Sell me on these authors (or not)

[the_andy]

Here's the deal: I list well regarded authors I have not been able to get into. You recommend a starting place (or you can tell me not to bother) and I'll try it. I will give each author two attempts to catch my interest. If after two books*, which I have not already read**, I remain unsold, then they are off my list forever.

I'll add to this list as I recall more names.


My initial list for recs:
Gene Wolfe
Mary Gentle
Catherynne M. Valente
Iain M. Banks
Guy Gavriel Kay


* I will not promise to read any book beyond 25 pages if it's not grabbing me. You may want to keep that in mind and not recommend things that get good around 100 pages in.

** If it's been a long time since I've read a book I might be convinced to give it another try.

Comments

[littlebutfierce]

The only two I've read have been Gentle & Kay -- I was thinking of rereading A Song for Arbonne recently, actually (that book has never yet failed to make me bawl, but it's been years since I read it, so maybe my tastes have changed). I feel like A Song for Arbonne has some of the "we must not become the evil that we deplore"-type stuff that I liked in things like The City, Not Long After (or even the Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk, even though that is definitely one I think I'd feel differently about nowadays). Buuuut yeah idk if I could sell it, or Kay in general, b/c it's been so long. I also used to looove Tigana, but again, not sure what I'd think of that today (iirc Tigana is the one w/the prissy "kink is bad, as bad as incest!" subplot in it).

I think most of what I've read by Gentle was Ash, & that took me ages to get through -- there were parts I adored but I think a lot of it was a slow simmer & I think I did have to push myself. Soooo again, no help there.

I'll be interested to hear what other people say though!

[the_andy]

Additional ranbly information, mostly trends in what I dislike, that may color your feedback, but should not be construed to keep books of this kind off the recommended list. Also, I only have one comment, so I'll fill the space until more arrive.

I tend very strongly to veer toward fantasy over sci-fi, especially sci-fi that is caught up in it's "big idea"-ness.

I am tired of everything being about the fate of the world.

I don't usually care for time travel (at least serious time travel).

I don't like when people from our world who go into another one.

I like old school noir (Hammett over Chandler) and crime (Westlake/Stark).

I like classic romance/adventure (Dumas).

I like pulp sword and sorcery (Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Conan, Jirel).

I like weird authors who are better than Lovecraft (mostly Clark Ashton Smith and Lord Dunsany.

Usually thing 1 I like with elements of thing 2 I like is ok, but straight on pastiches (it's a noir detective fantasyland story) are crap.

Steampunk is an awesome video game aesthetic, but I don't care for it anywhere else.

I like about half of the Lies of Locke Lamora and the Name of the Wind, but that wasn't enough to make me bother with the sequels.

I started off really liking Karl Schroeder's Virga series, but then didn't anymore as the heavy SF crept in.

[littlebutfierce]

Heh, for Kay, don't read the Fionavar Tapestry books, which have people from our world going to another.

[the_andy]

That was actually what I was thinking of when I started this list! Not that I've read it, but I know the basic plot and none of it sounds appealing to me. I have one of his other books a friend loaned me (Tigana I think) that I could barely get past the prologue.

That reminds me of two other things I don't like (damn, I'm picky tonight):
Prologues in general (though I don't see these going away any time soon).
Thinly veiled fantasy retelling of historical events.