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Books! Recommend any?
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Krixtal Icefluxor
INLAND EMPIRE Galactic
#41 - 2013-03-31 15:02:23 UTC
Graygor wrote:
I'll get the first book and give it a whirl on my tablet then.

Always willing to try something new.



Ringworld was fairly mind-blowing back in 1970. Won both the Hugo and Nebula that year.

I read it in 1976 when I was 11 and it was the first 'adult' SF that I read.

"He has mounted his hind-legs, and blown crass vapidities through the bowel of his neck."  - Ambrose Bierce on Oscar Wilde's Lecture in San Francisco 1882
Krixtal Icefluxor
INLAND EMPIRE Galactic
#42 - 2013-03-31 15:03:25 UTC
Jno Aubrey wrote:
Krixtal Icefluxor wrote:
Jno Aubrey wrote:
Since you like Larry Niven, I'd recommend his collaborations with Jerry Pournelle, especially "The Mote In God's Eye."



I love "Ringworld", and I have a story about a very drunk Niven at WorldCon 1988 in New Orleans.



Haha it is very possible you and I were in the same room together Lol



It was the Thursday night in the Sheraton Hospitality Room.

"He has mounted his hind-legs, and blown crass vapidities through the bowel of his neck."  - Ambrose Bierce on Oscar Wilde's Lecture in San Francisco 1882
Graygor
Federal Navy Academy
Gallente Federation
#43 - 2013-04-01 16:15:18 UTC
So I got ringworld last night. It's not a bad book. About 100 pages in. I must say though that it reeks of 1970s SF. This isnt a bad thing, just my god. I'd forgotten what old SF was like.

Still a good read though.

"I think you should buy a new Mayan calendar. Mine has muscle cars on it." - Kenneth O'Hara

"I dont think that can happen, you can see Gray has his invuln field on in his portrait." - Commissar "Cake" Kate
Brujo Loco
Brujeria Teologica
#44 - 2013-04-01 16:31:36 UTC
The Witcher Saga , unfortunately they were never fully released in english due to copyright issues, only some books as far as I recall, but try to get into it.

David Gemmell´s "Legend", not a fan of the rest of the series but that book alone is wonderful reading. Solid, basic archetypes, but really enjoyable reading.

Dancers at the End of Time by Moorcock, though more known for his Elric of Melnibone stories, Dancers is quite good. Not as good perhaps as Elric´s tales, but kinda funny and bizarre.

Also, since a lot of people seem to have covered the classics, try to find anything by William Tenn , I hardly see anyone mentioning this Author, and some of his works are very entertaining.

Good recommendations in this thred, solid ones!

Cheers!

Inner Sayings of BrujoLoco: http://eve-files.com/sig/brujoloco
Brujo Loco
Brujeria Teologica
#45 - 2013-04-01 16:33:48 UTC
Graygor wrote:
So I got ringworld last night. It's not a bad book. About 100 pages in. I must say though that it reeks of 1970s SF. This isnt a bad thing, just my god. I'd forgotten what old SF was like.

Still a good read though.


Care to elaborate on that statement? ... please?

Inner Sayings of BrujoLoco: http://eve-files.com/sig/brujoloco
Random McNally
Stay Frosty.
A Band Apart.
#46 - 2013-04-01 16:38:12 UTC
Noriko Satomi wrote:

The Dresden Files - Harry Dresden, Wizard, the only one in the phone book. Hard-boiled noir detective meets Lord of the Rings. The only problem with these books is that you'll read each one in a single sitting (neglecting food, sleep and work) and be sad that book 14 isn't out yet.

There's so much more, but let's start there. Big smile


Oh so much this. Dresden series is wonderful!

Would also recommend
Titan, Wizard and Demon (3 books) by John Varley.

Host of High Drag Podcast. http://highdrag.wordpress.com/

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Graygor
Federal Navy Academy
Gallente Federation
#47 - 2013-04-01 16:41:36 UTC
Brujo Loco wrote:
Graygor wrote:
So I got ringworld last night. It's not a bad book. About 100 pages in. I must say though that it reeks of 1970s SF. This isnt a bad thing, just my god. I'd forgotten what old SF was like.

Still a good read though.


Care to elaborate on that statement? ... please?


Hard to explain really. Just the style of everything. It has a lot of that early 70s riff... maybe its just me I dont know.

For example, The Hitchhikers Guide To the Galaxy is probably the most 1980s series ever written in terms of SF. It reeks of Glam and so on.

It's really not a complaint. Just writing has changed since then. It's like saying "My God Dickens is such a 19th century writer!", same thing. The book is just more akin to what I used to read when I was young, than to what I have been reading as of late.

"I think you should buy a new Mayan calendar. Mine has muscle cars on it." - Kenneth O'Hara

"I dont think that can happen, you can see Gray has his invuln field on in his portrait." - Commissar "Cake" Kate
Frank Millar
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#48 - 2013-04-01 16:55:52 UTC  |  Edited by: Frank Millar
Graygor wrote:
Brujo Loco wrote:
Graygor wrote:
So I got ringworld last night. It's not a bad book. About 100 pages in. I must say though that it reeks of 1970s SF. This isnt a bad thing, just my god. I'd forgotten what old SF was like.

Still a good read though.


Care to elaborate on that statement? ... please?


Hard to explain really. Just the style of everything. It has a lot of that early 70s riff... maybe its just me I dont know.

For example, The Hitchhikers Guide To the Galaxy is probably the most 1980s series ever written in terms of SF. It reeks of Glam and so on.

It's really not a complaint. Just writing has changed since then. It's like saying "My God Dickens is such a 19th century writer!", same thing. The book is just more akin to what I used to read when I was young, than to what I have been reading as of late.

I know exactly what you mean.

I had an "aha" moment just recently when I read Joe Haldeman's Forever War for the first time.
Back than, writers introduced characters, made them go places, do stuff and suffer the consequences.

Nowadays, it's all about interweaving timelines, stupendously intricate technologies and maybe some character development here and there (gross simplification).

I don't mind either way, but the difference is as clear as day.
Khergit Deserters
Crom's Angels
#49 - 2013-04-01 16:59:11 UTC  |  Edited by: Khergit Deserters
Neal Asher The Skinner - Hi tech and low tech adventure and dry hilarity on the high seas of an ocean planet full of nasty sea creatures.

Arthur C. Clarke 2001: A Space Odyssey - Worth reading just for Clarke's humorous forward written 20 years later. The book and movie are actually companion pieces to each other. They were designed to be read and viewed together.

Neal Stephenson Reamde - Chinese hacker gold farmers in a WOW-like MMO, plus Russian mafia, plus some terrorists, plus the usual likable Stephenson characters. And the usual laughs along the way.

Russell Hoban Riddley Walker - England a few thousand years after a nuclear holocaust. It's written in first person, in a future illiterate degraded dialect of English. "On my naming day when I come 12 I gone front spear and kilt a wyld boar he parbly ben the las wyld pig on the Bundel Downs any how there hadnt ben none for a long time befor him nor I aint looking to see none agen. He dint make the groun shake nor nothing like that when he come on to my spear he weren't all that big plus he lookit poorily. He done the reqwyrt he ternt and stood and clattert his teef and make his rush and there we wer then. Him on 1 end of the spear kicking his life out and me on the other end watching him dy. I said, 'Your tern now my tern later.. . "
Noriko Satomi
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#50 - 2013-04-01 18:29:56 UTC
Frank Millar wrote:

I had an "aha" moment just recently when I read Joe Haldeman's Forever War for the first time.
Back than, writers introduced characters, made them go places, do stuff and suffer the consequences.

From Law & Order:

Det. Cassidy: "Oh! Old school, huh?"
Lt. Van Buren: "If by 'old school' you mean 'doing it right', then yeah."
Krixtal Icefluxor
INLAND EMPIRE Galactic
#51 - 2013-04-01 18:32:19 UTC
Khergit Deserters wrote:

Neal Stephenson Reamde - Chinese hacker gold farmers in a WOW-like MMO, plus Russian mafia, plus some terrorists, plus the usual likable Stephenson characters. And the usual laughs along the way.



Great read except did the final "chase scene" really have to go on for 180 pages ?? That was almost a joke unto itself, and by the King of Long-Windedness Himself at that.

"He has mounted his hind-legs, and blown crass vapidities through the bowel of his neck."  - Ambrose Bierce on Oscar Wilde's Lecture in San Francisco 1882
Krixtal Icefluxor
INLAND EMPIRE Galactic
#52 - 2013-04-01 18:33:49 UTC
Random McNally wrote:
Noriko Satomi wrote:

The Dresden Files - Harry Dresden, Wizard, the only one in the phone book. Hard-boiled noir detective meets Lord of the Rings. The only problem with these books is that you'll read each one in a single sitting (neglecting food, sleep and work) and be sad that book 14 isn't out yet.

There's so much more, but let's start there. Big smile


Oh so much this. Dresden series is wonderful!

Would also recommend
Titan, Wizard and Demon (3 books) by John Varley.



Those were so fun when I read them at age 13 Shocked

Always wanted to meet Varley, and finally did, but not till I was 40 years old !

"He has mounted his hind-legs, and blown crass vapidities through the bowel of his neck."  - Ambrose Bierce on Oscar Wilde's Lecture in San Francisco 1882
Krixtal Icefluxor
INLAND EMPIRE Galactic
#53 - 2013-04-01 18:35:50 UTC
Graygor wrote:
So I got ringworld last night. It's not a bad book. About 100 pages in. I must say though that it reeks of 1970s SF. This isnt a bad thing, just my god. I'd forgotten what old SF was like.

Still a good read though.



It's all about Teela Brown !

The concept behind her character is silly as all get out, but I love the character herself.

(You will not believe her fate in "Ringworld Engineers " Cool )

"He has mounted his hind-legs, and blown crass vapidities through the bowel of his neck."  - Ambrose Bierce on Oscar Wilde's Lecture in San Francisco 1882
Khergit Deserters
Crom's Angels
#54 - 2013-04-01 18:40:43 UTC
Krixtal Icefluxor wrote:
Khergit Deserters wrote:

Neal Stephenson Reamde - Chinese hacker gold farmers in a WOW-like MMO, plus Russian mafia, plus some terrorists, plus the usual likable Stephenson characters. And the usual laughs along the way.



Great read except did the final "chase scene" really have to go on for 180 pages ?? That was almost a joke unto itself, and by the King of Long-Windedness Himself at that.

LOL, true. The pacing could have used a little turbocharging there. I actually liked Necronomicon better, but Reamde has an MMO theme, so it had to be mentioned on EO forums. Smile
Krixtal Icefluxor
INLAND EMPIRE Galactic
#55 - 2013-04-01 18:44:34 UTC
Frank Millar wrote:

I had an "aha" moment just recently when I read Joe Haldeman's Forever Warfor the first time.



Now there is another great one.

I actually met Joe twice, once in Houston in 1980, then at that Worldcon in 1988. But on both occasions it was actually him and his father Jack, and they both signed each copy I had of their books !

"He has mounted his hind-legs, and blown crass vapidities through the bowel of his neck."  - Ambrose Bierce on Oscar Wilde's Lecture in San Francisco 1882
Frank Millar
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#56 - 2013-04-01 19:04:32 UTC
Krixtal Icefluxor wrote:
Frank Millar wrote:

I had an "aha" moment just recently when I read Joe Haldeman's Forever Warfor the first time.



Now there is another great one.

I actually met Joe twice, once in Houston in 1980, then at that Worldcon in 1988. But on both occasions it was actually him and his father Jack, and they both signed each copy I had of their books !

Nice. Smile

But however good Forever War was, what really sold me on Joe Haldeman was Forever Peace.
Good story, excellent characters.
I really should read more of his work.
Noriko Satomi
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#57 - 2013-04-01 19:06:23 UTC
Khergit Deserters wrote:
LOL, true. The pacing could have used a little turbocharging there. I actually liked Necronomicon better, but Reamde has an MMO theme, so it had to be mentioned on EO forums. Smile

Shocked I hear Satan is an awesome author, but where did you get a copy... Oh wait, did you mean Cryptonomicon? Yes, that was a good book, more historical fiction than science fiction though.
Krixtal Icefluxor
INLAND EMPIRE Galactic
#58 - 2013-04-01 19:14:39 UTC
Noriko Satomi wrote:
Khergit Deserters wrote:
LOL, true. The pacing could have used a little turbocharging there. I actually liked Necronomicon better, but Reamde has an MMO theme, so it had to be mentioned on EO forums. Smile

Shocked I hear Satan is an awesome author, but where did you get a copy... Oh wait, did you mean Cryptonomicon? Yes, that was a good book, more historical fiction than science fiction though.



His Baroque Cycle of 3 novels is great historical fiction that reads like science fiction. More books of ideas than actual story.

"He has mounted his hind-legs, and blown crass vapidities through the bowel of his neck."  - Ambrose Bierce on Oscar Wilde's Lecture in San Francisco 1882
Noriko Satomi
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#59 - 2013-04-01 19:25:51 UTC
Krixtal Icefluxor wrote:
Noriko Satomi wrote:
Khergit Deserters wrote:
LOL, true. The pacing could have used a little turbocharging there. I actually liked Necronomicon better, but Reamde has an MMO theme, so it had to be mentioned on EO forums. Smile

Shocked I hear Satan is an awesome author, but where did you get a copy... Oh wait, did you mean Cryptonomicon? Yes, that was a good book, more historical fiction than science fiction though.



His Baroque Cycle of 3 novels is great historical fiction that reads like science fiction. More books of ideas than actual story.

I skipped the Baroque Cycle and seemed to have read the best ones:
- Snow Crash: With a main character named Hiro Protagonist, how can you go wrong?
- Diamond Age: Nanotech meets neo-Victorian society... awesome (complete with techno-hippies naturally)
- Cryptonomicon: World War II, cryptography, the Phillipines, and little Douglas MacArthur Shaftoe... but no science fiction.
- Anathem: See previous recommendation and analysis. Probably Stephenson's greatest achievement to date.

I've also read the stuff he's written as Stephen Bury but none of it is as memorable.
Krixtal Icefluxor
INLAND EMPIRE Galactic
#60 - 2013-04-01 19:31:05 UTC  |  Edited by: Krixtal Icefluxor
Noriko Satomi wrote:
Krixtal Icefluxor wrote:
Noriko Satomi wrote:
Khergit Deserters wrote:
LOL, true. The pacing could have used a little turbocharging there. I actually liked Necronomicon better, but Reamde has an MMO theme, so it had to be mentioned on EO forums. Smile

Shocked I hear Satan is an awesome author, but where did you get a copy... Oh wait, did you mean Cryptonomicon? Yes, that was a good book, more historical fiction than science fiction though.



His Baroque Cycle of 3 novels is great historical fiction that reads like science fiction. More books of ideas than actual story.

I skipped the Baroque Cycle and seemed to have read the best ones:
- Snow Crash: With a main character named Hiro Protagonist, how can you go wrong?
- Diamond Age: Nanotech meets neo-Victorian society... awesome (complete with techno-hippies naturally)
- Cryptonomicon: World War II, cryptography, the Phillipines, and little Douglas MacArthur Shaftoe... but no science fiction.
- Anathem: See previous recommendation and analysis. Probably Stephenson's greatest achievement to date.

I've also read the stuff he's written as Stephen Bury but none of it is as memorable.



The Baroque Cycle is the history of the ancestors of the folks in Cryptonomicon. With Isaac Newton and others.......

It's more about how science, banking, and other aspects of our world began during the Age of Enlightenment.

"He has mounted his hind-legs, and blown crass vapidities through the bowel of his neck."  - Ambrose Bierce on Oscar Wilde's Lecture in San Francisco 1882