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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Science Fiction Authors
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
Can anyone recommend modern SF authors that I should read? I have read the classics, of course, but would be interested in newer, less well known ones.
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Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
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Posted
Surely most SF authors are modern? I'd say Philip K Dick is a modern author. Maybe only HG Wells and Jules Verne might be considered to be SF writers belonging to an earlier era.
One that's been recommended to me several times (though I confess I've not read him yet) is Jeff VanderMeer with his 'Southern Reach' trilogy, all three volumes of which were published this year.
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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile
Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
I'm into hardcore SF. I like Alastair Reynolds, but probably you know him already.
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Where do you draw the line between 'classic' and 'newer'? Which side would you put Ursula La Guin?
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
Purely to aid in amazon.com searches, I will mention that the lady's name is Ursula K. Le Guin. Computers are pernickety about that sort of thing.
Science fiction is, by definition, the most varied field of fiction there is. Thus it would help if you could indicate the sort of thing you would most like. Le Guin's work is anthropological and cultural, for instance. If your appetite is for space opera I would read Lois Bujold's Vorkosigan novels. Period dragons? Read Jo Walton's Tooth and Claw, or Naomi Novik or Marie Brennan. Harry Potter-esque? Pick up the Bartimaeus trilogy, by Jonathan Stroud.
You can, mostly, do well by looking at the yearly finalists for the Nebula awards (awarded by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America) or their British equivalents.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
Simon Morden's Equations of Life trilogy?
I assume you mean Asimov, Arthur C Clarke, Philip K Dick, Ursula le Guin, John Wyndham under both nom de plumes et al as the classical authors?
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Oscar the Grouch
Adopted Cascadian
# 1916
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Posted
And how do you define "science fiction"? Where is the dividing line between that and "science fantsasy" or anything else?
Have you read the Wool trilogy (Wool, Shift and Dust) by Hugh Howey?
It has its flaws, but is still worth reading.
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Faradiu, dundeibáwa weyu lárigi weyu
Posts: 3871 | From: Gamma Quadrant, just to the left of Galifrey | Registered: Dec 2001
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
I wanted to leave it very broad, not least because it is a matter worth discussing - what makes SF, what is classic and modern.
For me, I would consider anyone writing prior to, say, 1980 as classic. I think there is a distinction between SF as a more niche market, focused very much on space exploration etc. Somewhere around then, with the explosion of Star Wars and the much wider acknowledgement of the genre, a focus on more niche aspects, and more crossovers seemed to appear.
As for what is SF and what isn't, I would tend to consider anything using magic is fantasy. But anything using an alternate reality, a what-if scenario, comes close to SF - but I am not wanting to draw rigid divisions, because I am not sure they are valid. I like SF, but I am interested in anything else that might therefore appeal to me.
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Blog
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Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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Snags
Utterly socially unrealistic
# 15351
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Posted
I imagine these are far too mainstream to have escaped your notice, but Iain M Banks and Richard Morgan (particularly the Takeshi Kovacs series) are well worth a look if you've not come across them before.
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Vain witterings :-: Vain pretentions :-: The Dog's Blog(locks)
Posts: 1399 | From: just north of That London | Registered: Dec 2009
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
I would recommend some Alfred Bester - The Demolished Man and The Stars My desination (classic) and for a historical oddity Philip Vhadwick's The Death Guard (written in the 40s, print run destroyed in the blitz and republished much later, very of its period - but interesting in how it imagines the future.)
Sorry, I see you wanted modern, I would second Iain M Banks - love the Culture series. Has flashes of truely beautiful writing, and a well detailed imagined world. In some ways more so than Herbert's Dune universe.
William Gibson too if you haven't read his stuff
[ 25. November 2014, 19:57: Message edited by: Doublethink. ]
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
Purely to aid in amazon.com searches, I will mention that the lady's name is Ursula K. Le Guin. Computers are pernickety about that sort of thing.
Not any more. It's been one of the interesting developments in search algorithm that it is so much better at second guessing what we meant to type. It's how I checked how to spell 'algorithm'.
(It goes with making shrewd punts at what stuff it can show us that we might like to buy. You want to keep an eye on technology.)
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Doc Tor
Deepest Red
# 9748
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Posted
Lots of genre writers do series these days, but one-offs are a good way of working out whether to take a punt on a writer's longer works.
I'd recommend (highly) Pushing Ice by Alistair Reynolds, Learning the World by Ken McLeod, Dark Eden by Chris Beckett, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, Children of Men by PD James, The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.
One I've only just read which may cross the SF/horror boundary, but is probably the bravest piece of story-telling I've come across for a very long time is Mike Carey's The girl with all the gifts.
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Forward the New Republic
Posts: 9131 | From: Ultima Thule | Registered: Jul 2005
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Jonah the Whale
Ship's pet cetacean
# 1244
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Posted
One of my favourite series I've read recently is Kevin J. Anderson's Saga of the Seven Suns. It's a seven book series, so you'd have to really like it to get through it all.
Another series I liked was The Gap into Conflict by Stephen Donaldson. This writer is better known for his fantasy series the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. But this series is pure science fiction - a space opera. It's very dark and I struggled to get through it in places but it was worth it.
Another writer I quite like is Ben Bova. If you are interested in technology then he has a string of books set in the near future, about the exploration and colonisation of the solar system.
Posts: 2799 | From: Nether Regions | Registered: Aug 2001
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Hedgehog
Ship's Shortstop
# 14125
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Posted
I suppose it is cheating to suggest that you just get a subscription to Analog Science Fiction & Fact? The magazine has been around (under different names) for roughly forever (or at least since the late 1930s).
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"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."--Pope Francis, Laudato Si'
Posts: 2740 | From: Delaware, USA | Registered: Sep 2008
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
Iain M Banks is definitely in my list as "modern" SF - his imagination is awesome. The Culture series is an astounding exploration of what we could do with unlimited energy and resources.
Hedgehog - what I'm really interested in is what other people have read that may not quite fit into a style or genre, but might be appropriate.
The Time Travelers Wife is an example - brilliant, and SF really as a minor part (the story is really the relationship). Life after Life by Kate Atkinson is another I would put into this category.
I am noting all the suggestions, and will record them all, to work through!
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Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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Dafyd
Shipmate
# 5549
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Posted
Gene Wolfe, straddles classic and modern, has not been mentioned so far.
The Book of the New Sun sequence is his magnum opus, and the kind of thing that regularly crops up at the top of critics' lists of best sf; the Book of the Long Sun and Book of the Short Sun sequences are set loosely in the same universe. Fifth Head of Cerberus is a stand alone.
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we remain, thanks to original sin, much in love with talking about, rather than with, one another. Rowan Williams
Posts: 10567 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Feb 2004
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
I have to admit I hated The Time Traveller's Wife with a passion. Everything about it made me angry.
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
I started a novel which involved terra-forming and colonization of Mars. More later.
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Doublethink.:
I have to admit I hated The Time Traveller's Wife with a passion. Everything about it made me angry.
I thought the film was execrable! Don't want to bother my wife with her opinions...
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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RooK
1 of 6
# 1852
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Posted
Charlie Stross
Neal Stephenson
John Scalzi
Posts: 15274 | From: Portland, Oregon, USA, Earth | Registered: Nov 2001
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
A few random choices;
Ian Macdonald "Dervish House", "Neptunes Brood"
Samuel Delaney "Nova"
China Miéville "EmbassyTown"
Dan Simmons "Ilium"
Philip K Dick "Ubik"
I'm still tracking down various books called Palimpsest ![[Smile]](smile.gif) Charles Stross did one.
If you're looking outside the usual there's fantasy".
Neil Gaiman "The Ocean at the End of the lane"
Connie Willis "Blackout" which crosses time travel with British War history.
[ 26. November 2014, 04:03: Message edited by: Palimpsest ]
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Athrawes
Ship's parrot
# 9594
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Posted
Can I also suggest "The City and The City" by China Meiville, too? Brilliant, different and unputdownable.
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Explaining why is going to need a moment, since along the way we must take in the Ancient Greeks, the study of birds, witchcraft, 19thC Vaudeville and the history of baseball. Michael Quinion.
Posts: 2966 | From: somewhere with a book shop | Registered: Jun 2005
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Snags
Utterly socially unrealistic
# 15351
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Posted
Flip, how could I have forgotten Charles Stross. If you have a bit of an SF/horror (Lovecraft)/geek cross-over going on in your life the Laundry series are a must. As is Halting State, without the Lovecraft. And his normal stuff is generally very good too.
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Vain witterings :-: Vain pretentions :-: The Dog's Blog(locks)
Posts: 1399 | From: just north of That London | Registered: Dec 2009
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Doublethink.:
I have to admit I hated The Time Traveller's Wife with a passion. Everything about it made me angry.
With you there. It's one of those books that seems to polarize opinion. I'd expected to enjoy it, and found I hated it.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Fredegund
Shipmate
# 17952
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Posted
How about Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers of London etc
Harry Potter for the slightly older. I'm beginning to get annoyed with sloppy editing, but still worth it for Molly and the rivers...
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Pax et bonum
Posts: 117 | From: Shakespeare's County | Registered: Jan 2014
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Tubbs
Miss Congeniality
# 440
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Fredegund:
How about Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers of London etc
Harry Potter for the slightly older. I'm beginning to get annoyed with sloppy editing, but still worth it for Molly and the rivers...
The PC Grant novels are fabulous, but more fantasy than SF. I've forgiven the sloppy editing, but wish he wrote them more speedily!
[ETA: Not remotely LoTR. Set in present day London, it's a mixture of police procedural meets fantasy with wizards, fairies etc.
Aaronovitch loves London and knows it really well, so bits of it feature as characters. The rivers, Old Bailey etc and he overlays it with folklaw - the travelling markets etc. There's a TV series in the offing but no casting or firm details as yet].
But, if you like them, you may also like:
- Susan Ee. YA - What happens to the earth if the angels turn up.
- Rachel Hartman. YA - Dragons / Dragon human hybrids.
- Erika Johansen. Alternative reality. First of a trilogy. May be turned into movie with Emma Watson as the lead, but don't let that put you off!
- Anne Lyle. Alternative Elizabethan reality.
- Daniel O'Malley. Alternative reality / conspiracy theory based around chess. Just hurry up and write the next one already!
- Sarah Pinborough. Jack the Ripper was an evil water spirit.
- Freda Warrington. Vampires for grown-ups.
- Rachel Aaron. Just started this one so too soon to say!
If you think there's some classic SF you've missed, read Among Others by Jo Walton and nick the book list!
Tubbs
[ 26. November 2014, 11:49: Message edited by: Tubbs ]
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"It's better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than open it up and remove all doubt" - Dennis Thatcher. My blog. Decide for yourself which I am
Posts: 12701 | From: Someplace strange | Registered: Jun 2001
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Fredegund:
How about Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers of London etc
Harry Potter for the slightly older. I'm beginning to get annoyed with sloppy editing, but still worth it for Molly and the rivers...
That sounds like it is more fantasy. Not that this is a problem as such, and I am sure it is good, but I have read a whole lot of fantasy (including GoT), and I have probably had my fill of it for a while, or until someone can find something different to write about. Forms of Tolkien fan-fic have pretty well been done.
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Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
Simon Morden's Equations of Life trilogy?
Reading his new book after Christmas and will be leading the discussion in February at the Ship's book club. Mr. Morden requests that you not get the e-book from Amazon; I hope it will be out on Barnes and Noble - read first three chapters - v. exciting!
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Doc Tor
Deepest Red
# 9748
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Posted
*cough*
The war is over (for now), and Mr Morden is more ambivalent about Amazon than he was previously, though as Sir Kevin points out, other E-readers are available.
If you feel like a workout, the paperback is just under 800 pages...
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Forward the New Republic
Posts: 9131 | From: Ultima Thule | Registered: Jul 2005
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
Actually, if you like the slightly fantasy end, and are a steampunk fan, you might like the Chronicles of Light and Shadow by Liesel Schwarz.
I enjoy the gentle humour in it. It does frustrate me that there is magic in the air, and it seems to be the answer to everything. I also like the Absinthe fairies.
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Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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Figbash
The Doubtful Guest
# 9048
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Posted
These are all hard SF with an emphasis on the problem of communication with aliens (and perhaps not-so aliens):
- Michael Bishop - Transfigurations : xeno-anthropology, history over huge spans of time, language, you name it
- Ian Watson - The Embedding : amazing combination of deep linguistics, anthropology and issues of alien contact
- Stanislaw Lem - Fiasco : horrifying tale of an attempt at first contact done with the best of intentions which escalates, step-by-step to genocide and worse
- Stanislaw Lem - Solaris : classic question of whether you can communicate with an entity which is a planet-wide ocean, and does it even know you're there? Go for the new Kindle version with the good translation
- Lloyd Biggle - The Light that Never Was : deals with anti-alien prejudice, interstellar politics, personhood and an amazingly well-thought through discussion of non-human art
- John Sladek - The Reproductive System : hilarious and terrifying at the same time
- Grant Morrison - The Filth : yes, it's a comic, but it's also a profound look at reality, realities, what being a person means, and the nature of God, all in about 300 pages, together with amazing art work (and giant airborne attack sperm)
- Robert Silverberg - Son of Man : one of the best far-far future novels ever written, with a profound take on what (if anything) humanity means
Posts: 1209 | From: Gashlycrumb | Registered: Feb 2005
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IngoB
Sentire cum Ecclesia
# 8700
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Posted
These may be considered "classics" by now, I guess, but "The Mote in God's Eye" by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle as well as "Schismatrix" by Bruce Sterling entertained the hell out of me.
[ 26. November 2014, 16:27: Message edited by: IngoB ]
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They’ll have me whipp’d for speaking true; thou’lt have me whipp’d for lying; and sometimes I am whipp’d for holding my peace. - The Fool in King Lear
Posts: 12010 | From: Gone fishing | Registered: Oct 2004
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HCH
Shipmate
# 14313
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Posted
I recommend Ursula LeGuin, and we have a Shipmate named Brenda Clough.
Posts: 1540 | From: Illinois, USA | Registered: Nov 2008
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Ceannaideach
Shipmate
# 12007
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Posted
Space Captain Smith - Toby Frost for some Sci Fi with added humour.
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"I dream of the day when I will learn to stop asking questions for which I will regret learning the answers." - Roy Greenhilt OOTS
Posts: 199 | From: Shakespeare's County | Registered: Nov 2006
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Adeodatus
Shipmate
# 4992
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by IngoB:
These may be considered "classics" by now, I guess, but "The Mote in God's Eye" by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle as well as "Schismatrix" by Bruce Sterling entertained the hell out of me.
When I first started reading Larry Niven I was surprised to find that he was writing in the 60s and 70s. To me, a lot of his work read like "Golden Age" SF of the 50s. I still really like his writing, but he's quite difficult to find in UK bookshops. I lost most of my Niven books in a house move about 20 years ago, and still haven't managed to replace all of them. I was recently delighted to find a second hand copy of Convergent Series and loved every single story in the collection.
Posts: 9779 | From: Manchester | Registered: Sep 2003
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doubtingthomas
Shipmate
# 14498
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
quote:
Originally posted by Fredegund:
How about Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers of London etc ...
... I have read a whole lot of fantasy (including GoT), and I have probably had my fill of it for a while, or until someone can find something different to write about. Forms of Tolkien fan-fic have pretty well been done.
It's urban fantasy - certainly not SF, but nothing like Tolkien or GoT either, so worth a try if you want a break from that sort of thing. Or if you like it gritty, Paul Cornell's London Falling. Both are essentially police procedurals with magic.
quote:
Originally posted by Sir Kevin:
I started a novel which involved terra-forming and colonization of Mars.
Is that Kim Stanley Robinson's Red/Green/Blue Mars trilogy? I'd second any recommendation of that (must re-read...).
[ 26. November 2014, 23:23: Message edited by: doubtingthomas ]
Posts: 266 | From: A Small Island | Registered: Jan 2009
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Paul.
Shipmate
# 37
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Posted
Read a lot of Larry Niven when I was younger because I picked up one of his books of short stories as a kid (The Flight of the Horse I think) and in those days I tended to stick with authors I knew. World Out of Time is still one of my favourite books. Not great writing by any definition but a book I can always pick up and enjoy.
Anyhow, I just checked my e-library for what I've read in the last year or so (better to recommend what I've actually read rather than the vast array of waiting-to-be-read) and sadly there's not as much there as I'd like (must read more!) However I enjoyed:
The Martian, Andy Weir - very focussed on the technical details (like Niven). Set in the near future and about a manned Mars mission.
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, Claire North - a bit like Life after Life, similar concept only a slightly different spin on it. Not an out and out comedy but more amusing that Atkinson's novel.
Going further back I like Bob Shaw's Ragged Astronaut trilogy. I suppose it'd get called 'steampunk' these days but they were written before that term was coined I think. The premise is twin worlds that share an atmosphere so "space" travel is possible via hot air balloon.
Other than that I'm seeing a lot of either not-great or pre-1980 fare.
Posts: 3689 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2004
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
Eclectic suggestions from me:
--Terry Bisson's "Numbers Don't Lie". 3 very funny and quirky short stories.
--Madeleine L'Engle's "Time Quartet" ("A Wrinkle In Time", etc.) I recommend reading them in order.
--Heinlein's "Number of the Beast". Very good, EXCEPT it has at least one incident of consensual adult incest. (It's been decades since I read it, but I only remember one brief incident.) If you're comfortable with reading *or* skipping over that, it's a good read.
--Spider Robinson's series that takes place in Callahan's bar. ("Time Travelers Strictly Cash", etc.)
--Jeanne and Spider Robinson's "Stardance" trilogy. It's been repackaged various ways, but was originally "Stardance","Starseed", and "Starmind". I recommend reading them in order. I especially like "Starmind".
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Ricardus
Shipmate
# 8757
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Posted
I don't think anyone has mentioned Adam Roberts yet.
"Jack Glass" is probably his best - but a work that would appeal to Shipmates would be "Land of the Headless". It's about a man on a planet that follows a strict religion requiring decapitation for certain crimes. However the followers of that religion have come to see capital punishment as inhumane - so the decapitated individuals are first fitted with artificial brain, voicebox and eyes that allow them to continue their existence.
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Then the dog ran before, and coming as if he had brought the news, shewed his joy by his fawning and wagging his tail. -- Tobit 11:9 (Douai-Rheims)
Posts: 7247 | From: Liverpool, UK | Registered: Nov 2004
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Lord Jestocost
Shipmate
# 12909
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Golden Key:
--Heinlein's "Number of the Beast". Very good, EXCEPT it has at least one incident of consensual adult incest. (It's been decades since I read it, but I only remember one brief incident.) If you're comfortable with reading *or* skipping over that, it's a good read.
Are you sure you're not thinking of "Time Enough for Love"? I can't quite parse the phrases "Number of the Beast" and "it's a good read" appearing in the same thought process.
Anyway, IIRC in the scene I'm thinking of, only one of the parties is aware it's incest. He knows she's his mum; she thinks he's just a distant ancestor. Which of course makes it all all right. (When it comes to informed consent, Heinlein wasn't big on the informed bit.)
Posts: 761 | From: The Instrumentality of Man | Registered: Aug 2007
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Tubbs
Miss Congeniality
# 440
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by doubtingthomas:
quote:
Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
quote:
Originally posted by Fredegund:
How about Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers of London etc ...
... I have read a whole lot of fantasy (including GoT), and I have probably had my fill of it for a while, or until someone can find something different to write about. Forms of Tolkien fan-fic have pretty well been done.
It's urban fantasy - certainly not SF, but nothing like Tolkien or GoT either, so worth a try if you want a break from that sort of thing. Or if you like it gritty, Paul Cornell's London Falling. Both are essentially police procedurals with magic.
quote:
Originally posted by Sir Kevin:
I started a novel which involved terra-forming and colonization of Mars.
Is that Kim Stanley Robinson's Red/Green/Blue Mars trilogy? I'd second any recommendation of that (must re-read...).
I tried the Cornell, on the basis that it keeps coming up on my recommendations list but the sample wasn't very promising. Is it worth taking a punt on?
Tubbs
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"It's better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than open it up and remove all doubt" - Dennis Thatcher. My blog. Decide for yourself which I am
Posts: 12701 | From: Someplace strange | Registered: Jun 2001
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Horseman Bree
Shipmate
# 5290
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
Purely to aid in amazon.com searches, I will mention that the lady's name is Ursula K. Le Guin. Computers are pernickety about that sort of thing.
Not any more. It's been one of the interesting developments in search algorithm that it is so much better at second guessing what we meant to type. It's how I checked how to spell 'algorithm'.
(It goes with making shrewd punts at what stuff it can show us that we might like to buy. You want to keep an eye on technology.)
Not so sure. Recently, I was offered the word "amadjon" as a truly wild stab at "imagine". Spell-check didn't offer any possibilities.
But machines aren't quite as stupid as humans, yet.
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It's Not That Simple
Posts: 5372 | From: more herring choker than bluenose | Registered: Dec 2003
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Dafyd
Shipmate
# 5549
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Tubbs:
I tried the Cornell, on the basis that it keeps coming up on my recommendations list but the sample wasn't very promising. Is it worth taking a punt on?
It takes some time to get going. I think the opening chapter is mishandled. (The opening viewpoint character is I think supposed to be unsympathetic, but because it's written from his viewpoint it a bit fumbles how unsympathetic he's supposed to be.)
It does pick up.
Warning: if you are a parent you will get a worst nightmare that is even worse than your current worst nightmare.
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we remain, thanks to original sin, much in love with talking about, rather than with, one another. Rowan Williams
Posts: 10567 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Feb 2004
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Dafyd:
Warning: if you are a parent you will get a worst nightmare that is even worse than your current worst nightmare.
Have you met my kids? Do you really think an author can picture a nightmare worse?
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Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Horseman Bree:
Recently, I was offered the word "amadjon" as a truly wild stab at "imagine". Spell-check didn't offer any possibilities.
[tangent]Amadjon seems to be a given name in Russia and Iran. And would probably do for the Barbarian warlord in Book 2.
Tricky thing, fantasy names. The Thomas Covenant books are sunk for me by, if nothing else, having a character called High Lord Kevin.[/tangent]
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
And I think it was Terry Brooks (Sword of Shannara) whose wizard is named Allanon. Which for Americans immediately calls to mind his teenaged sidekick, Alateen.
These days I have been advising writers to push -all- their names, especially the invented ones, through Google. If the gorgeous name you cooked up for your fantasy realm is actually the street slang term in Dubrovnik for a really creative style of genital piercing, you would want to know.
And, for those of you who have seen the new movie Intersetllar -- the space ship is named the Endeavor. Now is that not courting disaster, right there? You might as well name it the Titanic and get it over.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
quote:
Brenda Clough: These days I have been advising writers to push -all- their names, especially the invented ones, through Google. If the gorgeous name you cooked up for your fantasy realm is actually the street slang term in Dubrovnik for a really creative style of genital piercing, you would want to know.
Isn't this the job of a character in one of William Gibson's cyberpunk novels?
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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RooK
1 of 6
# 1852
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
the new movie Intersetllar -- the space ship is named the Endeavor. Now is that not courting disaster, right there?
And not, as it would seem, an obvious homage to Arthur C. Clarke?
And, yeah, Heinlein's later books were more about awkward sexual considerations and dubious sociological assertions than his earlier masterworks. Still well-written, though. None of which qualify as "new" in anything other than a geological sense.
Posts: 15274 | From: Portland, Oregon, USA, Earth | Registered: Nov 2001
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