Helping New Readers - Part 4 - Where do they go next?
This last blog ends a little series of blogs this year where I’ve looked at new readers and what people ‘should’ be reading
The importance of diversity challenges
Introducing new readers to SF&F
How people are and have been introduced to the genre
A huge list of stories that shows lesbians with swords is not a trope - DIVERSITY MATTERS
ahem for my last blog on this subject what would you recommend to such a promising reader next?
So I was wandering the web as I do in my online womble form and found a new booktube video being highly recommended. This one decided to pick the best basic to advanced books in SF. I was a tad underwhelmed by the choices. Brandon Sanderson for example got multiple entries; it was largely male and quite frankly although the youtuber was half my age the choices wouldn’t have looked too different from all the introductions I read when I was starting out properly in the genre circa the mid-90s with Asimov, Herbert etc. I went to the twitters asking what YOU would recommend and once again the hivemind pulled some much better sounding alternatives. So if you’ve caught a new fantasy or Science fiction reader here are some ideas for them to go a little deeper into the waters.
Here is the list and after this some final thoughts and what I want to look at next on the blog (Yes I do like to tease you) - any errors i the list are my own big thumbs fault
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
The Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed
Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron
The Lady Trent Series by Marie Brennan
Neveryon by Samuel R Delany
The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb
The Poppy War by R F Kuang
The Dragon Prince by Melanie Rawn
Night Angel by Brent Weeks
Erebus by Den Patrick
The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wrecker
Anything by Jen Williams
Anthing by Stephen Aryan
The Deathless Series by Pete Newman
Strange The Dreamer by Laini Taylor
A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab
The Nevernight series by Jay Kristoff
The Relic Guild by Edward Cox
The Bear and the NIghtingale by Katherine Arden
Anything by N K Jemisin
Anything by Ken Liu
Anything by Terry Pratchett
The Divine Cities trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett
The Glamorist Histories by Mary Robinette Kowal
Ash by Melinda Lo
The Green Bone series by Fonda Lee
Fray by Rowena Miller
The Blue Sword or Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman
The Monster Baru Commorant by Seth Dickinson
The Raven Tower by Anne Leckie
The Ten Thouand Doors of January by Alix E Harrow
Sixteen Ways to Defend A Castle by K J Parker
The Wicked + The Divine by Kieron Gillen
Saga by Brian K Vaughan
Monstress by Marjorie M Liu
Strange Practise by Vivian Shaw
Swordheart by T Kingfisher
The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo
Cast in Shadow by Michelle Sagara
Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell
Merry Happy Valkyrie by Tansy Rayner Roberts
Bearly A Lady - Cassandra Khaw
Justice Calling - Annie Bellet
The Castings Trilogy by Pamela Freeman
Runemarks by Joanne Harris
The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard
The Spirit Thief by Rachel Aaron
The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone
City of Lies by Sam Hawke
Towers of Babel by Josiah Bancroft
The Gentleman Bastards by Scott Lynch
The Wayward Children by Seanan McGuire
The Angel of Crows by Katherine Addison
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
Malazan by Stephen Erikson
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
Fahfrd and tge Grey Mouser by Fritz Leiber
The Dying Earth by Jack Vance
The Incorruptibles by John Hornor
The City of Brass by SA Chakraborty
Tales of Einarinn by Juliet E McKenna
The Court of Broken Knives by Anna Spark Smith
The Matthew Swift series by Kate Griffin
Anything by David Gemmell
Anything by Katherine Kerr
Wolves of Diplomacy by Holly Lisle
The Thomas Covenant series by Stephen R Donaldson
Crossroads series by Kate Elliott
The Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
The City of Lost Fortunes by Bryan Camp
God of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
The Other Wind or The Beginning Place by Ursula K Le Guin
Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock
Lilith A Romance by George MacDonald
The Steerswoman series by Rosemary Kirstein
The Greatcoat series by Sebastien de Castell
The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn by Tyler Whitesides
The Jhereg series by Steven Brust
Strange Practise by Vivian Shaw
Swordheart by T Kingfisher
The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo
Cast in Shadow by Michelle Sagara
Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell
Merry Happy Valkyrie by Tansy Rayner Roberts
Witchmark by CJ Polk
The Piory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
The reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore
Which I think shows when you ask a variety of people to think about something they can give you some really interesting answers and not simply what someone decided to read first because they were told thats the best book to read. There is a lot of debate at the moment about canon and the various ages of SF at the moment. I would note some scary thoughts on some of the classics
Foundation was published in 1951
Fahrenheit 451 in 1953
Starship Troopers in 1959
Dune in 1965
2001 A Space Odyssey was in 1968
I’m not saying the past was always bad; I’m not saying the past should not be read but I do think the past is well…past. This week I was asked how I feel about Foundation getting a new TV drama and to be honest I think it sounds like TV is a bit limited i its choices and missing out on a lot more cooler stuff.
This year means we are now one fifth into a new century (longer if we count the decade known as 2020). Nearly seventy years since Foundation first touched a bookshelf. For me if the best work a genre created; the most advanced work you can recommend is one of fifty years ago then I would query is that genre is progressing or possibly if the person telling you that list is perhaps a bearded white guy in a funny hat dwelling in nostalgia.
I find the current range of SF and fantasy particularly this last twenty years is getting more and more interesting. Voices from around the world; voices that we’ve ignored due to bigotry, voices that are thinking of things Asimov, Clarke, Campbell and lets add Silverberg and Martin into the mix as could not even comprehend as science fiction and fantasy. I don’t think we are necessarily having a Old Wave New Wave row simply that seventy plus years into a genre evolution happens by just time and many books are not in dialogue now with Tolkien or Asimov but doing their own thing because the authors are being inspired by so so much more out there to inspire (and there always was). Lets not forget the cool stuff in the past that doesn’t always get remarked upon enough times (I don’t believe it was remembered at the Hugos that fifty years ago was The Left Hand of Darkness’ year thanks to Ursula K Le Guin - Silverberg lost….twice).
I do occasionally like to read an older work - curiosity, comfort or to understand the history I don’t think of the past as this golden time we must ever return to. That’s like saying the Model T was the best car; I prefer one with air conditioning, stereo and safety measures. The art of book tempting is to not simply to tell you the books I loved when I was that impressionable age of teens and twenties. Banks, Pratchett, Hobb and King are all worthy authors who over the years have had great acclaim but I know they all have flaws or there are authors doing some things they touched even better. I also know a huge amount of talented authors who are taking steps into their genres we’ve not thought of before - I believe they earn our respect and appreciation. Don’t be afraid to tell your new reader about something more recent - it may actually be more relevant to them than a tale of the 1950’s.
In summary how do I think of the genre these days well as my favourite doctor once said of the universe: -
‘Every time I think it couldn't get more extraordinary, it surprises me. It's impossible. I hate it. It's evil. It's astonishing. I want to kiss it to death.’
There are so many many books and stories out there I want to get into, talk about and share with you. I find the idea of staying on just a few golden oldies a tad limiting. The future i think this genre is always more exciting and brighter lets go get some more of it in our brains.
This ends this little cycle of blogs on what makes a reader start in SF. Next time I will start to understand something less controversial - what makes a good convention?
In the meantime if you have any recs yourself please put them in the comments!
