Does anyone READ

[mzteris]

SF in this group?

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. yes, I also write it

[mzteris]

2. anyone I know?

I mean, read?

- It's just I keep coming here hoping for a discussion of SF and all I see is TV and movies.

What do you write and/or read?

[politicat]

3. yes, when I can find decent SF

That is getting rare; the publishers are putting out 3x as much fantasy as SF, and most of the remaining SF writers are either doing cyberpunk (or a variant, which I do like, but don't class as strict SF) or don't know anything about science.

My big issue with SF is that everyone who writes it takes the Star Trek method to humans in the universe: at some N point in the future, humans will cease to be the evolved creatures that we are today that have a nasty streak of self-preservation and too little altruism, and become civilized members of an advanced society. (Right.... Yeah. Like that's going to happen real soon now.)

How that miraculous change will come about is basically left unanswered, something of a deus ex machina. Alternately, humans don't evolve and change, and they regress a bit, and this is considered an improvement. (I'm thinking specifically about Nicola Griffith's work, and several other so called 3rd wave writers.)

I end up having to write a lot of my own to entertain myself, and thus not reading as much as I'd want to, since I end up reading a lot of non-fiction so that I can write good SF.

I see you want recommendations: Really, most of mine come from Fictionwise these days. I like Kristen Kathryn Rusch, Kage Baker, Neal Stephenson (steampunk and cyberpunk), Neil Gaiman (more fantasy, though), William Gibson (again, cyberpunk), Charles Sheffield, Robert Silverberg. (That's what's on my handheld right now.) I'm reading A Canticle for Liebowitz right now and listening to The Marching Morons. We've just finished a retrospective of Philip K Dick audiobooks. When I have to travel with a book, it's usually For Us, The Living (Robert Heinlein's first novel) or Cory Doctorow or Margaret Atwood.

But I'm weird. I like literature, too.

[mzteris]

4. cyberpunk

- I'm okay with some of it - it's at least a breath of fresh air, and that which is well written does bring some new twists to the table.

I don't think I've ever read Nicola Griffith, but have read Melissa Scott. Who else do you read? (I'm always on the lookout for someone new to read.)

I figure you like hard SF, too, but I'm content with at least some element of real science, ya know?

A well written alternative history/future (not fantasy) is okay, too. I do like some Fantasy as well, though.)

Have you written anything I'm likely to have come across, btw?

[politicat]

10. Sorry, I don't give my real name out on boards.

I've got a couple pieces available at Fictionwise, thanks to their agreement with Analog.

[Ready4Change]

11. You might like "Ilium" by Dan Simmons

Spelled
I (as in Inn)
L (as in Lithium)
I (Inn again)
U (Uma)
M (Monster)
(The subject line font didn't look legible. :) )

I'm about halfway through. So far it's about our solar system in the future, where humans as we know them are all but gone. In their place are several types of human offshoots, and one or two races which may turn out to be aliens, but that's not clear yet. It's interesting so far (halfway through,) and different from other things I've read. Worth a look, I'd say.

[mzteris]

13. Dan Simmons

his Hyperion series was rather - um - interesting, was it not?

[Ready4Change]

19. Haven't read any of his other books.

"Ilium" is the first of his I've read. Still enjoying it. Curious where it's going. It's a long book, but I'm getting to that point where the unread pages are dwindling, and it feels too soon for it to end. Sign of a good read, to me.

[Ravenseye]

5. Always

I always have a Sci-Fi or Fantasy book of some sort in rotation. Currently i'm working on the first Eberron novel by Keith Baker called The City of Towers. It's actually not bad. Not just for a D&D book, but overall too.

[rickrok66]

6. Reading SF

I have read Asimov's Foundation Novels, all the Dune novels including the new ones, some Ursula LeGuin. I read the Earthsea Trilogy after the Sci Fi channel showed their version and LeGuin's negative reaction to it.

I recommend joining the Science Fiction Book Club. After you finish your requirement, they still send a flyer every month, with some good ideas and deals of books.

I bought a newer version of the John Carter of Mars series and some of Anne Rice's books from them.

I also read through David Weber's Honor Harrington series.

Now, I am reading the Anita Baker Vampire Hunter novels by Laural K Hamilton.

[mzteris]

7. Asimov is always good

I recommend his Robot books. Robot Dreams is a particularly good selection of SS.

I like most of the "old guys" - like Robert Silverberg, Ben Bova, Greg Bear. (I've never been a Heinlein fan, though.) Philip K. Dick has some good stuff as well as Larry Niven - though not all.

Newer guys - Bruce Sterling, William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Melissa Scott, Connie Willis (though more speculative than hard "SF" - more on the order of LeGuin.)

A newer version of John Carter of Mars? So no more scantily clad buxom women? lol........

[SlackJawedYokel]

8. Recently read

Accelerando by Charles Stross, a nifty set of short stories essentially about Moore's Law in overdrive.
Just finished reading Kage Bakers latest in The Company series, The Life of the World to Come.
Currently working thru Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds.
I'm waiting for the library to pick up the latest Richard K. Morgan, Woken Furies and Neil Gaiman, Anansi Boys.

Recently read Neal Asher, Stephen Baxter, Kate Elliott, Brian Herbert, Robert J. Sawyer, John C. Wright, Scott Westerfeld(absolutely loved this series), Jeff Noon, and Terry Pratchetts lastest Thud.

And for all you lefties out there, George Lakoff, Moral Politics.. hang in there to the end... the first 1/3rd is painful. :D

Cletus

[mzteris]

9. thanks for the list

I like Baxter and Gaiman. I've read some of the others - the names look familiar - I'm better when book titles than author unless I find someone I REALLY like - then I go find all their works, ya know? :)

Some of these I'm sure I've not read - so thanks for the recommendations!

[ruthg]

12. constantly. Since I was a little girl .. a long long time ago...

favorite of late is Robert Charles Wilson....

My favorite SF books are.....in no particular order...

The Disppossesed ( or however you spell that) by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Lathe Of Heaven ( also Le Guin)

Timescape- Gregory Benford

just about everything by Ray Bradbury

Contact - Carl Sagan


And many more that I am too tired to think of right now...

[blindpig]

14. yep

Ilium by Dan Simmons, mentioned above, is a good read, the sequal is out but I have not seen it yet.

Samuel Delaney you know about. Don't get much better than Delaney, too bad his output was limited.

For oldies John Wyndham is good, Day of the Triffids a classic.

Clifford Simak wrote some great stuff, Way Station, City, All Flesh Is Grass.

The Mote in God's Eye and it's sequal The Gripping Hand by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle were both highly entertaining.

[Walt Starr]

15. Reading Harry Turtledove alternative history right now

His series based upon the south winning the Civil War. It's 1934 currently in the book I'm reading.

[NewHampshireDem]

16. Of course!

:hi:

Currently reading China Mieville's (fantasy/horror) collection of short stories, but once I've wrapped that up I will jump right into "Woken Furies" by Richard K. Morgan. I finished his "Market Forces" a couple of weeks ago.

Once I'm done with that I will order Iain M. Bank's "The Algebraist." If you haven't read banks you are missing some of the best sci-fi of the last 20 years.

I'll probably read something by Stross or Moriarity (neither of whom I've read yet) after that.

I am very, very eagerly awaiting William Gibson's new book, which should be out within the next year. :crosses fingers:

[semillama]

17. here's a few more great authors

David Brin

Ship of Fools, by Richard Paul Russo

Light, by M. John Harrison

[Technowitch]

18. Constantly

Just finished Ian Banks' "The Algebraist" last night.

Might go to the new Larry Niven collaboration next, seeing as how I got to meet him at Cascadiacon in early September. That was neat.

[lazarus]

20. yup

Just finished re-reading the entire Dune series. Also read Vernor Vinge's collection of shorts just released.

I reread Vinge's Zones books every year, just like I re-read my Donaldson and Tolkien. Old friends. :-)

[kcr]

21. Oh My Yes

Recent authors that are good:

Ken MacLeod

Robert Sawyer

Julie Czernada (sp?)

[tbyg52]

22. Vonda McIntyre's Starfarer series is good

She has also written a dead-on Heinlein juvenile, _Barbary_.

All Spider Robinson, thought much is actually fantasy.

Kim Stanley Robinson's _Three Californias_ series. (And others, but that's my favorite.)

I like the Octavia Butler I've read so far. A shame she died so young.

Bless his heart, Pohl still puts one out every once in a while. May he live forever!

[FloridaJudy]

42. Octavia Butler

Octavia Butler is dead? Omigosh, why doesn't anyone tell me these things? The media keep blathering on about Anna Nicole Smith, and Molly Ivins and Octavia Butler don't even get a half paragraph.

I have very small-c catholic tastes in S.F. My absolute favorites are probably Neil Gaiman, China Mieville, Connie Willis, Sheri S. Tepper, Neal Stephenson, Nancy Kress, and Lois McMaster Bujold.

I'm just finishing two out-of-print paperbacks by Elizabeth Scarborough: Nothing Sacred and The Last Refuge. They're the first Buddhist Science Fiction novels I've found. I loved her Healer's War as well (how books that win Nebulas go out of print, I'll never fathom).

[mzteris]

43. seems like we have similar tastes

I'm on an Elizabeth Moon kick.

China Mieville - man - he's not at all what you think, is he?

I like all of the ones you listed, except maybe Lois Bujold - but that's 'cause I can't think off-hand of anything of her's I've read.

[Book Lover]

23. My sig line is from a Roger Zelazny book

Doorways in the Sand, which is as good an intro as any to his work. Read a few other things of his before hitting the Amber novels (well, avoid his rather weak "fantasy" entries "Bring me the Head of Prince Charming," and "If at Faust You Don't Succeed"); for an intro to hsi work I would suggest DitS definitely, and "The Last Defender of Camelot" which is a short story collection. The Amber series is lengthy and a bit cumbersome in terms of plot spun out over so many books, but is well worth it, I think.

[YankeyMCC]

24. I have 130 Science Fiction books

in my house not counting over a decade of "Asimov's Science Fiction" magazines.

Yeah, I read ;)

[Greyskye]

25. My addiction

SF&F comprises about 80% of what I read. And I read on-average about 3 books a week.

So I'd say: yep. :evilgrin:

[mzteris]

36. so okay -

give.

Names, titles, details, man! Details!

[Orrex]

26. Do what?

I just finished rereading RAW's Schroedinger's Cat Trilogy, in honor of the late author. Before that I read 2001: A Space Oddessey and 2061: Oddessey Three, shortly after finishing an anthology of Clarke's short stories. I've also lately read some of Wells' shorter works because I'd never read them before. They age surprisingly well--better than a lot of stuff written in the 50's.

Also, I received Cormac McCarthy's The Road for Christmas and read it over the course of a few days. Does that count?

[Sabriel]

27. I just finished The Intuitionist

It's by Colson Whitehead, and it's a rather good race allegory. In short, it's about elevator inspectors who are split into two groups: intuitionists and empiricists.

http://www.amazon.com/Intuitionist-Novel-Colson-Whitehead/dp/0385493002/sr=8-1/qid=1170360792/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-7528139-2874518?ie=UTF8&s=books

[TygrBright]

28. Yup. Classics, non-fascist MilSF, and space-opera stuff.

Classics:

Asimov, the original Dune (couldn't get into the rest of them,) those of Heinlein that read less like libertarian political tracts and more like adventure stories, Clarke, Bradbury, Zenna Henderson, Kornbluth, Kuttner, Silverberg, Parke Godwin, McIntyre, Norton, Zelazny, Pohl and like that.

Space Opera:
McCaffrey, Lois McMaster Bujold, James H. Schmitz, Cordwainer Smith and like that.

MilSF:
Chris Bunch, Elizabeth Moon


I love Tolkien, but I generally don't go in for Tolkein knockoffs in the fantasy genre and I don't care for those extended female wish-fulfillment sexual fantasy things, nor for the turgid prose and morbid redundancy of the sci-fi/fantasy/gothic fusions. I do like some SF/Fantasy crossover, like Marion Zimmer Bradley's non-Arthurian, non-Darkover novels and some of the earlier Darkover series before she got obsessed with sex, L. Sprague deCamp and/or Fletcher Pratt, H. Rider Haggard, John Myers Myers and James Branch Cabell.

Why am I blathering on in such tedious and specific detail?

Why, because I am hoping that some kind soul(s) will say "Oh, you like X? Have you tried Y?"

It gets so wearisome, pawing through shelf after shelf after shelf of wizards and dragons and elf-type demoiselles, and having so few readable alternatives in the other areas.

I did like David Whatsisname's first few Honor Harrington novels until he went overboard with the fascist/elitist/libertarian political injections.

Can't read the alternate-history stuff at the moment since I'm collaborating on something in that genre and it's fatally easy to crib without realizing you're doing so.

wistfully,
Bright

[salvorhardin]

29. What? No Larry Niven?

I'm not sure which of the classic authors Ken Macleod reminds me of but ifyou like grand space opera with political intrigue thrown in for good measure you might try his Engines of Light trilogy: Cosmonaut Keep (the best of the three IMHO), Dark Light and Engine City.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/102-1925486-5072148?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=Ken%20MacLeod

[TygrBright]

30. I loved the Ringworld concept but he was just SO in love with his kittycat people...

...and it got terminally repetitious for me.

I will put Ken MacLeod on my list to check out, though.

My preference is for sci-fi that takes the central "what if" premise of the genre, and applies it to the human nature of realistic, fully-realized, interesting characters. Some authors get too enamoured of the cleverness of their own "what if" idea and spend way too much time and prose on it, without there being any real interface between the 'what if' and how it affects/changes interesting individual characters. Some have the cool idea and can't plot a story arc, spending way too much time in expository stuff that doesn't lead anywhere. And some get way, WAY too caught up in the turgid psyches of their protagonists and put the reader through far too much agony exploring it in detail.

I read SF for fun, and thought provocation. I am not a masochist (at least not when it comes to reading, heh-heh) and my life is extremely satisfying so I have no need to vicariously live out sexual or psychological fantasies.

dogmatically,
Bright

[salvorhardin]

31. You read SF fun?

Well see, there's you're problem. You need to read it for money. Actually, that'd probably be a sucky job. There's a lot of dreck out there these days.

The other thing I'd recommend is getting yourself a subscription to Asimov's Science Fiction, Analog Science Fiction & Fact, and Fantasy & Science Fiction magazines. That's if you can swing the money (I can't). The circulation for these magazines is in the toilet and we're in danger of loosing our only real surviving outlets for quality short speculative fiction.

Oh, and of course, you might want to give Escape Pod a listen. It's an audio podcast where one work of short science fiction is read each week. It's really incredibly well produced (often bordering on being full blown audio plays) and a lot of fun. Most of their work is drawn from older issues of Asimov's, Analog or S&SF but they also buy original short fiction.
http://www.escapepod.org

[TygrBright]

32. ahhh... If I had the speed/bandwidth for audio I'd give it a try...

...but I have an older pute and a slow internet connection so most audio/visual stuff is out of range for me.

Used to be, short fiction was where the real creativity was. Maybe it still is. I'll have a bash at a mag or two, see if it's worth the investment. I'm not all that keen on cyberpunk, though, so if they're all over that they'll likely lose me. Thanks for the tip!

appreciatively,
Bright

[YankeyMCC]

33. I'll second the recomendaiton for Asimov SF

Short Stories are most of what I read in SF these days.

[mzteris]

35. alas, I let my subscription lapse -

and then I moved. I should look into renewing my subscription. I really looked forward to getting it every month.

[YankeyMCC]

37. They need the subscriptions

The genre periodicals continue to struggle to stay afloat, every subscription helps keeps these gems alive for a little while longer at least.

[mzteris]

34. Elizabeth Moon

I just discovered her. I'd picked up a book of short stories and had to double check the author because it sounded like a man had written it. That didn't come out right - what I meant was she sounded like she had been in combat - (which of course we know "women can't do" :sarcasm:) anyway - she really intrigued me.

I'm currently reading her "Speed of Dark" which is very different. I like it but I'm afraid of where it's going...

I really liked some of Octavia Butler's work, along with Connie Willis, and Nancy Kress. I stay on the lookout for women authors.

The only thing I "don't like" about the old writer's/classics is the rampant sexism in them. Of course, it was just the times - and I try to overlook it - but recently I've found myself unable to finish a couple.

[TygrBright]

38. Fear not, on "Speed of Dark"...

...Moon is very reliable, even in her "serious" fiction. It is not an 'easy' ending but it is well written and works, in the context of the characters, story arc, etc. I just hate it when a writer has a great character(s), great central idea, great exposition, and then doesn't seem to have any idea how to end it and just lets it peter out or tacks on a "and then the little girl woke up and discovered it was all a dream" type ending.

I will read anything Elizabeth Moon writes, but especially the military/adventure plots she does so very well, with strong female characters. I discovered her through McCaffrey's "Sassinak/Death of Sleep" story arc.

I like authors who can write strong female characters but particularly *realistic* strong female characters. I don't care for the writers who fill their militaries with a 50-50 ratio of men and women with the women ALL doing everything the men do. Women generally have less upper body muscle mass than men and I just don't see too many of them putting in huge efforts to duplicate the exact type of physical prowess that is possible with a male physique. Likewise, women tend to have a lower center of gravity and a higher ratio of lower-body muscle mass and a style of physical action that capitalizes on that is more realistic. So writers that do all kinds of hand-to-hand, unarmed combat scenes pitting women against male opponents and not making note of those differences lose me.

Likewise those writers that go in for anachronist arms and don't take note of gender differences. For instance, a one-handed, broad-bladed, heavy longsword will be a much "friendlier" weapon for a male with lots of upper body strength. With a few very exceptional exceptions, a female with a comparable level of training, experience, and expertise will have a hard time against a male opponent using such a weapon, simply because she'll need to use a much faster, defensive style and a couple of really heavy, direct parries will tax her far more than they would a male. OTOH, a woman with a short, light blade who is agile and fast is likely to be all over a male opponent of similar experience/training, etc., armed with a similar weapon. And so on, and so on, and so on.

Too many writers think they can just endow their female warrior characters with the exact same abilities they'd give a male warrior, and let her go. Lazy, lazy, lazy! I can believe in the occasional female warrior character who's trained up to a superb level of upper-body strength and can match a man blow for blow in hand-to-hand or blade combat, but really, it's so much more interesting when a female warrior character both compensates for, and exploits, her physical differences, and relies on those warrior qualities that are not connected to physical prowess.

heheheh... you got me ranting. Sorry.

sheepishly,
Bright

[JitterbugPerfume]

39. I just bought

The Complete Science Fiction Treasury of HG Wells , with preface by the author at a Goodwill store in Indianapolis

I gave $2 for this treasure, and I can not wait to read it!

I also got Genesis by Pohl Anderson > Is it any good?

[YankeyMCC]

40. Well that certainly sounds like $2 well spent!

Sorry never read Genesis by Anderson so I've no comment there.

[JitterbugPerfume]

41. I have found a lot of treasures at Goodwill

Salvation Army stores and garage sales

Everyone knows I am second hand Rose:hi: :woohoo:

[mike_c]

44. incessently, and I do not have a television, so I feel your pain...

...about an SF group that seems fixated on TV.

[mzteris]

45. HEY!

:hi:

Any favorite authors?

What are you reading now?

I've just finished Elizabeth Moon's "Engaging the Enemy" (Book 4 of a 5(?) part series of which 4 is the only one I've read. :( )

I'm nearly at the end of Nancy Kress' "Crucible".

I just started "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time ..." ok - not SF but pretty interesting.

[mike_c]

46. I've just finished Jack McDevitt's Eternity Road...

...which I enjoyed-- it's not really SF I suppose, but rather a post-apocalypse story. Before that I read Karen Traviss's triology City of Pearl, Crossing the Line, and The World Before.

Favorite authors, oh my, that's a tough one. It changes a lot. I'm always on the lookout for something new by Peter Hamilton, Nancy Kress, Dan Simmons, Vernor Vinge, Alastair Reynolds, and a bunch more.