Any science fiction freaks?

by myauntfanny 56 Replies latest jw friends

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  boa

  well I didn't see L.E. Modesitt Jr. yet and I was totally into the story and ideas presented in his book Gravity Dreams - just awesome!

  also, he's done many other books but The Octagonal Raven was another I particularly liked....

  as well, the Timegods World - book one....The Timegod, and then Timediver's Dawn

  He seems to do both a fantasy line and the science fiction line which is what I'm more interested in

  Larry Niven is great as well....a lot of humour in there ....I have read Neutron Star many many times as well as alot of his other stuff to do with his 'universe'.....ie the Pak

  boa
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  jgnat

  I am a hard science fiction freak, too, and Larry Niven is definitely worth the read. I am bad for remembering names, though. I wander the SF aisle past the dragons and babes waving witchy wands, desperately trying to remember a HARD SF author's name. Covers don't always help. Oftentimes I come home with SF noir by mistake.

  I have read all of Asimov, too.

  But I am not telling you anything new.
• 

  GentlyFeral

  myauntfanny,

  I was a stone science fiction freak when I was young. Haven't kept up for the past 10-15 years, but some names that are still in print do spring to mind:

  • Sheri Tepper, esp. if you're at all leftist :)
  • Lisa Goldstein
  • Michael Swanwick: Keep your eye out for a dystopian short story called "The Feast of St. Janis."
  • Lucius Shepherd ("Black Air" is my favorite!)
  • Rudy Rucker
  • Orson Scott Card: The first two Alvin Maker novels were pretty good, but I prefer the Song of Earth series - he writes articulate bitchy dialogue beautifully and his settings are as ornate as Lord Dunsanay's - and his Mormonia-post-apocalypse collection, The Folk of the Fringe.
  • Emma Bull: check out Bone Dance.

  As to fantasy: I used to adore Fritz Lieber's "Lankhmar" series, though the language seems kind of erudite-twee now. The settings are magnificent, though. If you like those, you will probably like Lord Dunsanay's elegantly psychedelic short stories, and Jack Vance's work, which reads like a minuet crossed with a cockfight. I absolutely adore his language and nomenclature and fantastical settings.

  At the moment I'm frolicking quite happily with Terry Pratchett.

  Also, among the hot new names, do check out Kage Baker. Ran across her at fictionwise.com, bought a few of her short stories. I hear she has a novel out.

  Do you subscribe to Fantasy & Science Fiction? Lots of great new stories there.

  GentlyFeral
• 

  myauntfanny

  You guys are fantastic, thank you! There are no English bookstores for me to browse in now, the English sections in most Berlin bookstores are miniscule and mostly full of tourist rubbish. And browsing on Amazon doesn't work that well, really. I'm going to make up a big list out of all these suggestions and get started.

  Valis

  I read Valis! Philip Dick is a genius, no doubt about it. I really liked the one they just made into the movie with Tom Cruise, can't remember the name. But his books do tend to give me a headache. It's like there's one crucial thing you need to know to understand what's really going on, and he never tells you what it is.
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  myauntfanny

  Gentlyferal

  I do love some of Sherri Tepper's books and hate others. There are some other authors on your list I haven't heard of, so thank you. I don't subscribe to Fantasy and Science Fiction because I really dislike short stories. Just when I start to get involved, it's all over, that drives me crazy.
• 

  City Fan

  myauntfanny,

  I would recommend the Saga of the Exiles by Julian May, but the books are quite hard to get hold of these days. It's Si-Fi that borders on fantasy. The books in the series are:

  The Many Coloured Land; The Golden Torc; The Non-Born King; The Adversary; and Intervention; These are set in the Pliocene era.

  Then the story moves into the future with: Jack the Bodiless; Diamond Mask; and finally Magnificat.

  I suppose they are a bit heavy going, but in a way these books helped me in my escape from the Watchtower because they opened my mind to new ideas.

  CF
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  myauntfanny

  City Fan

  Read 'em all! Really sad when I finished the last one.
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  Country_Woman

  Jack Vance - Harry Harrison - Heinlein - Herbert (Dune) - Schmitt - To much to name them all.

  I hate Ballard - always doom-books.
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  myauntfanny

  Countrywoman

  I hate Ballard too. Could I get a first name on Schmitt? Thanks.
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  blondie

  Gordon Dickson, thanks for reminding me. I have to re-read those books.

  Blondie