SciFi discussion - Science Fiction

Well, I was thinking about putting this in the Star Trek thread, but I'm afraid that would have derailed it. Anyway, on we go to the matter at hand:

I suspect that few of you knew this, but I'm an avid SciFi fan, and I'm convinced I'm not alone in the Cove in that respect. However, I prefer the written word here. That's where I get that sense of wonder: When I get caught up in good Science Fiction. The films more often than not seem to botch the whole thing.

A few of my favourites, not necessarily in this order:

Douglas Adams - The Hitchhikers series.
Isaac asimov - The foundation trilogy and his early Robot stories.
Larry Niven - The Ringworld series.
Arthur C Clark - 2001, rendevouz with Rama and it's sequels.

In short, I want to discuss Sci Fi... Any takers?

/Claes

I guess I'm more a fan of the movies when it comes to Sci Fi. As a small kid I remember watching "War of the Worlds" and being scared but intrigued and I think that hooked me. Next I saw "B" movies like "Them" and a few others like it and liked Sci Fi since.

The Star Trek series' were my favorites overall, but I'm a big fan of the Terminator movies as well. Have not seen T3 yet, but T1 and T2 were great IMO.

Maybe the books will come later after my current reading backlog is cleared.

Claes Gefvenberg said:

However, I prefer the written word here. That's where I get that sense of wonder: When I get caught up in good Science Fiction. The films more often than not seem to botch the whole thing./Claes

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Claes, I too am a fan of the written word of which SciFi is one of my favorite genres. Some of my favorite works include:

Greg Bear - Eon (and the sequals - which I can't remember the titles)
Frank Herbert - The Dune series
Robert A. Heinlein - Everything he wrote!

ddhartma said:

Claes, I too am a fan of the written word of which SciFi is one of my favorite genres. Some of my favorite works include:

Greg Bear - Eon (and the sequals - which I can't remember the titles)
Frank Herbert - The Dune series
Robert A. Heinlein - Everything he wrote!

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Yeah! another SciFi Fan.. And I like your selection: I've read the Dune series and most of Heinleins work, and like both immensly.

Eon by Greg Bear seem to have eluded me, though... Great. That means I have something new to read. Thank's for the hint, mate..

Hey Mike... What reading backlog? I'm constantly looking for new books to read. You should see my wifes dispair when she's trying to get me out from a book store or the library. LMAO Your comment prompted me to do a quick and possibly grossly inaccurate summary of my vacation reading (four weeks): If we stick to the novels only (Don't worry, it's not only SciFi), I know I went through at least 12 ones ending up with a grand total of roughly 4500 pages! Do I need to say that I come close to panic if I have nothing to read?

/Claes

Wow, Claes. And my wife complains about my reading -- I'm a relative non-reader compared to you! I find it hard to find time to read, but I try to read the newspaper each day, and I subscribe to about 6 magazines from Inc. to Readers Digest to Consumer Reports to Guns and Ammo -- stuff which I often get behind on and the wife admonishes me for the piles that build. So I get behind even more easily when it comes to books. I have several Teddy Roosevelt books, "Bush at War", and "Paul Harvey's Rest of the Story" in queue now. Plus, being a hunter, I really love anything by Peter Hathaway Capstick and often re-read several of his books every year. So I tend to watch my Sci Fi instead of read it -- a weakness I know!

But recently my wife has gotten back into reading herself and is currently on a kick for cookbooks, home decor books, and -- of all things -- the Harry Potter series. Does that qualify as sci fi? She loves 'em!

Claes, I have read all of the books on your list and I agree with your selections. You have have left out the the dynamic duo of Niven and Pournelle though, their collaborations are marvellous:

Mote in God's Eye - Humankind alien contact story (my favourite)
Footfall - Earth invasion
Lucifer's Hammer - Aftermath of large asteroid strike on Earth

My sci-fi reading friends also rate Orson Scott Card and his Ender's Game series among others very highly.

If you like fantasy, there is a wonderful series being written right now by George R.R. Martin called A Song of Fire and Ice. I can't recommend this series highly enough, it is breathtaking.

Mike,

I get a lot of time for reading "for free" by the simple fact that I require very little sleep, and when the family is asleep and I'm not, I'm well adviced to do something not so noisy. Ergo: I read...

So you reread books too? I have a few I read over and over again. But why on earth (or space for that matter would it be a weakness to watch a film instead of reading the book? Speaing for myself I usually like books better, but that's just me.

Harry Potter... I would count that as fantasy, but there is nothing wrong with that either. Tolkiens work happens to be one of those I keep rereading, btw.

Neil,

You're right, I had left your selection out, but have in fact read them all except for Footfall which I haven't been able to get hold of yet. I agree that the Niven - Pournelle team is is outstanding.

Mote in God's Eye is absolutley brilliant. Have you read the sequel - The Gripping hand?

Fantasy is fine too, but I have not read your suggestions... I'll see if I can get the library to buy them... My book account is a bit strained as you can imagine... (the wallet is hurting) .

/Claes

Yep, another Sci-Fi fan here. My favorites are probably Robert Heinlein and Orson Scott Card. Unfortunately, I don't seem to have enough time to devote to reading that much nowadays. When I'm not working, my wife and 4 kids seems to keep me pretty busy.

When I was (much)younger, I met several of the authors mentioned above at Sci-Fi conventions my older sister was involved in. Heinlein, Pournelle, Niven, and Card are some that I remember. Orson Scott Card used to live in Salt Lake City, and I saw him pretty regularly at SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) events.

SCA events? I'm sitting on an application trying to make up my mind about SCA membership.....

I'm more into Sci-Fi movies than literature (mainly because I'm lazy). I'm into good movies that have good story lines. One of my favorites over the 20 years was "Enemy Mine". The story by itself was as good as it can get (IMHO). The movies based on ST-TNG have all been fairly good except for "Nemisis" which I think went flat. The worst American Sci-Fi movie's ever made were "Green Slime" and "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes".

Mote in God's Eye??? Ringworld?? Stranger in a Strange Land??? I, Robot? Why don't they make a movie? No way they could do them justice, but I sure would like someone to try Ringworld. D**n, what a book. Who needs TV???

OK, Once again (on another thread) has anyone seen Riverworld (the whole thing) that I caught the beginning of on the Sci Fi channel the other day? Have you read it? Did you see the whole movie? It was a chore to read the whole series, but worth it.