|
Burned out on "real" literature but still very much in a mood to read, I'm requesting that we discuss low-quality books: stuff that's crass and crude, super clichéd, over the top ridiculous, likely politically incorrect and only saved by virtue of somehow being entertaining. Some examples of stuff I've found... Matthew Reilly, specifically Ice Station. Killer whales, ceaseless and really implausible action, stock characters and mutated seals. Pretty conscious of what it's doing but still guilty of being ridiculous. V. C. Andrews, who wrote classics like Flowers in the Attic. She weaves together tales of horror (of the Gothic variety) and throws in incest, rape, and all sorts of insanity. Trashy and sleazy? Double check. For horror, there's Guy N. Smith who wrote a lot about crabs: Night of the Crabs, Killer Crabs, Crabs on the Rampage...and like four others about crabs. And of course, there's the right-wing fantasy action novel Ghost by John Ringo, which has been talked about a lot on the forums over the years. What else can you think of? I'd love to find a trashy sci-fi or fantasy series to immerse myself in.
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2018 20:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 19:15 |
|
|
Finally, a place to discuss trashy low quality genre fiction in the book barn
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2018 23:20
|
|
|
A human heart posted:Finally, a place to discuss trashy low quality genre fiction in the book barn
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 05:28
|
|
|
What do you like about these books oliver
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 15:00
|
|
|
Burned out on all the "real" literature recommended in this forum like the Star Wars novels and steampunk stories with dragons that every thread is already about?
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 16:36
|
|
|
There's a really good sci-fi yarn called We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin, that I'd recommend. (Don't bother with any translation but Natasha Randall's.)
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2018 20:43
|
|
|
Sham bam bamina! posted:There's a really good sci-fi yarn called We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin, that I'd recommend. (Don't bother with any translation but Mirra Ginsburg's.)
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2018 01:10
|
|
|
Edit: After another look at the Ginsburg, it's definitely better than I remembered, better than the Randall in some ways. Solid option. 
Sham bam bamina! fucked around with this message at 04:37 on Mar 25, 2018 |
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2018 01:45
|
|
|
Oliver Reed posted:Burned out on "real" literature but still very much in a mood to read, I'm requesting that we discuss low-quality books: stuff that's crass and crude, super clichéd, over the top ridiculous, likely politically incorrect and only saved by virtue of somehow being entertaining. Some examples of stuff I've found... Have you tried A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin?
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2018 18:11
|
|
|
Oliver Reed posted:And of course, there's the right-wing fantasy action novel Ghost by John Ringo, which has been talked about a lot on the forums over the years. What was special about Ghost? I'm currently reading my first John Ringo book. I didn't know much about him, but saw a book by him at a book sale and remembered goons talking some crazy stuff about his work. I'm pretty disappointed so far. It's fairly standard military fiction with some sci-fi thrown in.
|
|
#
?
Mar 26, 2018 04:52
|
|
|
The Grey posted:What was special about Ghost? Everything, for a certain horrible definition of special. Somebody in LFR did a Let's Read of some John Ringo books in that series a while back. It explains things far better than I can.
|
|
#
?
Mar 26, 2018 06:38
|
|
|
Khizan posted:Everything, for a certain horrible definition of special. I shall not click this link or be tricked into reading the words that lie behind it, inshallah
|
|
#
?
Mar 26, 2018 08:59
|
|
|
The Grey posted:I'm currently reading my first John Ringo book. I didn't know much about him, but saw a book by him at a book sale and remembered goons talking some crazy stuff about his work. I'm pretty disappointed so far. It's fairly standard military fiction with some sci-fi thrown in. It's probably one of his early couple of books. He's one of those authors where 9/11 broke their brain.
|
|
#
?
Mar 26, 2018 09:44
|
|
|
A human heart posted:I shall not click this link or be tricked into reading the words that lie behind it, inshallah This is a good idea.
|
|
#
?
Mar 26, 2018 14:56
|
|
|
Deptfordx posted:It's probably one of his early couple of books. He's one of those authors where 9/11 broke their brain. I think it's more after he started getting successful, he just started writing whatever the hell he wanted to write. He tends to be a very high energy author in his writing and I can generally feel that he had a lot of fun writing a scene which tends to leaks towards me the reader. Many of his works edge on parody played straight, because in many ways he is often writing what he would do in X scenario taken if he was ultra badass/hyper competent and then take it even more extreme. Because he is a very heavy muse writer he tends to fly off the rails a bit and change focus a bit much for my tastes, and even if he is staying on track he is just pretty bog standard for the sub-genre. hradzka.livejournal.com/194753.html or Oh John Ringo No, is kind of an infamous review of one of his main works that even John Ringo approved of, and it's in a large part why he in particular became kind of known for writing awful stuff. ShinsoBEAM! fucked around with this message at 18:33 on Mar 26, 2018 |
|
#
?
Mar 26, 2018 18:30
|
|
|
Khizan posted:Everything, for a certain horrible definition of special. Weird... I was actually looking forward to a bad book like that thread describes, but the Ringo book I am reading (Von Neumann's War) isn't like that. It's the first book in a series, but it looks like he didn't write any more of them after it. Maybe his readers were disappointed in the non-craziness.
|
|
#
?
Mar 27, 2018 01:01
|
|
|
The America rising series is not nearly as bad as I thought it would be based on it’s name.
|
|
#
?
Mar 27, 2018 11:08
|
|
|
If you want a book that's just a blast and a huge fun read I would suggest The Long Ships by Frans Bengtsson. Its definitely pulpy genre fiction but I would not call it trashy or sleazy, and is a great time.
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2018 04:59
|
|
|
The Grey posted:Weird... I was actually looking forward to a bad book like that thread describes, but the Ringo book I am reading (Von Neumann's War) isn't like that. It's the first book in a series, but it looks like he didn't write any more of them after it. Maybe his readers were disappointed in the non-craziness. All of his series are like that, there's no conclusion, they just keep going until he runs out of steam or writes himself out of ideas. The Posleen books have been waiting for a sequel for years. Something like 9 or 12 books in that series that the last one introduced an entirely new threat to humanity anddd.... nothing. The Council Wars books are waiting for a conclusion. The Ghost books are pretty much just episodic "Ex Navy SEAL saves the world and here's some gratuitous BDSM because that's what Ringo likes" (and apparently these books sell and sell and sell) The Soccer Mom who Kills Demons books got a 2nd installment after years and who knows where they are going Troy Rising is expecting a 4th book but no telling when. Ringo decided to just up and write two books for Larry Correia's Monster Hunter International series without being asked. Von Neumann's war was a collaboration with Travis Taylor IIRC, who is a real life rocket scientist working for NASA. With the collabs I think Ringo does the outline and the secondary author does the meat. Edit: I am a junkie for airport fiction, but since this is the low-quality thread I'm going to recommend the Gray Man series by Mark Greaney.
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2018 23:19
|
|
|
sky shark posted:Edit: I am a junkie for airport fiction, but since this is the low-quality thread I'm going to recommend the Gray Man series by Mark Greaney. True Confession: I legit enjoy those Gray Man books. At times I find him more entertaining that Reacher, mainly because Greaney isn't afraid to beat the everloving gently caress out of the Gray Man as needed. I just finished the most recent book where the dude kills terrorism (again). Good times. Along those lines, the "Victor the Assassin" series from Tom Wood is super trashy and fun wherein the eponymous assassin visits a lot of EU countries and murders the populace. This will overlap with the urban fantasy thread, but the Sandman Slim series is a healthy mix of ridiculous trash and summer popcorn blockbuster.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2018 18:35
|
|
|
Has anyone read the NECROSCOPE series? I saw a bunch on the shelf at the used book store and spoiled myself on the plot of book one. It sounds incredibly terribad and I'm vaguely curious about it.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2018 07:08
|
|
|
Rough Lobster posted:Has anyone read the NECROSCOPE series? I saw a bunch on the shelf at the used book store and spoiled myself on the plot of book one. It sounds incredibly terribad and I'm vaguely curious about it.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2018 14:39
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 19:15 |
|
|
Rough Lobster posted:Has anyone read the NECROSCOPE series? I saw a bunch on the shelf at the used book store and spoiled myself on the plot of book one. It sounds incredibly terribad and I'm vaguely curious about it. Yeah, it's pretty much awful as you think. Brian Lumley's thing is creating protagonists who are stupidly powerful to begin with. and then piling even more ridiculous powers on them until the series collapses into a messy heap.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2018 00:48
|
|
