Comments on: Finding a Good Novel

By: terry

terry — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:21:30 +0000

Ain’t it the truth, so many books…so little time. I read a lot of standalones but love it when I get an author I can follow. Even better, a series. But how to find that author?

Blind, dumb luck usually. Prospecting for gold ain’t in it compared to finding a good author. But we won’t stop, will we?

terry

By: Steve Crocker

Steve Crocker — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:54:28 +0000

OMG, another fan of classic SF. My own "top 50" would be different from yours, but we might easily have a 10-20% overlap. For my own re-reading I lean heavily toward Heinlein, especially the juveniles, but also anything with Lazarus Long in it. I adored Asimov in my younger years, but for me there's not as much new to be found on a ewread as with Heinlein.

I have recently become an aspiring writer, and as I peruse the web and bombard myself with formulaic "how to write" advice, I turn back to my Heinlein and reflect on how many of those rules he routinely breaks, and how well it works. (My favorite "Characters must be proactive - act, not react." My counterexample - Job.)

As to current good novels, I've found the fiction of Michael Connelly and Stephen Cannell much to my own taste. But, then, I've always had a weakness for LA as a setting, ever since the Rockford Files.

Also, if you have a taste for YA fiction, I recommend Scott Westerfeld.

Best wishes,
Steve

By: Graham Storrs

Graham Storrs — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 06:56:22 +0000

Hahaha. You do learn to be wary of some people’s recommendations. They mean well but once bitten…

By: Janette

Janette — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 06:51:51 +0000

Option 2 is especially good if, like me, you have a crap memory and forget the plot of even the best novels & movies.

I also go for a variation of Option 1 – get to know my friends’ tastes & respond accordingly. So when my saccharine-romance-loving acquaintance (otherwise a perfectly reasonable woman) says I must read the latest [insert unfortunate author here] – I run like the clappers. And vice versa, of course.