MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Looking for Good Books Told in First-Person POV

ATDrake · 04-12-2012, 11:18 PM

From the look of some of the listed books that I've tried (Brust, Grant), perhaps you might enjoy what TV Tropes calls the "First Person Snarker" POV.

If so, then you might like to give a try to this series which has the 1st book currently on free promo: Mike Resnick's The Chronicles of Lucifer Jones, which is the 1st person POV of a rather unrepentant con-man traipsing his way across 1930s colonial Africa and having satirical adventures (told as 1 tale per chapter, so seems like it would be good for short read aloud sessions) where occasionally he even manages to come out on top. The Tarzan spoof is hilarious and worth at least a look, IMHO. A little low on the action, maybe, but high on the humour, with some funny moments via deadpan dialogue usage.

For supernatural action with suspense, Charles Stross' The Laundry series of Lovecraftian bureacracy tales about a secret agency trying to stave off the forthcoming Cthulhupocalypse has 1st person narration and a good deal of humour (often a bit dark, mind you) in between the scary thriller bits. You can try some of the short stories free online at Tor.com and via the author's website (has links to the Tor stuff) before deciding if you'd like to try the novels. "Overtime" is probably the most representative and very funny indeed. It was a Hugo award nominee and reasonably standalone, so you don't need to read the previous stuff and it won't spoiler you for anything important.

For more in that sort of vein, but lighter and spoofier, Nick Pollotta's written a bunch of tie-in novels to a roleplaying game which are actually surprisingly rather good and funny (you'd never guess they were spinoff books rather than an "original" X-Files-ish spoof). If interested, you can use Fictionwise's weekend coupons (often found in the Deals forum here) for fairly substantial discounts on the Bureau 13 series. You can get a taste of what the entire series is like by reading the opener for Book 1, which was originally published as a standalone short story before becoming the prologue for the novel. These have more action/adventure bits and comedy than the Stross Laundry books.

Hope this helps, and welcome to MobileRead!

04-12-2012, 11:18 PM	#2
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	From the look of some of the listed books that I've tried (Brust, Grant), perhaps you might enjoy what TV Tropes calls the "First Person Snarker" POV. If so, then you might like to give a try to this series which has the 1st book currently on free promo: Mike Resnick's The Chronicles of Lucifer Jones, which is the 1st person POV of a rather unrepentant con-man traipsing his way across 1930s colonial Africa and having satirical adventures (told as 1 tale per chapter, so seems like it would be good for short read aloud sessions) where occasionally he even manages to come out on top. The Tarzan spoof is hilarious and worth at least a look, IMHO. A little low on the action, maybe, but high on the humour, with some funny moments via deadpan dialogue usage. For supernatural action with suspense, Charles Stross' The Laundry series of Lovecraftian bureacracy tales about a secret agency trying to stave off the forthcoming Cthulhupocalypse has 1st person narration and a good deal of humour (often a bit dark, mind you) in between the scary thriller bits. You can try some of the short stories free online at Tor.com and via the author's website (has links to the Tor stuff) before deciding if you'd like to try the novels. "Overtime" is probably the most representative and very funny indeed. It was a Hugo award nominee and reasonably standalone, so you don't need to read the previous stuff and it won't spoiler you for anything important. For more in that sort of vein, but lighter and spoofier, Nick Pollotta's written a bunch of tie-in novels to a roleplaying game which are actually surprisingly rather good and funny (you'd never guess they were spinoff books rather than an "original" X-Files-ish spoof). If interested, you can use Fictionwise's weekend coupons (often found in the Deals forum here) for fairly substantial discounts on the Bureau 13 series. You can get a taste of what the entire series is like by reading the opener for Book 1, which was originally published as a standalone short story before becoming the prologue for the novel. These have more action/adventure bits and comedy than the Stross Laundry books. Hope this helps, and welcome to MobileRead!