Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion
What We've Been Reading
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Whatcha reading in May 2016?
About to finish Orion. I didn't like it at first, but now I like it; I will probably read more in that series. Bova is a good storyteller. But next I think I'm going to read The Three-Body Problem (三体). A friend sent me the original Chinese edition in the mail.
At the moment I'm reading Talon by Amanda Greenslade.
It's quite detailed so it's taking me a while to get through it but I am enjoying it. :-)
I'm reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. This book is ludicrously fun. I am already on page 70 and I am usually not a fast reader. I am getting a kick out of the 1980s pop culture references, but I also have to wonder why people who grew up in that decade seem to think it was the greatest time ever? You can keep your Wang Chung and your Atari 2600, I preferred the 1990s.Also working on A Storm of Swords by George R R Martin.
Randy wrote: "I'm reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. This book is ludicrously fun. I am already on page 70 and I am usually not a fast reader. I am getting a kick out of the 1980s pop culture references, ..."Ready Player One is great, one of my favorites! If you haven't read Armada yet, i recommend you do after you're done with RPO.
Samir wrote: "Ready Player One is great, one of my favorites! If you haven't read Armada yet, i recommend you do after you're done with RPO."I have not read Armada but it is on my Wish List. Thanks for the recommendation!
Randy wrote: "Samir wrote: "Ready Player One is great, one of my favorites! If you haven't read Armada yet, i recommend you do after you're done with RPO."I have not read Armada but it is on my Wish List. Than..."
Anytime! :)
I wasn't as thrilled with "Armada", but enjoyed it. I gave it 3 stars. You might want to check that out so you can queue up the play list I included. The tunes help make it.https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Well, I have a busy May ahead. According to my Reading list I am currently reading twenty books. o.O I just finished Enchanters' End Game this morning, as well as the fourth volume of Pandora in the Crimson Shell. Both turned out to be disappointing. I'd forgotten about that noxious epilogue in Enchanter's End Game and Rikidou's writing in Pandora is dated.On the up side, I plan to start rereading The Two Towers either later today or early tomorrow.
Currently I am still reading Usagi Yojimbo Saga, Vol. 1 and an increasingly fun Pathfinder Tales novel, Prince of Wolves.
Update: I finished reading the Usagi Yojimbo book on 5/13/16. I have written a review of it, which ought to be available on my read shelf.
Update: I picked Lord of Chaos back up tonight. I could only read three pages of wrangling before I had to put it back down again.
Update: I finished Prince of Wolves. I intend to look out for and support more of the author's writing.
Update: Soon after I finished Prince of Wolves, I began rereading The Trouble with Tribbles. I think it's the oldest surviving book in my personal library, dating from 1974.
Jim wrote: "I wasn't as thrilled with "Armada", but enjoyed it. I gave it 3 stars. You might want to check that out so you can queue up the play list I included. The tunes help make it.https://www.goodreads.c..."
Thanks Jim. Some good tunes in that playlist, many of which are already in my ipod.
Peter wrote: "Well, I have a busy May ahead. According to my Reading list I am currently reading twenty books. o.O I just finished Enchanters' End Game this morning, as well as the fourth volume of ..."Wow, and I thought that my 11 currently reading books were excessive! I applaud your multi-tasking! ;)
I finished up Eona: The Last Dragoneye this evening. I pretty much inhaled this one. It was really fast-paced and action-centered, while still asking some interesting questions about ethics and choice. I loved it, and am giving it 5 stars.
My next read is Nights of Villjamur, which I am looking forward to.
Tani wrote: "Peter wrote: "Well, I have a busy May ahead. According to my Reading list I am currently reading twenty books. o.O I just finished Enchanters' End Game this morning, as well as the fou..."Um, most of those books are ones I set aside and misplaced in my apartment since 2004. Thanks. :) I usually read up to three books at a time, one chapter a day. Pandora was a fourth, since it's a manga and not as much of a strain to read.
The two books you listed have interesting titles. Once I finish filling out more of my Read list I'll look them up. Thanks.
My goal is to try to list as many of the books I can remember reading since I was six, when I first read Treasure Island, my first non-picture book. Elizabeth Bear lists eight hundred books and she's eight years younger than me.
Update: I have unearthed and have begun to skim again my copy of the Sixth Edition of the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game. I think that Sandy Petersen is a skilled game designer and I'm curious about what I could learn from him this time.
I've just posted my review for Cixin Liu's novel The Three-Body Problem, and it's an amazing read. Some of the best sci-fi I've read in a while:
http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...
Red Rising Red Rising Trilogy, excellent. Pierce Brown recommended, Sleeping Giants, so I'm almost finished, but it is a very different kind of science fiction, good, well written, but a mystery of sorts. Will do a review soon.
Kathy wrote: "Red Rising, excellent. Pierce Brown recommended, Sleeping Giants, so I'm almost finished, but it is a very different kind of science fiction, good, well written,..."
We had a discussion of Red Rising last year if you'd like to continue it.
We had a discussion of Red Rising last year if you'd like to continue it.
Just finished Wise mans fear by Rothfuss. Currently reading "Eye of the World" by Robert Jordan. Just started "Scarlet" by Marissa Meyer.
BJ wrote: "Just finished Wise mans fear by Rothfuss. Currently reading "Eye of the World" by Robert Jordan. Just started "Scarlet" by Marissa Meyer."Neat! "Eye of the World" was my first exposure to Robert Jordan's writing. I've read it at least three times.
Finally finished Joan D Vinge's Snow Queen ,and wasnt really very impressed. True the world building and settings were very interesting,but apart from the oh so beautiful and saintly Moon and to some extent Jerusha I didnt think much of the characterisation. I found the plot to be barely credible,as was the mix of space technology mixed in with tropes carried straight from Frazier's Golden Bough with a queen and consort being sacrificed and replaced by new. Disliked Sparks,found the romance side rather trite,and this mixture of mythology,SF and fantasy does nothing for me I'm afraid. I also found some of the story overdetailed,which slowed down the pace at times,and all in all,while a reasonable enough read,I am a bit puzzled as to why it was a multi award winner and nominee. Must be my fault,got to admit I prefer either hard SF or outright space opera,so it didnt appeal.That makes 47/64 Hugo winners read! :0)
I am now almost finished Cherryh's Kutath,and am about 20% into Clarkes The Sands of Mars
The Sands of Mars ties as the earliest adult science fiction novel I read, with I, Robot. That was forty-two years ago and I wasn't writing a journal at the time, so my memory of which book I actually read first is unclear.
Sands of Mars was Clarke's first published novel,and so many of his trademarks are already there,the meticulous hard science of space travel,rockets,the solar system etc all there but also his romantic view of space,and an almost yearning for contact with aliens. This was published in 1951 so was within that happy era when aliens on Mars was still just within the bounds of possibility. In later times we had to push aliens out of the solar system,and we lost those little green men so beloved by pulp writers. I find early SF naive often,but they are fun to read! Do any Brits remember Dan Dare,Pilot of the Future with his archenemy the Mekon. Archetypal little green man there! lol
Thanks for this history lesson, Classic SF Fan. One of my hobbies is studying history and I have taught myself the history of science fiction and role-playing games, for example.
I read Sands of Mars back in the 1980s when many of his older books were being re-printed. I read several of his short story collections, which were all excellent (The Nine Billion Names of God stands out, and there were others too). I remember enjoying the optimism of Clarke's writing, but also noted that he wasn't much for plot or character development. As I read several of his later novels throughout the years I noticed the same issues. Clarke always seemed enraptured by his ideas (space elevators, say), and he paid little attention to the conventions of writing - much like Michael Crichton, although his work is much different than Clarke's. I have always enjoyed Clarke's short stories better than his novels, probably because the short story medium allowed him to deliver his ideas quickly without having to worry about dragging out a long plot. I haven't read any ACC in a long time, so in the next few months I might take a crack at the Rama sequels.
Randy, I have to agree with your assessment of Clarke's work, based on my own experiences with reading his material. I encountered Tales from the White Hart not long after reading Sands of Mars. I feel his short stories from that collection were more engaging than Sands of Mars. I will most likely reread Clarke and read a few of his classics that I missed, when time and budget allow.
Peter wrote: "Randy, I have to agree with your assessment of Clarke's work, based on my own experiences with reading his material. I encountered Tales from the White Hart not long after reading Sands of Mars. I ..."I lucked out and found a lightly used copy of The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke which I'm going to read, uh, someday, It's about as complete of a collection as you can get. I think his short stories have ranged from terrific to OK which is about as good as one can reasonably expect from short fiction (for example, I read 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill recently and found most of his entries tedious or awkward, with a couple standouts like "Best New Horror" and "Abraham's Boys" that kept me from chucking it out the window - so anyone who sets the bar as high as Clarke is OK in my book).
Clarke's novels though, not so much. Really I only enjoyed three enough to recommend:
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey - like many, I picked this one up after I watched the movie and wanted to know what the @#$% happened at the end. The book didn't help much - of course I found out later that Stanley Kubrick withheld a lot of information from ACC and also gave him some misdirection, so it might be best to look at the movie and the book as related entities but not the same. (And if you want to see some cool film analysis stuff on 2001 and other Kubrick films, check out Rob Ager/Collative Learning channels on YouTube.)
2. 2010: Odyssey Two - the movie sequel is not as good as the original, but in many ways I think this might be Clarke's most polished effort. He actually takes the time to think out a plot and characters, and it's interesting to see what happens following the events in the first book/movie.
3. Childhood's End - I remember really enjoying this one, and I just found out that there was a TV miniseries - not sure how good it was but I might have to check it out.
If anyone has other ACC recommendations I'd be interested to hear them. I have some of his later efforts on my shelf and if anyone has feedback on these I'd be interested to hear it:
- Rama II w/Gentry Lee
- Garden of Rama w/Gentry Lee
- Rama Revealed w/Gentry Lee
- The Light of Other Days w/Steven Baxter
- Time's Eye w/ Steven Baxter
- Sunstorm w/ Steven Baxter
- Firstborn w/Steven Baxter
- Cradle w/Gentry Lee
- The Last Theorem w/Frederik Pohl
I notice these books all have co-authors which seemed to be the norm with his later novels. I don't think I've read anything that ACC co-wrote with another author (other than the collaborative effort with Kubrick for 2001) so I wonder if it forced him to improve his efforts at plot and characterization?
Lastly, I know there was a series of books called Venus Prime by Paul Preuss that was supposedly based on ACC's short story Breaking Strain. Has anyone read these? Are they worth reading?
Randy wrote: "Peter wrote: "Randy, I have to agree with your assessment of Clarke's work, based on my own experiences with reading his material. I encountered Tales from the White Hart not long after reading San..."Most cool. One of the last good works I read by Clarke was back in the late Seventies, called The Deep Range. It was influenced by his diving experiences.
As for his short stories, I used to own a collection which headlined "The Sentinel", the story which inspired 2001. It was a good one, with commentary on the stories by Clarke himself.
I think the work that ended my interest in his stuff after 2001 was Imperial Earth, which had what I feel was off-putting content.
Randy wrote: "2001: A Space Odyssey - like many, I picked this one up after I watched the movie and wanted to know what happened at the end. The book didn't help much.."
A couple of months after the movie 2001 was released, I went to a lecture & Q&A by Arthur C Clarke. He wouldn't discuss the ending of either movie or book, but deflected questions with "watch it again, read it again." :)
Randy wrote: "If anyone has other ACC recommendations I'd be interested to hear them. I have some of his later efforts on my shelf and if anyone has feedback on these I'd be interested to hear it.."
Randy, I liked the novels you mentioned speciically.
Of his later novels, I liked The Fountains of Paradise, which introduced the idea of the Space Elevator (at just about the same time as Sheffield). (We had a
Discussion of Fountains of Paradise a while back.)
While I liked Rendezvous with Rama, I didn't really care for the Rama continuations with Gentry Lee.
The Light of Other Days had an interesting premise (a technological invention considerably less plausible than Clarke's other suggestions), but I thought it took the story in a weird direction.
In fact, I don't think I've really enjoyed any of the Clarke co-author books.
Of his older stuff, in addition to the ones you mentioned, I think The City and the Stars & A Fall of Moondust stand out in my mind today. It's been a while. :)
A couple of months after the movie 2001 was released, I went to a lecture & Q&A by Arthur C Clarke. He wouldn't discuss the ending of either movie or book, but deflected questions with "watch it again, read it again." :)
Randy wrote: "If anyone has other ACC recommendations I'd be interested to hear them. I have some of his later efforts on my shelf and if anyone has feedback on these I'd be interested to hear it.."
Randy, I liked the novels you mentioned speciically.
Of his later novels, I liked The Fountains of Paradise, which introduced the idea of the Space Elevator (at just about the same time as Sheffield). (We had a
Discussion of Fountains of Paradise a while back.)
While I liked Rendezvous with Rama, I didn't really care for the Rama continuations with Gentry Lee.
The Light of Other Days had an interesting premise (a technological invention considerably less plausible than Clarke's other suggestions), but I thought it took the story in a weird direction.
In fact, I don't think I've really enjoyed any of the Clarke co-author books.
Of his older stuff, in addition to the ones you mentioned, I think The City and the Stars & A Fall of Moondust stand out in my mind today. It's been a while. :)
My favourite Clarke novel is Islands in the Sky. It's not his best, but it was one of the books that got me into science fiction.
Very much enjoyed Arthur C Clarke's Hugo and Nebula winning Fountains of Paradise, about the building of a space elevator. I am a sucker for Big Dumb Objects (I loved Sheffield's series!) and Clarke made the building of the elevator and the dealing with an accident quite exciting. Some of the subplots were a bit unnecessary really,but where the book scored with me was the way it restored some of the awe and wonder of the near space around us.We may not have attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion,but Clarke managed to renew the feeling of wonder at space on a more prosaic but believable level,just above our heads.Clarke's rather dry style worked perfectly with the dry engineering stuff,making it plausible,and the protagonist was likable enough that we can identify with him in the tense later sections of the tale.I think this was one of my favourite Clarke books as far as entertainment goes. Very enjoyable.
Classic SF Fan wrote: "Very much enjoyed Arthur C Clarke's Hugo and Nebula winning Fountains of Paradise, about the building of a space elevator. I am a sucker for Big Dumb Objects (I loved Sheffield's series!) and Clark..."You've made some excellent points. I think I'm due to go back and reread or read for the first time some Clarke's older works. I just have to clear some time and some space on my dratted to-read list. ;)
Just finished "The Name Of The Wind" Patrick Rothfuss. Excellent book, excellent writer.Now reading "Theft Of Swords" Michael J. Sullivan, and really enjoying it.
Adam,wonder if you are familiar with an excellent fantasy website,Best Fantasy Books? Great lists,excellent balanced reviews,informative overviews of genres etc. I am not a fantasy fan (only read 7 of the best 25 books!) but I enjoy the site. check out - www.bestfantasybooks.com
I read Winter just recently. A good end to the series, although there were some plot threads left unresolved. Her writing is really immersive but at the end of it at all I was left a bit unsatisfied. I think the climax didn't match all the buildup. Still a lot of fun though, and I hugely recommend the series. I'm looking for more superhero/superpower books. I haven't found too many yet.
just started Foundations of Science Fiction by John J Pierce...lot of fun for a lit-crit
Kristen wrote: "I read Winter just recently. A good end to the series, although there were some plot threads left unresolved. Her writing is really immersive but at the end of it at all I was left ..."Well, if you're looking for superpower books, maybe you should try Steelheart.
Classic SF Fan wrote: "Adam,wonder if you are familiar with an excellent fantasy website,Best Fantasy Books? Great lists,excellent balanced reviews,informative overviews of genres etc. I am not a fantasy fan (only read 7of the best 25 books!) but I enjoy the site. check out - www.bestfantasybooks.com"
That website is terrific! I enjoyed the lists a lot, even though I disagree with some of the books on the "Worst Fantasy" list. Great recommendation!
I gave up on Fantasy a few years back after too many ongoing series I followed fell into decay (Asprin's Myth series, Ethshar, OSC's Alvin series, and I got too lost to keep up with Brust's Jhereg series). I felt like I had outgrown the genre maybe? But as soon as I started reading George R R Martin's A Game of Thrones, I was immediately hooked, and I felt like I was coming home after being gone a long time.
Now I want to go back and re-read some of my favorite old Fantasy series to see how well they have stood the test of time:
- The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R Donaldson - I read the first and second series in high school, and of course I'd like to read the third series also (recently, I name-dropped Thomas Covenant to one of our IT guys at work to great effect)
- Mordant's Need also by Donaldson
- The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny - I read the first series in high school but only made it one book into the second series before I got distracted
- Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series by Fritz Lieber (this series is criminally neglected even by fans of the genre)
- Elric series by Michael Moorcock
- Chronicles of Narnia by C S Lewis
- Tredana series by Joyce Ballou Gregorian
- Time Master series by Louise Cooper
- Jhereg series by Steven Brust
- I wouldn't mind re-reading some of the early Myth Adventure series by Robert Asprin, or even the hilarious graphic novel sketched by Phil Foglio (anyone remember "What's New With Phil and Dixie" in Dragon magazine?).
I used to read some Conan books too but not sure which ones. Recently I bought the first volume of a three volume set of Robert E Howard's original Conan stories and I'm excited to check them out.
If I only had as much time as I have books...
Oh yeah, also gotta re-read:- Riftwar series by Raymond Feist
- Ethshar series by Lawrence Watt-Evans
Randy wrote: "Classic SF Fan wrote: "Adam,wonder if you are familiar with an excellent fantasy website,Best Fantasy Books? Great lists,excellent balanced reviews,informative overviews of genres etc. I am not a f..."Some good stuff on that list. I bought the First Thomas Covenant series on its release in hardcover.
I have the first Amber series in the SF book club 2 book edition signed by Zelazny.
I am still kicking myself for not grabbing the 4th in the White Wolf HC edition of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series. I have the whole series on my Nook.
I love not only the Elric series but all of Moorcock's Eternal Champion books.
I remember Phil's early work in The Dragon. But then our D&D group visited Lake Geneva a lot. We also designed/ran the AD&D open at Gen Con in the late 70s early 80s.
I love the Myth books and the comic adaptations by Phil Foglio.
I recently reread the first of the Ebenezum books by Craig Shaw Gardner. Book 2 is moving up my TBR.
Gary, Randy, you've got some interesting things to say. I learned of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser from Appendix N of the first edition AD & D Dungeon Master's Guide. I liked Swords and Deviltry enough to write my own pastiche of the two characters.I remember Mr. Phoglio's work from Dragon magazine and I borrowed the Myth Adventures graphic novel from a friend of mine. I find his work interesting. I read his Web comic Girl Genius for a couple of years, until it meandering into telling the stories of the supporting characters.
Robin Bailey wrote an authorized Fafhrd and Grey Mouser novel a number of years ago. The whole series including Bailey's book are available for Kindle and Nook through Open Road Media.
Gary wrote: "Robin Bailey wrote an authorized Fafhrd and Grey Mouser novel a number of years ago. The whole series including Bailey's book are available for Kindle and Nook through Open Road Media."
If you're interested, Michael Sullivan's Riyria series have often been compared to Fafhrd & Grey Mouser – a thief & warrior messing about in a sword & sorcery world. I thought the series entertaining.
If you're interested, Michael Sullivan's Riyria series have often been compared to Fafhrd & Grey Mouser – a thief & warrior messing about in a sword & sorcery world. I thought the series entertaining.
G33z3r wrote: "Gary wrote: "If you're interested, Michael Sullivan's Riyria series have often been compared to Fafhrd & Grey Mouser – a thief & warrior messing about in a sword & sorcery world. I thought the series entertaining."It's added to the Wish List. Thanks!
Fantasy books were some of my earliest favorite reads, along with the Hardy Boys and Three Investigators series. I read the Narnia books in late elementary school (most of them anyway) and the Hobbit was a 7th grade reading project. I asked the school librarian for "more like this" and she turned me on to the Fafhrd & Grey Mouser books and the Elric series. Somewhere along the way I picked up some Conan books too, mostly because I liked the covers which I think were mostly Frazetta's or similar.
Gary wrote: "Robin Bailey wrote an authorized Fafhrd and Grey Mouser novel a number of years ago. The whole series including Bailey's book are available for Kindle and Nook through Open Road Media."Swords Against the Shadowlands is the Robin Bailey book. It's on the Wish List too. The reviews appear to be decent, which is a good sign. The book appears to be a direct sequel to Lieber's story "Ill-Met in Lankmar" and was supposed to be the first in a series but I guess that never panned out.
I have mixed feelings, in general, about an author writing stories in a world created by another author (usually deceased). On one hard, it seems like it would turn out to be a disaster more often than not. I read Micro a couple years back, which was planned out by Michael Crichton but finished by Richard "The Hot Zone" Preston. Although I like Preston's work in general, Micro was just a mess.
On the other hard, I like what Disney is doing with Star Wars, certainly much more than what Lucas did with the prequels. Bringing in new directors and tossing all of Jar-Jar Lucas's script ideas has allowed them to breathe new life into the series and tell some interesting stories - I'm very intrigued by Rogue One, the stand alone movie coming out this December which tells the story of how the plans for the original Death Star were obtained (no Bothan spies involved, as it turns out). I like the idea of characters and worlds living on after the author dies or retires as long as it's properly executed.
How is Fritz Leiber's sci-fi? I found Swords & Deviltry surprisingly enjoyable, would be willing to check out more Leiber at some point in the future.
G33z3r wrote: "Gary wrote: "Robin Bailey wrote an authorized Fafhrd and Grey Mouser novel a number of years ago. The whole series including Bailey's book are available for Kindle and Nook through Open Road Media...."I have read a bit of the first book and it certainly has that F&GM feel to it. I need to go back and finish it. I got distracted rereading the first 3 Wheel of Time books last year.
Randy wrote: "Gary wrote: "Robin Bailey wrote an authorized Fafhrd and Grey Mouser novel a number of years ago. The whole series including Bailey's book are available for Kindle and Nook through Open Road Media...."I think there was one possibly 2 books in the Dying Earth setting written by another author.
Of course the most well known was Sanderson completing The Wheel of Time series.
The Darkover series has been continued by other authors. So was Andre Norton's Witch World series.
If a series continues with a different author after the original dies, I stop reading where the original author stopped writing. I learned this lesson painfully after reading the crimes committed by Kevin Anderson on Frank Herbert, and have followed it ever since.
Brendan wrote: "How is Fritz Leiber's sci-fi? I found Swords & Deviltry surprisingly enjoyable, would be willing to check out more Leiber at some point in the future."Leiber wrote The Wanderer which won the Hugo in '65. I see Classic SF Fan gave it 2 stars. I haven't read it but have a used copy on my shelf to be read at some indeterminate point in the future.
I also want to read The Big Time which won the Hugo in '58. Classic SF Fan gave it 3 stars.
Classic SF Fan wrote: "Adam,wonder if you are familiar with an excellent fantasy website,Best Fantasy Books? Great lists,excellent balanced reviews,informative overviews of genres etc. I am not a fantasy fan (only read 7 of the best 25 books!) but I enjoy the site. check out - www.bestfantasybooks.com"Apparently there is a related site www.bestsciencefictionbooks.com. I am checking it out now.
Randy wrote: "I have mixed feelings, in general, about an author writing stories in a world created by another author (usually deceased)....."
Gary wrote: "The Darkover series has been continued by other authors. So was Andre Norton's Witch World series. ..."
MZB opened Darkover to other authors when she was still alive. Currently Eric Flint has other authors write in his 1632 time travel/alt history world, and David Weber has others writing in his Honor Harrington universe.
And there are some worlds that were created expressly to have multiple authors, e.g. Thieves' World & Wild Cards.
Outside of SF&F, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo continues after Larsen's death. The Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew were both created by Edward Stratemeyer and have been continued since by a series of ghostwriters.
And speaking of corporate-run series, in comic books, most everything is owned by corporations. Series pass from creator to others when it suits those corporations.
Gary wrote: "The Darkover series has been continued by other authors. So was Andre Norton's Witch World series. ..."
MZB opened Darkover to other authors when she was still alive. Currently Eric Flint has other authors write in his 1632 time travel/alt history world, and David Weber has others writing in his Honor Harrington universe.
And there are some worlds that were created expressly to have multiple authors, e.g. Thieves' World & Wild Cards.
Outside of SF&F, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo continues after Larsen's death. The Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew were both created by Edward Stratemeyer and have been continued since by a series of ghostwriters.
And speaking of corporate-run series, in comic books, most everything is owned by corporations. Series pass from creator to others when it suits those corporations.
Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy
Books mentioned in this topic
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Authors mentioned in this topic
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Last month I read...
I finished that Darwin Elevator trilogy - lame ending, but it was pretty much just fluff so, meh.
The Bullet-Catcher’s Daughter which I really liked except for the author telling me over and over how she was dressed in a guy's clothes, pretending to be a guy, how people totally thought she was a guy.... It got old. But I'll probably read the next one.
The Iron King, mentioned often by GRRM, I picked up this one. It's very good straight historical fiction. A lot of fun - everyone's very sneaky and corrupt.
A Darker Shade of Magic - I ended up really liking this one, despite finding the main woman character a bore for most of it. The feel of the story is lighter, though dark things happen. Fast-paced and light on the details, I found it refreshing. Have heard 2nd book ends in a cliffhanger though, so going to wait for the third to be published before reading more.
All three of the caper books by Patrick Weekes - The Palace Job, The Prophecy Con, and The Paladin Caper. These are so much fun. I'd already read the first one a while ago, but they're quick reads, so no problem reading it again.
In honor of Shakespeare I read Shakespeare: The World as Stage which was fun - he's got such a breezy style and is so rational and down to earth. Then I watched Shakespeare in Love, which is ridiculous but fun to watch. And finally I read The Quality of Mercy which is a mystery with Shakespeare as detective. I read this once a long time ago and really liked it. This time I was a little surprised to read how violent and brutal almost all of the characters are, not to mention filthy-mouthed. It was weird, I guess I just ignored all that the first time. Anyways the story is a good one, just have to be okay with all the swearing and rape and torture.
The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster was a nice brain-cleaner lol. It's quirky and the characters are all good people (except the bad guy of course) and the story wasn't life-changing or anything but a very nice read.
Currently reading - Utterly Charming which is a modern day romance with some magic, fairytale stuff. This is a pseudonym of Kristine Kathryn Rusch who's Retrieval Artist series I really love, and so far I'm really enjoying this fluffy romance.