Michael Marshall Smith.
Spares is outstanding.
New Model Army by Adam Roberts is worth checking out too.
( stuj (^(^;;^)^) GO TEAM SPIDERS!(^(^;;^)^), Mon 9 Jan 2012, 11:50, 3 replies)

Thanks. Haven't heard of them, so keep the tips coming.

(IHateSprouts is baking a huge pie shaped like an enormous pie, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 11:51, closed)

Oh, I should mention that I tried and failed to get into Iain M Banks.
I don't doubt that he's a brilliant writer, but I picked up a couple of "Culture" novels and couldn't get into them enough to finish them. Just too fantastical for me to imagine and connect with, I think.
(IHateSprouts is baking a huge pie shaped like an enormous pie, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 11:56, closed)

I like his 'normal' fiction, never been able to get into his Sci-Fi stuff though.

( stuj (^(^;;^)^) GO TEAM SPIDERS!(^(^;;^)^), Mon 9 Jan 2012, 12:02, closed)

I keep meaning to check out his other books, can you recommend any in particular?

(IHateSprouts is baking a huge pie shaped like an enormous pie, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 12:06, closed)

Whit is probably my favourite, closely followed by The Crow Road.

( stuj (^(^;;^)^) GO TEAM SPIDERS!(^(^;;^)^), Mon 9 Jan 2012, 12:09, closed)

Whit has been mesntioned a few times on here.
I've not read it yet,but certainly will now.
(The Kwyjibo A big, dumb, balding North American ape., Mon 9 Jan 2012, 12:13, closed)

I second the Michael Marshall Smith suggestion
It's often the case with his writing that although it is set in a dystopian version of reality, he climbs inside your head, has a look at your feelings and manages to write them down in the most beautiful way. This passage is from his 1st book, Only Forward:

“How many times have you tried to talk to someone about something that matters to you, tried to get them to see it the way you do? And how many of those times have ended with you feeling bitter, resenting them for making you feel like your pain doesn't have any substance after all?

Like when you've split up with someone, and you try to communicate the way you feel, because you need to say the words, need to feel that somebody understands just how pissed off and frightened you feel. The problem is, they never do. "Plenty more fish in the sea," they'll say, or "You're better off without them," or "Do you want some of these potato chips?" They never really understand, because they haven't been there, every day, every hour. They don't know the way things have been, the way that it's made you, the way it has structured your world. They'll never realise that someone who makes you feel bad may be the person you need most in the world. They don't understand the history, the background, don't know the pillars of memory that hold you up. Ultimately, they don't know you well enough, and they never can. Everyone's alone in their world, because everybody's life is different. You can send people letters, and show them photos, but they can never come to visit where you live.

Unless you love them. And then they can burn it down.”


when you've read all of his Michael Marshall Smith books, have a read of his Michael Marshall stuff too.
(Ross McBingobangobongo bingobangobongo, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 13:39, closed)

Spares is a beautiful book

(andythepieman Is surfing the waves of indifference on, Wed 11 Jan 2012, 12:36, closed)