SciFi / Fantasy Readers?

iNVESTIGATE said:

i think these can be classified under this genre..

1984 - Eric Arthur Blair

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury


Can you see a general theme here. Dystopia's.. lol

Im actually not done Brave New World.. saw a bit of the movie the other day but had to turn it off near the end for fear of revealing any story. lol


other than that the last Real fantasy i read was the bible!

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Is it still sci/fi after it comes true? I've read those 3 but how did we miss "atlas Shrugged"? Thats another speculative future history isn't it?

I finished The Name of the Wind (Patrick Rothfuss) recently - good characters, setting, and plot. Pretty unique, and definitely worth reading.

What you didn't mention is that this puppy is 722 pages in Paperback! Damn those tiny fonts. The publishers save what, like 50 cents using 10 point instead of 14? I'm around 70 pages in and the style is nice but I'm waiting for him to get on with it....

Hmmm. That first line is supposed to be a quote in the last post. Guess I shouldn't delete html code lines, huh?

I've always been a big Bradbury reader ... always liked his style.

Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy is not to be missed.

Sword of Shanara has been mentioned but some of it gets bogged down, although the storyline is top notch.

Finally, I'd say anything written by Michael Moorecock is pure gold. The "Elric" series is not to be missed and the "Corum" series as well.

If you can find it Ray Bradburys "Illustrated man" in paperback circa 70s was deliberately set up to where each of the short stories started at what ever position was needed on the page for the last word of the story to always be in the bottom right corner of a page. You never knew the story was over until you turned the page. Very cool format.

appleseed said:

What you didn't mention is that this puppy is 722 pages in Paperback! Damn those tiny fonts. The publishers save what, like 50 cents using 10 point instead of 14? I'm around 70 pages in and the style is nice but I'm waiting for him to get on with it....

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Yeah, it is a long one.
It will pick up, but overall I guess it is slow in ways. Coming to that one after reading a series that was (like a LOT of fantasy) a somewhat interesting setting, fairly flat characters, and lots of action and adventure, I found The Name of the Wind to be refreshing. There's a lot more time spent setting the mood, getting into characters, etc., and not as much action. I liked it. Hopefully you will too.

CrackerJax said:

Sword of Shanara has been mentioned but some of it gets bogged down, although the storyline is top notch.

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I hope so, he just re-wrote The Lord of the Rings... and Tolkien had a good storyline there.

So I'm a couple hundred pages in and it really is very enjoyable. I can and likely will critisize this and that but a good read.
***Leothwyn*** If you like this for the reasons you say then you have read "Stranger in a strange land" by Heinlien, right? Grok.

I dabble in Sci-fi/fantasy on a regular basis. I have read boatloads of books in this genre.
Some of my favorites:

Robert Heinlein—Stranger in a Strange Land
Kurt Vonnegut—Sirens of Titan, Slaughter House Five, Welcome to the Monkey House
Jack Vance---everything!
C.S. Lewis---Space Trilogy
David Lindsay---Voyage to Arcturus
Nalo Hopkinson---Brown Girl in the Ring, Salt Roads, Midnight Robber
Philip K. Dick—everything!
H.W. Munn---Merlin’s Ring
Austin Tappan Wright---Islandia
Octavia Butler---Parable of the Sower, Xenogenesis
Orson Scott Card---Ender’s Game, Tales of Alvin Maker
Dan Simmons---Carrion Comfort, Summer of Night, The Terror, Hyperion
Tim Powers---Drawing of the Dark, On Stranger Tides, The Stress of Her Regard,
Anubis Gates
Ray Bradbury---Martian Chronicles, Something Wicked This Way Comes
Mervyn Peake---Gormenghast Trilogy
I’m too lazy to list anymore but these are some which are indelibly etched into my brain!

How about some opinions on the best of?

Most imaginative enviroment (backdrop) "the smoke ring" and "Intergal trees" Niven.

Most fun to read: "Dragonsong" and "dragonsinger" by McCaffrey. I've read them dozens of times.

Most detailed future history: either "bio of a space tyrant" series (anderson?) or "the foundation trilogy" Niven.

Most off beat: lots of possibles but I'll go with "Quotzl" I think I spelled that right by Alan dean Foster.

Best author?...

appleseed said:

How about some opinions on the best of?

Most detailed future history: either "bio of a space tyrant" series (anderson?) or "the foundation trilogy" Niven.

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Foundation was written by Asimov?

I enjoyed it, but prefer Gene Wolfe's stark Book of the New Sun.

I also loved Jack Vance's Tales of the Dying Earth

appleseed said:

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***Leothwyn*** If you like this for the reasons you say then you have read "Stranger in a strange land" by Heinlien, right? Grok.

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Never read it - I'll add it to my list. I read a few of his books years ago, but my memory sucks and I can't think of the titles.

I've read some of Wavel's list. I'll have to check out some of the ones that I haven't read. I agree on the Hyperion books by Dan Simmons... definitely enjoyed those.

Anyone read Vernor Vinge? A Deepness in the Sky, and A Fire Upon the Deep were great (they go together).

I can't believe you made me doubt my sanity for a moment. Yes, Prof. Asimov wrote the foundation trilogy.

Ahhh, I see. I knew better...

Someone else added to it later right? I'm thinking it was Greg Bear (?)
I never read them (if he did), but I liked the Greg Bear books that I've read.

Leothwyn said:

I've read some of Wavel's list. I'll have to check out some of the ones that I haven't read. I agree on the Hyperion books by Dan Simmons... definitely enjoyed those.

Anyone read Vernor Vinge? A Deepness in the Sky, and A Fire Upon the Deep were great (they go together).

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Stranger in a Strange is a great book!
Dan Simmons is a talented writer. He writes convincingly in different genres.
The Terror is historical/fantasy/horror. It is based on the true historical record of an ill-fated English Ship stuck in the Arctic.
Simmons Carrion Comfort is one of the best Horror novels I have read.

I read Vernor Vinge Fire Upon the Deep, but have not gotten around to Deepness yet...he is a very good writer. Most enjoyable.

Greg Bear The Forge of the Gods and Anvil of the Stars and Darwins Radio are excellent.
Too many books and not enough time!

Ever read the short story "Bears Discover Fire" Terry Bisson. I've never known quite how I feel about this story. I'd call that a success. All this talk about Greg Bear just made me think about it.
Does no one read space opera anymore? "So he whipped out his blaster and fried him." No explanation of how the thing works just cooked bad guy and off on the next adventure. Andre Norton. Anything in the ForeRunner series. HooRay! Bubblegum for the brain.

seriously if your into fantasy read the wheel of time series by robert jorden. the series will keep you busy for a year but it is the best ever. finished book 12 yea 12! and am waiting on the last two. im not a fantasy reader and i go nuts over these books. very well written lots of plots lines ,politics(in their world), differant people,sub plots. its crazy and its coming down to the last two the finale battle between supposedly good and bad but the lines and sides are so constantly changing you can never quesss whats going to happen. peace guys check it out . book one eye of the world.

Has anyone noticed how much better the grammar is in this thread compared to others?

hightyde27 said:

Has anyone noticed how much better the grammar is in this thread compared to others?

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It's not often I LOL at 3:30 am. Thanks. I needed that.