Science/Fantasy fiction bukes (1 Viewer)

[outoftheblue]

Oh I've read those two as well, actually. The big asteroid thingy, right? Eternity confused the shit out of me, but I think I was 15 and everything confused the shit out of me.

 

[FiFi_LaRue]

I was given a loan of a Piers Anthony Anthology, it's decent enough, a little bit dated in places and I suppose quite innocent in others, but it's still an enjoyable read.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

I'm reading The Urth Of The New Sun (sequel to Book Of The New Sun) these days. Good fun it is.

they have the Severian of the Guild edition of the book of the new sun in the large sci-fi section of chapters for €12 - a bargain. i bought one to give to someone.

 

[Reets]

Did anyone go in to Easons today? Pretty packed in there.
He wrote "fly high" on mine.

 

[Cryptid]

they have the Severian of the Guild edition of the book of the new sun in the large sci-fi section of chapters for €12 - a bargain. i bought one to give to someone.

Yeah it's great the way they fit the lot into one book. 12 quid is a lot better than 40. I picked it up once and it does look nice. It seems to have the cover that the classic sf series used for the 5th Head of Cerebus though. Maybe that was originally intended for the Book of The New Sun. Interesting review here: http://www.sfsite.com/06a/sg273.htm. He makes some good points about the religious/christian side of the story. I must admit I found some of the 'stories within the story' a bit pointless - like the stuff from that Book Of Wonders Of Earth & Sky. Book 1 Shadow Of The Torturer is just awesome though. I don't think the other parts are quite as good.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

im just peering at the cover now - it doesnt seem to bear any relation to the story at all. i had heard of the christian stuff beofre i read it but didnt really pick up on it while i read it. i liked the stories within stories - i read somewhere that he out those in to flesh out the books when they were four seperate novels

 

[Reets]

Just started Kate Elliott's Traitor's Gate, it's the newest one in the Crossroads series. It's almost as good as Crown of Stars, which was great except for the rushed ending.
Has anyone read Robert Jordan & Sanderson's The Gathering Storm yet?
George R R Martin is gonna be at Octocon this year if anyone's interested.

 

[P. Littbarski]

great thread...picked up a lot of recommendations..nice one...will definitely pick up the first law trilogy..sounds like good stuff

i have read a lot of sci fi over the last few years...mainly Asimov. Worked my way through the entire Foundation series, including the prequels...couldn't get enough of it.

To be honest, it's not the best written sci-fi , but the ideas and the overall picturet he paints is amazing...I really fell in love with the whole idea of psychohistory...pretty cool shit.

am currently on the third Robot Novel (robots of dawn) and am enjoying the series a lot...it's essentially a detective story with robots (like the previous two) ..old school sci-fi that's a great read

old man's war by John Scalzi and the forever war by joe haldeman are sorta similar but cool reads...highly recommended

I also enjoyed Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake + Year of the Flood books (both set in the same universe)

Matter by Ian M Banks was good...I found it an 'easier' read that some of his previous books and loved the layered planet idea.

One of the best series i've read and must get an honourable mention is the Rama series by Arthur C. Clarke...the whole thing got more epic with each book...Morgan Freeman was linked with the film adaptation a while back...not sure it's on the cards anymore but could be interesting.

 

[Reets]

George R R Martin's Game of Thrones was commissioned for another 9 episodes.
Lilly Allen and her brother are gonna be in it but cant find who they'll be playing.

 

[george mcfly]

great thread.. i was looking for some new books to read
anytime i want to read sci-fi i seem to end up picking up a Philip K Dick book
or something Dune related.. which i'm obsessed with

need a new starting point

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

Has anyone read Neal Stephenson? i picked up Quicksilver the other day but deferred reading it in order to read Ship Of Fools by Fintan O'Toole which is a bit like having some fucker on the bus moaning at you about the banks and the recession. Anyway, Quicksilver is about 1000 pages and the first of a trilogy - i hope its good.

 

[P. Littbarski]

i started to read Quicksilver but I just couldn't get into it...I put it down after 100 pages or so...my overwhelming memory was that there was lots of horse riding in it.

I like the idea of the book, the period of history that the book is set in is fascinating as the scientific method was really taking off...but it didn't float my boat at the time.

I had the same feeling starting Quicksilver that I have when I start reading a new Ian M. Banks book...that 'could I really be bothered slogging through this' feeling.

the thing is I love Ian M. Banks books...and the payoff is always worth the sometimes laborious struggle but at times I feel like I don't know what's happening or who's who in his books. It's as if his ideas are so grand and his universe so complex that he doesn't always manage to convey whats going on as well as he could.

I still plan on giving Quicksilver another chance as maybe 100 pages is not enough given the size of the series.

If anyone else has read this and any Culture Novels I'd be interested to see if the comparison is a fair one or not.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

That doesnt give me much hope really. Iain M Banks can fuck off. I used to like him but im through with him for good now.

 

[theoootini]

banks is a really mediocre writer. the M stuff really didn't grab me in the slightest...

 

[magicbastarder]

One of the best series i've read and must get an honourable mention is the Rama series by Arthur C. Clarke...the whole thing got more epic with each book...

i found rama quite cold - clarke is good at the tech but not at the characterisation.

and banks is great - his m stuff is more consistent than his 'mainstream' stuff.

 

[P. Littbarski]

i found rama quite cold - clarke is good at the tech but not at the characterisation.

and banks is great - his m stuff is more consistent than his 'mainstream' stuff.

true dat

In my experience, most sci-fi writers including (especially?) the masters like asimov and clarke bring great ideas to the table and develop the science very well, but generally fail to write very well.

but then again, I don't reallt read sci-fi for the prose and language...I mainly read sci-fi for the ideas etc. and I guess that's the trade-off.

in fact, no 'well written' sci-fi books spring to mind...suggestions are welcome

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

true dat

In my experience, most sci-fi writers including (especially?) the masters like asimov and clarke bring great ideas to the table and develop the science very well, but generally fail to write very well.

but then again, I don't reallt read sci-fi for the prose and language...I mainly read sci-fi for the ideas etc. and I guess that's the trade-off.

in fact, no 'well written' sci-fi books spring to mind...suggestions are welcome

here is a list from earlier in the thread. i havent read most of them, i'd agree with the Gene Wolfe mention though. i just got the Long Sun series but have to read the Urth of the New Sun first. he's deadly. I think Brian Aldiss is fantastic.

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.

 

[TenRabbits]

In my experience, most sci-fi writers including (especially?) the masters like asimov and clarke bring great ideas to the table and develop the science very well, but generally fail to write very well.

but then again, I don't reallt read sci-fi for the prose and language...I mainly read sci-fi for the ideas etc. and I guess that's the trade-off.

in fact, no 'well written' sci-fi books spring to mind...suggestions are welcome

I disagree completely! Sure - a lot of space opera is poorly characterised, but there is a hell of a lot of it which is beautifully written. Read Hyperion if you want a good start, it follows all the usual sci-fi norms of big space battles etc etc, but reads like literature. Amazing book.

EDIT: Kurt Vonnegut. Enough said really.

 

[Cormcolash]

Dr. Littbarski is correct in regard to a lot of the better-known sci-fi authours from the first half of the twentieth century, however as the genre developed the standard of writing improved massively, and I don't think the statement would be correct from about the late 60s onwards. And even the earlier part of the 20th century had exceptions, such as Heinlein.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

I'm reading The Urth Of The New Sun (sequel to Book Of The New Sun) these days. Good fun it is.

ive just finished this myself - excellent. im tempted to go back and read the first series again before moving on to the long sun but maybe i shouldnt. i feel theres a lot going on in these books that ive failed to grasp though. in the appendix at the end of Urth of the New Sun theres a note suggesting that thoughtful readers will be able to guess what caused the eclipse type event that saved apu-punchau's ass but i have no idea what it could be, i just thought it was an eclipse. also, all the way through Urth there were references to things from the previous books and i couldnt remember loads of it, i had forgotten just how fucking deadly it was though. and THE ALZABO! that fucking thing was scary.

i may read a brian aldiss next, its been a couple of months since i read anything by him.