OT: Read a book!

dogscoff · #1 March 7th, 2003, 02:09 AM

Re Tad williams: Yes, the dragonbone chair was the firs in the "memory sorrow and thorn" series. It was a trilogy, although the third book was split into two for some printings, so it is also a quadrilogy. It's basically a "re-imagining" of the LotR, with all (well, some) of Tolkien's attention to language, mythology and back-history, but with some cool new ideas, some deeper characters and obligatory "underground" chapters to satisfy Williams' fetish for being lost in endless dark tunnels. (Paging Dr Freud)Kinda cute in parts, but then so was the Tolkien stuff.

His newer series, Otherland, is better. That is kind of like fantasy/ quest stuff in a variety of futuristic VR settings. Very enjoyable, a largely believable and well researched vision of the future, although the ending sucks.

His other books that I know of are Tailchaser's song (Standard fantasy quest, but with cats instead of people. Not bad) and Caliban's hour which I haven't read.

Finally, check out www.shadowmarch.com - he's publishing his newest book on the web. You get the first few chapters for free, then have to sign up for the rest. It looks pretty good.

Geckomlis · #2 March 7th, 2003, 04:04 AM

Good books worth a try (I enjoyed them immensely), but not to everyone’s taste…
S.M Stirling/David Drake: The Forge (The General Series)
David Gerrold: A Matter for Men (The War Against the Chtorr Series)
Douglass Reeman: His Majesty’s U-Boat

gregebowman · #3 March 8th, 2003, 02:59 AM

Some series or books I've enjoyed recently are:

The T2 books by S.M. Sterling (if you like the Terminator movies, you'll love these books)

1632 & 1633 by Eric Flint (a modern W. Virginian town is transported back in time to 1632 Europe)

The Lost Regiment series (I keep forgetting the author's name, but it's about a Union regiment that goes through the Bermuda triangle and has to survive on an alien planet with aliens who think humans are finger licking good)

There are others, but I can't think of them right now.

Stone Mill · #4 March 8th, 2003, 04:38 AM

This is interesting... Check out this rather ambitious project:

http://www.iblist.com/

deccan · #5 July 15th, 2003, 12:58 PM

That Harry Potter thread prompted me to revive this thread. What are your favorite science-fiction and fantasy novels and why?

Warning: this post reflects my personal opinions and tastes only.

I've read the standard fantasy fare when I was younger, Tolkien, Zelazny (Amber), Le Guin (Earthsea), Ann McCaffrey (Pern), Moorcock (Elric of Melnibone, Dorian Hawkmoon), even some of the Weis and Hickman AD&D stuff, which I think is really awful.

These days however, I really can't stand the standard high fantasy stuff, though in moments of weakness that embarass me, I sometimes still feel compelled to buy Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" stuff.

I haven't read many science-fiction novels, though that's what I'm mostly interested in these days in fiction. I'm more of a fan of the short story format. I recommend Asimov magazine to such fans.

One author I really would like to plug is Australian Greg Egan. His stuff just blows me away through the sheer richness of his imagination. This is real hard science-fiction though and not for the faint of heart. Egan's stuff is neither plot driven nor character driven. It's purely idea driven and for me this epitomizes the best of what SF means.

http://gregegan.customer.netspace.net.au/

Unknown_Enemy · #6 July 15th, 2003, 02:11 PM

Lots of good and great SF authors I like very much in that thread.

Just my 2 cents, Ian Banks and Hamilton deserve a much better place.

Ian Banks because no SE4 fan can miss any of his Culture books.
Hamilton for his Night's Dawn books which set a standard of SF human civilization. Voidhawk : did anyone said "organic manipulation" ?

Then I'll spit against one author : Hubbard. Not for what he believes, which is really not my problem, but for his books which were nowhere near my standards for suspens and surprising story. I mean, How can you like his books after reading Banks and Hamilton ?
Question of taste maybe.

dogscoff · #7 July 15th, 2003, 05:50 PM

Banks is an absolute joy to read, and rates as my number one all time sci-fi author (in fact, any genre) so far. I have "Use of Weapons" sitting on my bookshelf at the moment, unread, taunting me. I'm resisting the urge to read it next though, I'm saving it for when I really need it. Does anyone else do this? Save up good books like this? I call them my "emergency books". For example I recently read Hardy's "A Pair of Blue Eyes" and hated it (awful beginning & middle, quite a good ending.) By the time I had drudged through to the finish I was in serious need of some decent reading and had to indulge myself with an emergency book. ("Consider Phlebas", Banks again)

I recently acquired a small sci-fi collection from my Dad, most of it written in the 50s and 60s, and had a few books of my own unread as well. I've also just done a bookswap with a friend of mine, so my "unread" shelf is currently at 30 or more titles which will keep my busy for months.

Anyway, I've just finished 20,000 leagues under the sea which is over a hundred years old but holds it's own against much modern scifi, imho. That's my recommendation of the week.

Right now I'm ploughing through "The Illustrated Man", a collection of Ray Bradbury's short stories. It's OK, but I keep finding myself thinking "Asimov is better."