The Sword and Laser discussion

So, I have a long road trip coming up in a few weeks. Four or five long days of driving. And I'm trying to find just the right audio books to listen to for the trip. (It sure does make a long drive less mind numbing.)

The trouble is that I don't want short stuff. I want long stuff. Really long. Like 30 or 40 hours long. 20 at the very least. I listen to a good number of authors who have shorter works, but I don't have enough available credits to get through this trip on 10 hour novels.

The other trouble is that I've already listened to the longer stuff that I'm aware of. Here's a list of authors I've already listened to.

Alastair Reynolds
Peter F. Hamilton
David Weber
George R.R. Martin
Robert Jordan
Brandon Sanderson
Patrick Rothfuss
Scott Lynch

I've listened to all of what the above authors have available on Audible. (I do a lot of audio listening while doing other things, like cleaning the house, running errands, walking the dogs, etc. But I'm still kind of startled by how many hours of books I've gotten through. I should do that math some time to see what the total is. Or maybe that would just be depressing.)

I've enjoyed some of the above authors more than others, but each of them managed to not irritate me so much that I stopped listening to their stuff, and I haven't ever returned anything by any of them. The list leans a bit more heavily to fantasy probably because it's easier to find really lengthy work in fantasy than in scifi. But I generally consider myself a scifi fan before a fantasy fan, if just barely. And of the above authors, the ones I liked the most were fantasy. Reynolds, Hamilton and Weber have done a lot of lengthy novels, but none of them are my preferred types of science fiction. But I'm willing to consider anything "not awful" and of considerable length.

So what authors who write extra long stuff have I failed to uncover?

There's another thread like this. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

A lot of genre fans enjoy the (non genre) Count of Monte Cristo. And it is looooong. I think it comes in at about the size of Lord of the Rings. Give that one a whirl.

How about some Neal Stephenson, I know his new Seveneves came in at over 30 hours, and I believe several of his other books would be in that range. Or Patrick Rothfuss is known for his long first two books, but also for a long wait for the third.

The Foundation trilogy (Isaac Asimov)
Each book is 8 hours long

Almost forgot The Expanse, a series name covering an expected nine books, five of which are now in print. James SA Corey. Good space opera based on inside the solar system space travel. Don't expect Niven's Belters, this is more like the outer solar system is an endless slum with unrest to match.

terpkristin wrote: "There's another thread like this. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/..."

Thanks! I'd searched, but didn't find that thread.

Going to lock this thread. Please post in the thread Kristin linked instead. Thanks.

John (Nevets) wrote: "How about some Neal Stephenson, I know his new Seveneves came in at over 30 hours, and I believe several of his other books would be in that range. Or [author:Patrick ..."

Unfortunately for my trip planning, I've already read all of Stephenson, in non-audio versions. And some of them fairly recently as re-reads. (I broke my leg very badly earlier this year, and had a LOT of reading time while recovering from surgery. It was a great way to whittle down my reading list, but I don't recommend it.)

And Rothfuss is on my already-listened-to-everything list. Sadly. I really wish I had those or all of Lynch's stuff that I hadn't heard yet to power through this trip with. I've got close to 60 hours of drive time to get through.