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Science Fiction and Fantasy

letterHead I like a lot of older writers too. In fact I have on occasion bemoaned the fact that most of my favorite writers are dead and therefore not very productive: R.A. Heinlein, Roger Zelazny, C.S. Lewis, Douglas Adams and, of course, J.R.R. Tolkein. As a result I generally spend most of my time at the book store staring at the shelves trying to decide which book by an author I've never read before that I'm going to buy.

I have recently discovered I like LeGuin and Fredrick Pohl is a good one and James P. Hogan has some good stuff too. I've even brought home some Terry Pratchett on occasion. Guess its time to broaden the ol' horizons.
 
Sorry UKL fans,

I bought Left Hand of Darkness and after two pages have deemed it unreadable. I don't mean it's unreadable for everyone. I just don't have the capability.

I don't particularly enjoy novels that deal heavily with constructed civilizations (especially languages). There are a few authors who are exceptions: Tolkien, Card, Herbert...

Don't feel bad. I feel the same way about Faulkner. I can't get into his books. I guess the old deep South is an alien land to me, too!
 
HBinjection wrote
I don't particularly enjoy novels that deal heavily with constructed civilizations (especially languages).

You should give Robert Heinlein a try if you're looking want some plain old human Sci Fi. A lot of his stuff is set right here on the good old planet Earth.
 
I read a lot of Robert Heinlein's books when I was in my teens. Red Planet, Have Spacesuit - Will Travel, that sort of thing. I enjoyed them as entertainment and completely missed any political points he was trying to make (if any were there at all). I didn't get around to reading Stranger in a Strange Land until I'd left school. Probably just as well, as I am easily influenced by literature and may have taken some of his suggestions to heart :).

The Number of the Beast completely baffled me. I've never read any of E E 'Doc' Smith's books, nor do I have any idea of who Tick-Tock is.

I've read Job:A Comedy of Justice - Didn't find it funny. Is there some meaning to the word 'comedy' I am unaware of? I came away feeling as if he was trying too hard to be controversial, and I got a similar feeling from 'The Cat Who Walks Through Walls'. I stopped reading him after that. Something about his characters just didn't ring true, I got the distinct impression I was already supposed to know them.

I'll keep an eye open for his works though. I may get a different slant on things now that I'm older.
 
Well, I have to agree, letterHead about those last three books, and a few others. I read about a chapter of Job and tossed it in the unreadable bin.

It seems that a great deal of his later stuff was pretty abstract. All that time travel and genetic manipulation and reality theory kind of gave me a headache. I don't mind books like that, but if it interferes with the story its more like reading philosophy--which by no means should be considered entertaining IMHO.

There are several books of his that are not presented as a set but need to be read together. They are all sort of based in the same Universe. I could never get my brain around all of it though because I couldn't figure out which order the books were in. I suppose if you went by the publishing date it might help...perhaps?

BTW I enjoyed Friday and it is a good solid stand alone story. Also, The Door Into Summer and Puppet Masters are good independent stories.
 
I've read Friday as well. I agree, an enjoyable book. Heinlein had some interesting points to make about genetic engineering, especially with regard to what he called' Living Artifacts' and 'Artificial People'.

IIRC, the main character spent some time in New Zealand. The idea of a NZ with a President was intriguing, I'm not too sure about talking sheep dogs though.

Off to the 2nd hand book store I go...
 
I have to admit that I have been dipping in and out of SF for years, and have only just recently gotten interested again. I was surprised at some of the names I didn't see here. For instance, Neal Stephenson. His books Snow Crash and The Diamond Age really upped the ante with the cyberpunk crowd and are very good. Walter Miller's (?) Canticle for Leibowitz is one of the standards of the SF world (imagine The Name of the Rose set in a post-Apocalypse world). Other favorites include:
Roger Zelazny - Lord of Light, Hal Clement - Mission of Gravity.
Anyway, its nice to see some new names here too. I just wish I could read books as fast as I can buy them.
 
I agree, its easier to buy them than to find time to read them. I have become pretty cautious where I put my book money these days. Its pretty tough for me to decide to start buying a new author. The last one I bought was Terry Pratchett and although there are some that will probably disagree I had a tough time trudging through the ones I bought. I doubt I'll make that mistake again.
 
I Read it all the Time!

I read sci-fi and fantasy more than any other type of book. I also read non-fiction, cook books, kids books, some fiction etc. But Fantasy is my favorite.

I love Tolkien, (who doesn't?) Fiona Patton, Guy Gavriel Kay, Sara Douglas, R A Salvatore, Robert Lyn Asprin, and many many more. I definately have a huge group of friends who are all into the same genre and we discuss it all the time, in public or not. We are also big gamers too.

~Witch
 
I've started reading the Foreigner series by Cherryh. I'm reading Invader, book 2 now. I like books about humans encountering, and having to deal with, alien cultures and this one fits the bill.
 
Midshipmans Hope by David Feintuch.
Find, Read, be amazed by. Trust me its more than you'll be expecting.
 
Witchchild, believe it or not, I ran across a discussion on a news group that had to have been mostly made up of Tokein haters. Nothing good to say about him at all. Have you ever read The Guardians of the Flame series by Joel Rosenberg? It was about strange things that happened to gamers...great characters too.

Dawn wrote:
I like books about humans encountering, and having to deal with, alien cultures and this one fits the bill.
I just recently finished James P. Hogans The Legend That Was Earth
it might fit the bill too.
 
i enjoy reading terry goodkind and david eddings mostly. terry goodkind because he bases each book on a "wizard's rule" which are also important human ideas, the firsty of which is in my signature. eddings, because of his new way of looking at life, a kind of cynical wisdom that opened my eyes, he teaches you to laugh at things that are "silly" not to get angry at thing that anger you!
 
Fantasy-wise, I tend to steer clear of the lists of titles about people with ridiculous names going on obscure quests to find cliched items to stop a generic villain, despite loving LotR and indeed all of Tolkien's work. Robin Hobb, however, is a superb author and the Farseer/ Tawny Man trilogies in particular are some of the best fantasy I have ever read.

I love SF, particularly high-concept works, Brave New World by Auldous Huxley, The Dispossessed by Ursula le Guin, Asimov's Foundation series and We by Evgenii Zamyatin, along with many others.
 
i can understand belgarion is a ridiculous name, but richard and khalan aren;t! and the orb isn't in any way cliched!!!! besides though this classic plot outline may be used, the way that it is presented is original in its own way. not to mention the fact that there is in no way anything unoriginal about basing each book around one phrase that is an important human philosphy, and stressing it with everything that happens in the book! terry goodkind OPENS YOUR EYES, and though thats not original its sure as heck important! originality in the plot andcharacter design isnt as important in a book as originalty in important wisdoms and philosophies as well as new ways of presenting the classic design of the book.

what im trying to say is that, classics are good regardless of their unoriginalty, the plot outline is used, yes because it was used before, but its not because they cant think of anything else- its because it works in presenting the idea. in chess, you may use the queen's gambit, it is a classic move and is used many many times, but not because people are too stupid to think up a new one, because it is effective and it works! do you understand? i hope so!

p.s. i still enjo originalty as much as the next guy, but i was trying to defend my favorite authors:D
 
Richard Rahl said:
i can understand belgarion is a ridiculous name, but richard and khalan aren;t! and the orb isn't in any way cliched!!!! besides though this classic plot outline may be used, the way that it is presented is original in its own way. not to mention the fact that there is in no way anything unoriginal about basing each book around one phrase that is an important human philosphy, and stressing it with everything that happens in the book! terry goodkind OPENS YOUR EYES, and though thats not original its sure as heck important! originality in the plot andcharacter design isnt as important in a book as originalty in important wisdoms and philosophies as well as new ways of presenting the classic design of the book.


Wrong thread mate, didn't you know Goodkind doesn't write fantasy ;)
Goodkind's letter to his fans (I wonder how I ended up reading it)

I hate that letter, he comes across as such an arrogant guy in it.
 
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