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Forgall posted:Have you read Greg Egan? Because you definitely should read some Greg Egan. Books that probably match your description best are Diaspora (far future posthumans decide to get out of their simulations and pay attention to real world again when nearby stars start mysteriously blowing up) and Schild's Ladder (far future posthumans try to figure out what to do about giant expanding sphere of altered vacuum that was accidentally created in an experiment on remote space station). So I actually had a brief interlude with Roadside Picnic and just finished that up this morning. I have Iron Sunrise to read, as well as a couple other books... but if I were to start with any book should I start with Diaspora?
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Jan 11, 2014 16:01
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SquadronROE posted:So I actually had a brief interlude with Roadside Picnic and just finished that up this morning. You mind giving your thoughts on this? I just finished it as well, and I'm trying to process it. I think I may have missed some greater meaning. Also, what are your thoughts on the end?
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Jan 11, 2014 16:26
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I also finished roadside picnic a few weeks ago. The story of the book's creation and publication is frankly more interesting than the story itself. It's got some cool ideas, and it's not a BAD book, but it's somewhat dated and very, very Russian. The sci-fi stuff is kind of a backdrop to what is a "working man in a crazy world" style tale. It's not just Russian like night watch, with that familiar flavor of malaise and drinking to escape problems. Instead of being written from the "upper-class" perspective, it's instead written by and about the average working man, trying to make it day by day in a gray industrial setting, navigating corruption in an uncaring world slowly going to poo poo, trying to scrape up enough scratch to forget what you had to do to get it at the local bar. With alien artifacts. From literature, there doesn't seem to be a lot of joy in Russia. Just inevitability and a gut certainty that happiness is fleeting and tomorrow will be worse than today. Bhodi fucked around with this message at 16:49 on Jan 11, 2014 |
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Jan 11, 2014 16:45
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Bhodi posted:I also finished roadside picnic a few weeks ago. The story of the book's creation and publication is frankly more interesting than the story itself. It's got some cool ideas, and it's not a BAD book, but it's somewhat dated and very, very Russian. The sci-fi stuff is kind of a backdrop to what is a "working man in a crazy world" style tale. Ok, good, that's what I got out of it. I just wasn't sure if there was more to it.
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Jan 11, 2014 17:15
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Fremry posted:Ok, good, that's what I got out of it. I just wasn't sure if there was more to it. Same here. I liked it, it was a fun story and I really enjoyed the change of pace as far as the main character was concerned. I also liked the grittiness and coarseness of the language used, it made me feel like I should take a shower and you really get sucked into the character's mindset a lot more. I liked how it ended too, and liked all of the explanation it offered for all the events and things - very fitting with the limited point of view with the main character. But yes, the story of the creation and everything around the book was more interesting than the story.
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Jan 11, 2014 17:21
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http://io9.com/all-the-essential-science-fiction-and-fantasy-books-com-1498833055 I'm very excited for Jeff VanderMeer's new series and whenever Ann Leckie's new Ancillary book comes out. Also, David Cronenberg? Huh. It's cool seeing a whole lot of women authors being represented here as well.
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Jan 11, 2014 19:31
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fookolt posted:http://io9.com/all-the-essential-science-fiction-and-fantasy-books-com-1498833055 Has Jeff got anything more planned for Ambergris? Finch felt like the prelude to more. An entire multiverse of loving up Ambergrisian forces distorted by divergent realities. It was weird and horrible and awesome. And they may have just committed genocide by killing the Greycaps.
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Jan 11, 2014 19:36
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SquadronROE posted:I liked how it ended too, and liked all of the explanation it offered for all the events and things - very fitting with the limited point of view with the main character. I think I missed the explanation unless the explanation was the Roadside Picnic trash analogy.
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Jan 11, 2014 20:06
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Fremry posted:I think I missed the explanation unless the explanation was the Roadside Picnic trash analogy. The explanation was that there is no explanation because he is just a normal person and won't get to know that.
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Jan 12, 2014 02:55
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Has anyone read about Bolo, the super tanks originally created by Keith Laumer? There are some original books (Bolo: Annals of the Dinochrome Brigade '76 - The Compleat Bolo '90) and I've run into this concept a number of times and thought how cool it sounded. If anyone has some experience with them and can tell my their thoughts on these books and this writer, the later writers as well if you know them.. that was would be great.
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Jan 12, 2014 20:37
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fritz posted:Neal Asher @nealasher 2h Ya, I made the mistake of reading his blog and he comes off as a massive douchebag. Currently he's ranting about e-cig regulation.
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Jan 13, 2014 03:58
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Decius posted:I disagree that the last few Vorkosigan books are lovely (although I can understand if others don't like the more domestic/romance focus), but the Chalion books are indeed amazingly good and rather unique in the Fantasy genre I don't mind romance-centered stuff at all (for another Bujold example, I liked all four Sharing Knife books), but I thought the Ivan book was just plain bad, and all I remember about Diplomatic Immunity is: basically nothing. Cryoburn was ok tho. I'm not sure if I'm done with the series, but it's a close thing.
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Jan 13, 2014 04:14
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Falloutboy posted:Ya, I made the mistake of reading his blog and he comes off as a massive douchebag. Currently he's ranting about e-cig regulation. I think I got as far as 'UKIP supporter' on his Wikipedia page before vowing to never read any opinion he has. Seriously, there's enough of that shite around here at election time I don't need to waste my leisure hours getting increasingly angry.
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Jan 13, 2014 08:25
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EdBlackadder posted:I think I got as far as 'UKIP supporter' on his Wikipedia page before vowing to never read any opinion he has. Seriously, there's enough of that shite around here at election time I don't need to waste my leisure hours getting increasingly angry. For any unaware US goons, UKIP is our version of the Tea Party, only with a few more poorly-hidden neo-Nazis in its ranks.
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Jan 13, 2014 16:00
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Tony Montana posted:Has anyone read about Bolo, the super tanks originally created by Keith Laumer? Those stories have been a favorite of mine for decades. I put some links into the Space Opera thread last week. To summarize, check out Baen.com for sample stories and the wikia site for background info. https://www.baenebooks.com/chapters/1439133751/1439133751___2.htm and http://bolo.wikia.com/wiki/Bolo_Wiki
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Jan 13, 2014 16:19
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Falloutboy posted:Ya, I made the mistake of reading his blog and he comes off as a massive douchebag. Currently he's ranting about e-cig regulation. I read the blog and I couldn't agree with him more about the E-cigs which saved my life and his country (the UK) wants to make illegal to even speak about. So how this makes him a "douche" is beyond me.
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Jan 13, 2014 20:26
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ZerodotJander posted:Recently read Consider Phlebas and then Player of Games. I definitely liked Player of Games a ton, while Consider Phlebas had good scenes but didn't really engross me. So pretty much right there with the goonsensus. I finally decided to give Consider Phlebas another go thanks to this thread, but I still found it rather uninspiring. I kept wanting to read, realising that was my current book, and wandering off to find something else to do. It's not that it was a bad book; it was just...meh. Not sure if I should bother with any of the others now. Enfys fucked around with this message at 19:01 on Apr 8, 2014 |
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Jan 13, 2014 21:34
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specklebang posted:E-cigs which saved my life Did an e-cig drag you out of a burning building?
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Jan 13, 2014 21:35
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DontMockMySmock posted:Did an e-cig drag you out of a burning building? Being in a burning building probably gives you better odds of avoiding horrible injuries than smoking, so I don't see why that'd be a controversial statement. My issue with Asher is that sci-fi is already so full of Libertarian bullshit and even a couple dumb statements from him are enough to tell me how his books are going to go. Tiny Timbs fucked around with this message at 22:27 on Jan 13, 2014 |
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Jan 13, 2014 22:23
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To bring the chat away from Neal Asher's opinions, I'm finally reading Slaughterhouse Five and I really wish I'd gotten into Vonnegut when I was younger, would have blown my mind. I read Sirens of Titan a while back but this is something else. I'm not even sure its appropriate for this thread, I don't know if its science fiction or just someone going very loopy. Either way I approve!
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Jan 13, 2014 22:41
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DontMockMySmock posted:Did an e-cig drag you out of a burning building? In a manner of speaking. Addicted since age 12 (I'm 70 now) and hopelessly addicted, COPD, unable to breathe triggering anxiety attacks. Did a 3 day quit and as I started screaming, I picked up an E-cig and now it's 9 months since I touched a real cig. So, yeah, saved my life. Sorry for being off-topic. Sorry for supporting Asher (whose books I really like). I'll shut-up now.
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Jan 13, 2014 23:24
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Didn't Mirror Dance win a Hugo? That book was terrible 
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Jan 13, 2014 23:44
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Enfys posted:I finally decided to give Consider Phlebas another go thanks to this thread, but I still found it rather uninspiring. I kept wanting to read, realising that was my current book, and wandering off to find something else to do. It's not that it was a bad book; it was just...meh. Not sure if I should bother with any of the others now. Player of Games is definitely more engrossing than Consider Phlebas. I'd try that one, and if you don't like that one you probably won't like the rest of the series.
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Jan 14, 2014 00:21
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specklebang posted:In a manner of speaking. Addicted since age 12 (I'm 70 now) and hopelessly addicted, COPD, unable to breathe triggering anxiety attacks. Did a 3 day quit and as I started screaming, I picked up an E-cig and now it's 9 months since I touched a real cig. So, yeah, saved my life. Wow. If you don't mind my asking, what made you decide to register here at age 70?
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Jan 14, 2014 00:43
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andrew smash posted:Wow. If you don't mind my asking, what made you decide to register here at age 70? He's not even the oldest goon. There's that guy - I think he's a retired cop - who dinged 70 last year. Back to Banks: don't automatically assume that because you liked The Player of Games you'll like any of the others. I do like TPOG, but it's the only Banks book I've ever thought was any good.
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Jan 14, 2014 01:06
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I really disliked Player of Games and loved Consider Phlebas and Use of Weapons. Those are also apparently the books everyone says aren't much like the rest.
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Jan 14, 2014 01:09
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Jedit posted:He's not even the oldest goon. There's that guy - I think he's a retired cop - who dinged 70 last year. Yeah but tokaii has been a goon for like ten years and also plays tons of MMOs
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Jan 14, 2014 01:41
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andrew smash posted:Wow. If you don't mind my asking, what made you decide to register here at age 70? I went rummaging through the internet looking for a forum occupied by highly intelligent people. After many mouse clicks, I discovered this oddly named board. So, I'm here to learn, not to teach. I belong to other forums but while the people are (mostly) nice, they aren't very deep. I've seen so many intelligent posts on SA that it gives me back some hope for humanity. Plus, I have discovered some new books here and after a lifetime of reading, I'm running low on really good material. I paid my way in for membership because I'm not a "free rider". I always donate to the forums I attend because it seems like the right thing to do.
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Jan 14, 2014 02:31
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Jedit posted:He's not even the oldest goon. There's that guy - I think he's a retired cop - who dinged 70 last year. Also you can smoke lots of drugs with e-cig lighters  which is cool, and I like seeing high school kids waving ad placards for them on street corners, it's a nice change from the poor folks in statue of liberty outfits come tax day. They're still dumb and I quit tobacco.
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Jan 14, 2014 02:44
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specklebang posted:I went rummaging through the internet looking for a forum occupied by highly intelligent people. After many mouse clicks, I discovered this oddly named board. So, I'm here to learn, not to teach. I belong to other forums but while the people are (mostly) nice, they aren't very deep. Thanks, that's an interesting answer.
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Jan 14, 2014 03:13
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Hobnob posted:I liked him up to and including Voyage. Then I read Titan and one of the Manifold: Something books and never touched him again, because why would you after those. That's exactly what happened to me. Time Ships was one of the first scifi books I ever read. I loved The Ring and it's still one of my favorite Big Dumb Objects (and I think it's still the Biggest). I like the universe and how hosed up it is (Humans get stepped on by a couple different Big Bad Alien species and after throwing them off get a big-rear end chip on their shoulder and keep picking fights with the Xeelee who are ridiculously powerful and really don't give a poo poo about humanity one way or another), read Manifold:Space and liked it, Manifold:Time and thought it was OK. I read Titan somewhere in there and was horribly disappointed, and Manifold:Origin just turned me off completely. I have a copy of Vacuum Diagrams that I don't think I've read, but I haven't been able to bring myself to read it. Tony Montana posted:Has anyone read about Bolo, the super tanks originally created by Keith Laumer? Bolo books are pretty fun, but I haven't read everything on them. They're ridiculously impractical and impossible tanks, but I just can't pass up land-going battleships that can sprint at 300mph across any terrain while firing huge fusion cannons. While singing Dinochrome Brigade hymns and polishing their welded-on medals. The stories often take the Bolos out of their element or their prime; they're alone, outnumbered, old, beat up, outdated, and barely functional but their determination keeps them going. I don't recall any other authors' takes on Bolos being objectionable, but the timeframes and capabilities of the Marks seem to get confused. I haven't read anything else by Laumer, but I hear Reteif is pretty good. In my reading, I just found and finished a copy of The Harvest by Robert Charles Wilson. I was pretty surprised; it was almost the exact situation I've daydreamed writing about if I had talent, although it doesn't go in quite the direction I would have. Basically, Aliens come and decide to 'fix' us by essentially giving us the choice to transcend. Most of humanity agrees, much to the displeasure of the protagonists. Not bad, but nothing special. Childhood's End is similar and much more haunting. The back of the book has a sample of his next book, Mysterium which sounds a lot like the concept behind Flint's 1632 series. Small American town gets zapped back in time and space (in this one, I think it's Turkey shortly after the time of Christ, but the sample doesn't go with the town). Has anyone read it? It worth picking up?
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Jan 14, 2014 08:39
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Pyroclastic posted:The back of the book has a sample of his next book, Mysterium which sounds a lot like the concept behind Flint's 1632 series. Small American town gets zapped back in time and space (in this one, I think it's Turkey shortly after the time of Christ, but the sample doesn't go with the town). Has anyone read it? It worth picking up?
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Jan 14, 2014 13:33
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So Deepness in the Sky was a good suggestion. Thank you. It's going to keep me occupied for at least the next week.
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Jan 14, 2014 14:39
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Pyroclastic posted:That's exactly what happened to me. Time Ships was one of the first scifi books I ever read. I loved The Ring and it's still one of my favorite Big Dumb Objects (and I think it's still the Biggest). I like the universe and how hosed up it is (Humans get stepped on by a couple different Big Bad Alien species and after throwing them off get a big-rear end chip on their shoulder and keep picking fights with the Xeelee who are ridiculously powerful and really don't give a poo poo about humanity one way or another), read Manifold:Space and liked it, Manifold:Time and thought it was OK. I read Titan somewhere in there and was horribly disappointed, and Manifold:Origin just turned me off completely. I have a copy of Vacuum Diagrams that I don't think I've read, but I haven't been able to bring myself to read it. Vacuum Diagrams is really really good. Personally I liked it much more than the full Xeelee Omnibus. I thought Flux and Raft were pretty boring and inconsequential (like actually literally inconsequential in the scope of the universe), while Vacuum Diagrams had a lot more interesting stuff (and the boring parts, like excerpts from Flux and Raft, were much shorter!). I just looked it up and realized there's a ton more written in the same Xeelee universe. If I'm going to go for either the Manifold books or Destiny's Children books, which is better? Unless I get really burned out on them, I'll probably do both, anyways.
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Jan 14, 2014 17:21
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I read the aforementioned boring Xeelee books (Flux and Raft, and one other I think) a few years ago and gave up. Where would you guys recommend I try to restart with the Xeelee sequence?
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Jan 14, 2014 19:48
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syphon posted:I read the aforementioned boring Xeelee books (Flux and Raft, and one other I think) a few years ago and gave up. Where would you guys recommend I try to restart with the Xeelee sequence? Vacuum Diagrams hooked me enough to slog through the 1/2 to 2/3 of the Xeelee Omnibus that bored me. You get a lot of the crazy scope of the universe and lots of interesting ideas, without Baxter spending 300 pages exploring the (boring) consequences of one little physics tweak. Ring was cool, but without Vacuum Diagrams, I don't think I would have appreciated it much. The short stories give you some context that the longer stuff can fit into.
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Jan 14, 2014 21:21
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Lex Talionis posted:I read Mysterium a long time ago and my recollection is that the story was pretty good but that I didn't think the ending did enough to pay off the mystery setup. Wilson is very good at setting up these really perplexing SF mysteries but he gets better at actually resolving them later in his career. I liked his later novel Chronoliths better: really fun premise and, I thought, a pretty solid ending. His most popular novel is Spin, which won a ton of awards and must have sold well since he wrote two sequels. I liked but didn't love Spin, but it's the Wilson I recommend to people who are interested in this sort of story. Haven't read the sequels. The knock on both Chronoliths and Spin, at least for me, is that the characters aren't all that likable, but your mileage may vary. I picked up The Harvest mostly because I enjoyed Spin, Blind Lake, Darwinia, and Chronoliths. However, I thought Axis wasn't as good as Spin, and Vortex was an outright letdown. It's set up this intriguing universe where Aliens Are Doing Something Weird and Remarkable, and Axis is setting up Vortex for a big story about why, and Vortex basically ignores most of that and the why doesn't get much play and is dumb. RVProfootballer posted:I just looked it up and realized there's a ton more written in the same Xeelee universe. If I'm going to go for either the Manifold books or Destiny's Children books, which is better? Unless I get really burned out on them, I'll probably do both, anyways. I disliked Manifold:Origin so much it's forced almost everything about the other two out of my memory. The first two were clearly good enough to keep me invested in finishing the trilogy, but they didn't leave much impression on me, compared to Ring. Though, it's been 10+ years since I've read any of them. I actually recall more from Titan than I do the Manifold series. I just read the synopsis of Manifold:Space on wikipedia and it doesn't ring any bells with me.
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Jan 15, 2014 07:12
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fookolt posted:I'm very excited for Jeff VanderMeer's new series. Excited (already preordered the ebook) but somewhat apprehensive? Apparently the series going to be released sort of episodically over this year? I'm interested to see how that works. That reminds me I still need to read Veniss Underground. Is Wonderbook worth checking out? I know it's more of a writers guide.
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Jan 15, 2014 17:31
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Just finished Ancillary Justice, which is amazing. Soldier who used to be an entire spaceship on a mission. It's deadly. Also, anyone else looking forward to the Lightspeed Magazine Women Destroy Science Fiction special edition? If their Kickstarter continues to do well it looks like it'll be a double issue, and they're including flash fiction, which I always enjoy. SuBeCo fucked around with this message at 19:21 on Jan 15, 2014 |
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Jan 15, 2014 19:19
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Haven't you ever wanted to read a randian dystopia scifi detective thriller novelization of an obscure adventure game written by an ex-businessman conspiracy theorist? Well, now you can! If he sells enough, he'll write a sequel!
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