(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best humor & satire fiction books

I'm reposting something I posted a couple of years ago:

Well, perhaps the most famous recent post-apocalyptic novel was McCarthy's The Road. Quite a bleak book, and very characteristic of McCarthy's spartan prose, this became a huge international best seller and a successful Hollywood movie. I certainly recommend it, but it's not really an uplifting book and has several confronting scenes. Still, very good.

The other obvious recent "literary" PA novels would be Margaret Atwood's "Oryx and Crake" trilogy. They start with Oryx and Crake, are followed by Year of the Flood and conclude with MaddAddam. These are very good books with strong feminist and ecological themes (a good thing!). Highly recommended.

The Dog Stars is yet another recent PA novel which garnered a fair bit of praise (I picked it up after hearing a segment on the novel on NPR's Fresh Air). I enjoyed it, despite the cliched "Survivalist" aspects and occasional far-fetched coincidences. A good, fun read; especially if you're a dog lover. :)

Other recommended titles (which I won't link to directly for time reasons) include Justin Cronin's The Passage trilogy (kind of a mash up between post apocalypse and horror), Stephen King's The Stand (ditto), A Canticle for Leibowitz, Earth Abides and Alas Babylon (the triptych of classics of the genre).

Good luck. I love these books even though I'm a positive optimistic guy! :)

EDIT: I overlooked Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven (fun, action packed but accused by some of racist undertones), The Postman by David Brin (so so so very much better than the movie it spawned. So much better), The Year of the Plague by someone I forgot (rather original PA novel with nano-technology rearing its head) and even Blood Music by Greg Bear (though most people consider this full on science fiction, it does feature an apocalypse... or a sort. :)





 



 




 



Since then, I've thought of (or read) a few more. Perhaps one of the most famous is Station Eleven. It garnered a fair bit of media attention and mainstream critical acclaim a couple of years ago. It's a bit of a slow burner, and whilst it's not my favourite post-apocalyptic novel, it's certainly worth picking up. The Girl with All the Gifts was a recent hit. Set in the UK, it tells the story of a band of British scientists and soldiers searching for remaining survivors, as they bring along a very strange and very dangerous survivor of the recent plague. It's great fun and was made into a movie recently. I believe the author recently published a sequel (The Boy on the Bridge?), but I haven't read this.

Wastelands is a collection of short-stories. Some really good stuff here, and if you're not feeling up to a full length novel or comptemplating the end of humanity, it's well worth a look.


Let me know if you want more. It's a favourite genre of mine. :)

xD ok this will be a long message bear with me.

1. Is there a synopsis of each story available?
   
   Yes! Every serial I write has a home page, and every home page has:
   
   

• Links to every part that is released
  
  
• A brief 'blurb' for the series, normally what I'd put on the back of the hardcopy :)
  
  
• Links to any artwork I've been sent or purchased of the series
  
  
• Links to any other media, like audio files or videos
  
  For my serials, the home pages are as follows:
  
  Flameweaver Saga
  
  Halfway to Home
  
  
  

2. I want to read other stuff
   
   From a quick browse-through of your comments I didn't see you crossing paths with any other serial authors - If you haven't read any of his stuff, I highly, highly recommend /u/Hydrael's work, over at /r/Hydrael_Writes! His Dragon's Scion and Small Worlds projects are exceptional! Small worlds is also published on Amazon!
   
   
3. I want to read traditional novels
   
   I can help with that! Some quick recommendations that I personally love - these are loosely ranked in order of how I'd recommend them, but the fact that they're here at all means they've got my support :)
   
   Fantasy novels:
   
   The October Daye series:
   
   

• Urban fantasy
  
  
• Awesome worldbuilding
  
  
• Is where I learned how to write twists, and where I picked up my penchant for chekov's guns
  
  Trickster's Choice/Trickster's Queen
  
  
• Traditional fantasy
  
  
• Wonderful politics and intrigue
  
  
• Influenced how gods are handled in Flameweaver
  
  
• Both written easily enough for young readers to understand, and complex enough for adults to enjoy
  
  Graceling
  
  
• Traditional fantasy
  
  
• A bit more well-known, but a surprisingly solid upper-YA read. Kind of a guilty pleasure book of mine haha
  
  Scifi Novels:
  
  Agent to the Stars and Old Man's War
  
  
• John Scalzi is the author I modeled my own writing style after. So if you like my style, you might like his too.
  
  
• Darkly humerous. Realistic and gritty, without being overpoweringly grim.
  
  
• Wickedly sarcastic
  
  The Ender Quartet
  
  
• A bit wordier/harder to read, after Ender's Game. The last book (Children of the Mind) is probably one of the most challenging books I've ever read. But rewarding.
  
  
• Long-running, intricate plotline
  
  The Ship Series
  
  
• Indie series I happened across a few years ago
  
  
• Upper YA. Younger characters, but dark content
  
  
• Well-written, relatable characters

This is a repost of a previous recommendation list I made (with a few updates):

Responses in the order in which I thought of them within each category (don't take it as an order of preference or anything). Lots of fanfic in this list because it's what people tend to write. Assume they're rational unless stated otherwise.

Note that "rationalist" means "rational + demonstrates analytical techniques", so I note where that's applicable (if I remember; a lot of this is fuzzy due to sheer quantity).

Finished:

• The Waves Arisen, rationalist Naruto fanfiction
  
• Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (HPMoR), rationalist Harry Potter fanfiction, possibly the ur-example of the concept of rationalist fanfiction (probably wrong about that however)
  
• Shadows of the Limelight, original story (it's true, I do read original stories) about a world where fame literally grants superpowers (by one of this subreddit's moderators, /u/alexanderwales)
  
• Worm, original story about an alternate Earth where superheroes are forged from "trigger events" (moments of intense emotional or physical trauma) by /u/Wildbow
  
• Pact, original story about modern magic users and creatures where words have power and consequences (also by Wildbow)
  
• The Two Year Emperor (epub), original story (kinda) about an ordinary, albeit clever man transported to a world that runs on Dungeons and Dragons rules as written by /u/eaglejarl; this one was, at one point, only available for purchase on Amazon here but was generously rereleased for free by the author
  
• Team Anko, Naruto fanfiction also by eaglejarl
  
• The Metropolitan Man, Superman/Lex Luthor fanfiction (by alexanderwales again; the next three are all by him)
  
• A Bluer Shade of White, Frozen fanfiction (yes, it is rational)
  
• The Last Christmas, Santa Claus fanfiction (ditto)
  
• Branches on the Tree of Time, Terminator fanfiction
  
• Fine Structure, original story about superheroes that appear yearly, doubling in power (and the damage done in their tumultuous "trigger") each time; the whole thing is so much more than just that, but I don't want to spoil it (by Sam Hughes, who wrote the next two as well)
  
• Ra, original story about magic analysed as science; again, it goes on to be much more but I don't want to spoil it
  
• Sam Hughes' author page at the SCP Foundation wiki, I recommend reading his entries from 2015 (you may want to read the Foundation's about page and some of the top rated pages from the wiki to get a feel for the setting first if you're new to SCP)
  
• Friendship is Optimal, My Little Pony fanfiction about an AI that is definitely not horrifying, no siree, just your average friendly AI over here
  
• Cenotaph, Worm fanfiction with a small deviation from canon
  
• Wake, sequel to Cenotaph
  
• Significant Digits, HPMoR metafic which is very different in character (it has a summary of HPMoR if you don't want to read it, but obviously heavily spoils the plot of that fic)
  
  Updating often:
  
  
• Pokemon: The Origin of Species, rationalist Pokemon fanfiction
  
• r Animorphs: The Reckoning, Animorphs fanfiction by /u/TK17Studios
  
• Mother of Learning, original story about a student mage caught in a time loop by /u/nobody103
  
• Twig, original story about emotionally savvy, enhanced children fighting biopunk monsters in a world where the British defeated the American colonies using biological superweapons (by Wildbow)
  
• UNSONG, the only rational kabbalah story I've ever heard of, with a pleasantly high concentration of biblical whale puns
  
• Glimwarden, yet another original story by alexanderwales featuring three rational protagonists fighting against anthropomorphic EM radiation (or at least that's my guess)
  
• Hermione Granger and the Perfectly Reasonable Explanation, a rational Harry Potter fanfic that I'm really hoping keeps up the updates (it was in a long hiatus until recently) in part because it has the perfect title for a Hermione fic
  
  Updating rarely, possibly abandoned:
  
  
• Harry Potter and the Natural 20, Harry Potter/Dungeons and Dragons crossover fanfiction (protagonist is an original character and a munchkin to his core)
  
• Weaver 9, a Worm metafiction which swaps the role of two important characters (casting a significant villain in the role as, er, "hero")
  
• Juncture, original story about all sorts of time travel tropes by /u/AHatfulOfBomb (currently on hiatus)
  
• Lighting Up the Dark, Naruto fanfiction by /u/Velorien
  
  I can go into more detail about what separates the Naruto/Harry Potter fanfictions on request. They all have their charms but differ quite a lot in theme and characterisation.
  
  I've also probably forgotten a whole bunch of things. Apologies also if I got authors wrong or missed somebody who's active on this subreddit (I don't remember usernames for everyone who is, sadly).
  
  There's also a lot of great one-shots on the subreddit, some in the challenge threads that get posted every two weeks.

Chilespicedmango gave an amazing comment! I have a couple recommendations for audiobooks that you can listen to or read along with. I struggled with reading comprehension as I got older and following along with audiobooks really helped me. Plus some have great voice actors. Make sure you get unabridged!

Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman, read by Lenny Henry
A great adventure story, incorporates mythology and cleverness and tricksters. Also the hero's quest of ordinary man-becomes great hero.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams, read by Stephen Fry
I memorized this as a child. I can probably recite it to you now. It's a hilarious story of an Englishman and his alien compatriot who escape the Earth right before it's destroyed and have adventures around the galaxy. Originally written as a radio serial, so it's episodic and might help with comprehension.

The Harry Potter Audiobooks
You may have heard of Harry Potter? Jim Dale does some fabulous voices - though his Hermione always bugged me.

Best of luck! We are here to support you. Sorry you couldn't relate to the Regency female protagonists - they always bored me too, I guess I missed the part of female development where you're supposed to be in love with Mr. Darcy? But you're free of school-assigned books now! Hopefully the fact a book has a female protagonist won't discourage you from reading it. r/books has a lot of suggestions for exciting books (including scifi/adventure) with kickass female leads.

Sir Thomas the Hesitant and the Table of Less Valued Knights by Liam Perrin
Comedic, Clean, Arthurian Fairy Tale

Whimsical and poignant, Sir Thomas the Hesitant and the Table of Less Valued Knights tells the story of Thomas Farmer who dreams of becoming a knight, sets out to save his brother from the hands of an evil Baron, and uncovers a plot that threatens Camelot itself. Along the way, he befriends a series of misfits including an allegedly reformed evil wizard, a shrinking giantess with a latent gift, a veteran knight with a dark secret, and his best friend Philip the Exceptionally Unlucky. In the end, his friends must all join forces and Thomas must come to grips with what it means to be a true hero if they are to outwit the evil Baron.

At its heart, Sir Thomas's tale is the story of a young man growing up and learning what it means to be a hero in a world that doesn't always make sense.

Less Valued Knights Bingo Squares!

• novel that was reviewed on r/fantasy
  
• hopeful fantasy (hard mode)
  
• self-published fantasy novel
  
• subgenre: historical fantasy or alternate history
  
• novel with fewer than 2500 goodreads ratings (hard mode)
  
• novel by an author writing under a pseudonym
  
• stand alone fantasy novel

If you are looking for something you can find at a place like Barns and Noble, Urban Fantasy is likely what you will find most fuzzy. Lots of werewolf in the city type books.

[Kitty and the Midnight Hour (Kitty Norville Series) By Carrie Vaughn] (https://www.amazon.com/Kitty-Midnight-Hour-Norville/dp/0446616419/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468453249&sr=8-1) - Urban Fantasy. Liked a lot of the series. It is fun and doesn't take it self too seriously. Spunky Midnight DJ (thats a werewolf) starts taking calls about things that go bump in the night and it leads to fame and adventure.

Skinwalker (Jane Yellowrock, Book 1): A Jane Yellowrock Novel - Another Urban Fantasy. Skin walker that prefers the form of a cat takes up the job of head of security for a vampire. Bit gritter then above, and can bit a bit hit or miss.


Both of the above should be available locally for almost everyone. I have a huge pile of books I could sort to find others. But on to actual furry things:

Turning Point (Sholan Alliance) Bit old, and slightly dated mass produced book from the 80s that was vary furry and it is an impressively long series. Young lady from a colony world meets a telepathic cat and bonds with him.

Off Leash (Freelance Familiars Book 1) One of the better feral books I have ever read. Main turns into a 4 pawed feline familiar and bucks the trends.

[WindFall] (https://www.amazon.com/Windfall-Tempe-OKun-ebook/dp/B01DKRP67Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1468454404&sr=1-1&keywords=windfall+tempe) Young Husky meets up with old friend in a town a show was made about and discover a little bit of truth exists.

[Exiles Return] (https://www.amazon.com/Exiles-Return-Rebecca-Mickley-ebook/dp/B00K3XSF4W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468454490&sr=8-1) Bunny who retired to a uncolonized rim world is called back to represent Earth.

In Wilder Lands: The Fall of Eldvar Kind of an game/RPG style series. A homeless ringtale (of all things) ends up assisting a fox and eventually falling in love. Did I mention undead are slowly covering the world?

Mindtouch - This book is fairly intresting and one of the few books that I have ever read that features a almost romantic platonic relationship.

Bait and Switch - While I don't think this book is everyones cup of tea, it tackles identity issues in a interesting way.

Portals of Infinity (Series) - While I wouldn't call the series great books. Its fun furry action. Human stumbles in to a portal ends up becoming a champion of a fuzzy god, gets the girl and saves the day.



Some stuff that you can find for free:

[Ted R. Blasingame] (http://trblasingame.com/library.html) Writes a number of books worth checking out. Namely: Sunset of Furmankind and its available for free.

[Fel (James Galloway)] (http://www.weavespinner.net/worlds_of_fel.htm) Has tried vary had not write furry fiction but almost everything he writes has something fuzzy or a lot of fuzzy. Check out: Spirit Walker, Earth Bond and Kit. All 3 are free.

Hey guys, I'm getting told that my book isnt available in certain countries. It most likely IS, but you might not be able to access it by the link I posted as it's a link to the United States Amazon site. If you want it from your country's page, just search for "Good Boy Seth" under Kindle and it should pop right up.

Alternatively, since I'm such a sucker for making things easy, I'll post direct links to the book on several popular country's Amazon page. (Hopefully that's allowed)

Good Boy in Canada,


Good Boy in the United Kingdom,

Good Boy in Australia,

Good Boy in Germany,

Good Boy in France,

Good Boy in Italy,

Good Boy in Japan

Hope that helps!

Here some good ol' high fantasy standbys from my shelves. There's a good chance you'll be able to find these at any used book store.

• The Shannara books - Plenty to choose from, but I've only read the original three personally.
  
• The Memory, Sorrow & Thorn series - You may need a character flowchart, but it's worth it.
  
• The Renshai Trilogy and the sequel "next generation" series the Renshai Chronicles - Very nordic, if that's your bag.
  
• The Legend of Nightfall - Possibly my favorite book, actually. Great if you like the thief archetype.
  
• The Magic Kingdom of Landover series - Half spoof, half serious
  
  And of course, any of the Discworld books if you feel like giving the genre a light ribbing. You can honestly pick up the series anywhere, but I'm a fan of the books that pertain to the Watch.

Loved of mice and men. Check out

Being There

by Jerzy Kosiński

https://www.amazon.com/Being-There-Jerzy-Kosinski/dp/0802136346

>Being There is one of the most popular and significant works from a writer of international stature. It is the story of Chauncey Gardiner - Chance, an enigmatic but distinguished man who emerges from nowhere to become an heir to the throne of a Wall Street tycoon, a presidential policy adviser, and a media icon. Truly "a man without qualities," Chance's straightforward responses to popular concerns are heralded as visionary. But though everyone is quoting him, no one is sure what he's really saying. And filling in the blanks in his background proves impossible. Being There is a brilliantly satiric look at the unreality of American media culture that is, if anything, more trenchant now than ever.

Edit: might be too short.

They ask, because there are photographers are willing to do this. When you're trying to make a job out of something that many people enjoy and do as a hobby, this will tend to happen.

I have absolutely no doubt that XXXXX magazine managed to find another photo to run where they invited yours to.

So, you know that you aren't going to get paid to run an image in a certain place. What's the downside to having the photo they don't pay for be yours? (barring cases where you're trying to keep a stock image from being overused, that's a bit of a different case). What integrity am I losing?

FWIW, I do live what I preach. Everything I share I put up as Creative Commons- Attribution, Share Alike.
As long as whoever is using the image is willing to distribute their work under the same conditions they want to use mine, and provide credit, they are welcome to.

I enjoy photography, I have a lot of fun taking and sharing photos, and I get a real kick out of getting my work seen. If you're interested in reading another photographers perspective on this, I'd suggest zach arias' blog, he has a couple of posts about the issue. For a rather interesting extreme perspective on it, Down and Out In The Magic Kingdom makes an interesting thoughtful read. It's available for free to download, or to buy.

It's an interesting discussion, but saying that photographers "lose our integrity" by allowing our work to be shared more widely puts my hackles up a bit.

Kill Your Friends: a Novel is a great read, total page turner, and also a very interesting look at the recording industry. a lot of the descriptions of the inner workings of said industry are quite on point, and the real life quotes at the beginning of each chapter really paint a picture.

also
Filth by Irvine Welsh has a really great anti-hero who fits your description pretty well.

I have the perfect books for you!!! Penny Reid has a series called Knitting in the City about a group of friends in Chicago—each book focuses on a different woman in the group. The first one is called Neanderthal Meets Human and is a lot like what you’re asking for. The lead is super quirky, and compares herself to a Neanderthal because she’s so bad at holding a conversation. Hope it works for you!

MoL is a member of the groundhog's day loop subgenre. Check out Re:Zero, ERASED (AKA boku dake ga Inai Mache), and Edge of Tommorrow (also known as "All you need is kill") for non-fanfic examples. Also check out the peggy sue and groundhog peggy sue pages for when the time loop is on a significantly larger scale. For some reason I can't find a whole lot of non-fanfic examples (I've probably just forgotten stuff I read a long time ago) but there are oodles of fanfic with that premise.

Are you willing to read MLP:FiM fanfiction? I have a bunch of excellent completed fics to recommend for groundhog's day loops. If you like naruto, there's Time Braid and Chuunin exam day of the top of my head for loops, though they come with caveats: Time Braid is rather overty sexual, and Chuunin exam day is pure tripe written by an author I hate (so I only mention it because of its popularity.) Naruto also has incredibly amounts of peggy sue fics, but they tend to be either fairly blatant wish fulfilment or incomplete. I know for a fact that harry potter has tons of both peggy sue and time loop fics, but I don't really read that fandom much. Worm has a bunch of peggy sue fics, but they're all (or almost all) incomplete.

___

On the other hand, Hero's War is an "uplift" fic. The only non-fanfic example I can think of off the top of my head is Light on Shattered Water which I'm about halfway through. Aside from that, check spacebattles for ASOIAF SIs: they almost all tend to be of this variety. Again, I also have a bunch of MLP:FiM fics with similar premises.

For sort-of-similar works, check out Erfworld and Two Year Emperor for modern-person-gets-put-in-charge-of-fantasy-land fiction.

Spacebattles really likes both of these kinds of fics, so you may have more luck posting a thread there.

I also thought Sir Thomas the Hesitant and the Table of Less Valued Knights was amazingly cute and clever (nearly up to Pratchett levels of cleverness!)

I'm currently reading Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu (which won the /r/fantasy 2013 stabby for best short fiction) and it seems pretty kick ass thus far.

Neil Gaiman is great in that he writes good one offs. Two authors that I've discovered simply because his blurb was on the cover are Martin Millar, and Cory Doctorow. Millar's work is steeped in the 80's punk scene. The Good Faeries of New York is a nice introduction to him. Cory Doctorow is a godfather of the internet. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom predicted Google Glass, and will satisfy your need for something light.

I'd recommend Sir Thomas and the Table of Less Valued Knights by Liam Perrin and the Epik Trilogy by William Tyler Davis.

Both are about optimistic dudes trying to do their best and add some good to the world.

Just off the top of my head aside from the genre staples (1984, V for Vendetta, Brave New World, etc.)

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Shades of Grey: A Novel by Harper Fforde

I am currently reading The Passages by Just in Cronin

Sorry for the formatting, on mobile. I will clean it up later.

Goodreads has a lot of great lists of dystopian books.

It would be awesome if you could make it possible to have DLC like living through scenarios from "Help! A Bear is Eating Me!" - probably the book with the greatest opening to the second chapter ever.

http://www.amazon.com/HELP-A-Bear-Eating-Me/dp/1933929693

How about The Road to Mars by Eric Idle? That's Eric Idle of Monty Python fame.

Also, it's not very British, but John Scalzi's Agent To the Stars is a pretty fun SF read.

How To Succeed in Evil.

It's a super fun book!

It is not quite the same as the original radio broadcast but our friend Stephen Fry reads the HHGTG audiobook during which he seems to replicate the radio voices.

Incidentally, this was available for free at the library.

Super common, actually.


The Black Wolves of Boston by Wen Spencer features a protagonist who becomes a werewolf. Misfit Pack does the same thing.

One Woke Up by Lee Gaiteri features a protagonist wrestling with coming to terms with his time as a zombie


Into The Abyss by J. Langland features a protagonist turned into a horned demon.

The Tome of Bill features a protagonist who becomes a vampire. (Characters turned into vampires is super common, actually)

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) features a protagonist who becomes a space probe.

Chrysalis and Queen in the Mud on Royal Road feature protagonists who are turned into an ant and a salamander respectively.

No problem! Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is a bit sci-fi, a bit dystopian, and a short, but great read :)

Your wife has read everything! Damn. Ok, some more suggestions:

• Terry Pratchett's Discworld books. They are awesomely awesome, and there are a lot of them. You could start anywhere, but I recommend starting with Guards! Guards. It's got dragons!
  
  
• The Wizard Knight by Gene Wolfe. A two-volume short series comprised of The Knight and The Wizard. It tells the story of a 12-year old boy who is transported to Faery, one of reality's several parallel universes. Having arrived, he soon meets a sort of elf goddess who transforms him into a young man. Wolfe really turns the fantasy genre on its head, and it's a weird and wild ride. It takes all the usual fantasy elements (magic, elves, dragons, giants) and reinvents them in a unique way.
  
  
• Gene Wolfe's Latro sequence is also excellent: Latro of the Mist (combines the first two novels) and Soldier of Sidon. Tells of a young soldier in Ancient Greece who sustains a wound in battle that destroys his long-term memory, so he has to continually write down everything that happens in his life to remember it. (The novels were written long before Memento used the same device.) While a historical novel, there is plenty to engage the mind. For one, Latro's wound has given him the ability to communicate with the gods.
  
  
• Gideon Defoe's The Pirates! series. Hilarious sequence of short novels about a traveling band of pirates.
  
  
• The Thief of Always by Clive Barker. Reminiscent of Neil Gaiman.
  

The novel Atlanta Nights was written as an experiment to expose crappy vanity publishers (I know OP's book is different). It was created by a bunch of professional authors trying to write as bad a novel as possible. It is hilariously awful, but was accepted for publication anyhow.

The story of the novel is interesting and it is available for purchase from Amazon. You can click the "Look Inside" link there. The authors have also made the book freely available (eg http://www.cs.du.edu/~aburt/StingManuscript.pdf) - it's well worth checking out, at least a few pages, just to see how badly it's written.

Title: Greegs & Ladders

Genre: Sci-Fi Satire

Word Count: 80080

Feedback: Full reading. First full-length novel release. So far very positive feedback, but any kind of critique welcome and helpful

Link - iBookstore

Link - Smashwords

Link - Amazon/Kindle

these are great books, and perfect timing! the third book in the trilogy is coming out in September

Any fan of Hitchhiker's will enjoy this book. Kindle version is free.

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

Grab yourself a copy of Greegs & Ladders. Its currently free on amazon kindle (Free, free, you don't need the subscription).

http://www.amazon.com/Greegs-Ladders-Science-Fiction-Adventure-ebook/dp/B00DPQFATM/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1406093780

The book is in the vein of the Hitch Hiker's guide to the Galaxy. Science fiction, with a heavy focus on describing broken cultures.


Its free, and you can be reading it inside 10 minutes, so give it a shot.

I've been enjoying The Tome of Bill Compendium. It makes those little pop culture references like Ready Player One did and quickly got me hooked.

http://www.amazon.com/Bill-Compendium-Books-1-4-Mourning-ebook/dp/B00H8P60NQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427321542&sr=8-1&keywords=tome+of+bill+kindle

Thank you, I'll bookmark that for later consideration.

Cory Doctorow's Down and out in the magic kingdom also touched on this some without the teleportation aspect and it was a fun read. Not too deep or anything, but fun.

Being There by Jerzy Kosinski. The book was, imo, a snoozer, but the film was one of the most hilarious I've ever seen and gave Peter Sellers the role he was born to play.

It is! If you like tongue and cheek humor with the supernatural, check out The Tome of Bill series by Rick Gualtieri too. It's about a nerd who accidentally becomes a very powerful vampire. I've seen the first book for free on Kindle before (that's how I got into the series), but I think you can get all 4 of the first books on Kindle for like $10 in the compendium that just came out.

"Help! A Bear is Eating Me!" was a pretty good book.

I'm obsessed with the Knitting in the City series by Penny Reid (actually most anything she writes). I feel like her characters have a nice balance between sensible and entertaining.

Neanderthal Seeks Human (Knitting in the City #1)

You might enjoy Kill Your Friends by John Niven. It's about an unethical A&R guy and his tactics to stay at the top of his business. I really enjoyed its dark humor.

Have you ever read Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Corey Doctorow? It's a wonderful short novel set in the future and takes place in the Magic Kingdom. I think I shall read it again right now it fact...

You should maybe consider adding Zen speaks shouts of nothingness (link to Amazon books).

Each cartoon is derived from a well know Buddhist scripture or Zen koans (link to youtube video).

Don't let the cartoons fool you as you really have to think deeply about what each cartoon is trying to say.

And don't simply accept the artist own interpretation at the end of each cartoon strip. Think for yourself.

And have fun and enjoy.

US Amazon for those interested. :)

Jasper Fforde's Shades of Grey is very amusing and interesting. While there is a romance that develops, it's not what you are trying to avoid, I think, and I like to recommend it. Science-fiction-esque, but not strongly. Science fiction to the same degree that F 451 and 1984 are.

www.amazon.com/Shades-Grey-Jasper-Fforde-ebook/dp/B002UXRF6M/

>I believe you find life such a problem because you think there are the good people and the bad people,' said the man. 'You're wrong, of course. There are, always and only, the bad people, but some of them are on opposite sides.'


>He waved his thin hand towards the city and walked over to the window.

>'A great rolling sea of evil,' he said, almost proprietorially. 'Shallower in some places, of course, but deeper, oh, so much deeper in others. But people like you put together little rafts of rules and vaguely good intentions and say, this is the opposite, this will triumph in the end. Amazing!' He slapped Vimes good-naturedly on the back.

>'Down there,' he said, 'are people who will follow any dragon, worship any god, ignore any iniquity. All out of a kind of humdrum, everyday badness. Not the really high, creative loathsomeness of the great sinners, but a sort of mass-produced darkness of the soul. Sin, you might say, without a trace of originality. They accept evil not because they say yes, but because they don't say no. I'm sorry if this offends you,' he added, patting the captain's shoulder, 'but you fellows really need us.'

>'Yes, sir?' said Vimes quietly.

>'Oh, yes. We're the only ones who know how to make things work. You see, the only thing the good people are good at is overthrowing the bad people. And you're good at that, I'll grant you. But the trouble is that it's the only thing you're good at. One day it's the ringing of the bells and the casting down of the evil tyrant, and the next it's everyone sitting around complaining that ever since the tyrant was overthrown no-one's been taking out the trash. Because the bad people know how to plan. It's part of the specification, you might say. Every evil tyrant has a plan to rule the world. The good people don't seem to have the knack.'

>'Maybe. But you're wrong about the rest!' said Vimes. 'It's just because people are afraid, and alone—' He paused. It sounded pretty hollow, even to him.

>He shrugged. 'They're just people,' he said. 'They're just doing what people do. Sir.'

>Lord Vetinari gave him a friendly smile.

>'Of course, of course,' he said. 'You have to believe that, I appreciate. Otherwise you'd go quite mad. Otherwise you'd think you're standing on a feather-thin bridge over the vaults of Hell. Otherwise existence would be a dark agony and the only hope would be that there is no life after death. I quite understand.' He looked at his desk, and sighed. 'And now,' he said, 'there is such a lot to do.'

Edit: Since people don't recognize this quote (for shame!), it's from the book Guards! Guards!

This is the perfect Halloween read!

Zombies!

Self control, self determination, ability to perceive and act upon choices, identify and follow one overarching purpose.

Grog with the herd, prestream vm, first groon encounter, this groon encounter, Groon. Draw a line through those 5 points and thats the, at least spiritual/emotional path groon is setting for Grog. I think.

EDIT to add: see ref this: https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Speaks-Tsai-Chih-Chung/dp/0385472579

Help! A bear is eating me!

It's short, cheap, has a few spelling errors, but man is it funny.

Shades of grey is kind of quirky. Not heavy into the science, but there's some real interesting concepts. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002UXRF6M/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Nothing you or I say will change his mind

Yes, there's a slim chance that his optimism will result in success

More likely, he will learn from painful experience

For a really cynical view of the business..read "Kill Your Friends" http://www.amazon.com/Kill-Your-Friends-John-Niven/dp/0061690619/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415646140&sr=8-1&keywords=kill+your+friends

These are my suggestions:

Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey.

Legend by David Gemmell.

Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan.

Death's Head by David Gunn.

These are all proper manly men's books, with lots of violence, casual sex, hot dames, and actually very well written stories with well-rounded and interesting characters.

EDIT I've had another couple ideas.

Sharpe's Tiger by Bernard Cornwell.

Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett.

http://www.amazon.com/Agent-Stars-John-Scalzi/dp/0765357003/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343878840&sr=8-1&keywords=agent+to+the+stars

^^^

Welcome!

Grunts

Confessions of a D list Supervillian

How to succeed in evil

Secret Six

How to Succeed in Evil

Try this next time^

This book: Kill Your Friends: A Novel

Honestly, I'd purchase that movie (if it existed) just for the novelty, similar to Atlanta Nights.

Adrian's Undead Diaries series books 1 - 8 by Chris Philbrook. Phenomenal read and a satisfying ending to boot.

That's using the US site with the link you gave. Thanks for the Smashwords link, though.

It is actually a book! It's called Good Boy. I read it after the author talked about it on an r/askreddit answer late last year. I'd recommend reading it if you like this idea.

The actual answer I saw (here) was removed (and I can't seem to get ceddit working RN), but there's another post here about it with links.

(Paging u/serhm)

Possibly the Sandman Slim novels, kind of a noir LA gumshoe that escaped from Hell, also authors like Charles De Lint or Joe Hill would be worth checking out.

*edit accidentaly posted Help a Bear is Eating Me in this thread instead of another, hahaha

Then you might be interested in this series.

https://www.amazon.com/Off-Leash-Freelance-Familiars-Book-ebook/dp/B011J9L5JA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1436843535&sr=8-1&keywords=dan+potter+off+leash

Atlanta Nights was written to see if there existed a potential book so terrible that Publish America would turn it down. The book is truly terrible and PA accepted it. They rescinded the offer when they realized they were being made fun of, but you can buy the book POD through Lulu.

I love all his books but if you can get a copy of Zen Speaks. https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Speaks-Tsai-Chih-Chung/dp/0385472579/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482013778&sr=8-1&keywords=zen+speaks

Sure! /u/Woodrail posted the link to it 7 days ago here

The book is called Zen Speaks: Shouts of Nothingness and you can read and download it here for free

Ha, me IRL...

This sub reminds me of the novel Being There, where a guy inherits a ton of money for no raisin and just hangs out.

How to Succeed in Evil is about a Lex Luther-type super villain who snaps and takes out the superhuman order by creating an insurance agency. So, if you're willing to be kind of awful about it surprisingly affordable.

Removed for submitting https://www.amazon.com/Good-Boy-Seth-McDuffee-ebook/dp/B07726Y7X3/ref=zg_bs_668010011_f_43?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TWXHBFSCDCMEZWKAPRMA; please resubmit without referral content https://www.amazon.com/Good-Boy-Seth-McDuffee-ebook/dp/B07726Y7X3

Read this book as it may help you through the tough times ahead.

Oh, yeah. Forgot to mention. These guys also didn't make a page quota, so they copied and pasted random pages throughout the book. Just... you know, whole pages, to bring the page count up.

Oh, and it's on Amazon.

It's still there in the future, as well.

If you took the same program that they used to generate that one chapter of "Atlanta Nights," and fed it on low-rated DailyKos diaries for a week, it might come up with something like this article. So, computers don't always write better than this...

I'm waiting for Unicycle Polo à la Shades of Grey.

Help! A Bear is Eating Me! by Mykle Hansen.

Relevant

Ah, and I just finished http://www.amazon.com/HELP-Bear-Eating-Mykle-Hansen/dp/1933929693

Relevant

He taught me about Vogons.

I started Guards! Guards my Terry Pratchett today.

Source:
https://www.amazon.com/Off-Leash-Freelance-Familiars-Book-ebook/dp/B011J9L5JA

Being There by Jerzy Kosinski.

Terry Pratchett Start with Guards! Guards! or Mort

Unfortunately, that story is no longer available for free. You can buy it for $9.00 if you want to read it anyway. Also, here's the TV Tropes page.

I see that some of those are the same stories of the book Zen Speaks: Shouts of Nothingness.

[Pokemon: The Origin of Species]
[Worm]
[Animorphs: The Reckoning]
[Luminosity]
[The Two Year Emperor]
[Worth the Candle]
[The Erogamer] (NSFW)
[The Gods are Bastards]

Slightly relevant quick read.

Ook

Relevant book:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1933929693

The Two Year Emperor ($9, but the free version can be found here) also fits. A human is summoned and forced to lead a nation that runs on D&D-ish rules.

Spoiler alert: D&D-ish rulesets are completely, utterly broken when there's no GM to step in.

Oh, and there's Erfworld which also fits if you can stand webcomics - a WH40K(ish) player gets summoned and is forced to act as general for his summoner. This is much closer to "human as familiar", the others in this post are closer to "human summoned by magic is the prophesied hero"

Also the Wizardry series by Rick Cook - a hacker is summoned into a world where magic is deterministic.

You bring up an excellent point (and make a great case for land ownership!), and that is that actual physical space can't really be created, and will remain scarce, insofar as Earth has a fixed surface area. If the scenario I described above came to pass, though, would any landlords come looking for rent? Would any governments levy taxes? If no one needs cash and everyone has pretty much everything provided for them, all but the most stubborn landlords won't have any reason to give a hoot. I suspect government would take longer to die out, since it may still be needed to enforce laws, judge disputes, provide safety, etc. It's not hard to imagine a world even further down the line, however, when technology has advanced to the point where humans can't realistically do much damage to one another.

Edit: If you're really into this, I'd suggest reading some singularity-esque literature such as Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (novella), Rainbows End (novel), and The Singularity is Near (speculative nonfiction to be taken with a grain of salt).