I’m thinking mostly of stuff like China Mieville’s Bas-Lag books (Perdido Street Station, The Scar, Iron Council) where he has tons of different races, creative worldbuilding and strange monsters like interdimensional beat poet spiders, trees that eat people then produce fruits that contain the victim’s dreams, and weird concepts like the Torque which is like radiation gone cosmic horror.
Other books that have scratched this itch:
– Embassytown by China Mieville
– The Fisherman by John Langan
– There is No Antimemetics Division by QNTM
– Blindsight by Peter Watts
– House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski
– Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
A couple of things I’d like to avoid:
– Ironic, Whedon-esque writing which undermines the concept. If you’re describing a really weird thing commit to it, don’t have annoying characters parroting “what is this? Some kind of Suicide Squad?” style quips.
– Lazy worldbuilding/creatures. Talking animals that are actually gods (looking at you Library at Mount Char) isn’t interesting
Some books that sort of fit my request that I didn’t like:
– Piranesi (it was *okay* but I found it far too neat and tidy)
– The Library at Mount Char (ironic quips and talking animals!)
– Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman (utterly awful writing)
– Neil Gaiman (on paper I should like him and I just find his books smug and dull)
Apologies for a very specific request but any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!
by ifthisisausername