This is for adding a Search Category to the thread.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince trilogy.
Mage
It's high fantasy, but the visualization of the magic 'system' is fantastic. I've been fairly blatant in my lifting of it's major elements -- weaving threads, using gemstone colors, etc, with Star.
Vampire
The politics are phenomenal. This, and Stephen R. Donaldson's Mordant's Need have been strong influences on the political games that Asa has played.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Omg, there's someone else who read those books besides me?! XD I loved the Dragon Prince series. I read it in high school, it helped me understand a lot about politics and government.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I love those books. I've been stumping them here since 2009
They're both beautiful and brutal, with nuances to motives that most books lack, and then following through with them without being trite.
I didn't care as much for the Dragon Star trilogy, mostly because Pol was nowhere near as interesting as Rohan.
I'm also STILL WAITING for The Captal's Tower ~lol~
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Couldn't. Agree. More. I ended up reading Dragon Star only for the other characters I was attached to.
Further book recommendations:
Kim Harrison wrote an awesome urban-magic-noir series starting with Dead Witch Walking. It has a very interesting take on both magic, and how the supernatural affects the world.
Nina Kiriki Hoffman is an amazing author, some of her descriptions of magic are rooted in my mind. Fantastic imagery. I started reading her with Spirits That Walk In Shadow, a YA novel, but I cannot recommend it strongly enough. Amazing read. Technically the third book in the Chapel Hollow series, I still found it a great place to jump in. Also by Hoffman, check out The Thread That Binds The Bones and A Fistful of Sky.
I can give a big second to both the Mood Called series and Dead Witch Walking. They are both very entertaining reads and with great characters and stories.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The WoD can be explored by non-fiction too.
With that in mind, I'd recommend:-
"Hollywood, Interrupted" (2004) by Breitbart & Ebner.
Mark Ebner is a notorious PI and celeb journalist who has his sights set firmly on puncturing and exposing the myriad misdeeds of the rich and famous. For example, he was ahead of a recent scandal by several years, but has been vocal in his assertion that his publishing company (which also represents a certain well known 1980's US actor and comic) thus shut-down the book he wanted to write exposing the actors' alleged use of roofies. Hollywood, Interrupted is an unvarnished peek behind the scenes of the rich and scandalous. Surely those with money and power within the WoD would have all the furtive and clandestine depravity money can buy and the powerhouse lawyers to defend them.
I'm no expert, but I'd think anyone wanting to get inspiration for an Invictus or Daeva mind-set or biographical background would do well to pick up this provocative book.
Ebner and Co have a very lively writing style and barely conceal their vitriol for those they seek to call out on misdeeds.
His political views bubble through and (fair warning) they may not be in synch with everyone - but no one can deny the vivid portrayal of the many indulgences available to those with more money.
It made me feel a bit dirty for having read it. :/
"Flat Earth News" (2009) by Nick Davies
This depressing read could almost be a companion piece to 'Hollywood, Interrupted'.
Nick Davies (a UK based journalist) examines recent tabloid trends and scandals in the UK (illegal use of phone tapping, etc.) and the decline of honest journalism; the means by which disreputable journalists obtain stories and why blatant falsehoods become the orthodoxy of popular culture.
His uses robust research, practical experience and sensible (and verifiable) anecdote in a powerful account of why you should hardly ever trust anything you read or hear.
In audio-visual media, I'd recommend the 2005 award winning, Academy Award nominated, documentary:-
"Enron: the smartest guys in the room"
It's based on a 2003 book by former Fortune magazine writers McLean and Elkin, who looked at the corrupt shenanigans and lethal decline of Enron. Founded in 1985 Enron rose to become one of the USA's most successful companies yet succumbed to one of the largest business collapses in US history. As part of its decline Enron, amongst other misdeeds, essentially helped create and engineer (literally!) a power crisis in California.
Yes, it's about international finance and obscure business accounting processes, but you'd hardly know. It's a gruesome retelling of how Enron fell from grace.
This gripping documentary lost out in the Oscar's to 'March of the Penguins.' :/
Lastly: What links Saipan prostitution and sweatshops, the Bush White House, early Dolf Lundgren action movies and mob hits?
Well, to find out, watch a documentary from the same team which brought you the Enron expose...
"Casino Jack and the United States of Money" (2010)
It starts out like this...
It's late at night.
Two cars race along a Miami road.
The cars pull parallel. Gun shots ring out. A man is left dead.
It was February 2001 in downtown Ft. Lauderdale. The victim was Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis, a high profile 51-year-old Greek immigrant who had made a fortune as a restaurateur, real estate developer and shady casino operator.
Journalists and the cops followed the money.
It was a trail that led the murder investigation all the way to Bush, Grover Norquist, Karl Rove, and others within the orbit of Jack Abramoff - a powerful, perhaps the most powerful, DC lobbyist, with connections to the highest levels in the White House, Hollywood and dreadful people...
Perhaps you're wondering how a clandestine paranoid reactionary plutocratic oligarchy might try to control the world; or maybe you're thinking about how the Invictus and their elite ilk across the World of Darkness might operate. If so, watch this documentary.
Casino Jack (also released in 2010) is a fictionalized account of events featured in this documentary and stars Kevin Spacey.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chrisie makes a good point about non-fiction.
In the world of books that make people feel uncomfortable because of how real they are, what first comes to mind to me is Gavin de Becker's The Gift Of Fear.It is a book about predators and prey. It intimately describes what makes people be violent, how to tell, and how to react to it. It does more than just describe the realities of violence and fear though, it also offers solutions to some of these problems. Some of these solutions seem obvious, because they are problems you have not wanted to think about. The book makes you think about things, and sometimes you may be uncomfortable with those thoughts, but they are real. It is an excellent book for anyone interested in human predatory behavior, human prey behavior, violence, fear, and how we react to it.Trigger Warning
Sort of in the same vein is Sgt. Rory Miller's Meditations on Violence. In very practical, down-to-earth terms, Sgt. Miller brings his 30 years of experience to bear on describing how violence works, what people do, and various patterns of violence in society. On reading this book you begin seeing patterns all around you, in real life and in the media, such as a phenomenon that Sgt. Miller describes as "The Monkey Dance," a sort of dominance fight between males that almost always plays out exactly the same way. This realistic understanding of violence can help put a lot of things in perspective, and the book was partially written due to the frustration Sgt. Miller has experienced on what he considers to be rather poor and unrealistic depictions of violence in fiction. Could help us all, I think.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
It occurs to me, on reflection, that this is not actually a very good description of this book. It is a deeply empowering book (hence the Gift of Fear) that speaks in depth to how your fear can protect you. It seems a strange concept, but makes a distinction between fear and anxiety, worry, and panic. De Becker introduces fear as a messenger, a way your subconscious can signal dangers or concerns, and ways to make that signal clearer to your conscious mind. Once the source of your fear is identified, de Becker presents tools with how to deal with it, as well as tools for preempting common sources of fear or danger. I mention a trigger warning because the book contains multiple anecdotes of real-life situations where people have been in dangerous, painful, and even lethal situations. These anecdotes drive home what people are capable of doing, how people are capable of manipulating each other, and how we are capable of manipulating ourselves.
It makes you uncomfortable sometimes, that's real. But it also teaches you valuable, empowering lessons about trusting yourself and protecting yourself. It's a book I recommend to everyone I know.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I need to give Seanan McGuire another plug here; I recently finished reading her InCryptid series (as it is published to date, anyway) and absolutely loved it. It's not your traditional urban fantasy, about vampires or werewolves. Instead, InCryptid is about a family of cryptozoologists, people who have discovered that things like sasquatches and gorgons and chupacabra are real, and do their best to study them. They're also being hunted by a cult of genocidal hunters who want to purge such monsters from the earth. This results in a family of badass nerds, and stories that read like a cross between Indiana Jones, Jane Goodall, and the Fables comics. The series begins with Discount Armageddon, and I heartily recommend it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I've really enjoyed the new series by Brandon Sanderson "The Stormlight Archive". Only 2 books out of ten written so far, but the magic system is very unique.
It's also got a lot of "spirits" that can bond with people to give them powers. The main protagonist is a classic Black Tower Arrow Mage.
Draft this Post
