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Sci-Fi Books


redrum

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I'm sure some of you read science fiction.

I've been getting back into Edgar Rice Burroughs' stuff with 'At The Earth's Core' and Pellucidar. It's interesting trying to visualize a perpetual noon day sun and a horizon that curves up. B)

I also just read 'The Demon Seed' but it was the new re-written version and I didn't care for it.

Any faves?

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I'm a big SF fan (I prefer it, anyway, to the regular fiction)

Among my favorites is the "Foundation" series (by Isaac Asimov) and basically all Asimov's books (I love his ideas, but not so much the writing style - too dry for me, although fresh). I also love the style of Arkady & Boris Strugatsky (everything I've read by them, I loved it:

-Roadside Picnic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadside_Picnic

-Monday Begins on Saturday :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monday_Begins_on_Saturday

-Space Mowgli:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Mowgli

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I used to read a lot of science fiction, especially Asimov, but also Clarke (did you know that Childhood's end inspired the art cover for Houses of the holy btw?).

Lately i grew interested in tales about alternative reality, like "The man in the high castle" by Philip Dick. Very worth reading.

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Can't say I read a great deal of Sci Fi(or indeed novels generally) but the first Dune book remains a favourite of mine although perhaos something you need to go though more than once to get the most out of.

If you like that I'd also recommend The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe, alot of fantasy elements aswell but ultimately a very original sci fi setting.

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Can't say I read a great deal of Sci Fi(or indeed novels generally) but the first Dune book remains a favourite of mine although perhaos something you need to go though more than once to get the most out of.

icon14.gif

I used to read a ton, a majority being SF/Fantasy.

I'm a huge fan of the Dune series (the first 6 books actually written by Frank Herbert.)

My biggest hope is that they would do an all-out, Avatar-style effort to do the Dune series as a movie.

The original from the 80s is so disappointing, and technology has reached the level to do a really good job bringing Dune to life.

Done right, they could keep them coming, just like Matrix/Harry Potter/LOTR/Star Wars, and believe me, God Emperor of Dune done right would be epic beyond imagination.

The Dune books that Frank Herbert's son Brian has co-written pale in comparison, but serve as methadone for Dune junkies.

I read a few, but it wasn't enough to keep me hooked.

The other really cool SF series I love is Julian May's Saga of Pliocene Exile books - The Many Coloured Land, The Golden Torc, The Nonborn King and The Adversary.

I really love time-travel paradox-type stories, and this one is way cool.

I haven't read the books in the series that came after, although I want to a lot.

Reading novels is a luxury of time I don't have anymore - at least while I have kids at home lulz.

Also, props to the previously mentioned Foundation series.

Kinda old-school, but still good stuff.

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icon14.gif

Also, props to the previously mentioned Foundation series.

Kinda old-school, but still good stuff.

Like I said, the writting style does not thrill me, but the ideas are so interesting! And instructive! It proves a deep knowledge of the social laws (for example, in Foundation&Empire it shows how, in a system when the ruller is week (but not too week), no exceptional lider could emerge (being pull down by the court's lackey).. and the examples could continue.) It makes you wonder if we are, truly, only some statistic figures, under some statistic rules.

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I've always loved the books and films 'The Time Machine' and 'First Men In The Moon' (great animation) by HG Wells.

This would make a great 'Twilight Zone' episode (image may disappear)....

fs32.gif

:lol:

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icon14.gif

I used to read a ton, a majority being SF/Fantasy.

I'm a huge fan of the Dune series (the first 6 books actually written by Frank Herbert.)

My biggest hope is that they would do an all-out, Avatar-style effort to do the Dune series as a movie.

The original from the 80s is so disappointing, and technology has reached the level to do a really good job bringing Dune to life.

Done right, they could keep them coming, just like Matrix/Harry Potter/LOTR/Star Wars, and believe me, God Emperor of Dune done right would be epic beyond imagination.

The Dune books that Frank Herbert's son Brian has co-written pale in comparison, but serve as methadone for Dune junkies.

I read a few, but it wasn't enough to keep me hooked.

The other really cool SF series I love is Julian May's Saga of Pliocene Exile books - The Many Coloured Land, The Golden Torc, The Nonborn King and The Adversary.

I really love time-travel paradox-type stories, and this one is way cool.

I haven't read the books in the series that came after, although I want to a lot.

Reading novels is a luxury of time I don't have anymore - at least while I have kids at home lulz.

Also, props to the previously mentioned Foundation series.

Kinda old-school, but still good stuff.

I quite like Lynch's Dune personally, maybe not the best adaptation and the FX are a bit dated but the acting and design are both exellent plus I think Lynch's inate "strangeness" meshes well with the material. The miniseries that kept closer to the books plot on the other hand was pretty awful, cheap looking and far too "normal".

Latest news is that Pierre Morel is working on another adaptation. Not sure that fills me with a great deal of confidense given that his films so far has been cheesey actioners(although I ddi like Taken by Liam Nelson) but he is sposed to have been a longtime fan of the book.

I'v read the sequals up until God Emporer but while still a good read for me they arent on the same level as the original, bit too much focus on grands schemes and philosopy at the expense of a more human element IMHO.

As I said I'd definately recommend The Book of the New Sun if you love Dune, the same mix of history and sci fi just with a bit more fantasy and general starngeness thrown in.

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I quite like Lynch's Dune personally, maybe not the best adaptation and the FX are a bit dated but the acting and design are both exellent plus I think Lynch's inate "strangeness" meshes well with the material. The miniseries that kept closer to the books plot on the other hand was pretty awful, cheap looking and far too "normal".

Agreed.

I didn't completely hate the Lynch, it was just disappointing on many levels.

What I DID like was that it definitely achieved the necessary grittiness and dark tone.

The Baron was fantastically evil and twisted.

The blob-like Navigators were disappointing, and the whole plot alteration into the "weirding modules" needs only to be mentioned to invoke the wave of letdown that was.

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I'v read the sequals up until God Emporer but while still a good read for me they arent on the same level as the original, bit too much focus on grands schemes and philosopy at the expense of a more human element IMHO.

Meant to include this in my post...

God Emperor is my favorite, and I highly recommend the last 2 if for no other reason than Frank Herbert wrote them.

I actually enjoy the "grand schemes" you mentioned, which would explain a lot.

Still, the last one leaves you almost sad that he (Herbert) died when he did because it leaves the door open for so much more.

I can only imagine what he had in mind for future books.

I read a Psychology Today article a long time ago where they interviewed him, and it was one of the most interesting interviews I've ever read.

He actually studied the principle of "linguistic drift", the process by which a language changes over long periods of time, and then applied those same principles to develop a "futuristic" Arabic that was the basis for the language used in the Dune books.

To say he was a deep thinker is like saying LZ was a pretty good band.

It doesn't even scratch the surface.

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as a youth i read everything by H.G. wells........ummmmmmmmmm...........turn of the century and quite dated now i spose.......

i did enjoy the "island of doctor moreau" best i do believe

well.............."the time machine" had some striking moments at the end as well

then ya got........like "the invisible man"..........shit like that

never did get into "food of the gods"..........but..........maybe oneday.........when i'm all grown uptongue.gif

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as a youth i read everything by H.G. wells........ummmmmmmmmm...........turn of the century and quite dated now i spose.......

i did enjoy the "island of doctor moreau" best i do believe

well.............."the time machine" had some striking moments at the end as well

then ya got........like "the invisible man"..........shit like that

never did get into "food of the gods"..........but..........maybe oneday.........when i'm all grown uptongue.gif

Right now I'm reading 'Carson Of Venus' by Edgar Rice Burroughs

I'm back in my teenage days. :D

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as a youth i read everything by H.G. wells........ummmmmmmmmm...........turn of the century and quite dated now i spose.......

i did enjoy the "island of doctor moreau" best i do believe

well.............."the time machine" had some striking moments at the end as well

then ya got........like "the invisible man"..........shit like that

never did get into "food of the gods"..........but..........maybe oneday.........when i'm all grown uptongue.gif

You might like this site :):)

http://www.thewaroftheworlds.com/messageboard/

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