SCI-FI/FANTASY/HORROR FOR PEOPLE WHO HATE SCI-FI/FANTASY/HORROR

[defrog]

ITEM [via jreynolds ]: SF Signal wants to know ...

Q: Which science fiction, fantasy, and/or horror books would you recommend to a friend who has never read those genres before?

An interesting question, but one that, upon reflection, is a tough one to answer. It depends on who yr recommending things to, you see.

For example, what do they normally like to read and why does that not include sci-fi, fantasy or horror?

If it’s for reasons of lit snobbery, I’d just point out that if they like Kurt Vonnegut, George Orwell and William Burroughs, they already read science fiction.

Or let’s say the person “hates” SF but likes, say, mysteries, spy thrillers and war novels. Well, 80% of SF tends to be mysteries, spy thrillers and war novels dressed up with futuristic technology or alternate histories, so that’s a foot in the door.

As for specific recommendations, though, I can’t really think of anything beyond the obvious (Douglas Adams, PK Dick, Stanislaw Lem, Neil Gaiman, HP Lovecraft, etc). I’m especially weak on the horror angle, since I don’t really read much horror. That said, you could always try Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith (though I haven’t read it, so it doesn’t really count as a recommendation). Or you could ...

Oh, the hell with it – I’ll just give them a copy of Warren Ellis’ Crooked Little Vein, which doesn’t neatly fit any of these categories, but blends all three (sort of). If the chapter on Godzilla bukkake porn doesn’t challenge them to expand their literary horizons, they’re beyond help.

Read what you want,

This is dF

Comments

[speedingslug.livejournal.com]

I think a massive space opera like Peter K Hamilton's Night Dawn or Commonwealth series is too much for a first timer just on volume alone, while Richard Morgan subtlety uses a detective story set in the future that pays off quite well.

I'd also recommend China Mieville, but for some new to Fantasy Perdido Street Station may just melt their mind.

[def-fr0g-42.livejournal.com]

Hamilton and Mieville are probably too wordy and long for first timers. In any case, one rule I would have with SF is no hard science or anything that requires a PhD in the subject to understand what the hell the author is talking about. And definitely no space operas. The exception might be someone like Scalzi who makes it sound easy to understand.

[speedingslug.livejournal.com]

As for fantasy GRR Martians Song of fire and Ice books are quite good and with only a touch of fantasy in them, wonderful if you think you may like medieval stories.

[def-fr0g-42.livejournal.com]

Fantasy's trickier because it's the swords and sorcery bits that tend to put people off it. Maybe the LOTR films changed that a bit. But that's why I'd go with urban fantasy, or something grounded in the present world, like American Gods.

[dinopollard.livejournal.com]

I hate the people who refuse to read SF out of snobbery because, like you said, chances are they love Orwell or Huxley or Vonnegut or any number of the sci-fi writers who have been lucky enough to get their books into the literature section of bookstores.