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Last but absolutely not least is Thomas’ has been a huge find for me and this is one of my favorite of his works. This story is about a anonymous man who committed suicide and found himself in Hell where upon being crucified and graduating wanders Hell and falls in love with a demon. The novel is written in the form of the main characters diary chronicling his travels in Hell. If you’re looking for something new, fresh, and just incredibly written check out Thomas, you won’t be disappointed. |
Historical Fiction/Crime work by legendary comic book writer Alan Moore (‘Watchmen’, ‘V for Vendetta’), that is the best work I have read that chronicles Jack-the-Ripper is a the subject of using the Masonic twist in the Ripper mythos for the story. Fantastic art by Eddie Campbell makes this a yet another gem by Moore. |
I have stopped counting but it seems Moorcock is heavily mentioned on both the 101 list and this back 99 list. I’m not a religious person, and although I respect anyone’s desire to practice whatever belief system they think they require (or is it required of them?), it’s a conscious decision on my part, and thus in my mind the smart decision even though I respects anyone right to make there own choices. If you are a devout Christian you may not like this book at all, however Moorcock’s time travel story of Karl Glowgauer back into the time of Christ is absolutely riveting and as always thoughtful. A phenomenal book. |
Post-apocalyptic masterpiece about a world’s population which is reduced to almost nothing by a plague and the story of one of the survivors Isherwood, as it chronicles his survival, and attempts to be a leader in a tribe passing on knowledge to the young members trying to preserve culture in future generations. |
It’s impossible to be a fan of mysteries and not include Holmes and this is a great find for me, containing 4 full-length novels and 56 short stories. |
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Speaking of Charles Stross he recommended Grimwood (although he recommended the Arabesk series), but I jumped on ‘Pashazade’ because of my aforementioned enjoyment of mystery novels. This is SF/Alternative history/sleuth novel in a world where the Ottoman Empire is a world power which provides an interesting and rare backdrop of the Middle East/Arabic setting. |
Read this series. This is a planned 8-12 books cycles that was originally planned to be 4 large novels by Stross (who I have recently interviewed BTW). Stross is an incredible writer of SF and Fantasy. I really have faith in Stross and really enjoyed ‘The Family Trade’, thus the inclusion on the list. It starts with Miriam Berkenstein; a financial reporter who is fired from her job but finds out she has the ability to go into an alternative medieval reality world where she is family of world traveling merchants. This is often compared to Zelazny’s classic ‘Chronicles of Amber’ in regards to being able to describe a influence, and it’s an apt one in my opinion. ‘The Family Trade’ shows tremendous potential for this series, and Stross is a gifted writer. I can’t wait to read ‘Hidden Family’ and I have very high hopes for this series. |
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I own but haven’t read ‘House of Storms’ the sequel yet, but, ‘The Light Ages’ is a magnificently well-written novel taking place in a alternative universe Victorian London where a substance called aether is the key to both industry and magic. Macleod is a incredibly descriptive and vivid writer, and the plight of Robert Barrows as a revolutionary, and in love is a well-written one if not overtly fast paced or incredibly exciting, it is beautifully written however and a strong read. I would also recommend (due to space constraints with my list) his collections which are absolutely remarkable where his descriptive writing definitely shines in ‘Breathmoss and other Exhalations’ and ‘Voyages by Starlight’. His first novel ‘the Great Wheel’ is also recommended if you admire his style from reading ‘The Light Ages’. |
An anthology in which the stories all occur in the city of Aum, also called the gate City because the city serves as a Gateway to other, numerous universes. To be able to speak the language in these other universe you must buy from the Gate mothers’ a parasite that allows you to communicate in the universe you are going to. Houarner does a fantastic job in describing the city, and it’s a terrific concept. The stories do not share characters and are stand-alone stories of various travelers and inhabitants, and I am wondering if other works are planned from the Aum setting, as it has vast potential. |
Edited by James Mann, this is the complete collection of Cordwainer Smith’s shorts, who besides being an author actually worked for the CIA as well. Many of the 33 stories in the collection represent the very best Sci-fi shorts one can read. For people that have read his popular full-length novel ‘Norstillia’ I consider this collection even more of a must read. |
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