a modern-day scholar who time-travels to Victorian England, and is in for a surprise when he encounters the poet on whom he has made his reputation. (This one could be considered steampunk if that interests you.) "On Stranger Tides" is about Caribbean pirates, Blackbeard, voodoo, and zombies. My favorite is "Last Call", in which the spirit of Bugsy Segal has a cameo.

A friend of mine loves the books of George R. R. Martin, which are now being made into a TV series. Like Tim Powers, apparently Martin is not afraid to hurt his characters.

You might also try Barbara Hambly, another of my favorites. "The Witches of Wenshar" is about a mercenary captain who is kidnapped by a group of women who want him to train them to fight, so they can rescue their men. This is the first in a trilogy. I can also recommend her Dark Mage series, her vampire series ("Those Who Hunt the Night" is the first), and several others. "Dragonsbane" is possibly one of the best dragon books out there, but I did not like what she did in later books with characters we have grown to know and love.

Another favorite is Lois McMaster Bujold. She writes both science fiction and fantasy. Start with "Shards of Honor" and continue her popular Miles Vorkosigan space opera series with "The Warrior's Apprentice."

Another friend loved the books of Bernard Cornwell, definitely seinen. These are historicals. I tried to read her favorite, "The Archer's Tale", but it was just too macho for me. You ought to try his books anyway, if you haven't already. Author of the popular Richard Sharpe series.

Scott Westerfeld is a young adult science fiction / fantasy author. I've read "Peeps", which is an interesting take on vampires.

"A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court", Mark Twain

Sorry that I don't have more. Seinen, and whatever the novel equivalent is, are outside my demographic.

Post #496379 - Reply to (#496377) by scarletrhodelia
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6:05 pm, Sep 15 2011
Posts: 1899


Quote from scarletrhodelia
He writes magical realism - he takes real people and events and combines them with a fantasy element.


That is actually not at all the definition of magical realism, but it is an amusing misunderstanding. You're just talking about historical fiction with fantasy mixed in- magical realism requires none of that. Magical realism is typically atmospheric, often alinear, and fundamentally the result of mixing what would traditionally be viewed as "pagan" superstition with judeo-christian literary tradition (i.e. it appears frequently in colonial and post-colonial nations when the traditional storytelling is combined with the European model.) It's hard to pin down an exact definition because even the scholars tend to disagree, but it's best to say that it represents fantasy that isn't explicitly fantasy in a way that resembles folktales- the fantastical is taken as an integral and understandable part of everyday reality. Nothing to do with something like vampires or other magical beasts (ghosts aside), but a hand having a mind of its own would certainly fall within the bounds.

[/unnecessarily intrusive correction]

On topic: I don't think there really is a "real book" equivalent of seinen. Personally I'd suggest looking at some translations of popular Japanese writers if you want a similar feel- Murakami Ryu's crime novels have a comparable mood to some of the grittier seinen pieces, a number of popular seinen works like Battle Royale or even NHK ni Yokoso! were originally full-fledged novels to begin with as well. Tsutsui Yasutaka is probably a great author to start with- he's easy to read, the original mind responsible Paprika and several others, and generally respected for what he does.

The thing is that seinen manga is always ultimately going to need to be more accessible than a non-pulp novel is going to need to be, so while I'd love to suggest something like The Great Gatsby which is really written for the same age group, I imagine it wouldn't have the feel that you're looking for.

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Post #496400
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9:16 pm, Sep 15 2011
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Well, it's hardly as if manga fit into those categories all that well either.

So working off broad generalizations

Young Adult novels are Shounen
Paranormal Romance are Shojo
SciFi/Fantasy/Westen is the Seinen
Romance is the smutty Josei
Literary Fiction is the less smutty Josei

And the general and broad fiction category is also Josei or Seinen

That's of course fairly off base but basically if it isn't in the YA section you should assume it's aimed at the 18-30 demographic.(It's the main demographic on a whole for the US of A)

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7:57 am, Sep 16 2011
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Last edited by animefan22 at 7:01 pm, Jul 16 2020

Post #496542
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5:36 pm, Sep 16 2011
Posts: 9


You should read A Song of Ice and Fire, The First Law, and perhaps The Wheel of Time... Although WOT is closer to Shounen, imo. With the exception of WOT, these books are a little more down to earth, even though they're great. If you're looking for high Fantasy, then the Deathgate cycle might be what you're looking for, it's 7 books and has an awesome story. I'm actually planning on doing a re-read myself.

Hmm...what else...I guess there's also The Prince of Nothing, but I find it hard to recommend that to anyone because of just how alien the whole world is. It's really hard to get into because of the author's writing style as well, but it is quite good if you don't mind the "learning curve", the series is really graphic, though.

I hope I was able to help you somewhat. I haven't read that many novels.

Post #496544
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5:46 pm, Sep 16 2011
Posts: 216


the last two books of song and ice and fire were kinda... crap though.

It starts nice and potential for a good long yarn but then he got like writers block or something and its just not there anymore.

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