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Off Topic => General Discussion => Topic started by: BazBear on June 05, 2014, 08:52:02 PM
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I must have read my fave five or ten times by now. Five replies and I fess up ;)....
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Hard to single out just one, but I'll go with Memory Blank by John E. Stith.
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Anne McCaffrey's "Dragonriders of Pern"
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"Lord of Light" by Roger Zelazny
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For a series, Michael Kube-McDowell's "The Trigon Disunity" - "Emprise", "Enigma" and "Empery". If nothing else it has two of the more unusual aliens (not just actors in rubber suits), and essentially predicted the internet back in the mid-1980s.
For a standalone novel, John Brunner's "The Crucible of Time". A story of survival against the odds with very realistically and sympathetically drawn aliens.
For a short story, either "They're Made Out Of Meat" by Terry Bisson (http://www.terrybisson.com/page6/page6.html), or "A Pail Of Air" by Fritz Leiber (http://www.baenebooks.com/chapters/0743498747/0743498747___6.htm)
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My favourite short story would probably be Arthur Clarke's Reunion
Not sure if I could pick a standalone novel - if only because they keep acquiring sequels.
For a series, a toss-up between The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan stories ;)
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Starship Troopers by Heinlein.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein
Pretty much anything by Heinlein. I've got about half a dozen of his books that have literally fallen apart because I've read them so many times.
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For a series, a toss-up between The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan stories ;)
I'm rereading Borders of Infinity for the umpteenth time when there's a reason I want to be reading a paperback, not one of the hardcovers I'm currently reading from the library. I met her once, too; nice lady.
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Fugue For A Darkening Island by Christopher Priest. It's a 'future history' novel so I'm not sure if it counts, though Priest is classed as an SF author. It was written in the '70's but has gained a special resonance in these increasingly less tolerant times.
If not, then The Time Ships or Voyage by Stephen Baxter.
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The Caves of Steel/The Naked Sun/The Robots of Dawn by Isaac Asimov.
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Robert Heinlein's The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress.
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Robert Heinlein's The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress.
Excellent book. It has one of my favourite quotes
Mike, you want to discuss nature of humor. There are two types
of jokes. One sort goes on being funny forever. Other sort is funny once.
Second time it's dull. This joke is second sort. Use it once, you're a
wit. Use twice, you're a halfwit."
"Geometrical progression?"
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I'm old enough to be a keen follower of the Clarke/Asimov axis so Foundation, Rama, 2001/2010/2063/3000 and the Robots series of short stories are always near the top of my list.
However for sheer "hard sci-fi" my single favourite book (not part of a series or trilogy) is "The Two Faces of Tomorrow" by James Patrick Hogan. In 1979, he foresaw fully automated computer control, the prospect of AI and the internet, in a way much closer to the actuality of today that most other sci-fi authors.
For humour, I cannot pass up the quirky, sometimes brilliant Terry Pratchett's "Discworld" series
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How about the Ringworld series?
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"A Pail Of Air" by Fritz Leiber (http://www.baenebooks.com/chapters/0743498747/0743498747___6.htm)
"Rescue Party" by Arthur C. Clarke from the same collection is another good one:
http://www.baenebooks.com/chapters/0743498747/0743498747___1.htm
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...Voyage by Stephen Baxter...
Hmmm. One of his more...derivative books. And not in a good way. I'll leave it at that.
If anyone would like me to expand on that cryptic remark, please PM me.
...The Two Faces of Tomorrow by James Patrick Hogan...
I rather liked his novels "The Proteus Operation" and "Endgame Enigma", as both involved people solving problems in what seemed like impossible situations.
However Hogan lost my respect because of his questioning of evolution and the Holocaust, among other things, and his championing of Velikovsky's hare-brained theories.
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However Hogan lost my respect because of his questioning of evolution and the Holocaust, among other things, and his championing of Velikovsky's hare-brained theories.
Same here, but for mine, that never took away from his skill as a sci-fi writer. The composer Richard Wagner was an anti-semite and had he lived in the 1930s and 1940s, he would almost certainly have been a Nazi. But I still think he was a brilliant composer; Tannhauser and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg are among my favourite pieces of classical music.
The premise for "Inherit the Stars" and the following "Giants" series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giants_series) was clearly based around part of Velikovsky's absurd ideas regarding planets moving around in the Solar System. Nonetheless I enjoyed reading them, and in fact, I liked the cover art on "Inherit the Stars" so much that I enlarged and framed it, and it hangs on the wall on my study...
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/98915197/ApolloHoax/2014-06-09%2008.33.07.jpg)
...and before the pedants start up about stars and the milky way visible in the picture, it is art so it is allowed some licence. 8)
"Code of the Lifemaker" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_the_Lifemaker)was another of his clever stores.
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For a series, a toss-up between The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan stories ;)
I'm rereading Borders of Infinity for the umpteenth time when there's a reason I want to be reading a paperback, not one of the hardcovers I'm currently reading from the library. I met her once, too; nice lady.
;) I was most of the way through A Civil Campaign when I realised she'd got me to read (and enjoy!) a regency romance...
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I'm just glad she's writing them again, though I sobbed at the end of Cryoburn.
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I've never been a big scifi reader, at least relative to some friends. I'd have to say I've enjoyed Dorris Lessing's Canopus in Argos series the most. To pick a favorite from that, then Shikasta.
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Honestly, I'm not hugely into sci-fi, either. I prefer fantasy.
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Any of Iain M Banks early works: Player of Games, Use of Weapons, Consider Phlebas. The trend stopped after Excession and I didn't rate Inversions, Looking to Windward or Matter.
He was back on form with Surface Detail and his last Culture novel The Hydrogen Sonata.
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Honestly, I'm not hugely into sci-fi, either. I prefer fantasy.
Try Zelazny's "Lord of Light", starts off looking like a Hindu fantasy before the underlying SF justification for the scenario is revealed.
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Much of what passes for science fiction these days is, in my humble opinion, fantasy.
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Much of what passes for science fiction these days is, in my humble opinion, fantasy.
The border has become quite blurred. SciFi, and much of the fiction that aspired to be serious used to be characterized by realism, even if the material connections are only tentative. Realism is an old fashion though and much fiction today is fantasy dominated by vampires, witches and magic. It leaves me a bit cold too. But it does make for great movies and I suppose that the familiarity with video entertainment drive the demand for the types of books people read.
I have started Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space series on audio books. It is hard SciFi and I have enjoyed the books as a good companion on long walks.
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You guys might enjoy this site: http://www.freesfonline.de
Stories from F&SF, Analog (Astounding), Isaac Asimov's and Interzone going back years!
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Asimov's Foundation/robot novels.
Ranb
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A book that really struck me the first time I read it, and still does... A Fall of Moondust by the great Arthur C. Clarke. But I also love the Robot stories by Isaac Asimov...
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Some of the best new sci-fi is in graphic novels (comics) now. "Y: the Last Man" for example.
Hayao Miyazaki (of Studio Ghibli fame) is another master of the format though he trends toward sci-fantasy more than not. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is the most sci-fi of his stories, as well as being a legend in its own right.
In terms of novels, I do enjoy the classics (Asimov, Heinlein, Wells) and the Dragonriders series (at least until Anne stopped writing them) as well as her other scifi, and Dune (the book, not the series) is also a firm favourite.
All that said, I still think seasons 2-9 of Stargate SG-1 are some of the best sci-fi written in recent times. Farscape too even though it's even softer than Stargate. In a similar vein, I do love me some Firefly too, which, weirdly enough, is actually pretty damn hard sci-fi despite (or possibly because of) its being a Space Western.
Of the above I'd pick Stargate if I was to be consigned to a desert island with nothing else to watch. And not just because of Amanda Tapping, Claudia Black, Lexa Doig, Morena Baccarin, Teryl Rothery, or Vanessa Angel…
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I've always liked Clarke's Prelude to Space. Yes, the technology evolved in a radically different way (any Aussie's here want to irradiate significant chunks of your desert?), but I like the human story he told.
Also, there were a bunch of Asimov robot shorts that were in a book called The Rest of the Robots. I enjoyed them because he wasn't yet taking himself too seriously in those. The later shorts and the merger of the Robot and Foundation series were brilliant, always felt like heavy lifting.
Finally, for pure fun, Allamagoosa (sp?) is the single best SF short, ever.
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Television
1. Battlestar Galactica reboot. I have connections with the Comic Con sponsors, so I got to spend a fair amount of uninterrupted time with Richard Hatch and Edward James Olmos -- both amazingly fine and enthusiastic gentlemen.
2. Firefly. Again, lots of uninterrupted time with the stars, especially Adam Baldwin (who had lots to tell me about Kubrick).
Cinema
1. Blade Runner. One of the best scripts adapted from a Philip K. Dick story, production design by my favorite artist Syd Mead, and brilliantly directed by Ridley Scott. And again, the subject of much fascinating discussion with Olmos.
2. Ender's Game. Back in 1996 or so I worked on the first (aborted) attempt to bring the novel to the screen. My dumb brother has my copy of the book with all my production notes in it, and won't give it back. So while the recent film is not especially mind-blowing, I really like how they solved all the problems we could never decide on.
Monograph
1. Another vote for Hogan's Two Faces of Tomorrow. Say what you will about Hogan, the book is monumental. I'm trying to get some friends interested in film rights, just so I can work on it.
My housemate has a huge collection of vintage Asimov. We're good friends with the largest used book dealer in Salt Lake and we get phone calls when good things come in.
Many classic authors come in a close second: Clarke (of course), Asimov, and Heinlein.
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Finally, for pure fun, Allamagoosa (sp?) is the single best SF short, ever.
Just read that online, very enjoyable 10 minutes.
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The Martian is making the rounds. For a novel "out of the blue" it's a good read, and aside from a few minor nit-picks the science is sound. Literally everyone I know at NASA has recommended it to me.
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Have I mentioned Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy?
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Cinema
1. Blade Runner. One of the best scripts adapted from a Philip K. Dick story, production design by my favorite artist Syd Mead, and brilliantly directed by Ridley Scott. And again, the subject of much fascinating discussion with Olmos.
Yes, but the Directors cut, not the original theatrical release, and for two reasons...
1. He got rid of that awful voiceover/narration.
2. He included the vital "unicorn dream sequence" that was cut from the theatrical release in yet another example of movie studio executives overruling the director because they underestimated the intelligence of the target audience. Without that dream sequence, the unicorn origami figure left by Gaff (and found by Deckerd as he and Rachael flee his apartment) has no meaning, and the tantalising clue that Deckerd might himself be a replicant is never effectively seeded.
Monograph
1. Another vote for Hogan's Two Faces of Tomorrow. Say what you will about Hogan, the book is monumental. I'm trying to get some friends interested in film rights, just so I can work on it.
Oooh, yes please!
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The Martian is making the rounds. For a novel "out of the blue" it's a good read, and aside from a few minor nit-picks the science is sound. Literally everyone I know at NASA has recommended it to me.
OK, bought it, read the first 3 chapters so far, love it.
Of course, I started reading it this morning before I went to work and I was a few minutes late. Jay, you are part of some sort of conspiracy!!
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In a similar vein, I do love me some Firefly too, which, weirdly enough, is actually pretty damn hard sci-fi despite (or possibly because of) its being a Space Western.
I was left completely unimpressed by Firefly, for a variety of reasons.
Several of the plots seemed to involve Mal getting everyone into trouble because he took some insult personally and had to blow his cover to restore his (or someone else's) honour.
The Chinese expressions the various characters used were distracting - as realistic as they may have been in the culture it was often hard to tell what concept or emotion was being expressed. I felt the dialogue was nowhere near as sharp and witty as it was on Buffy.
The series had no apparent story arc like the Buffy seasons did. Instead the episodes seemed to be a bunch of unrelated incidents. Likewise I felt most of the characters showed no development over the season.
I was constantly distracted by the unresolved issue of whether the various planets were orbiting one star (in which case how did so many planets fit into one system) or many different stars (in which case why did they never seem to be either in deep space or hyperspace (or whatever)). Also, I felt the low tech of some of the planets they visited seemed to be just a little too low tech.
And finally I was put off by Whedon's constant description of how brilliant the show was - with the implication to me that the network people who cancelled the show, and those disagreeing with him, were dumb.
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Like Wheddon himself, I liked Firefly but don't consider it as perfect as many. I think Firefly and Wheddon get the benefit of the martyr worship given his unfortunate relationship with the networks.
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The Martian is making the rounds. For a novel "out of the blue" it's a good read, and aside from a few minor nit-picks the science is sound. Literally everyone I know at NASA has recommended it to me.
Thanks for the tip Jay. I just finished reading it. The only reason I couldn't finish it in one sitting was because I had to get some sleep before I had to go to work.
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I was left completely unimpressed by Firefly, for a variety of reasons.
I think those are all reasonable criticisms. I'm ambivalent about the long story arcs. I was brought up on American sitcoms, so episodic television was, for me, the rule until not too long ago. Consequently not all American writers start with them. On a series like Buffy that could practically guarantee several whole seasons, you have the luxury of writing a several-episode story arc. When you're writing your first season in a pre-Netflix series, you don't necessarily want to dive into a serial format right away because early viewership in an American market depends on single episodes being self-contained enough
Battlestar Galactica ended with a fairly unsatisfactory "punch-out" ending precisely because the last season was supposed to be two seasons, and the producers got wind that there might not be two seasons. Therefore the writers crammed all the wrap-ups into the last one. At least Firefly got enough interest for a feature film to try to tie up loose ends, which was only partially satisfying. I think some characters could have had story arcs in a second season to develop backstories, such as why Book was obviously not the simple cleric he appeared as, whether Mal would pull a Boromir-like stunt and turn River against the Alliance, whether Jayne would eventually turn against Mal.
I really like Whedon's dialogue. I mean in general, but even when his dialogue is bad it's better than most other Hollywood writing. You're judging the dialogue by Whedon standards, and that's perfectly valid. But I agree that the Chinese was distracting, mostly because the contrast between it and 19th-century American Western vernacular just didn't seem to work too well. I think it was worth an experiment, given the Space Western genre, but I would have phased it out in the next season.
Whedon is an outspoken self-promoter. I tend to attenuate a lot of what he says about his own work. But mostly I don't pay attention to it, and let the work speak for itself.
One of the things I like most about Firefly has nothing to with the show itself. Most of its fans are people you'd actually want to hang out with, and not feel like you don't want people from your family, church, or place of employment seeing you there.
I was constantly distracted by the unresolved issue of whether the various planets were orbiting one star (in which case how did so many planets fit into one system) or many different stars (in which case why did they never seem to be either in deep space or hyperspace (or whatever)). Also, I felt the low tech of some of the planets they visited seemed to be just a little too low tech.
The setting is a single star system, apparently with a Goldilocks Zone wider than Jarrah White's yellow streak. Yeah, it's really hard to believe it could have so many habitable planets and moons. You have to put faith in the purported terraforming and the retconned presumption that it was an anomalous star system with lots of interorbiting suns and satellites. Yeah. At a certain point you file it in the same drawer as transporters and the Force and accept that it's ineptly conceived plot device.
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Re BSG climax: I thought the first half of season 4 was fantastic. The second half was generally quite ropey. I did like the finale very much including the very end though I certainly can't deny one particular plot point is a legitimate cause for grief. My enjoyment benefits from my somewhat creative biblical interpretation of some of the plot elements.
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The setting is a single star system, apparently with a Goldilocks Zone wider than Jarrah White's yellow streak. Yeah, it's really hard to believe it could have so many habitable planets and moons. You have to put faith in the purported terraforming and the retconned presumption that it was an anomalous star system with lots of interorbiting suns and satellites. Yeah. At a certain point you file it in the same drawer as transporters and the Force and accept that it's ineptly conceived plot device.
The map for the game (yes, there's a game; yes, it's a lot of fun) has multiple stars. I have to assume distances are not to scale, because otherwise, that doesn't work on a level that even I know doesn't work.
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The Seedling Stars stories by James Blish are among my favourite. Surface Tension is probably my favourite of all those. Sure, it got science wrong, but so what? It's not like the science was even right at the time it was written.
I also really like Little Fuzzy H. Beam Piper, though I found the ending to be a little too pat, [spoiler]with the talking question resolved by sudden, if pretty reasonable, revelation.[/spoiler]
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The map for the game (yes, there's a game; yes, it's a lot of fun) has multiple stars. I have to assume distances are not to scale, because otherwise, that doesn't work on a level that even I know doesn't work.
No, board games generally aren't to scale. And yes, the gist of the Firefly 'Verse is that it is supposed to involve multiple dwarf stars in a cluster. The problem is that the gravity of multiple interorbiting stars -- even if they somehow worked themselves into a metastable system -- is too "lumpy" to hold onto planets. However, since you have to be in second-year orbital mechanics to understand fully why (short version: n-body systems are inherently unstable), it's reasonable as a premise to science fiction.
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I also left out my short-story category, which would probably have to be Niven's Known Space stories, among them "Neutron Star," "The Slaver Weapon," and pretty much anything with Beowulf Scheaffer. If you know that character, you'll understand why I often postpone explaining something I'm about to do with "Assume I'm a genius."
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I only read Neutron Start - I'll always remember the Puppet Master's line: "Yes, human circulatory fluid."
BTW, Jay - just finished The Martian in essentially two sittings. Great read - thanks.
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I only read Neutron Start - I'll always remember the Puppet Master's line: "Yes, human circulatory fluid.
I thought "The Puppet Masters" was Heinlein?
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I only read Neutron Start - I'll always remember the Puppet Master's line: "Yes, human circulatory fluid.
I thought "The Puppet Masters" was Heinlein?
yes! definitely heinlein.
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I only read Neutron Start - I'll always remember the Puppet Master's line: "Yes, human circulatory fluid.
I thought "The Puppet Masters" was Heinlein?
yes! definitely heinlein.
my first science fiction story was revolt in 2100 by heinlein. then heinlein, asimov and clarke.
almost anything from the golden years.
then niven and pournelle.
now. ringo.
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I only read Neutron Start - I'll always remember the Puppet Master's line: "Yes, human circulatory fluid.
I thought "The Puppet Masters" was Heinlein?
it's "Neutron Star"
yes! definitely heinlein.
my first science fiction story was revolt in 2100 by heinlein. then heinlein, asimov and clarke.
almost anything from the golden years.
then niven and pournelle.
now. ringo.
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I only read Neutron Start - I'll always remember the Puppet Master's line: "Yes, human circulatory fluid.
I thought "The Puppet Masters" was Heinlein?
yes! definitely heinlein.
Hang on then. "Known Space" was Larry Niven's ball of wax. Without looking it up, I thought that in "Known Space" a corporation called General Spaceships or something like that, pretty much made all "space hulls" (which were transparent and near indestructible) and that most if not all spaceships were built using these hulls as the core."
Heinlein's "The Puppet Masters" was an invasion of Earth book that was later made into a film (which flopped) starring Donald Sutherland.
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Whoops - its been years since I last read the story. Should have been "Puppeteer".
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Hang on then. "Known Space" was Larry Niven's ball of wax.
Indeed, his general unwillingness to work outside Known Space, and the general unwillingness of other authors to work in it, hobbled Niven's opportunity for collaboration. The animated Star Trek series adapted "The Slaver Weapon" with some success.
Without looking it up, I thought that in "Known Space" a corporation called General Spaceships or something like that, pretty much made all "space hulls" (which were transparent and near indestructible) and that most if not all spaceships were built using these hulls as the core."
General Products, the Puppeteer corporation. The premise of "Neutron Star" was to hire Beowulf Shaeffer to discover what strange force had managed to penetrate a General Products hull and kill its crew.
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I only read Neutron Start - I'll always remember the Puppet Master's line: "Yes, human circulatory fluid.
I thought "The Puppet Masters" was Heinlein?
yes! definitely heinlein.
Hang on then. "Known Space" was Larry Niven's ball of wax. Without looking it up, I thought that in "Known Space" a corporation called General Spaceships or something like that, pretty much made all "space hulls" (which were transparent and near indestructible) and that most if not all spaceships were built using these hulls as the core."
Heinlein's "The Puppet Masters" was an invasion of Earth book that was later made into a film (which flopped) starring Donald Sutherland.
that post of mine didn't come out well!
"Neutron Star" by larry niven
"The puppet Masters" by RA Heinlein (note capitalisation).
the film flopped, but i liked it. hey, though, i liked zombies v cockneys. and still think that the original film of buffy was better than the series.
sloop.
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The premise of "Neutron Star" was to hire Beowulf Shaeffer to discover what strange force had managed to penetrate a General Products hull and kill its crew.
Spoiler warning:
Yep, I remember it now, an excellent explanation of [spoiler]tidal forces[/spoiler]
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... still think that the original film of buffy was better than the series.
sloop.
Good lord! there are two of us? ;)
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... still think that the original film of buffy was better than the series.
sloop.
Good lord! there are two of us? ;)
Actually there are three of us! Her indoors watches the series, over and over, but got hooked initially as I was watching the film for the third time.
Sloop.
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Four and counting .....
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Five.
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Five.
I always knew the people here had good taste :)
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I've just watched the original film for the thirteenth time. I still can't repeat the dialogue. how weird is that?
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However i cant do the same for 13th warrior. And i've seen that 20, or, more times.
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Thanks for keeping this going. I've been listening to audiobooks more lately and my library has many of them from the authors discussed here.
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... still think that the original film of buffy was better than the series.
sloop.
Good lord! there are two of us? ;)
We are talking about "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" here right?
If so, well, I don't get it. For mine, shows like that, e.g. True Blood, Twilight etc, don't come under the classification "science fiction" simply because they have no content that could reasonably be called "science".
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Incidentally, who has been watching "Extant" and what do we all think so far?
I have to say that the premise of an astronaut being sent into space (6500+km) on their own for 13 months doesn't quite ring true with me. That said, the story has been suspenseful and has moved along at a good clip so far.
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We are talking about "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" here right?
If so, well, I don't get it. For mine, shows like that, e.g. True Blood, Twilight etc, don't come under the classification "science fiction" simply because they have no content that could reasonably be called "science".
[/quote]
Yes Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
True, no science content (although there has been a marginal case made arguing blood drinking to alleviate symptoms of porphyria as the basis of vampirism, I seem to remember)
Anyway, I grew up with SF being either, science or speculative, fiction. So sometimes I confuse the two.
sloop
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I think the definition of sci-fi is material enjoyed by nerdss it that would include Buffy.
Of course enjoying material liked by nerds makes one a nerd, so that definition is a bit circular. Such a fallacy then brings us full circle to why we're here in the first place.
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A few favorites off the top of my head....
Victory Unintentional an Asimov short about 3 non-humanoid robots and their exploration of Jupiter.
Have Space Suit - Will Travel a Heinlein Juvenile about the adventures of a boy and his space suit.
Yeah...HSSWT is for children, and I was a child when I first read it...:)
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Incidentally, who has been watching "Extant" and what do we all think so far?
Couldn't "stomach" the premise, so I haven't watched it...I thought it had been cancelled.
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just watched the first two episodes of resurrection.
jury still out, but initial feeling is favourable.
however it was the same for lost and fringe and they went belly up pretty quickly.
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A few favorites off the top of my head....
Victory Unintentional an Asimov short about 3 non-humanoid robots and their exploration of Jupiter.
Have Space Suit - Will Travel a Heinlein Juvenile about the adventures of a boy and his space suit.
Yeah...HSSWT is for children, and I was a child when I first read it...:)
Victory Unintentional. I can still visualise the robot stirring the molten liquid in the crucible. Or am I channelling another story?
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A few favorites off the top of my head....
Victory Unintentional an Asimov short about 3 non-humanoid robots and their exploration of Jupiter.
Have Space Suit - Will Travel a Heinlein Juvenile about the adventures of a boy and his space suit.
Yeah...HSSWT is for children, and I was a child when I first read it...:)
Victory Unintentional. I can still visualise the robot stirring the molten liquid in the crucible. Or am I channelling another story?
That's the one.
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A few favorites off the top of my head....
Victory Unintentional an Asimov short about 3 non-humanoid robots and their exploration of Jupiter.
Have Space Suit - Will Travel a Heinlein Juvenile about the adventures of a boy and his space suit.
Yeah...HSSWT is for children, and I was a child when I first read it...:)
Victory Unintentional. I can still visualise the robot stirring the molten liquid in the crucible. Or am I channelling another story?
That's the one.
Does anyone else see the strange grin on the robots face. Or is that just me?
Sloop
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Yes Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
I've never seen it.
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Yes Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
I've never seen it.
Me neither, making me the very odd one out in my family of Buffy fans and great readers of Buffy fan fiction. Something I don't even want to know about.
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Ender's Game and anything and everything by Asimov.
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Philip K. Dick is my all-time favourite, I own pretty much everything he has written. Gollancz has published most of his short stories in 5 volumes sorted in chronological order (Beyond Lies the Wub, Second Variety, The Father-Thing, Minority Report, and We Can Remember It For You Wholesale), and as PKD was an excellent short-story writer, those are definitely worth checking out. To name a few of his novels that I've liked the most, there's Ubik, A Scanner Darkly, and Lies, Inc. VALIS is also an excellent read, though I'm not sure I'd classify it exactly as science fiction.
Iain M. Banks was also a great writer, and I've been quite saddened by his recent death. Excession is probably my favourite, I really like the scheming AI-ships of the Culture.
A few others I've enjoyed recently:
Incandescence by Greg Egan. I've not really a fan of his other works that I've read so far, but this one worked well.
Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan. In similar style, Neal Asher's Gridlinked was also good.
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson. Another favourite writer of mine; I'd grade his Cryptonomicon as possibly the best book I've read (though it's not sci-fi).
I have a smallish sci-fi collection (about 500 books, out of my total collection of about 1100 books). After buying all the obvious classics of the genre, I've found http://www.bestsfbooks.com (http://www.bestsfbooks.com) a valuable resource for finding possible candidates.
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My sci-fi is maybe a few dozen out of even more books, so yeah.
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Victory Unintentional. I can still visualise the robot stirring the molten liquid in the crucible. Or am I channelling another story?
How weird, I have just read that story again for the first time in 10 years (Rest of the Robots) only to read this post literally minutes later.
Have a library of Asimov, love in particular the Foundation series and the way he inter-weaved his Daneel character from his Spacer novels into his later foundation sequels and prequels. I must admit though I picked up a book the other day at a boot sale, for 20p. It was by Alastair Reynolds and called Century Rain, I couldn't put it down. I may well look up some of his other titles.
2001 is a brilliant film and one that is very thought provoking.
For comedic value the BBC series Red Dwarf is outstanding, especially the cat character in the early episodes (he becomes less catty as the series moved on).
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I must admit though I picked up a book the other day at a boot sale, for 20p. It was by Alastair Reynolds and called Century Rain, I couldn't put it down. I may well look up some of his other titles.
That would be time well spent ;)
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BTW, Jay - just finished The Martian in essentially two sittings. Great read - thanks.
Ditto.
What a great read!
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I wish our resident author up in the conspiracy section would read it and learn what a gripping first-person narrative sounds like. Glad you folks all liked it.
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I wish our resident author up in the conspiracy section would read it and learn what a gripping first-person narrative sounds like. Glad you folks all liked it.
It's not a word, but I would describe it as "unputdownable"!
I'm in Provence at the moment and it's very rare that I would ever wish a plane journey to last a bit longer (especially when flying Easyjet!). Saturday was one of those rare times.... I rarely read fiction nowadays, but this one had me hooked.
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I must admit though I picked up a book the other day at a boot sale, for 20p. It was by Alastair Reynolds and called Century Rain, I couldn't put it down. I may well look up some of his other titles.
I haven't read that one, but I was quite disappointed by each of the three novels of his I read (Pushing Ice, The Prefect, and Terminal World). I think that the best of those was Pushing Ice, but the inane ending ruined it for me.
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I haven't read that one, but I was quite disappointed by each of the three novels of his I read (Pushing Ice, The Prefect, and Terminal World). I think that the best of those was Pushing Ice, but the inane ending ruined it for me.
I have been put off by a few reviews of his other works, but the concept of Century Rain was quite good.
Another author that I thought might have got a mention by someone was EE 'Doc' Smith. Ok his books were naive, non PC, but were (as we say in the UK) ripping good yarns. The Lensman series in particular, although Masters of the Vortex was a bit of a letdown..
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I must admit though I picked up a book the other day at a boot sale, for 20p. It was by Alastair Reynolds and called Century Rain, I couldn't put it down. I may well look up some of his other titles.
I haven't read that one, but I was quite disappointed by each of the three novels of his I read (Pushing Ice, The Prefect, and Terminal World). I think that the best of those was Pushing Ice, but the inane ending ruined it for me.
I have only gone through the Revelation Space series. The ending there was something of a let down after the long time invested. While I enjoyed the read, I have noticed putting off other books (Pushing Ice specifically) because I am not sure the time invested is worth it for the ending. Does Reynolds have a reputation for weak endings?
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Does Reynolds have a reputation for weak endings?
Until I picked up the one book, I had never heard of him before. :)
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Does Reynolds have a reputation for weak endings?
Until I picked up the one book, I had never heard of him before. :)
I liked the books because they were hard SciFi. Plenty of speculation and metaphor but no dragons, conjuring or Gollum wannabe creatures.
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"Forever War" I did enjoy as I did "Star Ship Troopers".
But recently beed reading books from Peter Hamilton and that has bumped up to my favourite, that is the problem, one of his series I found too much as in dull. Which of the ones of his I like it is hard to say. So, Greg Mandel, as it is just that bit off reality but still within today, ish.
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I'm wasn't familiar with Reynolds, either, and only picked up the books as I recognized the name from ads (his books have been recently translated to my native language, and surprisingly, they've even been marketed quite extensively) and could get those three (in English, I don't read translations if the originals are in English) for a low price.
But recently beed reading books from Peter Hamilton and that has bumped up to my favourite, that is the problem, one of his series I found too much as in dull. Which of the ones of his I like it is hard to say. So, Greg Mandel, as it is just that bit off reality but still within today, ish.
I have all Hamilton's sci-fi books except Great North Road, and while they do have dull parts, I did enjoy them. Greg Mandel series is good (it's tighter writing than most of the other works), but the Commonwealth Saga is his best stuff, in my opinion.
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I'm wasn't familiar with Reynolds, either, and only picked up the books as I recognized the name from ads (his books have been recently translated to my native language, and surprisingly, they've even been marketed quite extensively) and could get those three (in English, I don't read translations if the originals are in English) for a low price.
But recently beed reading books from Peter Hamilton and that has bumped up to my favourite, that is the problem, one of his series I found too much as in dull. Which of the ones of his I like it is hard to say. So, Greg Mandel, as it is just that bit off reality but still within today, ish.
I have all Hamilton's sci-fi books except Great North Road, and while they do have dull parts, I did enjoy them. Greg Mandel series is good (it's tighter writing than most of the other works), but the Commonwealth Saga is his best stuff, in my opinion.
Great North Road is good, but the ending felt rushed. The Commonwealth series I did enjoy and my new favourites but the Mind Star books just seem to be that bit closer to a today. The series of his I could not get on with, The Reality Dysfunction. Finished that book and felt a bit "meh!"
Mr Hamilton is about to release another tome it would seem as well.
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Two of my favourite SF series, Varley's Gaia trilogy and Aldiss' Helliconia trilogy, both have elements that verge on fantasy. Then again two other favourites "Earth Abides" (George R. Stewart) and "Greener than you Think" (Ward Moore) have minimal counterfactual premises.
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Some years ago read a short story in a compendium (which I cannot remember the name of) that was a collection of short stories about Mars. I remember that those stories were from some of the greats of the genre; Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, Lester Del Ray, Harry Harrison and Frank Herbert among others.
However there was one story (and again I cannot remember what it was called) where the basic premise was about these two neighbours (on Mars) who were both engineers (at least one was an electrical engineer) who, while flying across the desert in their own aircraft, discover an ancient piece of damaged Martian equipment, the purpose of which is a mystery to them. So, being engineering types, they decide to experiment with it in order to try working out what it is adn what it does. The story is quite humorous as I recall, with a number of things going wrong (one of which was that they ended up blowing a trench between their two houses). Does this ring any bells with anyone?
This story was one of the many things that inspired me to take up electronics as a career.
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Some years ago read a short story in a compendium (which I cannot remember the name of) that was a collection of short stories about Mars. I remember that those stories were from some of the greats of the genre; Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, Lester Del Ray, Harry Harrison and Frank Herbert among others.
However there was one story (and again I cannot remember what it was called) where the basic premise was about these two neighbours (on Mars) who were both engineers (at least one was an electrical engineer) who, while flying across the desert in their own aircraft, discover an ancient piece of damaged Martian equipment, the purpose of which is a mystery to them. So, being engineering types, they decide to experiment with it in order to try working out what it is adn what it does. The story is quite humorous as I recall, with a number of things going wrong (one of which was that they ended up blowing a trench between their two houses). Does this ring any bells with anyone?
This story was one of the many things that inspired me to take up electronics as a career.
Can you remember what the piece of equipment did? If it was for wireless power transmission, my guess would be George O. Smith's Lost Art in the short story collection Mars, We Love You (Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Mars-Love-You-Jane-Hipolito/dp/0515030864).
[edit:] I haven't read it, your inquiry just matched the collection itself, which is the only one I'm aware of with the specific theme and the authors mentioned.
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Some years ago read a short story in a compendium (which I cannot remember the name of) that was a collection of short stories about Mars. I remember that those stories were from some of the greats of the genre; Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, Lester Del Ray, Harry Harrison and Frank Herbert among others.
However there was one story (and again I cannot remember what it was called) where the basic premise was about these two neighbours (on Mars) who were both engineers (at least one was an electrical engineer) who, while flying across the desert in their own aircraft, discover an ancient piece of damaged Martian equipment, the purpose of which is a mystery to them. So, being engineering types, they decide to experiment with it in order to try working out what it is adn what it does. The story is quite humorous as I recall, with a number of things going wrong (one of which was that they ended up blowing a trench between their two houses). Does this ring any bells with anyone?
This story was one of the many things that inspired me to take up electronics as a career.
Can you remember what the piece of equipment did? If it was for wireless power transmission, my guess would be George O. Smith's Lost Art in the short story collection Mars, We Love You (Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Mars-Love-You-Jane-Hipolito/dp/0515030864).
[edit:] I haven't read it, your inquiry just matched the collection itself, which is the only one I'm aware of with the specific theme and the authors mentioned.
That's it. It was supposed to be a beam power transmission tube, and the two of them wreaked a fair bit of havoc while they experimented with it.
I just did a Google search and found that "Mars: We Love You" was also published as "The Book of Mars" .....
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51vtidpaApL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
......which, when I think of it, was the book I read it in. The two main characters (Barney Carroll and Jim Baler) also appear in a number of Smith's "Venus Equilateral" stories.
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Movie: _Forbidden Planet_
Books: _Childhood's End_ by Arthur C. Clarke
_Martian Chronicles_ by Ray Bradbury
_Contact_ by Carl Sagan. I liked the book better than the movie. The whole thing with pi was fascinating, but I was completely dumbfounded by the revelation of the circle of zeroes. (Or was it ones? I forget.) I really didn't expect Sagan to get that metaphysical. He, of all people, knows that if you allow yourself trillions of random digits, and you can choose the dimensions of the digit grid, and any number base you want, you will find some highly improbable coincidence. If a trillion bridge games were played, sooner or later someone may get all 13 cards of one suit on the deal. It's not a miracle. (If you ever get 13 hearts, diamonds, or spades, do NOT bid seven no-trump!!!!)
Edit: Oh, and the pendulum bet. I was surprised Sagan didn't suggest the simple solution of just closing your eyes. Now if someone required you to keep your eyes open, that's not really a fair test, because in that case instinctive reflex may overwhelm faith, (or knowledge).
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Movie: _Forbidden Planet_
Books: _Childhood's End_ by Arthur C. Clarke
_Martian Chronicles_ by Ray Bradbury
_Contact_ by Carl Sagan. I liked the book better than the movie. The whole thing with pi was fascinating, but I was completely dumbfounded by the revelation of the circle of zeroes. (Or was it ones? I forget.) I really didn't expect Sagan to get that metaphysical. He, of all people, knows that if you allow yourself trillions of random digits, and you can choose the dimensions of the digit grid, and any number base you want, you will find some highly improbable coincidence. If a trillion bridge games were played, sooner or later someone may get all 13 cards of one suit on the deal. It's not a miracle. (If you ever get 13 hearts, diamonds, or spades, do NOT bid seven no-trump!!!!)
Edit: Oh, and the pendulum bet. I was surprised Sagan didn't suggest the simple solution of just closing your eyes. Now if someone required you to keep your eyes open, that's not really a fair test, because in that case instinctive reflex may overwhelm faith, (or knowledge).
There was actually an article in a danish newspaper, which reported exactly that - not only did one player get one full color, but all four players EACH got a full set. It could be staged, though. Old people can do the strangest things.
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Movie: _Forbidden Planet_
Books: _Childhood's End_ by Arthur C. Clarke
_Martian Chronicles_ by Ray Bradbury
_Contact_ by Carl Sagan. I liked the book better than the movie. The whole thing with pi was fascinating, but I was completely dumbfounded by the revelation of the circle of zeroes. (Or was it ones? I forget.) I really didn't expect Sagan to get that metaphysical. He, of all people, knows that if you allow yourself trillions of random digits, and you can choose the dimensions of the digit grid, and any number base you want, you will find some highly improbable coincidence. If a trillion bridge games were played, sooner or later someone may get all 13 cards of one suit on the deal. It's not a miracle. (If you ever get 13 hearts, diamonds, or spades, do NOT bid seven no-trump!!!!)
Edit: Oh, and the pendulum bet. I was surprised Sagan didn't suggest the simple solution of just closing your eyes. Now if someone required you to keep your eyes open, that's not really a fair test, because in that case instinctive reflex may overwhelm faith, (or knowledge).
There was actually an article in a danish newspaper, which reported exactly that - not only did one player get one full color, but all four players EACH got a full set. It could be staged, though. Old people can do the strangest things.
I once got dealt an ace-high royal flush in spades. Needless to day, I stood pat!
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I once got dealt an ace-high royal flush in spades. Needless to day, I stood pat!
You know what the chances are of that from a properly shuffled deck?
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I once got dealt an ace-high royal flush in spades. Needless to day, I stood pat!
You know what the chances are of that from a properly shuffled deck?
1/(52x51x50x49x48)?
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I know there is a better notation that involves a ! function, but it is something like this.
(5/52)*(4/51)*(3/50)*(2/49)*(1/48)
Or somewhat greater than the probability of a Apollo hoax being real.
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I know there is a better notation that involves a ! function, but it is something like this.
(5/52)*(4/51)*(3/50)*(2/49)*(1/48)
Or somewhat greater than the probability of a Apollo hoax being real.
Oh - right - forgot that the 5 cards could be drawn in any order.
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I know there is a better notation that involves a ! function, but it is something like this.
(5/52)*(4/51)*(3/50)*(2/49)*(1/48)
Or somewhat greater than the probability of a Apollo hoax being real.
I know there is a better notation that involves a ! function, but it is something like this.
(5/52)*(4/51)*(3/50)*(2/49)*(1/48)
Or somewhat greater than the probability of a Apollo hoax being real.
Oh - right - forgot that the 5 cards could be drawn in any order.
That's if you're calculating for a specific suit. If the object is just to get a royal flush then the suit is not determined until the first draw. Should improve the chances slightly.
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That's if you're calculating for a specific suit. If the object is just to get a royal flush then the suit is not determined until the first draw. Should improve the chances slightly.
I think if you allow any suit the odds would be four times that of the spade royal flush Smartcokie was dealt.
That is ((4*5)/52)*(4/51)*(3/50)*(2/49)*(1/48)
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Almost as unlikely as a royal fizzbin.
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Almost as unlikely as a royal fizzbin.
I hate games that change depending on the day of the week. ;)
I've started "The Martian" very good read. :)
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That is ((4*5)/52)*(4/51)*(3/50)*(2/49)*(1/48)
Or:
= 4 / C(52,5)
= 4 * 5! * (52-5)! / 52!
= ~1.54e-6
or 1 in 649,740.
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or 1 in 649,740.
Was this considering a 13 card deal or a five card deal?
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or 1 in 649,740.
Was this considering a 13 card deal or a five card deal?
Five cards.