Books or Lit-r-cha Recommendations

It looks like Amazon (or at least the localisation thereof that I looked quickly at) has the Discworld books in audio format.

Edited by ArsThaumaturgis on Mar 28th 2021 at 5:20:42 PM

Amazon has a couple of them, but not all.

Fair; I didn't check to see how many it had, only that it had some.

Does anyone have some good suburbia/low-surreal horror books?

I've read through some Stephen King lately (and watching Twin Peaks as well) and I'm really enjoying the genre.

I've been striking out with a lot of books lately and I'm starting to wonder if I need to try a different genre.

Well, what are you looking for? I mentioned I have a lot of trouble finding good comedies (and on an unrelated note, I keep stumbling onto vaguely fascist sci-fi), so if that's your problem I'm no help.

If you're looking for a different medium, though, I'd actually recommend fanfic. Good fanfic for a fandom you like has most of the advantages of good literature, with the bonus that people actually tag their stuff properly. Not to mention it's free.

I think the problem was that I'm burnt out on adventure, whether it's fantasy or sci-fi or horror. So I'm giving modern mysteries a go with One of Us is Lying.

I want one of them stories where someone washes up on an inhabited island and weird shit is going on, Island of Dr. Moreau shit.

Is Michael Moorcock any good? I'm on a real Acid Fantasy kick since watching Mandy while tripping on shrooms the other day and I just realized that while there's a fair amount of movies with that vibe I can't think of any books except for maybe the Fantasy bits of John Langan's The Fisherman

My experience with Moorcock was Graphic Audio's audiobook of Corum. I've heard Moorcock described as an author with great ideas and lackluster characters, and if that book is any indication I think that's correct. His ideas are memorable and his imagery can be pretty striking, but the book could also feel disjointed, and the characters were passable but not particularly deep. I think I 'd still recommend it.

Does anybody know of a good Fan Sequel to Dracula that A) Does not turn the count into a Romantic Vampire Boy, B) Does not give the original book's heroes the Ron the Death Eater treatment, C) Does not have Mina fall in love with Dracula, the guy who murdered her friend and tried to kill her, and preferably-but-not-required D) Does not feel the need to retcon the way vampires work from the original book and E) Does not complain about the original book not taking blood types into account, since they were not actually discovered until four years after the book was published?

Try either Shutter or Dracula's Child by Js Barnes (though it's kinda a spoiler that Drac is still around in the former)

Anybody have any good sci-fi recommendations? Comedy preferred, but what I really need is something that's not bullshit pseudo-fascist or libertarian "everything has been great since we kicked out the snowflakes."

You might like this! A new-ish cyberpunk military novel, written on Spacebattles, the forum that had a feud against Tom Kratman. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/EncryptionStraffe

Comedy is a little weird though.

Edited by enderheisenberg on Feb 18th 2022 at 9:47:14 AM

I'm also looking for recommendations. My favorite books/series are The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Thursday Next, so something along those lines (sci-fi/fantasy comedy) is preferred. Don't say Discworld, because I've tried really hard to get into those (via The Color of Magic, Mort, Small Gods and Thief of Time) and it just does not grab me, unfortunately.

Is... Is that a common genre of sci-fi?

Disturbingly so. A significant portion of sci-fi is military sci-fi, and it tends to dive headlong into all sorts of pseudo-fascist tropes like an Always Chaotic Evil enemy, Straw Civilian non-military characters, and sometimes even blatant real-world nationalism where the author's country (America, usually) is leading the way despite all those stupid other countries (China, usually) allying with the evil aliens or otherwise sabotaging them.

It feels like it's gotten worse in recent years, but that's probably just confirmation bias.

So, the novel linked above, it's kind of two flavors of Lawful Evil fighting each other, the bad guys aren't unrealistic in what they did. Although most characters are military, a lot of scenes are them trying to figure out non-military problems where their skillset doesn't fit. Leaders of both sides have their own subversive ways.

Thanks for recommending my story, though if you want some really weird anti-authoritarian sci-fi, try Robert Evans’ After the Revolution?

Edited by teslashark on Feb 26th 2022 at 10:49:17 AM

Anyone has recs on books that make use of the early University intranets as a central plot device?

I want a read a fantasy story, but not a fantasy story about going on a quest, no going from A to B.

You're going to have to be more specific with what you mean by "quest." Basically any goal can be summarized as a "quest."

Cradle Series is a 12-book (book 11 comes out tomorrow) progression fantasy Spirit Cultivation Genre story where the protagonist's goal is simply "become strong enough to save my home from a catastrophe." He's never really going anywhere specific, it never feels like a road trip.

The Stormlight Archive is mostly about characters trying to survive a coming apocalypse in a few static locations.

The Heartstrikers is a Post-Modern Magik series, so maybe not what you're looking for. It's really good, though.

Edited by Discar on Jul 4th 2022 at 9:31:15 AM

I could use a good web novel.

No specifications.

Just give me something.

Just finished reading a book I recently bought titled "The Mermaid's Sister" by Carol Anne Noble. Not a bad YA book for those who like fairy tales and fantasy, if a bit short and cliche.

Is there anything like Neuromancer, but by a minority author? And that has women in the lead, or at least features women in highly important roles beyond the love interest? And by like Neuromancer, I mean in the sense that it takes place in a world recognizable to our own with the same (if slightly different) cities and nations. Because whenever I look up "diverse sci fi books", I end up getting novels that essentially take place in galaxies far, far away if you know what I mean.

What is Lit-r-cha or is that just an in joke and I'm not getting it?

I'm reading three books right now.

None of them are fictional.

Do they count?