Spock's Pickled Brain

1. A Princess of Mars (Edgar Rice Burroughs) Former Confederate cavalryman John Carter goes out in search of gold in Arizona, but instead finds something far stranger. While fleeing from an attack from the Apache, Carter stumbles into an ancient cave and is transported to the planet Mars. Adopted by war-like green Martians, Carter eventually gains great rank due to his warrior skills and unnatural strength. But as tribal politics escalate and he befriends a red Martian princess, Carter's feats of survival find new purpose on the face of this strange landscape. There might be some quibbling on this point but to me this is one of the oldest examples of space opera, a series that has warriors, empires, intrigues, and exotic backdrop of an alien world. Edgar Rice Burroughs is more well-known for his creation of the Tarzan series, but his stories from Barsoom are a scifi staple. Burroughs was purposefully emulating the pulp adventure serials of his time, but ended up making the styl...

1. Alas, Babylon (Pat Frank) I'm a fan of this book for two main reasons. One is that is portrays an apocalypse scenario in my home state, so it makes it that much more realistic to me. And two is that for a nuclear apocalypse it has enough family and community supporting these characters that it's not a depressing read. This book follows Randy Bragg, a man of leisure living among the citrus groves and pastureland of central Florida of the 1950s. When his brother sends a coded message signaling that nuclear war is near, Bragg becomes the rally point for extended family and his neighbors. Escaping the immediate destruction from nuclear blasts, he and his community must band together against the rising tide of after effects, including everything from fallout, loss of infrastructure, disease, and bandits. Bucking the lone wolf trend of a lot of post-apocalypse fiction, this books relies on the characters working together. It also has some commentary of the uselessness of tra...

Time for some more urban fantasy books, huzzah! 1. American Gods (Neil Gaiman) If you write an urban fantasy book list without including any Neil Gaiman, have you really written an urban fantasy list? Well, yeah, sure, but it's way harder not to include any Gaiman. Gritty urban noir with a side of magic and mayhem is kind of his main wheelhouse. Of the Gaiman works I've read (a smattering, though certainly not all of them), my favorite remains American Gods . It is perhaps the best story about gods being diminished through loss of faith or rebellion that I have read/seen (and I've read/seen a lot, it's one of my favorite themes, from Wrath of the Titans and Percy Jackson to Scar Night and His Dark Materials ). In the story, recent widower Shadow ends up working for a modern version of Odin as a war between the old gods (including Odin and his friends Anansi, Thoth, etc) and the new god-like representations of pop culture, the internet, and globalization. As a k...

Switching gears a bit! Let's dive into the varied genre of urban fantasy. There are lots of flavors, but here are four great books living on that edge between everyday life and suddenly magic: 1. Dresden Files (Jim Butcher) If you were to page through Chicago’s phonebook, there’s only one name listed as a professional wizard. And while Harry Dresden might not do parties or love potions, he does take on investigations of supernatural sort. One-part magic-user and one-part detective, Dresden barely scrapes out a living. Between his talents and his wits he routinely gets in way over his head with vampires, werewolves, Fae, and all sorts of dangerous beings. Starting off with a bang in Storm Front , the prolific Dresden Files has its main character evolve and explore ever-widening story arcs, never getting stuck in a rut. Throughout the books Dresden gains and loses friends and enemies alike, and the relationships between recurring characters change considerably. And unlike a lo...

Okay, I know I said these were my favorite comics (superhero comics only right now), but there are just so many. So although this is longer list than usual, I want you to know that I cut a lot of works already (RIP Martian Manhunter). So these are some of my favorites, but by no means is it comprehensive. DC Batman: Under the Red Hood (Judd Winnick ) Okay, we might as well start off with a bang here. This book was one of the very first comics I read, and it was the reason that I continued being interested in comics (even though some of the other comics I read around that time were less than stellar). If you're looking for an entry point into the Batman mythos, this is an excellent story. The Long Halloween has more of the noir style, The Killing Joke explores the Batman/Joker dynamic better, but Under the Red Hood is a glorious combination of action, mystery, and gut-wrenching trauma that haunts the core of the Batman character. Batwoman (J. H. Williams III and ...

Ex-Heroes (Peter Clines) Zombies and superheroes, a match made in heaven? Before I read this book I would have said no, that's just too much genre-obsession to fit in one story. And yet, this book (and it's sequels, which have remained incredibly good) manages to combine the two heavy-hitting pop culture tropes in a fast-paced, hard-hitting story that manages to combine zombies and superheroes seamlessly in a remarkably realistic post-apocalyptic world. The first book starts up about a year after the zombie infection turns most of the world into shambling monsters. We join our heroes (our SUPERheroes!) in one of the last human holdouts in Los Angeles, and follow them as they try to deal with dwindling supplies, social unrest within their survivor's haven, a rival group of survivors, and a mysterious new threat emerging from the undead of the city. Still sounds like too much stuff, right? But seriously, I can't recommend this series enough. The writing is quick, w...

Starbat's Favorite High Fantasy Books (that aren't Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones ) Not that we don't love those. But when you're done... Note: This is not an extensive list of the best fantasy books, or even necessarily of my favorite fantasy books. But it is an awesome group of books, and it's the list that come to mind when I think of "high fantasy." The Obsidian Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory This is a classic high fantasy trilogy, rife with magic, elves, demons, and more magic. However, it manages to break out of the Lord of the Rings knock-off bin by including a likeable and distinct protagonist with realistic (and some fantastical) character growth and beautifully detailed worldbuilding (although Lackey can get bogged down in the little details, it works in these books). Also there are elven knights who ride unicorns, where the elves are super stoic, but the unicorns are super sassy, which is just the best. ...