Science/Fantasy fiction bukes (1 Viewer)

[magicbastarder]

Have you tried reading any of his short stories? Some of them are really good.

best asimov book i read was a non-fiction one, asimov on astronomy. dunno if it's still in print.

 

[Gino Padula]

I'm reading Viriconium by M. John Harrisson these days. It's great. It reminds me of The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe in that it's set in the distant future and that the writing is rewarding in itself.

Has anyone read The Worm Ouroboros by Eric Rücker Eddison? I think it's amazing, although it needs a bit of time and patience. He uses the word "smote" a lot.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

Has anyone read The Worm Ouroboros by Eric Rücker Eddison? I think it's amazing, although it needs a bit of time and patience. He uses the word "smote" a lot.

picked up a copy a few years ago, never read it though. i suppose i'll dig it out again

 

[Yurn!]

just read Hyperion as recommended on this thread. so many questions and nearly NO answers.

i should go read Fall Of Hyperion now right??? didn't know it was practically a two-parter.

gorgeously written though.

 

[Gino Padula]

picked up a copy a few years ago, never read it though. i suppose i'll dig it out again

Once you get to the wrestling (or "wrastling") match in the second or third chapter it gets more enjoyable. There's hidings and adventure galore after that. I'd recommend taking a sick day or two off from work.

I haven't read Hyperion yet. I've read the horror novel Song of Kali by the same author. It's ok. I'd be slightly offended if I was from Calcutta where the book is set. The city itself seems to provide most of the horror, which is an interesting idea. It comes across a bit like Venice at the end of Don't Look Now.

I have The Iron Dragon's Daughter by Michael Swanwick and The Road by Cormac McCarthy lined up next. Rock and roll!

 

[Diddles]

just read Hyperion as recommended on this thread. so many questions and nearly NO answers.

i should go read Fall Of Hyperion now right??? didn't know it was practically a two-parter.

gorgeously written though.

I wouldn't bother reading Endymion though.

 

[crumb]

Philip K Dick and Heinlein, would be my faves,-Dr Futurity,Now Wait for last year,the man who japed, and Stranger in a strange land.
i do remember reading a series of books by Patrick Moore(the astronomer,xylophone playing,monocle wearing dude) about the colonization of mars, and thought they were fab, but this was years ago when i wuz in school, haven't seen them in print recently.
The Stars My Destination is great, too, and Iain m banks is pretty great.

 

[Diddles]

I'm reading The Best Science-Fiction Stories (a Hamlyn buke from 1977) - a collection of short stories from all the science fiction greats. Some of the stories are incredibly good.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

Philip K Dick and Heinlein, would be my faves,-Dr Futurity,Now Wait for last year,the man who japed, and Stranger in a strange land.
i do remember reading a series of books by Patrick Moore(the astronomer,xylophone playing,monocle wearing dude) about the colonization of mars, and thought they were fab, but this was years ago when i wuz in school, haven't seen them in print recently.
The Stars My Destination is great, too, and Iain m banks is pretty great.

read the stars my destination recently and thought it was a load of shite, really annoying as well. actually i didnt finish it.

did anyone ever read a series of books by fred hoyle with the individual titles of The Frozen Planet Of Azuron, The Planet Of Death, The Energy Pirate and The Giants Of Universal Park? The Hoyle fella was famous for something, i forget what. The books are deadly though. I got them in ladybird format when i was 7 or 8 but even though theyre those tiny fairy tale sized ladybirds theres quite a lot of writing in them and the colour illustrations are amazing. exciting things i remember from them include a glass (or maybe ice) hound chasing this young lad, an old man/scientist with a carpet bag inside of which was a universe, an everlasting chocolate bar (when you took a bite it scientifically replaced the missing bite) and cool planets and stuff. highly recommended.

 

[Yurn!]

I wouldn't bother reading Endymion though.

Rubbish?

 

[Diddles]

Rubbish?

Tedious.

You do get some more answers to what's going in Hyperion, but it fucking drags along. IMHO of course.

 

[TenRabbits]

just read Hyperion as recommended on this thread. so many questions and nearly NO answers.

i should go read Fall Of Hyperion now right??? didn't know it was practically a two-parter.

gorgeously written though.

I think it was the Hyperion Omnibus I had.. so it's both parts in one! I know what you mean about the end of the first book - it would have annoyed the crap outta me if I hadn't had the second one right there. The second part does have most of the answers though. Taken together I thought they had more soul than most sci-fi I've read, which is often the standard "battles over giant alien artefacts left by possibly disappeared civilisation", whilst still being some of best pure sf around.

I thought Endymion was alright, albeit a much more standard piece of sci-fi writing. I would have been happy just having read the first books anyway!

Was the Stars my Destination the one that was originally called tiger tiger? I liked it too, thought it seems so simplistic compared to modern harder sf. I did like the fact the main character developed so well over the book.

 

[Yurn!]

I think it was the Hyperion Omnibus I had.. so it's both parts in one! I know what you mean about the end of the first book - it would have annoyed the crap outta me if I hadn't had the second one right there. The second part does have most of the answers though. Taken together I thought they had more soul than most sci-fi I've read, which is often the standard "battles over giant alien artefacts left by possibly disappeared civilisation", whilst still being some of best pure sf around.

I thought Endymion was alright, albeit a much more standard piece of sci-fi writing. I would have been happy just having read the first books anyway!

Was the Stars my Destination the one that was originally called tiger tiger? I liked it too, thought it seems so simplistic compared to modern harder sf. I did like the fact the main character developed so well over the book.

Stars my Destination is in the 'to-read' pile in my flat, after Fall of Hyperion and The Forever War.

 

[Gino Padula]

I really liked The Stars My Destination. It's pulpy, but well conceived and doesn't have a dull moment.

I've never read any Heinlein, although I've heard good things. I read a lot of Asimov years ago. He has some good ideas, but he wasn't concerned with being a writer at all. Many of the so called 'Futurists' were like that. They considered themselves scientists first and writers a distant second. Consequently a lot of it is very hard to read. I like Frederik Pohl though. Gateway is class.

Banks is great. He does random, accidental violence very well. He can be very funny too. Excession is probably the best. I recommend The Centauri Device by M. John Harrision if you liked Excession. Banks lifts from it wholesale.

I must try the Hyperion stuff. I once started reading the second book and gave up fairly quickly. It made no sense at all.

Now Wait For Last Year is brilliant. It's very melancholic. Ubik is probably my favorite from PKD. It's the most nuts.

What do you think of Ballard? High Rise is hilarious. It's one of the best things I've read. A load of rich people degenerating into beasts in an apartment block. I liked The Drowned World, The Crystal World and Drought. The Day of Creation is ok. Super Cannes is shite. I tried to read The Atrocity Exhibition. I tried.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

is ursula le guin any good? i just bought a book of hers called the dispossessed. i found a shop full of old trashy sci-fi and barbara cartland novels. i shoulda bought a few more but i didnt want to be carrying them. i got ivanhoe too

 

[Gino Padula]

is ursula le guin any good? i just bought a book of hers called the dispossessed. i found a shop full of old trashy sci-fi and barbara cartland novels. i shoulda bought a few more but i didnt want to be carrying them. i got ivanhoe too

I didn't like The Dispossessed at all. She has some great books though.

Where's the shop? Share with the group.

 

[TenRabbits]

is ursula le guin any good?

She can be brilliant. I read the Earthsea trilogy as a kid, and it's now the only book I've read three times. It amazes me that the Harry Potter series gets so much praise heaped on it, when Earthsea is so much better it's daft. Even as an adult I was totally gripped all the way through.

Her other books range from astonishingly good to just plain preachy and dull. At the very least though, no one writes like her so it's always a memorable read.

 

[theoootini]

is ursula le guin any good? i just bought a book of hers called the dispossessed. i found a shop full of old trashy sci-fi and barbara cartland novels. i shoulda bought a few more but i didnt want to be carrying them. i got ivanhoe too

hmm. i really liked the dispossessed. it's the only thing i've read of hers. well worth a read shaney. imo- 'natch.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

yeah, i started reading it, i read first chapter. her style of writing seems to be very pedestrian and unimaginative though, i dunno if i'll bother reading any more of it, i'll probably try chapter 2 and see how i get on. a lot of sci-fi writers seem to be crap at writing ( no doubt this is equally true of romance and western novels and everything else... )

i found another shop full of trash today (out foreign, gino...) and got a collection of philip k dick short stories, foundation by isaac asimov and farenheit 451 by ray bradbury. i read the bradbury before but you cant go wrong rereading him.

 

[Gino Padula]

(out foreign, gino...)

You escaped? Good stuff.

This is my top ten of well written sci-fi and fantasy (not necessarily the best sci-fi and fantasy that I've read):

10. The Crystal World by J. G. Ballard;
9. The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham;
8. The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison;
7. Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut;
6. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells;
5. A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick (the movie is dreadful);
4. Gateway by Frederik Pohl;
3. The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe;
2. The Dying Earth by Jack Vance (I wasn't so mad about the sequels);
1. The Book of The New Sun by Gene Wolfe, in particular the first part The Shadow of the Torturer.

I read The Earthsea Trilogy a long time ago. It seemed hokay then. Ursula Le Guin used to write glowing tributes to PKD in reviews. Apparently, he once wrote to her asking if he could move in with her when he was stuck in rehab in Canada, without having ever met her. He was a gas man.