Looking for New Authors

[Idaho]

Banks is into speed dating?

Yeah, he gave me his number and was attentive and interested during the allotted 5 minutes - but nothing came of it

 

[Paris Garters]

Philip Pullman - 'His dark materials' trilogy. Excellent, grittier and darker than you might imagine.

You read any clive barker? He writes dark, twisted fantasy stuff, often half in/half out of the real world. At his best I think he craps on koontz - try weaveworld, Books of blood, Galilee. Imajica and cabal (filmed as Nightbreed) aren't bad either. He wrote the screenplays for the Hellraiser fims.

You might also like James Herbert, the Rats books are a bit naff imo, but later books are better - Haunted, Sepulchre. He's a litle bit like King, but english.

Douglas Adams I'm assuming you're familiar with, his non-hitchhikers guide books are good, and very funny - 'Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency' and 'The Long dark Teatime of the Soul' I quite often re-read when I need a reality break.

I don't know if you're into graphic novels, but there's some excellent stuff out there - Preacher (one man's mission to bring an errant and insane God to justice- you want twisted, you got twisted) and Hellblazer (v. urban, about a sorcerer geezer set in a contemporary London underworld - think James Elroy or Raymond Chandler with magic, satanism, ghosts and demons etc rather than dungeons and dragons)

Also Ray Bradbury- something wicked this way comes is an old favourite of mine.

 

[marty21]

i loved the phillip pullman trilogy

 

[gosub]

Jeff Noon quite dark and entertaining would recomend Pixel Juice (short stories) as start point

 

[Paris Garters]

seconded.

 

[obanite]

Dead Air, or Crow Road

Out of what I've read by him they're by far Ian Bank's best books. I think the Crow Road in particular was a really good one. "The Algebraist" (sci-fi) was alright, quite funny and some interesting (though not 100% original) ideas.

For fantasy, I'd say George R. R. Martin is the best fantasy author out there at the moment: vibrant, interesting and non-cliched world; great cast of characters; world-spanning, dastardly and intriguing plot. Only failing is the most recent book was a bit of a hiccup but the others were a really great read - very mature and well written, sadistic in places but not OTT.

Sci-fi, recently I read a couple of Alastair Reynolds, but in the wrong order cos I was skint at the time and had to get them from the library Again very well written books, with some really sweet ideas. Quite 'out there' with some of the ideas.

Robin Hobb writes very emotional and well written fantasy. I just bought the first book of her newest series today, will let you know how it turns out

 

[obanite]

Philip Pullman - 'His dark materials' trilogy. Excellent, grittier and darker than you might imagine.

Oh yeah, another vote for this guy. It's supposed to be 'teen fiction' I think, but I couldn't put them down, very imaginative and compelling

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series. Its Harry Potter meets Micky Spillane. Start with Dead Beat, even though its the sixth book in the series. Giant Zombie Dinosauers!

 

[zog]

On crime, i would make 2 recommendations. One is for earlier James Ellroy material like the Black Dahlia and LA Confidential (some of his later stuff gets a bit too bonkers for me).

The other is for Chester Himes and his books about Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones - you can get three collections, named the Harlem Cycle Volumes, and they're absolutely fanastic tales about 2 unconvential detectives that can make you squirm one minute and laugh out loud the next.

What good taste you have Paulie.

I've loved every thing by Ellroy , especally American Tabloid and Himes is the nuts.

Also love Jim Thompson, Seth Morgan, Edward Bunker and Richard Starks Parker books.

You won't go wrong with any of them.

As for sci fi.... the only author that ever floated my boat was Harlan Ellison, but it's been years since I read him.

 

[samk]

I haven't read this, but it has vampires in space

Blindsight by Peter Watts, review

and the author has put the text on the internet after the publisher refused a second print run

 

[jeff_leigh]

Charlie Stella - Eddie's World

I Love My Smith & Wesson - David Bowker

Robert Crais - Hostage

 

[Ceej]

Crime
Mark Billingham (Kentish town based!) - Sleepyhead, Buried, Lifeless, The Burning Girl
Val McDermid - Mermaids Singing, Wire in the Blood, A Place of Execution
Michael Connelly - anything except Chasing the Dime, which is surprisingly rubbish

SF/Fantasy -
As mentioned before - anything by the very wonderful Christopher Fowler
Stephen Donaldson - The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever

 

[rekil]

I just got a load of stuff by Stanislaw Lem and these Russian and Ukrainian lads, Mikhail Bulgakov, Viktor Pelevin, Andrey Kurkov.