Recommendations for fantasy, horror, sci-fi books?

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  • folgore35
    folgore35 Posts: 22
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    Almost anything by Neal Stephenson is good, but The Baroque Cycle and Anathem are his best, IMO.

    Also, I finally got sucked into the whole post-apocolyptic/vampire thing with a book called The Passage by Justin Cronin
  • LosingLizard
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    Ah, I have "horror nerd" stamped on my forehead. Always looking for something scary!

    The obvious - The Shining, The Exorcist, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Haunting of Hill House, The Hunger Games trilogy (technically not horror, but very dark and disturbing if you ask me)

    Just about anything by Dean Koontz. A few of his more recent books have been a little "meh" but Odd Thomas series is great, and "What the Night Knows" is probably the scariest book he's written. Also, The Face is amazing.

    I'm hit or miss with Stephen King, but I absolutely loved Cell, Dreamcatcher, Delores Claiborne, Gerald's Game, Rose Madder, Desperation

    Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris

    The Dexter books (okay, the third one was pretty bad, but I liked the others)

    Trapped - J.A. Konrath (this one - it's graphic violence and cannibalism...not sure what type of horror you are into, but it creeped the heck out of me)

    American Psycho - Brett Easton Ellis (you need a strong stomach and a sense of humour for this one)

    Dark Places - Jillian Flynn

    The Ruins - Scott Smith


    And for the more thriller, rather than horror:

    Anything by Harlan Coben

    Shutter Island - Dennis Lehane

    The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (and the two books that followed) - Steig Larson
  • DAM_Fine
    DAM_Fine Posts: 1,292 Member
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    If you like urban fantasy - fantasy set in modern times rather than once upon a time - and don't mind hunting down a Canadian author, Charles de Lint has some wonderful books: Mulengro, Riddle of the Wren, Moonheart, Dreams Underfoot and dozens more, some short story collections too.

    For those who like urban fantasy, Jonathan Carroll is definitely worth a look. Also, I the urban fantasy subgenre may have originated with the superb Little, Big by John Crowley which was published in 1981. Charles de Lint's first urban fantasy novel was published in 1984, so Crowley may win the prize as the parent of urban fantasy. :) Don't know if there's anything that definitely fits the urban fantasy mold 1981 ... can't offhand think of anything.

    Thanks for this! Will definitely have to look up Jonathan Carroll!
  • LosingLizard
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    Oh! And The Monstromologist books. Really interesting stuff.
  • ScottyNoHotty
    ScottyNoHotty Posts: 1,957 Member
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    House of leaves....can't recommend it enough...buy it, you'll end have to re-read it many times to figure out all the weirdness.
    ( 4 different dialogues on every page, etc. )
  • TimN1974
    TimN1974 Posts: 32
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    Any books by robert a heinlein - especially the series that starts with Time Enough for Love.

    You can save your Visa by listing and trading books on Paperback Swap - all you pay is the postal charges. http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php
  • jerber160
    jerber160 Posts: 2,606 Member
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    I'm kinda shocked there aren't more Patricia McKillip fans out there. Is it because she doesn't normally do the trilogy thing?
  • adamb83
    adamb83 Posts: 719 Member
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    Fantasy: The Magicians and The Magician King by Lev Grossman; Harry Potter series; The Crimson Shadow series (R.A. Salvatore); The Lord of the Rings & The Hobbit (Tolkien) ; Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

    Science Fiction: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (Robert Heinlein); Ender's Game & Ender's Shadow series (Orson Scott Card); Cat's Cradle and The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut.

    Horror: Don't read a lot of it, but Stephen King is always good. :)

    Feel free to browse my book blog for more reading recommendations: http://roofbeamreader.net
  • asgard825
    asgard825 Posts: 1,516 Member
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    The Alienist -- Caleb Carr
    Star Trek : Vendetta
    Star Trek: Imzadi
    The Bridesmaid- PDJames
  • DocGu
    DocGu Posts: 51 Member
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    For Fantasy give Michael Sullivan's 'The Riyria Revelations' - they are fairly recent works that are a really fun read. They are light fantasy and a nice change of pace from the Epic Fantasy that is all the rage right now (not that there is anything wrong with Epic fantasy). These are just some easy to read, fun books that are worth your time. Very much in the vein of David Eddings.

    And of course you can't go wrong with Eddings himself either.