I LOVE this series. I actually buy them in hardback when the come out (there are only about 3 authors I’ll buy hardcover). I think they are magnificent.
When I worked in a bookstore I personally kept our store sold out of Outlander because I would recommend it to just about everyone that came into the store, no matter what genre they tended to gravitate towards.
Nine times out of ten, they’d be back for the sequels.
As for my guilty pleasures: I also love the Jean Auel books and have read the series a number of times.
I love cheap torrid romance novels. I generally only read the “historical” ones, the exception being of a “contemporary” novel by a favourite author. Yes, I read them enough to have a favourite authors.
Bertrice Small
Jude Deveraux
Judith McNaught
I also love those serial-killer/murder mystery type novels. Um, Patricia Cornwell, the Kellermans, Perri O’Shaugnessy, etc.
Good Lord, Goodkind is up to 6?! I think I slogged through 3 before giving up. Glad I got out of that. Jordon strung me along for about 7 before I decided I simply didn’t care about the characters any more. Even worse I read 18 from Eddings and at least 2 dozen from Anthony before coming to my senses. Hey, at least I’m learning. Each author strings me along for a little less.
Right now I’m going through all of Tolkien’s notebooks published by his son. In some places they are inspired. In many place it is easy to see why they never got published in that form. I’m glad I’m not trying to go through P. Anthony’s first drafts. Although come to think of it maybe that is Anthony’s problem. His published works may be his first drafts. Hmmm, have to think about that one.
Being Piers Anthony’s editor.
Going to Hell for eternity.
Hmmmmm…Toss-up, I’d say.
I don’t know what that perv’s fixation with little (12 and under) girl’s underpants is, but I really wish he’d just get therapy and get over it. I wrote a couple of long, ugly rants reviewing a bunch of Xanth books and it was creepy and disgusting how he consistantly showed little kids (a 6 year old boy in one book, a 12 year old girl in another) being sexualized. Bbbrrrrr. Note to Mr Anthony: Teen-age boy sex fantasy romps are fine. “Child molestation happens” novels are fine. The two combined do not make for quality reading. Just a hint.
Fenris, who may post one of the Anthony rants, if anyone’s interested.
I love Heyer but I’m not fond of her mysteries. Or the dreadful dreadful medieval novels. They’re awesomely bad.
A civil contract is atypical of her Regencies but one of my favourites. Frederica is good as is Sylvester. I have a complete collection which took me ten years but I was collecting in NZ where I suspect they were always easier to find. These Old Shades is very good - the Duke of Avon is one of the loves of my life.
However in the South Island of NZ, in the tiny scenic town of Kurow there is a junkshop of much glory which has many, many hardback copies of Heyer. The shopkeeper, a man after our own hearts was seriously disinclined to sell anything. He had some amazing old junk too.
Side note: I have a friend who’s a big fan of Jordan, and once said to me that Tolkien is to Jordan as classic Trek is to TNG. She did not mean this as a compliment to Tolkien at all.
I was seething.
Anyway, more in the spirit of the OP: I still occasionally read a Trek book, even though they’re bland and forumulaic because the Pocket Books guidelines forbid anything the least bit interesting. So basically what lolagranola and Interrobang said.
Ick… I don’t remember the six-year old incident happening with Piers Anthony, but I don’t think at all that it COULDN’T. Maybe it’s a good thing I left that series, apperantly he’s going a bit too far.
I have to second about Star Trek/Star Wars novels… They’re basically the sort of thing I read when I’m completely running dry, and just need something for a car or to get me to sleep at night.
You have got to be kidding. Robert B. Parker is not a a bad author. Of all modern crime novelists, he is second only to Elmore Leonard. His characters are compelling and round, and his dialog is second only to Mr. Leonard. And I don’t mean just the Spenser books. I’ll admit that the more recent books aren’t as good as his best in the 80’s, but he is still doing interesting things. Hugger Mugger is as good a take on “King Lear” as A Thousand Acres. Potshot is an interesting variant on the warrior band theme (ala “The Magnificent Seven”). His other (non-Spenser) books stand up as well.
Parker isn’t in the same class with, say Anne Tyler or John Irving, but he is a damn good writer. By the way, Spenser fought in Korea, so he would be in his early 70’s by now given a strict chonology, and Susan was a school counselor with a masters degree in the mid 70’s, which means she would likely be in her early 50’s.
Ok, my guilty pleasures (I have 2)
Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt books: Now this is a hack. It is difficult to suppress a giggle the tenth time a character (in Sahara) laments that there were “women and children” working as slave labor in a mine. The books are filled with stilted dialog, way over-the-top action sequences (imagine the James Bond movies, but take it up a notch) and filled with hardware descriptions of fetish-like detail (think Tom Clancy, but without the florid prose ;)).
Warren Murpy’s The Destroyer series. This is one of those 150 page quickie series books inspired by the success of the dreadful The Executioner series, which was itself inspired by The Punisher character from Spiderman comics. Murphy (originally with Richard Sapir) has been cranking out a book every 3 or 4 months for about 30 years now. These are the equivilent of R. L. Stines Fear Street books.
The sad part is that Murphy can write decent stuff. His Trace novels are slightly above average mystery fare.
Potshot rocked my world - I’m in love with all of Parker’s morally ambiguous tough guys and to have them all in one book was heaven. However sharp his dialogue, he is a plot recycler - the first Sunny Randall novel is basically a femme version of the one where Spenser meets and “adopts” Paul. Add the endless bored housewives with blackmail pictures…you can see where I’m coming from, right? I do think he’s the heir of Hammett and Chandler, it’s obvious, and I love the man, but sheesh. We’d be fools not to (love him).
Fenris: Hmmm…I think I would enjoy reading a Piers Anthony rant . He actually was a guilty pleasure of mine at one time - I read quite a few of his books when I was in my teens and early twenties. But somewhere along the line I lost all interest in his stuff - I mean completely. It was like flicking a switch. I don’t think I could force myself to read one of novels at this point. Well, maybe at gunpoint .
Certainly he recylcles plots. So did Shakespeare, not that I’m comparing the two qualitatively. I gave two examples in my post. Hugger Mugger recycles King Lear; Potshot borrows heavily from “The Magnificent Seven”. Lately, he’s been doing a lot of Spenser goes to X to give the stories variety. The presentation is a bit off a bit from his strongest works in the 80’s (especially those three or four that dealt with his break-up and reunion with Susan), but is still very sharp, and better than any of his competitors in the area of detective series.
Okay, I have to admit a lurking liking for Anne McCaffery’s early dragon stuff. Hardly classical literature, and I think I like(d) the world more than the characters, if you know what I mean. Lately, though, it’s become a case of, “Lady, it doesn’t matter how hard you hit that horse, it’s never going to run again.”
Tom Clancy. Okay, the nicest thing you can say about his characters is that they’re drawn with a broad brush, but I still enjoy them.
David & Leigh Eddings’ Belgariad/Malloreon series.
Stephen King falls into the “How the hell did he make a fortune?” camp, according to some[sup]1[/sup], so I’ll include him too.
The Harry Potter series and John Marsden’s “Tomorrow, When the War Began” series; guilty only because they’re aimed at readers half my age or less, not because of the quality of writing.
[sup]1[/aup]I usually direct these people to “The Black Tower” series, The Stand and/or Eyes of the Dragon.
What several other people have said about (Sapir and) Murphy’s Destroyer series. Classic. I didn’t know they were still going.
The Executioner books could have been that good/bad, if Don Pendleton had a sense of humour. (Aside: Is/was Pendleton an actual person, or a pseudonym for a rotating stable of writers?)
I read–and enjoyed–a good-sized subset of Robert Adams’s 17- or 18-book Horseclans series. Gotta admit they were pretty bad, though.
I believe you have this backwards: Gerry Conway, “inspired” by the success The Executioner, >ahem< “borrowed” the concept for Spider-Man. I’m sure I saw an interview with Conway where he said that… The Punisher first showed up in Spider-Man #129 which was cover-dated in early '74. I believe the Executioner showed up in '70 or '71.
I read the Spencer books and just burned out on them. Some of 'em (the one where he’s building a cabin while teaching wasshisname…the kid who became the dancer…how to BE A MAN is my favorite by a long shot), but the main annoyance I have with the Spencer books is that Spencer is a “Mary Sue” character. He’s obviously Parker’s ideal, perfect man: women want to be his lovers, men want to be his friend, he’s a gourmet cook, a perfect shot, a (prize-winning?) fighter who knows literature and the arts but still streetwise enought to hang with thugs, that whole silly “I can sleep around but you can’t” relationship with Susan …yes, that can be the mark of a complex character, but to me, the guy is too perfect. No “mary-sue” in Star Trek was ever this perfect.
Somewhere along the line I just got annoyed by Spencer and started to want to hit him (which, of course, he’d deflect perfectly and would either lecture me or would beat the snot out of me, depending on whether I was misguided or evil). Which is a shame, because the other characters in Parker’s books are complex, deep, nuanced and so on. And Parker has compelling plots and his pacing is superb. But Spencer himself just started to grate.
Netbrian: Oops…I just checked: It was 9-year old Prince Dor, who, in the novel Heaven Cent, meets a half-dozen older women who try to sleep with him. He’s uncomfortable with this. The narrator thinks it’s funny.
And apparently, the novel Firefly is simply a defense of pedophiles (note: I have not read this novel! I’ve heard this from a number of sources, but I don’t know this for a fact) wherein a FIVE-year old girl has a sexual relationship with a psychologist or teacher and it’s presented as loving and healthy. Yuk…
Tamerlane: I had exactly the same response to Anthony that you did! It was like someone flipped a switch and I no longer cared. Then a friend gave me four or five later Xanth books that he’d been given…I felt obligated to force my way through…phui!
Naturally, my book collection is the epitome of discernment and good taste. I’ve even called in someone to vet it, so I can prove I don’t have any of the foul literary perversions you people admit to…
Voice offstage: I see you’ve got the Anita Blake series too, though…
Those were bought for research purposes. Yes, that’s the ticket. Research.
VO: And… hmm… I see how come you nominated Modesty Blaise in that “sexiest literary character” thread.
That’s, er, she’s a 60s-era proto-feminist icon, you see…
VO: Unusual staining…
Don’t go there. I’m warning you.
VO: So, you gave up on E. C. Tubb’s “Dumarest of Terra” series on volume… twenty… then?
That wasn’t me. Those were bought by a differently identical Steve Wright of the same name.
VO: Are those hardback editions of Julian May’s “Rampart Worlds” trilogy?
louis lamour one of the few westren writers that included just enouhg fact to the fiction and didnt make the indians the bad guys
also the burglar series by larry block series i got hooked on this i was 10 year old
also i like some of harold robbins and laurence sanders
the one person ive never gotten that is popular years after her death wiht new books is vc andrews i mena every kid is abused physically sexually or mentally my cousin buys every piece of scrap ever written by her
now the series books ie starwars any of the role playing ganme series books il lread if im in the game ie shadowrun battletech ect but ive faded away from those
but one thing i hate about female dective writers like perri o shaunagessy and the woman that writes the kay scarpetta books is their characters never have naything good to them
like i read peris book and in 50 pages she finally gets married and what 40 pages later hes killed?
and the kay scaepetta books my complaint is theres not much mysterty to them its intersting reading but in black notice only maybe 30 pagers delt wiht them ystery and the rest was about the lives of the various people and the capatin she hangs out wiht was such a d— i wanted him dead before the book was half over
but ill read every thing once from romance to history and theres never been a book i didnt finish although i might have taken a year to read it
I love that character, and if she ever kills him off, I think I’ll stop reading her books. Marino rocks!
I nominate Colin Forbes as a terrible author - yet I keep reading his books. The dialogue is so forced, so stilted and so crappy, and the females are so subservient and Enid Blyton-esque. I love to read them, they’re great value!
. He actually was a guilty pleasure of mine at one time - I read quite a few of his books when I was in my teens and early twenties. But somewhere along the line I lost all interest in his stuff - I mean completely. It was like flicking a switch. I don’t think I could force myself to read one of novels at this point. Well, maybe at gunpoint 
: I need help :