My Favorite Reads from Recent Years

Jesus, what can I say?

This book is essentially Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, ESPECIALLY if you grew up in the 80's. It's damn near pop culture overload for a Reagan-era kid. Easily my favorite book in recent years. Also not to be missed, the author's follow up, Armada. If this is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, then Armada is The Last Starfighter. And even more 80's feels.

Dune: The Butlerian Jihad, Machine Crusade, whatever-you-wanna-call-it trilogy

I know a lot of fans hate these, but I really like these particular prequels, even if they stretch the (quite already stretched) premise. The others I found to be "Meh."

Terry Pratchett's Discworld

There are many "reading order" lists to be found, but I prefer to read them in release order. Switching between stories between books makes it all new, yet familiar. Just get "The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic, and then check the inside pages for the release order. If you're unfamiliar, just think Monty Python makes their own fantasy world. Pratchett was a damned genius that was taken from us way too soon.

The Wild Cards series

George R.R. Martin is the editor on this shared world series, but also writes some of the most compelling characters. An alien virus is released over New York in 1946. 90% of the people infected die instantly (drawing the Black Queen), 9% are deformed, although some are granted great powers along with their deformity, (the pejorative term is Joker) and the lucky 1% get honest-to-goodness superpowers (Aces.) I like the term "superheroes -in-plain-clothing" to describe this series, although there are plenty of "Capes," if you will. Deep rich, engrossing. READ THE DAMN STUFF, ALREADY!

Pretty much ANYTHING by this Beautiful S.O.B.

I'll come out and say it; I loves me some Dick. Philip K. Dick made me think of things like, "What is TRULY the reality we think we are experiencing?" and "If you make a machine that believes it's human, is it REALLY still a just a machine?" Mostly known for "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" (Adapted for the screen as Blade Runner.) Sadly, it was the most recognition he got while he was alive. You must remember that much of his stuff was fueled by amphetamines (and more than a little mental illness,) so at times he can seem incoherent, but personally, I think he was a tortured genius. Honestly, look this fantastic bastard up. Where to begin? Hell, I dunno. Maybe "The Man in the High Castle?" There's a series on Amazon that I am ashamed to say that I've only seen the pilot of. I quite enjoyed it, and plan to get to it soon. "A Scanner Darkly" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405296/?ref_=nv_sr_1 is not only one of the most faithful adaptations of a novel that I've ever seen, but is just an awesome, trippy movie.
Strangely enough, another of the most faithful adaptations I have seen is "Screamers" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114367/?ref_=nv_sr_1. Not a great movie, but still somehow captures the "Dick" feeling (make your own jokes in the comments.)

The Uplift Series by David Brin

This guy is a genuine genius scientist that writes Sci Fi. The Uplift universe is one where humanity has managed to evolve (uplift) some Earth species, (notably chimpanzee and dolphin) before first contact with a larger galactic community. The larger community has mixed reactions. Some are amazed, since no other species has done that sort of thing without help from another, more evolved race, and others are appalled, seeing it as cavemen with nukes. An interesting look at humans being a small (but oh-so-significant) player in the grand scheme of things.

All right, that's all I got for now. Thanks for reading, and READ SOMETHING, DAMMIT