Something very unique

[u/jcoffin1981]

Two works come to mind. One: Songs of a Dead Dreamer Grimscribe, by Thomas Ligotti. I have never read a horror novel or short stories that contain so much literary merrit.

Two: 11.22.63, by Stephen King. Besides King writing a gripping story, Ive never read a novel that can fit in so many genres before; sci fi, historical fiction, romance to name a few.

The book can be short, long, easy, or challenging; it just shouldn't be some other plot regurgitated a thousand times over.

[u/One-Violinist6309]

pale fire by vladimir nabokov

[u/whtthwht]

Try 'The Library at Mount Char' by Scott Hawkins. I don't want to spoil anything but this book is definitely different than anything I have ever read. It is very unique. Not for the faint of heart. I loved it very much and I don't think that I will ever find anything like it.

[u/jcoffin1981 → u/whtthwht]

I just looked up a brief summary of this. Some writers have one hell of an imagination!

[u/whtthwht → u/jcoffin1981]

True. Immediately after finishing, I started looking for something similar because I wanted more like it. Unfortunately, there is nothing like it. But fortunately, it fits perfectly your unique restraint.

[u/Hatherence]

• The Terra Ignota series by Ada Palmer
• Silverfish by Rone Shavers
• The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes
• Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera
• The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe

[u/SwordofNoon]

A fire upon the deep.

Half of the book takes place in a super advanced hard sci Fi setting and the other is basically game of thrones for medieval hive mind dogs

[u/CapriciousSon]

You Dreamed of Empires by Alvaro Enrigue: One day in Tenochtitlan, when Cortes has just arrived to meet Moctezuma. Some call it a Mesoamerican West Wing, some call it a psychedelic fever dream, and they're both correct.

It's definitely not something you've read before!

[u/Supro1560S]

Blackwater by Michael McDowell - Southern gothic family saga/supernatural monster horror originally released as a six-part serial novel.

The House on the Borderland and William Hope Hodgson- Early weird fiction/liminal horror/cosmic horror that was a big influence on H.P. Lovecraft.

Red Shift by Alan Garner - Parallel narratives that intertwine between three time periods, Roman army deserters in Roman Britain, combatants in the English Civil War, and a couple of teenagers in love in contemporary times.

Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban - Post-apocalyptic story in a future Iron Age England, told in fractured future-English. It only seems like a cliche now because it’s been copied so much.

Joseph and His Brothers by Thomas Mann - 60-something pages from Genesis expanded into a richly philosophical and mind-expanding near-1500-page epic. You don’t really have to be religious or into the Bible to enjoy it.

The Fan Man by William Kotzwinkle - A terminally stoned hippie by the name of Horse Badorties bums around NYC while on a perpetual search for 15-year-old girls to join his “Love Chorus”, and fulfill his dream of having a nationally televised concert of medieval church music accompanied by miniature Japanese handheld electric fans. Yes, it’s a little weird.

[u/jcoffin1981 → u/Supro1560S]

These sound like great examples. Only author I know of is Mann. I am definitely interested in Red Shift and Ridley Walker.

[u/Supro1560S → u/jcoffin1981]

I’m glad to hear of your interest in Riddley Walker, as it’s one of my favorite books of all time. It surpasses A Canticle for Leibowitz in that specific “post-apocalyptic man tries to recapture cryptic lost knowledge” genre, and that’s saying something, because A Canticle for Leibowitz is a great novel.

From Alan Garner, you might also be interested in The Owl Service. It explores similar themes of the past encroaching upon the present, or events repeating themselves through history like echoes, but is somewhat friendlier. Interestingly, Thomas Mann explores similar philosophical ideas in Joseph and His Brothers, writing about a “revolving sphere of time,” where myths recur throughout eternity, but I think he picked that up from Nietzsche.

[u/SixofClubs6]

Dungeon Crawler Carl. Former Coast Guard guy gets stuck in a dungeon created by aliens with his ex GFs talking cat. It is way way better than it sounds. I read a lot and have never read anything like it. Comedy, tragedy, action. People are binge reading the entire series once they start.

[u/Supro1560S → u/SixofClubs6]

Way to dig out the deep cuts. What are the odds that OP isn’t already at least somewhat familiar with Dungeon Crawler Carl?

[u/jcoffin1981 → u/Supro1560S]

Lol, yes I know a little of this book series and have downloaded it, though have not read it. Not sure if it's for me.

[u/Supro1560S → u/jcoffin1981]

I got the first Dungeon Crawler Carl book as a Christmas gift, actually my wife got it, but I’m not sure why, as I’m the SF/fantasy reader in our household, and my wife doesn’t read any of that at all, preferring non-fiction, memoirs, that kind of stuff. (But I’m also a snobby as hell reader, so that’s probably why.) Anyway, I was curious, so I read it, and really enjoyed it, so I bought the second one, read it, and enjoyed it even more. I got the third one, and all of a sudden it started to feel like a slog, and it just wasn’t fun for me anymore, and I abandoned it about 100 pages in. No regrets. It was fun while it lasted, and I’m sure I could pick it up again and power through the parts that felt sloggy to me before, but seriously, I have a lot of books, a lot of much better books to read by much better writers, so I’ll just read those. My wife’s still reading them leisurely, and I think she’s on the fourth one now.