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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Science Fiction Authors
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Horseman Bree:
But machines aren't quite as stupid as humans, yet.
Oh, they are. The difference is their stupidity is confined to a limited set of parameters. Their failures are within a predictable range. That will be the true announcement of the Singularity: When machines cock up in the same imaginative and bizarre ways we do.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Nicolemr
Shipmate
# 28
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Posted
Someone mentioned Lois McMaster Bujold but only in passing so I have to emphasize the total awesomness that she is. Her science fiction Vorkosigan books are multiple award winners. (Her fantasy is also excellent but that's not was requested on this thread.)
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On pilgrimage in the endless realms of Cyberia, currently traveling by ship. Now with live journal!
Posts: 11803 | From: New York City "The City Carries On" | Registered: May 2001
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doubtingthomas
Shipmate
# 14498
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
I also reckoned Interstellar was channelling Arthur C Clarke, stargates and all,
I think of Interstellar as the 2001 for this generation (if I may still call myself a member of it...).
Advice I've given to some acquaintances, trying to describe the relationship between the films: if you like 2001, you will probably like Interstellar, if not, don't worry - Interstellar is totally different.
A friend also felt some echoes of Rama - I'm sure there is more.
Isn't Nolan's ship called Endurance, though?
PS (and to get back to the thread), the BFI is about to re-release 2001 in a feat of good timing - surely an incentive for anyone to put Clarke on their reading list...anything by Clarke...
/rambling
Posts: 266 | From: A Small Island | Registered: Jan 2009
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Paul.
Shipmate
# 37
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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?
Yes. As Dafyd says it's a slow start but worth it. Darker than Aaronovitch's books but covering similar territory. Also brings a thoughtful religious perspective from what I remember.
Really must get around to the sequel The Severed Streets which I've had lying around for an embarrassingly long time. ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
Posts: 3689 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2004
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Kitten
Shipmate
# 1179
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Paul.:
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?
Yes. As Dafyd says it's a slow start but worth it. Darker than Aaronovitch's books but covering similar territory. Also brings a thoughtful religious perspective from what I remember.
Really must get around to the sequel The Severed Streets which I've had lying around for an embarrassingly long time.
If anything, I liked the severed streets even more. Not that I didn't enjoy London Falling, there was one line in it that made my blood run cold, all the more so because I hadn't seen it coming, despite the clues. I don't want to give anything always so I'll just say it's what Quill says to his wife
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Maius intra qua extra
Never accept a ride from a stranger, unless they are in a big blue box
Posts: 2330 | From: Carmarthenshire | Registered: Aug 2001
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Alisdair
Shipmate
# 15837
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Posted
For something right up to date I would thoroughly recommend 'Ancillary Justice', by Ann Leckie.
It's one of those stories with an unusual point of view (no spoilers) that you may have to persevere with to allow yourself to get into the groove, including an interesting take on gender in language.
For my money it's extremely well written. The next in the trilogy - 'Ancillary Sword' - is out now, but I've not read it yet
Posts: 334 | From: Washed up in England | Registered: Aug 2010
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lord Jestocost:
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.)
Definitely was "Number Of The Beast" that I read. I hadn't read any Heinlein before. I was attracted by the title, because I grew up fundamentalist and wanted to see what he did with the idea. From *that* point of view, it was quite a ride.
The incest in "Number" was with fully informed consent between a father and adult daughter. IIRC, it had never happened before, but there had maybe been some half-conscious leanings that way. There was a situation where everyone was throwing sexual caution to the winds, and...
I don't in any way, shape, or form approve incest (consensual or not). I just was able to somehow get past that bit of the story.
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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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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
Of authors and works that are post-1980s, I'd happily recommend:
-Richard Morgan
-Jon Courtney Grimwood (especially the Arabesque trilogy set in an alternative Alexandria)
-Justina Robson
-Under the Skin – Michael Faber (made into a film recently with Scarlet Johannsen)
-Early Michael Crichton (stretching the date to 1970s)
-Headcrash - Bruce Bethke (who may or may not be the first person to use the term 'cyberpunk' in fiction)
-Steph Swainston
-Air - Geoff Ryman (the story of Mae, a dressmaker from rural village in a fake 'stan, the first person to use a direct-to-brain version of the internet)
-China Mieville – proponent of 'new weird', a mix of SF and fantasy
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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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RooK
1 of 6
# 1852
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Alisdair:
For something right up to date I would thoroughly recommend 'Ancillary Justice', by Ann Leckie.
Oooh! Seconded. Worth wrapping one's head around the pronouns.
quote:
The next in the trilogy - 'Ancillary Sword' - is out now, but I've not read it yet
It is the same excellent writing, and the same fascinating method of POV, but it is a different kind of story from 'Justice'.
Posts: 15274 | From: Portland, Oregon, USA, Earth | Registered: Nov 2001
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David
Complete Bastard
# 3
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Posted
Greg Bear, for mine, is consistently excellent. Some highlights:
Moving Mars
The Forge of God
The Anvil of Stars
Blood Music
Eon (less so the sequels)
Darwin's Radio & Darwin's Children.
Orson Scott Card isn't a bad writer, he's a bit of an arse though. Ender's Game has one of the truly great climaxes.
Philip K. Dick has some great ideas, but I've always found his prose uninteresting.
Posts: 3815 | From: Redneck Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2001
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
If you're looking for Science Fiction that escaped the genre, the P.D. James novel "The Children of Men" comes to mind. Unfortunately her obituary appeared in the paper this week.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Timothy the Obscure
Mostly Friendly
# 292
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Posted
Nobody's mentioned C.J. Cherryh yet. She works in both fantasy and SF, and has never disappointed me.
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When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion.
- C. P. Snow
Posts: 6114 | From: PDX | Registered: May 2001
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by doubtingthomas:
PS (and to get back to the thread), the BFI is about to re-release 2001 in a feat of good timing - surely an incentive for anyone to put Clarke on their reading list...anything by Clarke...
/rambling [/QB]
Childhood's End! That was responsible for my life long interest in SF. When I was about 12 my older brother came home from school with a copy someone had lent him. He disappeared upstairs to his bedroom and didn't come down for several hours. When he did he thrust the book into my hands and said: "You MUST read this!" And so it began.
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
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IngoB
Sentire cum Ecclesia
# 8700
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Posted
<Interstellar - spoiler alert>
quote:
Originally posted by doubtingthomas:
I think of Interstellar as the 2001 for this generation (if I may still call myself a member of it...).
No way. Interstellar is a cheesy exploration of the love of a father for his daughter, which due to dystopian nonsense about crop failure involves travelling through worm holes and turning black holes into a mechanism for ghostly "five dimensional" interactions. Luckily for humanity, one can construct a superior theory of gravity with some bytes of "quantum info" send by morse code out of a black hole. Just because it tries to copy some of the epic visuals of 2001 does not get Interstellar into the same ballpark. As for many Holywood movies, the most important function of the admittedly gorgeous special effects is to stop you thinking. If you can do this, it is enjoyable. In particular, its side stories about planetary exploration are fun. The main plot is however - as mentioned - cheddar to the power of Edam.
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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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Lord Jestocost
Shipmate
# 12909
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
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.
Captain Cook's Endeavour (with a "u") made it safely home ...
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.
Indeed, absolutely terrifying. He wrote it shortly before becoming a parent himself; he has said he couldn't write it now.
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 Paul.:
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?
Yes. As Dafyd says it's a slow start but worth it. Darker than Aaronovitch's books but covering similar territory. Also brings a thoughtful religious perspective from what I remember.
Really must get around to the sequel The Severed Streets which I've had lying around for an embarrassingly long time.
Okay, based on two recommendations I'm willing to give them a go but slightly concerned about the whole worst parent nightmare thing ... Maybe a PM to explain a bit so we don't derail this thread. I don't like squick.
Tubbs
[ 28. November 2014, 15:05: 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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Kitten
Shipmate
# 1179
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Posted
OM sent Tubbs
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Maius intra qua extra
Never accept a ride from a stranger, unless they are in a big blue box
Posts: 2330 | From: Carmarthenshire | Registered: Aug 2001
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Tubbs
Miss Congeniality
# 440
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kitten:
OM sent Tubbs
Thank you. I've never had a book I've had to hid in the freezer before, but there's always a first time! Maybe I'll start with book two!
Tubbs
[ 28. November 2014, 16:00: 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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doubtingthomas
Shipmate
# 14498
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Tubbs:
Re Severed Streets
... Maybe a PM to explain a bit so we don't derail this thread.
Maybe it should have its own thread?
quote:
Originally posted by IngoB:
<Interstellar - spoiler alert>
quote:
Originally posted by doubtingthomas:
I think of Interstellar as the 2001 for this generation (if I may still call myself a member of it...).
No way. ... Just because it tries to copy some of the epic visuals of 2001 does not get Interstellar into the same ballpark. As for many Holywood movies, the most important function of the admittedly gorgeous special effects is to stop you thinking.
Well, it as made *me* think more than any film I have seen in a long time. And as side from a few quite explicit visual references, the images are very different form 2001. Comparing our views in more detail might be enjoyable, but sounds a bit more Purgatorial to me, and certainly outside the remit of this thread. This might also be worth its own thread, especially as the BFI is about to re-release 2001, making it possible to discuss the films on equal terms.
To get back to recommended reading...
Diana Wynne Jones is another author who starddles the Fantasy/SF divide. Don't get put off by the fact that most of her books are (or are marketed as) children's or Young Adult. More on the SF end of the spectrum are A Sudden Wild Magic (not for kids!), The Homeward Bounders, and A Tale of Time City.
Also well worth a read is Deep Secret, more towards the Fantasy end of the scale, but set a at convention which I am sure is a dig at Eastercon. Serious story with lots of affectionate, well-observed humour.
Posts: 266 | From: A Small Island | Registered: Jan 2009
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
You surely cannot fail with Jones. She is one of those writers (Lois Bujold is another) who should live forever so that she can write a book a year!
There is no hard-and-fast line between SF and fantasy. There are works you can point out as definitely the one or the other, but most of us hover in the middle. And even in the hardest of hard SF, you can find a black box in the center, sometimes very well concealed indeed, labeled, 'and magic happens here.' Some of these black boxes -- FTL, time travel, FTL communications -- are so ancient and accepted that they get a free pass from magic into SF. Others (psionics) used to be SFnal but now are definitely fantasy. Whereas others used to be clearly fantasy of the most flowery sort (alternate universes) and now are, thanks to quantum physics, really SF.
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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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Dafyd
Shipmate
# 5549
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
You surely cannot fail with Jones. She is one of those writers (Lois Bujold is another) who should live forever so that she can write a book a year!
I'm sorry to say she was one of those writers...
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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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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
It was a dreadful loss to the field.
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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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guinness girl
Ship's Barmaid
# 4391
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Posted
oooh, a thread in which I can legitimately plug one of my favourite books!
May I recommend the excellent (though, criminally, out of print) Emergence by David R Palmer? An exploration of what happens when homo sapiens begins to evolve into a new breed of super intelligent Homo post hominem, in the midst of a bionuclear war which destroys much of humanity.
The central character, an 11 year old girl, is one of the smartest, sharpest and most sympathetic protagonists I have ever had the pleasure of getting to know. Very, very worth reading. Why it was never made into a film I will never understand - its plot is full of action, pathos and twists that would have people glued to their seats.
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supplying people with laughs at my expense since 1982!
Posts: 463 | From: Leeds, England | Registered: Apr 2003
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
In case anyone is interested, I am recording all of these suggestions. I will print out a list, and keep it with me whenever I might be near a books shop (especially a second hand one). So I hope, over time, to acquire some of these.
I will probably also take it to the library when I can, and see what I can get from there.
So they will all be noted!
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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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RooK
1 of 6
# 1852
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Posted
Just finished reading The Martian by Andy Weir.
Holy.
Ever-living.
Fuck.
Witness as I fall to my knees and bow to my geeky overlord, for he is the one true kind of all geek-kind. Long may he rule.
Posts: 15274 | From: Portland, Oregon, USA, Earth | Registered: Nov 2001
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Yorick
Infinite Jester
# 12169
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Posted
I got a copy on your fab recommendation and I'm totally hooked after three chapters.
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این نیز بگذرد
Posts: 7574 | From: Natural Sources | Registered: Dec 2006
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
I got it as well, and it's a page turner. The technical story is fabulous, the political story is just ok and there's not much deeper content other than people can sometimes work together for a common goal.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
There are some authors whose work is centered on short stories. Avram Davidson was a classic SF example although he also wrote novels like "Peregrine Primus". R.A. Lafferty worked best in short stories although "Past Master" might be of interest as the hero is a revived Thomas More.
More recently, I'd suggest the work of Ted Chiang who tends to explore worlds with biblical influence. And while I'm biased by being a friend, I also like Eileen Gunn. Her newest book has a story on the Golem.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
It is argued that the natural length for SF is the novella (i.e. between 7500 and 17500 words). This would be the length at which the genre shows to the best.
I would also argue that the natural length for fantasy is the trilogy, or at the least the Fat Fantasy (150K minimum).
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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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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
I think there is something in that Brenda. The shorter form does work well for SF, because it works best if you suggest stuff rather than telling it all. there should be loose beginnings and ends, because there should be a connection to a completely different world.
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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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Fr Weber
Shipmate
# 13472
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Posted
Can't remember if I've seen Neal Asher mentioned yet or not. I'm currently reading Prador Moon, and enjoying it as I've enjoyed his other Polity novels.
He won't win any awards for beautiful prose, but the novels are exciting SF thrillers shot through with veins of black humor. Fun.
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"The Eucharist is not a play, and you're not Jesus."
--Sr Theresa Koernke, IHM
Posts: 2512 | From: Oakland, CA | Registered: Feb 2008
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moron
Shipmate
# 206
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Doc Tor:
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
She sands the sharp edges she left off a bit with The Children Of God sequel.
Posts: 4236 | From: Bentonville | Registered: May 2001
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doubtingthomas
Shipmate
# 14498
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Posted
Here's something I've been meaning to add for a while: a reading list compiled at a recent convention, where in each panel, someone noted down any recommendations made by the panellists or from the floor (both fantasy and SF).
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'We are star-stuff. We are the Universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out'
Delenn (Babylon 5)
Posts: 266 | From: A Small Island | Registered: Jan 2009
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
Just read and enjoyed "Lust: or No Harm Done" by Geoff Ryman. It's an odd cross between a modern gay novel and a magic wish fantasy.
Modern SF went through phases of Steampunk, Vampires and Zombies. I'm only fond of the first but I concede it's not to everyone's taste and few are good. The other two aren't Science Fiction to me, despite being lumped as such.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
Palimpsest--
Are there any Steampunk novels you'd recommend? (Or any other Shipmates.)
I love Steampunk, as far as the gadgetry and the retro-fitting of modern gadgetry. (I've always loved Victorian tech.) The clothes, too. I'm familiar with the "Girl Genius" comics. (Fun, although the women are rather...hyper-inflated.) I know there's at least one GG-related novel.
Thanks!
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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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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
I found Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan (and there are two sequels) almost unbearably exciting and vividly told. It is a YA but don't let that slow you down. And one of the very definers of the term 'steampunk' is Girl Genius, a comic strip which appears three times a week (for free!) on girlgeniusonline.com. This won so many Hugo Awards that the creators finally took themselves out of the running. It is wildly addictive, and there are about twelve years' worth of strips to happily read, so be warned.
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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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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Golden Key:
Palimpsest--
Are there any Steampunk novels you'd recommend? (Or any other Shipmates.)
I love Steampunk, as far as the gadgetry and the retro-fitting of modern gadgetry. (I've always loved Victorian tech.) The clothes, too. I'm familiar with the "Girl Genius" comics. (Fun, although the women are rather...hyper-inflated.) I know there's at least one GG-related novel.
Thanks!
You could always read one of the original novels.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Garasu
Shipmate
# 17152
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
I would also argue that the natural length for fantasy is the trilogy, or at the least the Fat Fantasy (150K minimum).
That's rather debatable. There are plenty of fantasy novels that aren't particularly big or tripartite. And where does the open-ended series fit in?
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"Could I believe in the doctrine without believing in the deity?". - Modesitt, L. E., Jr., 1943- Imager.
Posts: 889 | From: Surrey Heath (England) | Registered: Jun 2012
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Golden Key:
Palimpsest--
Are there any Steampunk novels you'd recommend? (Or any other Shipmates.)
I love Steampunk, as far as the gadgetry and the retro-fitting of modern gadgetry. (I've always loved Victorian tech.) The clothes, too. I'm familiar with the "Girl Genius" comics. (Fun, although the women are rather...hyper-inflated.) I know there's at least one GG-related novel.
Thanks!
Liesel Shwartz - Chronicles of the light and dark (something like that - look her up in your favorite none-river-related bookseller). Just nearing the end of the third book of three. Lots of fun, well written.
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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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Eigon
Shipmate
# 4917
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Posted
I saw Phil Foglio at WorldCon, one of the co-creators of Girl Genius - and he looks just like Agatha! He was such an enthusiastic speaker that we went off and treated ourselves to the earliest graphic novels in the series that we could find, so we could find out about the characters.
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Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
Posts: 3710 | From: Hay-on-Wye, town of books | Registered: Aug 2003
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
Actually Agatha Heterodyne (the Girl Genius) seems to be closely modeled upon his wife Kaja. If you ever see them doing their live 'Girl Genius Radio Theater' it is always Kaja who reads the part of Agatha.
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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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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Garasu:
And where does the open-ended series fit in?
The deepest pit of Hell? There are only a few open series that are much more than greed or ego. IMO.
Not that an open series needs to be, but many are.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
The only open-ended series I will read is the Vorkosigan books, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Each one is more or less freestanding, although there is a linear development that takes place over the series. She herself hops around within the time line, sometimes flashing back and sometimes jumping forward.
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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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TurquoiseTastic
Fish of a different color
# 8978
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by RooK:
Just finished reading The Martian by Andy Weir.
Holy.
Ever-living.
Fuck.
Witness as I fall to my knees and bow to my geeky overlord, for he is the one true kind of all geek-kind. Long may he rule.
I guess he must have been working on his writing style over the last decade...
I thought "that can't be the same Andy Weir"... but it is...
Posts: 1092 | From: Hants., UK | Registered: Jan 2005
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Dafyd
Shipmate
# 5549
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Posted
I can't agree that open-ended series are automatically bad. Consider the Discworld series. Or Sherlock Holmes.
I think open-ended series are fine if the point is to tell a new story every time, and you have a set of characters that can be reused in different stories. You have limited to no character development. (Sherlock Holmes or Granny Weatherwax can be explored more deeply, but they don't develop much.)
If the interest is not having a different story, but the fate of the character - what happens next - then the open-ended series is the wrong form. It turns into soap opera.
[ 17. December 2014, 23:29: Message edited by: Dafyd ]
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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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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
It is dangerous, however. And a pitfall for the writer. You've put so much work into the world, the background, etc., that it is easier to just stick with it.
One of the things that makes for gripping fiction is that the story is important to the characters: I must marry her, I must defeat Saladin, I must get the Ring into the volcano. You can do that once, three times, but not fifteen times. After a certain point it is obvious that the protagonist is not learning from his previous mistakes. And the shuffling through the standard Very Important Things degenerates into collecting the plot coupons. Marry the girl, check. Win the throne, yes. How about the magic sword? Golden Helmet of Mambrino?
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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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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
I'm very fond of Victorian technology and there's a lot of bad steampunk out there. If you do read 20,000 leagues under the seat, get the new complete translation by Walter. There's also Wells "The Time machine".
Looking at Wikipedia to jog my memory an older but fun book is Harry Harrisons "A transatlantic tunnel.
I'd suggest "The Steam punk Anthology" for a good sampling of the genre. Gibson's Difference Engine.
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest falls into my personal category of apocalyptic books set in my neighborhoods. Spring-Heeled Jack by Pullman.
Steampunk is also a subculture "It's what happens when Goths discover the color Brown ![[Smile]](smile.gif) "
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
I'd agree that open ended series can be a trap. Roger Zelazney's Amber series started so wonderfully and became boring. I'd say the same about Frank Herbert's Dune except I couldn't bring myself to read past the third one.
A series can be good if the main point is to reuse the universe and not necessarily the plots or even characters. Earthsea manages to be interesting because the character changes and the magic changes. But a series can be a problem when the author is spending more time papering over the inconsistencies to fit the latest in a series of plots. There's also a tendency of a single author in a universe to run out of creatinve new responses to the same universe and characters.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Palimpsest:
I'd say the same about Frank Herbert's Dune except I couldn't bring myself to read past the third one.
Presumably it was just the fact that it was short that got you through the second.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
I loved the Dune books – however the fourth never seemed to quite fit and I lost interest after the third. The Amber Chronicles were interesting but got a bit much of a muchness. The switch from colloquial to sudden faux archaic was a bit grating, though.
I struggled with Game of Thrones. The first one was interesting enough for me to get hold of the next two, but after the second it was clear that the author had settled in for a long run and I started skipping entire chapters and only reading the ones for the characters I found interesting. I’m up to date on Arya Stark, Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister but bored stiff with or repelled by most of the rest and in two minds about reading any more. However, I do want to find out what happens to Arya.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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