(page 3)



Question (JesusLasVegas):

> Hallo Charles. I'm in the UK. I just wrote a book and (it looks like) a good publishing house are going to pick it up. It is sort of sci-fi.
>
> My question: all agents I've spoken to think that while selling a book to publishers it's best to avoid using the term "sci-fi" if possible. Ideally they want to sneak sci-fi stuff in, "under the radar", so it can get the sort of backing that only a big publisher can provide.
>
> How do you feel about this? Cheers.

Answer (cstross):

> For starters, there's a long-standing (50 year old) flame war within the field over whether it's "sci-fi" or "SF".
>
> Secondly, all these labels boil down to is a bunch of marketing categories that tell bookshop staff where to file the product (which they don't know from a hole in the road) on the shelves where customers can find it. SF has traditionally been looked down on by the literary establishment because, to be honest, much early SF was execrably badly written -- but these days the significance of the pigeon hole is fading; we have serious mainstream authors writing stuff that is I-can't-believe-it's-not-SF, and SF authors breaking into the mainstream. If you view them as tags that point to shelves in bricks-and-mortar bookshops, how long are these genre categories going to survive in the age of the internet?
>
> Note: this skepticism breaks down in the face of, for example, the German publishing sector, where booksellers are a lot stuffier and more hidebound over what is or is not acceptable as literature.



Question (cavedave):

> You write very well about we interact with technology nowdays. The use of smartphones, email and social networking in Halting State and Rule 34 is very believable.
> With the possible exception of Sherlock very few pieces of fiction actually use these techniques.
> In horror films "out of coverage" has become a cliche. If All Movies Had Smartphones is a funny video on how writers can't create plots that take technology into account.
>
> How are you doing this right and nearly everyone else isnt?
>
> Are you planning a kickstarter game like Neal Stephenson? If you did what would it be about?

Answer (cstross):

> Reverse order: no, I'm not planning a kickstarter game. And I'm not really a game designer. (Writing novels takes up about 100% of my available working time.)
>
> How am I doing this "right" ... well, I have a CS degree and a history that includes working as a software developer and being a computer magazine columnist back during the 1990s. I guess I simply paid attention to the social effects of the IT revolution as I lived through it.
>
> An important factor to note is that it's rare for anyone to sell a first novel written before they turned 30-35; long-format fiction tends to require a bunch of experience of human life that takes time to acquire. So your average mid-career novelist is in their forties to fifties! In consequence, most established novelists are writing books informed by experiences gained in their youth. Middle age is not the best time to be changing smartphones every six months or adopting new technology platforms -- because we tend to get slower and less accommodating to change as we age. So we're currently living with a generation of established novelists who are embarrassingly out of date with respect to social networking, internet skills, and so on.
>
> (I was an early adopter: have been on the internet continuously since late 1989, barring a six-month loss of access in the early 90s.)
>



Question (JesusLasVegas):

> Great answer, thanks.
>
> Could you give an example or two of large British publishers that you think are doing a good job in this respect? Ignoring genre barriers, taking risks etc?

Answer (cstross):

> AhahahaHA!!
>
> Sorry, no I can't. But not for the reason you think. Thing is, my agent is based in New York. And due to a historic accident, my publishing track is primarily American -- I'm sold into the UK almost as a foreign import! So I'm quite out of touch with what's going on in UK publishing. (Even my Kindle is geared to the US store.)



Question (cheradenine_Zakalwie):

> Do you ever read something someone else has written and think "damn, now I cant do that". Who do you read?
> (if you have time)

Answer (cstross):

> Yes, I sometimes get the "Damn, too late, [X] got there first" idea. But seriously? I have time to write 1-2 novels per year, and get roughly novel-sized ideas every month. I have to perform triage on my own writing impulses. So it's usually quite easy to shrug and write something else instead.
>
> What I read: while I'm writing, I tend to go off reading fiction for relaxation -- especially the challenging stuff. It's too much like the day job. When I do get to chow down on a book, I try to read ones that are nothing like what I'm writing. So, as I'm currently working on a space opera (of sorts) I'm mostly indulging in urban fantasy.



Question (revjeremyduncan):

> For someone who is unfamiliar with your work, what book would you suggest as a good starting point (if it's available for Kindle, I will get it as soon as I see your answer)?
>
> Any plans to follow in L. Ron's footsteps and start a religion?

Answer (cstross):

> I'm an atheist (subtype: generally agree with Richard Dawkins but think he could be slightly more polite; special twist: I was raised in British reform Judaism, which is not like American reform Judaism, much less any other strain of organised religion). So: no cults here.
>
> Starting points: for a sampler, you could try my short story collection "Wireless". Which contains one novella that scooped a Locus award, and one that won a Hugo, and covers a range of different styles.
>
> Otherwise ... if you like spy thrillers/Lovecraftiana, try "The Atrocity Archives", if you like space opera try "Singularity Sky"[], if you like singularity-fic try "Accelerando", if you like near-future thrillers try "Halting State".
>
> [] Which was originally titled "Festival of Fools"; the "Singularity Sky" title was imposed on it by editorial fiat ("hey, isn't the singularity kind of hot this month? Let's change the title!").



Question (AndrewDowning):

> Can you please expand on that?
> In what way did your views change?
> Accelerando is one of my all time favourites.

Answer (cstross):

> Sure. See: http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2011/06/reality-check-1.html
>
> Note that my views fluctuate wildly. I have another singularity novel coming out this September 4th, co-written with Cory Doctorow: "The Rapture of the Nerds":
>
> http://www.amazon.com/The-Rapture-Nerds-Cory-Doctorow/dp/0765329107/



Question (JesusLasVegas):

> Did you end up with an American agent because all the British agents passed on you? Or did you actually want to do things that way?

Answer (cstross):

> A bit of both. I wanted an agent who would actually sell stuff. After two British agents failed comprehensively, I was reading Locus (the SF field's trade journal) and noticed a press release about an experienced editor leaving her job to join an agent in setting up a new agency. And I went "aha!" -- because what you need is an agent who knows the industry but who doesn't have a huge list of famous clients whose needs will inevitably be put ahead of you. So I emailed her, and ... well, 11 years later I am the client listed at the top of her masthead!



Question (slimme_shady):

> hahahha I'm 15 now. Every time when i have to do an assignment for school, i don't really know how to start, could you give me some advice, please?

Answer (cstross):

> Nope. Because I'm nearly a third of a century older than you, and any advice I could give you about school assignments would be slightly out of date ...!



Question (cheradenine_Zakalwie):

> Wow, I didn't realise the ideas flew in so fast. Is it morbid to ask if you worry about getting it all written before you die? (Im thinking of Terry Pratchett here...)

Answer (cstross):

> Yes, I worry about that. I'm 47. I reckon I can count on 30 more writing years, averaging a book a year (I can't keep up the 2-2.5 a year I used to do these days). And these days I've gotten round to wondering, for each new idea, "do I want to be remembered for this?" before I get to the point of spending a year on it.



(continued below)

Can I give you a list? Imma give you a list with a little from each category. I LOVE books and posts like this!

Non-fiction or Books About Things:

The Lost City of Z: In 1925, the legendary British explorer Percy Fawcett ventured into the Amazon jungle, in search of a fabled civilization. He never returned. Over the years countless perished trying to find evidence of his party and the place he called “The Lost City of Z.” In this masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, journalist David Grann interweaves the spellbinding stories of Fawcett’s quest for “Z” and his own journey into the deadly jungle, as he unravels the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century. Cumberbatch will play him in the movie version of this.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers: Hilariously gross and just super interesting. Her writing is like a non-fiction Terry Pratchett. Everything she's written is great, but this one is my favorite.

Devil in the White City: All about HH Holmes and his murder hotel during the Chicago World's Fair. Incredibly well-written and interesting.

The Outlaw Trail: Written in 1920 by the first superintendent of Capitol Reef National Park (aka, the area around Robber's Roost). He went around interviewing the guys who were still alive from the original Wild Bunch, plus some of the other outlaws that were active during that time. Never read anything else with actual interviews from these guys and it's a little slice of life from the end of the Wild West.

Fiction, Fantasy, Sci-Fi:

Here I'm only going to give you the less known stuff. You can find Sanderson (light epic fantasy), Pratchett (humor / satire fantasy), Adams (humor fantasy), etc easily in any bookstore. They are fantastic and should be read, but they are easy to find. I suggest:

The Cloud Roads: Martha Wells is an anthropologist and it shows in her world building in every series. She creates societies instead of landscapes. These are very character-driven and sometimes emotional.

The Lion of Senet: Jennifer Fallon starts a great political thriller series with this book. If you like shows like House of Cards or things where there's a lot of political plotting, sudden twists, and a dash of science v. religion, then you'll love these.

The Book of Joby: Do you want to cry? This book will make you cry. Mix arthurian legend with some God & Devil archetypes and it's just this very powerful story. Even though it deals with religious themes and icons, I wouldn't say it's a religious book. Reads more like mythology.

On Basilisk Station: Awesome military space opera. Really good sci-fi.

Grimspace: Pulpy space opera. Brain bubble gum instead of serious reading. But that's fun sometimes too!

You were created from stardust that fell to Earth from two planets colliding millions of lightyears away. As your dusty parts drifted through space, you passed many obstacles that made you the being you are now. You passed a mirror, which reflected yourself in a way you wanted to see. You passed emotions; clouds of thick feeling. Through sadness and anger, resentment and love, humility and courage, empathy and passion- those particles infused into you. Your being emerged sporadically, through bends of time and space you envisioned your future life full of love and equality. Somewhere around Jupiter, you felt your journey coming close. As you slid along the rings, contemplating your readiness, you felt a lump. Something wasn't right. Something was missing. The mirror you passed earlier swept by you with a gust of wind and sparkles. You pushed out from the spirals on which you stood and lept for the mirror. As you caught it, you turned it to see yourself. In it, you only saw a unicorn. A majestic creature of fairy tales. You didn't understand at first, but as you stared into it’s eyes, you saw yourself. Just like a unicorn, your beauty and grace swept through you. Like electricity in your body, like lightning rushing from your heart to your fingertips. Just like a unicorn, there is no one else like you. Just like a unicorn, you can bring happiness to those around you. As you looked into the mirror again, the unicorn had disappeared and once again you saw yourself, but still you saw the unicorn beside you. You glanced to your side and pet it's head gently. Anyone could've been chosen for this life. But it was you. You vowed to stand for equality and love. Those emotions that enveloped your soul as you passed them, you felt them now like a tornado surging through your blood. You climbed atop your unicorn, ready for the adventures in store for you. As you galloped along, rainbows lit up a path toward Earth. As you landed you found everything you'd ever dreamed of- but it wouldn't be easy. You had to put the pieces together, like a second-hand puzzle missing a few pieces.

Now, you're working on that puzzle. You’ve got the edge pieces lined up. You've got a lovely SO. 3 cats. A community of online strangers to support you. It's up to you to finish that puzzle. Fill the empty slots with whatever you choose, because it's your puzzle anyway.

TL;DR You're an alien-unicorn made from planets colliding.

Item

Ha! Thanks for creating a subreddit dedicated to my very own series, PF. That's gotta count as a life achievement, right? (Nevermind that the subreddit is empty.) Seriously, though, thanks for the kind words.

I'm a Dresden fan myself but brand new to this subreddit, so looking forward to discussions. (Although, BLASPHEMY, I have yet to read the last 2 books of that series. I'm scared to go too far here for fear of spoilers.) On the flip side, I have a Dresden cooperative card game kickstarter reward coming my way soon, so I can pretend I still belong.

Oh, I'll actually be in an anthology with Jim Butcher releasing later this year too, so that's cool.

About my Black Magic Outlaw series, if anyone's interested: Cisco's a shadow charmer fighting on the streets of Miami. I like to keep things dark and kick my protagonist when he's down. Each novel stands alone as far as having a satisfying story, but the opening story arc was conceived to span 5 books. 4 of those books are out now and the last will be available in about a month, so there's a lot of good story for readers to plow through.

Also, for the first time ever, Book 1 (DEAD MAN) is available for free! (on Amazon and other sites)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B019ROIX8U

I'll keep an eye out for discussion on /r/BlackMagicOutlaw and respond if readers want to interact, but I'm just happy someone thought to create the sub. If anyone wants more info on me, the best first stop is DominoFinn.com. Cheers!

Okay - then to start, I will recommend Oryx and Crake and Year of the Flood, both by Margaret Atwood. They're part of a trilogy, the third book is due out this fall. Atwood defines them as speculative fiction; they're set in the not-to-distant future, and follow the downfall of civilization. I like Year of the Flood better, but both are pretty awesome.

For fantasy, I really like The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay. It's a blend of celtic mythology, fantasy, and arthurian legend. Some people don't like that it's basically an homage to LOTR, but it's one of my absolutely alll-time favourites.

For YA dystopian fiction, I'd suggest Divergent and Insurgent - also a trilogy, not sure when the third one is due out, off-hand.

One of my favourite sci-fi series is Phule's Company and the following books, by Robert Asprin. I also love Time Scout by him and Linda Evans. His writing is ridiculously clever and witty, and he's one of last century's greatest writers, in my opinion.

And finally, I love anything by Terry Pratchett - his Discworld series is amazing. So very very British and hilarious.

First of all, that's amazing. Great idea for a dice box or dice rolling tray.

Have you considered something like a holder for minis, dice, pens/pencils? Basically little compartments inside for a player kit. I've seen a websites selling custom wooden enclosures for dice, pens, and minis for D&D players but a copy of the Necronomicon for a CoC game would be amazing.

Book ideas:

• There are a lot of collections of HP Lovecraft tales, many of which have great covers. I would particularly look for ones that have especially popular titles on their covers. "Call of Cthulhu and other tales" looks more fun than "Tales of HP Lovecraft." Of course, cool looking covers trumps all. https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Cthulhu-Leatherbound-Classics-Collection/dp/1435162552/
  
• King in Yellow (as SamEire93 said)
  
• Necronomicon (as you said)
  
• Der Hexenhammer - an actual book often referenced in CoC and with a really cool name.
  
• Malleus maleficarum - A translation of the Der Hexenhammer which still has a cool name.
  
• The Lesser Key of Solomon - A real book sometimes used in CoC games and which has a cool cover. https://smile.amazon.com/Lesser-Key-Solomon-Aleister-Crowley/dp/0998136417
  
• Book of the Dead (Egyptian version) - An actual book often referenced in CoC and with a really cool name.
  
• The Book of Eibon - I'm not sure there are any decent looking copies that exist, but the concept is good.
  
• Penny Dreadfuls: Sensational Tales of Terror - has a cool looking cover: https://www.amazon.com/Penny-Dreadfuls-Sensational-Leatherbound-Collection/dp/1435162765/
  
• Lovecraft Country - Maybe? It's a great book so I'd feel a little weird having it hollowed out, but a fan might really like the idea.

I'd like to give you an unbiased view of his books but I'm afraid when it comes Alastair Reynolds I suffer from a blatent case of fanboyism; he's the only good scifi writer novelist us Welsh have (nearly insulted all the Doctor Who fans there), it still amazes me how many great scifi writers Scotland produces in comparison.

I believe his characterisation improves, this was after all his first novel.

His biggest strength IMHO is his worldbuilding, I can't get enough of his Revelation Space universe. His second novel set in the Revelation Space universe (although can be read as stand-alone) Chasm City is my favourite as it started me on my journey through his universe and generally got me hooked on all his writing.

The last one The Prefect set before the melding plague was also excellent, I'm hoping he writes a few more over this time period after finishing 'Poseidons Children'.

TLDR; I'd recommend to keep on reading, you will be rewarded.

1. A homophone for "whine". Young children can be very whiny. I teach young children and would love to have this turtle puppet for the kids in my class. Puppets are very helpful, particularly when kids are in a "whiny" mood.
   
   
2. Brooms have bristles. So do toothbrushes. I could use a new toothbrush. I mean, do ya'll want to sit in Potions class next to the girl with stinky breath?! Didn't think so.
   
   
3. This rabbit in a hat puppet is not only super cute but a good introduction to transmogrification (I think that's the right word, but classes haven't started yet so how should I know?!)
   
   
4. Books have words and words have power. Pontypool Changes Everything is a book about the power of words and how they change people. BTW, it's PontyPOOL not PONTYpool, Weasley!
   
   
5. These elephant harem pants are not only adorable but will help keep the junk in my trunk nice and toasty in RAoA's big old drafty castle. I'm assuming we're all moving into a castle, right? RIGHT?!
   
   B) Every good superhero needs a specialized weapon. As a budding witch, I would like a sonic screwdriver to aid in my superhero-ish shenanigans. Did I mention this particular screwdriver has a super secret uv pen and uv light so I can write super secret messages to my super secret companions?! If that's not magic, I don't know what is!

• Demon Trap by P.S. Power I also re-read the previous books in the series in preparation. Another good sequel in the series.
  
  
  
• Bill The Vampire by Rick Gualtieri as well as the sequels (4 books total i believe) It's a pretty good series, new take on urban fantasy / vampires. The main character got a little stale towards the end... its somewhat sitcommy
  
  
  
• The War of Stardeon by Cooley, Trevor H. Four book in the series just came out, so i nabbed it... its an easy read, nothing ground breaking but very entertaining. Main char is a bit marry sue (but a guy)
  
  
• The Cor Chronicles by Martin Parece I read all three books that are currently out. Its a good read, fairly epic. Interesting take on gods, very much about gods interacting with the world and warring. boy grows up to find out he turns into a rare race that was created by a lesser known blood god, has to fight persecution.
  
  
• Forging Zero by King, Sara as well as the sequel Zero Recall This is actually a sci fi book, the first once I've read in a LOONG time, its basically an alien invasion, but instead of the normal story the aliens conscript children to sue as solders, pretty neat take on things, because of these two books im going to look into more sci-fy.
  
  
• Mageborn: The God-Stone War fourth book recently came out, so i re-read the first three, then read the new one. Its good stuff, big cliff hanger though... cant wait till the next book.
  
  Now i just realized i read 18 books this month... what the hell.

FRACTAL: A Time Travel Tale

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PXZJNH2

FREE until April 21st

> What could be more right than correcting a wrong? That's the decision that Hector Herrera finds himself having to make circa 2015 when he taps into the ability to skip through time via his dreams.

> When you feel as if the world is changing around you, with or without your input, people like Hector are the architects of that change. Do they have your best interest at heart? That's a matter of perspective and up to each and every one of us to decide. But ask yourself this: If you had the opportunity to toggle through time and righteously fight the injustices of the past, do you think you would rise to that challenge?

---

The 14-day DASH Diet Meal Plan: Healthy Low-Sodium Recipes for Lower Blood Pressure and Weight Loss

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QDG54ML

FREE until April 21st

> If you are overweight with high blood pressure, your doctor may have ordered a low sodium diet with less saturated fat.

> Didn’t sound like fun, did it? However, you don’t have to lose the great taste of food when you cut the fat and salt. The DASH diet for weight loss lets you follow your doctor’s orders while still pleasing your palate, with no need to give up smoothies, muffins, or pizza, while you lower blood pressure, drop pounds, and reduce the risk of several diseases.

> The 14-Day DASH Diet Meal Plan: Healthy Low-Sodium Recipes for Lower Blood Pressure and Weight Loss will make this change in eating painless for your wallet, as well as your taste buds, by focusing on kitchen staples.

Ignore the haters regarding Robin Hobb. I enjoyed all 3 books. There were some parts in the 2nd book I had to "just get through" but the conclusion of the 3rd is well worth it, trust me. Great fantasy.

Check out Kelly McCullough, notably his Webmage series!

edit: I highly recommend listening to THIS version of hobbs books.

> Your last point is interesting, and I do like the idea of using someone's reputation as a gauge for future interaction and trustworthiness. Cory Doctorow's novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom takes place in a society in which one's reputation level is used as both a currency and an indicator of character.

You can thank the original cypherpunks with coming up with the notion. Another useful novels playing with the idea are Daemon/Freedom by Suarez

http://www.amazon.com/Daemon-Daniel-Suarez/dp/B003L1ZXCU/

http://www.amazon.com/Freedom-TM-Daniel-Suarez/dp/0525951571/

> albeit not tamper-proof, that you mentioned without being overtly totalitarian.

It is in principle possible to store information in a distributed cryptographic filesystem in a tamper-proof fashion. A precursor to such practical systems is e.g. Tahoe http://tahoe-lafs.org/~warner/tahoe.html

The Friends of Eddie Coyle is Higgin's best and an undisputed classic but he did a ton of other great books as well.

I'd also recommend the Spenser books by RBP.

Player of Games is a good book, and it's early enough in the Culture series that Banks hadn't yet realized he made the Minds too powerful and doesn't need the human characters to actually do anything. But it is not military science fiction and I don't think it's similar to The Forever War.

If you're looking for more military sci-fi I can recommend Forging Zero, All You Need is Kill, David Weber's Honor Harrington series, Orphanage...and many more I'm sure. Armor is great and I'm sure you've heard of Starship Troopers.

A note on David Weber, I find his overuse of italics a constant irritation when reading his books. It really helps to get digital copies and run them through calibre to eliminate all the italics first.

I think both are great, but the audio drama is probably slightly better. The movie falls apart towards the end, mostly because they felt a need to include some onscreen action, while the radioplay's ending has a better conceptual continuity to the plot.

The original book both are based on is hella cool and weird, too, although the movie only adapts the first of several linked narratives from it. As far as I know, though, the field of true literary fiction about zombies at this point comprises just Pontypool Changes Everything and Colson Whitehead's zombie book.

^(Note: these are all books I've read and can recommend from experience.)

David Brin's Sundiver is a detective mystery. Likewise his Existence is a mystery about a recently discovered artifact, though its presentation with multiple perspectives lacks the singular detective tone of Sundiver. It's not as much of a mystery/thriller more of a mystery/adventure. It is also one of the overall best science fiction novels I've ever read; the writing is top notch, the characters superbly lifelike, the tone excellent, and the overall reading experience enjoyable and filled with a realistic optimism.

Gregory Benford's Artifact is an investigative mystery about a strange artifact. His Timescape is about a strange phenomenon.

Jack McDevitt's The Engines of God is an investigative mystery about a strange artifact.

Asimov's The End of Eternity is a classic mystery/thriller.

Alastair Reynolds' The Prefect and Chasm City are both standalone detective mysteries. His Revelation Space is similar, but does not have the same classic mystery tone.

Greg Bear's Queen of Angels and Slant are both standalone detective mysteries.

I seem to recall the Second Foundation (Foundation's Fear, Foundation and Chaos, Foundation's Triumph) trilogy by Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, and David Brin having some mystery aspects. I think one of them at least is a detective mystery, but I can't remember which right now.

Dan Simmons' Ilium/Olympos is a sort of detective mystery, but its tone is much more action/adventure despite the protagonist's undertakings to determine what in the world is going on.

Joan D. Vinge's Cat Trilogy (Psion, Catspaw, and Dreamfall) are detective mysteries.

Julian May's Perseus Spur is a detective mystery. It's pretty light-hearted and a lot of fun to read. Something you would pick up at an airport bookstore and not be at all disappointed with. I can't speak for the other two books in the trilogy, haven't read them yet. Just ordered them off Amazon for $4 a piece.

I could go on, but I think that should keep you busy for a while.

 

^(Edited to clarify the tone of some suggestions. Some are more traditional mystery/thriller, while others are more adventure/mystery, more alike to Indiana Jones than a noir detective.)

Maybe not the same book, but Cyberdrome sounds similar. Great book, and a free read on Amazon Prime!

Interesting, I'm reading Cory Doctorow's latest novel, which comes from a (very) roughly similar moral perspective as well. It's pretty weird. Although in the fictional universe (medium-term future) cheap 3D printing supposedly makes possible the post-scarcity conditions necessarily for "decommodifying labor and offering every human the resources to flourish". But so far the book reads a lot like a communist Atlas Shrugged, up to and including the long-winded philosophical monologues. Maybe it will get better though; the story itself has some interesting sci-fi elements, so I haven't given up yet.

Holy Smokes, Batman! That suit looks awesome! :) Have fun dressing up as the Joker!

Insurgent! I am halfway through Divergent in a day and a half and I can't put it down!

I've seen this before but it's still a fun read if you're familiar with Banks' Culture books. "Use of Weapons" and "Excession" are good places to start in the Culture universe.

Banks has a new book out, not in the Culture universe, that's quite good as well: The Algebraist.

https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Damn-Vampire-Rock-Star-ebook/dp/B07CXCZ7N3

This is my book. The blurb:

>On the eve of Firelight's last concert of their world tour, their vampire bassist is accused of assaulting a human. The other band members have their own secrets. Can they keep the lucky (and naive) fan who won the chance to spend the day with them from finding out the truth? In a satire of boybands and their fans and a look at what it's really like to be a vampire in the 21st century, the only thing that sparkles is fool's gold.

This article gives a pretty good overview of the form: https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/penny-dreadfuls

The article will give you a few titles to search for, but the originals sell for a lot of money because they are collectible. I'm guessing you can find some reproductions online if you look hard enough, but there is also this Barnes & Noble collection that looks very nice: https://www.amazon.com/Penny-Dreadfuls-Sensational-Leatherbound-Collection/dp/1435162765/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1498318847&sr=1-1&keywords=penny+dreadfuls

just finished the bitterbynde trilogy, lovely high fantasy novel based on the folklore of the british isles.

currently in the middle of cory doctorow's new novel, walkaway, which is shaping up nicely

1. Just posted mine today. :D
   
2. She has always been there to get me out of trouble, especially when i did not deserve her help. She has always loved me and will continue no matter what. It's also her birthday today. Happy Birthday mom!
   
3. I reallllllllyyyy need to read this book. I bought the thrid in the series thinking it was a stand alone, only to read the back cover and find out it is number 3 in the series. haha
   
   4.Hey Bean! My mom makes an awesome gumbo! I wish you could try it.
   

I knew him when his first novel came out, before all the fame.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/sxsw-watch-the-trailer-for-adaptation-of-anthony-bourdains-bone-in-the-throad-with-ed-westwick-tom-wilkinson-20150313
His favorite comic book series of all time is ''The Spirit''.
http://www.willeisner.com/spirit/index.html
He had the meanest cat ever seen by man, and gigantic oscar fish.
He told me that this was his favorite book:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Friends-Eddie-Coyle-Novel/dp/031242969X
That is all.

Hey Sean,
I have it on good authority that the Writer of FRACTAL is down to do Hot Ones. Will you have him on as a solid to me?
Thanks in advance,
Tony Ortiz :)

https://www.amazon.com/FRACTAL-Time-Travel-Tony-Ortiz-ebook/dp/B07PXZJNH2/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=fractal+a+time+travel+tale&qid=1554068990&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

Addendum:

To get an ebook copy via Amazon Smile: Here.
To get a hard copy via Amazon Smile: Here.

"How do we know you're not a bamboozler?"

You don't. Aside of being able to say a book exists, link to it, claim I'm the writer, confirm it in the description of the book, and so on, there's nothing I can do to prove I'll donate. But what I can say is that unlike most of the nutters who try that shtick, and as a long time user, I take the following words to heart:

> "One of the things we learned pretty early on is 'Don't ever, ever try to lie to the internet - because they will catch you. They will de-construct your spin. They will remember everything you ever say for eternity." - Gabe Newell.

I like my name. I don't want to be a pariah, doxed and left without kidneys in an alley. If you still can't trust me but you still care, I urge you to go to the EFF's page and directly donate. If you're paranoid of tracking, they take bitcoin.

If you are looking for other genre books set in Cincinnati, these are a few I'm familiar with.

Have you read Mosaic 17K? It's a cyberpunk book based in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati. Really captures the area IMO. Good stuff.

Also Queen City Jazz, which doesn't really fit comfortably in a genre. Not really my cup of tea, but might be worth the read. Very surreal. Has kind of a 1970s sci-fi vibe to it.

And the Kim Harrison Hollows novels, which are urban fantasy. IMO, she didn't capture the area at all well. It came across as super generic midwest large city. And she described the town I live in all wrong, not even a little bit right. Possibly the most well known series of books set in the area.

I agree with the other posts regarding going with the most natural feeling verb tense and not forcing present.

If you want to read a pretty decent example of a first-person-present that doesn't feel clunky but actually pulls you into the action, try reading Grimspace by Ann Aguirre She writes all six books with first-person-present and I enjoyed them (they're not Dickens or Shakespeare, but they're enjoyable).

• Divergent/Insurgent (First two in an unfinished trilogy)
  
• The Maze Runner (This is a trilogy)
  
• Battle Royale
  
• I've heard good things about The Knife of Never Letting Go (The first part of the Chaos Walking trilogy)
  
  To be honest, these are just some dystopia themed books I recommended because of Hunger Games. However, I could give better recommendations if you tell me more of what she wants. Young adult? Fantasy? Romantic aspect?

This is the best book I have read about humans being taken by an alien empire. This focuses on one group of people, and mostly one man, but it is an amazing work. Forging Zero - http://amzn.com/B00BTKA42Y

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


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.

You might like this. It's somewhere in the middle between soft and hard sci-fi in my relative opinion, but I found it a good read.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Post-Human-Omnibus-1-4-David-Simpson-ebook/dp/B00H0D5NTI - books 1-4

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inhuman-Book-Post-Human-David-Simpson-ebook/dp/B00HYLX4R4 - book 5

These are all great books too

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forever-War-3-Book/dp/B00W6RJ6SC - Joe Haldeman's Forever War

https://www.amazon.co.uk/All-Sins-Remembered-GOLLANCZ-S-F-ebook/dp/B005HRTA4I Joe Haldeman's All My Sins Remembered

Granted not exactly to your spec, as it's 1980's sci-fi and thus based around now, HOWEVER very good story.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00J3EU5RC - Greg Bear's Eon books

Books! Yeah, baby! Here are three:

Daemon and
Freedom

by Daniel Suarez. The first was self-published, became a hit, and the second is the recently-released sequel. Excellent near-future SciFi about a tech billionaire who sets up an internet daemon to take over the world, basically, after he dies of cancer. Violent, thought-provoking, and absolutely worth reading. My wife liked them also.

The Unincorporated Man by the Kollin brothers -- also new authors; also very talented. The chapter on the "virtual reality plague" alone is worth the time and price of the book, but the whole thing is very compelling.

[Edit because I can't type more than a sentence w/o a typo]

Mosaic 17K by Christopher Drake definitely fits this description. Near future, dystopian SF. It's the author's first novel and, imo a damned good read. I've read it twice so far. Right now it's free through Kindle Unlimited not sure for how long though.

• so this is the best utopia of their books?
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Cory-Doctorow/e/B001I9RSKC
  
  
  '17
  
  
  
  800 3.75 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40604388-walkaway
  
  
  200 3.8 https://www.amazon.com/Walkaway-Novel-Cory-Doctorow-ebook/dp/B01FQQ47OC
  
  
  > set in early days of a better world. /u/finfinfin /u/Ungreat

Daemon and Freedom comprise a two-part novel by the author Daniel Suarez about a distributed, persistent computer application, known as The Daemon, that begins to change the real world after the original programmer's death. I'm in the middle of Freedom and these books have effectively Blown My Fucking Mind.

Split Second

Technically it's time travel but it's used more as duplication - it's all explained in the book - great read.

For what it's worth, as I was setting up my son's Kindle app I ran across a series of books I read a while ago that is good for his age that I thought I'd share with anyone else interested: The Legend of Zero series. It's about a kid (somewhere 9-12, I believe) is abducted by alien invaders and conscripted into their multi-species army. Not dystopian, obviously, but good sci-fi.

I published my book on Amazon and it's free for the next few days.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CXCZ7N3/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525834496&sr

Lies, Damn Lies, and a Vampire Rock Star

>On the eve of Firelight's last concert of their world tour, their vampire bassist is accused of assaulting a human. The other band members have their own secrets. Can they keep the lucky (and naive) fan who won the chance to spend the day with them from finding out the truth?

Pluses: It's short, easy to read, the grammar and spelling are good, it's occasionally funny, and the vampires are somewhat different than usual - they're not teenagers and they don't sparkle. They're not even especially sexy. They're actually kind of surly and weird.

Minuses: I started out with an A plot and a B plot and unfortunately the A plot is more interesting but the B plot gets more pages.

http://www.amazon.com/WebMage-Ravirn-Book-Kelly-McCullough/dp/0441014259/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309619091&sr=8-1 It isn't the best written series in the world but it is good and its unique. Science fantasy is an under-explored genre for sure.

Also from SM Reine (author of The Descent): Preternatural Affairs, books 1-3 -- Tales of a top-secret government agency dedicated to fighting ghouls and demons.

I listened to this one last week during my commute: Black Amazon of Mars, by Leigh Brackett -- Well read, good sound -- enough to be heard above the clatter of the hunk of junk I call my car.

Point of note: I hadn't met/encountered Cory when I wrote "Lobsters" (the first story that went into Accelerando) in 1998.

Subsequently Cory and I co-wrote another fix-up novel, The Rapture of the Nerds, which you can take as a comic pratfall sequel to the novel-of-ideas that was Accelerando. You can buy it here if you want to support our work, or download it for free if you just want to sample it.

Inhuman by David Simpson. 5 books. Pretty good match to what you are after.

Nobody has mentioned Iain M. Banks yet, so how about

The Algebraist

Excession

Against a Dark Background

Another military sci-fi novel with several unique twists would be Vernor Vinge's:
A Fire Upon the Deep


Hard to beat Ender's Game, though. Old Man's War is really good; Armor is good but kinda depressing.

I can think of lots more, reply if you'd like more suggestions :-)

Does it have to be well-told? :P

Grimspace series - Ann Aguire

Friday - Robert A. Heinlein

Stardoc - S.L. Viehl

Blade Dancer - S. L. Viehl

Califia's Daughters - Leigh Richards (post-apocalypse)

I love the Culture books by Banks, but I think The Algebraist is the best sf he's written to date. And to my mind, no dull parts anywhere, middle or otherwise. (Okay, to put a very fine point on it, I did think the "villain" was little more than a cartoon but the rest of the book is just about perfect).

Love reading on my kindle, and now prefer it to real books.


[Cyberdrome] (https://www.amazon.com/Cyberdrome-Joseph-Rhea-ebook/dp/B0012Q6G5Y)


[Old Man's War] (https://www.amazon.com/Old-Mans-War-John-Scalzi-ebook/dp/B000SEIK2S/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1524503897&sr=1-1)


[The Last Revolution] (https://www.amazon.com/Last-Revolution-R-T-Carpenter-ebook/dp/B00EFL3QK6/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1524504042&sr=1-10)

You gotta check out the original Boston mob/crime classic, The Friends of Eddie Coyle

There’s a great book called Split Second that deals with this and how sending something back in time for even a fraction of a second results in teleportation

Iain Banks wrote a nice fat novel where the galaxy's primary religion had the same idea.

It's definitely not a perfect movie; I read somewhere that Tony Burgess, the author of the novel on which the film was based as well as the screenplay, kept redrafting the script until finally the director asked for a copy on the first day of shooting. Had shooting started a few days later, the film might've ended up completely differently. My guess is that some of the ideas, especially the "May I see you in the morning" and etc. bits were remnants of some ideas that got lost as the writing of the script progressed.

Speaking of which, if you get a chance, read Pontypool Changes Everything (on which the movie's based) beacuse it's somehow enormously more insane than the movie. Grant Mazzy is a wholly different character in the novel and there's all sorts of weirdness in there...I loved it; it was nuts.

Reminds me of this book I read about time travel. Not like any other movie or show where time travel has already been perfected. It takes place where time travel was just discovered, where they could only go back just a fraction of a second, like 0.0001 milliseconds back. You'd think it was pretty useless.

The thing is it uses the universe as point of origin. So they put you in this time travel chamber, and in relation to the earth's rotation/revolution, going back in time meant you'd be standing like 60 feet away, or where you were standing relative to the universe 0.0001 milliseconds ago. So you slowly begin to understand it's not really a time travel discovery, but more of a duplication technique.

So the military gets a hold of it, they could duplicate multi-billion dollar weapons. Kidnap, clone, have an evac truck like 60 feet away where the VIP used to be in relation to the universe, then interrogate, and kill world leaders (their clone) for secret information. Pretty wild book.

But yeah, this guy's an idiot.

You should really read "Split Second" by Doug Richards. It deals with this very subject, in a very very interesting way.

That was the plot of a book I read. Someone discovered how to time travel. Problem is the time being traveled is very short, 45 microseconds, iirc. What's the usefulness of that? The object being sent back in time 45 microseconds, merely appears in our universe. Since the earth is constantly moving, it appears 58 feet from the original location. The original object being sent back in time remains, so it was actually used as a matter duplication device.

EDIT: The book is Split Second by Douglas E Richards.

On the same wavelength, the Ravirn series by Kelly McCullough is about a supernatural coder. Ravirn is a descendant of the Fates, and uses code to accomplish magical effects. Not as low level as Wiz Biz, but not bad, either. WebMage is the first book, and there are currently 4 in the series.

It is this one

Thanks for the help!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MRM8394/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1RW2LKE7BT31L&coliid=I399H99I7NYGGO

IF that doesn't work, its the $4.99 Preternatural Affairs, Books 1-3: Witch Hunt, Silver Bullet, and Hotter Than Helltown [Kindle Edition].

My kindle is emptying faster than I can fill it!

Thanks for the contest! :-)

See Daemon and more importantly Freedom tm for how the world works with game theory. Read them before they become movies.

wiki
amazon .
This is the book that does the most explanation of the author's concept of demarchy which, in many ways, is like what you wrote.

If you are looking for totally new authors, try Sara King and her Legend of Zero series. Two books out now, more to follow.

Starts with [Forging Zero] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BTKA42Y/)

Military scifi, yes, but with lots of character focus.

FYI, there is a semi-sequel that just came out a few days ago: http://www.amazon.com/The-Rapture-Nerds-singularity-posthumanity/dp/0765329107 It was a joint effort between Stross and Cory Doctorow (who bears a strange resemblance to Macx)

Have you checked Web Mage by Kelly McCullough?

Wife got me the book Pontypool Changes Everything for Christmas.

Cory Doctorow wrote a book about that recently, "Walkaway"

A lot of Cory Doctorow’s stuff deals with these themes. Check out Walkaway

The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds explores this concept.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0441017223/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483490567&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=the+prefect+alastair+reynolds&dpPl=1&dpID=51iQJzpWbDL&ref=plSrch

That's part of the title

If you liked Hunger Games, try Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth. It's a trilogy, the third one isn't out yet. This series has similar themes and a very similar tone to Hunger Games.

Iain M Banks' has a book titled The Algebraist, there are aliens in it called Dwellers; each individual dweller lives for millions of years and the species has been around for 10 billion. Dwellers are...not what you'd expect from beings that old.

Doesn't look like it...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mosaic-17K-Christopher-Drake/dp/1521017220/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

If you are willing to give it a shot and you have 16 hours to kill, I'd recommend starting the series A Song of Ice and Fire. Guaranteed to keep you engaged.
If you are looking for a short read about small time crime in Boston and trying to sleep for 14.5 hours I'd recommend The Friends of Eddie Coyle.
Also if you have not read Ender's Game or the companion series Ender's Shadow this would be your other option. A fantastic sci-fi series, just realize that the author is kind of a dick.
*edit added links

Indents are not necessary and I've read a lot of novels with no indenting whatsoever. For example Harry Potter: No indents and good enough to sell millions.

http://www2.sdfi.edu.cn/netclass/jiaoan/englit/download/Harry%20Potter%20and%20the%20Sorcerer's%20Stone.pdf

In other writing every paragraph is indented, regardless of dialogue or not, including the first paragraph. For example see the 'look inside' of Tom Sawyer

https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Tom-Sawyer-Biographical-Introduction-ebook/dp/B000FC1C46/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1542811211&sr=8-4&keywords=where+the+red+fern+grows+kindle

Final example/final edit: Dresden files indents every paragraph except the first paragraph of each chapter. Again you can refer to the 'look inside'.

https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Black-Magic-Outlaw-Book-ebook/dp/B019ROIX8U/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1542811463&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=dresden+files&psc=1

Just pick a convention and be consistent.

You remind me of the villain in The Algebraist...his name escapes me.

Try out The Legend of Zero Series. I'm reading it now and it gives off some Red Rising vibes. Here's the Amazon book summary:



First Contact didn't go as expected. Now they own us.

Earth has been conquered by a massive galactic empire, and its war machine needs soldiers. In a cruel twist of fate, fourteen-year-old Joe Dobbs accidentally ends up on a ship carrying Earth's children to an alien training planet. To make it out alive, he must survive an apathetic bureaucracy that sees humans as little more than spare rations. Meat with guns. Or, if they're really unlucky, servants.

The oldest of the children drafted from humanity’s devastated planet, Joe unwittingly becomes the centerpiece in a millennia-long alien struggle for independence. Once his training begins, one of the elusive and prophetic Trith gives Joe a spine chilling prophecy that the universe has been anticipating for millions of years: Joe will be the one to finally shatter the vast alien government known as Congress. And the Trith cannot lie.…

But first Joe has to make it through boot camp.

For lovers of sci-fi thrillers, alien invasion stories, space opera, and sprawling first contact science fiction, this is an unforgettable post-apocalyptic epic about perseverance and survival in a harsh new world where humanity is just another item on the menu...