I was thinking about it, and I think it'd be nice to have a thread here for recommending things you've read that aren't actually pony-related. A number of us read outside of fanfiction, and I'm sure we all have personal favorites to share. I'm not sure if I'll actually sticky this thread, but hopefully this will be an ongoing thing.

While I'm not making it mandatory in this thread, and feel free to chat about the books in question, I'm including a form anyways, just to give you an idea of what you might want to include. You can recommend books, series, or individual stories, though if it's a story by itself, you might want to give us an idea where to find it.

Title:
Author:
Genre:
Is this a book, a series, or a short story?
Description:
Why do you recommend it?
Is there anything that might turn people off when reading?

So I don't read pony too often these days (maybe 'these years' is more appropriate), but I am a voracious book reader. Here are the last three I've finished:

Title: Coraline
Author: Neil Gaiman
Genre: YA horror
What: Novel
Description: A young and adventurous girl named Coraline stumbles into an alternate version of her home inhabited by her 'other mother,' who pays more attention to Coraline and lets her do whatever she wants at a cost.
Why: I was on a Gaiman kick (see next entry) and picked this up on my Kindle while waiting for my car to get washed and hand waxed. I proceeded to read it in its entirety while waiting for the car. It's not too long and not too involved, but it's an enjoyable read. I adore ghost stories, and it hits those notes very well. Having read another Gaiman book a few years ago, The Graveyard Book, I feel these two are sort of companion pieces to each other, so if you've read and liked The Graveyard Book, definitely check it out.
Turn offs: If you don't like ghost stories, it might creep you out, but you'd need a really low threshold. It's also not tremendously in depth or epic, so if you're looking for something groundbreaking you might be disappointed. Those who have seen the movie shouldn't be disappointed, but it does follow a slightly different tone, so if you're just looking for the movie again, you might want to stick with the movie.

Title: Stardust
Author: Neil Gaiman
Genre: Pre-Tolkien fantasy
What: Novel
Description: After being promised any wish from his crush, a young man named Tristran who has a touch of fae in him ventures into the heart of Faerie to retrieve a fallen star, who is a woman being hunted by different beings for varying reasons.
Why: I had seen the movie years ago and had always heard it was different from the book, so I wanted to check it out. It captures the sense of fairytale fantasy that was common in Pre-Tolkien works, with lots of interesting and strange characters and a sense of adventure and journey throughout. It's also a delightfully charming romance story.
Turn offs: I commonly find Gaiman's works to be a little light on the plotting, but heavy on the character charm, and that definitely held true in Stardust, so if plots are your thing over character you might be disappointed. Also, if you're expecting the movie in book form, prepare to be wildly mislead; it is in fact very different.

Title: Mr. Mercedes
Author: Stephen King
Genre: Detective/Noir
What: Novel
Description: Shortly after retiring from being a detective, with the barrel of his father's old service revolver more and more tempting looking, Bill Hodges receives a taunting letter from a murderer of an unsolved case of his, where someone drove a stolen mercedes into a crowd of people waiting for a job fair, spurring him back on the case in a slightly outside the law capacity.
Why: I am a huge fan of Stephen King, so this was an easy buy for me. There isn't anything supernatural at work in this one (so no murderous lamps if you're worried), just a Sam Spade type detective story in a modern setting. King's characters are pretty much always charming, and this one doesn't disappoint. It's also action-packed and moves quickly.
Turn offs: This book can be rather icky. I'm not terribly squeamish, but one scene in it was close to too much for me. It was over quick enough to not be too horrible, but I'd say the book is not for the faint of heart. Also, the central antagonist isn't perhaps the most interesting villain ever and relies on some cliches that edge into overdone (though being a hardboiled detective story, that's slightly to be expected and it's different enough to not be eye-rolling).

In the future, I'm sure I'll have more book reqs to throw out here. I'm always reading something (current is a collection of short stories by Charles de Lint).

4041437

I'am also a voracious book reader that's been rather light on the non-pony end of things in recent years, which is one reason I thought this was a good idea. If nothing else, I can recommend a lot of books. Here's one that stands out.

Title: A Madness of Angels (Or, the Resurrection of Matthew Swift)
Author: Kate Griffin (an alias for Catherine Webb)
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Is this a book, a series, or a short story? a book (also, first book in a series, but it stands on its own)
Description:

When a man is tired of London he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford – Samuel Johnson

In fact, Dr Johnson was only half right. There is in London much more than life – there is power. It ebbs and flows with the rhythms of the city, makes runes from the alignments of ancient streets and hums with the rattle of trains and buses; it waxes and wanes with the patterns of the business day. It is a new kind of magic: urban magic.

Enter a London where magicians ride the Last Train, implore favours of The Beggar King and interpret the insane wisdom of The Bag Lady. Enter a London where beings of power soar with the pigeons and scrabble with the rats, and seek insight in the half-whispered madness of the blue electric angels.

Enter the London of Matthew Swift, where rival sorcerers, hidden in plain sight, do battle for the very soul of the city …

We be light, we be life, we be fire
We sing electric flame, we rumble underground wind
we dance heaven!
Come be we and be free!
We be blue electric angels.
— Anonymous spam mail, source unknown

Why do you recommend it?
It does a very good job of fantasy in urban London, and I compared it to Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere more than once while reading it. The descriptions were great, and some of the ways magic was done were very fresh and interesting. I was particularly fond of the warding scene on the subway.

Finding out what's going on with the protagonist was also something I enjoyed, and of all the ways to start a novel, having the main character wake up in his apartment two years after his death was original.

Is there anything that might turn people off when reading?
It can be a bit slow initially, and I could see being irritated at not knowing things the main character knows. And if you don't like urban fantasy, it's certainly not the book for you. I, OTOH, picked up several of the sequels...

I'll undoubtedly throw more books here as well at a later time, though they are more likely to be things I read a while ago than current ones.

--arcum42

4041437
I'm gonna expand on that and recommend that people read any Neil Gaiman they can get their hands on.

4041534

Neil Gaiman in indeed a good blanket recommendation. If one is looking for a good starting place on Gaiman, I'd recommend Good Omens (which is co-authored with Terry Pratchett) as the best intro to his work. Step two is pretty much any of his other standalone novels, as even at their weakest they're still worth reading. I'd probably rate American Gods as my favorite overall.

ETA: Another good starting place is a short story called A Study In Emerald, which is a reimagining of Sherlock Holmes inside the Cthulu mythos, and has the benefits of being a quick read and available for free online.

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4041544

I could agree with that, as I also very much enjoyed Good Omens and American Gods. He's also done some good books of short stories, like Smoke and Mirrors, there's his well known Sandman graphic novel series, and he's even written one episode of Doctor Who. (The Doctor's Wife)

For that matter, he wrote a non-fiction book called "Don't Panic" about Douglas Adams.

And you should certainly read his short story Snow, Glass, Apples which is a dark and awesome retelling of Snow White... (Also free online)

--arcum42

4041534
Agreed, especially The Graveyard Book

4041544
I'll second Good Omens. Superb. And hilarious. Also a great introduction to Sir Terry Pratchett.

Now for some recommendations of my own:
Title: The Icarus Hunt
Author: Timothy Zahn
Genre: Space Opera Science Fiction/Detective Noir
Full Novel
Description: My absolute favorite book of all time, (and interestingly enough, the author's favorite book that "no one knows about"), The Icarus Hunt follows a down-on-his-luck-but-not-out-yet independent shipper named Jordan McKell. With the alien Pathh having a stranglehold on shipping and a lot of debts to his account, Jordan is ecstatic when a man hires him to pilot his ship, the Icarus, and its sealed cargo, to Earth. It's good money, money he can use, even if the mobsters he works for aren't too happy with him taking on a new job.

That said, they're even less happy when the man who hired him turns up wanted for murder. And a bounty is put on the Icarus's crew so large everyone in the known galaxy is after them. And then a saboteur starts offing members of the crew.

And that's just the first 50 pages.
Why do you recommend it? Zahn spins an absolute thrill-ride of mystery, intrigue, and action that keeps you completely gripped and guessing every step of the way. Despite giving you all the clues to solve the mystery along with the character, Zahn never makes them obvious, and there's always another twist that you just didn't see coming, even though he gave you everything you needed. Still a book I track down and read about once every 1-2 years, usually in one or two sittings.
Is there anything that might turn people off when reading? If you don't like science-fiction or detective noir, this one's probably not for you.

Title: Mistborn: The Final Empire
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Epic Novel, Part 1 of a Trilogy
Description: Over a thousand years ago, there was a legendary hero, prophesied to rise up against evil and save the world.

He totally failed.

Now the Lord Ruler, despot of the self-described, Final Empire, rules supreme. Ash falls from the sky, nobles rule the common people with impunity, and the skaa (the slaves) have it the worst.

Pretty much, life sucks. Unless you have money.

And for Kelsier and his team of con-artists, money is something you can always get if you put your mind to it. But this time, Kelsier's tired of going after noble houses. He's got a bigger target in mind. He's going to pull off the ultimate heist.

He's going to rob the Lord Ruler, the god who has owned the world for a thousand years, blind.
Why do you recommend it? It's Ocean's Eleven meets epic fantasy. What more do you want?
Is there anything that might turn people off when reading? Not a fan of fantasy? Or one of the very few who just seems to hate Brandon's style? Well, then maybe look away. But if you want to read a heist to end all heists, set in a magic world with a unique, different system of magic from anything you've read before ... take a look.

Title: Hard Magic
Author: Larry Correia
Genre: Um ... Fantasy-Action-Adventure-Historical-Fiction-Detective Noir?
Full Novel, Book I of a Series
Description:

Jake Sullivan is a war hero, a private eye-and an ex-con. He's free because he has a magical talent, being able to alter the force of gravity in himself and objects in his vicinity, and the Bureau of Investigation calls on him when they need his help in apprehending criminals with their own magical talents. But the last operation he was sent along to help with went completely wrong, and Delilah Jones, the woman the G-men were after, who just happened to be an old friend of Jake's in happier times, had a lot of magical muscle with her, too much muscle for the cops to handle, even with Jake's help.

Set in a slightly different 1930s America where magic is the new power of the day and airships rule the skies, Hard Magic is a little bit of everything. And a whole lot of awesome, almost over-the-top action. What starts out as a simple job for an ex-con turned P.I. turns south quickly, and while I won't spoil what happens, let's just say it involves Tesla, a doomsday device, airships, an alternate WWI where people could raise zombies ... look, Correia likes to find cool stuff and throw it in a blender. This one definitely qualifies as a coolness smoothie.
Why do you recommend it? See above comment about the coolness smoothie. It's well written, the characters are memorable, the action gripping, and the climactic finale? Well ... dang.
Is there anything that might turn people off when reading? Disliking even one of the genres it blends together will probably turn you away, because despite the large list, this one manages to be all of them at once.

Title: Dead Silver
Author: Max Florschutz
Genre: Urban Fantasy Detective Noir
Stand-alone Sequel, reading the predecessor is not required in any way
Description: When New England shaman Hawke Decroux gets a call from an old friend who happens to be a ghost hunter (literally), he's expecting him to need his help with a dangerous job of some kind. Instead, Jacob Rocke has a different offer: To come down to sunny (and hot) Silver Dreams, New Mexico, and help him catch a chupacabra that's been harassing the local's animals. It'll be relaxed, easy work, and there's a hefty $50,000 reward if they can manage to catch the elusive cyptoid alive. Staff in hand, Hawke sets out for Silver Dreams, but when he arrives, things aren't quite so dreamy. The chupacabra has upped its game: Bigger and bigger animals are being found drained of their blood, and people have started disappearing as well, including Jacob Rocke. Alone and out of his element, Hawke's going to need all his wits and talents to survive, because Silver Dreams is fast being taken over by a nightmare unlike anything he's ever seen.
Why do you recommend it? Two reasons. First, I'd be remiss recommending books if I didn't recommend one of my own (after all, this is how I eat). Second, because it is an excellent book with some seriously fun mystery to it (a five-star rating on Amazon may also sway you). If you're looking for some spooky, mystery action that's similar to something like Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, you're not going to be disappointed with Dead Silver.
Is there anything that might turn people off when reading? It's near straight detective noir. First-person view, a mystery to solve with a lot of various pieces, and if that's not what you like to read, well, Dead Silver isn't for you, definitely. But if you're intrigued, give the sample a look and then give it a read.

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Title: Dracula
Author: Bram Stoker
Genre: Horror. The original Vampire novel.
Is this a book, a series, or a short story? Single Book
Description: The. Original. Vampire. Novel. This book should need no introduction after the title.
Why do you recommend it? This is a classic that everyone should read regardless of preferences. This book is everything that Twilight isn't.
Is there anything that might turn people off when reading? It was written quite a long time ago, so there is some rather intense values differences to take into account, but no more so than one would have to do with the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

4041549 You forgot Nightmare in Silver, Matt Smith's final Cyberman episode. You are inferior and will be upgraded, welcome to the Cyberiad.

Upgrade. In. Progress.

4041549 - Neil Gaiman also did one episode of Babylon 5. In fact, I've often thought 'Gaiman Episode' should be a trope. :)

4041437 I love Coraline so much and I'm so glad to hear that I'm not alone!

Title: Saving Madeline
Author: Rachel Anne Nunes
Genre: Realistic Fiction/ Romance
Book/ Single/ Series: Single Book
Description: As a public defender, Caitlin McLoughlin dreams of someday locking the bad guys in prison instead of defending them. But prosecuting jobs are scarce, and Caitlin’s future seems bleak. When her current client is about to walk away from a brutal crime, she risks her career to make sure he doesn’t hurt anyone else. Yet what if her choice means sacrificing her career and the means care for her mentally disabled sister?

Then Caitlin meets Parker Hathaway, charged with kidnapping four-year-old Madeline. Just another criminal, another job, Caitlin thinks.

But Parker tells a far different story. Can Caitlin believe him, as her heart urges? Is she willing to put everything on the line to defend her client—a man who claims to be protecting the child he loves? Or is her trust better placed in the handsome deputy district attorney with his undefeated record in court? Caitlin’s pursuit of the truth swiftly thrusts her into a maze of unanswered questions and unexpected heartache.

Meanwhile, time is running out for Madeline. If Caitlin doesn't find the proof she is looking for soon, there may not be a future for any of them.
(totally just copy/pasted this )

Why I recommend it: For me, it brings some real life drug problems and a father's struggle to protect his child from a potentially dangerous ex-wife. While reading it, I couldn't put it down, as it was a very interesting read. The characters are deep and not Mary Sues in any way. All in all, a well written novel that I highly recommend.

What might turn people off when reading: It does have a lot of romance between Caitlin and Parker, and people who aren't into that genre may shrug it off as shallow and cliche.

4041705
Interesting, I've read a few by Timothy Zahn, particularly his Star Wars novels and the Conqueror's trilogy, but I've never heard of that one. Great author though when it comes to science fiction; his are still the best of the Star Wars novels.

As for my own recommendation:
Title: Dragonflight
Author: Anne McCaffrey
Genre: Fantasy/Science-Fiction
Is this a book, a series, or a short story?
Series: I recommend the first five of the main series (Dragonflight, Dragonquest, The White Dragon, The Renegades of Pern, All the Weyrs of Pern) The series continues after that, but the fifth book concludes a major story-line and is a good place to stop. I'd also recommend some of the other novels of pern, particularly Dragondawn, and Dragon's Blood. (Dragon's Blood is actually the start of another series, but is actually better on it's own.)

Description:
The start of the Dragonriders of Pern series:

To the nobles who live in Ruatha Hold, Lessa is nothing but a ragged kitchen girl. For most of her life she has survived by serving those who betrayed her father and took over his lands. Now the time has come for Lessa to shed her disguise—and take back her stolen birthright.

But everything changes when she meets a queen dragon. The bond they share will be deep and last forever. It will protect them when, for the first time in centuries, Lessa’s world is threatened by Thread, an evil substance that falls like rain and destroys everything it touches. Dragons and their Riders once protected the planet from Thread, but there are very few of them left these days. Now brave Lessa must risk her life, and the life of her beloved dragon, to save her beautiful world. . . .

Why do you recommend it?
Great writing, with characters that you can't help but care about, set in a world with a unique and well developed culture. It seems to be pure fantasy at first, with a midevil like setting, but as the history of the world is revealed, you'll find that Pern has a more sci-fi origin. I've read the entire series at least three times and some parts still manage to get to me.

Is there anything that might turn people off when reading?
Well, the primary story is one of survival; there's not a villain character, rather the 'villain' is the natural phenomenon that plagues the planet known as thread, so it may not be for everyone. Also, there is some mild non-graphic sex, and unusual relationships due to the effects that the mental bond between the dragons and their riders have on the riders, particularly during dragon mating flights.

Title: On Basilisk Station
Author: David Weber
Genre: Mildly Hard Sci-Fi/Space Opera
What: Novel, Book 1 in the mainline Honorverse series
Description:

*Having made an Admiral look foolish, after succeeding in making a way out idea work once, she's been exiled to Basilisk Station in disgrace and there set up for ruin by a superior who hates her.

*Her demoralized crew blames her for their ship's humiliating performance during Fleet exercises and for their posting to an out-of-the-way picket station.

*The aborigines of the system's only habitable planet are smoking homicide-inducing hallucinogens.

*Parliament isn't sure it wants to keep the place; the major local industry is smuggling; the merchant cartels want her head; the star-conquering, so-called "Republic" of Haven is Up to Something; and Honor Harrington has a single, over-age light cruiser, with an armament that doesn't work, to police the entire star system.

But the people out to get her have made one mistake. They've made her mad.

Why do you recommend it? Besides being the book that got me into reading Sci-fi, I consider it a good way to get into the harder sci-fi series and into the series as a whole. It has fascinating characters, technology, and combat. It may be set 2000 years in out future but the spirit of the Age of Sail and Wooden Ships and Iron Men still hold sway.

Is there anything that might turn people off when reading? It is military sci-fi so that might turn people away, and Weber does to info dumps in the middle of things. This isn't a bad thing mind you since they can give pretty interesting info about the 'verse and empathize a point usually ignored by most mainstream sci-fi series (space is in fact really, really big and ships can only go so fast).

Be warned though, if you get hooked there 12 more books in the main series, along with six side novels, six short-story anthologies, two prequel series, and a short novella set before the main series. The series has been going on since 1992, and covers it seems over 1800 years of history.

Title: Theodore Roosevelt: The Last Romantic.

Author: H.W. Brands

Genre: Biography

Is this a book, a series, or a short story?: A book.

Description: It's a biography of Teddy Roosevelt, the nutsiest president the US ever had.

Why do you recommend it?: An interesting read concerning a larger-than-life figure. It doesn't shy away from some of the questionable things he's done, nor some of his viewpoints.

Is there anything that might turn people off when reading?: Well, it's a bigraphy during the latter half of the 19th and first two decades of the twentieth century. Teddy was progressive on a lot of views, but stuck in the times on others. Also, he liked the fisticuffs/gunplay a bit.

4043388
I for one always keeps in mind that subject of a bibliography is a product of their era

4043554 That is a legit very good thing to keep in mind.

4043566
Which large parts of the internets seems to forget.

Some of the best books I've ever read, in no particular order:

Way of kings- by Brandon Sanderson. All of his books are cool because they technically take place in the same universe, but you'd only know if you're paying close attention and reading everything. Over the last ten years, he's been writing books (most of them bestsellers) leading up to the way of kings. The book is a freaking thousand page brick, and half of it is spent with a supremely annoying scholar/thief, but between the badassery, awesome slave warrior, and world building through the rest of the book he makes up for it multiple times over. I was counting the days until the sequel months in advance. Totally worth it.

Eragon- by Christopher Paolini. Not quite as massive as the way of kings, but still pretty huge. If you've ever wondered what would happen if you crossed Lord of the Rings with How to Train Your Dragon, this is the book for you. It's got it all, evil tyrant kings, OP elves, hilarious dwarves, mysterious wizards, talking cat people, and of course--dragons.

Rangers Apprentice- by John Flanagan. This is the story of a kid named Will and his adventures as the apprentice of an infamous assassin/spy/archer, saving his country from everything from Vikings, to Orcs, to disgruntled nobles. This is James Bond in a fantasy setting. Much smaller than either of my other suggestions so far, this book comes in a series of manageable 100 page bites. Each book is a new adventure, and can usually be read on their own--after you get through to book 4 that is.

Steel Heart- by Brandon Sanderson. A rarity among Sandersons works, this one is completely unrelated to everything else, and doesn't weigh ten pounds! What happens in a world without heroes? This is the story of a regular kid living in a world where supervillains reign supreme, and nobody can stop them--or can they? Seriously, read this. I can't describe how awesome it is. (No, really. My description sucks.)

These are just what I could think of off the top of my head, I'm pretty sure I've read better but they're lost in the sea of books in my head.

4043326

I have read, er, most of those, multiple times. I've got the first book of the prequel series featuring Stephanie Harrington, the lady who discovered treecats, too.

It's probably worth mentioning that On Basilisk Station can be downloaded for free, too. That's how they hook you.

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Yeah, I remember the episode, but it didn't quite register as a Neil Gaiman episode, and I must have forgotten he wrote it, whereas The Doctor's Wife was fairly unique.

--arcum42

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I believe the first two are free...
And yes that is how they hook you, that and having the non-DRM disks that came with some of the hardback that had all the books he wrote for Baen.

4044322

Yes, looks like the Honor of the Queen is still free. A number of books in their free book library aren't any more, and the archive of all those disks no longer has downloads, unfortunately. I got most of them that way, though,

That's certainly how I got hooked. I had a new e-reader, and downloaded a bunch of Baen's free book library to it. Some of the other things I'm likely to recommend in this thread later, like The Ship Who Searched (and certainly The Ship Who Sang), I also got into from their library.

--arcum42

4044340
Still their prices are responsible, and if people want the later books we can email them to them....

Probably will recommend Prince Rodger later, if only to get someone to do a Ponyfied version with Blueblood

4044357

Yeah, the prices are still decent. They've just been on the decline in some ways since Jim Baen died. They are still my favorite book publishing company, but not as much as they used to be. And it's still easy enough to search for the cds and find them.

A Ponified version of March Upcountry would certainly be interesting. Ponifying Anne McCaffrey's Brainship series would be easy enough, too. I'll probably recommend the Ship Who Searched later on, maybe later tonight.

--arcum42

4044357

It looks to me like the website that took them down has most of the disks up now, but only if you download the whole disk. So you can grab an awful lot of books over here. (And to be clear, the disks we're talking about were labeled saying to freely distribute copies on them, for anyone wondering about legality.)

--arcum42

The Baen Free Library reminded me of this gem, though it's no longer free ...

Title: Inherit the Stars (Also now available in a two-pack)
Author: James P. Hogan
Genre: Hard Science Fiction
First of a series, though I haven't read the rest
Description: It's the early 21st century, and man is busily working on colonizing the moon for the first time. It's going pretty normal ... until a surveyor finds a body hidden in a cave. At first, with the red spacesuit, he and his superiors think it's Russian. But the Russians say the body isn't theirs. Then the Chinese say the same. And then a bit of carbon-dating dates the body at about 50,000 years old, and suddenly mankind's entire existence is thrown into question.
Why do you recommend it? Inherit the Stars is not for everyone. Hard Science-Fiction tends to be very polarizing, but for those who find a thrill in the study and the search of the unknown, Stars delivers in spades. The entire book is built around one simple search: Who is this man on the moon, and where did he come from? From there, the book follows legions of scientists as they study, theorize, compete, and ultimately try to piece together a working theory as to how a human being could have died on the moon 50,000 years ago, and where he came from. It's definitely hard science fiction, with studies, theories, unseating of those theories. At its core, it's a mystery ... but a really interesting one concerning humanity, nature, evolution, and just about everything in between.

Honestly, one of my favorite things about the book (next to the awesome ending, which is just a pure triumph of fist-pumping) is the way it shows the scientific process at work. Hogan understands that science is constantly changing—that what is fact one day is not the next—and plays that fact for what it is. Entire bits of the story revolve around scientists following wrong theories, only to be forced to backtrack once they don't pan out. There's a real sense of the scientists doing their best to succeed, and then failing along the way as they try over and over to gather more pieces and put them together.
Is there anything that might turn people off when reading? Yes, two things. The first is hard science fiction. Yes, this book gets technical and sometimes into more details about the science than you might enjoy. The second is that it might grate wrong with some people because the entire premise of the book is based around the idea that science is theory, not fact and that science changes all the time. And some people really don't like that. If you're one of them, you're not going to enjoy this book.

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Even if you can't get the latest books, still gives you over 90% of the series and Weber's other works.

4042816
You're lucky to have stumbled on the Conquerer's Trilogy. Most people I've found have never even heard of it, and that's a great one!

Anyway, this place needs another bump ... and since I'm rereading a series...

Title: Hard Magic
Author: Larry
Genre: Alternate History/Urban Fantasy/Noir
Is this a book, a series, or a short story? Part 1 of a trilogy, but the author has said he's returning to it.
Description: Jake Sullivan is a war hero, a private eye—and an ex-con. He's free because he has a magical talent and the Feds need his help in apprehending criminals with their own magical abilities. But the last operation Jake was sent on went completely wrong, and Delilah Jones, an old friend in happier times, had too much magical muscle with her for the Feds to handle, even with Jake's help.
Of course, them lying to him about what was going on in the first place didn't help much ...
Why do you recommend it? Hard Magic is a 1930s era action novel with just a hint of noir, and a whole lot of neat magic and gunplay. Set during prohibition times, when speakeasys were the only way to get booze, and the world is still reeling from the first world war, Hard Magic's world is nonetheless a little different since back during the 1850s, magic started showing up. And not pull a rabbit out of a hat style magic either. Take the main character, for example. As a heavy, he can alter gravity—spiking it or flipping it around targets or himself. Which means that yes, he can carry that .50 caliber machine gun and use it with one hand. And you'd better steer when he does.

Gangs, magic, Imperial Japan, and Tesla-inspired superweapons all collide in a crazy, but thrilling ride that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Is there anything that might turn people off when reading? Correia does not pull punches with regards to historical accuracy. While the alternate universe materials do apply, much of what happens on a global level in the books is pretty similar, and even more is still the same. Right down to horrors like Unit 731 from Imperial Japan (if you don't know what that is, don't Google it until you're ready, and just understand that the Nazis were not the only party to commit holocaust level war crime during WWII). He doesn't pull punches when it comes to government or it's many screw-ups, either. Or big businesses. And again, it's all based on historical occurrence and actual events, which sometimes has a habit of making people very uncomfortable. One reviewer for the second book verbally decried the second book for its choice of villain—a government agency known as OCI, or Office of Coordinator of Information—since it was very racist, very evil, and also very much a project of FDR. The truth was that the OCI did actually exist, and really was involved events and an ultimate plan similar to the one in the book, except their target was Japanese immigrants, not magic users. So yeah, Correia pulls no punches with history's unclean moments and some of the shady things countries, nations, and people have done. And like that reviewer, some can be put off by it.

Additionally, the books do not shy away from violence. You're going to read about gunplay. Sword duels. Magic duels. Animal duels. Wounds. And a lot of death. Correia used to be a firearms instructor, so when people get shot ... it's a real injury, regardless of magic. But yeah, if violence is something you're not a fan of, Hard Magic is not the best choice.