I’m constantly on the hunt for good fictional novels that cover these subjects and was hoping someone could give me some recommendations (as they are hard-to-find).
Although some subjects are based on a fantasy premise, I prefer books that provide logical and factual background as much as possible. In other words, the characters act as you would expect them to act, logically and emotionally, and it is obvious that the author did research on subjects covered. I hate pure fantasy.
So any recommendations? Looking for anything on Time Travel (into the past and/or attempts to alter it), Street Gangs, Prison life, Hell (“Inferno” is a good example), Black Magic (spiritual warfare), or what it would be like to gain a superhuman power (such as invisiblity, super-strength, etc.)
Meant to say that time travel factors into all the books one way or another. Prison life (at least in the 18th Century or so) is covered fairly well in the 3rd book.
So, let’s see … you want a book where spandex-wearing superheroes are imprisoned in hell for the crime of travelling to 1492 to try and stop Columbus, and while they’re locked up they form gangs that cast spells?
Anywho, some recommendations.
For Time Travel, check out 1632 by Eric Flint, and the short story collection Why I left Harry’s All Night Hamburgers by Lawrence Watt-Evans.
If you want to mix magic in, look at The Misplaced Legion tetraology by Harry Turtledove. He’s also got a whackload of alternate history novels, some better than others…
For Hell, there was a compilation of short stories that came out in the 80s called “Heroes in Hell”, written by a slew of sci-fi and fantasy authors. The basic premise was that just about everyone who ever lived is resurrected in hell, and keeps getting resurrected. And they fight a lot of wars. Julius Caesar, Wellington, Napoleon, Genghis Khan, MacArthur all lead armies that are basically out fighting for their own survival. You’ll have your best luck in second-hand stores…
For non-fiction on street gangs, check out Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun by Geoffrey Canada-- it’s his bio about growing up in Harlem.
“Shank” by Roderick Anscombe - Innocent guy goes to prison and escapes.
“Inferno” by Larry Niven & James Pournelle - Guy dies and goes to Hell that is based on Dante’s Inferno, and tries to escape.
“Memoirs of an Invisible Man” by Harry F. Saint - Guy turns invisible and is hunted by the government (much better than the movie with Chevy Chase).
“Timeline” by Michael Crichton - Group of scientists get stuck in the Middle Ages (much better than the movie)
“Black Monday” (I believe that’s the name, don’t remember the author) - about a saintly guy’s attempt to keep demons from invading earth. Wish I could remember the author so I could track down the sequel.
And then, back in the 90’s, Marvel came out with a comic book about a normal guy who acquires Superman-like powers (flight, super-strength, etc.). What made this different from other comics is that he acted like I might have acted had I suddenly acquired superpowers. For example, he didn’t automatically don a costume, he kept quiet about it, he experimented (and made mistakes), he didn’t encounter outlandish supervillains, etc. Wish I could remember the name of the comic. It was a great premise. All I can remember about the hero was that he was a working class guy with long blond hair, had a girlfriend, had a motorcycle, kind of a loner, but good guy type, normal.
That was “Star Brand,” one of Marvel’s New Universe titles. Lasted about 18 months and went to shite pretty quickly, along with much of the rest of the NU.
“Kindred” by Octavia Butler. A black woman slips through a hole in time to find herself a slave in antebellum America. The only “fantasy” about this book is the premise that there could be a time hole - the rest is about as factual as you can get, given the context.
I liked 1632 as well, and even better you can read the whole thing online at www.baen.com. I wouldn’t say it’s the best-written book out there, but it’s definitely interesting.
One comment on “Outlander” - I don’t know what Certainly If You Please’s tastes are, but for me, Outlander was more or less a soap opera romance meets time travel. I would have very much liked the book if the author had ditched the love story and just gone with the basic premise. As it is, I disliked it immensely.
Try “Anubis Gates” which features time travel, body-switching, magic and immortality.
Or “On Stranger Tides” which has some crazy swashbuckling pirate voodoo magic stuff going on
You will love him, I swear. He is merciless with his characters, pulls no punches, and ties everything up into a supernatural storyline. He also usually bases many of the events in his stories on actual historical events. He is one of my favorite authors.
