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[recs] alt history/fantasy/sci-fi(ish) books
This is apparently what I do when I am asked for recs, so have some copypasta from elsenet:
ZEN CHO (most of her stuff is available for free online from her website). Ken Liu. China Mieville. John Scalzi (the Old Man's War series starts out pretty standard military sci-fi, give or take the QUEER CHARACTERS, but then turns into SOCIOLOGY and is FANTASTIC). Lois McMaster Bujold is incredibly problematic (I, er, kind of threw the most recent book in the Vorkosiverse across the metaphorical room ten pages in, and have never gone back to it). Ekaterina Sedia, with her Moscow But Dreaming. Patricia McKillip. Helen Oyeyemi. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrel, obviously. MAGGIE STIEFVATER (if you can overlook the whole Everyone In Canada Is White thing; if you can't, go for The Scorpio Races, which is set on a Scottish island). Jenn Manley Lee's graphic novel series Dicebox (available online in webcomic format; it's AMAZING). Ursula LeGuin, obviously. Amal el-Mohtar. Paula Rentz (Red Tape Stories from Indian Country is a great anthology). Madeleine L'Engle (A Wrinkle in Time, etc). Salman Rushdie, but ONLY the children's books (Haroun & the Sea of Stories; Luka & the Fire of Life). Susan Price (the Sterkarm trilogy).
Followed by further discussion of LMB...
I would recommend reading Vorkosigan up to Memory (9th book). From there I would recommend reading the fantastic AU-from-that-point multi-novel fanfic. :-p
Basically, it is sociology and I loved it, but the most recent book in it is geniunely so appalling transphobic (I bought an electronic ARC, wrote them an e-mail about this, and never got a response) that I am no longer willing to give her the benefit of the doubt on other gender/sex slips earlier in the series (that she DOES correct in later books). And as such I am no longer willing to give her money, but with that caveat am willing to suggest that people read her.
Also, I really like The Sharing Knife quartet, but I think the thinly-disguised magical nomadic race that lives in tribes is, um. REALLY DUBIOUS in a pseudo-US setting, when compared with the settled farming immigrant race...
The first two books [of Vorkosigan] are the ones I am most willing to give untempered recommendations for (they're bound together as Cordelia's Honour), BUT they come with massive trigger warnings for rape and violence against women (which are clearly flagged as Not Okay in-universe, but are still kind of horrible). On the plus side, one things the Vorkosigan series DOES do is have lots of key characters with disabilities, and just treats this like a thing.
Questions? Want more detail? Have at it!
ZEN CHO (most of her stuff is available for free online from her website). Ken Liu. China Mieville. John Scalzi (the Old Man's War series starts out pretty standard military sci-fi, give or take the QUEER CHARACTERS, but then turns into SOCIOLOGY and is FANTASTIC). Lois McMaster Bujold is incredibly problematic (I, er, kind of threw the most recent book in the Vorkosiverse across the metaphorical room ten pages in, and have never gone back to it). Ekaterina Sedia, with her Moscow But Dreaming. Patricia McKillip. Helen Oyeyemi. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrel, obviously. MAGGIE STIEFVATER (if you can overlook the whole Everyone In Canada Is White thing; if you can't, go for The Scorpio Races, which is set on a Scottish island). Jenn Manley Lee's graphic novel series Dicebox (available online in webcomic format; it's AMAZING). Ursula LeGuin, obviously. Amal el-Mohtar. Paula Rentz (Red Tape Stories from Indian Country is a great anthology). Madeleine L'Engle (A Wrinkle in Time, etc). Salman Rushdie, but ONLY the children's books (Haroun & the Sea of Stories; Luka & the Fire of Life). Susan Price (the Sterkarm trilogy).
Followed by further discussion of LMB...
I would recommend reading Vorkosigan up to Memory (9th book). From there I would recommend reading the fantastic AU-from-that-point multi-novel fanfic. :-p
Basically, it is sociology and I loved it, but the most recent book in it is geniunely so appalling transphobic (I bought an electronic ARC, wrote them an e-mail about this, and never got a response) that I am no longer willing to give her the benefit of the doubt on other gender/sex slips earlier in the series (that she DOES correct in later books). And as such I am no longer willing to give her money, but with that caveat am willing to suggest that people read her.
Also, I really like The Sharing Knife quartet, but I think the thinly-disguised magical nomadic race that lives in tribes is, um. REALLY DUBIOUS in a pseudo-US setting, when compared with the settled farming immigrant race...
The first two books [of Vorkosigan] are the ones I am most willing to give untempered recommendations for (they're bound together as Cordelia's Honour), BUT they come with massive trigger warnings for rape and violence against women (which are clearly flagged as Not Okay in-universe, but are still kind of horrible). On the plus side, one things the Vorkosigan series DOES do is have lots of key characters with disabilities, and just treats this like a thing.
Questions? Want more detail? Have at it!
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