Looking for some interesting reads.

[TaiDaishar]

I've seen Cryptic suggest Neil Gaiman and I would like to second that and add Terry Pratchett to the mix.

Both writers are incredible (IMO Terry > Neil :) ) and the two of them combined ("Good Omens") is hazardous to your social life.

[DeeBye]

In every one of these types of threads, I always pimp Jack L. Chalker's The Quintara Marathon, but no one ever seems to acknowledge it :(

edit: Amazon.com linkage

[Treesh]

I've seen Cryptic suggest Neil Gaiman and I would like to second that and add Terry Pratchett to the mix.

Both writers are incredible (IMO Terry > Neil :) ) and the two of them combined ("Good Omens") is hazardous to your social life.
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Quoted for absolute agreement! I do need to read more Gaiman, but Pratchett is one of my favorite authors and not just for his Discworld series either (although the series is one of my favorite series).

[ShadowHM]

In every one of these types of threads, I always pimp Jack L. Chalker's The Quintara Marathon, but no one ever seems to acknowledge it :(

edit:  Amazon.com linkage
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I have not read that one, but I did enjoy his "Four Lords of the Diamond" series. Thanks for the recommendation, DeeBye. :)

[ShadowHM]

I've seen Cryptic suggest Neil Gaiman and I would like to second that and add Terry Pratchett to the mix.

Both writers are incredible (IMO Terry > Neil :) ) and the two of them combined ("Good Omens") is hazardous to your social life.
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I second Treesh's endorsement of the Discworld books. Terry Pratchett is witty and always entertaining. Granny Weatherwax is one of my role models. :wub:

[Treesh]

Granny Weatherwax is one of my role models.  :wub:
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Now why does that not surprise me? ;) :D

Edit: Every woman should have Granny as one of her role models. :D

[Occhidiangela]

Occhi,

It was a quote from his website.

And I'll buy the first round - of Guinness, not coffee. :)
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You will not get me to click on his website, I promise you that.

Nice try though.

Cheers, Guinness in the morning is wonderful. I wish I had one.

Occhi

[ShadowHM]

Every woman should have Granny as one of her role models.  :D

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Indeed they should. :D

Pratchett has created many vivid and strong characters. One of the things that I love about the Discworld books is that he has managed to make interesting stories about so many of them. The series stays fresh because he makes each book self-contained and doesn't force them to be linear. It is not necessary to have read previous books to enjoy the story line of any one of them.

The Truckers series has started to captivate my young sons as well.

[jahcs]

You will not get me to click on his website, I promise you that. 

Nice try though.

Cheers, Guinness in the morning is wonderful.  I wish I had one.

Occhi
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Luckily I didn't have to go beyond the first page of his website to find it. And there was no way I was going to thumb through Wizard's First Rule to find the exact wording again. ;)

[Rinnhart]

Raymond E. Feist remains a favorite of mine. Or, his early stuff does. His new "Conclave of Shadows" is garbage.

Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy is good and wonderfully short in the world of super-series.

Elizabeth Haydon isn't terrible.

And, the Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook. What I've read of the series has been very good.

On the sci-fi front there's always the Bolos series (which doesn't get pimped enough) and William Gibson (who has strong and weak points).

There's always America (The Book) if you need a laugh. John Stewart's other stuff is pretty decent, too.

[DeeBye]

I have not read that one, but I did enjoy his "Four Lords of the Diamond" series.  Thanks for the recommendation, DeeBye.  :)
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His "Well of Souls" series is also pretty good.

Jack L. Chalker is really underrated as a sci-fi author.

[TaiDaishar]

Also, for some nice reading, get the Hyperion series by Dan Simmons which I, at least, very liked.

Oh and just a reminder, if you havn't read the Dune series by Frank Herbert (slight chance) then you should do so as soon as possible!

[Tal]

At least Robert Jordan's elephant of a series is interesting for a few books.

I strongly suggest waiting until it's finished to read any of the Wheel of Time. Perhaps a drop in sales would prompt the #$%&er to finish the damn story.

He's doing prequels now.

Fricken prequels.
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If by "interesting for a few books" you mean "slit-your-wrists-out-of-boredom" I would agree with you. ;)

Jordan suffers entirely from diarrhea of the word. He'll typically use a paragraph where a sentence will do and a sentence where a word will do. Pare the crap down Jordan. :P

[ShadowHM]

Pare the crap down Jordan. :P
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Indeed. I am heartily sick of endless pages of detail about the embroidery on dresses, for one typical example. :blink:

[--Pete]

Hi,

If by "interesting for a few books" you mean "slit-your-wrists-out-of-boredom" I would agree with you. ;)

Jordan suffers entirely from diarrhea of the word. He'll typically use a paragraph where a sentence will do and a sentence where a word will do. Pare the crap down Jordan. :P
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Well said, Tal. I managed to force myself through one book. It became clear early on that the plot was thin and uninspired, almost a RPG plot. The characters were standard issue adventure types, right down to the 'mysterious lineage' bit, the few events portrayed were typical pulp cliffhangers, and the whole was wrapped in bales of cotton candy -- very sweet but unfilling.

Jordan is the poster boy for what happens when the ability to publish outstrips the ability to write.

--Pete

[TaiDaishar]

Dear lord, I should poke myself in the eye with a crowbar for forgetting Roger Zelazny!

I STRONGLY recommend his books, either the Amber series (and the sequal one) or his lone books like Jack of Shadows, Lord of (the?) Light and many more.

In all of his books you find this or that sort of conflict between the cold, logical science and the wild, untamed magic in various different platforms.

[Urza-DSF]

On the sci-fi front there's always the Bolos series (which doesn't get pimped enough) and William Gibson (who has strong and weak points)
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I'll second you on that one Rinnhart. I absolutly *loved* Neuromancer: it was gritty, cold and completly cyberpunk. However when I went in to start his trilogy I couldnt get halfway through the book. Having 3 seperate storylines in alternating chapters is confusing and I just couldnt enjoy it.

I haven't had a chance to read Mirrorshades yet, hoping that the short stories in there are actually good.

[Refrigerator]

Yikes, I can't believe I haven't posted in here yet!

I agree with Deebye; I loved Jack L. Chalkers The Well of Souls series, but haven't read much else of him.

Most of the other books in this thread I haven't even heard of! The Wheel of Time I've read a bit of, but I'm not even going to get into that here...

Anyways, my recommendations:

ANYTHING by Orson Scott Card. Especially check out the Ender's Game series. Must read, IMO.

I have heard the Golden Compass series recommended a lot, and so far I've only read the first book but I thought it was quite good.

Umm... shoot. That's all I've got right now. I'll probably think of something in about half an hour... <_<

[roguebanshee]

It is not necessary to have read previous books to enjoy the story line of any one of them.
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Though reading them in succession does provide greater appreciation of what happens.

[Arnath]

If you're at all into fantasy novels, I strongly suggest the Coldfire trilogy by C.S. Friedman. It's a really cool set of books with plenty of magic and whatnot to go around. In particular I felt Friedman's character development was excellent, particularly with the character of Gerald Tarrant.

Vijay Prakash