Fiction Recommendations
HorrorFantasyOtherComic Books
A wise man once said, in order to learn how to write, you need to learn how to read first. I've been an avid reader since I was very young, and these are some of the books and writers that have had a great deal of influence over me. These are some of the books I can read over and over again, that never lose their appeal. New ones will be added as I remember them, or as I discover new ones!
Horror
Watchers, Dean R. Koontz
In my opinion, Koontz's best novel (although Dark Rivers of the Heart is a close second favorite). A classic dark science fiction/horror tale.
Firestarter, Stephen King
One of his older novels. I read this one and Salem's Lot practically back to back. What happens when normal people are imbued with amazing powers? What if one of them is a little girl with the tremendous capacity for destruction?
The Midnight Blue Collection, Nancy A. Collins
Post-modern punk vampire. Gritty, harsh, gleefully disturbing and violent with a fascinating supernatural underground world. Collects three Sonja Blue novels- Sunglasses After Dark, In The Blood, and Paint It Black. I feel that the two Sonja Blue books after the trilogy are less powerful, but I enjoyed the short story compilation Dead Roses For a Blue Lady. Darkest Hearts, the last Sonja Blue novel Nancy Collins wrote before deciding to put the story world to rest, did tie up a few loose ends from the previous books, but isn't required reading. Collins' lesser known novel Angels on Fire is worth finding. It's an excellent little tale of a woman who finds a fallen angel on her roof one day.
Fantasy
Faerie Tale, Raymond E. Feist
This was the novel that first got me interested in crossing fantasical elements like faeries with the modern world. Faerie Tale borders on horror. The Good Folk in this novel are capricious, often cruel, and dangerous creatures of classic lore, as they're supposed to be.
Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside, Holly Black
Holly Black's novels are categorized as young adult, but I still love them. They're intelligent, involving tales of humans of the modern world entangled with the amazing, alluring, and dangerous world of the fey. The writing drifts between lyrical and harsh, and never comes across as censored or dumbed down.
Mus of Kerbridge, Paul Kidd
A lighter high-fantasy tale of an intelligent mouse and a society of centaurs. Lots of action and well-developed, endearing characters.
The Dresden Files, Jim Butcher
One of the best series out there in the increasingly popular "Urban fantasy" genre, an impressive mix of modern setting, magic, and crime noir/hardboiled detective fiction combined with a cutting sense of humor. The television series on Sci-Fi isn't bad, but they don't do justice to the books. Harry Dresden is a main character you really want to root for. If you start reading the series from the start and read through to the end, you can see very clearly how Butcher has grown and improved as a writer, too.
Guardians of the Flame series, Joel Rosenberg
The series straddles two worlds: the modern world, and a world of high fantasy along the lines of any Dungeons and Dragons setting. The first eight books deal with a group of young men and women transported from the normal world to a distant medieval land where magic exists and the sword is a way of life. It's smart, and remarkably realistic, addressing all the problems of finding yourself in a new world with no way back.
After the first six books, the story becomes more about the politics of the kingdom and branches out into stories about other characters who are native to the new world, but still well worth reading. Especially if you like a Three Musketeers sort of feel to your fantasy.
Other
Alas, Babylon, Pat Frank
I read this in high school, but it stayed with me even years later. A tale of a small town coming together to survive in the wake of a nuclear holocaust. It's a bit dated, being set in the 50s or 60s, but still a wonderful book.
The Cat Who... series, Lillian Jackson Braun
Sadly, the most recent books in this series have been weak, but the first books of the series were excellent, centering around an ex-crime reporter and his brilliant Siamese cat, Koko. These were probably the first mysteries I ever read, so they hold a special place in my heart- Smart, fun murder mysteries with a diverse and often bizarre cast of characters and lots of appeal for cat lovers. Generally, the books were solid up to The Cat Who Wasn't There. After that, they start to slip.
Dream Park, The Barsoom Project, The California Voodoo Game, Larry Niven and Steven Barnes
I love this series because it bridges the gap between futuristic science fiction, mythology, history, and high fantasy. The Dream Park is a virtual-reality venue so immersive that the players become the characters and live the game.
Comic Books
Transmetropolitan, Warren Ellis
In my opinion Warren Ellis's best work (and that's saying something). Spider Jerusalem is a rogue journalist in a world a thousand years in the future. Crass, manic, funny, sensory overload, chock full of politics and bowel disruptor guns, but surprisingly human.
Top Ten, Alan Moore
Storyline set in a futuristic, other-dimension city where the cops, and most of the citizens they protect, are superheroes. The overall tone is sci-fi, but splashes of other genres are all over the place. Ran for a total of about 14 issues, then was followed by two very good five-issue miniseries- Smax the Barbarian and Top Ten: Beyond the Furthest Precinct.
Fables, Bill Willingham
What if all the characters from fairy tales were real? What if they'd escaped a war-torn homeland to settle in a modern city, in a secret community?
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