What are you reading right now?

[BrodyDaMan]

I've been reading Chronicles of the Black Company, and am currently at Book 3 (The White Rose). This is the best first person fantasy I've ever read, the world feels true and lived in. Every side character and villain are written so well that I could accurately predict their next actions and dialogue, they feel like real people. I can't recommend this series enough.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

I've been reading Chronicles of the Black Company, and am currently at Book 3 (The White Rose). This is the best first person fantasy I've ever read, the world feels true and lived in. Every side character and villain are written so well that I could accurately predict their next actions and dialogue, they feel like real people. I can't recommend this seriese enough.

I'm finding it nice, but I'll decide if I wanna grab the omnibi after I've gone through the first book

 

[AnOminous]

I've only really read his story in Dangerous Visions, but I figure a guy that adores the pulps he grew up with can't be all that bad.

I remember that now. You have to admit Edgar Rice Burroughs as written by William S. Burroughs is a pretty funny literary conceit.

 

[BrodyDaMan]

I'm finding it nice, but I'll decide if I wanna grab the omnibi after I've gone through the first book

I recommend getting to the second book before you make your decision, I found it way better than the first, and the third is just as good so far.

 

[mikebrown]

Joe Jackson - A Cure for Gravity
An autobiography written by Joe Jackson who wrote such songs as "Steppin' Out", "Is She Really Going Out With Him", "Got the Time," "It's Different For Girls," etc.

Joe Lansdale - Leather Maiden
Southern crime thriller/noir about an alcoholic reporter investigating the unsolved murder of a local college girl. Lansdale is one of my favorite contemporary authors, he has a way of writing very captivating and amusing characters, his prose is easy to read, and his tendency to set most of his novels in the dirty South is something I'm a fan of.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

I recommend getting to the second book before you make your decision, I found it way better than the first, and the third is just as good so far.

The Annals of the Black Company goes for 9-20 bucks used. Or I could go for the paperback omnibus in good condition for 10 or lower. I strongly prefer hardcovers>good paperbacks>kindle.

If I see it as a book in a decently priced ebay lot with a few other books I'm interested in, then yeah I'll grab it. I'd love to get The Book of the New Sun series by Glen Wolfe in hardcover or trades. But they're often a little pricey.

Kiwis, is there a list of the classic sci-fi/fantasy authors of the mid-late 20th century that you all recommend beyond Asimov/Heinlein/Clarke/Strugatsky/Bradbury/Dick/Tolkein/Lewis/the regular Nebula/Hugo nominees/winners pre 1990.

 

[Baguette]

I have already watched the series a few times, so I am finally getting around to reading the Game of Thrones book(s). It's such an easy read, I think I'll blow right through it.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

just read some Fredric Brown. how is this guy not more well-known or appreciated? this shit's enjoyable.

 

[Susanna]

Kiwis, is there a list of the classic sci-fi/fantasy authors of the mid-late 20th century that you all recommend beyond Asimov/Heinlein/Clarke/Strugatsky/Bradbury/Dick/Tolkein/Lewis/the regular Nebula/Hugo nominees/winners pre 1990.

I’d definitely add Stanisław Lem to that list. Iain Banks too, he straddles the 80s up to 2010 so technically is a 20th century author, and the Culture is kind of iconic for that very high sci-fi genre. You can start with The Algebraist to see if you enjoy his style, it’s independent of his other works, and very enjoyable.

 

[Oyabun]

On the Shortness of Life by Seneca the Younger, an amazing reflection written 2000 years ago about how to enjoy life and accept the passage of time.

 

[BallsMcLongDong]

Casino Royale. I'm actually quite surprised how much of a traumatized doomer novel Bond is.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

I’d definitely add Stanisław Lem to that list. Iain Banks too, he straddles the 80s up to 2010 so technically is a 20th century author, and the Culture is kind of iconic for that very high sci-fi genre. You can start with The Algebraist to see if you enjoy his style, it’s independent of his other works, and very enjoyable.

I got some old penguin paperback collection of Lem's Solaris- Chain of Chance- Perfect Vacuum.

 

[AnOminous]

I’d definitely add Stanisław Lem to that list. Iain Banks too, he straddles the 80s up to 2010 so technically is a 20th century author, and the Culture is kind of iconic for that very high sci-fi genre. You can start with The Algebraist to see if you enjoy his style, it’s independent of his other works, and very enjoyable.

One of my favorite Lem books is A Perfect Vacuum, a book of reviews of imaginary books.

 

[LateNightMuffin]

just read some Fredric Brown. how is this guy not more well-known or appreciated? this shit's enjoyable.

He was one of my favorite writers when I was younger. I still have most of his books in boxes in my attic. I loved him.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

He was one of my favorite writers when I was younger. I still have most of his books in boxes in my attic. I loved him.

I just found out that Brown, Kornbluth, Anthony Boucher, and COrdwainer Smith's complete SF works have apparently been published and collected by NESFA. Brown's mysteries have also been collected too. If I see any of these collections for under 15 bucks a piece, I'll consider grabbing them.

 

[Harambe]

The Fourth Protocol by Daniel Forsythe. Pretty good. Taut, fun, interesting. Will appeal to the rightoids here.

 

[liam dees]

I finished reading through the Eclipse section of Berserk Golden Age.

Spoiler: Powerlevel

Hardest cry I have had in a long time, I was so distraught reading that shit man

 

[an_ameri]

I am nearing the last 30% of Oathbringer, the third book in the Storm Light Archive. For all it is worth I genuinely like the book series so far, but I can see how many people would have bounced off of it. However, if someone wants peak doomer to bloomer motivation fuel I recommend the first book and skip all of the Shalaun sections since she is omega boring in the first book and does nothing. Overall I would give the series so far about a 7-8/10. Worth reading and keeping up with, but understandable if someone wants to skip it

 

[Alexander Thaut]

Wound up finding a batch of those hardcover "Best of" sci-fi collections from the '70s. Fritz Leiber, Henry Kuttner, and Fredric Brown.

They're fun. I think I'm gonna look for more of them.


Going through a lot of these old writers for sci-fi, I'm realizing that we just don't have an idealistic view of the future anymore. Like, I get that we've had more cautionary tales and explorations of human nature in what Asimov called social sci-fi.

 

[AnOminous]

Wound up finding a batch of those hardcover "Best of" sci-fi collections from the '70s. Fritz Leiber, Henry Kuttner, and Fredric Brown.

Kuttner is vastly underrated, possibly because he died young without having any particularly famous single story. He also published under the name Lewis Padgett (for collaborations with his probably more famous wife C.L. Moore) and a number of others, which also might have kept him from being too famous. In other early deaths, Cordwainer Smith who was mentioned here was a real life badass (despite looking like a complete nerd).