What are you reading right now?

[isalaide]

Rereading Neal Stephenson's Zodiac today since I thought about it when Just Stop Oil got jailed this week, and well, why not.

 

[IsaACKRepentance]

Guards! Guards! By Terry Pratchett. I'm a psycho who's been reading the discworld books in chronological order, it's tough to beat Mort and I really liked Pyramids but this is probably my favorite so far. Carrot has such crippling levels of tism its so funny and the Supreme Master and his cronies are great.

Pratchett just has hilarious banter, some of his stories im a little too retarded to fully follow but I love his stuff and I can't stop eating it up.

I would like to move to some other genres for a bit once I finish this one though, cuz ive read 8 in a row lol. Thinking maybe some sci fi. I'm a little embarrasingly new to reading for fun so still always looking for basically anything, but i definetly prefer books with a good sense of humor.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

Guards! Guards! By Terry Pratchett. I'm a psycho who's been reading the discworld books in chronological order, it's tough to beat Mort and I really liked Pyramids but this is probably my favorite so far. Carrot has such crippling levels of tism its so funny and the Supreme Master and his cronies are great.

Pratchett just has hilarious banter, some of his stories im a little too retarded to fully follow but I love his stuff and I can't stop eating it up.

I would like to move to some other genres for a bit once I finish this one though, cuz ive read 8 in a row lol. Thinking maybe some sci fi. I'm a little embarrasingly new to reading for fun so still always looking for basically anything, but i definetly prefer books with a good sense of humor.

sci fi with humor?
Douglas Adams Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is probably the top one on that list. Aside from that, there's Fredric Brown and Robert Sheckley's assorted SF work that often takes a humorous tint.

after those two, don't know who else. maybe some of Asimov or Jack Vance? They had a sense of humor.

 

[IsaACKRepentance]

sci fi with humor?
Douglas Adams Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is probably the top one on that list. Aside from that, there's Fredric Brown and Robert Sheckley's assorted SF work that often takes a humorous tint.

after those two, don't know who else. maybe some of Asimov or Jack Vance? They had a sense of humor.

Thanks!

I've read the Hitchhikers Books, well 4 of 5. I loved the first two, thought three was solid and four was kinda bad so i didnt read 5 yet.. maybe someday.

I will definetly give Robert Sheckley a look. His stuff sounds interesting! I'll let you guys know what i decide on : )

 

[Alexander Thaut]

Thanks!

I've read the Hitchhikers Books, well 4 of 5. I loved the first two, thought three was solid and four was kinda bad so i didnt read 5 yet.. maybe someday.

I will definetly give Robert Sheckley a look. His stuff sounds interesting! I'll let you guys know what i decide on : )

oh I forget. Harry Harrison can be funny in a way but I think that's just me vaguely remembering some of the Stainless Steel Rat audiobooks.

tldr Harrison wrote plenty of pulpy sci-fi featuring rogue-ish heroes in the Deathworld and Stainless Steel Rat books. They're easy to find online or in used book stores. There's also his spoof on space opera/military sci-fi called Bill the Galactic Hero. May not be to your taste.

as for funny fantasy, there's always Robert Aspirin I suppose.

 

[IsaACKRepentance]

oh I forget. Harry Harrison can be funny in a way but I think that's just me vaguely remembering some of the Stainless Steel Rat audiobooks.

tldr Harrison wrote plenty of pulpy sci-fi featuring rogue-ish heroes in the Deathworld and Stainless Steel Rat books. They're easy to find online or in used book stores. There's also his spoof on space opera/military sci-fi called Bill the Galactic Hero. May not be to your taste.

as for funny fantasy, there's always Robert Aspirin I suppose.

The Bossman Jack stuff recently makes me giggle at Stainless Steel RAT. I love stupid pulp stuff so that'll probably be fun. I'll probably try all of these tbh!

I think I just like "lighter" books. They don't need to be gut bustingly hilarious, but I think a fun quick read with some light humorous banter is what I prefer.

It's hard for me to say books I don't like, because I haven't read too many, but of the staples I've read:

Spoiler: my very minimal reading history

]I was a Harry Potter baby lol I'm a zoomer so I read them as a kid, I think they're pretty good but fall off later!
Percy Jackson I enjoyed the whole run of but I haven't read it since I was 13 so it's probably not as good as I remember
same with this series called Septimus Heap (Magyk is the first book) neat magic system but the story probably wasn't that good.

Then when I got back into reading as an adult I read:

Bernie Rhodenbarr - Beggars Can't Be Choosers (I found this as a random suggestion, I quite liked it! I haven't continued yet since I heard the series is pretty repetitive but I may try to look for more stuff along those lines.)

1984 (It was topical so I gave it a read, I thought it was pretty intriguing but yeah very different from what I usually read, I plan to read Animal Farm someday)

Hitchhikers Guide 1-4 (already mentioned this)

A Game Of Thrones (Thought the first half was a bit boring but the second half was good, I've never actually watched the show so I'd be going in totally blind here if I continued.)

Discworld 1-8 (As I mentioned before, great shit!)


And a couple nonfiction books regarding my work fields and some fun ones like "How to Survive History"

These are all I've remembered/tracked, I probably read a ton of slop YA as a kiddo but yeah.

Thank you for the recommendations!!!

 

[plgfarts]

Quarter way through The Three Body problem, it finally starts getting interesting but it really gives me the vibe of Physics Phd wanting to feel important as Mathematicians and Engineers are the ones actually doing shit.

If you're just on the first book, stick with it. The second one is really good. A bit more frantic, but well-paced. The third book, though. Goddamn it gets heavy.

I recently purchased a Nook and have been making use of LibGen. About 3/4 of the way through Camp of the Saints, where the President of France is about to deliver his speech.

 

[CryptoHermit]

Guards! Guards! By Terry Pratchett. I'm a psycho who's been reading the discworld books in chronological order, it's tough to beat Mort and I really liked Pyramids but this is probably my favorite so far. Carrot has such crippling levels of tism its so funny and the Supreme Master and his cronies are great.

Pratchett just has hilarious banter, some of his stories im a little too retarded to fully follow but I love his stuff and I can't stop eating it up.

I would like to move to some other genres for a bit once I finish this one though, cuz ive read 8 in a row lol. Thinking maybe some sci fi. I'm a little embarrasingly new to reading for fun so still always looking for basically anything, but i definetly prefer books with a good sense of humor.

Look up all the classic sci-fi pulp writers there's cool stuff there. I can recommend Gene Wolfe's The Fifth Head of Cerberus libgen archive and Cordwainer Smith's The Rediscovery of Man series libgen archive

 

[Commander X]

The Complete Cases of Vee Brown, Vol. 1 - reprinting of the first eight of the stories that appeared in the pulp magazine Dime Detective, perhaps the next-biggest detective fiction pulp magazine of the period after Black Mask, written by Carroll John Daly featuring Vivian "Vee" Brown, one of his recurring characters. Daly is often credited as the creator of the first hardboiled P.I., Race Williams - who was more of a gun for hire who kept up the rent on a tiny private eye office, by the character's own admission. Though Wiliams was preceded by an early character "Three Gun" Terry Mack. Most of Daly's characters were more like gunmen instead of detectives but while Daly wasn't the best prose stylist, he was a real storyteller and knew how to keep up the pace. Daly was one of the most popular detective writers of his time. Whenever his name appeared on a Black Mask cover, sales jumped 15%. Eventually, after an argument with the editors, Daly quit writing for Black Mask and went to their rivals at Dime Detective.

In these stories, of which there were fourteen in all published in the pages of Dime Detective between 1932 and 1936, we meet Vee Brown, an investigator for the Manhattan DA's office, who has gained a reputation as a ruthless hunter and killer of dangerous criminals. He's been described as a trigger-happy gunman, and more than a few people on the streets believe him to be as bad as the crooks he brings down. The man himself is described as looking delicate and slight, but he is not one to tussle with.

What very few people realize is that Vee Brown is also Vivian Brown, the "Master of Melodies". Vivian Brown is the toast of the Tin-Pan Alley music scene, a mild-mannered and cultured songwriter of popular sentimental tunes that has earned him a lot in royalties. He lives in a tony Park Avenue penthouse and has earned other perks from his secret side-hustle.

 

[Spectre Saren]

Bestiario by Julio Cortázar. Finished it last week. Started it cause some art hoe pointed me to the author after goshing about Borges. Imma be real, I don't get it. Just enjoyed two stories from the thing. One of them is about a guy that keeps puking live bunnies.

Idk man. Glad it was a short read.

 

[Wimbydong]

Bond Unknown, from Canadian publisher April Moon Press, which wasn't the first book to take advantage of Canadian copyright law that appeared to have made James Bond public domain in Canada.

Didn't know about this one, thanks for bringing it up. I know Licence Expired, an anthology of Bond short stories, used a similar loophole though. I guess my list of Bond literature to consume continues to grow...
On the same topic, I finished The Man With the Golden Gun today and looking back it's outstanding how Fleming was able to churn out twelve novels while maintaining a baseline readability even at his worst. Before I polish off the remaining short stories, have any bong (or non-bong) Kiwis read the (many) continuation novels?

 

[Betonhaus]

I get the feeling Sci-Fi/Fantacy (Speculative Fiction) is one of those genres that has a lot of flak from literary critics/etc. and goes on to kinda have the connotation of being inferior or "not worth the time".

Because when I mention I enjoy it, sometimes a midwit will scoff at me for picking "meaningless entertainment" lit.

Pulps, adventure, SF, fantasy. These are my big favorite genres. Detective stories are also way up there too. I have been meaning to get into more horror too.

I find that a really good science fiction story functions as a philosophical thesis, where they try to predict how the world would function or how would it be like after new technologies and concepts are discovered. The Lost Fleet focuses on how naval battle tactics would be used in a scenario where skirmishes take place at relativistic speeds and your view of the enemy gets delayed by the limits of light speed. The Culture is a near-perfect utopia and discusses how it would deal with conflicts, and what darkness could hide in it. Dust, Chill, and Grail asks what would humans do if they had the power to greatly alter their own bodies. Ancillary Justice gives you insight into a mind that has thousands of years of experiences and memories, and how she would deal with strange and unexpected situations. Old Man's War asks what humanity's place could be in a universe filled with strange minds, and Saturn's Children asks what would our creations do if we left them behind.

every one of those books asks a question, then builds an in depth hypothesis on the subject. and most make a very compelling read.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

I find that a really good science fiction story functions as a philosophical thesis, where they try to predict how the world would function or how would it be like after new technologies and concepts are discovered. The Lost Fleet focuses on how naval battle tactics would be used in a scenario where skirmishes take place at relativistic speeds and your view of the enemy gets delayed by the limits of light speed. The Culture is a near-perfect utopia and discusses how it would deal with conflicts, and what darkness could hide in it. Dust, Chill, and Grail asks what would humans do if they had the power to greatly alter their own bodies. Ancillary Justice gives you insight into a mind that has thousands of years of experiences and memories, and how she would deal with strange and unexpected situations. Old Man's War asks what humanity's place could be in a universe filled with strange minds, and Saturn's Children asks what would our creations do if we left them behind.

every one of those books asks a question, then builds an in depth hypothesis on the subject. and most make a very compelling read.

Intriguing.

I'm more onto the older side of sci-fi/fantasy but I do find it interesting as well. If they're not able to do the philosophical thesis or big idea, then they should at least tell a good entertaining story (like, you know, the Alfred Bester novels or the pulpier planetary romances and space operas).

If they don't succeed at making one think, nor succeed as good entertainment. Then the work is trash.

Example:
I really enjoy Clifford Simak. I think there's good bits of philosophy he tucks in there, but it's not in my face nor is it pompous. City and Way Station were genuinely well crafted, made me think about plenty of topics presented, and were genuinely entertaining reads I'd 100% return to.

On the side of being more on entertainment, Anderson's High Crusade or Matheson's I am Legend do have moments where you could think a bit about something philosophically, but they're just excellently crafted entertaining literature.
On the flip side, Zelazny's Lord of Light seems to be more about the journey and not about entertainment, so I'm reading it slowly. I'll probably finish it in a week.

Wasn't it Ursula le Guin who said that fantasy/sci-fi are all about allegory? That's a statement with, at least, some truth to it.

Honestly at some point I need to start having a long list of authors to check out when I'm in the wild hunting for books. Scalzi's name pops up a lot. Ian Banks, Neal Stephenson, and the like too. I know Liu/Tchaikovsky have popped up a ton.

I'm into SF/F as long as it isn't all about gay sex or niggers.

 

[Dick Johnson]

Guards! Guards! By Terry Pratchett. I'm a psycho who's been reading the discworld books in chronological order, it's tough to beat Mort and I really liked Pyramids but this is probably my favorite so far. Carrot has such crippling levels of tism its so funny and the Supreme Master and his cronies are great.

Pratchett just has hilarious banter, some of his stories im a little too retarded to fully follow but I love his stuff and I can't stop eating it up.

I would like to move to some other genres for a bit once I finish this one though, cuz ive read 8 in a row lol. Thinking maybe some sci fi. I'm a little embarrasingly new to reading for fun so still always looking for basically anything, but i definetly prefer books with a good sense of humor.

I just finished All Systems Red by Martha Wells, and it might be up your alley. It's scifi, the first book in the Murderbot series, and it's pretty enjoyable. Its plot is fairly basic and it doesn't really do anything interesting with technology, worldbuilding or other scientific ideas, but the dry humor in the first person narration of the main character (the Murderbot, a rogue security android) is where it makes its money. It's also short, so if it turns out not to be enjoyable for you it won't take a lot of your time.

 

[Bogdandoff]

Hyperion Cantos

 

[LordOfZhbagva]

Intriguing.

I'm more onto the older side of sci-fi/fantasy but I do find it interesting as well. If they're not able to do the philosophical thesis or big idea, then they should at least tell a good entertaining story (like, you know, the Alfred Bester novels or the pulpier planetary romances and space operas).

If they don't succeed at making one think, nor succeed as good entertainment. Then the work is trash.
[...]
I'm into SF/F as long as it isn't all about gay sex or niggers.

I completely agree and will also add on that a very large chunk of fiction, I'd say the vast majority, is poorly written when compared to (non academic) non-fiction. And that the overlap between poorly written slop and the non-idea-pursuing fiction (be it philosophical, religious or scientific) is very large. Which is why (rightfully) fiction is mostly considered slop.
I suspect it's because people who can write well tend to be intelligent and as such, tend to understand and encounter themes worth writing about and actually put the effort to make what they're working on actually good.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

I completely agree and will also add on that a very large chunk of fiction, I'd say the vast majority, is poorly written when compared to (non academic) non-fiction. And that the overlap between poorly written slop and the non-idea-pursuing fiction (be it philosophical, religious or scientific) is very large. Which is why (rightfully) fiction is mostly considered slop.
I suspect it's because people who can write well tend to be intelligent and as such, tend to understand and encounter themes worth writing about and actually put the effort to make what they're working on actually good.

I mean nowadays a lot of the intelligent people just don't have the nepotism or networking to do much. Not when every grad school hyperfixates on niggerfaggotry, when publishers are 90% women/niggerfaggots, and when most masculine fiction just doesn't get published on a widespread scale.

It's why I just simply say, fuck it. I'm gonna go read a Leigh Brackett or Edgar Rice Burroughs tale if I want adventure. I'll read Clarke or someone for ideas. Etc.

What makes me chuckle is that A. E. Van Vogt, a writer from the golden age of sci-fi was known to be lambasted by critics of his time for his prose being bad, still proves to be a rather entertaining and imaginative writer compared to quite a lot of modern fiction. The man had new ideas every 200-400 words. His tales moved at breakneck speed. He was given the title of Grandmaster by the SFWA because Harlan Ellison wouldn't stop shilling for his recognition. I read Slan and Weapon Shops of Isher and like.

Man. That was more genuinely entertaining and thought provoking than Handmaid's Tale or Parable of the Sower.

The other thing I notice is that time kinda sells stories. I know that I'd rather read an Asimov or PKD tale because the authors have reputations that have lasted so long. It's at least worth checking out anything they have. On the other hand, Shaniqua Goldstein's sci-fi book on African-LGBT DIaspora isn't something I'm ever going to be interested in.

Edit: Fuck "diaspora" literature because so much of it is overly shilled and 90% of it, in the modern day, is mediocre at best. We're gonna wind up remembering fucking "The Martian" or "Harry Potter" more than "diaspora" lit.

 

[Cemetery Support]

I'm currently reading Deranged by Harold Schechter, about the early 20th century child-killer Albert Fish.

Schechter likes to take creative liberty and write out scenes, but most of it seems to be verified or at least plausible. I've read Maneater by him, about a pioneer cannibal, which I really enjoyed.

While discussing comparable murderers to Albert Fish, Schechter mentions Fritz Haarmann, introduced with the golden quote:

Born to a working class couple in 1879, Haarmann was a sullen and slow witted child whose favorite pastime was dressing up as a girl. At seventeen, he was committed to the Hildesheim asylum after being arrested for child molesting.

 

[Echo_Ender]

I've been on a zombie movie kick recently, so I started reading some post-apocalyptic stories, especially Zombie ones.

Most are pretty standard, but I stumbled the "Newsflesh" Trilogy. And it alternates between being mind-numbingly boring and hilariously bad. It's supposed to be after a zombie apocalypse where bloggers and independent journalists replaced big media.

Seemed like it had potential, with bloggers able to get reports from "Hot Zones" and such.

But no. It's a "Political Thriller" about a presidential election. The main character is a "Quirky, but smart girl" who is a blatant author self-insert.

And her relationship with her brother is written so awkwardly that there's no way it's not incestuous. What's hilarious is that not sure if the author intended it that way or not.

I finished the first book somehow and I'm about halfway through the second one and struggling to finish it because all the main characters are idiots.

I wouldn't recommend it. It's a zombie series with almost no zombie action. Any GOOD zombie fiction recommendations?

 

[Alexander Thaut]

I'm like 40-50% of the way through Zelazny's Lord of Light and I really enjoy it, albeit at a slow pace.

However I've read the Heinleins in my short fiction anthologies and I kinda want more of him. He's just a solid writer and I wish the powers that be would stop trying to demonize him. I don't even get why they're calling him a fascist. A buddy keeps telling me to read Glory Road and Door into Summer. I'm contemplating it. But the same buddy's also telling me to try Poul Anderson's Three Hearts, Three Lions and Ensign Flandry. He also shilled Silverberg's Downward Into the Earth as well as. . . everything by Asimov. He just told me to grab the Foundation Triloy and the first two robot novels. That is, in addition to Fantastic Voyage, Pebble in the Sky, and End of Eternity. So, Kiwis. I may spring for the Anderson and Heinlein ones because they're pretty easy to get from the likes of thriftbooks or trading on facebook groups with local boomers. What Asimovs do you recommend I start with as short fiction collections aside from I Robot and the Foundation Trilogy? I've got the latter. The former is one of those "I'm bound to find an edition of it eventually because it's so damned widespread" books. I've got a good duo of Clarke's works in some '60s omnibus volumes and a good chunk of Bradbury's with the Collected Stories book and Farenheit. Are there any other "must haves" for the good doctor and the. . . whatever you call Heinlein.

(That being said, aside from the Big Three+Bradbury, who are the definitively Great SF writers of the 20th century. PKD, Wells, Stapledon, Brunner, and Herbert?)



I found the Illuminatus Trilogy and Slaughterhouse-5 in the wild today and I'm stoked about it. I'll probably save them for when I'm on my gig work.



Also found some Alan Dean Foster omnibus volume and a Robert Silverberg Collection of his earlier short stories. Might sell the Foster omnibus after I read it. I've got a large stack of odd sci-fi hardbacks I've found in garage sales and library stores that I just wound up not caring about and kinda want to resell them to get funds for books I do 100% want to read. There's this Octavia Butler Xenogenesis Omnibus I got for a buck, I tried to read it. Didn't interest me. I know she's a big fave of the lefties. I'm thinking of just making a big stack of the SF/F books I've wound up from garage sales and the like that didn't interest me after some reading. I've got some of the oddball posthumous Zelazny books, Charles Shieffield's weird body transferal series of Proteus Manifest, and a few others. I tried to give them a go but it didn't captivate me. Same with some of the tiny paperbacks.

I've been hunting in thrift bookstores for a copy of Edgar Allen Poe's complete works but haven't found that yet. RIP.