Fiction novels

[stochastic]

Anyone read any good contemporary fiction lately?  Any genre will do.  I finally finished my bookshelf and need some recommendations.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Damn, I wish I could recommend titles to you, stochastic, but I'm mostly a nonfiction reader of a myriad of genres, albeit I haven't read much since the joining of this forum. Although I don't read on a regular basis, I do keep a book handy, just in case the internet service is down, next to my porcelain throne. Currently, I have 978-1-84724-241-9 in the book rack conveniently located above the Charmin® dispenser.

I do have about 100 fiction books, in very good condition, that I'd love to give you, provided you pay the actual cost in shipping with Bitcoin. PM me if you're interested.

~Bruno~

[organofcorti]

Anyone read any good contemporary fiction lately?  Any genre will do.  I finally finished my bookshelf and need some recommendations.

Anything by Iain M. Banks if you don't mind having to think in your relax time. And of course Neal Stephenson, but the same proviso applies.

[FirstAscent]

Alastair Reynolds: science fiction space opera
- House of Suns
- The Prefect

Neal Stephenson: unclassifiable techno thriller
- Cryptonomicon

Dan Simmons: horror, historical fiction, thrillers, science fiction
- The Terror
- Summer of Night
- Carrion Comfort
- Hyperion
- The Fall of Hyperion

Jack Vance: unclassifiable space opera
- The Star King (Demon Princes, Vol. 1, Book 1)
- The Killing Machine (Demon Princes, Vol. 1, Book 2)
- The Palace of Love (Demon Princes, Vol. 1, Book 3)
- The Face (Demon Princes, Vol. 2, Book 4)
- The Book of Dreams (Demon Princes, Vol 2, Book 5)
- Planet of Adventure (Omnibus Edition)

Jeff Long: thrillers with a haunted feeling
- The Wall
- The Reckoning
- The Descent
- Year Zero

Bernard Cornwell: superb historical fiction
- The Archer's Tale (The Grail Quest, Book 1)
- Vagabond (The Grail Quest, Book 2)
- Heretic (The Grail Quest, Book 3)
- Agincourt
- Gallows Thief

Caleb Carr: historical thrillers
- The Alienist

Robert McCammon: historical thrillers and horror
- Speaks the Nightbird
- Usher's Passing

Robert Holdstock: contemporary haunted horror fantasy
- Mythago Wood

Robert Harris: historical and conteporary thrillers
- Fatherland
- Pompeii
- Enigma
- Archangel

Alan Furst: WWII espionage thrillers
- Night Soldiers

Elizabeth Kostova: historical thrillers
- The Historian

David Brin: science fiction
- Glory Season

James P. Blaylock: contemporary fantasy
- The Paper Grail

F. Paul Wilson: horror thrillers
- The Keep
- Sims
- Nighworld

Gordon R. Dickson: post apocalyptic
- Time Storm
- Wolf and Iron

Connie Willis: time travel
- Doomsday Book

Larry Niven: science fiction and post apocalyptic
- Ring World
- The Mote in God's Eye
- Lucifer's Hammer

Vernor Vinge: science fiction space opera
- A Fire Upon the Deep
- A Deepness in the Sky

Kim Stanley Robinson: hard science fiction
- Red Mars

Philip Jose Farmer: science fiction
- To Your Scattered Bodies Go

Orson Scott Card: science fiction
- Ender's Game

Nelson DeMille: thrillers
- The Charm School

Greg Iles: contemporary and WWII thrillers
- Spandeau Phonenix
- Black Cross
- Dead Sleep

Stephen King: horror
- Under the Dome
- The Stand

Dean Koontz: thrillers
- Intensity
- The Husband

What are you waiting for?

[FirstAscent]

I could put a star by each of the books listed above to indicate that the book is absolutely great, but then I'd be putting stars by pretty much every book. I only listed books that would be worthy of a star. Does this mean they're all absolutely perfect books? No. Some are in every sense and others might have a few minor shortcomings here and there, but they more than make up for it in the pleasure they provide in their reading.

Topics and themes with regard to the above books include:

- Cold war espionage
- WWII espionage
- Celtic mythology
- Human cultures spanning across the galaxy
- AI
- Ghosts and the paranormal
- Cryptography
- The Great Northwest Passage
- Medieval battles
- Vampires, Vlad the Impaler
- Detective work
- Climbing and spelunking
- Cloning
- Cambodia, post Vietnam War
- Time travel
- Newgate prison and British justice in the early 1800's
- 17th century witch hunts in the Colonies
- Alternative history
- The Third Reich
- Stalin
- The sophistication of Roman Empire culture
- Survival in a post apocalyptic world
- Genetic engineering
- Good and evil
- First contact
- Terraforming
- Resurrection
- The Bubonic Plague
- Serial killers

[hongus]

Phantom Tollbooth http://www.amazon.com/The-Phantom-Tollbooth-Norton-Juster/dp/0394815009/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332009984&sr=1-1

Best fiction book ever. Hands down.

[wachtwoord]

Peter F Hamilton is definitely missing in the list above. I'd definitely recommend him.  Otherwise: nice list

[FirstAscent]

Peter F Hamilton is definitely missing in the list above. I'd definitely recommend him.  Otherwise: nice list

I actually have some of his books. What would be the first one to read?

Also, have you read any on my list?

[TheOtherGuy]

Richard K. Morgan

Altered Carbon

[FirstAscent]

Richard K. Morgan

Altered Carbon

I have that one too. I read perhaps the first chapter and got sidetracked. I should give it another go.

[FirstAscent]

Anyone read any good contemporary fiction lately?  Any genre will do.  I finally finished my bookshelf and need some recommendations.

Anything by Iain M. Banks if you don't mind having to think in your relax time. And of course Neal Stephenson, but the same proviso applies.

+1 on Banks.

And if you're into old but real sci-fi, anything by Jack Vance

Jack Vance is on my big list above. About every three years, I reread Demon Princes and Planet of Adventure. He is unique and wonderful. No other way to put it.

[FirstAscent]

I am the proud owner of a Vance Integral set

I am well aware of it and I followed it during its production. I wish I had it. What I do have is a box full of about 50 paperbacks by him (including all the obscure titles), plus a few limited edition Underwood Millers.

Anyway, hopefully some of the other visitors here will pick up on the conversation here and give Vance a try.

[BadBear]

I definitely will check for some of Vance's books next time I go the bookstore (every 6 months or so I pick up a large batch).

[rini17]

Tales of MU from Alexandra Erin. Saying it's coming of age fantasy won't make it justice, it's much more brilliant than that

[stochastic]

I try to go the old fashioned way and go to the library.  I also use paper book swap but it is hard to find obscure novels.  I usually read to try to go to sleep.  It is the only way to wind down.

[BadBear]

I definitely will check for some of Vance's books next time I go the bookstore (every 6 months or so I pick up a large batch).

They're kind of hard to get in standard bookstores nowadays
(he really an old timer, started to write in the 50s or so).

Your best bet is to find a used sci-fi bookstore (and those are
also getting rare these days).

Amazon also  has a decent selection.

I live near a college town, and there is a huge used bookstore there, the size of a small warehouse with tons of used books/movies/games. Books usually range from 1.75-3.75. It's pretty hit or miss but I've found some good stuff there. I usually go there every few months to sell back the ones I'm done with, and get some more. Maybe I'll get lucky. 

[FirstAscent]

Vance's Demon Princes (both volumes) and Planet of Adventure are in print as trade paperbacks (larger than a mass market paperback), and sometimes in new bookstores. Borders used to always have it, but sadly (and I mean very sadly), Borders is gone. Between Amazon, Alibris and Abebooks, finding most any Vance book should not be hard.

Also, I must say, Vance's Showboat World is also a particularly pleasurable book to read. Click the Abebooks link above to see Showboat World.

Here is pretty much all of Vance's stuff on Abebooks.

[legitnick]

The Bible

[FirstAscent]

The Bible

Is it a novel, or an anthology of short fiction?

[organofcorti]

The Bible

Is it a novel, or an anthology of short fiction?

More like a series of vignettes.