I really love sci-fi novels and I read a lot of books. I read 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson a while back and that book is particularly interesting to me. Rather than each chapter advancing the narrative of the story, there were occasional breaks where a chapter would have a list of semi-random words which just gave the vibe of what’s happening, or some history of a scene, or a recipe for how to build an asteroid.

There’s another book that I have heard of but neglected to write the name down, where the reader of the book is a character within the book, and the narrator speaks directly to you (but not a choose-your-adventure style book).

All of this got me interested in finding other books, preferably sci-fi or maybe fantasy, where the concept of being a book is played with and new ideas are tried. Any recommendations?

  • Seleni@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Redshirts by John Scalzi. A book about people who realize they’re characters in a badly-written TV show. Near the end, though, the main character starts to realize he’s the main character in a book about people who are characters in a TV show. Very surreal.

    • Gutless2615@ttrpg.network
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      11 months ago

      Redshirts suuuuuuuucked. Good lord I could barely stomach getting through it after absolutely adoring Kaiju Preservation Society. The audiobook being narrated by Wesley Crusher didn’t help certainly but that was some of the most pat, ham fisted deus ex machina bullshit I’ve ever read. And the premise “no actually we’re just in a *badly written show * does nothing to make those chapters easier to stomach’s.

      • Seleni@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Well, to each their own then. I rather enjoyed it. It was a silly self-aware little romp. I’m pretty sure being ham-fisted was kind of the point, in keeping with original Trek tradition.

        Didn’t know Will Wheaton narrated the audiobook.

  • Seven@startrek.website
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    11 months ago

    The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brookes is a detailed fictional instruction manual. It’s sequel is World War Z which is closer to a normal book, but still has an odd structure of creating a world through interviews … and the The Zombie Survival Guide book exists within it.

    • yum_burnt_toast@reddthat.com
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      11 months ago

      yea this definitely fits the description. brief summary: chapters alternate between the first chapters of different novels, and the main character (addressed as “you”) trying to track down the different novels whose chapters youve just read which are cut off for various reasons. it is great, relatively short (i think 250-ish pages in my copy), and if you dont mind the wild stylistic jumps between chapters its pretty delightful.

    • Worx@lemmynsfw.comOP
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      11 months ago

      What a weird fucking book! It’s not the exact one I was looking for (I believe in my novel, one of the characters in the book begged the reader not to finish the book, because then the character would die).

      Thanks so much for the recommendation though, it’s definitely the sort of weird I was looking for. I found it a bit hard to get through - I think it being a translation made some parts a bit stilted and a bit unrelatable for me - but I still read it over only a couple of days. I felt at chapter 8 where we read a Certain Character’s diary that the book was coming together and starting to make sense for me.

      • vankappa@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        glad you liked it in the end. I still have to read it, never went past the first couple of chapters myself :)

  • adam_y@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    A lot of Douglas Coupland novels play with the form. Microserfs has a similar thing to 2312, except it is one of the characters random txt files on their desktop that lists words in a David Foster Wallace way.

    Wallace also plays with the form of the book, particularly with end notes in Infinite Jest.

    House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski plays with the physical form of the book by rending two stories in parallel and playing all manner of interesting typesetting tricks.

    Then there’s Tristan Shandy by Laurence Sterne and published in 1759. It’s argued that it is the first post-modern novel. The “author” is attempting to tell you the story of his life, but never really gets there because of endless digression.

    You should check this page out: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_and_Opinions_of_Tristram_Shandy,_Gentleman

  • Aielman15@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Ilium/Olympos by Dan Simmons has a very interesting theory about reality and fiction, and what ties them together. Unfortunately, it’s tied to a very late plot point that I would hate to spoil on a Lemmy comment.

  • DaleGribble88@programming.dev
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    11 months ago

    Not sci-fi, but Mister B Gone by Clive Barker was really good. The book is a conversation with a demon who is telling you his life story. It is the story of how he came to be trapped in the book you are reading.

    I thought the book was super funny and surreal. I saw reviews after finishing that it is considered some of his worst work. That might be true, but the worst 24 carat bar of gold is still a 24 carat bar of gold. Well worth the read imo.

    • Worx@lemmynsfw.comOP
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      10 months ago

      Great suggestion. I had this book sitting by my computer when I was waiting on the computer to finish processing something. Idly picked it up and started reading, then just read the whole book in one sitting. I liked it a lot :)

  • BustinJiber@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Of course Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes cannot be overlooked in terms of experimental writing.

    There is a novel that will eternally be on my mind to wonder if it was drivel or I was not smart enough for it - The Troika by Stepan Chapman. It has some of the greatest imagination ever and you will probably not understand what is going on at all. Just find the description and decide if it’s nonsense or worth it.

  • Xraygoggles@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    The Knife of Never Letting Go has a couple cool sections with fonts where as the action is rising you start turning pages faster.

  • QubaXR@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    “Building Stories” by Chris Ware. Not a book, but a deconstructed graphic novel that comes in a box full of different formats and sizes - from a newspaper to a tiny bubblegum sized strip. You read them in any order you please, learning stories of people who live in the same building, while also building your own path through the stories.

    It’s one of my most prized pieces of literature.

  • Worx@lemmynsfw.comOP
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    11 months ago

    Thank you everyone for the suggestions! I didn’t expect there would be so many!

    I’ve put them all on my reading list and I’ll get back to each of you when I’ve read your book.

    (I don’t know if it’s possible to do a reply-all type thing and I don’t want to type out the same comment 30 times so…)

  • NaibofTabr
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    1 year ago

    Self-Reference ENGINE by Toh EnJoe definitely fits this description.

    In the middle it feels like nonsensical chaos, by the end it all folds back in on itself.