So I asked on twitter for what people were looking for in Science Fiction and Fantasy Books they seek to read. This is my second column (the first can be found here) where I offer suggestions in response to some of the answers you gave me on twitter. Today's post will deal with two answers that are pretty much exact opposites, so the book suggestions are going to be very different:
I want gritty, not silly. Think Starship Troopers not Demolition Man. We may have futuristic tech, but the human condition is the same as when the pyramids were built— Phillip Harben (@Nemesis44UK) November 17, 2018
For what it's worth, I don't seek out Science Fiction or Fantasy books for their grittiness or seriousness - I'm a big fan of books with humor and am not adverse to silliness as long as it works. That said, I still do read a good deal of books that could be described as gritty and "realistic" (well, you know, as much as you can be in the genre), as it's not exactly an uncommon sentiment for authors in the genre to have. Some suggestions here:
The Frontlines Series by Marko Kloos (Terms of Enlistment, Lines of Departure, Angles of Attack, Chains of Command, Fields of Fire, Points of Impact)
The Frontlines series is perhaps a more literal answer to this response, as it's a military science fiction series (currently 6 books long) written by Marko Kloos featuring a future humanity in a war against an alien race. That's where the similarities to Starshoop Troopers kind of ends I think (would you believe I haven't read Starship Troopers?). The series follows NAC (North American Commonwealth) recruit Andrew Grayson as he joins the service in order to get out of the poverty and crime-stricken Public Residence Cluster ("PRC") of Boston. When he joins the service, he expects to be fighting the military forces of the Sino-Russian Alliance ("SRA") but instead, he finds himself and his friends first deployed against rioting citizens in a PRC and then against an Alien force with a substantial technological advantage which wants nothing more than to wipe out every human colony it encounters.
The series is now six books long, with the most recent book being the best in the series in my opinion, and uses its setting to deal with real life military issues because, as you suggest in your tweet, the human condition isn't exactly changing. Issues such as military ethics - especially in the face of Orders that are questionably legal and in the face of extreme circumstances, issues of wealth inequality, and issues of the impact of fighting on soldiers are very much central to this series, as the years go by along the six books written so far. I'm not a particular fan of MilSci, but this is one series I look forward to reading as soon as a new book drops.
An Unkindness of Ghosts by River Solomon (Review Here)
Less of a literal answer to your question, but An Unkindness of Ghosts is part of a well worn SciFi trope of taking a real world phenomena (or past phenomena) and transplanting it to a SciFi setting. In this case, the book follows a Generation Ship which is structured like an old day plantation, with the upper deck White residents ruling and oppressing the lower deck Black residents, particularly when they don't conform to heterosexual and gender norms.
It's an utterly brutal book and definitely hard to read at times, but an example of future tech not changing the problems caused by the human condition. It is - fair warning - not a book with a hopeful ending or even an ending that promises much hope in the future, but it is not dark solely for the sake of darkness, so it's not only well worth a read, but resulted deservedly in its author being a nominee for the Campbell Award for Best New Author.
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Like I said above, while I'll read dark and gritty series, I don't tend to seek them out, and sometimes I do seek out lighter and funnier stories, particularly when they stand out as unconventional in some way. And there are a lot of SF/F stories that are really well done and yet light in tone - for example one of my favorite series is Becky Chambers' "Wayfarer" series, which is an almost plot-less series featuring characters in space (on a spaceship or space station usually) trying to build their own lives, loves and families. Then there's Seanan McGuire's "InCryptid" urban fantasy series, which features a family trying to keep inhuman creatures and beings alive and hidden from the world at large, which features characters such as religiously devout talking mice, screaming yams, and a series of sarcastic quipping main characters who are so damn easy to love. But let me highlight 3 books/series in particular that I think would fit your tweet:I'll read pretty much anything but I like it when there's at least one thing that makes it special- original worldbuilding or funny or a twist on the standard story.— Ley (@Ahemhem) November 18, 2018
And I don't like stuff that's too dark
Terminal Alliance by Jim C Hines (Review Here)
You could guess the tone of Terminal Alliance from the name of the ongoing series it belongs to: "Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse." This is a very very silly book, with a plot that's kind of space opera, but never done in anything but a jokey tone.
The plot: in a distant future, humanity was "wiped out" by a mutated virus that turned the intellects of all humans on Earth into that of animals, and the result destroyed human civilization. Then the Krakau aliens came to Earth and used their advanced technology to slowly restore humans - in return, the humans began to work for the Krakau military. Marion “Mops” Adamopoulos is one of these humans and serves as the head of the Janitor crew on the "Pufferfish," a Krakau spaceship crewed by human forces. But when that ship is seemingly hit again by the virus and only her crew isn't turned into a feral state, Mops and her crew has to go it alone, figuring out how to pilot the ship and figure out what exactly is happening out in the galaxy.
Again, this is a very damn silly book, with rapid fire jokes that don't all land, but enough of them do to make this book actually pretty funny. And the characters and plot are good too - our heroes are forced to come up with janitorial-style solutions to all of their space opera problems, which makes it pretty damn inventive. I can see this book being a bit too silly for some readers, but if you're looking for something to make you laugh in the genre, you should definitely try here.
The Memoirs of Lady Trent by Marie Brennan (Review of First Book Here)
The Memoirs of Lady Trent, a five book series that beings with A Natural History of Dragons, is a fantasy series that's a ton of fun and that I really enjoyed as I went through it over the course of two months this year. It's a series of fictional memoirs told by Isabella, Lady Trent, a world famous Dragon Naturalist - a scientist who researches dragons all around the world - in a fantasy world. Each book features Isabella recounting her adventures from earlier in her life, beginning with her upbringing and first adventure and continuing with her various famous (and not-as-famous as they should be) scientific expeditions around the world.
It's a hell of a lot of fun and the tone of the series is remarkable - often the serious stakes of the narrative are more often than not in the background (although Isabella gets herself involved in major world events in 4 of the 5 novels in the series), whereas the major issues of the narrative stem from Isabella's journeys into dangerous areas in order to learn more about the dragons of the world (solely for the sake of scientific research). Isabella is a fun heroine who's both highly intelligent and hilariously reckless - a point which is dryly commentated on by her older self who is narrating the memoirs - and her adventures frequently cracked me up, while still always having me interested in what happens next. And there's some very scientific romance in some of the books as well. An original world that's a lot of fun for 5 books.
Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn (Review Here)
Heroine Complex is the first in a series by Sarah Kuhn that is one of my favorite finds of this year (the series began in 2016, but I didn't get to it till the start of this year). The series stars a group of Asian American Superheroines in San Francisco, and features fun action, steamy romances, and lovable characters. In this urban fantasy world, demons attempted to invade San Francisco a few years ago, but immediately died when they entered the human world through a magical portal. The result was that certain humans suddenly acquired superpowers, seemingly once belonging to the demons, and that smaller portals filled with weaker demons who take the form of everyday objects begin to appear from time to time in San Francisco.
In this first novel in the series, Evie Tanaka works as a secretary for her childhood best friend, who works as a superheroine vanquishing the demons under the name "Aveda Jupiter." But when Aveda comes down with a serious ankle injury, Evie is forced to step in in her place and use her own superpowers - the power to wield fire from her hands - and pretend to be Aveda so that no one notices the difference. But Evie's powers are controlled by her emotions, and after an outburst resulted in them going out of control, Evie has always suppressed her emotions as a result - and she fears that she can't control those emotions if she releases them...particularly with Aveda being increasing annoying and her coworker Nate suddenly seeming more and more attractive.
Again, Heroine Complex, and the entire series, is just a ton of fun and one of my favorite new series that I've discovered in the past 4 years. The romances are great in each novel - some steamy sex scenes are involved just so you know - and the friendship between the main heroines (a group of women of color) is so great. Oh and the demons they're fighting sometimes take the forms of things like cupcakes and unicorns, sooo yeah, there's some silliness here, but it never is utterly outrageous and more just serves as some tension-relieving comic relief. Thankfully this series is scheduled to continue for another 3+ books and I can't wait for the next wave to come out.
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I can think of a bunch of other suggestions as answers to each of these questions, but I'm going to leave it at that for now so I don't use up anymore space. Really hope more people check out these books because they're all really great in their own ways.
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