I’m stressed out and have just arranged for a week long staycation. I’m hoping to do very little of value during this time. I’m seeking fun, escapist movies, TV, books, video games - anything that pulls me out of reality.
Bonus points if any of these things involve smoking hot men.
Examples may include:
Supernatural - the far-fetched adventures of a smoking hot man and his whiny brother
The Sims/Sim City - light timewasters that won’t break my brain
Romance novels that don’t suck. Good luck there.
Whatever else comes to mind. I’ve considered Sons of Anarchy or something like True Blood. Let me know if those are any good.
Violence is great, I love well choreographed fights, though nothing too realistic. I love Daredevil, for example, but it’s too much of a downer for these purposes.
Strong female characters a must. Preferably hooking up with smoking hot men.
Alex Marshall’s book A Crown for Cold Silver may be exactly what you’re looking for. Plenty of violence, kickass lead characters include several women (including a trans woman at least in the sequel), raunchy, hilarious times. After the 2016 election when I was feeling pretty shitty about the world, this series was my escapism.
Well, I assume you have seen the TV show Supernatural. Was that your example or the genre you were looking for? If you just have awhile, I’d skip to the second season on Netflix and watch. Lots of fun.
Harry Harrison’s Deathworld trilogy or any of his Stainless Steel Rat books. They’re great fun and move at a fast pace. And you always know who’s gonna come out on top without knowing quite how.
An example of a show I liked that would qualify if I hadn’t seen it. The seriousness is always subverted by the shameless and hilarious fourth-wall breaking so it never gets too heavy.
The Dresden Files (Jim Butcher) would seem to meet most of your requirements. Plus there are plenty of books in the series to keep you occupied for a week.
Features the far-fetched adventures of a kind of normal looking man and his whiny, smoking hot brother (need to get a few book into the series for the brother to show up.
Have you seen the movie 300? There are at least 300 shirtless smoking hot men in this film, maybe even more. There’s action. And even some strong ladies.
How about Hercules: The Legendary Journeys or the Beastmaster series? I don’t know for sure if the male stars would count as “smoking hot” (not being exactly my thing) but the shows are fun enough mindless fluff. Or Dark Angel. Mainly about Jessica Alba, but it has Tony DiNozzo, too. How about the Highlander series?
True Blood isn’t bad. You might want to try the quite different source novels, too–they are short, you could knock out the whole series in a week.
Furies Series, by Jim Butcher. Epic Fantasy, with some romance. Books. I love.
Dresden Files, same author. Fair warning, these get dark. The guy can’t catch a break. They’re inspired by the “noir” detective novels.
Kate Daniels novels by Ilona Andrews. Urban Fantasy with romantic elements. Frickin’ awesome. (Any of the Andrews’ series are good for that matter.)
Mercedes Thompson and Alpha and Omega series by Patricia Briggs. Urban Fantasy with romantic elements. Also frickin’ awesome.
Anything by Nalini Singh. All are romances, some paranormal, some urban fantasy. The “Rock” series is modern with a lot more sex.
I may read a lot. If you give me an idea of what you like, I’ll throw some more at you.
TV series: Killjoys, Winona Earp, Black Matter, Dresden Files TV show (if you missed it). Limitless tv show and movie.
Yeah, but Harry’s a consummate smartass all the freaking time so it’s never unbearable. And as for some of your other requirements, Spice Weasel, the Dresden Files has almost nothing in the way of female supporting characters BUT ones that are kickass and, often, not someone you want to get cute with in a dark alley.
The best superhero video game ever made, in my estimation- just kick back and wallop aliens, very little thinking required. It’s been my go-to mindless stress reliever/escapist fantasy for a while now.
Word of warning about The Dresden Files- it takes a couple books to get good. I’d say maybe #3, Death Masks, is where it starts to take off (plus there’s a Highly Future-Plot-Significant Party), and by #4, Summer Knight, it’s gotten there. Don’t want you to just pick the first book, say “huh, don’t see the appeal”, and stop reading there.
So yeah, thirding Dresden Files. And seconding the Kate Daniels books and the Mercy Thompson books.