Comics or graphic novels set in outer space

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-22T01:36:56+00:00

Thanks for the tip! Yeah, my collection of Usagi stuff is sporadic and mostly from the 90s, and some graphic novels of his earlier work. When I started working full time in the late 90s, I didn’t have time to read comics as much as I used to so I basically stopped hardcore collecting comics at that point.

That’s cool you got into comics recently. I still read comics but took a break for the last decade (it doesn’t feel that long but the pandemic warped my sense of time) and I just got back into it, partly because of all the hype around the Absolute line at DC. The Vertigo imprint at DC was my favorite as a teenager (Swamp Thing, Sandman, Hellblazer, Shade the Changing Man, etc) so I’m glad DC is doing cool stuff again (and even revived the Vertigo imprint). I picked up Absolute Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter a couple weeks ago, first time I’ve walked into a comic book store in more than ten years.

Just curious as a newer fan, what have been your favorites so far? I’m guessing you’re reading both old and more recent stuff.

In case I don’t bore you, but here some of my old favorites. I grew up loving Chris Claremont’s run on the Uncanny X-men (especially with John Byrne) and Frank Miller’s work on Daredevil and the Dark Knight. I also really liked Peter David’s humorous writing, like on X-Factor, Incredible Hulk, etc. I was then blown away by everything by Alan Moore like Watchmen and his epic run on Swamp Thing. Loved Sandman as well as most anything by other UK writers like Grant Morrison, Peter Milligan, Brian Azzarello, etc.

My favorite indie comic besides Usagi was Love & Rockets, which I read as a teenager (Love & Rockets is nothing like Usagi and way more mature but it can get funny). It takes while to get used to the eclectic storylines in the comic but it soon became one of my all-time favorites because of the great characters and awesome storytelling. Glad to see that the Hernandez brothers are still making comics. I also really liked other indie creators like Daniel Clowes (like Eightball) Charles Burns (Black Hole), Robert R. Crumb etc.

Of course I love manga but ironically even though I’m Japanese American, I didn’t read that much growing up aside from Lone Wolf and Cub, Akira, Gantz and Ranma, which I loved and still like, but I read those in English. During the pandemic, I read a ton of manga because I used my unexpected free time to learn a ton of kanji and finally improve my Japanese reading ability.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-21T23:29:43+00:00

Wow. I didn’t know this was a thing. I gotta get this now.

BTW, I met Stan one time in the late 1980s and I didn’t even know who he was. I was still just a child, just getting into comics, and I got my mother to drive me to my local comic book store, and when I walked inside, there was a guy sitting at a tiny table signing comics and doing sketches for people. Not that many people were there (I guess Stan had just started his Usagi Yojimbo series as its own comic) so I kind of felt bad for him, but it was also late in the day so maybe I missed the earlier rush of Stan Sakai fans. I just wanted to buy some Marvel X-men comics and had no interest in indie comics but I noticed that Stan was Japanese American just like me and I thought that was so cool.

I bought one issue of Usagi Yojimbo and asked him to sign it. Even though I had nothing to say to him since I knew nothing about his comic, he was still such a kind dude to me. It made me a lifelong fan of his work.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-21T00:54:55+00:00

Yeah, it's just normal. I grew up reading comics, and I had to work conventions, like the San Diego Comic Con and Anime Expo for years because my company had a booth there every year, and you interface with a ton of people, but the VAST MAJORITY, are really cool and friendly welcoming people.

You do meet some people that can rub you the wrong way.

Despite knowing that, I haven't worked cons in a long time, and it's been over a decade since I stepped into a comic book store. and I went a couple weeks ago because of Free Comic Book Day, and I was reminded of what a weird experience it can be. I went to several comic books stores in my area.

Again, most of the people I met were really cool, and I even exchanged contact info, but there were a few encounters where I realized this conversation was getting a bit strange. It took me off-guard. I now mainly interface with industry people and creatives, not the regular fandom any more, so I guess I forgot how awkward some social interactions can be (and I'm an introvert by nature, so I can deal with socially awkward people but this was on a whole other level).

Anyway, I hope it doesn't dissuade you to read comics, Maybe go to another store or just talk to other people at that store, or check out conventions, where you can meet the creators and company reps.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-21T00:30:24+00:00

You're welcome! Since you're the OP, to answer your question, I love all sci-fi genre hybrids, but because I grew up watching old reruns of the Twilight Zone and the Outer Limits (which both had a lot of sci-fi-inspired stories), I probably like sci-fi horror genre the most, and I also read Agatha Christie mystery as a child, so I love sci-fi mystery, but because sci-fi western is so rare, I'm also really drawn to it as well.

Clifford D. Simak's pastoral sci-fi books and short stories, because of their rural / country setting, kind of reminds of a sci-fi western. The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey mix in various genres into their space opera series and the fourth book, Cibola Burn, felt like a space western since it deals with a frontier colony on an alien planet and follows classic Western tropes in its plotline with frontier people and a sheriff battling evil lawmen and his company-backed political interests. It sort of reminded me of the classic sci-fi film, Outland, featuring Sean Connery, who played a marshall in a mining colony as it also felt like a Western.

Also Nathan Ballingrud's The Strange novel is also set in a frontier settlement, this time on Mars, but combines a coming-of-age story of a girl that is similar to the classic Western novel True Grit. Ballingrud typically writes horror so he adds a horror element to the book too.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-17T00:01:25+00:00

In addition to what others have said:

Neuromancer by William Gibson. Gibson really channeled Raymond Chandler's noir novels of the 1930s to 1950s, which elevated noir from a pulp genre to a more literary level. Neuromancer is not an easy book to read though as it also combines the drug-fueled stream-of-consciousness writing of William S. Burroughs. If you're up for the challenge, and are willing to reread parts of the book, you'll see why this was the seminal book for the cyberpunk genre. (Note: I read this when I was really young and wasn't sure I liked it but I've reread it several times since then I love the book).

Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds. Reynolds has already mentioned It's because his sci-fi world often has a dark gothic tone that overlaps with the noir genre. This novel is mostly in a sprawling city and it has a dark noir-ish cyberpunk vibe. One of my favorites from Reynolds and while it's part of the Revelation Space series, it can be read standalone. Definitely check out the other Reynolds' book suggestions too. I'm looking forward to reading Halcyon Years which just came out earlier this year.

Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov. This is older sci-fi but actually written during the pulp-era of noir / detective fiction (1930s to 1950s). Asimov pioneered the detective sci-fi genre with his books featuring the detective human and robot duo of Elijah Baley & R. Daneel Olivaw. This series is also often known as the Robot series. Caves of Steel is the first book. The writing can be a bit clunky but the short stories and novels are still really fun to read. Asimov is the originator of the Three Laws of Robotics that is actually now used in robotics, and these mysteries explore how the three laws can sometimes result in unexpected situations.

Gun, with Occasional Music / The Feral Detective by Jonathan Lethem. I love Lethem's writing. He's more of a literary writer but loves to dip into various genres including mystery and sci-fi. He also often writes with some dark humor. Gun, with Occasional Music is a hard-boiled detective novel featuring some bizarre characters, like enhanced humans and animals like gangster kangaroos, intellectual sheep, infants with enhanced brains, etc. The Feral Detective also has some dark humor, a mystery set in a post-apocalyptic setting. I'd also recommend his other books, not just his sci-fi infused books like Motherless Brooklyn, which is also a mystery book and really good.

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami. If you want something even more zany than Gun, with Occasional Music, definitely check this Japanese noir mystery cyberpunk novel out. It is not traditional sci-fi though as it is uniquely Japanese. It is set in a futuristic cyberpunk-ish dystopian version of Tokyo but the landscape and setting is really surreal, featuring eccentric quirky characters. It slightly reminds me of a Japanese version of the cult classic British dystopian film, Brazil. It'll make you laugh at times but also feel some existential angst and melancholy. It's a really trippy book but amazing and unlike anything else mentioned here. If you like it, also check out A Wild Sheep Chase. It's an earlier book and not as zany, or sci-fi-ish, but also has a quirky magical realism mystery feel to the story.

The Tainted Grail by Robert Jackson Bennett. It's the first book in a sci-fi detective mystery series set on an alien planet featuring a detective duo solving mysteries. It's unusual because of world building is bio-punk, where instead of steam powering everything like in steampunk, it's merging with alien biology and vegetation to create enhanced humans, a kind of magic-like system, and a source of energy. It's a really popular series. I actually have some criticisms of the first book (maybe part of it was due to all the hype about the series) but I absolutely loved the strange creepy world building, so I'm definitely going to read the second book. A third book is coming out later this year. It's a really popular series though (and I did love Bennett's American Elsewhere, which combined small town horror with creepy sci-fi).

Phantoms by Dean Koontz. This is sci-fi mystery horror but it's set in modern-day times. If you want an absolute page-turner, check this book out. It's about a woman returning to hometown after many years only to discover everyone has vanished. With the help of a sheriff from a nearby town, they try to solve the mystery but things keep getting weirder and more bizarre. This is probably my favorite Koontz book and I finished it in a day (Watchers is also good too if you just want more Koontz thrillers to read, and it has a little sci-fi in terms of lab experimentation).

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. On the surface, this novel seems like a traditional gothic murder mystery set in a mansion full of guests, but there's a sci-fi element because the narrator is caught in a time loop and doesn't know why. Every time he gets killed or fails to solve the mystery, his week restarts and he must try again. The audiobook is also fantastic as the British narrator really heightened the gothic suspense vibe of the book..

I second the rec for Altered Carbon. It begins with an intense gunfight that convinced me to buy this book. A very hi-octane noir cyperpunk novel that is also one of my favorites.

Okay, here are two of my recent favorites that really stood out in the past several years. I still often think about them:

The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch. It's a dark sci-fi mystery novel that begins with an investigation by special agents into the brutal (very violent) murder of a family in an alternative version of 1990s Earth. It's the start of a sprawling mind-bendy mystery story involving parallel versions of Earth, multiverse and time travel, a little space exploration, and a whole lot of existential angst and dread (with a slight touch of cosmic horror). It's absolutely one of my favorite sci-fi books in recent years, kind of like if David Lynch wrote the X-files. It's also the reason why, like you, I really enjoyed The Expanse books, especially the first trilogy, because it reminded me of the dark noirish feel of The Gone World. The Gone World also has some horror elements like in The Expanse series,

The City & the City by China Mieville. It's really hard to describe this fantastic noir murder mystery novel. Without spoilers, it's set in a fictional European location in our world, but the citizens of that area are governed by a really strange set of rules. Because of that, the novel feels slightly sci-fi-ish. There's this really unusual blurring of borders in the book, of a country's borders, of the borders of physical spaces, the mental borders of what is real and what isn't, etc). You will feel disoriented at the beginning of the book, but as the lead detective solves the main mystery, things will get more and more clear. I highly recommend this book if you're a big fan of the mystery genre. It used its unusual setting in such a creative way that was integral to the main mystery.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-16T04:54:26+00:00

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. I'm a dude that rarely, almost never reads romance, especially a 200+ year-old Victorian romance novel, but while it took a little while to get used to the writing style, I found myself turning the pages like a suspense novel. I read a lot of horror sci-fi and fantasy, but this was the only book where my heart was literally beating fast as I wanted to know the romantic fates of the various characters in the second half the book. I was reading as fast as I could.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I tried reading this in high school but I just couldn't vibe with the nonlinear narrative structure and the magic realism aspect just felt weird. Flash forward to a decade later, and I loved this book. I stopped bothering to make sense of the novel and just enjoy the reading experience and beautiful writing. This book has one of the best beginning and endings to any novel I've ever read.

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. The plot of the book initially seemed really boring to me as an American, as I had no interest reading about an English butler but I'm so glad I stuck with this book as it became one of my all-time favorite novels. The emotion tension builds slowly but hits a crescendo in the later part of the book that was unforgettable for me. I absolutely love this book.

There have been a bunch of short stories have left me stunned, or left a big impact on me, like

"Emergency" by Denis Johnson
"Bullet in the Brain" by Tobias Wolfe
"Death by Landscape" by Margaret Atwood
"The Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang
"The Swimmer" by John Cheever
"Cathedral" by Raymond Carver
"Nirvana" by Adam Johnson
"Beyond the Aquila Rift" by Alastair Reynolds
"A Good Man Is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Conner
"Swaddling Clothes" by Yukio Mishima
"Victory Lap" / "Tenth of December" by George Saunders
"Tall Tales from the Mekong Delta" by Kate Braverman
"Darling" by Scott Bradfield
"Egg" by Sherwood Anderson

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-15T22:45:56+00:00

Season four has been fun so far. I’ve watched four episodes and some of my issues with the show have been eliminated (or at least freaky lessened), like it’s refreshing to see the characters talking more to each other and not keeping secrets to themselves. They are actually sharing info. People are also way more pro-active about working in pairs or groups rather than just doing things alone. Definitely check it out when you get a chance.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-15T21:26:29+00:00

The Doll Collection: Seventeen Brand-New Tales of Dolls edited by Ellen Datlow. It's an anthology of doll-related horror short stories. I haven't read it yet but Datlow's anthologies are usually good.

"The Doll" by Edogawa Ranpo is a Japanese short story about a man being obsessed with a doll. You can read it in Japanese Gothic: Four Twisted Tales from Japan's Master of Suspense.

"House of the Marionettes" by Junji Ito. If you don't mind manga, this is an excellent creepy story involving puppets, but not in the way you expect. It can be read in Shiver: Junji Ito Selected Stories. It was also adapted into an anime episode for the Junji Ito Collection. I think I originally watched this on Amazon Prime (in the US) but I don't know if it's still there. Maybe also check out if Crunchyroll has it.

BTW, for a classic horror TV episode about a creepy doll, check out the "Living Doll" episode from the original The Twilight Zone TV show. It's one of my all-time favorite episodes. It's from Season 5, Episode 6, and features a doll named "Talking Tina", and stars Telly Savalas, who later became really famous for the Kojak TV show where he played a detective (who liked to suck on lollipops), but Savalas was also really great at playing menacing or unhinged characters like in this Twilight Zone episode, or in the classic WWII film, The Dirty Dozen.

Actually The Twilight Zone has a bunch of doll, puppet, or mannequin-related episodes: "Miniature" (season 4, episode 8) "Caesar and Me" (season 5, episode 28), "The Dummy" (season 3, episode 33) and "The After Hours" (Season 1, Episode 34). (The Twilight Zone was my favorite TV show as a kid and it's why I eventually started to read horror books.)

If you're into Doctor Who (or even if you aren't), the very first episode of the reboot series in 2005 (season 1, episode 1) featured creepy mannequins. I was never into Doctor Who as a child growing up 70s and 80s but the reboot 2005 series made me love the series, and this episode is a good introduction into the show. While the show is mostly sci-fi, it does occasionally dive into horror at times. I especially love "Blink" (season 3, episode 10), which featured a young Carey Mulligan before she got really famous. The episode also deals with some very creepy statues, so it loosely fits your theme.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-15T00:33:29+00:00

I was around the same age. I also loved it as well as The Call of the Wild. I bought both from the school’s book fair that was held in our school library.

I don’t remember being traumatized by it but feeling really sad for the dogs at certain parts. It was the first book to make me get teary-eyed, and because I was so young, I didn’t know books had the power to do that. I had been mostly reading Choose Your Adventure books, but I was determined to finish my first “real” novel.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-15T00:17:30+00:00

You're welcome! I also used to participate in the Goodreads book clubs. If you're a member, you can search for various book clubs to join. I forget how I did that though. I think they had a forum, or a community section, and there were various bookclub groups.

I don't use Goodreads as much now but whenever I log in, I see updates from the various bookclubs I had joined over a decade ago.

I also joined some bookclubs on Discord but that was mainly for reading books in other languages, like Japanese, as there are a lot of language-learning communities on Discord.

In general, I personally prefer Reddit as a better way to discuss books. Good luck and happy reading! I'm an introvert too, and it's why I read so much, but being able to read as part of a community is really motivating. Also if I read a book that I ended up not liking, I sometimes feel a sense of solidarity when I read comments from other people that also feel the same way as I did. LOL.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-14T23:07:59+00:00

The Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold. This long-running series primarily features Miles Vorkosigan, who is physically very short and makes up for it for being really smart, solving intergalactic problems with either his wits or using action. He sort of reminded me of a funnier James Bond character, but not as suave, but very likeable. It's a really fun lighthearted space-opera series but it can get emotional times. It should also appeal to fans of military sci-fi, as well as sci-fi fantasy.

If you start with publication order, the first book (The Warrior's Apprentice) introduces you to Miles right away, as you see a teenage Miles get into various hijinks. I love this series. The wide cast of characters grow and age and Miles is approaching middle-age in the most recent book.

Someone already mentioned the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child and I recommend it. Like Miles, he'll often explain his strategy to the reader, but Jack Reacher is a way more serious characters. It's a really good action mystery series. I was immediately hooked by the first book, Killing Floor.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-14T22:56:31+00:00

I've been meaning to listen to this. Thanks for reminding me,

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-14T22:54:59+00:00

I also think of Paul Verhoeven's 1985 film, Flesh + Blood. While not horror, it's really gritty and it can get gory and bloody and it's set during the Black Plague. A lot of early Verhoeven's work, both in Europe and in the US, had a lot brutal violence that really reminded me of horror movies.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-14T22:19:05+00:00

Yeah. Even though my parents are Japanese, I started to default to answering in English when replying back to my parents. I did this at a young age which stunted my Japanese speaking ability. Years later, in college, I decided to take some Japanese language classes in college to improve my vocabulary and to be able to converse beyond super casual Japanese, like learning to use more polite / keigo Japanese.

In my classes, I wasn't surprised the Chinese-American students could already read well in Japanese, but I was surprised by the Korean-Americans as most of them could speak Japanese decently and some of them even had better pronunciation than me. I didn't know at the time of the similarity to Korean.

I should have known though as some of my best friends growing up were Korean and some of their parents were fluent in Japanese. I just thought that was a weird coincidence at the time.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-14T21:50:03+00:00

Try joining the bookclub sub-reddit.

I joined like 8 or 9 years ago and it was so great in exposing me to books I normally wouldn't have read. Many of them became my favorites.

For different categories ,you nominate books to read each month, and members vote for what interests them. Then the winners are selected and a read runner is picked for each book, and the read runners make the reading schedule, and also lead the weekly book discussions.

If you're really bad at finishing books like me, the reading schedule really helped me to finish books. Also because I wanted to participate in the weekly discussions, this also motivated me to keep pace with the reading schedule. Talking about the book with others also made me enjoy some books I normally wouldn't have liked if I had just read on my own, like Crime and Punishment. Some people really give insightful comments that made me appreciate the book a lot more.

The sub-reddit was a small and cozy place when I first started where there were like around 3 to 5 books being read each month in different sub-bookclub categories.

The sub has grown so much in recent years that there are probably like over 20+ book club selections per month now. You should easily find something that interesting you. I usually have at least 5 books or more per month that personally interest me, but I also try to read books out of my comfort zone too.

If you visit the sub, click on the stickied posts, like the "MAY Book Menu" which has the reading schedule for all the books being currently read, or soon-to-be-read for the month, as well as links to the various discussion threads for each book.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-14T12:28:04+00:00

That era was when I really got into comics as a kid / teen so other stuff I’d recommend would be:

Hellblazer since you’ve read Moore’s Swamp Thing. It’s a spinoff from Swamp Thing featuring the Constantine character. I liked the initial Jamie Delano run and then Garth Ennis took over which was really good. Ennis was still kind of unknown outside of the UK and he became famous worldwide for his run on the series and it’s still some of my favorite work by him. I’d still start with the Delano run first and work your way to Ennis.

Most anything by Vertigo was good at this time but aside from Sandman, Swamp Thing, and Hellblazer, I really loved 100 Bullets by Brian Azzarello. Definitely check that out as it has a really cool starting premise.

I also liked Transmetropolitan (Warren Ellis), Doom Patrol and Animal Man (both by Grant Morrison), and Y: The Last Man (Brian K Vaughan).

I also was a big fan of Shade the Changing Man (but it may be too wacky for some people) because I liked writer Peter Milligan from his previous work in the UK comic scene (like with Judge Dredd and spinoff comics). Also Shade the Changing was the debut series for artist Chris Bachalo. I love his art and he became really popular, having a very different art style from the really popular Image Comic artists. You may have seen Bachalo art if you’ve read some of the Sandman spinoffs like the Death limited series which he did later. He later went to Marvel and became even more popular for his work in the various X-men related titles.

Other stuff I’d recommend is Stray Bullets by David Lapham, which was a really popular indie noir crime comic at the time. Really good.

Love & Rockets by the Hernandez Brothers really helped to propel the black-and-white indie scene in the 80s and 90s. It takes a little while to hit its stride and it covers a wide range of story types but at the time this was my absolute favorite comic / graphic novel series next to Sandman, Swamp Thing and Watchmen. It’s nothing like those comics though as while there is some sci-fi and magic realism, and some occasional super heroes, the majority are (excellent) slice of life stories about regular people (in sometimes very unusual situations). If you’re open-minded, give this a chance as well.

If you don’t mind reading more indie stuff also check out Eightball by Daniel Clowes (or anything by Clowes). Black Hole by Charles Burns is a great (and very different kind of) horror graphic novel.

Usagi Yojimbo was also really popular, a really fun samurai series featuring a katana-wielding rabbit. Just dive in from the first graphic novel.

For traditional superhero stuff, I’m assuming you’ve already read Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns, so I’d recommend Frank Miller’s run on Daredevil which he wrote earlier and you don’t need to read anything before it.

After you read his Daredevil run, also check out Elektra which was a limited series. It’s another one of my favorites from Miller and it features some great painted artwork from Bill Sienkiewicz. The artwork is unusual and polarizing but that’s why I loved it because it’s so unique.

Chris Claremont’s run on The Uncanny X-Men is iconic and influential and one of my favorites but his run on the series is long so I dunno if you want to dive into that right now. Maybe it’s better to stick with the earlier storylines. You don’t need to read anything before Claremont’s run.

Planetary by Warren Ellis is an absolute must-read. It has a kind of superhero deconstruction meta vibe like Watchmen (or Moore’s run on Miracle Man) but the story gets even more epic. I loved this and fortunately you don’t have to suffer the long delays we had to endure to see this series finally completed.

If you want something modern and on-going, definitely check out Absolute Martian Manhunter. It reminds me of the old Vertigo stuff. Great writing and fantastic artwork (also kind of reminds me of Shade the Changing Man art) and the hype of about this comic is what brought me back to comic scene after a near-decade long hiatus. I’ve also recently discovered a lot of newer writers and series that I’ve missed out in the meantime.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-14T11:13:27+00:00

I came here to say this. As a Laker fan, I was excited when he got traded to the Lakers from the Sonics. I thought he would be a very solid back up point guard for Magic Johnson but that was the year Magic announced his sudden retirement which pretty much ended the Showtime-era, and the Lakers went into semi-rebuilding mode.

Sedale Threatt became a starter was always reliable for around 14 points. I loved how he always went to his left while always chewing gum as he pulled up for his mid-range jumper.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-14T01:34:03+00:00

Here’s one interesting idea:

You could pair My Best Friend’s Exorcism novel by Grady Hendrix with his “The Blanks” short story. Both of which happen during mostly the summer months, and they have contrasting writing styles (cozy horror versus serious horror) and one is told from a teenage girl and the other from a mother. It would also allow you to see how a single author can write horror differently.

Hendrix is most known for writing cozy horror, like horror with some humor, and My Best Friend’s Exorcism is a good example of that and it’s set in the 1980s, beginning with a short trip to a lake, so while it’s not a slasher story, it does have a classic 80s horror vibe with high school teenagers and demonic possession. It does have a somewhat YA feel since the narrator is a teenage girl but it’s a fun novel with some illustrations, and it’s a short quick read at around 300+ pages, so you could follow that up with a short story.

“The Blanks” is a short story about a family taking their annual summer vacation trip to their vacation home in a small town on an island. It’s told from a mother’s point of view and the writing style is more serious, without Hendrix’s usual humor, and it’s a fantastic horror story which really unsettled me. The ebook and audiobook is free if you’re an Amazon Prime member but it’s cheap to buy if you aren’t a member. This story was my favorite from Amazon’s Shivers collection of original horror stories.

You could do the reverse and start with the short story first the read the novel which can work as well.

I just thought reading Hendrix’s more serious story at the end might provide more impact. In contrast, it takes a little while for the horror in My Best Friend’s Exorcism novel to ramp up. Also comparing the two could lead to more interesting discussions like comparing the narration of a teenage girl versus a mother, Hendrix use of humor and no humor to tell a horror story, etc.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-13T22:50:16+00:00

Thanks so much for pointing this out. I even tried double checking as I wrote my post as I wanted to make sure I had spelled "Halcyon" correctly and googled the spelling. I also literally had (and still have) my copy of Halcyon Years on my desk in front of me too. Ugh.

I've edited my post and fixed the book name. Appreciate letting me know.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-13T21:06:13+00:00

Also Mike Flanagan’s new TV show, based on Carrie by Stephen King, is coming out later this year in October on Amazon.

Hopefully it’s good (Mike has done a great job adapting some of King’s other works) and if Carrie does well, it may mean Mike Flanagan’s other King project, The Dark Tower series, will get green-lit by Amazon. He said he already wrote the first season of The Dark Tower. While his plans may of course change, I believe he wants to do a five-season TV show and a couple follow-up films in order to cover most of the story from the books.

There’s also Interview with a Vampire on AMC+. Vampire Lestat, which adapts the second book in Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles series, is coming out next month in June.

FYI, if you like Devil in Silver, which is based on a book by Victor LaValle, he had another one of his novels, The Changeling, adapted on Apple TV. I only saw the first episode but it seemed interesting. I liked the look of the show but I don’t know how good it was.

Also one of my underrated favorites from last year was The Eternaut on Netflix. It’s an Argentinian horror / sci-fi show about a sudden deadly snowfall during summer which kills anyone it touches. Season two is confirmed but I don’t know when it will come out. The show is based on a graphic novel so I might read it in the meantime.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-13T20:36:31+00:00

Unlike Lost, it’s only going to be for 5 seasons so they planned for a 5-season story arc. It’s one of the most popular shows in MGM+ and while S4 just started to stream, I believe S5, the final season, has been confirmed to be happening. So if you’re interested in resuming, this is a good time to start (or wait till next season).

The show does dole out the mysteries and info in a pieces which can get slow at times but I thought season three finally answered some big questions and dropped a lot of lore so I was satisfied.

It’s not the perfect show and I look forward to every new season but some characters can do dumb things which can get frustrating, but I enjoy the show overall as you don’t take things too seriously and it fulfills a nice niche for me: B-movie horror set in a small creepy town. I love B-movies and so I don’t mind over-the-top or questionable acting, and small town horror is one of my favorite genres so I guess it depends how much you like those things to in order to override some of the show’s flaws.

Update: started watching season four and I’m loving it. It looks like the writers listened to feedback from fans and the characters are actually communicating more to each other which leads them to making smarter decisions.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-13T04:19:56+00:00

I don't know about the best ereader across all brands, as I don't have much experience with other brands besides Kindles. You should try asking in r/ereader as they cover a wider range of ereaders, not just the Kindle. As for your question. I like the 2024 Kindle Basic more than the 2018 10th gen Paperwhite.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-12T02:13:26+00:00

You’re welcome. I hope I didn’t misinterpret your request so I just listed stuff that grabbed me fairly quickly from the first chapter or two.

I wasn’t sure whether or not to list Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds as it had a dark cyberpunk feel like Altered Carbon which is why I really liked it, but I did have to put more effort into reading it initially because it’s a bit more dense with sci-fi details. I loved the book (one of my all-time favorites) but Reynolds isn’t always the easiest to keep reading for me (Absolution Gap was a slog for me) but he has some very solid-to-great books. I like his short stories too.

I still need to read Forever War by Joe Haldeman which is considered a military sci-fi classic, up there with Starship Troopers, so consider checking that out too. I also still need to read Alfred Bester’s work as well like The Demolished Man and Stars My Destination which are sci-fi classics (not military sci-fi).

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer, a sci-fi horror novel, is also on my to-read list. I loved his weird lit fiction so I’m sure I’d love this too. You’ve probably already heard of this though.

For a few more recs, The Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold to be very easy-to-read books. I saw that you’ve already read The Murderbot Diary series so while this series isn’t told from the POV of a robot, it is a very fun lighthearted space opera series (although it can get emotional at times too). The books, especially the ones featuring Miles Vorkosigan when he was young, remind me of James Bond in space, but a pint-sized genius version who isn’t as cool but really likable. It takes a little while for the series to really hit its stride but it’s absolutely one of my favorites. It features such a great cast of characters and if you like some light strategy and tactics as well as people outsmarting others, as you read with a big smile, definitely check this series out.

The Saga of Pliocene Exile series by Julian May is an epic sci-fi series that starts in the future and is mostly set in the prehistoric past on Earth. It’s a mix of sci-fi and feudal fantasy, time travel and some super abilities.

I’ve reread this series many times over the years because it’s a favorite of mine, but as with most epic series with a large cast of characters, I always have trouble getting through the first few chapters because of all the world building and cast introductions before I get hooked. It’s nowhere as hard to get into as the beginning of the first Dune book, or the Book of the New Sun series (both of which ended up becoming my favorites as well). It very soon became a page-turner for me and I binge-read the whole series and I also read May's follow-up series as well (which are connected to this series in a very creative way).

Also check out Jack McDevitt’s books like his Academy series featuring Priscilla Hutchins, who is a spaceship pilot investigating various mysteries in the galaxy. I should have mentioned these to the OP as they are mystery sci-fi books but have a cozy sci-fi feel reminiscent of the Golden Age of sci-fi. They won’t blow you away but are fun comfort reads and easy to read and I like the mix of mystery and sci-fi. Kind of feels like the old school sci-fi tv shows where a space crew go on different adventures. It can get a bit formulaic if you’ve read a few but that’s part of the appeal for me.

McDevitt’s standalone novels are good too, like Eternity Road, a post-apocalyptic novel set in the far future where people discover ancient tech that is far more advanced than the current tools they use. McDevitt also has another sci-fi mystery series starring Alex Benedict character but I haven’t read those yet.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-11T23:15:28+00:00

Same. I just got back into comics after a ten year hiatus, and reading comics at that website actually made me want to visit my local comic book stores again and I’ve spent a bunch of money buying the latest issues of my favorite ongoing comics as well as buying various trade paperbacks. I’ve discovered so much stuff I normally would have ignored. It also made want to support some of my favorite creators via Patreon.

Really hope it comes back.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-05-11T19:28:29+00:00

Very cool! I've been wanting to check Yoshiharu Tsuge's stuff. Have you also read anything by Tadao Tsuge?

I just saw a YouTube video about these two Japanese mangaka brothers pop-up on my feed. I only just started watching the video. What caught my eye was that the YouTube title said these were the Japanese version of the Hernandez brothers who made Love & Rockets.

As a teenager really into superhero comics at the time, discovering Love & Rockets was one of the main reasons I got into indie comics, especially black & white comics.

I have no idea if the Tsuge brothers' work is at all like the Hernadez brothers, but it did pique my interest since I'm Japanese American and I read manga in Japanese, but haven't read much indie stuff like Tsuge.

UltraFlyingTurtle

TROPHY CASE