Roger Zelazny wrote some excellent short stories as well. I enjoyed his Murdoch/Jenny 'Death Car' series-that-wasn't, though it ended with the second story and Jenny got the bad end of the deal.
Roger Zelazny wrote some excellent short stories as well. I enjoyed his Murdoch/Jenny 'Death Car' series-that-wasn't, though it ended with the second story and Jenny got the bad end of the deal.
Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
Codex Alera - Jim Butcher
Stormlight Archives - Brandon Sanderson
Nexus, Cruz - Ramez Naam (Nanotech that lets humans next work wirelessly and lets those born with it become transhuman/posthuman? What could go wrong... Everything. This book is amazing and has some twisted shit in it. That could totally happen given humanities....humanity)
Currently I've been "reading" (listening to it on Audibles because of all the driving lately) the Autobiography of Jack the Ripper by James Carnac.
Firstly, I am not a fan of autobiographies. Secondly, I put up with it because of my fascination with Jack the Ripper. I highly recommend this book because of the way it was written. I had read the first couple of chapters before getting the audio book. The way it's written, it really sounds more like someone speaking to 'you' and much less like a book. Sort of like that old guy at the bar who has a lot of cool stories that are just dying to come out.
Also, if you do decide to get the book on audio, it's done really well by the person reading it. The creepy and sinister tone of his voice sometimes is chilling.
http://www.amazon.com/Autobiography-.../dp/0593068203
I actually prefer the Audiobooks for Dresden Files. James Marsters is the Narrator, and he just SELLS every character, even the women. I enjoyed the TV show, especially Paul Blackstone, but I cannot read the books without hearing Marster's voice for Dresden.
That's alright and I LOVE LOVE LOVE James Marsters!
now that I'm in the Books thread, I'll go into something more comprehensive.
Favorite On-Going Book Series: The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
Favorite Completed Book Series: The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny
Favorite Guilty Pleasure Series: VTM: The Masquerade of the Red Death by Rob Weinberg
Favorite Series till the Author Went Insane: Anita Blake series by Laurel K. Hamilton. Everything after Obsidian Butterfly is a descent into madness... and purple-prose porn.
Favorite Series that Should Have Just Ended Years Ago: the Dragonlance Saga by Weis & Hickman. Loved Chronicles. Loved Legends. Love some of the side stories they wrote. But the longer it went, the worse it got, especially when they kept having to author world changing events whenever TSR/WotC wanted to radically change the game system.
Favorite Official Fan Fiction Franchise: Star Wars. Sometimes. Basically they suck, but there are a few authors that put out gold rather than crap.
Best Post RotJ Star Wars Authors: Timothy Zahn, Michael Stackpole, Aaron Allston
Best Prequel Era Star Wars Authors: James Luceno, Michael Reeves, Matthew Stover
And last but not least.
Favorite Book Series that Makes a Better TV Show: A Song of Ice & Fire morphed into A Game of Thrones. Sorry. I've read the first three novels, and have absolutely no desire to read another page of this doorstopper epic that has killed untold trees. But if you make me miss an episode of GoT, I will END YOU.
So, I've recently been super enjoying the Newsflesh Trilogy/Associated novellas and short stories by Mira Grant (a pen name for Seanan McGuire). It's a hard Scifi take on the Zombie Apocalypse - how it happens, how people adapt to it, and the political conspiracies and power plays that build up around in some twenty years after the fact.
And not just for the really well research and built Zombie Plague either - This writer is superb at writing emotional gut-punches. It's brilliant.
Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons is a must read!
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore. Do I need to say why this is awesome?
Fables by Bill Willingham. One hell of a modern spin on fairy tales.
Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. The main character is Fish Malk crazy.
The Post Mortal by Drew Magary. Fascinating perspective on immortality and the world resulting from it.
Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Nuff said.
Mogworld by Yahtzee Croshaw. Hilarious novel about a skeleton stuck in an MMO.
Goldeneye by John Gardner. Follows the movie exactly.
Loki by Mike Vasich. It incorporates the Norse mythology and adds a unique storyline that "fills in the gaps."
Yeah, the Hyperion Cantos, man. One of my faves, and I'll re-read it every few years. A shame that his follow-up, Olympos et al kinda... sucked.