I have a sudden craving for fiction

[HansBraggart]

I have not read much fiction in the past 4 years. Nonfiction is my preference because, when I read, i want to learn something. I have never been too into fantasy because, after reading the LotR trilogy and Narnia, everything else seems like cheap knockoffs thereof. As for scifi, I have never been too much of a fan save for the occasional Robert A. Heinlein novel.

Suddenly, I have the urge to read about a world that is completely different from my own. I want epic dragon battles. I want robots. I want alternate histories. I want to escape!!

What do you recommend, rebels?

Thanks to Steve, I want to read the Redwall series, and it looks like Philip Jose Farmer has some interesting stuff too.

[Oogiem]

Alternate History -  Eric Flint and his whole world starting with 1632

Epic Dragon battles -  Naomi Novick - His Majesties Dragon - Think Master & Commander but with dragons

Completely Different World - John Scalzi - Old Man's War

Mystery - Kim Harrison Dead Witch Walking - detective but with vampires, witches werewolves etc in an otherwise near current earth (slightly in the future)

Spoof - Sharyn McCrumb Bimbos of the Death Sun murder mystery set at a Sci Fi Convention

Robots - Asimov I Robot, the classic

 

Others to consider

Rob Ziegler - Seed - near future on this earth climate change, GMO's and disasters

 

Anne McCaffrey &  Elizabeth Ann Scarborough - Changelings:Book One of the Twins of Petaybee - sentient planet & its people

Paolo Bacigalupi - The Windup Girl also GMO and near future earth

[Nomad Jay]

The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. A modern day wizard working as a private eye in Chicago, dealing with the weirdness that is the occult world. Honestly, it doesn't get much more escapist than this and I mean that in the most complimentary sense possible. His other series The Codex Alera is enjoyable as well.

 

If you want hysterically funny fantasy check out Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. The first ones are closer to sword-and-sorcery satire but the later books have some brilliant social commentary along for the ride.

 

If you want groan-inducing puns, check out Spider Robinson's Callahan's Crosstime Saloon. It's also a good pick-me-up for when you really hate the world. "Shared pain is lessened; shared joy, increased — thus do we refute entropy."

[Katinka]

I second the I, Robot suggestion - you can also follow that up with his other Robot books, which I loved (Caves of Steel, Naked Sun, Robots of Dawn, Robots and Empire). For Dystopia, I've recently enjoyed Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake and After the Flood

[HansBraggart]

Alternate History -  Eric Flint and his whole world starting with 1632

...

Epic Dragon battles -  Naomi Novick - His Majesties Dragon - Think Master & Commander but with dragons

...

Robots - Asimov I Robot, the classic

 

i believe my wife has some of the Eric Flynt books. i will borrow one.

 

i gave the first audiobook in the HMS series a try, but it wasn't for me.

 

i read "I, Robot" in high school. good stuff.

 

The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. A modern day wizard working as a private eye in Chicago, dealing with the weirdness that is the occult world. Honestly, it doesn't get much more escapist than this and I mean that in the most complimentary sense possible. His other series The Codex Alera is enjoyable as well.

 

If you want hysterically funny fantasy check out Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. The first ones are closer to sword-and-sorcery satire but the later books have some brilliant social commentary along for the ride.

 

If you want groan-inducing puns, check out Spider Robinson's Callahan's Crosstime Saloon. It's also a good pick-me-up for when you really hate the world. "Shared pain is lessened; shared joy, increased — thus do we refute entropy."

 

i have seen one episode of the Dresden Files tv series that was on the SciFi channel back in 2007. i remember enjoying it.

 

i have read "The Color of Magic." while i have a lot of respect for Terry Pratchett, i have trouble with his work because it seems like he tries too hard to be funny, and his style is similar to that of my friend who has a habit of talking a LOT and going on and on and on with his long-winded opinions.

 

i have read "Callahan's Crosstime Saloon." i thought it was ok.

[Nomad Jay]

The TV show has some noticeable departures from the series, but it was my introduction to the series and I ended up liking them. You'll find some die-hard purists who loathe the TV show, but honestly I was just happy to have something to watch at the time.

[Endor]

I recommend David Eddings - The Belgariad still probably my favorite fantasy escapism, even after reading many others.

 

Sci-Fi type fantasy, I would recommend Iain M Banks - Look to Windward

 

Neither are particularly high brow but allow you to imagine other worlds, de-stress and relax your brain for a little while.

 

Fiction that is more thought provoking (blew my head off as a young man!) Orson Wells - 1984 or Aldous Huxley - Brave New World

 

I think it's interesting that you don't think seem to think you learn anything from Fiction. You don't get facts but there are definitely philosophical lessons in *some* Fiction literature. I got a great deal out of Dostoeyevski - Crime and Punishment it's pretty heavy going though.

[HansBraggart]

...

 

Sci-Fi type fantasy, I would recommend Iain M Banks - Look to Windward

 

...

 

Fiction that is more thought provoking (blew my head off as a young man!) Orson Wells - 1984 or Aldous Huxley - Brave New World

 

I think it's interesting that you don't think seem to think you learn anything from Fiction. You don't get facts but there are definitely philosophical lessons in *some* Fiction literature. I got a great deal out of Dostoeyevski - Crime and Punishment it's pretty heavy going though.

 

i gave one Iain M. Banks book a try (I forget which), and I could not get into it.

 

i read both 1984 and Brave New World as summer reading assignments for English when i was going into the 11th grade. this was the summer that i hated summer leading the least.

 

i agree with the argument that there is knowledge to be gained by reading fiction. not only do you learn philosophical lessons, as you mentioned, but there was an article on ArtOfManliness.com which praised the phenomenon of how reading fiction enhances your intuition and people skills.

 

i guess, i could have explained it differently in my first post by saying that...it is hard for me to learn from fiction because i have difficulty reading it. by that, i mean that i am not blessed, as many are, with the ability to read fiction and have it play in my mind like a movie. i struggle to visualize what is going on when i read. that said, i am partial to articles and non-fiction because they are written more like essays in a matter-of-fact tone. what also complicates things is that, while some people have short attention spans, i have a short patience span. i can pay attention for long periods without trouble, but i become easily bored when chapters are long, pacing is slow and action is minimal. there are many books out there i would like to read, like many of the really long epic sci-fi/fantasy books, but i just don't have the patience for them.

[Endor]

Ah in that case you should read the Legend of Drizzt series, action galore to hold your attention.

[JasontheKiwi]

I was in the same boat... Years ago I'd read the Terry Goodkind series and loved it. And I had tried but not found anything quite as captivating. About a month or two back I picked up magician by raymond e feist... I'm now onto the 5th book and cant put it down. It's got everything. magic, wizards, dragons, pirates, thief's, beautiful princesses and hero's... def worth a read. 

[Endor]

I was in the same boat... Years ago I'd read the Terry Goodkind series and loved it. And I had tried but not found anything quite as captivating. About a month or two back I picked up magician by raymond e feist... I'm now onto the 5th book and cant put it down. It's got everything. magic, wizards, dragons, pirates, thief's, beautiful princesses and hero's... def worth a read. 

 

Yes I agree, those Raymond Feist books were good.

[Tazo]

I second the Redwall series (one of my favorites as a kid), here's a recent Sci-fi you might enjoy, although it's kind of techy, it works because at it's beating heart, it's a big HEIST story.

The Quantum Thief

[WordSmith]

The Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks was pretty entertaining.
 

I second David Eddings The Belagariad

 

Game of Thrones is a pretty good series, I'm only on the 4th book though so I can't vouch for the whole thing.

 

Orson Scott Card's Ender series and Ender's Shadow series I both HIGHLY recommend. Though the first series doesn't have so much action.

 

The Magic Kingdom of Landover series by Terry Brooks is a pretty funny fantasy series.

 

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King was also mostly awesome.

 

The Draonglance Chronicles and The Dragonlance Legends are also both good series with my all time favorite good guy gone bad Raistlin Majere

 

And for my last recommendation The Elminster Series by Ed Greenwood.

[Tarmac]

I second The Dark Tower series...I was a fan, up until the last book. 

 

I think Steve brought it up in one of his articles, but the Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss is also fantasic in terms of immersive fantasy. I quite enjoy it. Additionally, if weird fiction is your thing, I would highly recommend the Bas-Lag trilogy by China Mieville - it can be a little weird to get into, but it's fantastic.

 

Another read I enjoyed recently was "The Magicians" by Lev Grossman - very immersive, very well-written, dark fantasy. I've heard people compare it to Harry Potter before, but this is to Harry Potter what a shot of whiskey is to a glass of milk. Highly, highly recommend it.

[PJRILSTU]

My favorite book of all time: Watership Down

 

It's like lord of the rings, but with bunnies. Like not Redwall anthropomorphized... but like real bunnies. Don't knock it til you read it. I read it in my late twenties and even bought extra copies from the used bookstore to pass out to my friends.

 

 

Also, I third the Dark Tower Series. I am working through all of Kings stuff. Great storyteller - though he often rushes through the endings. May I suggest though: the audiobooks of the dark tower - at least for the first four books. The reader was great and it really helped my commute fly by!

[fengor]

I can recommend charles tross merchant princes series for alternate worlds, he has a pretty good grasp on sci fi as well and you might like his near future and far future books.

 

For a bit of tech thriller i can recommend Daniel Suarez Daemon books.

 

Nerd/Cthulhu crossover? Stross again with his laundry files novels.

 

epic fantasy? try the books of malazan or classics like wheel of time.

 

hacker novels? everything from the stealing the network series. especialy "how to own a continent" 

[HansBraggart]

I can recommend charles tross merchant princes series for alternate worlds, he has a pretty good grasp on sci fi as well and you might like his near future and far future books.

 

For a bit of tech thriller i can recommend Daniel Suarez Daemon books.

 

Nerd/Cthulhu crossover? Stross again with his laundry files novels.

 

epic fantasy? try the books of malazan or classics like wheel of time.

 

hacker novels? everything from the stealing the network series. especialy "how to own a continent" 

 

wow! those all sound interesting, i will give them a try. thanks for the tip!

[Timmy M]

as mentioned the Night Angel Trilogy is a pretty good fantasy series, A Song of Fire and Ice (game of thrones) is good but 'Feast of Crows' drags like a madafacker, can't remember why but a college buddy of mine agrees, i'll also add The Way of Kings, its an epic fantasy novel by Brandon Sanderson that, though slow in the beginning (and with a few random looks at other places of the world due to it being the first of a massive series it needs to do a bit of 'worldbuilding') but it's become one of my favourites after one read, Kaladin (main character) is a freaking legend

 

speaking of legends there's Druss the Legend who needs mentioning, written by David Gemmell 'Legend' and the other books in his 'Drenai' series a worth a read (if a bit samey, but still good fun and fairly short) 

 

all the above a fantasy so if you fancy dipping into the genre again i'd say these are pretty good... i have a thing for medievaly fantasy  

[Guest asdf]

Some great reads from childhood that I remember were things like Artemis Fowl, A Wrinkle in Time, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Hungry City Chronicles and His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman. All really great and most definitely filled with new worlds to get lost in. 

[Hero]

Just to throw in my own two cents: the Farsala Trilogy by Hilari Bell. It's a great combination of geopolitical plotting, mystical tribal traditions, and character development.

[swe]

I have never read any series that drew me in as much as "his dark materials". Especially the third book where a certain part actually made upset for days afterwards and still does now when I read it. Pullman is just so amazing at describing wordls and emotions that you get completely sucked in.

Not sure it's a good idea that he's making a fourth book considering that the ending of the third was perfect but I do recommend them strongly

[Maj. Bloodnok]

Second the recommendation for Charles Stross' books.  "The Atrocity Archives" series is wonderfully funny and action-packed; sort of Jason Bourne vs. Cthulhu.  "Halting State" and "Rule 34" are sort of 'ten-minutes-into-the-future" thrillers that somehow manage to make high finance exciting.

 

For fantasy, you might want to look at Jonathan Stroud's "Bartimaeus" trilogy.  It's YA fiction, but it's really well-written. A modern England dominated by magicians, facing both international war and internal rebellion.  Demons! Intrigue! A 5000-year-old genie who talks like Douglas Adams!  A dancing skeleton named Honorius!  Gruesome murders! Big fun!

[Pat G]

A good light read I found recently are the Shadow Ops books by Myke Cole. Cross between Xmen and Rainbow 6. Only 2 books so far, storyline unfinished. 

[HansBraggart]

Cross between Xmen and Rainbow 6....

 

hmm, that sounds like Alpha Flight!