The Sword and Laser discussion
What Is The Strangest or Most Unique SF/Fantasy Novel That You Have Ever Read?
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Probably Rendezvous with Rama (Clarke.) He had the courage to leave the object unexplained. The later three are just exploitation works, I don't let them interfere with my enjoyment of the original.
Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino: A disembodied alien being gives detailed lectures on the subjects like the movement of stars through the galaxy.The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea: JFK was shot by John Dillenger's identical twin brother on orders from the Bavarian Illuminati who were working with Big Foot to defeat Atlantis, which is in league with a giant sea monster.
The Manuscript Found in Saragossa by Jan Potocki: You know how The Cloud Atlas was a story within a story within a story within a story within a story? Yeah, well David Mitchell is a piker compared to Jan Potocki. There are so many nested stories in this book that sometimes the characters get confused about which story they're in.
Sean wrote: "The Illuminatus! Trilogy by..."Illuminatus Trilogy is great. Based on the strength of that book, I am really curious about the other two you recommend now - they seem very fascinating.
Feersum Endjinn by Iain M. Banks, although that had as much to do with the weerd fonetik speling as with the actual story. But the story was pretty great.
God Emperor of Dune...seriously, the main character is a giant worm. You can't get any weirder then that.
Tokio wrote: "God Emperor of Dune...seriously, the main character is a giant worm. You can't get any weirder then that."Somebody's never read Kafka.
A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay, fantasy planetary travel from the 1920s, which is a combination metaphysical trip and peyote trip. It feels completely disconnected from the post-Tolkein era fantasy.
Oh, how could I forget? Good Omens, Gaiman and Pratchett.
Almost anything from the late 60s New Wave was completely wack-a-doodle. They were experimenting like crazy, just throwing weird stuff at the wall to see what would stick.Delaney, Lessing, Dick... heck, almost everyone from that era. Pick a random book written between 1965 and 1978 and you'll likely find something that will melt your brain.
Try this to start: Time Snake and Superclown.
Some good suggestions here...I would also suggest City of Saints and Madmen and The Gormenghast Novels, both of which were amazing. then of course, there is always Perdido Street Station...lastly, I would have to mention The Gone-Away World -- even though I couldn't stand the author's writing style, I can see why a lot of people are into it and it it most certainly unique.I would also definitely agree with Trike's suggestion of 1960s stuff.
i09 has done at least 2 or 3 posts on this topic...here are a few:
http://io9.com/5892742/10-ultra-weird...
http://io9.com/5888835/10-weirdest-sc...
http://io9.com/10-science-fiction-aut...
Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. There are a lot of unique novels in this genre.Marion
Jeff Noon - Vurt is probably the weirdest and most original one I've come across. Its kind of hallucinogenic cyberpunk & takes place in a bizarre future/alternative Manchester. Very difficult to describe properly & do it justice. He wrote a few others based in the same world - all are well worth reading if you like things a bit strange.
almost anything by Philip K. Dick but out of all his books i think VALIS is something completely unique. No doubt im wrong :)
The strangest fantasy novel I've ever read is probably The Habitation of the Blessed. It is Catherynne M. Valente's wonderful take on the story of Prester John. A Swiss monk goes on journey to find the kingdom of Prester John and on his journey he comes across a tree that bears books as fruit. He is given permission to pick some books from the tree and read the stories, but he has to read fast because the books will rot (just like fruit). In these books he reads about Pentexore, the fabled kingdom of Prester John, the odd creatures who live there (creatures that came out of a medieval bestiary) and the fountain of youth (which oozes some muddy, oily slime like substance).
The book made me think of Alice and Wonderland and Hieronymus Bosch paintings.
Dharmakirti wrote: "The strangest fantasy novel I've ever read is probably The Habitation of the Blessed. It is Catherynne M. Valente's wonderful take on the story of Prester John. A Swiss monk goes..."
I really need to read those. And hope she writes the third someday.
Ella Minnow Pea - short novel as a collection of letters by a young woman living in a town that has religiously decreed itself the birthplace of the only sentence to use all 26 letters of the alphabet "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"... Things go downhill pretty quickly when the town starts outlawing letters and the book starts losing letters as well. It's like reading a story written on a keyboard that is slowly losing its functionality.
Joseph wrote: "Dharmakirti wrote: "The strangest fantasy novel I've ever read is probably The Habitation of the Blessed. It is Catherynne M. Valente's wonderful take on the story of Prester John. ..."I seem to recall reading that the third book was complete but Ms. Valente had some problems with the publisher, Night Shade Books, and was looking for a new publisher for the third book.
Dharmakirti wrote: "Joseph wrote: "Dharmakirti wrote: "The strangest fantasy novel I've ever read is probably The Habitation of the Blessed. It is Catherynne M. Valente's wonderful take on the story of..."Yeah, she (and Bradley P. Beaulieu and Kameron Hurley and various others) were caught in the Great Night Shade Implosion, unfortunately.
Always Coming Home by LeGuin is like a collection of field notes of an anthropologist of a future society. Into this mix is added the musing of the author as Pandora on the implications of writing. Such as questioning the nuclear war she has as back story to clear the way for this society. How moral is it to wipe out most of the human race so casually?
An amazing work.
Any of the novels of Charles Williams. The Place of the Lion has Plato's archetypes entering the world and drawing into themselves that property. The lion of strength enters and buildings fall down, the walls no longer have strength to support the roof. This weirdness is contained in a Christian belief, that is more than a bit unorthodox. He wrote five novels, all very weird.
An amazing work.
Any of the novels of Charles Williams. The Place of the Lion has Plato's archetypes entering the world and drawing into themselves that property. The lion of strength enters and buildings fall down, the walls no longer have strength to support the roof. This weirdness is contained in a Christian belief, that is more than a bit unorthodox. He wrote five novels, all very weird.
Joseph wrote: "Dharmakirti wrote: "Joseph wrote: "Dharmakirti wrote: "The strangest fantasy novel I've ever read is probably The Habitation of the Blessed. It is Catherynne M. Valente's wonderful ..."Actually, Beaulieau specifically DIDN'T get caught by the Night Shade fiasco--he bought the rights back to his books from Night Shade right before they imploded and all the then-current Night Shade authors had to take bad (or not great at least) deals with the new publisher that bought out Night Shade (such as signing over audio rights that Night Shade never had in the first place).
David wrote: "Actually, Beaulieau specifically DIDN'T get caught by the Night Shade fiasco--he bought the rights back to his books from Night Shade right before they imploded and all the then-current Night Shade authors had to take bad (or not great at least) deals with the new publisher that bought out Night Shade (such as signing over audio rights that Night Shade never had in the first place). ..."Well, he dodged the worst of it, at least.
Prior to reading Joseph's comments, I was not aware of this whole Night Shade fiasco. I feel bad for the authors who got caught up in it. I just checked Beaulieu's author page here on Goodreads and I see that he has a new novel planned for 2015 with DAW as the publisher. I really liked the first two books in the Lays of Anuskaya series and I assume I will like the third when I finally get around to reading it.
Dharmakirti wrote: "The strangest fantasy novel I've ever read is probably The Habitation of the Blessed. It is Catherynne M. Valente's wonderful take on the story of Prester John. A Swiss monk goes..."
Thanks for this recommendation, Dharmakirti. I just read the info on this novel. I've never heard of this author before. I will be putting this on my TBR list.
Marion
Marion wrote: "Dharmakirti wrote: "The strangest fantasy novel I've ever read is probably The Habitation of the Blessed. It is Catherynne M. Valente's wonderful take on the story of Prester John. ..."I've yet to read her Prester John books, but I can heartily recommend most everything else Catherynne Valente has written. Deathless, In the Night Garden, and the Fairyland books are all great. I just discovered her last year, and have been steadily reading through them.
I almost forgot about The Transmigration of Timothy Archer by Philip K. Dick. I read this a couple of years ago and it was my 1st Dick novel. Definitely unique.Here's my review:
http://kammbia1.wordpress.com/2012/01...
Marion
City of Saints and Madmen gets a vote from me. The setting is original and organic. You can feel the fungi in the writing. It is prompting me to read Anihilation and VanderMeer's other works. Oddly I didn't like the book all that much, but it has stuck with me long after reading it.
It's not a novel, but the second section of The Gods Themselves deserves a standing ovation for being as unusual as it was delightful to read.
Ariel wrote: "Ella Minnow Pea - short novel as a collection of letters by a young woman living in a town that has religiously decreed itself the birthplace of the only sentence to use all 26 letters of the alpha..."I just finished that book today!
I second the recommendation, especially if yer a word nerd like me.
kvon wrote: "A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay, fantasy planetary travel from the 1920s, which is a combination metaphysical trip and peyote trip..."
+1 This book is weird. Sui genus. Like nothing else. I didn't like it, but I did finish it. It was so weird I found it disconcerting.
Someone mentioned Islandia. It is a great book, and often overlooked. Not so weird though. As a matter of fact it isn't even sword or laser. It does take place in an imaginary country, but everything is perfectly natural. Speculative fiction I guess. Not so weird, but well worth reading.
+1 This book is weird. Sui genus. Like nothing else. I didn't like it, but I did finish it. It was so weird I found it disconcerting.
Someone mentioned Islandia. It is a great book, and often overlooked. Not so weird though. As a matter of fact it isn't even sword or laser. It does take place in an imaginary country, but everything is perfectly natural. Speculative fiction I guess. Not so weird, but well worth reading.
Goodness, so much fantastic looking stuff here I'm adding to my reading list. Especially that Prester John series-- he showed up in a Charles Williams novel about the Holy Grail I recently read (War in Heaven, which I'm not sure if I recommend; it's very much like CS Lewis' third space book, but less weird and not-terrible) and I've been looking for more stuff with the character ever since. W/r/t Voyage to Arcturus: The Flight to Lucifer: A Gnostic Fantasy is a sequel to it written by Harold freaking Bloom (his only novel). I haven't read either but they both look delightfully weird.
Mano wrote: "It's not a novel, but the second section of The Gods Themselves deserves a standing ovation for being as unusual as it was delightful to read."Yes indeed. Asimov came up with the most unusual aliens I have ever read about, and he made totally different physics work.
Sorry if it seems a little mainstream, but I thought both Hyperion and Consider Phlebas were pretty unusual and wildly imaginative. Also, anything by Michael Marshall Smith, like Only Forward.
Agree with Hyperion, and I would add that the familiarity of the Canterbury Tales story structure juxtaposed with the SF elements makes it even more unusual.Pretty much everything by Jack L. Chalker qualifies. This is probably because he used the same themes over and over, but each series had its own distinct, um, personality I guess? which helped to separate them. The Soul Rider (starts with Spirits of Flux and Anchor), Saga of the Well World (Midnight at the Well of Souls), and Four Lords of the Diamond (Lilith: A Snake in the Grass) series are way out there, and well worth reading.
Also Clive Barker, so much. Weaveworld comes to mind.
Oh, speaking of Chalker: The Web of the Chozen was pretty freaky back in the day, especially the way the narrator (view spoiler).And also Thousandstar by Piers Anthony; I think the narrator was kind of a sentient giant blob? Haven't read either of those books in 30+ years, so I might be a bit fuzzy on the details.
Also C.J. Cherryh's Voyager in Night.
Embassytown by China Miéville. It just dropped you in a truly 'alien' world, culture, and language and didn't explain anything. He did a great job of writing/representing 'alien' than I think I'd ever experienced before.
Clyde wrote: "Mano wrote: "It's not a novel, but the second section of The Gods Themselves deserves a standing ovation for being as unusual as it was delightful to read."Yes indeed. Asimov came up with the mos..."
Yep, this book is great. Reynolds lifted the concept for the latter half of Absolution Gap, but Asimov did it first and best.
Scott wrote: "Also Clive Barker, so much. Weaveworld comes to mind"Excellent suggestion. Imajica, too.
The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
Imajica (other topics)Embassytown (other topics)
Thousandstar (other topics)
Voyager in Night (other topics)
The Web of the Chozen (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
China Miéville (other topics)Piers Anthony (other topics)
C.J. Cherryh (other topics)
Jack L. Chalker (other topics)
Bradley P. Beaulieu (other topics)
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1) Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin. Bad movie but a great and unique novel. I know it is considered as Literary Fiction but it's a fantasy novel. A thief riding through early 20th Century New York City on a White Horse. Those are fantasy tropes indeed. Beautifully written and an unforgettable novel.
2) Islandia by Austin Tappan Wright. While, The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia are considered the standard bearers of the fantasy genre, Islandia has been the crazy uncle of the genre that people find interesting but never brought out to the public.
This strange and highly imaginative book has developed a cult following over the years and its readers (myself included) are the rebels who prefer this book over Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia.
Those are my choices? What are yours?