Fanfiction-adjacent books?
December 31, 2022 10:52 PM Subscribe
Book recs for the new year! I have recently been enjoying a lot of books that riff on fanfiction tropes or just read like really good fanfiction (I will explain properly below the fold). Can anyone recommend more like these?
Happy New Year, AskMe.
I've really been enjoying books that I consider fanfiction-adjacent. This means that they aren't exactly fanfiction, but read like it. It's hard to explain properly - it's more like a vibe. But some of the things that these books have in common are:
- a laser focus on characterisation and relationship development that is typical of very good fanfiction; while the genres have largely been space opera or fantasy, the focus of the story has very much been character arcs and relationships between characters. I really like that.
- playing with popular fanfiction 'tropes', e.g. 'coffee shop AUs', 'Draco in Leather Pants', hurt/comfort, fake relationships etc.
Examples of books like this are:
Winter's Orbit and Oceans Echo by Everina Maxwell
The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir (loved these)
In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan (although in general I'm not a massive Harry Potter fan so I'm not hugely interested in books that subvert the Harry Potter series, like Lev Grossman, the Simon Snow books by Rainbow Rowell or the Scholomance books by Naomi Novik. But I guess those are good examples too.)
What other books would I like? I am not looking for books that are just fanfiction of other properties, or thinly disguised fanfiction. Nor am I looking specifically or exclusively for fanfiction authors who crossed over into mainstream publishing. Like I said... it's more of a vibe. I like romance, especially queer love stories, but it doesn't have to be romance.
Happy New Year, AskMe.
I've really been enjoying books that I consider fanfiction-adjacent. This means that they aren't exactly fanfiction, but read like it. It's hard to explain properly - it's more like a vibe. But some of the things that these books have in common are:
- a laser focus on characterisation and relationship development that is typical of very good fanfiction; while the genres have largely been space opera or fantasy, the focus of the story has very much been character arcs and relationships between characters. I really like that.
- playing with popular fanfiction 'tropes', e.g. 'coffee shop AUs', 'Draco in Leather Pants', hurt/comfort, fake relationships etc.
Examples of books like this are:
Winter's Orbit and Oceans Echo by Everina Maxwell
The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir (loved these)
In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan (although in general I'm not a massive Harry Potter fan so I'm not hugely interested in books that subvert the Harry Potter series, like Lev Grossman, the Simon Snow books by Rainbow Rowell or the Scholomance books by Naomi Novik. But I guess those are good examples too.)
What other books would I like? I am not looking for books that are just fanfiction of other properties, or thinly disguised fanfiction. Nor am I looking specifically or exclusively for fanfiction authors who crossed over into mainstream publishing. Like I said... it's more of a vibe. I like romance, especially queer love stories, but it doesn't have to be romance.
I read a lot of fanfic and these are some books that I really enjoyed:
A Marvellous Light, by Freya Marske
The Dead Romantics, by Ashley Poston
Slippery Creatures (Will Darling Adventures #1), KJ Charles
White Trash Warlock (Adam Binder #1), David R. Slayton
Goblin Fruit, Celia Lake
Stargazy Pie (Greenwing & Dart #1), Victoria Goddard
posted by mogget at 12:53 AM on January 1, 2023 [5 favorites]
A Marvellous Light, by Freya Marske
The Dead Romantics, by Ashley Poston
Slippery Creatures (Will Darling Adventures #1), KJ Charles
White Trash Warlock (Adam Binder #1), David R. Slayton
Goblin Fruit, Celia Lake
Stargazy Pie (Greenwing & Dart #1), Victoria Goddard
posted by mogget at 12:53 AM on January 1, 2023 [5 favorites]
I read exclusively fanfic these days, but based on what I'm hearing from friends I think the Murderbot book series would be right up your alley.
posted by Nickel at 1:58 AM on January 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Nickel at 1:58 AM on January 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
The Fire's Stone by Tanya Huff
Melissa Scott's Astreiant series
posted by kelper at 2:30 AM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Melissa Scott's Astreiant series
posted by kelper at 2:30 AM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
What a great question! I will be stealing some of these recs for myself. I think you'd like:
Any of the books in the Paladin series by T. Kingfisher — her books are usually straight romance, but read like fic to me, and feature not-very-womanly women protagonists who I think would really appeal to fandom folks.
The Secret Casebooks of Simon Feximal and/or Spectred Isle by KJ Charles. The Magpies books are also wonderful. I've only listed her fantasy books here because those are the ones I've read but I've heard good things about all of her other series, too.
The Tarot Sequence by KD Edwards. Especially great if you are into found family and/or ace/platonic relationships. There is a wonderful romance in the series, but equal footing is given to a queerplatonic relationship the protagonist has (and the way it explores how he negotiates that is wonderful).
Hallucinating Foucault by Patricia Duncker. One of the strangest and most beguiling novels I have ever read. A sort of dark academia novel, before that existed as a genre (though there's no fantasy/supernatural element).
The Vintner's Luck by Elizabeth Knox. A beautiful, lyrical queer story about a man who falls in love with an angel -- from a writing style perspective, this is written more like a historical novel than a fic, but in terms of emotional focus and passion it is SO fic-like.
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao.
The Administration by Manna Francis. Largely D/s erotica, but with an astounding emotional throughline and amazing character development.
(All of what I've listed is queer, aside from the T. Kingfisher books.)
posted by fire, water, earth, air at 3:58 AM on January 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
Any of the books in the Paladin series by T. Kingfisher — her books are usually straight romance, but read like fic to me, and feature not-very-womanly women protagonists who I think would really appeal to fandom folks.
The Secret Casebooks of Simon Feximal and/or Spectred Isle by KJ Charles. The Magpies books are also wonderful. I've only listed her fantasy books here because those are the ones I've read but I've heard good things about all of her other series, too.
The Tarot Sequence by KD Edwards. Especially great if you are into found family and/or ace/platonic relationships. There is a wonderful romance in the series, but equal footing is given to a queerplatonic relationship the protagonist has (and the way it explores how he negotiates that is wonderful).
Hallucinating Foucault by Patricia Duncker. One of the strangest and most beguiling novels I have ever read. A sort of dark academia novel, before that existed as a genre (though there's no fantasy/supernatural element).
The Vintner's Luck by Elizabeth Knox. A beautiful, lyrical queer story about a man who falls in love with an angel -- from a writing style perspective, this is written more like a historical novel than a fic, but in terms of emotional focus and passion it is SO fic-like.
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao.
The Administration by Manna Francis. Largely D/s erotica, but with an astounding emotional throughline and amazing character development.
(All of what I've listed is queer, aside from the T. Kingfisher books.)
posted by fire, water, earth, air at 3:58 AM on January 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
Some books recommended in this question might fit: Books that feel the same as Winter's Orbit, as the asker wanted a "fanfic/tropey feel".
posted by paduasoy at 5:08 AM on January 1, 2023
posted by paduasoy at 5:08 AM on January 1, 2023
For an extremely retro vibe, try Ellen Kushner's ~1990 Swordspoint. I read it long before I had access to any fanfic but when I read fanfic later I recognized this as, more or less, novel-length original fic. It gets spun as a Very Serious Queer Fantasy Classic and while it's influential and the sequels are different, it is all tropes all the time.
I feel like Sarah Monette's books generally give a fanfic vibe, even though they are less structured like fanfic than most of the things people have suggested. Her Kyle Murchison Booth stories are both gloomy and grotesque and have little romance but Booth feels a bit like a sad fanfic character.
The Goblin Emperor has a fic vibe to me although not a lot of fic tropes; you would probably need to read it to read the much ficcier related stories, although I actually read The Grief of Stones without having done more than glance at The Witness for the Dead because it looked sad, honestly, and The Grief of Stones has some sad stuff but not nearly so much. I enjoyed it anyway and will go back and read the first one when the series is complete. There is fanfic of it, actually, including one arc that is so good that I have a bit of trouble separating it from cannon in my head.
In addition to her Astreiant books, Melissa Scott also wrote two magical-detectives novels, A Death In Silver and Death At the Dionysius Club.
As far as the Astreiant books go, they change dramatically over the series, both in terms of the setting and in terms of the queerness - the setting of the first one feels really different from the subsequent ones and the queerness is almost invisible because it was published by a mainstream publisher in the nineties. It's a weird, eerie book, but not especially in line with the rest of the series. The second book, which is really great, bridges the style and approach of the first and the rest of the series; the subsequent ones do a lot more worldbuilding and sometimes lag a little, but as long as you like the world, dallying there a bit is enjoyable.
posted by Frowner at 6:16 AM on January 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
I feel like Sarah Monette's books generally give a fanfic vibe, even though they are less structured like fanfic than most of the things people have suggested. Her Kyle Murchison Booth stories are both gloomy and grotesque and have little romance but Booth feels a bit like a sad fanfic character.
The Goblin Emperor has a fic vibe to me although not a lot of fic tropes; you would probably need to read it to read the much ficcier related stories, although I actually read The Grief of Stones without having done more than glance at The Witness for the Dead because it looked sad, honestly, and The Grief of Stones has some sad stuff but not nearly so much. I enjoyed it anyway and will go back and read the first one when the series is complete. There is fanfic of it, actually, including one arc that is so good that I have a bit of trouble separating it from cannon in my head.
In addition to her Astreiant books, Melissa Scott also wrote two magical-detectives novels, A Death In Silver and Death At the Dionysius Club.
As far as the Astreiant books go, they change dramatically over the series, both in terms of the setting and in terms of the queerness - the setting of the first one feels really different from the subsequent ones and the queerness is almost invisible because it was published by a mainstream publisher in the nineties. It's a weird, eerie book, but not especially in line with the rest of the series. The second book, which is really great, bridges the style and approach of the first and the rest of the series; the subsequent ones do a lot more worldbuilding and sometimes lag a little, but as long as you like the world, dallying there a bit is enjoyable.
posted by Frowner at 6:16 AM on January 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
The Magpie Lord series by K.J. Charles (not necessarily the rest of her work, but possibly; this feels the most like fic to me). It's not fanfic (even with the serial numbers filed off), but it has the same feeling to me. It's about a 19th c. British noble, the supercilious-yet-rough-and-tumble Lucien Vaudrey (now the Earl Crane), who got kicked out of England by his father when he found out his son was queer, was shipped off to Shanghai with a valet, but now has come back due to the magically caused deaths of his father and horrible elder brother. He is assisted in stopping the murderer(s) by magician Stephen Day, a scrappy "justiciar" (magic police, basically), who has a massive chip on his shoulder towards Lucien, but (OOOH SURPRISE) is massively attracted to him anyway. Together they actually are able to synergistically create magic (that kind, too) and oh man, I love these books so much. They have more world building than fanfic might, but I've read some pretty detailed AUs, so. They are romance with plot (Charles' forte). Three novels (so, like, 180,000+ words, enemies-to-lovers, historical AU with magic). Content note: magically-induced suicidal ideation, mentions of sexual assault (past, not MCs).
Danmei recs (so very fanfic-adjacent, but these are both in the process of being professionally published in official translation: Mo Dao Zu Shi (Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation) (the most famous danmei novel to English speakers) and (the better, IMO) Tian Guan Ci Fu (Heaven Official's Blessing). They are both filled with tropes (some familiar from Western media, some specific to xianxia) in a thoughtful way. (They've also both been adapted into many other media, including donghua (animated series), manhua (graphic novel), and (for MDZS) a live action show (The Untamed, on Netflix).) I am very fond of both, and I also really like Qi Ye (Lord Seventh) by Priest (translation by Chichi) because this is not yet available officially) and Golden Terrace (Huang Jin Tai) by Cang Wu Bin Bai (only published in paper, so annoying, glad I already had an ebook translation). Content notes for MDZS and TGCF: lots of mentions of sexual assault, violence, VERY SAD in places.
If you liked the "don't just resolve things by talking to one another" aspect of Winter's Orbit specifically, try Sailor's Delight by Rose Lerner - a very sweet historical about a Jewish Navy agent and a sailing master in the Napoleonic War era Royal Navy, who hang out together in Portsmouth and each think the other doesn't like him. It's sort of fanfic-y of the feeling of boat books in general. There's quite a few others along that lines that are more on boats and less beside boats: try On a Lee Shore by Elin Gregory or False Colors by Alex Beecroft.
Finally, it is in a sense fanfic, but not of a media property: The Raised by Wolves series by W.A. Hoffman. It's fanfic of B.R. Burg's Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition, (an academic work), so yes, it's a gay pirate novel, but it's not descended from the pirate novels of romance (which generally feature completely different types of tropes); it's very earnestly meant historical fiction. But it's SUPER fanfic-y in its constant exploration of every single thought and feeling the main character has. The first couple are some of my favorite books ever, because I love, love, love the idea that pirate society offered a safe (!) place for the expression of queer desires and identities in the 17th c. and set up a parallel system with legally recognized same-sex relationships. I personally would stop after book #2 or maybe #3, but there are four total (they get more and more ridiculous and violent and yeah, not unlike fanfic). Content notes: sexual assault, mental illness, violence.
posted by lysimache at 7:23 AM on January 1, 2023 [3 favorites]
Danmei recs (so very fanfic-adjacent, but these are both in the process of being professionally published in official translation: Mo Dao Zu Shi (Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation) (the most famous danmei novel to English speakers) and (the better, IMO) Tian Guan Ci Fu (Heaven Official's Blessing). They are both filled with tropes (some familiar from Western media, some specific to xianxia) in a thoughtful way. (They've also both been adapted into many other media, including donghua (animated series), manhua (graphic novel), and (for MDZS) a live action show (The Untamed, on Netflix).) I am very fond of both, and I also really like Qi Ye (Lord Seventh) by Priest (translation by Chichi) because this is not yet available officially) and Golden Terrace (Huang Jin Tai) by Cang Wu Bin Bai (only published in paper, so annoying, glad I already had an ebook translation). Content notes for MDZS and TGCF: lots of mentions of sexual assault, violence, VERY SAD in places.
If you liked the "don't just resolve things by talking to one another" aspect of Winter's Orbit specifically, try Sailor's Delight by Rose Lerner - a very sweet historical about a Jewish Navy agent and a sailing master in the Napoleonic War era Royal Navy, who hang out together in Portsmouth and each think the other doesn't like him. It's sort of fanfic-y of the feeling of boat books in general. There's quite a few others along that lines that are more on boats and less beside boats: try On a Lee Shore by Elin Gregory or False Colors by Alex Beecroft.
Finally, it is in a sense fanfic, but not of a media property: The Raised by Wolves series by W.A. Hoffman. It's fanfic of B.R. Burg's Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition, (an academic work), so yes, it's a gay pirate novel, but it's not descended from the pirate novels of romance (which generally feature completely different types of tropes); it's very earnestly meant historical fiction. But it's SUPER fanfic-y in its constant exploration of every single thought and feeling the main character has. The first couple are some of my favorite books ever, because I love, love, love the idea that pirate society offered a safe (!) place for the expression of queer desires and identities in the 17th c. and set up a parallel system with legally recognized same-sex relationships. I personally would stop after book #2 or maybe #3, but there are four total (they get more and more ridiculous and violent and yeah, not unlike fanfic). Content notes: sexual assault, mental illness, violence.
posted by lysimache at 7:23 AM on January 1, 2023 [3 favorites]
A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland is romantic, queer, and fanfic-y.
posted by merriment at 8:43 AM on January 1, 2023
posted by merriment at 8:43 AM on January 1, 2023
One of my dearest friends had her first book published last year and it's right up your alley: Notorious Sorcerer, by Davinia Evans. My friend is a longtime fic writer and brought that sensibility to this story.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 9:12 AM on January 1, 2023
posted by gentlyepigrams at 9:12 AM on January 1, 2023
The Green Bone Trilogy (Jade City, Jade War, and Jade Legacy) by Fonda Lee has such interesting characters. Set in an alternative kind of Hong Kong setting, jade gives some people essentially super powers, so there's an ongoing struggle between mafia families about who controls it. The story is all about one of those families and the relations between them.
Another danmei by the same author as MDZS and TGCF is Scum Villain's Self Saving System - it is about a webnovel reader who dies and wakes up as the villain the mediocre webnovel he was just reading, so he spends the books urgently trying to avoid being murdered by the virile hero. The main character is very aware of tropes and highly offended by the bad writing that he's now living through. It's more self-aware and humorous than the other two stories, but enjoyable for that.
Recently, I read the book Fault Lines by Emily Itami, which, while the topic (dissatisfied Tokyo housewife has affair) is not usually my jam, the character work and dryness of her observations is so enjoyable.
And lastly, if you would read fanfic tagged with "Dead Dove Do Not Eat", then you might find Docile by K.M. Szpara interesting. It's a dystopian story about a world where debt is inherited and the what people do to pay off that debt. Big content warning though: it really means the tag line "There is no consent under capitalism."
posted by past unusual at 9:54 AM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Another danmei by the same author as MDZS and TGCF is Scum Villain's Self Saving System - it is about a webnovel reader who dies and wakes up as the villain the mediocre webnovel he was just reading, so he spends the books urgently trying to avoid being murdered by the virile hero. The main character is very aware of tropes and highly offended by the bad writing that he's now living through. It's more self-aware and humorous than the other two stories, but enjoyable for that.
Recently, I read the book Fault Lines by Emily Itami, which, while the topic (dissatisfied Tokyo housewife has affair) is not usually my jam, the character work and dryness of her observations is so enjoyable.
And lastly, if you would read fanfic tagged with "Dead Dove Do Not Eat", then you might find Docile by K.M. Szpara interesting. It's a dystopian story about a world where debt is inherited and the what people do to pay off that debt. Big content warning though: it really means the tag line "There is no consent under capitalism."
posted by past unusual at 9:54 AM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
If you are open to something that plays with BDSM themes, some fantasy violence, and contains explicit sex, CS Pacat's Captive Prince trilogy gave me exactly the same reader high as really amazing fancfic does and has many of the same tropes and themes. I like to describe it as "Author sets out to tell a smutty story about a captive prince in the court of his enemy that was supposed to be like 50 pages tops and then the plot got very, very away from her." Starts out like pure erotica, ends as a hyper-romantic character-focused political epic.
posted by WidgetAlley at 10:00 AM on January 1, 2023
posted by WidgetAlley at 10:00 AM on January 1, 2023
Mine are a bite more romance-focused and kind of high on the cheesy tropes:
Love, Comment, Subscribe by Cathy Yardley hits the childhood enemies to lovers trope of two professional YouTubers. There's two other books in the series if you like the secondary characters/circle of friends.
The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary hits the two characters thrown together by circumstance and don't meet/keep missing each other trope. I really like these two characters.
Rainbow Rowell's books definitely qualify. Fangirl is about sisters who grew up as BNFs for a popular book series (Simon Snow) and how they transition into college life/start to grow up out of their fannish identities. Her Simon Snow series (3 books) is kind of a take on the Harry Potter/magic world but as OCs and came out of/after Fangirl. It's pretty YA but an enjoyable enemies to lovers story about two young guys. Attachments is my favorite Rowell book but I don't see talked about anywhere and assume it isn't so popular. It's set around Y2K with 20-ish office workers. It's a bit of a nostalgic era for me, but you get the whole two people falling in love with each other without meeting trope.
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots is not a romance, but it's an interesting premise I would expect to see written in fanfic. In a world with Superheroes, the main character has a very specific ability so hires herself out as a henchman through an employment agency. She starts to question good vs evil and was interesting to read before I watched The Boys TV show (not related, I don't think, but touches on some of the same issues you might expect in a world with Super-able people).
posted by Bunglegirl at 11:36 AM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Love, Comment, Subscribe by Cathy Yardley hits the childhood enemies to lovers trope of two professional YouTubers. There's two other books in the series if you like the secondary characters/circle of friends.
The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary hits the two characters thrown together by circumstance and don't meet/keep missing each other trope. I really like these two characters.
Rainbow Rowell's books definitely qualify. Fangirl is about sisters who grew up as BNFs for a popular book series (Simon Snow) and how they transition into college life/start to grow up out of their fannish identities. Her Simon Snow series (3 books) is kind of a take on the Harry Potter/magic world but as OCs and came out of/after Fangirl. It's pretty YA but an enjoyable enemies to lovers story about two young guys. Attachments is my favorite Rowell book but I don't see talked about anywhere and assume it isn't so popular. It's set around Y2K with 20-ish office workers. It's a bit of a nostalgic era for me, but you get the whole two people falling in love with each other without meeting trope.
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots is not a romance, but it's an interesting premise I would expect to see written in fanfic. In a world with Superheroes, the main character has a very specific ability so hires herself out as a henchman through an employment agency. She starts to question good vs evil and was interesting to read before I watched The Boys TV show (not related, I don't think, but touches on some of the same issues you might expect in a world with Super-able people).
posted by Bunglegirl at 11:36 AM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Any of the books by Annette Marie. In particular The Guild Codex serieses.
posted by gible at 3:33 PM on January 1, 2023
posted by gible at 3:33 PM on January 1, 2023
I don’t understand the assignment here, although I have enjoyed a lot of the books that have been mentioned—but I just finished Notorious Sorcerer and enjoyed it a lot. The world was interesting, the writing was engaging, and the characters made choices but they weren’t stupid choices.
posted by leahwrenn at 3:42 PM on January 1, 2023
posted by leahwrenn at 3:42 PM on January 1, 2023
I have a friend who also loves this vibe; she seconds A Taste of Gold and Iron and adds Legends and Lattes (an orc opens a cafe; basically a coffee shop AU for DnD in general).
The Devotion of Delflenor is a fantasy romance about a couple of knights (both women); there's a quest plotline but the story is really about their relationship and also (mostly, really) about the internal processing one of them needs to do.
Someone recommended another Victoria Goddard book above, which I haven't read, but I think The Hands of the Emperor definitely qualifies--lots of friendship and people working on healing misunderstandings.
Have you read any Becky Chambers? I feel like most of her books have this kind of vibe.
posted by cheesegrater at 3:55 PM on January 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
The Devotion of Delflenor is a fantasy romance about a couple of knights (both women); there's a quest plotline but the story is really about their relationship and also (mostly, really) about the internal processing one of them needs to do.
Someone recommended another Victoria Goddard book above, which I haven't read, but I think The Hands of the Emperor definitely qualifies--lots of friendship and people working on healing misunderstandings.
Have you read any Becky Chambers? I feel like most of her books have this kind of vibe.
posted by cheesegrater at 3:55 PM on January 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
Besides Katherine Addison's The Goblin Emperor and related (which I nth the rec for), also her Angel of the Crows which started as Sherlock meets wingfic, and goes some very interesting places, especially in terms of the worldbuilding and character implications. (More fun if you know at least a bit of the Holmes opus, but not at all necessary.)
In terms of tropes, Olivia Dade's Spoiler Alert and following are romances involving actors in a series sorta vaguely if you gesture in the right direction based on the Aeneid, with a bunch of fanfic writing, convention shenanigans, and related goodness, done by someone who clearly loves the places those are coming from. (I haven't read the third one yet, I'm looking forward to it.) I find they lean into the internal narrative in a way that feels very like the best fanfic.
Susanna Allen's Regency shapeshifter romances also hit some of this spot for me. (A Wolf in Duke's Clothing is the first one, and she does some really interesting things with the shifter part of the Regency aspects.)
posted by jenettsilver at 6:48 PM on January 1, 2023
In terms of tropes, Olivia Dade's Spoiler Alert and following are romances involving actors in a series sorta vaguely if you gesture in the right direction based on the Aeneid, with a bunch of fanfic writing, convention shenanigans, and related goodness, done by someone who clearly loves the places those are coming from. (I haven't read the third one yet, I'm looking forward to it.) I find they lean into the internal narrative in a way that feels very like the best fanfic.
Susanna Allen's Regency shapeshifter romances also hit some of this spot for me. (A Wolf in Duke's Clothing is the first one, and she does some really interesting things with the shifter part of the Regency aspects.)
posted by jenettsilver at 6:48 PM on January 1, 2023
This sounds like a job for Temeraire!
posted by sixswitch at 7:26 PM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by sixswitch at 7:26 PM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Redshirts by J. Scalzi is a great take on a major sci fi series and it’s tropes.
posted by nickggully at 8:38 PM on January 1, 2023
posted by nickggully at 8:38 PM on January 1, 2023
Just in case they books are too old to have appeared in your radar, the Miles Vorkosigan series by Lois Mcmaster Bujold began as sort of a Star Trek AU, but with Space Russians (who are more like Space Russian Officers from the Napoleonic Campaigns) instead of Klingons.
Most of the books are more or less straight space opera with plenty of character development, but some of the heights of the series are Memory (where Miles has to stop being a dashing space hero and reinvent himself) and A Civil Campaign, which is a Regency romance with bio-engineered food-pooping cockroaches.
posted by sukeban at 12:02 AM on January 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
Most of the books are more or less straight space opera with plenty of character development, but some of the heights of the series are Memory (where Miles has to stop being a dashing space hero and reinvent himself) and A Civil Campaign, which is a Regency romance with bio-engineered food-pooping cockroaches.
posted by sukeban at 12:02 AM on January 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
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"When tech scavenger Xích Si is captured and imprisoned by the infamous pirates of the Red Banner, she expects to be tortured or killed. Instead, their leader, Rice Fish, makes Xích Si an utterly incredible proposition: an offer of marriage.
Both have their reasons for this arrangement: Xích Si needs protection; Rice Fish, a sentient spaceship, needs a technical expert to investigate the death of her first wife, the Red Scholar. That’s all there is to it.
But as the interstellar war against piracy rages on and their own investigation reaches a dire conclusion, the two of them discover that their arrangement has evolved into something much less business-focused and more personal...and tender. And maybe the best thing that’s ever happened to either of them—but only if they can find a way to survive together.
A rich space opera and an intensely soft romance, from an exceptional SF author."
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 12:22 AM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]