***

Started with The Magicians, by J.B. Priestley

A middle-aged manager of an industrial enterprise gets replaced. He is a man of the production side of the business, he can do anything. The substitute is a younger man with a financial background. The protagonist decides to leave the company and cash in the stock he owns, instead of remaining in a subordinate position. He remains unmarried and has no dependents. What will he do with his life now, he still does not know. But it seems that he is to receive a visit...

So far, engrossing prose and excellent handling of the upper managerial class in speech and behaviour. The fantastic is to arrive. Priestley is a master of using the fantastic to tell real world truth. Which is the business of good literature: telling the truth by means of a made up story.

Wider die Geistphobie in der digitalen Welt by Winfried D’Avis

Animal Farm

I recently re-read the 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis De Sade. I think it not being finished works in it's favor, as the detailled and redundant descriptions in the first part can get sort of tedious at times.

The man in the high castle - Philip K. Dick

What's the point about reading something like that? Is there anything more to it than a repellent sadist fantasy about rape and torture?

I find Sade novels interesting because they sort of transcend genres (gothic, pornography, surrealism, horror, philosophy, comedy) and think completely out of the box. It's like reading the ramblings of a logically coherent madman who uses the most hyperbolic descriptions imaginable. It's difficult to describe the unique vibe to people not interested in those novels, but the fairly gruesome imagery is only one of many parts which together create a fairly novel appeal.

Since you haven't read his material i should probably give you a more concrete example of what i'm talking about. Reading Sade feels like having a conversation with Sade. He refers to you as "my friendly reader" and explains upfront that he is going to put the "600 passions" in the framework of a story instead of just listing them because he wants to provide you with entertainment. He also regularly apologizes for tediously redundant descriptions (and praises you for continuing to read through them) and ensures that you will eventually notice the importance of the nuances. Additionally, he asks the readers not to judge him for describing things that they might not like, instead he is explaining to them that he is not different to a cook serving 600 meals.

So all in all Sade treats the reader in the most respectful and flattering way while at the same time describing everything from bizarre fetishes to extremely refined cruelty. It's quite a trip.

Jacy Morris The Drop

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Drop-Jacy-Morris-ebook/dp/B08669S617

A post apocalyptic novel, where the apocalypse was caused by the release of a boy band album, which contained an audio enhancement that caused mass suicide.
The story is told via a reporters investigation into the apocalypse and includes excerpts from fanzines, social media etc.

A very novel take on the genre.

A Stitch in Time
The last of the Deep Space Nine books is worth a lot on E-bay. It's about Garak, the Cardassian Tailor Assassin and his correspondence with Dr. Julian Bashir about his life. I find it quite good for a Star Trek book, though admittedly, it is my first Star Trek book. I've already purchased some more acclaimed Star Trek books and I hope they are just as good.

There's very, very few which come close to A Stitch in Time. The Lives of Dax, maybe, but that's about it from my PoV.
The early New Frontier novels were notable, too, though certainly no literary masterpieces. Invasion!, the Section 31 novels, New Earth and the Millennium trilogy also still stand out as doing interesting things, but I wouldn't recommend any of them in their own right.

As you can tell, I used to be a voracious Star Trek novel reader. I abandoned that after the Gateways series was capped off with a hardcover, and I had to wait a year to read the cliffhanger-endings to six previous paperback books.
Hadn't realized they'd stopped publishing new DS9 (e.a., looks like) novels right around the same time, nor that some of those books are now collector's items!

Thanks for the recommendation. Dax is one of the more interesting characters, to me. I've also purchased books recommended from each Star Trek. I've got a 1/3 of the books on this list: https://best-sci-fi-books.com/25-best-star-trek-books/

Izmadi is intriguing because Troi and Riker aren't some of my favorite characters and yet the book is 1st on the list of recommendations. So I'm thinking to give it a try.

Peoples replies on here!

Blood, Sweat, and Pixels:
The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made
by Jason Schreier