credit: tomertu
Fantasy
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline Crown Books, Random House New York: 2011. A magical mystery tour to the year 2044. The world has been devastated by dire economic conditions, and much of daily life is spent within the virtual reality of OASIS. The late creator of this world, James Halliday, has designed the ultimate game challenge within OASIS in which a series of puzzles will unlock an inevitable prize of a massive fortune. High schooler Wayne Watts spends most of his real-life existence logged in as an avatar on OASIS. As he begins to unlock Halliday's puzzles, powerful forces also seeking the fortune will conspire against him. This novel is a wondrous possessing read which will appeal to gamers and a broad spectrum of fantasy readers. The author is a spoken-word artist and a screenwriter whose 2009 Fanboys was a cult hit. His web site is ernestcline.com.
Angel Fire East by Terry Brooks. There is an ongoing war between the Word and the Void. The Void, whose agents are Demons and other evil characters, have sworn to destroy the world. The Knights of the Word fight the demons, fending off worldly destruction. In this novel, John Ross, a Knight of the Word, is suspected of temporarily possessing a gypsy morph, which has magical powers that could be used by both the Knights and the Void. In an effort to find the gypsy morph, an evil demon, Findo Gask, seeks out Ross in the home town of another knight Nest Freemark. In unseen battles, the Knights and the Demons wage a war over the destiny of the world. Wonderous and intriguing, the novel is set within a New England Christmas backdrop. A page-turner by the author of Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace based on George Lucas' screenplay.
Vurt by Jeff Noon. MacMillan: 1993. This is the first book by Jeff Noon-all three are crazy and mesmerizing. Noon is interviewed on the British literary cyberzine, Spike. The Manchester based author and musician writes about a "future" Manchester where mammals have inbreeded amongst themselves and the dead. Life exists between two kingdoms-this world and "Vurt" which was originally created by the imagination of humans. Trips to Vurt are via "feathers", which come in different varieties and create varied experiences.The plot in Vurt is about a brother who loses his sister to Vurt-and tries to bring her back into this world.
Pollen by Jeff Noon. Pan MacMillan:1995. My favorite Jeff Noon fantasy novel, in which Persephone comes back from Vurt in order to breed the plant kingdom with the mammal world. A lot of coughing(..) in Manchester,when Persephone's appearance raises the pollen count. Totally bizarre-with psychedelic overtones-as in all of Noon's books.
Automated Alice In Jeff Noons latest novel, which is a stylistic departure from the latter two, Alice goes to an automated version of Wonderland. The social humour is hilarious in the third of Noon's books. First published 1996. Now available on Scribd.com.