Re: Help, I need a new author

Luna wrote:

I'm looking for recommendations for some new (to me) authors to try,
preferably prolific ones so if it turns out I like them I'll have lots
to read. May be a bit of a challenge because my taste isn't very
specific. Ok, these are my favorite writers:

Neil Gaiman
Terry Pratchett
Frederik Pohl
Nancy Kress
Philip K. ***
Ted Chiang
Clive Barker
Jonathan Carroll

I'll try to take a stab at things these people might (vaguely) have in
common: they mostly wrote about their contemporary world (though
sometimes disguised, as in the cases of Pratchett and ***), they were
all good prose stylists but not usually fancy-pants writers (except
maybe ***, who sometimes had a tin ear), and they tend to be on the
soft 'n' squishy side of the SF-Fantasy divide.

So I think you *don't* want anyone who's usually billed as "hard SF,"
like Niven or Vinge of Wil McCarthy. You mentioned "cleverness," but I
think you don't mean the kind of clever idea that requires a knowledge
of evolutionary biology or tensor calculus to understand.

I also think you don't want hey-look-Ma-I'm-writing prose stylists like
Gene Wolfe or Harlan Ellison. (Though Ellison might otherwise be a good
fit, if you wanted to try one of his classic collections like _Deathbird
Stories_ or _Ellison Wonderland_.)

You mentioned elsewhere in the thread that you usually don't like
alternate history, so that takes Tim Powers down a peg or two. (He
writes *secret* history rather than *alternate*, but that can be more
annoying if you don't know the real history.) I think he'd otherwise be
a possibility, so you might try _Last Call_, which is one of his best
books and set in the modern day. Powers at his best is exceptionally
clever, if that helps.

Other names that I haven't seen mentioned yet:

Sean Stewart writes mostly contemporary (or near-future) fantasy novels
with great characterization, and a fan of Neil Gaiman would probably
like his _Mockingbird_ or _Perfect Circle_.

China Mieville can be too dark for some people, but in some ways he's
like the Socialist *** child of Pratchett and Charles Dickens. I'd
try his _The Scar_ first, which is also good for people who like pirates
and sea-stories. If you like Clive Barker, you probably won't find him
too nasty.

Alexander Irvine's first novel (_A Scattering of Jades_) was historical
fantasy -- set in mid-19th century America -- but his more recent novels
are set in more recent times (which may or may not be historical,
depending on your definition). I recently read and really liked _The
Narrows_, which came out last year -- it's the story of a worker at a
secret Ford golem-assembly plant in Detroit during WWII.

If you're willing to read books published for teenagers, I highly
recommend Jonathan Stroud's just-completed "Bartimaeus Trilogy." The
first book is _The Amulet of Samarkand_, and it's partially an answer to
Harry Potter -- the books are set in an England where magicians rule,
and this is very much not a benign dictatorship -- and partially an
examination of the dangers and pleasures of power.

I want to list at least one proper SF writer, so let me say John Varley.
You should start with his best stuff, which means either the novels
_Steel Beach_ or _The Golden Globe_ or the excellent collection _The
John Varley Reader_ (this I'd recommend very highly; Varley was one of
the very best short story writers in the field at his height).

I'll also second someone else's recommendation of Kage Baker -- your
best bet there is to start with _In the Garden of Iden_ (the start of
the "Company" series), or maybe _The Anvil of the World_ (her only
unrelated novel, and her only fantasy novel).

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