The Sword and Laser discussion

Hello fellow audio and video podcast lovers, I am a new fan to sword and laser and need some help finding some books in my favorite genre. I am excited for the soon to be released Kop Killer by Warren Hammond on June 5th, have read Tek War, Jack Stein series by Jay Caselberg, and the Sandman Slim series from Richard Kadrey. I have also enjoyed the Dresden Series from Jim Butcher and other lighter PI type fiction, including the Repairman Jack series by F. Paul Wilson.

What I am particularly looking for is more a future noir type of book or series, it can be about cops, but I much prefer the "used to be a cop but now is a PI or just PI" stuff, and find it very hard to find books around this genre (It does not have to be future noir per say, as the Sandman Slim series is not future noir, but more horror noir sort of like Repairman Jack). Am I being crazy and missing a lot? I guess I am looking to read things like the movie's Blade Runner, Strange Days, Nemesis, heck even something like Repo Men.

Thanks for all suggestions or feedback, sorry if this isn’t the right place to post this, just a happy new member of what looks to be an awesome community.

Thanks
-Cory

You might enjoy the Takeshi Kovac series, starting with Altered Carbon.

How about George Alec Effinger's Marid Audran trilgy. starting with When Gravity Fails. Or The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov.

yes, thanks for the suggestion. I have read both Richard K. Morgan Takeshi Kovac stuff and his fantasy series. Good stuff, I do find he uses a lot of words in description I have to look up (or at least when I started Altered Carbon years ago) but as I read more I learn more!

Hyperion? :) (At least the Brawne chapter.)

<pedantic>Noir is when the protagonist is as corrupt as the world around him. When the hero is a paladin fighting to redeem a corrupted world, as is the case in Altered Carbon and Caves of Steel, it's hardboiled.</pedantic>

Takeshi is no boy scout.

Hi Cory,

I've recently published a short SF story on Kindle that might suit your requriements. I'm mentioning this here only because one reviewer called it 'Space Noir'; I hadn't thought of my story in these terms but it's a fair observation.

'Precious Cargo' and has that quick tempo first person PoV style that goes with the genre; the protagonist is not a private eye but his profession has made him default to cynicism on most occasions.

http://www.amazon.com/Precious-Cargo-...

Yours for 99c! Also, you might want to look at the 'Customers who bought this item also bought' list for the amazon page, there might be more books there that would work for you.

To give you another point of reference, I have read Richard Morgan's work including Altered Carbon. 'Precious Cargo' is not as dark as the world of Mr Kovacs but there are some similarities in terms of general approach.

Good luck!

Try Mark Van Name, One Jump Ahead. Future PI, I think he was ex-GI, reminded me of KOP.

My favorite ex-cop PI is Victory Nelson, from Blood Price--but it's more urban fantasy than noir, where she's hanging out with a vampire in Toronto facing off against demons.

Aloha wrote: "You might enjoy the Takeshi Kovac series, starting with Altered Carbon."

First book Imthought of, you might try charles stross "Laundry" books as well, although they are more in the horror than cop realm

Check out Glen Cook books called the The Garrett Files it should fit the bill.

Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds is a mix between hard sci fi and a detective noir type story, I really like all his stuff but some of it is pure hard sci fi - this one I think would fit the description of what you're looking for

Also Reynolds's The Prefect isn't noir but a police procedural.

Polar City Blues is pretty good. It's not as bleak as actual noir, but lives in the same territory - it's about shady characters investigating an inconvenient murder.

Neuromancer is probably the best mix of SF and noir ever. The main characters are all criminals rather than investigators, though (it's a heist story).

The Glenn Cook series Kris mentioned is amazing and I would also deeply recommend this series by Brust
http://www.amazon.com/Jhegaala-Vlad-T...

WOW! Thanks for all the suggestions, in response to the noir question, yes I guess I am more looking for hardboiled detective crime fiction but set in a future type of world. Thats my main interest, but urban fantasy/magic would be ok too (like dresden) but without overly romance tones. Things like The Electric Church by Jeff Somers are good too, or hell even a more horror based PI type story like Gregory Lamberson and his Personal Demons: Book One in The Jake Helman Files Series

I do also enjoy a fantasy PI type story in The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe so I guess I have no clue what I am looking for, but I will certainly check out the great suggestions.

Thanks again,
-cory

P.S. If anyone has interest in a great little two book series (so far) involving a narcoleptic PI which i find to be a fantastic read, check out The Little Sleep by Paul Tremblay

The Nightside (Something from the Nightside) series by Simon R. Green might fit your bill. Also his Hawk and Fisher books (Swords of Haven: The Adventures of Hawk and Fisher).

You might also like Leviathan Wakes and the Felix Castor series by Mike Carey, starting with The Devil You Know.

ah yes, Felix Castor series is good stuff! I will check out Simon R. Green though, thanks!

Osama by Lavie Tidhar is a great mix of private eye and alternate history.

Hard Magic by Larry Correia is the first book in a alt-history magic noir series

To pickup the ebook version you need to purchase directly from the publisher (BAEN) http://www.baenebooks.com/p-1327-hard...

I'm not finished it yet, but it's been awesome enough so far that I feel good about recommending The Yiddish Policemen's Union. It's another alternate history (what if Israel had lost the war with Palestine in 1948, the world's main Jewish settlement was based in Alaska and the lease was about to run out).
The lead character's a cop rather than a PI but he's pretty hardboiled.

Thanks for bringing this up, a unique genre for sure but sounds like it's something I'd love. Also now I really wanna play LA Noir....

wow Kate, your suggestion looks great, forgot about people like chabon or patterson, but then again i have found that a lot of thriller/serial killer/horror is out there for hardboiled/noir detective stuff, but very few future (even dystopian or apocalyptic) based stories. seems surprising to me. i chalk it up to the fact it's probly just me because of my absolute love of blade runner. there are some comics that cover this genre too but it is severly lacking.

i just found this while doing some deep searching, and it sounds absolutely insane Jimmy Plush, Teddy Bear Detective and i must buy it now on kindle...

and one more i found that i just bought that sounds great: The Automatic Detective

Many good suggestions so far, a few others that may appeal..
Halfhead
Crossover, Breakaway

Kate wrote: "I'm not finished it yet, but it's been awesome enough so far that I feel good about recommending The Yiddish Policemen's Union. It's another alternate history (what if Israel had lost the war with ..."

The Yiddish Polieman's Union is excellent!

I would like to recommend R. Scott Bakker's Neuropath. The work is a suspense/thriller with some sci-fi elements.

Neuropath takes place in the not too distant future and centers on Tom, a college psychology professor tracked down by the FBI to answer some questions about the activities of an old college friend, Neil, who just might be doing some rather unsavory things.

Neil used to work for the NSA. He designed experiments to obtain infomration from susupected terrorists. Take for example the following passage where Neil is explaining to Tom what he did for the NSA:

"What Neil described was straight out of Mengele 101.

It started "small-fry," as Neil put it: a pilot project with sensory deprivation interrogation techniques. The powers that be gave his research group a theoterrorist they thought could be key to unlocking several American-Muslim cells. Apparently they interviewed him via a sham fellow inmate, discovered what he thought his execution would look like. Then they arranged his execution...

But instead of killing him they simply put him under-deep under. Then they tranferred him to a specially prepared sensory deprivation tank, pumped him full of MDMA variants and opiates, gave his body some time to acclimatize...

Then woke him up.

No sound. No light, smell touch. Selaed in his skull and higher than a fucking kite. Apparently the subject tried screaming, thrashing, and all that-a brain in sensory limbo, Neil said, automatically attempts to generate feedback stimuli-but they'd induced motor paralysis to better prevent him from sensing himself. Besides, he had no choice but to feel good with the mickey they'd slipped him. When the MRI showed them his visual centers spontaneously lighting up, they introduced him to "God," this ultraslick intelligence specialist from Bahrain. To hear Neil describe it, the man literally thought he'd died and gone to heaven.

"Let me tell you," his buddy said with a gallows grin, "when God's asking the questions, people answer."

Neil's work with the NSA encouraged him to test out some of the theories of free will. Neil believes that free will is an illusion and he sets out to prove it in very unsettling and horrific ways.

Cory, I recommend Necropolis by Michael Dempsey. I read this earlier this year and I found it very enjoyable. I gave 4 stars. It sounds like it is exactly what you are looking for.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Not sure if it was ever a book, but Eddie Valiant fits noir.

Ken wrote: "Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Not sure if it was ever a book, but Eddie Valiant fits noir."

Who Censored Roger Rabbit by Gary K. Wolf

I just found an e-book version of this title for $1.99 so I bought it and I started reading it over lunch. Much more surreal than the movie.

Another suggestion is The City and The City by China Mieville. It is a murder mystery that takes place in a Eastern Eurpean locale where two cities occupy the same physical space.

When Gravity Fails

Maggie wrote: "When Gravity Fails"

Oh, that looks really interesting. Just added it to my Nook wishlist.

Maggie wrote: "When Gravity Fails"

Sorry, but I mention it first.

They're not future per se, but Bone Song and Dark Blood by John Meaney are most definitely noir.