GO READ SOME THINGS. · 3:34am Jun 27th, 2017
SO.
I'm going to go out on a limb here, but I'm guessing that at least SOME of you read stuff that isn't silly pony fanfic. Or, well, blasphemous an idea as it may be, you should read something that isn't silly pony fanfic.
And so, I have taken it upon myself to set that shit right, with a couple of random-ass book recommendations. It should be noted ahead of time that my taste is impeccable. In any case, check this out!
First off, in one of my standbys for fantasy book recommendations, there's Jo Walton's Tooth and Claw. It's about dragons! Considering the vaguely salty comments I get for stories that don't feature Spike, I imagine there's something of a market for that.
BUT, the great thing is? Tooth and Claw isn't just about dragons. Rather, it's a vaguely Regency-ish tale of scandals and inheritances and affairs and so on ... with, uh, dragons. That eat each other. Think Jane Austen with scales and gore, and you're not far off. And it's fucking BRILLIANT. Go read.
OR
Are you the sort of discerning reader who enjoyed The Prisoner of Zebra? Then you might enjoy checking out some stuff by George MacDonald Fraser, the author who I stole from inspired me. Royal Flash is the second of the Flashman novels, and it's a little more accessible than some of the others in that it's not tied DIRECTLY to one famous Victorian fiasco or another (even still, it helps if you know who the likes of Otto Bismarck or Lola Montez are).
OR
Sometimes you just need your buckles to be swashed. And to that end, Arturo Perez Reverte has you covered. Captain Alatriste is about, well ... Captain Alatriste. Reverte's prose is utterly delicious, even in translation. There's a whole series of Alatriste novels-- they're both gritty but somehow noble about it. Think, like ... 17th century noir, almost. Also, there's even a movie based on the books, starring Viggo Mortensen as pretty much Pirate Aragorn, and it's awesome.
OR
Perhaps your local library leaves something to be desired when it comes to Victorian pastiche and/or swashbuckling literature. Which may be why most of your reading is silly pony fanfic. In which case, I GOT YOU COVERED, FRIEND.
Webcomics are nothing new, but Kill Six Billion Demons is my current favorite. It's ... basically the story of a hapless Sorority Girl who suddenly, inexplicably, is given Real Ultimate Power by a dying demigod. Crazy-ass kung-fu adventures ensue. This pithy summation of the webcomic honestly does it a disservice, as Kill Six Billion Demons has a gloriously intricate mythos behind it. Honestly, if you have a few beers and squint, there are some ... vaguely, tenuously similar themes between FiM and KSBD. Or, well, at least both of them make it a point to feature kick-ass female characters.
Not to mention Cio (as seen in the pic above) is super awesome, so there's that.
So yeah! Just some random suggestions for the whole dozen of you reading. If you're good, I may start throwing out recommendations on a semi-regular basis. But only if you do your homework, kids!
Excellent webcomics that will kill you if you go back to the beginning and try to catch up:
Girl Genius by the inestimable Phil Foglio
Schlock Mercenary by Howard Tayler
Evil-Inc by Guigar
Doc Rat by Jenner
Its sad but due to the fact i have a tablet and my smart phone that have access to the internet i spend more time eading stuff here then going through the books bought.
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And the granddaddy of all the "nearly impossible to read from the beginning" webcomics, Homestuck.
It's basically the Everest of webcomics. Many perish before getting to the second arc.
The Flashman and Alatriste books are awesome! You do indeed have excellent taste.
I would also recommend Reverte's The Club Dumas, which is amazing if you like puzzle mysteries.
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Funny story: The Club Dumas was actually my first introduction to Perez-Reverte. It was actually assigned to me as summer reading back in High School. (I had a surprisingly cool English teacher, in retrospect).
Plus, there's the Johnny Depp movie, The Ninth Gate. Actually knowing that movie was based on that book helped me answer a random horror trivia night question, once, which is something I'm inordinately proud of.
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Cool teacher, indeed!
My funny story is that I watched The Ninth Gate without first knowing what is was about. Twenty minutes in, I was outraged by how they had totally ripped off The Club Dumas!
If any of you are fluent in French, I suggest the Tara Duncan book series, fantasy based, narrative that hooks you from the very start, mysteries and comedies, even stuff you would never expect out of a fantasy setting like this. Such as aliens. Yes really actually aliens.
For Sci-Fi fans, I can't recommend the Lensman series enough. It's old, part of it from 1937, but it set the groundwork for a lot of sci-fi tropes, space opera in particular. Starship Troopers is pretty similar when it comes to powered armor space marines.
More modern, and one of my all-time favorite series, David Webber's Honorverse is basically built from the ground up to be Horatio Hornblower...IN SPACE! Although later books in the series stray further and further from this.
Reach heaven through violence!
I keep falling off the wagon with Kill Six Billion Demons. Really need to catch up there. As for the rest, I'll be sure to take your recommendations under advisement. Thanks!
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A great webcomic that's actually finished its run (that way you can actually catch up): A Miracle of Science.
I know I mentioned them in one of your fics' comments already, but I'll endorse the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series here too. You can see quite plainly where Dungeons & Dragons got its inspiration from (PROTIP: Tolkien's collection isn't it).