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Grex > Scifi > #11: SF Shopping List Suggestions | |
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daes
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SF Shopping List Suggestions
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Nov 17 14:33 UTC 1992 |
As a big SF fan, I read most anything I can lay my hands on, but when I
go to a book store to buy SF books, I never know what to get other than
a few of the mainstream authors.
I'd like to use this item to discuss some of the most interesting
SF novels you have read to help me make a shoping list.
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| 44 responses total. |
daes
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response 1 of 44:
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Nov 17 14:40 UTC 1992 |
I'll start I guess...
I like hard science fiction a lot. Some of the best I've ever seen
is written by Robert L. Forward.
His first book was Dragon's Egg. I happened across this book on my
one and only downhill ski trips. Being that I am a human snowball
on the slopes, I decided to spend more time reading and less time
freezing my butt off. Basic premise of this novel is the discovery
of a neutron star that passes close enough to the earth that we send
a ship out to study it. During the course of this study they find
life on the star. The book includes a nice technical appendix on the
anatomy and history of the planet and how things adapt to (going from
memory) a gravity force of 6 million G's.
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mcnally
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response 2 of 44:
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Nov 17 17:42 UTC 1992 |
On the other hand, I prefer "soft" science fiction. My favorite
SF author is Theodore Sturgeon -- check out a book of his short
stories sometime (though beware that he has some pretty dumb stories.
His stuff seems to get better after he could sell things on the strength
of his reputation and write the sort of stuff the SF magazines of the
day generally wouldn't touch (instead of having to write stuff like
"Killdozer" (aieeee!!))
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popcorn
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response 3 of 44:
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Nov 18 04:20 UTC 1992 |
Recent discovery: _Tam Lin_ by Pamela Dean.
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matthew
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response 4 of 44:
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Nov 18 05:36 UTC 1992 |
I can think of far too many to list here, but here are a few:
Heorots Legacy by Niven, Pornell, & Barnes
Footfall by " & "
Swan Song by Robert McCammon
Stinger by "
Leige Killer by Robert Hinze
The entire Sten saga by Cole & Bunch
and many others. If you want a longer list of suggestions mail me
and let me know what story type you're interested in.
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daes
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response 5 of 44:
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Nov 18 13:59 UTC 1992 |
(Ok guys, how about a brief description of stories...)
(Oh, and I use the word "guys" genderlessly in case the use offends some)
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terru
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response 6 of 44:
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Nov 19 05:19 UTC 1992 |
I'll try a synop of Footfall.
Annomily in Saturn ring = alien attack ship.
Aliens = Intelligent elephants with tenticle trunks (all the better to
manipulate with my dear)
Attack = drop stuff from space to soften people up, then lands the
four footed soldiers
Man's secret weapon = they finally build a particular type of reaction drive
A pretty decent story all round.
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popcorn
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response 7 of 44:
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Nov 21 02:34 UTC 1992 |
_Tam Lin_ is part of the series of fairy tales rewritten as SF, using
whatever form the author chooses. Actually, though, _Tam Lin_ is based
on a song. The song is transposed to a college campus in the early 70's.
The texture feels just right, just like people i really knew in college.
The book is hard to put down; very good reading. Highly recommended.
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jep
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response 8 of 44:
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Nov 22 17:05 UTC 1992 |
I've read all of the science fiction Jerry Pournelle has written
himself, as opposed to that he's edited by other people. His stories
about John Christian Falkenberg ("The Mercenary", "Prince of Mercenaries",
there are several others) are excellent war science fiction. Pournelle's
future history was the background for his collaborative work, with Larry
Niven, "The Mote in God's Eye", which you may have already read. It's
also the background for all of Pournelle's solo stories.
I like war science fiction, so I've read and enjoyed a lot of it.
Some more very good ones: Gordon R. Dickson's "Dorsai!", John Steakley's
"Armor", Joe Haldeman's "The Forever War" (by far his best book).
A lot of people have never heard of Clifford D. Simak's Hugo award
winner, "Way Station". This is emphatically NOT a war story; it's the
story of a backwoods Wisconsin man who secretly acts as the keeper of a
galactic way station. It's a wonderful story. You may have to go to the
used book stores to get it; I think it's out of print.
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terru
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response 9 of 44:
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Nov 23 05:39 UTC 1992 |
Or email me, I have a copy I'll lend.
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bap
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response 10 of 44:
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Nov 23 18:49 UTC 1992 |
Also try some David Drake. Hammers Slammers is excellent, as is Forlorn
Hope. Roland Greens Peace Company series is also good.
Infinity Hold by Barry B. Longyear
What happens when you dump a ship full of hard-core convicts on a planet
full of hard core convicts?
BEST SUGGESTION:
Any H. Beam Piper book
Lord klven of otherwhen
The cosmic Computer
Little Fuzzy
Space Viking
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mcnally
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response 11 of 44:
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Nov 23 22:13 UTC 1992 |
Yes, "Way Station" is a good book..
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matthew
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response 12 of 44:
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Nov 24 06:33 UTC 1992 |
Downbelow Station by C. J. Cherryh.
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popcorn
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response 13 of 44:
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Nov 25 03:00 UTC 1992 |
Yeeps! I'm outnumbered by people with SF tastes that are way different
from my own. Yeeps!
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matthew
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response 14 of 44:
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Nov 25 04:27 UTC 1992 |
Not necesarily outnumbered. I've only listed a few things off the
top of my head, not every type of scifi I enjoy.
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daes
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response 15 of 44:
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Nov 25 17:54 UTC 1992 |
(Looks like some good stuff here...)
I like other scifi types as well. Love good storytellers such as
Card, etc.
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popcorn
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response 16 of 44:
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Dec 5 02:03 UTC 1992 |
_Blue Champaigne_ by John Varley. It's a collection of short
stories, lots of interesting new ideas. Varley's universe is
built on some different ideas from other people's SF universes,
and he can pack a *lot* of information into a single paragraph
and really make you think. Highly recommended!
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cwb
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response 17 of 44:
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Dec 17 20:40 UTC 1992 |
If you like Card, then get "Maps in a Mirror" the complete
anthology of card's short fiction. It includes
(among a host of other things) the
original Ender's Game, and something from the beginnings of
the Tales of Alvin Maker.
If you like intrigue, read David Brin's "Startide Rising". It's an
excellent combination of space opera, Dune-like political intrigue
and cetacean mysticism. Basically a ship of humans
and genetically engineered dolphins has crashed on
an alien world, and every other race in the galaxy is in the
system, trying to find or destroy them; fighting
a huge space battle in the process. There is a
sequel "The Uplift War." which is good
but lacks the genius of the original.
Want something off-beat from Frank Herbert? Try
"The Dosadi Experiment". It's a sequel to an unremarkable book called
"The Whipping Star Incident" but
sufficient reference is made in TDE so that you
don't really need the other. Herbert's gift
for intrigue and incite into human culture in
lethal surroundings shows in this one too.
If you're interested in a behind-the-scenes look at J. R. R. Tolkien, read
the "Letters by J. R. R. Tolkien" edited by
(you guessed it) Christopher Tolkien. Very informative and
gives interesting perspectives, as well as some
Middle Earth and linguistic arcana.
"Foucault's Pendulum" is science fiction.
"Sword's Point" by Ellen Kushner is a marvelous fantasy
novel that makes use of several conventions
from the genre, then neatly turns them on their heads. It
follows the life of Richard St. Vier, a
professional swordsman as he is entangled in the intrigue
to rule the city. The language is stunning,
and the plot twists will leave you guessing.
More later.
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mta
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response 18 of 44:
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Dec 20 16:52 UTC 1992 |
Hey, I ran into a copy of a "Jack the Giant Killer" retold in SF format--
in this case "Jackie" and she was just going through a major break-up with
a long term SO. She wondered a bit if she was losing it when she began to
see things in a different way after finding a hat on one of her long walks
in the park...
Great retelling! And now I hear that this may be a new genre? Does
anyone have any titles or author's names?
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matthew
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response 19 of 44:
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Dec 20 21:04 UTC 1992 |
I'll guess the author was Charles DeLint. If so There's a sequel
to that book called Drink Down the Moon. Many of DeLints books
in general use a classic folk lore/myth in a contemporary setting,
they're all woth reading. I think Jack the Giant Killer was the
first of a group of books that retell some of the classic fairy
tales but I don't know what other authors are writing them.
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mythago
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response 20 of 44:
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Dec 20 23:15 UTC 1992 |
Steven Brust did _The Sun, The Moon, and the Stars_, and another author
did _Snow White, Rose Red_. THere were others.
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mta
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response 21 of 44:
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Dec 23 05:11 UTC 1992 |
Another retelling of a fairy tale that I thought was really good was
Beauty! A retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story.
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popcorn
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response 22 of 44:
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Jan 3 17:17 UTC 1993 |
_Tam Lin_, although it's actually a folk rock song, is also part of the
series of fairy tales retold by modern sf authors. The series was thought
up and editted by Terri Windling, who i know nothing about except that she
edits this really wonderful series. I highly reccommend _The Sun, The Moon,
and The Stars_ and _Tam Lin_, which is by Pamela Dean. (I'm still looking
for anything else by Pamela Dean.) I bogged down reading _Jack the Giant
Killer_ because it started out seeming very similar to too many other SF
books i'd read recently. _Snow White and Rose Red_ is sitting around here
somewhere, waiting to be read.
Definitely interesting stuff....
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jep
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response 23 of 44:
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Jan 3 19:35 UTC 1993 |
Brust's "The Sun, the Moon and the Stars" is a *wonderful* book; as
good as his "Jhereg" series. Not everything he's written is worth
reading, but that one is.
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mta
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response 24 of 44:
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Jan 4 06:21 UTC 1993 |
Accidentally stumbled on Verner Vinge's The Peace War...I'm not done yet--but
so far I'd recommend it.
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