q&a7 Story: Monday, June 20, 2016

[Don Edwards 548]

9 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

Funny how different some authors' works can be.  I've been meaning to go re-read George R. R. Martin's Fevre Dream, which I remember really liking when I read it.  I don't think it was much like his better-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series, but it's been so long I feel like I should confirm that.  Anne McCaffrey also had a few series that were very different from her best-known Dragonriders of Pern series.

There's another problem. Some authors start out decent and are moderately successful, then get better and are more successful, then get so fabulously successful that nobody bothers (or perhaps dares) to edit their work and point out problems, and then they go to crap.

[malloyd 23]

1 hour ago, mlooney said:

To be honest my reading of him is limited to Chronicles, which put him in my "don't read any more" list.

That's true for a lot of people.  All of Donaldson's stuff has some of that psychological flavor that also seems to be the hallmark of "serious literature", and he likes bleak settings, but not all of his characters are as damaged and unlikeable as Covenant or Avery. 

 

 

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

2 hours ago, mlooney said:

To be honest my reading of him is limited to Chronicles, which put him in my "don't read any more" list.

That's a shame, because his epic space opera, The Gap Cycle, is one hell of a good read. The Amnion make for some creepy bad guys—almost as much as the human bad guys.

[banneret 45]

I should broaden my science fiction and fantasy reading, as my resurgence has been dominated by mysteries and thrillers. These have accounted for between 40% and 60% of my yearly consumption for the last four years running. This year I believe I've read twice as many mysteries and thrillers than I have science fiction and fantasy combined.

 

In terms of fantasy, I've always had a soft spot for Tamora Pierce and another for Ursula LeGuin, although I have yet to read anything beyond the first Earthsea trilogy. I dipped into Lois McMaster Bujold but may not continue. I'm making an effort with science fiction this year, reading some Kloos and Scalzi but nothing of long standing.

[RainbowWizard 35]

Recommend some books for Dan?

 

Eeheeheehee...

 

Okay, first off, he might enjoy Worm, a web serial novel about superheroes. The main thing about it he might enjoy is that the 'trigger event', the event which mumblemumblespacewhalesmumblemumble causes an traumatic experience to spark superpowers, is kind of like an EGS angst-induced Awakening.

 

Next, if he enjoyed Dresden Files, then Felix Castor is basically the same genre and similar quality, and the Accidental Sorcerer series by KE Mills is somewhere between Discworld and Dresden. 

 

For villainy, I highly recommend Soon I Will Be Invincible, by Austin Grossman... Get the audiobook. I love Doctor Impossible.

 

Also, audiobook-wise, the audiobook of How To Succeed In Evil is a great character driven story about a supervillain consultant. It's by Patrick Ian Maclean. Just don't mind that a few characters are really basic, it is a fun story deep down.

 

What else... Discworld is a given, specifically the books Sourcery, Interesting Times, The Last Continent, Thud!, Mort, and my favourite, Thief of Time.

I'd also highly recommend the novelisations of the Star Wars movies. For the most part, they add a sheen of quality the movies couldn't do... Although I will say the Force Awakens is a bit too much tell at the expense of the movie's show. Too much is explained too soon, at the cost of the pacing. It's probably useful for Dan to look and compare, since I know he used to have trouble with exposition dumps.

 

Beyond that, for a laugh, check out this book: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_My_Bum_Went_Psycho

 

I had it as a kid, and it's quite possimply the weirdest attempt to spin fart and poo jokes into a full child's novel, and I hold it in high esteem as a example of 'how to run with a joke for longer than you ought to'.

[hkmaly 490]

20 hours ago, Vorlonagent said:

My two largest influences are Roger Zelazny's novels

I would second the Amber Chronicles, but I think Discworld is more important. He can wait with Amber until he would want to reintroduce Lord Tedd. I don't think there is any better book (not counting university course books) for explaining what "number of universes is infinite" MEANS.

9 hours ago, Howitzer said:

One series I'd recommend is the Honor Harrington series, by David Weber. It's really good sci fi on the harder side of the spectrum.

While good, I wouldn't recommend sci-fi to someone who listed fantasy as everything he reads.

 

[Howitzer 32]

While not a series, I thought Ready Player One was pretty good, and probably right up Dan's alley.

[SeriousJupiter 49]

I don't read a lot of books, but when I do, it's mostly fantasy. So naturally, I've read Harry Potter. I've also read The Hobbit, The Chronicles of Narnia and the first four Percy Jackson novels. Currently I'm reading through the Eragon series. It's nothing spectacular, but I kinda like it. I do own the LotR trilogy, but I haven't read it yet. I have a lot of time on my hands, though, so I hope I'll be able to read it this summer after I've finished the last Eragon book. I've also read The Cleric Quintet by R. A. Salvatore. I won that book as a prize in high school and thought it would be rude to ignore it, but I kinda wish I had.

[Howitzer 32]

3 minutes ago, SeriousJupiter said:

...I've also read The Cleric Quintet by R. A. Salvatore. I won that book as a prize in high school and thought it would be rude to ignore it, but I kinda wish I had.

I've found R.A. Salvatore to be very hit and miss.

[SeriousJupiter 49]

Well, I haven't read any of his other works, so I really wouldn't know. The Cleric Quintet just wasn't my cup of tea.

[Don Edwards 548]

Of all the Discworld books I've read (most of them but not all), I would have to rate A Hat Full of Sky as the best preparation for writing Sarah learning about her magic.

It would be mildly beneficial - certainly not critical - to read Wee Free Men first.

[ijuin 572]

Amanda in the Hogwarts outfit reminds me of Luna Lovegood. I think that Amanda might make a good Ravenclaw type.

[WR...S 41]

At my age, I feel too ashamed to buy the Discworld books; not for reading them, but for not having read them.

[malloyd 23]

5 hours ago, Howitzer said:

While not a series, I thought Ready Player One was pretty good, and probably right up Dan's alley.

Probably a good choice.  I'd also note there is a lot of integration between video games, anime and manga and light novel series in Japan, including quite a few novels (and/or games) *about* video games and/or manga artists.  I think both the Sword Art Online and Log Horizon light novels have gotten licensed English translations in the last few years....

 

[Matoyak 51]

12 hours ago, banneret said:

I should broaden my science fiction and fantasy reading, as my resurgence has been dominated by mysteries and thrillers. These have accounted for between 40% and 60% of my yearly consumption for the last four years running. This year I believe I've read twice as many mysteries and thrillers than I have science fiction and fantasy combined.

If you're wanting to get back into fantasy and speculative / science fiction, a good place to start nowadays would be with Brandon Sanderson (I'd recommend Mistborn). All of his books have a core element of mystery to them, some kind of puzzle to figure out, and a lot incorporate aspects of thrillers and suspense works.

[Intro 0]

On 6/21/2016 at 8:46 AM, CritterKeeper said:

Perhaps a good "soft" entrance to Discworld would be the Tiffany Aching series!  She's the protagonist in The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith, I Shall Wear Midnight and The Shepherd's Crown.  These stories are a bit easier, faster read and are neither as sunk into the Discworld mythos, nor as big a commitment as the whole series.  They're *meant* to be a different way to start reading Discworld.

I'm torn about the first Discworld book -- Sir Terry was getting some frustrations with the cliches of the high fantasy genre out of his system, and it isn't nearly as funny if you haven't read any of the series he's making fun of.  On the other hand, the Luggage is one of the most popular and iconic characters in the whole overall series!

Dissenting view: I hadn't read most of the novel's Pratchett was frustrated at when I read the first two books, and I still loved them.  Your mileage may vary though.  

[The Old Hack 2,448]

19 minutes ago, Intro said:

Dissenting view: I hadn't read most of the novel's Pratchett was frustrated at when I read the first two books, and I still loved them.  Your mileage may vary though.  

I read the first two novels and loved them. Admittedly, I had read practically all the books Sir Terry was lampooning. I loved most of them, too, but the lampooning of them was so warm-hearted and gentle that this did not prove to be any conflict at all. Oddly enough, I barely read any other Pratchett books for years -- I'd liked one or two, but they weren't what I'd expected so I kind of set them aside. When I rediscovered Pratchett years later, it was a small revelation and I loved his new books more even than his 'classics.'

[AFNB 39]

As far as LOTR goes, I once again suggest an audio drama version from the BBC, released several decades ago. I recommend it to anyone who wants to become more familiar with the original work, but has trouble getting through that massive book.

Otherwise, most of what I would recommend is fairly standard - Gaiman, Piers Anthony's Incarnations series, the more central Dragonlance sagas, etc.

[CCCM89 1]

following the supposed theme I'm reading into in Dan's taste, Try the Nightside series by Simon R. Green. They get a bit formulaic after a couple Novels, but they're still pretty good.  There's also the Discworld by Terry Pratchet.  Besides the obvious there, There's also Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, And basically anything else Neil Gaiman writes.

And just for stuff I liked and Dan might also like,  Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, Orconomics: A Satire by J. Zachary Pike, and Psychoshop by Alfred Bester & Roger Zelanzy.

 

If Dan actually looks through these posts, I hope you find something that interests you.  I know these have all interested me in the past

[CritterKeeper 1,102]

17 hours ago, WR...S said:

At my age, I feel too ashamed to buy the Discworld books; not for reading them, but for not having read them.

https://xkcd.com/1053/

14 hours ago, Matoyak said:

If you're wanting to get back into fantasy and speculative / science fiction, a good place to start nowadays would be with Brandon Sanderson (I'd recommend Mistborn). All of his books have a core element of mystery to them, some kind of puzzle to figure out, and a lot incorporate aspects of thrillers and suspense works.

Most of The Dresden Files are good mysteries, too.  I'm also fond of P. N. Elrod's Vampire Files, starting with Bloodlist, in which the first book involves the protagonist solving his own murder.

4 hours ago, AFNB said:

As far as LOTR goes, I once again suggest an audio drama version from the BBC, released several decades ago. I recommend it to anyone who wants to become more familiar with the original work, but has trouble getting through that massive book.

The orignal radio drama of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is also excellent!  It came before the books, and every version of HHGTTG is different.  There's a book of the scripts, but that just doesn't have the same feel.  I've aslo recently listened to some of the Doctor Who audio dramas.  I can't help but think that podcasts and mp3 players have played a part in saving the audio format from oblivion. ;-)

Quote

Otherwise, most of what I would recommend is fairly standard - Gaiman, Piers Anthony's Incarnations series, the more central Dragonlance sagas, etc.

Anthony's Apprentice Adept series is pretty good, too.  Come to think of it, if you're looking for something fun and easy to read, and you're not allergic to puns, the Xanth series is good, too, although I don't think very many people have read the whole thing.  I even recall there being gender- and species-bending.  Second on Gaiman and Dragonlance, too, although I shudder at the thought of a Kender-like character appearing in EGS....

[AFNB 39]

Yeah, have the third and fourth HHG audio plays, and I agree - much better than the books.

And Xanth is good for light reading, but Incarnations is for when I want to think.

 

 

Also, a few series from Japan: the Vampire Hunter D novels, which were actually inspired by the Hammer horror films; and a second series for both thinking and for light reading - Kino no Tabi/Kino's Journey - the 13 episode anime is more well known over here, but the light novel series is excellent as well.

The first volume of Kino was published by TokyoPop (now out of business I believe), but the rest has never been released in english - but some excellent fan translations can be found here.

[Cpt. Obvious 73]

Lots of good suggestions here. I'd like to add the Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. However this is certainly a massive undertaking as the series is ten volumes, with a total of 8889 pages, and it isn't exactly easy reading. Add to that six novels by Ian Cameron Esselmont and you have a lot of reading. But if you just want to get your feet wet I'd suggest you read The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach. It's a collection of five novellas set in the same world as the others I've listed. Compared to the rest they are quite light hearted in a dark way, and not as overwhelming.

Another suggestion that might sound weird to some is David Eddings. A lot of people directly thinks of the Belgariad and the Malloreon, but frankly, if you haven't already read or tried to read those then I suggest you go for the Elenium and the Tamuil series. When compared the Belgariad looks quite bad, and honestly the Elenium reads like a second attempt at the Belgariad. In the years between he learned a lot about writing and how to tell a story.

There's a lot of other authors I could mention, but I'm just going to add one more to my list, and that's Peter F. Hamilton. He mostly writes SF, but his The Night's Dawn trilogy is firmly spare opera. A shorter and lighter suggestion is the story Fallen Dragon. Read that and if you find it enjoyable then you might like The Night's Dawn Trilogy or the commonwealth Saga.


 

[malloyd 23]

8 hours ago, CCCM89 said:

following the supposed theme I'm reading into in Dan's taste, Try the Nightside series by Simon R. Green. They get a bit formulaic after a couple Novels, but they're still pretty good. 

But there are no magicians named Harry in those are there? 

Hm, perhaps the Incomplete Enchanter (de Camp and Pratt).  That's about a magician named Harold, maybe close enough.  I think there is some overlap with de Camp's sense of humor too.

 

[CritterKeeper 1,102]

Perhaps Dan would be willing to expand to include Toms and Dicks, too.

[hkmaly 490]

20 hours ago, Cpt. Obvious said:

Another suggestion that might sound weird to some is David Eddings. A lot of people directly thinks of the Belgariad and the Malloreon, but frankly, if you haven't already read or tried to read those then I suggest you go for the Elenium and the Tamuil series. When compared the Belgariad looks quite bad, and honestly the Elenium reads like a second attempt at the Belgariad. In the years between he learned a lot about writing and how to tell a story.

I've read Elenium and Tamuil. I see I should keep skipping Belgariad.

17 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

Perhaps Dan would be willing to expand to include Toms and Dicks, too.

Or what about Steve? Oh, wait, that was Skeeve.