Books weaving magical longing .... for more

[gi6ers]

Simon R. Green; all of his Nightside novels, though I have to say, his last one disapointed.

You have to read his Deathstalker series - It's space opera with blood guts and nudity.

Can't get enough Iain M.Banks and Elizabeth moon too. Brilliant.

[lauth81]

and there's a new Culture novel by banks around the corner! I can't wait!

[wiccanpony]

I would suggest reading Wen Spencer’s Tinker series

Tinker

wolf who rules

endless blues

cut & paste:

Spencer's latest novel is as imaginative and weird as usual for him, and it makes the same effective use of her old hometown, Pittsburgh, as a setting. This time a part of early-twenty-first-century Pittsburgh is taken through an interdimensional gate into Elfland. Tinker, a young orphan who runs a salvage yard in the city, rescues the local elvenlord from assassins, and thereafter finds herself entangled in a magnificent web of romance; plots involving humans, elves, and oni (Japanese demons); and a race to build another gate by means of which the oni can conquer both Earth and Elfland. Spencer's intertwining of current Earth technology and otherworldly elven magic is quite ingenious.

also A Brother’s Price was good..... a world where more women are born then men.

[Tadayen]

Read alot of these books still in love with a female werewolf ....sigh Kelly armstong has a great set of books.

I woluld also recommend for urban paranormal stuff Keri Arthur's Riley Jenson series nuther shewolf i luv. An ongoing

fun argument with the wife is how much cooler werewolves are than vamps hehe.

another good book i found was Dark Time by Dakota Banks

Really good series can't rember the author is urban shaman

Back to mostly lurkin

Later

[Nathan Caroland]

Some serious threadomancy!

In all seriousness though, I love, love, love books. Used to read a good 10-15 a month but I haven't had that pleasure in about ten or so months now. There are a series of books out there though that caught my attention but I'll be danged if I can remember names or authors, but essentially its Victorian Horror/Fairies/Mystery and thought that might be a good combination. Saw something at the store for an indie published book as well dealing with Victorian-Zombies. Was tempted but not at $15.

Anything 'new' out there that hasn't been rehashed a hundred times over?

[jmp_mydog]

I just finished White Chapel Gods, not a bad read. In the process of reading On Stranger Ttdes by Tim Powers, so far its an excellent read. Although not really a series he seems to stick with similar subject matter.

[nightgaunt98c]

I feel the need to put in a good word for the Wheel of Time. I read the first book in 1990. I thought that gigantic book was a standalone novel. Got to the end and found out I was wrong. I think it's going to be yet another fantasy trilogy. Wrong. Time passes, and book after book comes out. Each one having new plot twists. They lost alot of the excitement, but to me were very interesting all the same. I find the character development to be extraordinary. I've been waiting all these years just to see how it ends, and then he announces the next book will be the last, no matter how big it is. Then, he dies. But it was all laid out, and will be finished up by people who know what Jordan wanted. Then they decide to release it over three books, each about a year apart. I'm highly annoyed about this, but I still look forward to reading the final three. I haven't gotten to pick up the latest, but I highly anticipate my opportunity to do so.

[Pandora]

Ken Scholes

His book Lamentation is a must read...

next up is Canticle, part two in the series.

Also I rather liked Jim butcher's non-dresden world. I read all the dresdens too. The Codex of Alera and all the Fury books. Very good reads.

Bitten and the rest by Kelly Armstrong are also enjoyable books.

Anita Blake lost me quite a few books in when it became all about sex.

Edited January 7, 2010 by Pandora

[redstripe]

I'm reading Inkheart. It's a young adult series but the subject matter is very endearing to me. I would recommend it.

[ecs_norway]

Highly Recommend: Charles Stross, The Atrocity Archive and The Jennifer Morgue. Bob Oscar Frank Howard is a senior IT geek at The Laundry - the British top-secret spy agency that deals with Lovecraftian weirdness and occult dangers. Then he gets volunteered for a bit of field work....

[Turelio]

I just read through this thread and two I haven't noticed listed are:

The 'Watch' books by Sergei Lukyanenko (Night Watch, Day Watch, Twilight Watch, Last Watch): It's a fantasy series set in modern Russia where witches, wizards, vampires etc are policed by a Day Watch and Night Watch, depending on their nature. The series deals mainly with a member of the Night Watch and their cases. Each book is three individual stories which form a larger story line. They have made two movies based on the stories n Russia, and I saw the first movie first, then read the book when it was pointed out by a friend that while the movie is great, the first book is fantastic. I've devored every one of them since from that point as soon as they are translated.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman: If you haven't read this before, please read it. I still try to read it every year. After reading Good Omens which he wrote with Terry Pratchett, I was expecting something like Discworld. I was sooo wrong, but loved the book. It's a bit hard to go into details on it without spoiling something, but I definitely recommend it.

I'm definitely going to have to start reading the Dresden books. I've heard heaps about them and recently watched the TV series, and there is something about the character which really appeals to me. I've also had a lot of people tell me about them recently, which seems significant enough to me to at least try them.

[Nathan Caroland]

I might have to get around to the Nightwatch ones one of these days, but I have to be honest, the movie put me off it a bit. Neat idea though so I'm betting the books are better than the movie (almost always are anyhow).

Ones that I've come to like recently are the Death's Head series. Bit brutal, bloody and almost primal but really like the series so far. Of course the third book in they go to hardback which just aggravates the dog out of me as I have to wait now as I like reading softbacks (easier to carry around too).

Rob Thurman with the Cal Leandros series is kick ass IMO. Book 5, Roadkill, just came out and I'll get around to reading it here in the near future.

Just saw the Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter - sort of interest me - anyone read them yet? Good or bad?

Mark Del Franco puts out the Connor Grey series - love them. Very cool take on the setting with Fey and modern day and it just appeals to me. Seems a bit more magic everywhere and in the open Dresden Files'ish to me.

Picked up the first book by Seanan McGuire for the October Daye series. Interesting enough to keep me reading though I haven't rushed out to pick up book two. Think it'll turn out to be a good series though.

Gail Carriger has a new series out called the Parisol Protectorate (Souless and Changeless so far). I've read half way through the first book, got distracted by other things and haven't come back to it yet. Liked it, but I wonder how much considering I normally never put a book down till I'm done with it, fact that I started reading it in January and never finished it ... Still, like most of it.

[nebiros]

I'll second Neil Gaimen and both Good Omens and American Gods. Neverwhere is also fantastic.

If you're ready for a really long read, you should check out the Baroque Cycle by Neil Stephenson. I'm working through the first in the Cycle, Quicksilver right now. He combines an academic's level of knowledge in history and interesting characters into a nice setting that have locked me in...so far. I just hope it doesn't all fall apart, as so many other series tend to.

It's hard to go wrong with Harry Potter. Great series and generally a lot of fun to read.

40k novels are my weakness. I've read quite a few. Most are bad. Some are good. My advice: look for Dan Abnett, Chris Robertson, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Steve Lyons, Steve Parker. Avoid C.S. Goto and James Swallow. If you follow that advice, the writing will be better, if not the actual story. And yes, though I didn't mention it Ciaphas Cain is a lot of fun to read.

[Seventeen]

Obscure White Wolf books by Robert Weinberg:

Masquerade of the Red Death trilogy great vampire series!

and

The Horizon War Trilogy focusing on White Wolf's Mages, who kick Vampires asses!

Great plot, pacing, and characters. Only find on amazon or as PDF files.

[jay]

You have to be careful these days in the scifi section. Due to the likes of the Twilight series and Blake books it has been infiltrated by what I call vampire romance chick porn. There are so many terrible authors churning out books about vampire huntresses and the vampires they love. It's ridiculous.

The same thing happened to me once before with the Clan of the Cave bear. It went from interesting anthropological historical fiction to bump-chika-wowow in three books.

[Loki]

I'm just waiting for George R.R. Martin to drop the "Dragons" book from the game of thrones series. That guy is worse with deadlines than Fantasy Flight Games

[ChaosLenny]

I hate to say this but the mother of my child hooked me on the HBO show True Blood (I'm not sure how that happens)...so I took the time to read the books by Charaline Harris...Dead Until Dark is the first one. Now before you judge don't get me wrong it skirts that chick vampire twilight stuff, but they are well written with a quirky sense of humor, and Eric Northman is one of the coolest characters I've read in awhile. Like I said don't take it serious it's almost I guess campy but I enjoyed reading it, and like I said the show ain't bad either.

Also Nancy Collins 'Sunglasses After Dark' is one of the best Vampire fictions I've read. Worth checking out if you can find it.

[nightgaunt98c]

I'll second Neil Gaimen and both Good Omens and American Gods. Neverwhere is also fantastic.

I'll third this. And add that Anansi Boys is a great follow up to American Gods.

[vhast]

I also have enjoyed most of what Neil Gaiman has done. Warren Ellis' Crooked Little Vein was an interesting read if you are not easily offended and have an open mind while you read it.

I really enjoyed the Real Story series by Stephen R. Donaldson. All 5 books were interesting, although the first one was a bit short and served to merely set up the rest of the series.

If you prefer you fantasy on the epic side of the street try out Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series. They are excellent, but very long. I would guess that they average about 1000 pages each. As an archaeologist and anthropologist he has exquisite detail in the creation of his setting, with characters that are well realized.

Another science fiction series I have enjoyed are the Avery Cates books by Jeff Somers. Really gritty, but fun, with some great transhumanistic themes running throughout. The first book is The Electric Church. The writing style is done in a way that grabs you by the short and curlies and makes you keep up or be left with a tender patch. Not exactly the feel good books of the decade, but fun, misanthropic good times to be had. I have only read the first two. The last one is waiting for me, so I can't speak to its quality.

I also quite enjoy Dan Simmons books. Illium and Olympos in particular stand out as excellent examples of "hard" sci-fi. They take place on a terraformed Mars and a mostly abandoned Earth years after mankind evolve to a posthuman state, and deals with the aftermath of our arrogant abuse of quantum physics and genetic tinkering. In the setting the story of Troy and Greece is played out over and over again with artificially created "Gods" attempting to sway the course the war with their chosen heroes with the remnants of humanity and a rogue A.I. or two try to figure out what has happened to the original habitants of Earth, and why this historical war is being replayed on Mars.

If any of this sci-fi stuff piques your interest I will plug an excellent RPG called Eclipse Phase by Posthuman studios. Amazing fluff and their resource section points towards some really neat non-fiction material that tackles some interesting questions.

Speaking of non-fiction, Freakonomics and Superfreakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephan Dubner are excellent books, with some interesting discussions about odd facts, and how they tie together. Fun chapters with titles like "School Teachers and Sumo Wrestlers" keep you wondering where they are headed next.

Sorry for my lack of vampire, werewolf porn, but I will have to admit to also being a sucker for the "good" 40K books, with Dan Abnett being my favorite. Many of the other authors are lacking, but can still churn out a mildly entertaining romp from time to time. And Dresden is a blast to read. I liked Butcher's Dresden series enough to buy the first two books of his fantasy series and am waiting to dive into them.

Cheers, and enjoy some summertime reading!

[jmp_mydog]

I've been using this site called shelfari.com to track my reading and rate books. It's pretty cool for anyone obsessive about books.

[Nathan Caroland]

Cool.

I'm going to give this one a try - damn lot of books though.

[shawnreed343]

Considering my taste in books is primarily sci-fi/fantasy, I'd like to give some thoughts and opinions for books and authors if anyone is interested.

Like many, I've read Robert Jordan's 'Wheel of Time'. It is enjoyable, but I would not call it my favorite. And unfortunately I think Terry Goodkind smacks a bit too much of Jordan influences. Great things about them- they're expansive, they have a wide scope and vision, and they give you those moments that are like 'I KNEW it would happen!' and it's a joy when things go the way you think. But it feels like you get lost along the way and the urgency seems to go out of it as the series keeps going.

George R.R. Martin is another author I quite like- his Fire and Ice series is gritty, and I especially enjoyed the first couple books. I felt let down with 'A Feast For Crows', though- in part because it seemed he focused on most of the characters I had little interest in while setting aside many I do enjoy; and I still fail to find any connective cohesiveness between the divergent viewpoints other than a loose nationwide level. He's not afraid of being brutal to main characters, though- something I actually like in my way. It almost feels like a reality TV series where you hope your favorite main character won't be offed.

Honestly, I'd have to say my favorite two authors are Brent Weeks (The Night Angels Trilogy) which is written very masterfully and simply gets better the further along you get. And Glen Cook (Chronicles of the Black Company, and other Black Company books)- who writes in an almost journalesque fashion giving a truly refreshing style to the fantasy genre. His stories make what would be the epic-level villains still human, simply posessed of power. Not always do they have the capacity to use such power smartly- while other times they display suprising cunning. I think that us vs them rather than good vs evil viewpoint is something I admire deeply simply in being difficult to come by in traditional fantasy.

Other great reads include Frank Herbert's 'Dune', Mercedes Lackey's 'Griffon' trilogy (part of a larger series, though I enjoyed the rest much less), and 'Rider at the Gates' (a 2-part story). Many of the earlier books in Anne McCaffrey's 'Pern' series (some of the latter get a bit weird), Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's collaboration on 'The Deathgate Cycle', as an enjoyable traditional high fantasy romp, and Terry Brooks with his Shannara books (some are better than others and they seem quite familiar after a while, but still enjoyable). Likewise an author I can't remember the name of who wrote the 'Redwall' books. Also very familiar after a while but enjoyable- my favorite among them probably 'Salamandastron'. Hope I may have helped.

[AvatarForm]

WoT lost is between books 6-9, however, the latest offering (not by Jordan) is finally making some sense again.

RE: Robin Hobb - just got into her, please no spoilers!

Also, I will read anything by Pratchett, Gemell and Feist.

[infinite_array]

Hey guys, thought I'd toss my two cents in.

I was walking through the local book store one day when a Stephen King novel caught my eye. It was Wolves of the Calla, the 5th book in the Dark towers series (i have this really uncanny ability to pick up a book that's halfway through a series, and be able to actually get what's going on).

I was immediately hooked. I went back and began to tear my way through the rest of the series, finally ending with The Dark Tower. All 8 books still sit in my library, and I'm looking for a bookbinder to rebind my copy of The Dark Tower - it's beginning to fall apart! Honestly, I believe the story to be King's magnum opus, and I'm very excited in the fact that another novel should be coming out.

[shawnreed343]

Yes, The Dark Tower series is very nifty- and really very Malifaux like, as I think about it. I've read up through Wolves of the Calla so far; it is a great series.