What are you reading in 2024?

[Ryujin]

But if you would be interested in a "Trek Deconstruction" by a different author, then maybe "The Fatal Frontier" by Matt Vancil (known for "The Gamers" series of movies)would be up your alley? It's based in a Capitalist "Federation." Rather than spoiling the story, I'll just link to the original Kickstarter description. It's available on Amazon.

The Fatal Frontier

Her first away mission since the incident could be her last.

www.kickstarter.com

EDIT * There's also a link to chapter 1 on that page, so you can see if you like the writing style.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

It's a light read, and not his most creative work, but I don't think it was bad.

However, if you don't like his writing style, then you probably shouldn't bother.

I'm more concerned that the wiki spoils the entire plot of the book in enough detail that it no longer feels worth reading.

Seriously, if anyone else is considering reading the novel and wants some surprises don't look at the wiki.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

But if you would be interested in a "Trek Deconstruction" by a different author, then maybe "The Fatal Frontier" by Matt Vancil (known for "The Gamers" series of movies)would be up your alley?

Thanks. Took a look at the sample chapter. Style's fine (as I'd expect from the Gamers) but it's a bit too mean-spirited for my tastes. I prefer something lighter and somewhat more positive when it comes to Trek send-ups - something like the Attack Pattern Tuggs webcomic for ex, although it does occasionally wander into NSFW territory so be careful if you follow the link.

 

[Ryujin]

I'm more concerned that the wiki spoils the entire plot of the book in enough detail that it no longer feels worth reading.

Seriously, if anyone else is considering reading the novel and wants some surprises don't look at the wiki.

I thankfully stopped before completing the first paragraph of the wiki article.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Pretty sure I'll never re-read anything by Brooks but if I did it would be that one, at least it was self-contained. Given the time it was printed in I'm still vaguely surprised it wasn't published as a duology or even trilogy. 700 pages was an absolute behemoth for a paperback in those day. Maybe the idea was to look like Tolkein but bigger and therefore better? Or did it just not have any good break points to divide the story into multiple volumes?

Certainly helped start the trend of fantasy paperbacks bricks, regardless of why.

They're definitely comfort food reads for me. I'm instantly taken back to when I was a kid and we were all reading them (a player in my group even had a character named Garet Jax).

The Sword of Shannara, for being a Tolkien rip-off, was still massively influential in hindsight. It feels more like a book from the 80s instead of 1977. It's kinda the turning point between the more gonzo, genre-bending fantasy that came before and the more codified, Tolkienistic fantasy that came after. And while I certainly could be wrong, it was the first and most successful doorstopper fantasy paperback book. Without it, who knows, maybe A Song of Ice and Fire would be a series of 300-page books.

 

[overgeeked]

I’m having a similar issue with spoilery chapter titles. If you want named chapter titles, great. But don’t spoil the twist of the chapter in the title. That’s a nice table of contents at the front of the book. Oh, I’ve glanced at the ToC and now I know every major twist in the book. That’s nice. Sweet, that beloved character we haven’t seen for several installments is back. So cool. Oh, they betray the main character in chapter seven, that sucks. Wish that was a surprise.

I read Scalzi’s Red Shirts years ago and really liked it. I was spoiler free going in. His style isn’t the best, but it works. I’ve also read a few of his old man’s war series. Pretty good stuff. Nothing groundbreaking, but worth reading if you dig the subgenre.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

I’m having a similar issue with spoilery chapter titles. If you want named chapter titles, great. But don’t spoil the twist of the chapter in the title. That’s a nice table of contents at the front of the book. Oh, I’ve glanced at the ToC and now I know every major twist in the book. That’s nice.

That's exactly the kind of thing good editing is supposed to prevent. Instead, you have to wonder if it was the publisher's idea rather than the author. Maddening.

And while I certainly could be wrong, it was the first and most successful doorstopper fantasy paperback book.

I can't say for most successful, but Thomas Covenant started in 1977 too and was pretty chunky itself as I recall. Those two series being as successful as they were probably explains all the later imitators, both good and bad.

 

[prabe]

I’m having a similar issue with spoilery chapter titles. If you want named chapter titles, great. But don’t spoil the twist of the chapter in the title. That’s a nice table of contents at the front of the book. Oh, I’ve glanced at the ToC and now I know every major twist in the book. That’s nice. Sweet, that beloved character we haven’t seen for several installments is back. So cool. Oh, they betray the main character in chapter seven, that sucks. Wish that was a surprise.

I read Scalzi’s Red Shirts years ago and really liked it. I was spoiler free going in. His style isn’t the best, but it works. I’ve also read a few of his old man’s war series. Pretty good stuff. Nothing groundbreaking, but worth reading if you dig the subgenre.

Back when I worked for the company that recorded audiobooks, I prepped for recording (meaning among other things, that I typed up the chapter titles) a novel where as the book progressed, the chapters got shorter, and the chapter titles--at least, the brief "in which" type headings, which I had to type up as though they were part of the titles--got longer, and more of the story moved into those headings.

 

[Clint_L]

They're definitely comfort food reads for me. I'm instantly taken back to when I was a kid and we were all reading them (a player in my group even had a character named Garet Jax).

The Sword of Shannara, for being a Tolkien rip-off, was still massively influential in hindsight. It feels more like a book from the 80s instead of 1977. It's kinda the turning point between the more gonzo, genre-bending fantasy that came before and the more codified, Tolkienistic fantasy that came after. And while I certainly could be wrong, it was the first and most successful doorstopper fantasy paperback book. Without it, who knows, maybe A Song of Ice and Fire would be a series of 300-page books.

I loved that book when I was a kid. I will never re-read because I don't want to revisit it through a more critical lens. I'm happy with it living on in my memories as a treasured book from my youth.

 

[Prime_Evil]

Hachette UK has just reprinted Sterling Lanier's book Hiero's Journey as part of their SF Masterworks series (under the Gateway Imprint). It's out in ebook form at the moment, but a paperback is coming soon. I haven't read this for a few years, so I'm revisiting it. It's a gonzo post-apocalyptic novel with a moose-riding cleric as the main character. It also has one of the best depictions of a druid in fantasy. This book gets a mention in Gary Gygax's Appendix N in the 1st edition AD&D DMG. It was also a major influence on the Gamma World RPG. The author was working on a trilogy set in the same world, but sadly only completed the second volume (The Unforsaken Hiero) before his death.

In other books, I've been reading the "John Dies at the End" series by David Wong. This series is a great mix of horror and comedy - very unexpected