This page lists the genre fiction which is popular on /tg/, along with a brief description and the notable area's of merit. While paragons of Fantasy and Science Fiction...

Genres

There is, of course, crossover. Grimdark fantasy and SF has Horror elements, mythology is all over the place and (in the sagas) blends into history, and on and on. We feel safe so far in the assignments we've provided; but if you have an alternate opinion, the Discussion tab is the door to the right.

And don't say we didn't warn you . . .

This article contains spoilers! You have been warned.

You hate 'em, we try to avoid 'em. But if you're planning on reading without 'em, just skim through the authors and titles in bold. Maybe you'll see a name you don't know and will feel like searching that in whatever FBI-monitored and corporate-spidered engine you like best.

Fantasy

First up, what list would be complete without Gary's own Appendix N of classic (mostly) pulp - so Read That First. Mostly here we'll be looking at authors not in that list although we cannot avoid Howard, Leiber, Tollers and the 'Cock.

Richard Adams - Watership Down: The epic story of a tiny band of desperate people's odyssey to flee a great calamity and find a new homeland. Along the way, they fight dangerous battles, encounter dangerously seductive dystopia after dystopia, and ultimately destroy a fascist dictator before founding a new nation. Also, everyone's a rabbit. Badass storytelling, sweet worldbuilding, and an incredible level of quality for a children's book.
L. Frank Baum - The Wizard of Oz: American parents love reading this to their kids, and for good reason if we're grading it on that curve. Dorothy and her little dog too get isekai'ed, meet companions, defeat the witch. Possibly makes some wry commentary about the silver-standard controversy of the (farm-based) Populists at the time. Baum milked this franchise to death releasing sequel after sequel. Its movie was, alongside Gone With The Wind, a groundbreaker in kino. The movie skips a few scenes but nobody misses those scenes; also swaps out the silver slippers for ruby, ostensibly to show them off in full color Technovision. The movie has a terrifying 1980s sequel arguably closer to Baum's vision but considered Fail; also some bullshit spinoffs like Tin Man.
Jim Butcher - The Dresden Files: Basically the World of Darkness with ~~all~~ most of the depression, brooding, doom and gloom replaced with badass, humour and a pinch of noir detective. Follow the young wizard/private investigator Harry Dresden through his misadventures in a supernatural world of Chicago, as he grows in power and fame, deals with ever increasing levels of supernatural horrors, get his life ruined to oblivion and beyond and yet manage to make it look cool rather then utterly depressing and sanity-check inducing by sheer will alone (OK, will and snarkiness).
Brandon Carbaugh - Deep Sounding: A two-part story written by a fa/tg/uy, dealing with themes of isolation in a Dwarven society. Consistently humorous and socially relevant.
Glen Cook - The Black Company: I can't remember the exact quote, but someone put it best when he said "it's a story about level 5-8 badasses trying to make it in a world dominated by epic level Wizards". Follow the mercenary entourage known as the Black Company as they sell their swords to the highest contractors, who usually end up being The Big Bad Evils. The first three books (now conveniently available as one book, "Chronicles of the Black Company") are good then things start to get weird.
Larry Correia - Monster Hunter International: In the modern world monsters of all kinds are out there. Stopping them from eating humanity are private groups of monster hunters who get paid very handsomely for removing the supernatural with superior firepower. As one would expect from an author with a background in running a gun store and competitive shooting, it's very /k/. A character's choice of firearm describes them as much as their clothes or hair and guns work as they're supposed to. The first book (which can be obtained as a free e-book) is enjoyable, but very rough, and the series improved dramatically each book. Features a writing style that improves dramatically when listened to as an audiobook.
- Grimnoir Chronicles: A separate series by the same author. Set in an alternate 1930s where a small (but constantly increasing) percentage of humanity has been born with super powers since at least the 1830s. While there's X-men style discrimination, it's largely in the background. The series is actually about how Japan is trying to use its research of Power to take over the world. The super power system is unique in that there are only about 30 documented Power types, with many just being lesser versions of other powers, and outside of a core handful everything else is rare but the creative and powerful can stretch the rules. The world has also had cultural and technological shifts as a result of Power instead of keeping it the same aside from their existence.
Steven R. Donaldson - Thomas Covenant: The first two series are the ones /tg/ has read; there's a (much) more recent series that ostensibly wraps it all up, plus some outtakes (like "Gilden-Fire") that SRD refactored as shortstories. The titular character nuzzled the wrong armadillo apparently so is a leper. In the story he gets isekai'ed; driven with self-hatred and a refusal to compromise, he does horrible things but anyway has to defeat the BBEG named, we shit you not, "Lord Foul". Massive influence on Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed oeuvre (particularly) so we gotta note it. The Ansible #46 article "Well-Tempered Plot Device" hilariously described these two series as "so flatulent you have to be careful not to squeeze it in a public place"; publisher Lester Del Rey is rumoured (Ansible #50) to have disliked the series too, but (correctly) judged the (mid 1970s) moment as good to release some fantasy any fantasy. SRD wrote some other fantasy and SF; only fans of the Covenant books went on to buy those, but they number enough to maintain Donaldson's alimony payments. Characters get forcibly boned in those stories too.
Steven Erikson - Malazan Book of the Fallen: An enormous read that stretches across over three million words and ten books, Erikson's worldbuilding rivals anybody else in the genre, with a large focus on the many different cultures, how they rose, and then how they fell. Can be overwhelming at times due to the sheer number of simultaneous plotlines and a large, perhaps even bloated, cast. Very much the definition of epic fantasy, the level of power at play swings fairly wildly depending on which set of characters is being focused on at the time, from assassins fighting upon rooftops, to flying castles being crashed into cities, and then back to the oft-humorous exploits of a group of mostly mundane soldiers that is reminiscent of Glen Cook's Black Company. In all, a story full of engaging personalities exploring a supremely fantastical world, with all the hallmarks of classic fantasy, elves, dragons, gods, and wizards, given a unique spin.
Raymond E. Feist - The Riftwar Cycle: A 30 book epic written over the course of three decades, The Riftwar Cycle starts off as the story of a boy learning how to be a wizard, only to save the world by the end of the debut novel, Magician. After this the series evolves into an epic spanning multiple generations of characters (but roughly half focusses on the initial cast) fighting to protect their world from internal political strife and malevolent external forces. Grew to be a lot more cosmic in scale in the last eight or so books, and the ending was kind of a lacklustre business. The classical fantasy races are not the focus here: the dwarves and elves get along just fine, and while there's dragons, serpent folk and dark elves (the latter of whom are Native American inspired), it's mostly about humans and their struggles. The series is divided into ten sagas, with the best one being the Empire trilogy which tells the tale of the chronologically six first book from the perspective of the antagonists in a beautiful tale of loyalty, honour, politics and love. Was also Neal Hallford's inspiration for Betrayal at Krondor, a Dynamix / Sierra vidja that is held in high esteem in some circles. Not enough circles, apparently; since Hallford's remaster proposal didn't get funded.
Neil Gaiman - American Gods, The Graveyard Book, Neverwhere, Sandman, etc.: He's a damn entertaining writer, known for his unique and well fleshed out ideas. There's something here for everyone, from the Noblebright Stardust to the fairly grim and pretty dark Sandman comics. American Gods, however, is the one he's best remembered by, which is a story about physical manifestations of IRL gods fighting a losing war against globalisation, mass media and technology. There's also a part where a man is swallowed whole by a woman's vagina.
Jane Gaskell - The Atlan Saga: A series of gloriously cheesy fantasy novels from the 60s that combine all the best elements of pulp with post-modernism. The misadventures of a heiress to Atlantis empire in the prehistoric world where various myths - and genre cliches - are all true. It's the last big thing in the genre that didn't try to copy-cat Lord of the Rings, so worth reading for originality alone, along with being what shaped various cliches regarding Atlantis ever since.
William Goldman - The Princess Bride: The book the famous movie was based on. Has a couple of twists and details left out of the movie, usually for good reasons. Still worth reading, though.
Michael John Harrison - Viriconium: A truly peculiar set of novels and short stories dedicated to put traditional world building on its head, by never making sure if the stories are happening between the same characters, in the same place or same time. A very open-ended to interpretation "setting", which is also a great exercise to how tell a story without overburdening anyone with details and in the same time providing all the important elements to keep audience (readers or players) invested and interested.
Robin Hobb - The Farseer Trilogy and The Liveship Traders: First is a story of a royal bastard's horrible upbringing as an assassin. Second is a story of magical sailing ships that talk, dragons, pirates, rape, 14 year old girl overcoming terrible misfortune. It has it all. (Please note the following two sets of books in the series are a little average compared to these two). The endings of the books in the second series are a little pat, but are still entertaining.
Robert E. Howard - Conan the Barbarian: Conan the Barbarian was born from this quill. A seminal pulp classic which could be considered the father of sword and sorcery.
Ursula K LeGuin - Earthsea Cycle+: Threads about /tg/-approved literature will consistently end up having a poster say something to the effect of "no Sea Jedi Wizard Chronicles WTF" about halfway down, immediately being followed by a chorus of agreement. Needless to say, this series is an excellent one, little-known but surprisingly influential. It's the series that established the concepts of the concept of nominal magic as understood in modern fantasy literature: names of power in the language of magic are spoken to exert power over the person, place, thing or idea that name refers to. Later, less-respectable novels such as those by Christopher Paolini would abuse this concept for fun and profit. Sadly, such novels seldom strive to equal the actual accomplishments of the Earthsea novels, such as the successful building and display of a rich, believable, and internally consistent setting without letting any of the world building bog down the narrative like in LotR.
Fritz Leiber - Swords and Deviltry, et al.: A runaway momma's boy and a failed magician's apprentice lose everything and become thieves in Lankhmar, centre of civilization and debauchery. They are Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser:, swordsmen supreme, insatiable adventurers, womanizers unequalled, and bros of the highest calibre. Together, they plunder the world of riches, bitches, and wine, while facing magic and horror of a decidedly cosmic sort. Another Appendix N staple.
C.S. Lewis - The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe: Oxford don retells the Johannine Passion, but in Oz-expy Narnia. Our man is inferior (even) to Baum as a worldbuilder, but very good as characterbuilder - for the characters Edward, Lucy, and (later) Eustace anyway. Series goes on like Star Wars forward and backward in time; ends with Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies except older sister Susan, whom NekoJesus blows off. Neil Gaiman will whiteknight "Professor Hastings" in "The Problem of Susan".
Charles De Lint - Someplace to be Flying and Trader, Pretty much all of his books, you can't really miss: Most of the books seem to be set in Canada and revolve around Gypsy folklore and Native American spiritual stuff with urban settings. Don't get attached to characters.
George R. R. Martin - A Song of Ice and Fire: Some of the better character development in genre, with a bit of mystery, political chess and high death rate. Tends to drag at times, and since the release of the HBO series will be consistently overrated by those who've seen little else. Noted for Tolkien-envy.
Michael Moorcock - Elric series (and so many others) An iconic author, albeit considering the number of books he has written, very hit and miss. Elric is his most popular character. Stick to the collected sets Stealer of Souls or Stormbringer as a starting point though. Remember that Elric is first an foremost an icon for heavy metal, so adjust your expectations accordingly. Noted for really fucking hating Tolkien.
Terry Pratchett - Discworld series: Starts from parodying Fantasy as a genre, soon turns to far beyond AWESOME. Rare combination of good humour and wise messages. Does get a little preachy towards the end, but hey, it's still a great read.
Patrick Rothfuss - The Name of the Wind: A mary sue bard goes on mary sue adventures (arguably an unreliable narrator) - world building may be weak but it's a fun read, so enough people on /tg/ have read it to count, even though nobody will praise it.
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter: Love it or hate it (and there are things to hate, especially where the author herself is concerned) this series is a big part of the collective fantasy consciousness, especially where normies are concerned. As such, if you want a tone that is easily familiar to those unfamiliar with fantasy in general, or children, this is not a bad place to start. At best, they're pretty readable books; at worst, they're thoroughly mediocre and derivative as all hell. At the very least, you'll look less of a neckbeard knowing what a Muggle is. MAIN BOOKS ONLY.
Andrzej Sapkowski - The Witcher (especially the short stories): While the Witcher saga is just getting more bland and increasingly more generic with each following part, the two initial books collecting all the short stories (especially "Sword of Destiny") are the reason why everyone treated Witcher as unique and original. Tonnes of wacky ideas how to spin cliches and old tropes into something fresh. Reading the saga proper is not required and generally not advised, especially with wooden English translation.
- Alternatively, the later saga can be read for precisely what it is routinely bashed for. Starting from "Baptism of Fire", it turns into an unapologetic "you all met in the forest reserve and your party is tasked with retrieving a lost princess" campaign. If read with such mindset, it's pretty good after-campaign report, including random hijinks, new players joining half-way through and bunch of party in-jokes about the situation at hand.
J.R.R. Tolkien - The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and anything else he wrote (eg; the Silmarillion): The great grand-daddy of modern fantasy. Not having even the slightest familiarity with his work is inexcusable in eyes of /tg/.
Karl Edward Wagner - Kane series: Essentially a more grimdark version of Howard's style of sword and sorcery, Kane is more akin to a villain that Conan would fight than the "noble savage" barbarian archetype. Immortal and cursed with the inability to ever truly settle down, Kane is an expert fighter, leader of men and potent sorcerer. After thousands of years his only real goal is to stave off boredom, which he does by offering his services and considerable intellect to various rulers, although more often than not with an ulterior motive. In one story he sets out to revive a race of ancient cosmic horrors simply because they offered him a chance to explore the cosmos.
Gene Wolfe - The Book of the New Sun: The setting is inspired by Jack Vance's Dying Earth series (itself lifting from Clark Ashton Smith), so this could be either in SF or Fantasy. A torturer is exiled from his guild and old life after he helps kill the woman he loves to spare her from the agony of torture, now forced to journey through Urth; our Earth in the far, far, far future, in a time when our sun is beginning to die. These books do not make for easy reading, however. The author uses lots of very obscure words to create the worlds own unique lingo. Also, the main character is an unreliable narrator of the more extreme sort. The reader will be spending some time figuring out what are the truths and what are the lies.
Roger Zelazny - The Chronicles of Amber: A lesser known series (although it's in Appendix N too) written between 1970 and 1991 about a family of (essentially) demigods who inhabit the "true" reality of the city of Amber. Everything else is merely a shadow of Amber and its inhabitants. The princes and princesses can move freely between Amber and an infinite number shadow worlds but the constant plotting and backstabbing at home and the less-than-real nature of everything outside makes them callous and often amoral. The first book effortlessly turns from "hard boiled detective story" to "psychedelic road trip" to "drama about Greek gods" in style.
Tad Williams - Shadowmarch series, Memory Sorrow and Thorn series, War of the Flowers - A somewhat lesser known american author in comparison to J.R.R.Martin that manages to put out a crapton of fantasy ranging from good to gotta-keep-reading-to-see-what-happens-next-omg. Does mostly high fantasy but tries to avery most cliches of the genre by giving them a new spin though still keeping within the bounds of the genre's comfort zone (so you won't see elves as space aliens or dwarves as octopus cannibals).

Science Fiction

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Douglas Adams - The Increasingly Inaccurately Named Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy: One of the funniest works of science fiction ever made, although you could count it as the first. The precursor to all comedy stories about everyday people having to deal with the absurdly massive and meaningless universe around them. Grab your towel, make a fresh cuppa, and make sure you've got enough tape to keep your sides from splitting too much.
Neal Asher - The Gridlinked Series: Some of the best, hardest sci-fi out there, this is one of those universes that has unique, creative technologies (rare nowadays)as well as 007...EEEN SPESSS
Isaac Asimov - Foundation Series: The seminal space opera modelled roughly on the decline of the Roman Empire. It follows the fall of a Galactic Empire and the rise of a new civilization from the ashes.
Paolo Bacigalupi - Pump Six and Other Stories: Biopunk meet post-apo and hefty dose of shady business. Think Shadowrun, minus the magic.
Iain M. Banks - The Culture Series: A series about a perfect, utopian spacefaring society and all its many problems. Some of the grandest-scale worldbuilding in science fiction, and full of clever ethical and political musing.
Stephen Baxter - The Xeelee Sequence: For those for whom Donaldson just isn't rapey enough, Baxter is here to scratch that itch. Backdrop is the cosmic war between the Xeelee and the dark-matter entities "Photino Birds". Starts with The Ring. Baxter wrote a lot of other crap too, like Proxima and Stone Spring/Bronze Summer; likewise full of nasty. We'd rather not discuss this stuff either but Xeelee has its stans on /tg/: this entry is dedicated to you, as long as you read it outside a 500 yard radius from a school.
David Brin - The Postman: First novel to present post apocalypse not from the point of view of badass heroes or insane raiders, but random villagers and such. Great world building for a very small world. Has infamous film "adaptation", sharing only title.
Edgar Rice Burroughs - the Barsoom Series-aka Mars Chronicles and the Pellucidar Series: Iconic, manly, and fuckin' A! This guy also did Tarzan and a whole slew of other works that would go on to inspire other manly stories, chiefly Conan the Barbarian and most of the knockoffs thereof.
Glen Cook - The Dragon Never Sleeps: Basically an EVE Online novel written decades before EVE Online. Was supposed to be a trilogy but the publisher wouldn't okay sequels so it gets rushed at the end. Not as iconic as The Black Company, but this is in SPAAAAAAACCCCEEEE!!!!!!!
James S. A. Corey - The Expanse series Bar the intentionally fantastical elements it provides ~~a fairly grounded~~ muh gritty realism version of near future space exploration. Some fantastic characters and stories, but as the main plot goes, slowly turns into a generic space opera-western mix. Got an unapproved TV show adaptation that ignores all the good stuff, while taking the worst aspects of the books and runs wild with them.
Harlan Ellison - I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream: The last five humans alive are being held deep in an underground complex, where they are perpetually tortured by AM, the sadistic AI that wiped out the rest of humanity, with no hope of escape. The most creepy thing in this book is that the author thought it was optimistic. If he someday went to wrote something pessimistic, the universe would implode from the sheer grimdark overdose.
Philip Jose Farmer - The Riverworld Series: A group of dead people from many different time periods, including Richard Burton, Hermann Göring, Tullus of Rome and Mark Twain wake up on an alien planet and have to survive. Very fun read with interesting character interactions.
Robert A. Heinlein: A god among hard-SF / adventure-SF / military-SF, until he became a dirty old man. Stick with his 1940s-60s work.
- Glory Road: An homage to John Carter of Mars about a badass Vietnam Veteran who travels to another planet act as a champion to an alien queen in her war against rebels. It features an interesting deconstruction of Portal Fantasy/Isekai genre.
- Starship Troopers: Where Space Marines and Tyranids came from. Started as one of his "juvenile" stories; got rejected as it stood, resold to the adult market which then made its author very, very rich. Roboute Guilliman keeps a copy in his duffel. Got a Verhoeven movie rife with skub: partly because it plays it cute whether it's satirizing the book's (idealized) society, or recruiting for same; mostly because waaah where's my power armor.
Frank Herbert - Dune & its earlier sequels: World-building, politics, super-humans - it's one helluva party. The spice must flow! ~~Navigators are totally not stolen from Dune~~ *BLAM*. Avoid anything written by his son, though, it's pure garbage.
Aldous Huxley - Brave New World: Take 1984, and do the total opposite the way people are controlled (rather than punishing bad behavior, it's rewarding good behavior) mixed with a Tau-esque genetically enforced caste system and conditioning to make people embrace their servitude.
Stanisław Lem - Tales Of Pirx the Pilot: Collection of short stories documenting gradual progress of humanity in space exploration and AI development. Nice deconstruction of all the shitty elements from space opera, before there even was space opera.
Andri Magnason - LoveStar: Equal parts biting satire and bittersweet love story, set in a bizarre future (think equal part of Brave New World, corporate dystopia and high-concept sci-fi). It's the humour and creative application of own setting and its rules that makes it helpful for worldbuilding that amounts to anything more than just trivia.
Walter M. Miller, Jr. - A Canticle for Leibowitz In the grim darkness of the far future there is only Catholicism. Think Fallout meets Catholic Church and you wouldn't be too far off.
Larry Niven: Very prolific author although sometimes a coauthor, notably with Jerry Pournelle. His best stuff is SF; like Heinlein, he's an American Cold-Warrior.
- Known Space especially Ringworld: many, many stories are set in this future setting. Features FtL travel, several alien races living and dead, and deep lore from the far past. There's a war with catgirls called Kzinti, which events Niven has let other authors write. The Ringworld is a Dyson sphere on the cheap: instead of wrapping the entire sun, "only" the inhabitable orbital ring is built up, above the stellar rotational equator (but by WHAT?!). MUCH influence on /v/ came from this cycle, from Star Control to Halo. For /tg/ it's mostly such space-exploration and -combat systems as are not so grimdark.
- Footfall: Remember kids: if at first your nukes don't kill the xeno, just use more. Also 'The Magic Goes Away' is good for DnD while technically not fantasy.
George Orwell - 1984, Animal Farm: WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH! FOUR LEGS GOOD! TWO LEGS ~~BAD~~ BETTER!
Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson - The Illuminatus! Trilogy: /x/ the book, and a cult classic in every sense of the word. Once you get used to the massively cheesy tone, what you'll find here is an intelligent and fun series of books that are both a parody and a send up to: 70s counterculture, Western esotericism, political and religious dogma, numerology, and conspiracy theories.
Robert Sheckley - short stories: once dubbed the clown prince of sci-fi, recommended by Douglas Adams.
John Steakley - Armor
Charles Stross - Missile Gap: While Stross is most famous for his Laundry Files (basically collection of Delta Green shorts, which are all worth reading too), Missile Gap is just mind-numbing novella about entire Earth being transported on an Alderson disk... or maybe a snapshot of Earth... or maybe both. All right in the middle of the Cuban Crisis. Think "Primer" meet Tom Clancy techno-thriller. In his youth Stross was an old-school fa/tg/uy, submitting stuff to Fiend Factory of varying quality and no originality; although, as a result, we have him to thank for translating George Martin's githyanki into 1e game stats.
H.G. Wells - The War of the Worlds and Time Machine: Absolute classics. Not knowing them is akin to being illiterate, while they can be used for all sorts of games.

Horror

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Alternate History

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Mystery

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Historical Fiction

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Robert Bolt - The Mission: A journey of a young boy into becoming a murder-hobo and then trying to repent his sins as a missionary, taking place in 1740s Paraguay. But more seriously, it's about the Jesuits and their mission in a patch of land contested between Spain and Portugal, with great, nuanced characters caught up in a conflict they can't even hope to win. Mostly famous for its movie adaptation with de Niro and Irons and cutting the entire backstory which made the book worth reading in the first place.
Tom Clancy - The Hunt for Red October: The quintessential techno-thriller, being one of the hallmarks of the entire genre and probably the most famous of all Clancy's book. Tightly written, with plausible story and great characters.
Bernard Cornwell - Sharpe: A series of books following Richard Sharp as he rises through the ranks of the British Army during the first few decades of the 1800s (the bulk of it set during the Napoleonic Wars). More commonly known by its great TV series, staring Sean Bean. Most fans of historical and Napoleonic-era wargames will recognise the green riflemen of the 95th Regiment with fondness, due to Sharpe.
Cormac McCarthy - Blood Meridian: The most highly regarded work by the guy who brought you No country for old Men and The Road (which are excellent books in their own right with great movie adaptations). Set during the middle of the 19th century in the southern United States, it follows the exploits of "The Kid" who joins what is essentially a band of Murderhobos to terrorize the prairie and hunt Indians. In that sense, it doesn't sound like anything special, until you count in the fact that the group is possibly led by the devil himself in the form of Judge Holden, who manages to be one of the most frightening antagonists in all of fiction. Superhuman in almost every regard, he leads the group on to ever greater acts of depravity that would make Khorne and Slaneesh uneasy. Violence in all its incarnations is the books main feature and you should stay away if you can't stomach that kind of thing. It is in fact so jaw-droppingly violent that every movie adaptation attempted has failed because of it. The famous literary critic Harold Bloom had to start the book over three times because he couldn't handle it. After he managed to finish it, he dubbed the book the second greatest American novel ever written, with only Moby Dick being slightly better.
C.S. Forester - Horatio Hornblower: A series of books following Horatio Hornblower as he rises through the ranks of the Royal Navy from the late 1700’s through the early 1800’s. Has a TV series adaptation free off YouTube if books aren’t your thing.
George MacDonald Fraser - Flashman: Ever wondered what happened to Flashy from Tom Brown's Schooldays? (Did you even read Tom Brown's Schooldays?) Here's the VERY unauthorised spinoff you never knew you needed. A little on the nose for Yanks these days, as Fraser pants Kipling and all his fellow Victorian-era adventurers, starting at - you guessed it - Afghanistan. Meanwhile Flashy pants a lot of women, runs away from their irate siblings and husbands, and generally tries to save his own wretched skin.
Homer - The Iliad: One of the oldest pieces of historical fiction. Trojan prince steals a Greek king's wife and all of Greece comes for revenge. For a long time considered complete fiction, but excavations and analysis suggest at least at a concept level Homer's epic is based on real war, even if the details got obscured or lost over hundreds of years of oral tradition. Not /tg/-relevant in of itself, barring this or that citation from the Archaic-era mythology at the time; but its legacy will be vitally relevant, as we'll see in the Mythology section later.
Allan Mallinson - Matthew Hervey series: If Captain Aubrey was the pinnacle of Napoleonic naval escapades then the career of Matthew Hervey is the pinnacle of life in the cavalry regiments of the time. A series of 14 splendid novels, the level of detail is tremendous, touching on many of the equestrian and veterinarian aspects of cavalry upkeep and warfare that is presented in a much more manly fashion than what passes for horse-care in those sappy teen's novels. Also helps that the author was a bona-fide military officer of the (Queen Mary's Own) Royal Hussars. If you've ever wondered how the fuck the armies of the 19th century could maintain so much cavalry and how those regiments lived, this is the series for you.
Brian Moore - Black Robe: A French Jesuit on his perilous quest to reach a remote mission, helped by distrusting Algonquian guides and crossing with them the bleak, frozen hell that is pre-colonial Ontario. The novel combines two elements that make it worth reading: it is well-researched on all covered subjects, creating a very handy panorama of 17th century Canada, and, more importantly, it puts a nice spin on the generic "travel up-stream through all sort of dangers" plot to make it interesting. The film adaptation is also approved.
Patrick O'Brian - Aubrey–Maturin series: A series of 21 nautical historical novels, set during the Napoleonic Wars and centering on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and his ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin. Almost autistically well-researched and amazingly addictive series which should be read by just about anyone even wishing to run a maritime-themed game. They are really addictive, so make sure you have enough time to spare before starting reading. The film adaptation is also approved.
Neal Stephenson - The Baroque Cycle: Adventures of a really big cast of characters living amidst of the central events of the late 17th and early 18th centuries in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Central America. Extremely well-researched portray of the era, seamlessly blending history with fictional characters. And a real door-stopper.
Robert Louis Stevenson - Treasure Island: If by any chance or twist of fate you still didn't read it, you damn should right now. Absolute classic and absolute gold mine for ideas, not even for pirate game, but just adventuring in general.
Mika Waltari - The Egyptian, The Etruscan: The Egyptian follows the life of a fictional egyptian Sinuhe living in the New Kingdom period and witnessing the upheaval that monotheism and war with Hittites bring to the ordered Egypt. The Etruscan does the same for Turms, an amnesiac hero set in the time of Greco-Persian Wars and the beginnings of the Roman Republic. In both novels the protagonists tour the known world and give insight to ancient cultures and their own societies while also exploring deep topics such as the nature of humanity (Egyptian) and the relationship with the divine (Etruscan). Waltari was recognised and lauded by the historians at the time for spending autistic-levels of time researching the cultures he was writing about and even though ancient archaeology and historiography have advanced by leaps and bounds the books are still valid insights into the Bronze Age|Bronze and Iron Age|Iron age worlds.
Kawabata Yasunari - The Master of Go: The story of a brash young power gamer challenging a grizzled old neckbeard to a championship Go match. Chronicles the national-scale edition war that was 1930s Japan through the medium of gaming obsessed hyper-autists.

Weird Stuff

This is for things which may not strictly be the best stuff but have some off beat noteworthy qualities which might make it worth a look regardless. Sometimes "flawed but novel" can beat "generally good but run of the mill".

Mythology

SF/F, classical style.

The Epic of Gilgamesh: The original Conan, gettin' bitches and slayin' witches since 1800BC, baby. The story of Gilgamesh (no shit; might have been Bilgamesh originally), a demi-god ~~Babylonian~~ Sumerian (big difference) king who the gods continually try to beat down and/or kill because he's just that fucking awesome. He's also a HUUUUUUGE dick. Eventually meets his best bro for life Enkidu and they go on fuckin' sick adventures. Unfortunately some parts of the story are lost.
The Odyssey: Sequel to Homer's Iliad, possibly by a fan adopting that name. Odysseus, hero of the Trojan War with many cameos in the Iliad, has to go home to his wife - but he's in no hurry. Runs through many adventures before finally getting there; his wife somehow had stayed more loyal than he had. Many C.S. Lewis and then D&D monsters got aired here first. [Also] in Iliad / Odyssey fanfic may be included the Cypria and the Aeneid; Argonautica, concerning Jason's earlier voyage to the Black Sea, further had much influence from this book.
Beowulf: Not the English national epic, as Tollers noted; it belongs to the Geats, a now-dead tribe of para-Swedes. Beowulf rips Grendel's arm off, then goes down to kill his mum. Beowulf is killed, himself, by a dragon. Somehow got translated into Old Anglo-Saxon, sprinkled with an ultrathin veneer of Christianity, and copied; long enough for the English to find it again.
The Poetic Edda: A historical source, the Poetic Edda provides most of the basis for what we know about norse myth and belief today. The mere fact that it's Viking myth poetry written in Old Norse should entice most fa/tg/uys, but for those somehow unmoved still, it's basically THE sourcebook for the Lord of the Rings and all else Tolkien. If you want to know where Gandalf (who is basically Odin), Dwarves (and their names), Elves, the phrase "Middle Earth" and that obsession he has for massive trees came from, then look no further. Also, pick up a copy of the Prose Edda while your reading this one, seeing as you're on a roll. Features a now-confirmed-to-AD-1022 visit to Newfoundland ("Markland"), whence the Norse bugged out in a generation because who the fuck wants to spend more time in Noof than one has to.
Der Nibelunge liet: A ring is found at the Rhine; a dragon (Fafnir, for Wagner) finds it; dragon gets BTFOed by one Siegfried who is then corrupted himself. Written around AD 1200 by a High German, that is high up in Bavaria; with many parallels to similar stories in the Edda far north. Deemed too pagan for the Renaissance-era Germans, lost in the ensuing religious wars; rediscovered 1755 and became the national epic... for better or worse. Wagner's /pol/-approved take (Fafnir is a greedy dwarf, becomes that dragon) pulls more from the Norse. That's the one wherein wabbits are killed.
Kullervo: Some Finnish nationalist figured, how come we don'ts gots a mythology. So he made one - the Kalevala - but with even MORE grimdark and incest. JRR Tolkien edited a rendition of the Kullervo subset and, further, both he and Moorcock independently(?) took inspiration for their own antiheroes with magic souldraining swords, Turin and Elric respectively.

History / Philosophy

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Julius Caesar - Commentaries on the Gallic War: If you study Latin, this is the first full text you'll be assigned to translate (same goes for Xenophon if you're learning Greek). Caesar wrote this autobiography of his campaign in Gaul to bolster his support among the only so-so literate plebs, and as a result it avoids using big, confusing words. On the flip-side, this makes it dreadfully dry and boring at times. Still, if you want to have the Roman experience, it's mandatory read.
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra - The Ingenious Nobleman Mister Quixote of La Mancha: The misadventures of an old man driven to madness by reading chivalry novels, being the first major parody of the classic interpretation of that setting. Mixing comedy and a ton of political commentary for its time, it's one of the most important novels of all time, and the elements and tropes it brought to popular culture are referenced and satirized to this day.
Marcus Tullius Cicero - De Re Publica: A political dialogue, explaining all the virtues of Roman Republic. Survived only partially and in short-hands, but still makes a compelling read about "ideal" (and most definitely not idealised into absurdity) state of Roman politics and political machine, along with all the machinations gradually leading to the Republic turning into the Empire. An obligatory read for all Romanboos.
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli - The Prince: This guy seems to be very underrated in popular culture, and its name is often used as a pejorative term, sometimes as twisted or evil. But this guy only wrote some sort of historical summary of how previous governments around the world have risen to power, how they handled it, and how they lost it all. It's just a guide of how you should rule your kingdom. You totally won't find Skub here. There is a later version of the book with additional commentary by Napoléon Bonaparte, which is naturally the preferred version. A major influence on Camarilla of Vampire: The Masquerade (note the name of their leaders).
Antonio Pigafetta - Journal of Magellan's Voyage: A historical account of the first circumnavigation of the globe. Aside obvious historical value, it's worth to note Pigafetta wasn't an explorer himself or a member of the crew - he was a tourist, joining the expedition for the thrill of adventure and described everything from such perspective. Provides a lot of nautical and ethnographical observations, creating a panorama for Age of Discovery.
Sunzi - The Art of War: The Codex Astartes of ancient China dating back to the Spring and Autumn period. Essentially a "How to Wage Wars for Dummies" guidebook and trivial from modern perspective - which doesn't stop people from gushing how brilliant it is and making it one of the most mis-quoted books in human literature. Most editions contain more commentaries than there is actual Sun Tzu writing in them.
Publius Cornelius Tacitus - The Annals: A Roman historical account of the time from Augustus' death in 14 AD. to the reign of Emperor Nero. Although fragmented as hell (as the overwhelming majority of ancient literature is), it is one of the most important sources on how the Roman Empire survived and gained permanency after its charismatic founder Octavian-Augustus died. It is generally regarded as being one of the finest works of Roman history that has survived, as well as containing one of the only extra-biblical accounts of Jesus, alongside the writings of Flavius Josephus. Tacitus is especially appreciated for his penetrating insights into power politics, so think of him as a proto-Machiavelli in far more readable prose.
Thucydides - History of the Peloponnesian War: Happens right before The Anabasis, covering roughly two decades of warfare between Athens and Sparta, in varying degrees of detail depending on the sources Thucydides had access to at the time (he was exiled from Athens and switched sides mid-war). Trails off at the end, presumably he died writing it. Basically the oldest human text in existence that is regarded as a historical account to be taken at face value, and it inspired many other leaders such as Xenophon and later Julius Caesar to write accounts of their own deeds.
Xenophon - The Anabasis: Another historical account, this time of the journey of 10,000 Greek mercenaries (hence the other title - The March of the Ten Thousand) who end up stranded in the middle of Persian Empire after their employer, Cyrus the Younger, got killed in the battle. Problem is, Cyrus was trying to overthrown his brother, king Artaxerxes II, using said Greeks. So now they are in the middle of hostile territory, with no means to resupply, no support and constantly endangered by Persian military and tributary locals. Due to Xenophon's writing style, the book is highly entertaining and action-packed, while also providing countless descriptions of both Greek and Persian customs. And if you wonder why the plot sounds familiar - you probably saw "The Warriors".

Shunned/Hated

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Marion Zimmer Bradley: We're just going to drop this name in here.
Terry ~~Good~~Badkind - The Sword of Truth: An infamous series full of Terry's magical realm BDSM, utterly gratuitous rape and torture (Terry's cheap/lazy method of making his main characters look better by comparison), and "heroes" we're supposed to arbitrarily like no matter what horrible things they do. Badkind himself having nothing but contempt for the entire fantasy genre while bragging about how he is a "serious" novelist and packing the later books with his stupid Ayn Ranting (even when it contradicted previous fucking events) did him no favours.
Stephanie Meyer - Twilight: ...Have you been on the internet? The series that single-handedly killed an entire style of modern fantasy vampire for an entire generation of fantasy fans who aren't sexually-frustrated housewives and/or hormone-addled teenage girls. Though it's a bit old hat to bring up the series with any seriousness, doing so will irritate the scars of bitter neckbeards.
John Norman - Gor (John Norman): A cheap knockoff of Barsoom and Conan made notable (as the series goes on) for having a lot of half baked philosophizing, skeevy BSDM stuff and a ton of fucked up ideas about gender, slavery and sex. In brief a bunch of bug aliens make a zoo full of humans to live "as nature intended" as misogynistic slaving barbarians and make sure of it by incinerating anyone who attempts to develop technology or societies they don't approve of with laser beams. Which they sometimes do to whole cities just for the lulz. Also for spawning one of the original obnoxious apologist Internet subcultures, the Goreans. Spread to Second Life, so go there if you want to burn your brain. There was a hilariously bad 1980s movie done by someone who clearly had not read the books.
Christopher Paolini - The Inheritance Series: A Mary Sue main character and a derivative plot. It was written when Paolini was a teenager and it shows. Every single book could stand to lose at least a third of its wordcount and there are lot of times when the plot grinds to a halt for entire chapters just for the characters to think and ramble about the most inane of topics. Less offensive than other stuff on this list since it lacks traits such as bootlick fans and an asshole author. The author also put a decent amount of effort into his worldbuilding which is more than can be said for Badkind and Smeyer. If you must, start in book two and read his cousin's story, he is a farm boy who was getting his dick wet while struggling with a hostile father-in-law, until the civil war reached his hometown and his betrothed is whisked away by humanoid bug-birds, he then murders 200 people with a hammer and deals with PTSD.

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