There Is No Antimemetics Division (2018)

If you like this kind of thing, the rest of qntm's work is definitely worth checking out - as evidenced already in several comments. Another good pointer to follow is to Unsong and Scott Alexander's other fiction (all shorts, spread through his old blog Slate Star Codex and new blog Astral Codex Ten).

Both of those were already mentioned, so let me drop a recommendation for something new - Worm, the first (and absolutely massive) book in Wildbow's Parahumans series. Iirc it's longer than all 5 published ASOIAF novels combined, so it's a big commitment, but that length moves through a ton of different arcs. It's centered around a "superheroes" kind of scenario with a level of analysis and thought that'll tickle the fancy of certain kinds of nerds. The main character's power is to control bugs - and it's a lot of fun to see the author make that seemingly lame power into something incredibly useful and lethal. It's just a fun read overall, lots of room to nerd out about it. I haven't read the sequel yet, but I've read good things.

Also, though they're more mainstream, Greg Egan and Ted Chiang are some of the best spec-fic / sci-fi authors I know of, and do a similarly great job of breaking down interesting concepts into compelling stories.

Permutation City is my favorite from Greg Egan.

Worm gives off the sort of interesting-resourceful vibe mostly for the first half, until the large time skip, at which point it stops being street-level and starts getting very comic book grandiose-silly.

Seconding all of the recommendations. Wildbow (author or Worm) has a number of other works (Twig got rave reviews; I’m uncommon in liking Pact)

And, if you like those… I’ll also recommend Practical Guide to Evil (and that author’s next and in-progress work, Pale Lights)

Extremely strong recommend of Pale Lights, Unsong

Strong recommend to all of QNTM's, especially their SCP work (linked), Ra, Fine Structure. Also to PGTE, Worth the Candle

Recommend to Worm.

Check out r/rational!

Is there really no ebook version of Worm? A quick search is turning up nothing.

I don't want to read it in a browser, but the FAQ on the site just says the author plans to get to it someday. Was 10 years insufficient?

That's exactly what I thought when reading it too.

Some people have made it into an ebook. I decided to respect the author's wishes and read it online in dark mode. I found that to be not dissimilar to the Kindle app I usually use.

Adding another rec for Worm, "There Is No Antimemetics Division", Worth the Candle (protag was annoying but overall world building got me invested). Also add "Mother of Learning" to the list!

Thanks for confirming I am not just missing it. I hope the author will reconsider. I really like using my eink reader, and the web browser on it is garbage. Also, I don’t always want to be online.

You can definitely find an ebook, they're around. There are also some "worm scrapers" out there (search github), which are just scripts which scrape the site and compile the book.

I read it on my Kindle, it's way too long to read in any manner you don't find comfortable imo.

I was interested in this book until you compared it to Scott Alexander

If you are into massive stories. Have a look at The Wandering Inn. It's a bit longish.

The main problem with Worm is it can make you a lot less receptive to other super heroes stories.

"Oh another universe where powers have a random source". "And again, powers appeared 50 years ago but society and countries in '24 are the same we have currently".

I quite like WotC all the through, although it definitely changes... "tone" over time?

It starts as one thing, but by the middle it's much more clear that it's a therapy exercise for the author that got wonderfully out of hand. There's a lot more talking through issues and emotions as you get deeper in. The author's next major work ("this used to be about dungeons") is same-same-but-different; it's lighter-hearted, almost FRIENDS.

MoL is great and pretty consistent in vibe all the way through; IMO the protag goes from kind of insufferable to a stand-up guy. Quite a good romp to scratch that "creative solutions with magic" itch.

Worm built up to an impressive crescendo and delivered.

For the scope and scale of things going on, that is an impressive and rare achievement.

The trouble is some of us have bad eyes, so reading on eInk screens where the text is scalable is always preferred...and we will pay for that. I wish more small bloggers and authors would take these kinds of accessibility options into consideration. I can't really have my eyes on a standard OLED screen for more than 40 minutes of so without experiencing ocular fatigue, so reading books on a browser is definitely a no-go for me. Shame, because it sounds like I'd enjoy them.

I've used Calibre to convert some html publications to eBooks to side load to my Nook in the past, but the results are not terrific and it's rare that I get the font to resize properly. If anyone has recommendations, I am all ears (or eyes, as the case may be)

Here's one that seems to work fine for me to read on my Kindle: https://github.com/domenic/worm-scraper

> Worm ... It's centered around a "superheroes" kind of scenario with a level of analysis and thought that'll tickle the fancy of certain kinds of nerds. The main character's power is to control bugs - and it's a lot of fun to see the author make that seemingly lame power into something incredibly useful and lethal.

This is the kind of summary I saw years ago that made me want to start reading it, but I found that it was a lot more teenage-slice-of-life/romantic-drama-ish than I expected, and so a lot less fun for me than that summary promises. Is that just an early story thing, or does that permeate through the whole book?

As someone that never got into the whole superhero fad of the past decade, I can't wait to read a good one that's (hopefully) not aimed at teenagers or milked endlessly

Is it longer than The Loud House: Revamped, currently at 2328 chapters and over 16 million words?

I mean I just glanced at it and I'm sure it's a troll, with passages like

> Flying over the western Pacific Ocean in the world of the 2022 movie The Mermaid Monster was Nico, The Ripping Friends, Ellie Singh, Evelyn Burmingham, Jen Tennyson, Eddy, Yugi, Tea, Jaden, Jesse Anderson, Allenby Beardsley Knudson, The Hernandez Sisters, Yost Magma, Rin Nohara, Woz, Bai Tza, Sabrina Lorelai the Despair from The Dark Gene-Slammer, Albedo, The 1983 D&D Gang, Donbrothers, Irina Krafla the Granity Gene-slammer, Kora Lexxington, Olivia Houou, Nataša Marečková, Nalanie Nanthavong The Vorash Gene-Slammer, Brynja, Sissi Delmas, Anna Anyanova the Destiny HERO Dark Angel Gene-slammer, Daring Do, Lizzie Strong the Great Blue Windrunner Gene-slammer, Emam Reynolds the Living Tsunami Gene-slammer, Wendy Sapphira, Reggie Hjorleifsstræti the Five Headed Dragon Gene-Slammer, Qin, Miku Yuuki, Princess Anita, Granity, Rei Miyamoto, Saya Tekagi, Saeko Busujima, Shizuka Marimoto, Kamen Rider (1971), Hibiki Riders, Agito Riders, Kabuto Riders, Den-O, Kiva, Decade, W, OOO, Fourze, Wizard Riders, Blade Riders, Faiz Riders, Gaim Riders, Drive Riders, Ghost Riders, Ex-Aid Riders, Build Riders, Zi-O Riders, Zero-One Riders, Saber Riders, Dragon Knight Riders, Granity, Samurai Jack, Ashi and her sisters, Changeman, Jetman, Dairangers, Zenkaigers, Chloe Bourgeois, Shanan, Rita Loud, The Goths of Darkness, Zarya Moonwolf, Applejack, Apple Bloom, Twilight Sparkle & Friends, Sunny Starscout, Izzy Moonbow, Hitch Trailblazer, Pipp Petals, Zipp Storm, Misty Brightdawn, Wallflower Blush, Alice Kingsleigh, Rachel Stavenport, Kate Lloyd, Carol Pusateri, Hailey Helios, Kia, Jenna, Lina, May, Maria, Danica Metrois, Kaalia of The Vast, Varie, Sakura Valencia, Xenia the Xerneas, Bhavna Radhakrishnan the Xerneas Gene-Slammer, Bridgette, Eli, me, Sakura Knudson, Arrietty, Aylene Carter, Gabrielle, Littlefoot and friends, Fu, Nicole Knudson, Spiderman and his counterparts, Kaina Tsutsumi, Nick Logan, Sh'Lainn Blaze, Camie, Kaoruku Awata, Himiko, Ibara, Toru, Sirius, Tsuyu, Ochaco, Luz, Amity, Gus, Willow, Hunter, Felicia Wittebane, Carly Atlas, Misty Tredwell, Zuria, Tony Jones, Edyn, Strag, Momo, Girl Jordan, Leeli, Sora Phaaze, Venus, Earth, Vinyl Scratch, Airazor, Rhinox, Cheetor, Rattrap, Tigatron, Janeen Aran, Lincoln, Leni, Laney, Lana, Lola, Lisa and Lily along with Misty Brightdawn's team with Roxas, Aeleus, Laurium, Elena and Dilan as well as Pintar, Yokubarido, Evil Earth Minions, Tristesse (Animaniacs), Francis X. Bushlad, and Castaways (Looney Tunes) and we were heading to a small Chinese Village for an amazing rescue.

and

> Suddenly, Kelly Strahand's trident and all the greatswords and swords that she'd gotten began to merge together, and they were surrounded by a kaleidoscope of ocean blue energy, stars, water, ocean waves, lightning, sea creatures, mermaids, phoenixes, and angels, and when it emerged, it was transformed into Kelly Strahand's True Cosmic Eternal Harmony Oceanic Water Maelstrom Mermaid Light Side Legend Protector and Dark Side Legend Slayer Phoenix God Angel Greatsword of True Cosmic Eternal Harmony Oceanic Water Maelstrom Mermaid Light Side Legend Protector and Dark Side Legend Slayer Phoenix God Angel Justice, it's a brand-new massive greatsword with embedded blue gems and a mermaid etched on the 8'0" massive, wide, double-edged gold blade, large gold phoenix heads with ocean blue gems for eyes for the crossguard, large white angel faces built into both sides of the hilt and large ocean blue gems embedded in their foreheads and surrounding the white angel faces are the Elements of Harmony and the Unity Stones on top of the Element of the Magic of Friendship, longer midnight black handle, four large gold raven heads with ocean blue gems for eyes and on the bottom of the large gold phoenix heads is a large gold phoenix head with ocean blue gems for eyes and ocean blue gem in its mouth for the pommel, Carly Almaden has on her brand-new large gold Bracers of The Champions of The Universe with large ocean blue gems on her arms and Dragon Ball Bracelet and wrist computer and Omnitrix on her left Bracer, her large gold Belt of Elemental Bravery with a gold mermaid's head with ocean blue gems for eyes and ocean blue gem in its mouth for the belt buckle on her waist, large rainbow-colored leather and gold metal bound Elemental Spellbook of Harmonious Justice, Eternal Harmony, and Equestrian Peace and Talisman Cards of The Universe and Talisman Cards of Eternal Elemental Harmony on her right hip and Eater of Sins revolver holstered on her left hip. There's an ocean blue kanji with water drops and lightning bolts in between the kanji below the mermaid that said, "Kelly Strahand, Defender of The Mermaids of The Light Side of The Legend, Powerful Force of Good, Thrasher of The Bad Guys, Master of Water and Lightning, Slayer of The Mermaids of The Dark Side of The Legend, True Immortal and Omnipotent Powerful Warrior of The Universe, Loving Guardian Angel and Future Wife of James Dean Knudson, Amazing Member of Team Loud Phoenix Storm, Brave Warrior of The Cosmos, Protector, Defender, and Savior of The Universe, Multiverse, and Beyond, Ambassador and Beacon of Hope to The Universe, Master of The Powers of Friendship and The Elements, Master of The Fury of Celestial Xelnaga, Master of The Black Gates, Ultimate Force of Ultimate Good, True Goddess of Truth, Justice, Love, Compassion, Hope, Forgiveness, Valor, Virtue, Determination, Loyalty, Honesty, Generosity, Kindness, Selflessness, Courage, and Trust, Destroyer and Slayer of Evil, Deranged, Murderous, Ruthless, and Sadistic Bastards, Amazing and Powerful Student of Amazing and Powerful Teachers, True Immortal Hero, and Master of Stars, Water, Water Magic, Lightning, Sea Creatures, Mermaids, Phoenixes, and Angels"

I think it's definitely a character-driven story.

The specific teenage-slice-of-life thing is present throughout a good chunk of it, because the POV character is a teenager, but that does change somewhat, if only because she gets older.

That said, I found it amazingly fun basically from page one, and while romantic-drama-ish moments were a focus throughout, I also felt like "cool superpowers exploration" was a focus throughout. So while I think it might "get better" about the things that bother you, I can't be certian, since I liked it from the start :)

I can't remember enough to say, but it certainly emphasis the interactions and feelings between different characters. The story has an initial ending, and then a continuation which focuses on therapy recovery from all the psychological damage inflicted to the characters. Lots of dialogue

It's mainly just an early story thing. They eventually become too busy to have high school drama. Except sometimes they still have to go back to high school, though the stakes are so different and raised it's not really high school drama anymore.

I do agree there is far too much of that in the first arcs, but I think it goes away once Coil is introduced.

There is extremely little romance if you counted the pages compared to the length of the whole thing. It's 1.69M words.

Mother of Learning is practically D&D porn. Also I love the magic system. If we ever get deep dive VR games, I want to be in the MoL world.

Worm is absolutely not aimed at teens, and it's not milked. If anything I think it could have been longer.

It does absolutely ruin the believability of any other superhero world. Invincible, for example, is ruined for me. That's how good Worm is. It just takes a loooong time to get there fully.

Reach out to me via email on my profile, I have an ebook version of Worm and Ward(the sequel) I'd be happy to share.

Another highlight of Worm: it's one of those universes that works very well for cross-over fanfiction. Like Stargate.

...Oddly, very few Stargate-Worm crossovers. A good Fallout-Worm comedy: https://m.fanfiction.net/s/12952969/

From someone who didn't finish it (ref. my other comment in this thread), the reason I dropped it was that it felt aimed at teenagers BUT not in the way (I presume) you mean: it didn't feel like a immature power fantasy trying to impress teenagers with flashy fights. More that it switched between "managing superhero powers" and "diving into teenage insecurity and typical American teen romance narratives" from time to time - and IMO not in a way that felt well-stitched together.

I read Practical Guide to Evil to the end. It started out amazingly strong, but suffering from increasing worse pacing problems as the series progresses, where the plot progression slows to a crawl with increasing amounts of build-ups and sidetracks.

Also every second character is LGBT, which was deeply distracting when reading it because of how much it's emphasized. I'm normally not be bothered by such things but APGtE did it especially badly.

I consistently confuse PGTE with `How to Succeed in Evil', which is talked about far less often, and every time someone mentions the former I try to re-find the title of the latter and wonder if I somehow phased into an alternate worldline where it doesn't exist. I'll put in a rec for HtSiE, it's nothing special but wrt rational fiction there are some classic scenes.

>Also every second character is LGBT,

The people who write these things live in spaces on the internet (or, rarely, in real life) where that's true, and they can't quite seem to grasp that it isn't normal.

Maybe no. But the wandering inn, is nice epic story that connects well together across chapters. It's still ongoing with around 2/3 finished as per the author.

EpicColeman, can I ask (assuming you see this reply), is there any way other than as a web serial to consume this book? I cannot seem to locate it anywhere else.