The Grand Illusion
Finding” decent” books is getting harder and harder, “decent” meaning books from which I can derive both entertainment and enlightenment, without being depressed as hell.
It’s not that such books don’t exist, but finding them is getting somewhere between difficult and close to impossible, particularly if you live in a town/small city of 50,000 people some sixty miles from the nearest large bookstore. But even if I did live closer to that store, it wouldn’t help much because, that Barnes & Noble store carries an incredibly limited stock of speculative fiction, as do many these days.
Then, of course, there’s Amazon, where everything under the sun is theoretically listed. I checked out “fantasy books,” supposedly ranked by best-seller listing, and went through the first 150 books listed. Of those 150, a third were “sponsored,” i.e., placed there because someone paid for that placement. More than half were by “name” series authors, i.e., Sarah Maas, Brandon Sanderson, Jennifer Armentrout. Ten percent were variations on endless series, and that left roughly six to eight books, half of which I’d read. (Disclosure: I have read several Sarah Maas books, and a few Brandon Sanderson books, but those few were enough for me).
After roughly 350 books, the number of “sponsored” books stabilized at around six out of roughly twenty-five, and right about that point, Overcaptain showed up. I went through over 500 books before I quit. Out of all those 500, I bought exactly one book, by an author I recognized, having read one of her books several years back.
Now, because I was counting as I browsed, it took a bit longer, but spending an hour plus searching for a book I might like is why many readers rely on the recommendations of others. My problem is that my tastes differ from those of most reviewers, possibly because I’ve been reading so long that I really don’t like mindless or single-minded mayhem, nor graphic violence and explicit sex. I’m also not all that fond of “whipped cream” reading unless it’s really good whipped cream (like Legends & Lattes), and I don’t read it all that often because more often than that is cloying.
The other day I read what was a quite good and well-written military/dragon novel – until I got to the ultra-sex romantasy part, which I skimmed, and which was, to me, a considerable detraction(but apparently not to many readers, since the book was listed in the first four Amazon pages).
All of which may be obvious, but, at the least, I thought the Amazon numbers were intriguing.
I have made this same comment many many times, and am so discouraged about finding good books to read. I have scrolled through many sites that supposedly are there to help.. as you say, they are the ones with a lot of gratuitus sex and violence.. which I don’t care to read. I end up returning to the ones I have appreciated in the past… mostly yours..
Its getting to the point that anything Amazon promotes highly goes into my reject pile.
I’ve recently been enjoying Victoria Goddard’s books.Very different from most.
I would value your thoughts on the Booker prize.
While I’m certainly aware of the Booker prize, it certainly isn’t a factor in my reading choices. From what I can determine I’ve only read possibly two of the prize winners over the past fifty years. I have read 8-10 other books from Booker prize winners, which suggests to me that that Booker prize overrates style, but that’s a very subjective opinion on my part based on admittedly limited reading of the prize winners.
I gave up on buying books by newer authors years ago. I kept feeling I was wasting my time and money. Mr. Modesitt’s are almost the only books I buy brand new. I took to seeking out books by authors I had heard from years ago but somehow never read. Thus discovered I really enjoy Stephen Baxter’s books, A.A. Attanasio, David Zindell, Gene Wolfe, C.S. Friedman, and several others, going back to all the Clarke, Zelazney , Heinlein, Herbert, et al books I somehow never read. I also branched out into more literary fiction and found I enjoy Nabokov, Woolf, Joyce, Cervantes, Borges and more. And I also delve into far more nonfiction on various topics, usually history, prehistory/paleontology, science and etc. For whatever reason, much of modern science fiction and fantasy doesn’t click with me. We have several Half Price Books and local used bookstores here in the KCMO area; I typically go searching for old books I wish I had read in my younger years but never got around. Now I’m glad I never read them because now I have “new” books to discover.
I’m in a similar situation, and I wonder if, in my case, it’s because newer authors, being from a different generation, have had different formative experiences that underlie their work and viewpoint, ones that I don’t really relate to.
For example, the Oil Embargo followed by the Rust Belt rusting shaped my world, but for a lot of newer authors, I would have to think that series of events is nothing but possibly forgettable history. So where I view the economy as fundamentally unstable, maybe that’s not the case for them.
If that makes sense? I’m not sure I explained that well.
Thank you for bringing this subject up. I too am flabbergasted at the suggestions amazon, throws in my face, everytime I search. My reading choices center around the very subjects you mentioned, and I really appreciate novels that don’t highlight love scenes. I’m just not into that. That’s why I am always interested in any new novels you’ve read and recommend. Thank you again
I recently found your Tangible Ghosts trilogy, & was happily engrossed for several days. I also found Leong’s The Teller of Small Fortunes a pleasant, if simple, read. The only hard SF I read was the 3 Dewes books on The Divide, which were pretty good. I’m finding myself seeking out authors I know, as I’ve found what you seem to have: sex &/or violence are way too prevalent with new authors.
First up, I’m not a big fan of Amazon. Part of it is the sort of “pay for play” gaming of the system you mention. Another part is that I want to keep physical bookshops alive. Even though I’ve moved 1000 Km away from it, the speciality SFF shop in Sydney has done me sterling service for a number of decades in stocking an incredible range of authors and a pretty expansive catalog of their works. I like the ability to wander in and browse through the shelves and stumble on a new author or an “old” title from someone I’ve only recently discovered. My solution was to become a late adopter of Facebook and join several SFF groups. The discussions are informative and an excellent guide to authors I may like and those I’d probably not enjoy. And the mods do a good job of keeping overt selling out of the threads. Like you, I live a long way from a decent bookshop but I’m able to get good books without too much angst
I do get bored with over-extended sagas with many books about the same characters (Recluce doesn’t count, different characters in same world). Thereare a very few newer authors who complete a story in 5 or 6 novels then move on to a new world / new magic system / etc that’s still reasonably well thought out. My most recent discovery (and devoured all her books) is Vanessa Nelson – recommend!
I read from several boards for aspiring authors and the quality of recent writing has plummeted in the last 2 years. At the same time, the quantity has vastly increased. The new trend I see has been either ai written or ai assisted writing. Either are very poorly written, formulaic to the extreme, and directionless.
I’ve recently moved to the mentioned town 60 miles from you and was very disappointed in the B&N fantasy selections.
I figured they’d have a good selection of your books, as a “Local Author”, there were only 3.
Full shelves of G.R.R Martin and Sanderson.
You should start dropping in and signing your books like some other authors do, to get the workers familiar with your name, maybe they’d get more stock and recommend your work more.
For almost 20 years, I visited that store regularly, and talked to the staff. It didn’t make a damned bit of difference.