book recs wanted

[kindkit]

I'm planning to pre-order China Miéville's Kraken, which comes out June 29 (OMG IT'S ABOUT SQUID-WORSHIPPING CULTISTS I CAN'T WAIT!!!). If I increase my order by about $7.50, I get free shipping. (Yes, I am buying from Amazon. Yes, I know Amazon is fail in various ways. I also know that Amazon has cheap books and I have very little money.)

Anyway, the trouble is, I can't decide on another book to buy. So I turn to you. Please rec me one book that you think is not just worth reading, but worth owning, and that's available in paperback. A sentence or two about why you think it's wonderful would be helpful.

I tend to prefer genre fiction (science fiction, fantasy, mystery, comics) to mainstream fiction. I also really like queer-positive books, especially ones with gay men as major characters. However, all suggestions are welcome.

Comments

[ellen_fremedon]

It's two books, technically, but they're in print in one omnibus volume: The Steerswoman's Road, comprising The Steerswoman and The Outskirter's Secret, by Rosemary Kirstein. This is an SF series that starts out looking like fantasy, and has some of the best worldbuilding I've ever read. They're basically science fiction about science, or maybe about epistemology; they lead you into perfectly logical deductions that are sometimes right, and sometimes proved dizzyingly wrong when new facts arise; and they feature two smart, competent women who have a great partnership and friendship.

(They're also the start of a series that's still ongoing-- it has a definite endpoint, but Kirstein writes very slowly, so it may be a while before we reach it-- but the book-length arcs are good and each volume ends in a satisfactory place. And while the fourth book is in print, the third book isn't, though it's widely available secondhand through the major online sellers. But don't let any of that deter you-- Kirstein is writing some of the best science fiction I've ever read, full stop.)

[kindkit]

They sound fascinating, thanks! The omnibus volume is a bit more than I can spend right now, even in paperback, but I'll keep it in mind for the future when I'm not so broke.

[biichan]

Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner is what immediately springs to mind when it comes to good genre fiction with queer men, but I suspect you've probably read it.

[biichan]

Oh hey, I know! Bridge of Birds by Bary Hughart is awesome. The author subtitled it as "A Novel Of Ancient China That Never Was" and that's basically what it is, a sort of magical realism fantasy novel set around 600 BC. There's no real queer content, sadly--well, not in this one, although in the sequel The Story Of The Stone there's this guy named Moon Boy who is basically Ancient China's answer to Jack Harkness--but there is plenty of AWESOMENESS to make up for it.

I'm not even sure how to start describing it, but basically there's this young man named Number Ten Ox (well, it's actually a nickname because his real name is that of a famous dude) and the children of his village all fall victim to this weird sickness and he's sent to the capital find a sage to help cure them and the only one he can find within his budget is this wily old reprobate named Master Li who is both brilliant and batshit insane. And the two of them have all these hilarious and awesome adventures together while working to save Ox's village. And I am overusing the word awesome, but it really, really is.

http://www.amazon.com/Bridge-Birds-Novel-Ancient-China/dp/0345321383

[kindkit]

That sounds very cool. Thanks!

[kindkit]

Oh yeah. Read it, own it.

[soupytwist]

The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex, because is has a kickass bi-racial heroine who is entirely believable, and an alien called J Lo, and comics, and it is hysterically funny and charming and sweet while also being an astonishingly well-done discussion of colonialism. It's AMAZING.

[kindkit]

Sounds intriguing--thanks!