Novel Suggestions

[jordanisonfire]

I'm kind of at a stand-still on writing, at the moment. It's sort of writers block... I would write, except I don't know what TO write. So, I've decided its because I haven't been broadening my horizons enough. I'm a writer of fantasy, but all I've read is pretty much high and low fantasy. So, if anyone has any suggestions for contemporary fantasy, as I haven't read much of that genre, and definitely sci-fi, as I'm a newbie to the sci-fi genre. :D

[Bowie20049]

Ender's Game, any of Orson's work. Maybe throw in some Star Wars for the hell of it.

[Nyx]

Yea just read anything you can get your hands on written by O.S Card because his work is amazing. Definately Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead & Ender's Shadow are all must reads.

[Carraka]

I know I've already said all of this elsewhere, but let's consolidate all of it into one post to up my post count!

Orson Scott Card -- I agree with the Ender series, but I don't like the two books right after it, Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide, and I hate Ender's Shadow for reasons possibly personal. Rest of it is all good. I think at first there's a lot about -- what it means to be a genius/freak -- but after a while, you're paying more attention to the how are they going to get out of this mess than any actual themes/morals. Author's personal views on homosexuality should be disregarded, unless it matters to you what the author thinks outside of his own writing.

John Scalzi -- Yay! Author's views on teenage writing should be regarded, although I still think that a different tone of criticism would have been more effective on me, personally. I already think I suck, and I don't want help thinking I suck more. But perhaps another half of the teens in the world are more likely to sit up and pay attention when they're told they suck. Series itself -- there's not really any way to summarize without spoiling it. Basically on Earth, there's an option to join the army after your 75th birthday, and you go out in space to fight aliens. So you have the life experience that comes with old age, but nobody knows how you can fight in that sort of body. Lots of action throughout, crisp dialogue, but there's also great stuff about what it means to be human (in the latter two books - the first one just sets up the rest of the trilogy).

GRRM -- Tuf Voyaging, collection of short stories based on a really smart guy who gets hold of a ship with the power to create/clone any organism, even made-up ones. And there's great stuff about what it means to be God. If he ever finishes aSoIaF this is what I want him to continue working on.

Jim Butcher -- Urban fantasy. Dresden Files. Private Investigator named Harry Dresden lives in Chicago. He has a brilliant sense of humor. After about eight or nine books, you also notice that the series is really formulaic, and there are too many characters on the protagonist's side that kick ass. But if you can enjoy the first seven books, I suppose it's worth it.

Sci-fi that's more classic:

Phillip K. Dick - Shaun probably knows more about him, given all those research projects. I've only read The Man in the High Castle and Do Androids Dream Electric Sheep? The former is an alternate history -- what would have happened if the Nazi's won. Besides the absolutely insightful insights on how Japanese culture could swallow American culture (wait, it's doing that anyway! aaaaaah!), there's also a book-within-a-book, which is fascinating in that the book details what might have happened if the Allies had won. Do Androids is ... yeah, I dunno what sub-genre. But it is about androids, and how similar they are to humans. There's also a movie based on it, Blade Runner, which I swear I will watch.

Isaac Asimov - I, Robot and Foundation. Both highly recommended. Former is more about how robots come closer to humanity, and latter is about socioeconomic psychohistory? Something like that. There's analysis on how you can predict thousands of years into the future by looking at the movement of masses of people, socially, politically, and economically.

Douglas Adams - A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I don't think I need to summarize this. In fact, you've probably already read all this stuff, which makes me feel guilty.

Other authors that I've only read one book from, so I can't really do anything except say that the one book I read was awesome: Robert Charles Wilson (SPIN, Hugo award winner), Walter Jon Williams (Conventions of War, space opera -- unfortunately, I read the third book, which means I don't want to go back and read the first two), Chris Moriarty (Spin State, really hard core).

Oh, I think Neil Gaiman wrote some contemp. American Gods and Good Omens (which he co-wrote with Terry Pratchett). I've only read Good Omens, but he co-wrote it with Terry Pratchett! That just makes it a must-read. And that one was about the coming of the apocalypse in modern times, with lots of humor, and every character humanized. I think someone on this site loves American Gods, but I can't remember who.

And you can also check out that always-famous Dune series by Frank Herbert. I loved the first book, but the second book just never did it for me, and then I never got around to reading anything else in the series.

And that is currently all I can think of. Hopefully you haven't read all of that already ...

[Diocletian]

Read Eragon by Christopher Paolini, it will help improve your writing.

[Carraka]

Dio, it's like you're new to this site.

--

But since you're a PI now, tell me where you got the impression that Shads is dumb.

[jordanisonfire]

But since you're a PI now, tell me where you got the impression that Shads is dumb.

From me. ;) Nice try, Dio, but I ain't that stupid. :P

Thanks for your suggestions, everybody. I'd considered reading some Orson Scott Card before, but wasn't sure it would be something I'd enjoy. Clearly, as its popular, I'd be a fool not to give it a shot.

[Starry]

Read Eragon by Christopher Paolini, it will help improve your writing.

Hey, reading Paolini totally improves your writing. It's like reading someone who's just started writing--you see their mistakes, see things that he desperately needs to improve upon that you maybe need a little work with too. Or you just laugh at it the whole time and it improvesv your self-esteem.