Best spies & political thrillers books according to redditors
We found 796 Reddit comments discussing the best spies & political thrillers books. We ranked the 148 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 796 Reddit comments discussing the best spies & political thrillers books. We ranked the 148 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner
From Amazon:
> There are seven billion-plus humans crowding the surface of 21st century Earth. It is an age of intelligent computers, mass-market psychedelic drugs, politics conducted by assassination, scientists who burn incense to appease volcanoes ...all the hysteria of a dangerously overcrowded world, portrayed in a dazzlingly inventive style.
Review by Joe Haldeman:
> A wake-up call to a world slumbering in the opium dream of consumerisum; in the hazy certainty that we humans were in charge of nature. Science fiction is not about predicting the future, it's about elucidating the present and the past. Brunner's 1968 nightmare is crystallizing around us, in ways he could not have foreseen then. If the right people had read this book, and acted in accordance with its precepts and spirit, our world would not be in such precarious shape today. Maybe it's time for a new generation to read it.
You do know these are based on books right?
​
This is most likely season 2
This is most likely season 3
Daemon and its sequel Freedom, by Daniel Suarez
Suarez is one of us.
One of the best series I've read where women are the same as men is the Steerswoman Saga by Rosemary Kirstein. It's a recognizable world, but one in which misogyny seems to just not exist, and is incredibly refreshing to read. (Also: people solving their problems by using intelligence, creativity, and diplomacy instead of with force!)
In more of a science-fiction vein, Hellspark by Janet Kagan has a similar humanist feel to it. The novel thinks a lot about how culture affects communication, and how our language shapes our roles.
Nicola Griffith's Ammonite is sci-fi but takes place on a low-tech world populated only by women. It's kind of cool how quickly this comes to seem normal. Griffith's books are all amazing, but some of her others do deal with sexual violence (though never minimized as scene-setters).
If you're looking for something really dark I'd suggest Harry Connolly's Twenty Palaces series. The first one is Child of Fire. I really enjoyed it and Jim Butcher has also recommend it. Keep in mind there are only 3 books and 1 prequel that Harry self published due to his publisher dropping him.
If you're looking for something stupid and funny I recommend John Dies at the End and it's sequel This Books is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It. I have to admit I'm a bit biased on those though, I won a free signed copy of TBiFoS by participating in an alternate reality game around the time of its release.
Ha! Thanks for creating a subreddit dedicated to my very own series, PF. That's gotta count as a life achievement, right? (Nevermind that the subreddit is empty.) Seriously, though, thanks for the kind words.
I'm a Dresden fan myself but brand new to this subreddit, so looking forward to discussions. (Although, BLASPHEMY, I have yet to read the last 2 books of that series. I'm scared to go too far here for fear of spoilers.) On the flip side, I have a Dresden cooperative card game kickstarter reward coming my way soon, so I can pretend I still belong.
Oh, I'll actually be in an anthology with Jim Butcher releasing later this year too, so that's cool.
About my Black Magic Outlaw series, if anyone's interested: Cisco's a shadow charmer fighting on the streets of Miami. I like to keep things dark and kick my protagonist when he's down. Each novel stands alone as far as having a satisfying story, but the opening story arc was conceived to span 5 books. 4 of those books are out now and the last will be available in about a month, so there's a lot of good story for readers to plow through.
Also, for the first time ever, Book 1 (DEAD MAN) is available for free! (on Amazon and other sites)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B019ROIX8U
I'll keep an eye out for discussion on /r/BlackMagicOutlaw and respond if readers want to interact, but I'm just happy someone thought to create the sub. If anyone wants more info on me, the best first stop is DominoFinn.com. Cheers!
This is an interesting idea, especially for those worldbuilders like myself who have worlds heavily grounded in realism.
I think it’s safe to say that the more “realistic” you make an aspect of your world (“realistic” here meaning closely reflecting how the concept existed in the real world), the more believable it will appear to your readers. However, the more in-depth you create it, the more it will come to resemble your influences, to the point where the two concepts are virtual copies of the other. It’s simpler to copy intricate details than recreate them. This is good in a world based in realism. Details will be ordered and logical, allowing you to accurately model real world conditions. If you accurately want your Roman-inspired army to remain supplied in the field, it’s best to copy Roman military logistics.
Of course, if you want to have every detail of your setting exactly as it appears(ed) in reality (which is technically impossible), you wouldn’t be setting it in a constructed setting. It is then equally important to determine why you are creating a fictional setting in the first place. What makes you want to create a fictional locale? Do you like not being bound by history, and the freedom to create events as you wish? Do you like creating new sciences, technologies, or ideas? Use why you wish to create a fictional world to make your setting unique, not, in your words, a “rip-off.” In other words, copy intricate details from reality (such as the process and reasons for inflation in a bullion-based currency system), but allow yourself to be influenced by multiple influences or periods when creating macro-level concepts (like religions). It is important though to construct these ideas in a manner that the society at large could logically exist. The whole must be greater than the sum of its parts.
This is only one perspective. It is perfectly fine to realistically model all major elements of a society off it’s historical or contemporary counterpart. Guy Gavriel Kay has written a number of successful novels set in historically inspired fantasy settings, like Byzantium in [The Sarantine Mosaic] (http://www.amazon.com/Sailing-Sarantium-Book-Sarantine-Mosaic/dp/045146351X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405480068&sr=8-1&keywords=sarantine+mosaic) or Muslim Spain in [The Lions of al-Rassan] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Lions-al-Rassan-Guy-Gavriel/dp/0060733497/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1405480129&sr=8-5&keywords=guy+gavriel+kay). The settings of both very closely mirror their historical counterpart, yet enough aesthetic aspects are changed to create a feeling of difference, of uniqueness. If a certain period or society truly inspires you, there is nothing inherently wrong with your setting being strongly influenced by it. After all, what constitutes a “unique rendition” of a topic from a “rip-off” is ultimately a matter of personal taste.
Rex Electi is a book she wrote based on a prompt here on reddit. There's also Prompt Me which is a collection of short stories from writing prompts. Here's her author page on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Freedom-TM-Daemon-Book-2-ebook/dp/B002VUFKDY
as well as the original Daemon (http://www.amazon.com/Daemon-Daniel-Suarez-ebook/dp/B003QP4NPE/) Both are great reads.
Shibumi by Trevanian features the Basque region prominently and discusses the linguistics.
The Twenty Palaces series got me through those extra months between Changes and Ghost Story; and seeing as how I found out about the series from Jim's website that ought to say something.
http://www.amazon.com/Child-Fire-Twenty-Palaces-Novel/dp/0345508890/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1318576688&sr=8-4
I have several good recommendations for this one. First I will give you two fiction books you MUST read if this subject is a real interest of yours.
Islands In The Net by: Bruce Sterling
https://www.amazon.com/Islands-Net-Bruce-Sterling-ebook/dp/B00PDDKVXK/
Neuromancer by William Gibson
https://www.amazon.com/Neuromancer-William-Gibson/dp/0441569595
For non-fiction the one book that really did it for me was again by Mr. Sterling it's called The Hacker Crackdown and it is so amazing!!
https://www.amazon.com/Hacker-Crackdown-Disorder-Electronic-Frontier/dp/055356370X
Good luck. PM for more recommendations if you need them. This is a genre I am very interested in myself and have read extensively.
I am a big, big fan of the Twenty Palaces series by Harry Connolly. Pretty highly gritty IMO, but if that's what you like you should be fine. If you like Dresden Files, you may note that the first published book has a pull quote from Jim Butcher right up there on the front.
So then we can have what's in the book Freedom: http://www.amazon.com/Freedom-TM-Daniel-Suarez-ebook/dp/B002VUFKDY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1417827999&sr=8-3&keywords=freedom
not completely military, but Rickard K Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs books are really good reads.
Altered Carbon
Broken Angels
Woken Furies
and there's his non Takeshi book:
Thirteen
Just to inform you and all german redditors:
Amazon DE has your physical copy IN STOCK: https://www.amazon.de/dp/1540338371/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1479481605&sr=8-2&keywords=rex+electi
Kindle Edition: https://www.amazon.de/Rex-Electi-English-W-P-Kimball-ebook/dp/B01N03B1AJ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479481605&sr=8-1&keywords=rex+electi
Your book will be on my wishlist for xmas ;)
Check out the Mitch Rapp series by Vince Flynn, starting with Transfer of Power. It's good fun and Mitch Rapp is a badass. In my mind, he is the American James Bond. Long running series too, so there's plenty of content to keep you busy. Another great author to check out would be David Morrell, in particular, the Mortalis trilogy, though those three are more about assassins than spies, but you can't go wrong with Morrell.
If he likes action movies, he may like the Mitch Rapp series by Vince Flynn. Very quick reads, suspenseful page-turners. The first one is about a hostage situation in the White House, Transfer of Power. It is 426 pages, but it really goes quickly.
(edit: to note- amazon link above says that is Mitch Rapp #3. This was the first one published in this series, and then 2 other books about the younger Rapp came out later. I think Transfer of Power is the better place to start.)
Springing off your preference for Roman history, you should take a look at the first 4 books of The Videssos series starting with The Misplaced Legion, by Harry Turtledove. A pre-Empire Roman legion is transported magically to an alternate world, and find themselves in a world very similar to what we would later call the Byzantine Empire.
Similarly, the Sarantine Mosaic by Guy Gavriel Kay, starting with Sailing to Sarantium takes place in a world similar to the Byzantine Empire.
Broken Angels by Richard Morgan - Set in a future where humans download there minds and transmit them in stead of physically traveling across space due to never being able to break the speed of light with ships. Then download into new sometimes genetically engineered and enhanced bodies. A pilot hires Takeshi Kovacs to help retrieve an ancient alien artifact from the middle of a war zone.
Here's the book I've been talking about. It's Vince Flynn's Transfer of Power, staring his character Mitch Rapp. One of my all time favorite book series.
Wha?
That's how I read them both...
Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:
amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.ca
amazon.com.au
amazon.in
amazon.com.mx
amazon.de
amazon.it
amazon.es
amazon.com.br
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Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.
i liked the idea of the haptic suit in Freedom. I use my phone for everything but having different tones for various events isn't the best way to be alerted. Imagine, your left butt check twitches, there's a thai restaurant near by with a 5 star rating, your right forearm throbs, your cousin has posted another asinine political facebook rant that you can safely ignore, middle of your back itches, there's an open wifi sport nearby...
You should check out our Ancap/libertarian short story anthology but also:
Also check out Withur We (mentioned by another poster), Alongside Night, Minerva by Bob Murphy (yes, that Bob Murphy) and #agora a novel (all on the list linked to above).
Thanks for the questions!
Under the Heel of the Aether Imperium by J.P. Medved ( /u/aducknamedjoe ) is definitely uplifting. My Doubleplusunhate might be, too, a little.
This anthology is more about defiance and fighting hard battles than about feel-good tho if you enjoy winning, there is a lot of that in here.
As to suggesting other scifi that is uplifting, I'm stumped. I frankly found Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead to be uplifting but I know others do not.
I'm not sure why they stopped making libertarian science fiction anthologies. There are definitely people writing libertarian sci-fi tho, like Vernor Vinge, Michael Z. Williamson, Sarah Hoyt and the authors of this anthology.
I was feeling really empowered after I published my first novel, Lando Cruz and the Coup Conspiracy (agorist dystopian thriller) and I was recently connected with some of my fellow authors, so I proposed this idea and the drafts started coming in.
I lost faith a few times but kept on pushing. L. Neil Smith was going to join us but then fell ill. Several stories came in last-minute when I thought we wouldn't have enough to do a proper anthology, and then step by step it has finally happened. We worked on this for about 4-5 months I think.
Thanks again for your questions! -- George Donnelly
It made me think of the sustainability of the global food industry, especially here in the USA. I recently re-read the book Freedom™ by Daniel Suarez, and it raised some interesting concepts about so-called thousand mile supply chains. Excellent read.
EDIT: You're right - she does look PISSED. Plus the German stack of food seems to be way more orderly than anyone else's.
Hi, my book is my take on a modern dystopian in the vein of 1984, only with today's technology those ideas are completely plausible. It's called Stronger than Blood on Amazon.
I've heard about Goodreads during my research on how to market my book but I'll be honest, I don't know much about it. Can you share any insights you may have?
>state of fear
http://www.amazon.com/State-Fear-Michael-Crichton/dp/0066214130
>And I've read L Ron Hubbard.
Global warming alarmism and Scientology are two of main things that I am against.
Luckily there are plenty of groups such as Anonymous that are exposing Scientology.
There's even a subreddit for exposing Scientology:
/r/scientology
I sometimes refer to global warming alarmism activists as "Climate Scientologists".
I quoted from Altered Carbon. There are two other Kovacs novels: Broken Angels and Woken Furies.
https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Angels-Novel-Takeshi-Kovacs/dp/0345457714
https://www.amazon.com/Woken-Furies-Takeshi-Kovacs-Novel/dp/0345499778
My favorite book is Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. It's a wonderful story of a man with not much left to lose, who sets out to write a book and instead finds love in a world of anarchy, unorthodox religion in a world of science, and sense in nonsense. It's a relatively quick read, and one that I hope everyone checks out.
Item if I win!
Here it is on Amazon.de. I'm not sure what issue you are having.
You won't be disappointed.
Also, if you're looking for something a little different, and you're interested in Byzantium, Guy Gavriel Kay's Sarantine Mosaic series is set in a fictionalized version of 6th Century Byzantium, and it is flat-out great.
Code Name Echo is an assassin romance/thriller novel where the main character has poisoned lips and her partner has X-ray vision. She's sent to kill a target but ends up getting drawn into a larger conspiracy that involves a lot of romance, action, and unexpected twists.
Here's a short blurb:
> Eliza has known three things ever since she was a child. One: her partner August will be always there for her. Two: the Executive will retire her if she refuses to assassinate her targets. Three: anyone she kisses on the lips will die.
>Until now.
You can get it as an ebook for $2.99 or in Kindle Unlimited for free. Also, if you're a reviewer and would like a free copy in exchange for a review on Amazon, please send me a PM! Thanks :)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078JNGG34
There is an entire series of sci-fi books that explore the idea of portals and how they could be used in commercial applications (among other things). Great reads.
Starts with "Quicker: Ell Donsaii" by Laurance Dahners.
https://smile.amazon.com/Quicker-Ell-Donsaii-story-1-ebook/dp/B005ORQO7W/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=ell+donsaii+1&qid=1563026543&s=gateway&sr=8-3
The sad truth of it is, there are a lot of stories that are similar in some way to Farscape, but I don't know that any (of any medium) are truly like Farscape.
What aspect of Farscape were you seeking? The character relationships, the human-alone-in-space (or just among strangers) aspect, the lawless band of semi-heroes, the genuine creativity of it (strange aliens and customs), the military aspect, or something else entirely? You'll probably get better results if you can narrow down your request. :)
If you like the variety of races and societies in space, a really wonderful book (and possibly the closest I've found in feel to Farscape) is Hellspark, by the late Janet Kagan. It's incredibly creative and culturally diverse, plus it takes place on a newly-explored planet, so you have all the neat technologies and wildlife that go along with it. It's also full of clever humor and a variety of colorful characters, much like Farscape. There is no military presence, however, or really much physical conflict outside of exploration and discovery, so if that's what you were looking for I'd look elsewhere.
Stand On Zanzibar and The Sheep Look Up are two books I've pushed on countless people, including two English professors. Highly underrated science fiction. And for general creepiness, I still have bad dreams about The Land of Laughs.
These are favorites of mine that I don't expect will make it on other lists:
The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny
Blindsight by Peter Watts
The 1st Chronicles of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson
The 2nd Chronicles of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson
The Culture Saga by Iain M. Banks
The Takeshi Kovacs series by Richard K. Morgan
Try Harry Connolly's "Twenty Palaces" series. I'd suggest starting with Child of Fire and Game of Cages. Neat magic system and world building. Fair warning, the series is incomplete, but I think the existing books work well as is.
The function of money itself is a variable.
What is money? I've heard it as "An agreement within a community to establish a system for the distribution of resources."
Everything about how it works: inflation, interest, scale, who issues it. . . is all arbitrary.
Markets, as they currently function, are set up to drive unsustainable recurring growth. . . and they've shaped global human behavior toward a kind of destructiveness, greed and unchecked ambition that is SINGLE HANDEDLY the source of, I will go so far as to say "most" of the human suffering in the world. But those that benefit from them the most are almost Pavlovianly conditioned to have a hard time seeing this. This is a big problem.
If YOU would like to open your eyes, here's some resources:
Barnard Lietaer was a world class economist (who was one of the architects of the Euro. . .which he warned was going to cause and run into a lot of the same problems as it has, but it had POLITICAL requirements that HAD to be met that had those problems baked in) who focused his work on helping communities reimagine the idea of what currency even is. When you realize it doesn't have to work the way it does, the whole way that markets even work starts to look. . . well downright evil and unnecessary. . . sorry Libertarians.
This book and it's sequel are interesting techno-thriller sci-fi. But the second book imagines a system by which a market economy could be managed by democratized opensource AI to produce MUCH better social outcomes. This kind of a system is MUCH more in reach than people reflexively think. It also takes a look at how one MIGHT use gamification to help people rethink their preconceived notions of how economies MUST work.
And also. . .this is dope!
Child of Fire by Harry J. Connolly
Great book in the Urban Fantasy genre!
Read: The State of Fear - Michael Crichton
I've read something similar by a well known submitter on /r/WritingPrompts.
Here's a link! Your idea seems sufficiently different, just thought i'd show you for inspiration if you need it :) good luck
I wrote a spooky book, if anybody's into horror with lots of tentacles and explosions.
https://www.amazon.com/Sister-Verse-Talons-Ruin-ebook/dp/B07GVT6YDB/
Summary: John, an unstable detective living in an alternate future, is plagued by hallucinations of a malevolent, shapeshifting entity that haunted his childhood. While he struggles to maintain his grip on reality, he soon discovers that his world is a terrifying illusion designed to make him suffer.
The Sister Verse and the Talons of Ruin is the first book in a series of four that explores the realms of Lovecraftian horror, epic fantasy, and science fiction through an action-packed narrative of unrestrained psychedelic violence.
I also have a bunch of free short stories. Here's one about a pilot on a suicide mission to prevent the Earth from being eaten by a giant space monster: https://amelieclanglois.com/tv.html
Indents are not necessary and I've read a lot of novels with no indenting whatsoever. For example Harry Potter: No indents and good enough to sell millions.
http://www2.sdfi.edu.cn/netclass/jiaoan/englit/download/Harry%20Potter%20and%20the%20Sorcerer's%20Stone.pdf
In other writing every paragraph is indented, regardless of dialogue or not, including the first paragraph. For example see the 'look inside' of Tom Sawyer
https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Tom-Sawyer-Biographical-Introduction-ebook/dp/B000FC1C46/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1542811211&sr=8-4&keywords=where+the+red+fern+grows+kindle
Final example/final edit: Dresden files indents every paragraph except the first paragraph of each chapter. Again you can refer to the 'look inside'.
https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Black-Magic-Outlaw-Book-ebook/dp/B019ROIX8U/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1542811463&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=dresden+files&psc=1
Just pick a convention and be consistent.
If you enjoy this story, the first full length novel in its accompanying series launched today on Kindle Unlimited!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RT7P87Z
https://www.amazon.co.jp/Shibumi-Trevanian/dp/0755370236
Have you read Freedom (TM)?
It's a sequel to Daemon, but paints a vision of the world close to yours.
In 1996, Geena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson made a (great!) action movie whose plot was a CIA conspiracy to blow up downtown Niagara Falls during the Christmas parade and blame it on Arabs, in order to get Congress to increase their budget.
On the other hand, in 1998, Bruce Sterling wrote a pretty-good science fiction novel about Islamic terrorists from Mali using drone aircraft to attack a conference center in Galveston, Texas. The remainder of the novel plays out remarkably like the way the War on Terror has gone so far.
>Do you know of books comparable to The Diamond Age by other authors? I really liked that one.
Shockwave Rider by John Brunner's a pre-cyberpunk cyber-punk novel. Slightly dated but a good read.
I don't mind if some sci-fi seems outdated, I tend to read them only as alternative views of the future or technology. Brunner's other dystopian works are like that, but they are still worthy reading.
Well, I could be a wag and say The Meditations, since they were written about 40 years later... ;-)
Actually, I'd recommend Steps to an Ecology of Mind (by Gregory Bateson).
That book blew my mind so wide open in so many ways - this was my introduction to cybernetic thinking, in linguistics, biology, psychology, etc.
For science fiction/fantasy:
Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner. The White Deer, by James Thurber. Lord of Light, by Zelazny, absolutely, and Triton, by Samuel R. Delany.
Gilgamesh, for sure (do yourself a favor and read the narrative verse by Herbert Mason, or the poetic rendering by David Ferry. Way more enjoyable than the academic translations, even the John Gardner version, as much as I hate to say it, because I'm a real fan of his, but the Ferry or Mason versions are simply more fun.)
Gilgamesh is the oldest epic, and it has it all - sex, power, death, brotherhood, gods, humanity. Give it a try.
Rex Electi
I agree with this completely, down to the Sandman Slim rec.
The closest to Dresden I've found is Benedict Jacka's Alex Verus books. Like the Druid series, they're very derivative of Butcher in terms of setup, but they're way better executed than Hearne's books.
I also really liked Harry Connolly's first book, Child of Fire, although the other books in the series don't quite hold up.
Both of the above-mentioned books come with Jim Butcher's cover endorsement, fwiw.
Daemon and it's sequel Freedom by Daniel Suarez would probably be a good recommendation if you like those two books you mentioned in the title.
Ell Donsaii series https://www.amazon.com/Quicker-Ell-Donsaii-story-1-ebook/dp/B005ORQO7W
Emily Kane series https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Fights-Back-Emily-Adventure-ebook/dp/B005CIRTSG
Kurtherian gambit series https://www.amazon.com/Death-Becomes-Kurtherian-Gambit-Book-ebook/dp/B017I3NVP2/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=17MDDIZMZQ4R7&keywords=kurtherian+gambit+series&qid=1554849438&s=gateway&sprefix=kurtherian&sr=8-3
Last Sentinel series by Ivy Asher - (if you’re ok with ‘why choose’ style sex) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42861547-the-lost-and-the-chosen
Most of my books from June 20 were added to the list months ago, but I recently made all the new lists...does that still count? There are 6 that were moved from the main list to the eBooks list.
If it does still count, the book would be this.
My three favorite books right now are:
Great contest, by the way - page-turner :)
This sounds very similar to the plot on Daniel Suarez's book Kill Decision: Link
Which I HIGHLY recommend.
Along with his other books Daemon and Freedom.
They are AMAZING on audible...
A must read: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0066214130/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_thcv_p1_i8
Also read 'A Michael Crichton Timeline'.