On Reading...

[Amazon warrior]

Gotta put my hand up as a GRRM fan, too. My bloke got me the new minis based on the books for Christmas, and they\'re awesome! :bouncy:

I\'ve read the first two R. Scott Bakker books (himself read them, and I had to read them to find out what he was talking about). They are certainly powerfully written, but the only female characters are prostitutes (of various kinds) and most of the male characters are generally described in terms of their \"phallus\". I found this quite tiresome after a while, and it\'s really put me off reading the 3rd part, even tho I\'d quite like to know what happens. (I wasn\'t too keen on the rather hentai-esque monster-rape scenes, either.)

A series that I like a lot, however, is the first four of the Deverry series written by Katherin Kerr (the first is Daggerspell, I think). They form a neat story with a satisfying conclusion, and while it deos continue on after this, I find I lose patience when characters I really like leave the story because they\'ve died of old age.

Edit: Oh, and if you liked the Farseer trilogy, have you read the Liveship Traders? Also very good. Not sure I\'d recommend her newest trilogy, however. I read the first and was a bit underwhelmed.

A good collection of Neil Gaiman short stories can be found in \"Fragile Things\".

 

[mud duck]

Pimping for a friend,
\"The Rollicking Adventures of Tam O\'Hare\" by Scotty Roberts.
Semi (cough, cough) historical novel, based on some stories that he would tell his daughters at bedtime, hence the anamorphic charaters. Yeah ok, so the main characters are a hare and a squirrel, and Mary Queen of Scots in a fox, but I enjoyed it.

 

[azcrwr]

Yes, absolutely to the Steven Brust \"Vlad Taltos\" books...there are at least 10 of them, so if you do like them, you have a few months of good reading ahead.

You might like a fantasy/detective series by Glen Cook starting with \"Sweet Silver Blues\". There are quite a few of these and they are about a wise-cracking detective in a completely fantasy driven world...

Both of these series are older, so you should have no trouble finding them online and as used copies!

Wen

 

[freakinacage]

i\'d like to third ian banks

also would recommend joe halderman\'s forever wars for your little foray into sci-fi

i can\'t recommend any fantasy cos i don\'t really read any. tolkein is all i can recommend

 

[Undave]

This week I are been mostly reading... Winter King by Bernard Cornwell (the guy who did Sharpe).


It\'s his take on the Arturian legend. As fantasy books go it\'s alright and reasonably historically believable. Everyone is incredibly superstitious and the way the pagans take the mickey out of the obviously corrupt and hypocritical early Cristians is quite amusing especialy when they themselves are no better.

If you don\'t like copious amounts of rape and pillage then this probably isn\'t the book for you.

 

[Swordwind]

I\'ll put in a vote for Starship Troopers. Even if you only have a slight interest in Sci-fi its mandatory reading. You\'d never think that it was written almost 50 years ago.

GRRMs other works and short stories are good too. The Hedge Knight and The Sworn Sword explain events that happen just before the timeline of ASoIaF.

 

[DrEvilmonki]

I will put a word in for Enders game as well, a very simply written story but for me it really sucked me into his world.

I also love Intervention by Julian May. Great characters and a well told story about the emergence of psychic powers in humans.

 

[lono]

I\'ll fourth Ian Banks then. He\'s way too good. I\'ve never read any of his sci-fi efforts as Ian M Banks, but I suspect I should.

And as for Hunter S Thompson, he\'s just absolutely amazing. I\'m working my way through Fear and Loathing in America right now (collected letters from 68-76) and even letters complaining about sporting goods seem to somehow piss all over the work of most authors I can think of!

Hunter\'s reality is more fantastical than the content most SF and fantasy novels. Awesome!

 

[Sand Rat]

Tuff Voyaging - what got me started reading GRRM years ago - sci-fi collection of novellas.

David Drake - both his sci fi and fantasy are IMO well written - especially the Lord of the Isles series

SM Stirling - Well written character driven sci-fi in the main

Eric Flint - well written with a wry sense of humor.

and since no one else has mentioned him -

Terry Pratchett - see if you can find Good Omens since you have liked Gaimen.

Edit - and I prefer PJ O\'Rourke to Hunter S. Thompson - not quite as many drug fueled rants.

 

[matty1001]

Originally posted by lono
I\'ll fourth Ian Banks then. He\'s way too good. I\'ve never read any of his sci-fi efforts as Ian M Banks, but I suspect I should.

Yes you should. Well worth it. They are all based on \'The Culture\' so link together nicely.

http://www.cs.bris.ac.uk/~stefan/culture.html

Though I havn\'t read many of them yet, prefer his fiction.

 

[Fizl]

Cavern of black ice and fortress of grey ice. Definitely not childrens reading

Shaz