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Captain Hotbutt posted:I recently picked up Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt's Doomed Quest to Clean up Sin-loving New York on an impulse buy, but it's flipped a switch in my brain and I'm becoming quite interested in 1880s - 1910s New York City history. Any fiction or non-fiction that revels in the grimier, more criminal aspects of the city during that time? Not necessarily interested in Great Gatsby-esque examinations of the American Dream but I'm open to suggestions like that if its deemed essential reading by you fine folks. Mike Dash's Satan's Circus. Police corruption with some stories about the dying days of the Tammany machine.
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Oct 13, 2016 02:18
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Human Tornada posted:I'm looking for some breezy sword and sorcery books with more of an emphasis on action/adventure and less on magical mumbo jumbo and prophecies (a little magic is fine). Preferably part of a series and/or available in audio form. Karl Edward Wagner's Kane series
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Oct 13, 2016 03:04
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Borneo Jimmy posted:Karl Edward Wagner's Kane series That's not a very good fit for what Human Tornada was looking for, but a solid recommendation nonetheless.
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Oct 13, 2016 04:21
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Thanks for the suggestions! My eyes are open and my to-read list grows ever larger. I'll probably read The Alienist first because it seems like the "lightest" out of all of them - but who knows where my motivation will take me?
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Oct 14, 2016 02:38
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Thanks for the recommends guys a lot of these look promising. I'm still looking for a couple of cyberpunk books. I don't even know if that's the right genre, really. I'm more interested in Blade Runner or Johnny Mnemonic type atmosphere than deep explorations of technology and society or whatever. I see Neuromancer mentioned a lot, would that fit the bill?
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Oct 14, 2016 03:01
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Human Tornada posted:Thanks for the recommends guys a lot of these look promising. I'm still looking for a couple of cyberpunk books. I don't even know if that's the right genre, really. I'm more interested in Blade Runner or Johnny Mnemonic type atmosphere than deep explorations of technology and society or whatever. I see Neuromancer mentioned a lot, would that fit the bill? I'm not certain I would call Blade Runner lightweight. Neuromancer is worth reading, I think, although it might seem a bit dated today. (It's got a bit of the Citizen Kane problem -- it was groundbreaking when it first appeared, but it's been copied so much since that it doesn't seem fresh any longer.) I'd also suggest you take a look at Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and Norman Spinrad's Little Heroes, both of which are pretty fun.
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Oct 14, 2016 03:19
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Human Tornada posted:Thanks for the recommends guys a lot of these look promising. I'm still looking for a couple of cyberpunk books. I don't even know if that's the right genre, really. I'm more interested in Blade Runner or Johnny Mnemonic type atmosphere than deep explorations of technology and society or whatever. I see Neuromancer mentioned a lot, would that fit the bill? Neuromancer is great, and IMO aged better than its contemporaries. I think that's in part because Gibson leaves so much unsaid, and in part because humans are the center and humans don't change. You might like Altered Carbon. It's occasionally brutal, and not always categorized as cyberpunk, but I think it fits the pattern and it's really well put together.
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Oct 14, 2016 03:25
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Selachian posted:I'm not certain I would call Blade Runner lightweight. I'm only really interested in the superficial aspects of Blade Runner. The tall buildings and neon billboards and steam and noodles and stuff but still recognizably Earth. Lightweight (-ish, I'm not a total moron) stories set in that type of world. Human Tornada fucked around with this message at 04:26 on Oct 14, 2016 |
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Oct 14, 2016 04:18
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Human Tornada posted:I'm only really interested in the superficial aspects of Blade Runner. The tall buildings and neon billboards and steam and noodles and stuff but still recognizably Earth. Lightweight (-ish, I'm not a total moron) stories set in that type of world. Ah, then I rescind the Altered Carbon recommendation. You could read a lot of Gibson though.
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Oct 14, 2016 05:19
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Selachian posted:I'm not certain I would call Blade Runner lightweight. Spinrad's 'Bug Jack Barron', George Alec Effinger's When Gravity Fails, A Fire in the Sun , and The Exile Kiss, Walter Jon Williams's Hardwired.
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Oct 14, 2016 06:57
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Neuromancer is probably the novel people think of when they think of Cyberpunk. It's kind of archaic now though as in a lot of ways tech has passed it and it feels weird because of that. Snow Crash is definitely a good choice too, and definitely touches on the social aspects more. Plus you can see where Google got the inspiration for some of their stuff. Earth and Glass are pretty much ripped directly from Snow Crash.
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Oct 14, 2016 07:48
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I was asked by a friend to recommend her books/media with robots in it, and to my everlasting shame I can't produce very many outside of I, Robot and tentatively the Bolo series. So now we're both curious - what are some good books with robots in 'em? Ideally these robots are characters instead of plot devices, the genre isn't horror (no System Shock-esque AIs), and they're decently written. Note: AIs also count, we just want non-human metallic creatures. Second note: I hate, hate, John Sladek's Complete Roderick so that one is out.
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Oct 14, 2016 18:15
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If you're cool with manga you should read Pluto by Naoki Urasawa
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Oct 14, 2016 18:26
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StrixNebulosa posted:I was asked by a friend to recommend her books/media with robots in it, and to my everlasting shame I can't produce very many outside of I, Robot and tentatively the Bolo series. So now we're both curious - what are some good books with robots in 'em? Ideally these robots are characters instead of plot devices, the genre isn't horror (no System Shock-esque AIs), and they're decently written. Tanith Lee's The Silver Metal Lover for robot romance. Stanislaw Lem's The Cyberiad and Mortal Engines -- although they're more like robot fairy tales. And of course you could go back to the source with R.U.R.
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Oct 14, 2016 19:25
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StrixNebulosa posted:I was asked by a friend to recommend her books/media with robots in it, and to my everlasting shame I can't produce very many outside of I, Robot and tentatively the Bolo series. So now we're both curious - what are some good books with robots in 'em? Ideally these robots are characters instead of plot devices, the genre isn't horror (no System Shock-esque AIs), and they're decently written. Caves of Steel do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep Most of the Ian M. Banks Culture books Saturn's Children by Charles Stross (bonus: sexbot!) The Automatic Detective ( comedy robot noir) And of course the Hitchhiker's Guide books have Marvin
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Oct 14, 2016 21:55
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These are all excellent recs and I cannot believe I forgot Caves of Steel, of course. Thank you all! I've passed the recs along and as soon as I'm done with Tigana I'm thinking I'll hit up Saturn's Children or that Tanith Lee book. (My library doesn't have Stanislaw Lem, so I'll have to actually spend some money on a book for once, sigh.) e: Tigana is good, by the way. Finally got around to it and while it's not my usual wheelhouse the writing is good enough that I keep reading it instead of Charles Stross' Merchant Prince series. StrixNebulosa fucked around with this message at 22:03 on Oct 14, 2016 |
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Oct 14, 2016 22:00
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If you like Tigana be sure to read Lions of Al-Rassan
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Oct 14, 2016 22:14
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StrixNebulosa posted:Note: AIs also count, we just want non-human metallic creatures. Iain M. Bank's Culture series and Neal Asher's Polity books involve civilizations basically run by advanced AIs, because they outperform baseline humanity by several orders of magnitude. Ann Leckie's Ancillary books are about a starship AI that basically lives inside a human body.
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Oct 14, 2016 23:00
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Seconding Ancilliary Justice, Mortal Engines is good but not quite what was described. e: Caliban by Roger McBride Allen would be right up your alley. Also if you forgot the caves of steel I should mention there's three or four more Asimov robot collections Splicer fucked around with this message at 23:44 on Oct 14, 2016 |
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Oct 14, 2016 23:38
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StrixNebulosa posted:I was asked by a friend to recommend her books/media with robots in it, and to my everlasting shame I can't produce very many outside of I, Robot and tentatively the Bolo series. So now we're both curious - what are some good books with robots in 'em? Ideally these robots are characters instead of plot devices, the genre isn't horror (no System Shock-esque AIs), and they're decently written. Maybe try Made to Kill by Adam Christopher? The first line of the description on Amazon - "In an alternate version of 1960s Los Angeles, the world's only robot detective has been turned into a hit man by his corrupted master computer." There's a classic noir detective story, a memory/amnesia conceit, Hollywood glamour... I thought it was a fun book, but I'm a sucker for goofy noir books and genre mixes.
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Oct 15, 2016 01:51
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Looking for recommendations for books for a couple of 12 hour flights. Something better than airport fiction, but not, say, Infinite Jest tier. Entertaining but not garbage. The Count of Monte Cristo or Shogun would be good examples of what I'm looking for. Genre not important as long as it's fiction.
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Oct 15, 2016 03:08
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regulargonzalez posted:Looking for recommendations for books for a couple of 12 hour flights. Something better than airport fiction, but not, say, Infinite Jest tier. Entertaining but not garbage. The Count of Monte Cristo or Shogun would be good examples of what I'm looking for. Genre not important as long as it's fiction. Edward Rutherfurd is a good source for massive but readable historical novels, the same sort of stuff James Clavell and James Michener used to do. Another possibility: Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End. For crime/detective stuff, maybe James Ellroy's "L.A. Quartet"?
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Oct 15, 2016 04:11
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regulargonzalez posted:Looking for recommendations for books for a couple of 12 hour flights. Something better than airport fiction, but not, say, Infinite Jest tier. Entertaining but not garbage. The Count of Monte Cristo or Shogun would be good examples of what I'm looking for. Genre not important as long as it's fiction. Infinite Jest would be ideal, as it's not a challenging book
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Oct 15, 2016 04:55
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Selachian posted:Edward Rutherfurd is a good source for massive but readable historical novels, the same sort of stuff James Clavell and James Michener used to do. These are good suggestions but I'd say read the sequels to Shogun if you haven't, first, since you namedropped that specifically. I think the next one in sequence is Tai-Pan but could be wrong. Ken Follett's stuff tends to be kinda heavy on the rape so personally I avoid him. Rutherford's good though.
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Oct 15, 2016 07:09
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regulargonzalez posted:Looking for recommendations for books for a couple of 12 hour flights. Something better than airport fiction, but not, say, Infinite Jest tier. Entertaining but not garbage. The Count of Monte Cristo or Shogun would be good examples of what I'm looking for. Genre not important as long as it's fiction. Maybe try the Sandokan series by Emilio Salgari, about Malay pirates fighting back against colonial powers. I've only read a couple myself (the first one, the Mystery of the Black Jungle, and The Tigers of Mompracem) but they were fun swashbuckling adventure stories along the lines of The Three Musketeers or the Scarlett Pimpernel (which are also good options if you haven't read them).
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Oct 15, 2016 10:16
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regulargonzalez posted:Looking for recommendations for books for a couple of 12 hour flights. Something better than airport fiction, but not, say, Infinite Jest tier. Entertaining but not garbage. The Count of Monte Cristo or Shogun would be good examples of what I'm looking for. Genre not important as long as it's fiction. Do you like swashbuckling viking adventures? Then read The Long Ships - Frans G. Bengtsson.
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Oct 15, 2016 13:49
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Shardik by Richard Adams might work, it's been almost 30 years since I've read it though so my memories of the quality are spotty, but it kept me occupied on a flight to Singapore.
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Oct 15, 2016 16:13
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dordreff posted:Maybe try the Sandokan series by Emilio Salgari, about Malay pirates fighting back against colonial powers. I've only read a couple myself (the first one, the Mystery of the Black Jungle, and The Tigers of Mompracem) but they were fun swashbuckling adventure stories along the lines of The Three Musketeers or the Scarlett Pimpernel (which are also good options if you haven't read them).
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Oct 15, 2016 18:24
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regulargonzalez posted:Looking for recommendations for books for a couple of 12 hour flights. Something better than airport fiction, but not, say, Infinite Jest tier. Entertaining but not garbage. The Count of Monte Cristo or Shogun would be good examples of what I'm looking for. Genre not important as long as it's fiction. Aztec by Gary Jennings is nice and fat and a good read, and seconding Tai Pan if you liked Shogun
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Oct 17, 2016 03:59
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I'd like to start reading some modern sci Fi, but the shelves are loving full of what smells like poo poo. I really enjoyed reading all Frank's Dune novels, even the bad ones, so I'm just kind of looking to get a fix on some good world building again. I'm sure this is a common question, what have you got for me?
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Oct 17, 2016 23:59
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hubris.height posted:I'd like to start reading some modern sci Fi, but the shelves are loving full of what smells like poo poo. CJ Cherryh, does she count as modern? She's my hands-down favorite in terms of how rocksolid her world-building is. Try her Chanur series, or Merchanter's Luck, or Downbelow Station, or Cyteen, or her Foreigner series - er. She's written a lot, and most of it is good! Chanur: A single scruffy human winds up on an alien space station and runs into an merchant's ship for refuge. The heroine is the captain of that merchant ship as she tries to untangle all of the politics surrounding this human while still keeping her ship and crew afloat. The first book is standalone, the next three are a tightly interwoven trilogy, and the fifth book is a years-in-the-future sequel. Merchanter's Luck: Standalone book set in the A-U universe that mostly follows the adventures of a down on his luck pilot as he tries to find stability and crew while being haunted by his own ghosts. Has a lot of starships in it. Downbelow Station: I hardly know how to describe it, there's a lot going on - it's the flagship book of the A-U universe, a Hugo winner, and it opens with a starship fleet escorting survivors from an exploded space station to another one. Huge amounts of politics and drama follow, as it follows dozens of characters as various factions try to avert war, make profit, and just plain survive. Cyteen: Her other Hugo winner! One of my favorites from her, but it's hard to get into. In the human colonyworld of Cyteen, a prominent politician and scientist is murdered. The book follows her supporter's attempts to clone her and raise this clone so she can grow up to inherit everything. Questions about humanity, cloning, ethics, and so on follow. Foreigner: Cherryh's latest super-long series. It follows an alien world - a starship full of humans crashed on it (kind of), and it focuses on the politics centuries later as this human colony tries to co-exist with the highly developed aliens. It follows the diplomat from the human's side as he tries to acclimate to the alien's side, and there's all kinds of questions about what it means to belong to a culture, politics, love, and introducing technology to alien species in a responsible manner. The series is at its best from books 1-6, then turns in a sideways direction for the rest of it, and it's good, but it also feels - well, I'm reading like book 15 now and I feel like Cherryh got in too close to the world-building at this point and can't let anything go undescribed, so be careful if you read after that. I mean, I'm having a good time, but I am really, really into Cherryh's writing style. It's terse, and brisk, and it often feels like you're going through culture-shock as you acclimate to her settings and characters. Then you get a hundred pages in and can't put it down. 
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Oct 18, 2016 00:10
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hubris.height posted:I'd like to start reading some modern sci Fi, but the shelves are loving full of what smells like poo poo. World building is a disgusting ideological plague that should be eradicated.
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Oct 18, 2016 05:59
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hubris.height posted:I'd like to start reading some modern sci Fi, but the shelves are loving full of what smells like poo poo. Iain M. Banks' "The Culture" books or China Mieville may suit you. James. S. A. Corey's Expanse series is a lot of fun and has a pretty well thought out universe, although it's much less intellectual than Herbert or Banks.
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Oct 18, 2016 11:31
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It's there any good 'pulp' SF (for want of a better description) that doesn't turn into right-wing militarism and weird sex scenes?
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Oct 18, 2016 11:34
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hubris.height posted:I'd like to start reading some modern sci Fi, but the shelves are loving full of what smells like poo poo. Surprised Anne Leckie's Ancillary series wasn't already mentioned, but maybe people are tired of typing it... It's lighter on action and heavier on politics, but I found the narrator's perspective and the universe to be interesting enough to carry pretty much anything.
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Oct 18, 2016 11:39
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Sakurazuka posted:It's there any good 'pulp' SF (for want of a better description) that doesn't turn into right-wing militarism and weird sex scenes?
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Oct 18, 2016 11:55
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A human heart posted:World building is a disgusting ideological plague that should be eradicated. More like Bird Welding, to my mind.
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Oct 18, 2016 12:30
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Sakurazuka posted:It's there any good 'pulp' SF (for want of a better description) that doesn't turn into right-wing militarism and weird sex scenes? The Expanse, as mentioned earlier. John Scalzi's Old Man's War (although admittedly it does have a little bit of the weird sex).
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Oct 18, 2016 14:05
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hubris.height posted:I'd like to start reading some modern sci Fi, but the shelves are loving full of what smells like poo poo. The best SF world building these days is probably Ian M. bank's Culture novels. Scalzi's Old Man's War series is decent too but pulpier. I remember David Brian's uplift war series as good but its been decades since I read it. If you haven't read it and want old school grandmaster poo poo like Herbert, try Zelazny's Lord of Light.
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Oct 18, 2016 15:09
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Doc Smith's Lensman series isn't exactly fascist, but it is warmongering.
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Oct 18, 2016 21:16
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