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!