geekyBecause every group is essentially a sociological tide pool, shifting slightly whenever the tide comes in but still cross-contaminating itself at a remarkable rate, we also tend to have a somewhat distorted view of "everybody." I bet if you polled a sample size of, say, the readership of this journal, you'd discover that Rosemary and Rue was one of the best-known books of 2009. Why? Because I wrote it, and talk about it constantly, and you read this journal, hence exposing you to it on a constant basis. I'm a literary pathogen!
On a more localized scale, we loan books to our friends, talk books up to our friends, and constantly infect each other with our literary passions. In the last year, I have caused my friends to read I Am Not a Serial Killer, Mr. Shivers, A Madness of Angels, the complete works of Kelley Armstrong, The Mermaid's Madness, The Enchantment Emporium, and Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded. These aren't the only good books I've read in the last year; they're just the ones new enough to still be available, and to have excited me with their sudden existence.
So here is today's challenge: Infect us with books we may not have heard of, but which are so damn AWESOME that it verges on a crime that more people don't know about them. Go for out-of-print things (that's why libraries and used bookstores exist), or the first books in series that started eight years ago. Bring enlightenment to the heathen, in the form of literary smallpox.
I'll start with five of my favorites, books I honestly think everyone should read (whether you enjoy them is up to you):
Hellspark, by Janet Kagen.
Mermaid's Song, by Alida Van Gorres.
Emergence, by David Palmer.
The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl, by Tim Pratt.
Paper Moon, by Joe David Brown.
Authors, feel free to pimp your own work here; just get the word out, and let's see what we're not reading!
May 23 2010, 00:53:55 UTC 7 years ago
I think Steph Swainston's The Year of Our War is/was pretty popular, since I know it won an award or two, but I haven't seen it on shelves anywhere since I picked it up, so I'm going to include it. It's fantasy novel meets Starship Troopers meets deist philosophy meets an acid trip. It's amazing.
John Parker's Once a Runner was out of print for a long time, but someone reissued it to the masses. In my trackie world, it's the Bible, but I don't think it's quite so widely read in the rest of the world. You should read it, though, if you've ever wondered about those crazy guys doing interval workers and striders on your community track. Nothing explains 'em better than this book.
My massive guilty pleasure: the DMC novels by Rick Shelley. They're military sci-fi, and they can get a little predictable, but I find a certain authenticity in their... Army-ness. Shelley, who I'm pretty sure was in the service, has a very good grasp on the culture and the lingo.
May 24 2010, 18:23:29 UTC 7 years ago