Guilty Pleasures.

[TransformersFan]

What are some of the trashiest novels you've read that you actually enjoyed?

For me, Ive read the novelization of the first Resident Evil game, and I read the Independence Day movie novel. Shame.

You?

[The Zapper]

I have to admit that I too enjoyed the first Resident Evil novel. I don't know, I just found it cool how it tied in a lot of the game.

[Nstar83]

Any Anita Blake Novel from OBsidian Butterfly an on ward in the series.I don't find a character having sex every five minutes with another supporting cast member a plot at all.The books have become erotica for under sexed women.A plot device that makes the main character in a supernatural setting need to sleep around is my definition of Trashy.Horror/romance novels what ever sub genre can be well written an still make money for thier authors with alot less smut an more of a detailed plot an character development

[The Zapper]

I used to love the Anita Blake books. I got friends hooked on them, and then they turn into utter garbage:mad: :mad: At least she hadn't ruined Edward by the time I stopped reading. (ok, she wussed him up a little, but at least he wasn't banging anything that moved)

[Arvandor]

Read the actual post, people.

Trashy books you actually enjoyed.


For me, I guess it's the Forgotten Realms books. Cliched and shallow, but I love 'em nonetheless.

[Julusnc]

I have enjoyed the Mack Bolan series.The series is made up of over 200+ paperbacks and 20+ trade paperbacks so far.The series is good all American war fun....

I too was a Laurell K Hamilton fan but her books are now S& M books.

[Nstar83]

I was on topic they were trashy but i will go into detail an say that the last one in the series i got a hold of "Micah" focused more on plot then sex, granted it was a 200 pg mini novel but as of late only one sex scene in that many pages is diffenetly a reduction as compared to most books.I still enjoy the concept an I am givnig the next book a chance to keep me as a reader if the current trend continues

[Athena Bast]

Kinley MacGregor/Sherrilyn Kenyon books.

Wheeeeeeee

And Diana Palmer cowboy stories.

[Buzz Dixon]

The Destroyer series (i.e. Remo Williams). Hilarious send-ups of the macho action genre.

[sun tzu]

Fanfictions.
About Care Bears.
Following the general plot lines of some of the Dragon Ball arcs.
That I co-wrote.

[TransformersFan]

on the topic of fanfiction (which may warrant it's own thread),I've read a few Transformers fanfiction. Some good, alot bad.

I really enjoyed the first 6 Carrier series novels by Keith Douglass. Im a sucker for Naval warfare novels, and this series was all that I wanted. Theyre a little dated now, what with no active Soviet carrier battle group, but nonetheless, alot of fun to read.

[Greg Hatcher]

After researching the subject for the last couple of weeks I've re-awakened my love for pulp fiction. This has been an on-and-off thing for me for the last thirty years, ever since the Doc Savage reprints from Bantam were all over the spinner racks. Lately I've discovered several cool new reprint series from this site (http://adventurehouse.com/) -- not only the ongoing anthology reprint book High Adventure, but also new reprint series of Doc Savage and the Shadow, with introductions by Anthony Tollin and Will Murray. I also have a couple of new Norvell Page Spider reprints coming from Amazon, and I just finished two of the original Lone Ranger novels Gaylord DuBois ghosted for Fran Striker. And I just picked up a bunch of stuff I'd read ABOUT but never actually got to READ before, like some of the Wu Fang stories and a collection of Johnston McCulley's original Zorro stories in facsimile pulp editions. None of this stuff is really within shouting distance of lit'ry merit. But that's the nightstand for the next few weeks. I do it in binges.

[Gordon Smith]

The Destroyer series (i.e. Remo Williams). Hilarious send-ups of the macho action genre.

Well, I don't actually feel guilty reading them. Objectively speaking, I know the literary value of these books is slight at best, but I am hopelessly addicted to them and have been for 35 years.

[Generic Eric]

The Piers Anthony Zanth books, Aliens novelizations of the first 3 comic book mini series and a few Werewolf The Apocalypse novels. Interview With a Vampire, The Vampire Lestat and the Queen Of The Damned. Yeah I read a few bad ones in my teenage years.

[i_mmmchocolate]

Cheesy romance novels taking place in medieval times.

[Michael P]

Cheesy romance novels taking place in medieval times.
I KNEW IT!

[Lester C.]

Janet Evonivich's work.:o

[Greg Hatcher]

I have enjoyed the Mack Bolan series.The series is made up of over 200+ paperbacks and 20+ trade paperbacks so far.The series is good all American war fun.


The Destroyer series (i.e. Remo Williams). Hilarious send-ups of the macho action genre.

I like the Destroyer better than Bolan but the honest truth is I will almost always give ANY numbered action series of books a look. That's how I discovered what pulp reprints were, back when the Bantam Doc Savages ruled the spinner racks. But I love a lot of the paperback-original series too, whether it's a series that eventually got respectable, like Travis McGee, or something you're embarrassed at getting caught with, like the Baroness. There's just something very comic-booky about all those series that I respond to.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fc/BaronessBook.jpg/364px-BaronessBook.jpg

[JeffreyWKramer]

I found the original EXECUTIONER series by Pendleton entertaining enough when I read them back in high school. They're repetitive, but they aren't completely awful, and Pendleton did include some real-world information about organized crime, based on pretty substantial research. They're not great fiction by any means, but they're better written than stuff like THE DA VINCI CODE. I haven't read any of the follow-up stuff.

I have no guilt at all about enjoying the DESTROYER books. I haven't followed the series for years, but they're fun, straight-forward action-adventure books.

Some of the other action series books, though... THE DEATH MERCHANT, THE PENETRATOR, etc. - I read a few of those and found them laughably bad, even back in high school.

I remember one of the DESTROYER volumes had Remo go up against a bunch of guys based on those other series. I don't remember the goofy names they were given, but I remember that part of the book was pretty funny.

[RickThunderclees]

Sue Grafton and Agatha Christie mysteries...........heh heh

[i_mmmchocolate]

I KNEW IT!
The last one I read a fantastical theme to it:

Left penniless after her parents' deaths, Meg Gillingham is in dire straits. Her landlord has threatened to throw her and her siblings into the winter streets unless she surrenders her young sister to his lechery. Reluctantly, she turns for help to her only legacy: a magic statue that will grant wishes--for a price...

Meg never expects the statue to bring her a marriage proposal, especially not one from a handsome earl. But Lord Saxonhurst lives amid dark secrets, and even as Meg delights in her seductive husband, she hestitates to trust him. Soon a villain will use her doubts to try to destroy their union and their lives. Now Meg must put her faith in another kind of magic-- the magic of love.

It's pure comedy gold.

[Wesley Dodds]

I loved those old Nintendo choose-your-own adventure books! Well, the Mario ones anyway. Didn't like Link when I was a kid.

And the Worlds of Power series wasn't half-bad either... Ah, I loved that Bionic Commando book. "How many times have you saved me life now, huh?" Too many times, buddy. Too many times.

[RickThunderclees]

I loved those old Nintendo choose-your-own adventure books! Well, the Mario ones anyway. Didn't like Link when I was a kid.

And the Worlds of Power series wasn't half-bad either... Ah, I loved that Bionic Commando book. "How many times have you saved me life now, huh?" Too many times, buddy. Too many times.
Did you ever get a chance to read the Metal Gear book? It wasn't a choose your own adventure tho...

[Wesley Dodds]

Yep, I've read the Metal Gear one.

He fights Colonel CaTaffy.

...

[RickThunderclees]

Yep, I've read the Metal Gear one.

He fights Colonel CaTaffy.

...
Haha, yeah. I don't know about you. But after I read that I wanted to be a spy.

[Michael P]

The last one I read a fantastical theme to it:

Left penniless after her parents' deaths, Meg Gillingham is in dire straits. Her landlord has threatened to throw her and her siblings into the winter streets unless she surrenders her young sister to his lechery. Reluctantly, she turns for help to her only legacy: a magic statue that will grant wishes--for a price...

Meg never expects the statue to bring her a marriage proposal, especially not one from a handsome earl. But Lord Saxonhurst lives amid dark secrets, and even as Meg delights in her seductive husband, she hestitates to trust him. Soon a villain will use her doubts to try to destroy their union and their lives. Now Meg must put her faith in another kind of magic-- the magic of love.

It's pure comedy gold.
It's like Jane Eyre if Charlotte Bronte had been into unicorns.


I loved those old Nintendo choose-your-own adventure books! Well, the Mario ones anyway. Didn't like Link when I was a kid.

And the Worlds of Power series wasn't half-bad either... Ah, I loved that Bionic Commando book. "How many times have you saved me life now, huh?" Too many times, buddy. Too many times.I read Ninja Gaiden, Before Shadowgate, and Blaster Master. Before Shadowgate pretty cool, for a Forgotten Realms ripoff.

[Rampaging Rabbit]

The Thursday Next books by Jasper Fforde, about a literary detective who can go inside books. Great idea, but... extrordinarily badly written, I've read them all because I think the concept is brilliant but Jesus the man can't write decent characters or plots for toffee. All the characters speak with the same voice, the names are all really bad puns.

And yet, Goddamn I like 'em.

[TheDarkestHorse]

I read a book when I was about 14, maybe someone knows the title...

It was about some bigfoot type things that were (rather explicitly) raping girls in this rural town, so a bunch of people set up base in this farmhouse to try and catch/kill it. One of these people was a really badass mercenary guy who threatens to sexually torture one of the women with a snake...but don't worry, she was kind of a bitch, so whatever, right? So I'm sure mercenary guy probably killed all the bigfoots (bigfeet?), but really all I remember was thinking, at 14, that the book had all the artistic merit of a snuff film starring Steven Seagal.
But I'd totally read it again.

[Subotai]

Hm, sounds like a winner.

Count me in for the Destroyers - in the Will Murray years.

I sought out a bunch of pulpy westerns - the Buckskin series ghostwritten by the terrific author Mitchell Smith.

Lawrence Block wrote a bunch of porn novels back in the day, which I'd probably check out if I could find them.

[Rampaging Rabbit]

I read a book when I was about 14, maybe someone knows the title...

It was about some bigfoot type things that were (rather explicitly) raping girls in this rural town, so a bunch of people set up base in this farmhouse to try and catch/kill it. One of these people was a really badass mercenary guy who threatens to sexually torture one of the women with a snake...but don't worry, she was kind of a bitch, so whatever, right? So I'm sure mercenary guy probably killed all the bigfoots (bigfeet?), but really all I remember was thinking, at 14, that the book had all the artistic merit of a snuff film starring Steven Seagal.
But I'd totally read it again.

Sounds like something out of a comic book!:D

[Matthew E]

Lawrence Block wrote a bunch of porn novels back in the day, which I'd probably check out if I could find them.

If you're thinking of the Chip Harrison books, they've been in print recently. There are four of them, and they're... they're kind of weird, really. The first one (No Score) makes you think it's going to be a mystery, and then it's not. The second (Chip Harrison Scores Again) is really just a novel. But the third and fourth (The Topless Tulip Caper and Make Out With Murder, not necessarily in that order) are Nero-Wolfe-ish mysteries. But with a lot of softcore sex scenes. They're all right, but don't be in a rush to get them.

[Corrina]

The last one I read a fantastical theme to it:

Left penniless after her parents' deaths, Meg Gillingham is in dire straits. Her landlord has threatened to throw her and her siblings into the winter streets unless she surrenders her young sister to his lechery. Reluctantly, she turns for help to her only legacy: a magic statue that will grant wishes--for a price...

Meg never expects the statue to bring her a marriage proposal, especially not one from a handsome earl. But Lord Saxonhurst lives amid dark secrets, and even as Meg delights in her seductive husband, she hestitates to trust him. Soon a villain will use her doubts to try to destroy their union and their lives. Now Meg must put her faith in another kind of magic-- the magic of love.

It's pure comedy gold.

Ah, regencies. You have to have fun with them instead of taking them too seriously. A close friend just received a contract to write several more. In the first, the poor parentally abused girl goes to the hero asking to be his mistress, since she's at least seen him be kind. But he's not that bad a rake to take her up on it but he ends up compromising her anyway when she drinks his laudanum accidently and spends the night at his house, passed out.

Much fun ensues, since she's trying to be bad for a change and he's trying to be good, contrary to past behavior.

[Indigo Al]

I've been slowly rereading Katherine Kurtz's Deryni series, and while they are essentially brain candy, they're not completely meritless and better than your average fantasy stuff.

[Subotai]

If you're thinking of the Chip Harrison books, they've been in print recently. There are four of them, and they're... they're kind of weird, really. The first one (No Score) makes you think it's going to be a mystery, and then it's not. The second (Chip Harrison Scores Again) is really just a novel. But the third and fourth (The Topless Tulip Caper and Make Out With Murder, not necessarily in that order) are Nero-Wolfe-ish mysteries. But with a lot of softcore sex scenes. They're all right, but don't be in a rush to get them.

Yeah, they're sort of goofy, but they aren't what I was talking about. These were done under a pseudonym and are lost to the depths of time - be a kick to read, though.

[i_mmmchocolate]

I just bought Men in Kilts by Katie MacAlister.

This is what one Amazon reviewer said about it:
The female lead is completely and totally unbelievable. She is 37 and is still shy as a virgin on her wedding night when anyone even mentions kissing around her - yet she sleeps with a man on the first date and promptly expects him to marry her. Her desperate attempts at getting him to say I-Do had me throwing the book across the room in disgust!

Sounds like a winner!

[Agent Helix]

¬_¬





Clive Cussler

[Lester C.]

The Joe Krutz novels by Dan Simmon are a personal favorite of mine.

[Arrjay]

Yep, I've read the Metal Gear one.

He fights Colonel CaTaffy.

I read that when I was a kid too.

Did you ever read the Bionic Commando one?

[SoulOnIce]

Richard Laymon....Edward Lee are a couple that ring a bell. Mickey Spillane is another....

[bluetyson]

I like the Destroyer better than Bolan but the honest truth is I will almost always give ANY numbered action series of books a look. That's how I discovered what pulp reprints were, back when the Bantam Doc Savages ruled the spinner racks. But I love a lot of the paperback-original series too, whether it's a series that eventually got respectable, like Travis McGee, or something you're embarrassed at getting caught with, like the Baroness. There's just something very comic-booky about all those series that I respond to.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fc/BaronessBook.jpg/364px-BaronessBook.jpg

I have heard about this one, but never seen it. However, Cherry Delight, the Sexecutioner, I have seen. An Executioner spoof.

Haven't read Travis McGee yet, must try one sometime. Do you have a favorite? 70s paperback series, etc., are fun.

I ran across a Richard Blade for 50c a couple of days ago. :D

[bluetyson]

What are some of the trashiest novels you've read that you actually enjoyed?

For me, Ive read the novelization of the first Resident Evil game, and I read the Independence Day movie novel. Shame.

You?

Never played the game, but I read the 6th one of these the other day. :evilsmile

[Buzz Dixon]

John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee series were the best paperback original series, IMO. It took him about three our four books to really find the right mix of mystery, social commentary, and philosophizin' but he kept a pretty good run with it. I forget the sequence of the books but they started to dip in quality after A TAN AND SANDY SILENCE (written when he was recovering from a near fatal heart attack) and really dipped when the books started being printed in hardcover first.

But DARKER THAN AMBER, BRIGHT ORANGE FOR THE SHROUD, THE SCARLET RUSE, THE LONG LAVENDER LOOK, THE QUICK RED FOX, A PURPLE PLACE FOR DYING, and DRESS HER IN INDIGO are all great books.

DARKER THAN AMBER, in fact, has the greatest narrative hook of any book in the English language: "We were about to give up and call it a night when somebody threw the girl off the bridge."

[bluetyson]

Thanks for that, I have a place to start now, see if I like 'em.

:)

[Greg Hatcher]

I have heard about this one, but never seen it. However, Cherry Delight, the Sexecutioner, I have seen. An Executioner spoof.

Haven't read Travis McGee yet, must try one sometime. Do you have a favorite? 70s paperback series, etc., are fun.

I ran across a Richard Blade for 50c a couple of days ago. :D

A favorite junk paperback series or a favorite McGee? Actually, my favorite paperback series IS McGee, easily, so the answer to both questions would be PALE GRAY FOR GUILT or BRIGHT ORANGE FOR THE SHROUD; or any the books from the middle of the series when MacDonald was really hitting a groove. Pretty much what Buzz said.

Other than McGee? Probably the Matt Helm (http://members.aol.com/MacBorden/index.html) books. Forget everything you might know about Helm from the movies. These are extremely badass books.

http://i6.ebayimg.com/01/i/07/8a/f4/b2_2.JPG

Of that series, my favorites are probably The Intriguers and The Menacers, but really I like them all.

And finally, surfing around the web I found this guy's weblog (http://groovyageofhorror.blogspot.com/) which is hilarious, it's an overview of all those trashy paperbacks. "Groovy Age of Horror."

[Buzz Dixon]

Yeah, Donald Hamilton's Matt Helm books are much better and far different from the Dean Martin movies. Hamilton would get a little too Clive Cussler-ish coincidental at times, but all in all they were pretty good reads.

[bluetyson]

Greg,

Favorite McGee was what I meant, thanks.

[Aggie]

jackie collins...early jackie collins...i feel so dirty...:o

[FroggieBKT]

I dig Travis McGee, though I don't know that the series would qualify as "guilty pleasure" for me. I read an interview with Dennis Lehane a while back where he discussed the possibility that the crime/mystery novel, when well done, was the contemporary version of the classic social-commentary type novel. I think I agree with that predominately because of the McGee series. There's just some great writing going on there.

As for the real topic, my guilty pleasure reading is usually some crappy mystery novel (the kind that doesn't live up to Lehane's social commentary novel kind of thing). I'll read most any book that has a detective attached.

[stealthwise]

Mick Foley's "Tietam Brown." The book is so clumsily handled, but actually works as an examination of unbridled masculinity. Be warned that the plot lines are simplistic, yet violent and gory, much like modern professional wrestling, but Foley does his best to make the main character likeable enough, and provides some decent introspective moments. It's pretty good, considering he's had something like 8 concussions.

[Cleric of Hell's Brigade]

Terry Brooks's works are fairly well known here as Tolkien rip offs, but I enjoyed Scions of Shanara, The Druid of Shanara, The Wishsong of Shanara, and The Elfstones of Shanara.



I originally read these before even knowing about his original works (the ones that were Tolkien rip offs with different names), and found them to be fairly good.

[Erebus]

The DaVinci Code. My paranoid friend wanted me to read it, so I could find out the "truth." I actually liked it (although I'll never admit it to him).