important historical SF by annik

OTHER SCIENCE FICTION SERIES

important historical SF

POSTED BY: ANNIK
UPDATED: Wednesday, June 30, 2004 20:36
SHORT URL:
VIEWED: 8519
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Thursday, May 27, 2004 5:52 PM

Back on the 'Boycott Enterprise...' thread, which eventually moved into issues of critical thought, I mentioned the 1960 book, "A Canticle for Leibowitz" ... and ... someone hadn't heard of it.

So ... any other old farts here want to mention some of the late great masterpieces of those days before CDs and CGI, back when people listened to inscribed vinyl disks called 'records' and gasoline had lead in it?

Cheers,
Annik
... my sister's a ship. We had a complicated childhood.

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Thursday, May 27, 2004 6:00 PM

GUNHAND

Starship Troopers. Enough said.

Okay it's me so I can't just stop with enough said, basically it's my firm belief that this should be required reading for anyone who even thinks about going to a military recruiting station.

But no one ever listens to me, so it ain't.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"Oh hey, I got an idea. Instead of us hanging
around playing art critic till I get pinched by
the Man, how's about we move away from this
eerie-ass piece of work and get on with our
increasingly eerie-ass day, how's that?"

My eerie-ass website:
http://gunhandsfirefly.homestead.com/Index.html

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Thursday, May 27, 2004 6:23 PM

GINOBIFFARONI

Quote:
Originally posted by Gunhand:
Starship Troopers.

The Book, A masterpiece

The Movie, total and complete crap..........

Has anyone here read the Sten series

http://www.acole.com/novels/sten/sten.html

A good read,

And while not sci-fi, I am extremely fond of Bernard Cornwells Sharpe novels

http://www.boothill.demon.co.uk/sharpe/richard_sharpe.htm

Something I am sure most here would like,

" Thats not fair !!!!
I didn't even have a soul when I did that!"

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Thursday, May 27, 2004 6:34 PM

GUNHAND

I actually love the movie. Not becuase it's good but because it's so campy. It makes me think of some of the old movies about World War II that were made during the war. Especially those little propaganda bits about how to kill bugs and whatnot. But it bears about as much resemblence to the book as the old Thor comic bore to the Icelandic Sagas. Some of the same names, but...it fights crime! If that makes much sense at all.

Gino, I have to agree with you on the Sharpe books, they're fine and healthsome books and well researched for the most part. I also liked his Civil War books but unfortunately he seems to have up and quit writing them mid-stream. Which is all manner of disappointing to me.

Some other thought provoking "classic" sci-fi books are Bill the Galactic Hero and The Stainless Steel Rat books by Harry Harrison, with The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted being my personal favorite because of the very dark but very funny and true military humor in it. I also enjoyed his Stars And Stripes Forever alt-history about the Civil War.

I know before long someone will come in and say Azimov but to my great chagrin I have to admit I've never finished a book he's written. Just something about his writing style jars with my brain and I can't manage to get through them for the trying.

Battlefield Earth was a good book as well, mine is old enough that it has an add for the "record of the book" that you could send in, so I suppose it counts as an old book. Disturbingly enough it also has an add for "soon to be a major motion picture" (and this was at least 10-15 years before it was) which they unfortunately did wind up following through on. Now that movie is bad, I can't even bear to watch it to even MST2K it, and I do that to movies I like too! So yeah it's that bad.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"Oh hey, I got an idea. Instead of us hanging
around playing art critic till I get pinched by
the Man, how's about we move away from this
eerie-ass piece of work and get on with our
increasingly eerie-ass day, how's that?"

My eerie-ass website:
http://gunhandsfirefly.homestead.com/Index.html

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Thursday, May 27, 2004 6:41 PM

GINOBIFFARONI

Unfortnately success with Sharpe interferred with the Starbuck Chronicals

http://www.bernardcornwell.net/index2.cfm?page=1&SeriesId=2

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll have to pick those up.

" Thats not fair !!!!
I didn't even have a soul when I did that!"

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Thursday, May 27, 2004 6:51 PM

GUNHAND

Thanks for the update there. That's sorta disconcerting but I'm glad he's making money at doing what he likes. Hell some authors don't ever get one good series out, with him I can think of 3 I'm happy to own plus a few standalone novels.

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Thursday, May 27, 2004 10:25 PM

RELFEXIVE

Quote:
Originally posted by GinoBiffaroni:
Has anyone here read the Sten series

http://www.acole.com/novels/sten/sten.html

A good read,

And while not sci-fi, I am extremely fond of Bernard Cornwells Sharpe novels

http://www.boothill.demon.co.uk/sharpe/richard_sharpe.htm

The Sten books are very good. I like the way he gets involved in a different aspect of the Sten 'verse in each book.

And Sharpe, of course... bloody marvellous

Mal: "We're not gonna die. We can't die, Bendis. You know why? Because we are so... very... pretty. We are just too pretty for God to let us die."

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Friday, May 28, 2004 12:40 AM

ELFRENETICO

Toward the end of his life Isaac Asimov took 3 relatively distinct book series and short stories (Robot/Empire/Foundation) that he had written in previous decades and combined them seamlessly into one universe. Similar to the Firefly galaxy in that it is rather alien free and based on the politics of humans expansion to other worlds.
Reading any of the books on their own or within their distinctive series is rewarding. Reading the lot is all kinds of satisfying.

The Complete Robot / Caves Of Steel / The Naked Sun / The Robots Of Dawn
Robots And Empire / The Stars, Like Dust / The Currents of Space
Pebble In The Sky / Prelude To Foundation / Forward The Foundation
Foundation's Fear / Foundation And Chaos : The Second Foundation Trilogy
Foundation's Triumph (Second Foundation Trilogy)
Foundation / Foundation And Empire / Second Foundation
Foundation's Edge : The Foundation Novels /Foundation And Earth

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Friday, May 28, 2004 2:09 AM

GUNHAND

Oh I just thought of another one...well okay I tripped over it when I was rummaging through boxes and one of them fell over.

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.

Good book that one.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"Oh hey, I got an idea. Instead of us hanging
around playing art critic till I get pinched by
the Man, how's about we move away from this
eerie-ass piece of work and get on with our
increasingly eerie-ass day, how's that?"

My eerie-ass website:
http://gunhandsfirefly.homestead.com/Index.html

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Friday, May 28, 2004 2:19 AM

STATIC

Quote:
Originally posted by Gunhand:
Oh I just thought of another one...well okay I tripped over it when I was rummaging through boxes and one of them fell over.

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.

DUDE!!! Just the other day as I was trying to put some of my little world back together...throwing away lots of stuff. . .getting new stuff. . .I picked up a box full of books(and of course immediately hurt my back) that Princess said were library donations. My copy of "The Forever War" was on the top. I said, "Are you kidding me? I'm NEVER giving away THIS book!"

One of my all-time faves.

==================================================
"Wash. . .we got some local color happening. A grand entrance would not go amiss."

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Friday, May 28, 2004 2:32 AM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

I definitely consider A Canticle for Leibowitz to be a classic of the genre, need to read that again one of these days, if I didn't already have too many other books stacked up and waiting for me. The following list is not comprehensive by any means, but here are a few of my favorite classic SF novels, alphabetical by author only:

Earthworks by Brian W. Aldiss
The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
A Case of Conscience by James Blish
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
Camp Concentration by Thomas M. Disch
To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip José Farmer
When Harlie Was One by David Gerrold
Everything by Robert A. Heinlein
Not This August by C. M. Kornbluth
The Big Time by Fritz Leiber
Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore
Ringworld by Larry Niven
Gateway by Frederik Pohl
The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson
The Heritage Universe by Charles Sheffield
Up the Walls of the World by James Tiptree Jr.
Steel Beach by John Varley
The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe
Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

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Friday, May 28, 2004 3:59 PM

ANNIK

Quote:
Originally posted by Gunhand:
(snipped)
I know before long someone will come in and say Azimov but to my great chagrin I have to admit I've never finished a book he's written. Just something about his writing style jars with my brain and I can't manage to get through them for the trying.

I agree with you here ... I can't get through his books at all, with the exception of his scientific essays ... those are nicely-explained for a non-scientist-type like myself. Many of his short stories are good, but I can't help wondering how much better many of these would have been with a little less items published and a little more time working on revisions and fine-tuning. Just MHO, of course.

Cheers,
Annik
... my sister's a ship. We had a complicated childhood.

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Friday, May 28, 2004 4:50 PM

SEAFORT

Not exactly old sf but somebody mentioned David Gerrold. His Star Wolf books are very cool military type SF, and his Chtorr books are totally cool.

He also wrote the most fascinating time travel story, it's called The Man Who Folded Himself, and since it's from the early 70's I guess that counts as old now. Dang.

I haven't read enough of the old stuff, Starship Troopers is a genre defining classic. I liked the movie, but for totally diferent reasons, Kinda like Blade Runner and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

I loved The Martian Chronicles. Bradburry's writting is beautiful and poetic. Really great stuff.

"And the Moon Be Still As Bright"

"The cosmic baker took us out of the oven a little too early, and that's the reason we're as crazy as we are..."

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Friday, May 28, 2004 5:10 PM

DBELL46

While someone did mention Starship Troopers, no one's mentioned Heinlein's future
history collection The Past Through Tomorrow or IMHO his greatest single work Time Enough for
Love.

Then there's the book that turned me into a confirmed sci-fi fan, Stranger in a Strange Land.

****************************************************
If history is remarkably clear on one point,
it's that people don't learn from history.
****************************************************

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Friday, May 28, 2004 6:45 PM

THATWEIRDGIRL

Seems kinda obvious, but no one has mentioned the Dune books. I like the last three better than the first three. Especially God Emperor.

www.thatweirdgirl.com

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Saturday, May 29, 2004 5:49 AM

XITHOR

Quote:
Originally posted by thatweirdgirl:
Seems kinda obvious, but no one has mentioned the Dune books. I like the last three better than the first three. Especially God Emperor.

www.thatweirdgirl.com

Dune is great stuff, despite the weakness (and misogyny) of the second and third books.

Just about any Phillip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury, or Issac Assimov is worth at least a look.

I would say of the stuff not mentioned yet here, George Alec Effinger's When Gravity Fails, Neil Stephenson's Snowcrash and of course The Hichhiker's Trilogy is never to be missed.

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Saturday, May 29, 2004 6:43 AM

FINN MAC CUMHAL

One of the best is Rendezvous with Rama, by Arthur C. Clark. I loved this book because it was so true to the science, right down to the Coriolis force that the astronauts experience.

And of course there is the Foundation series, a story that builds on Asimov’s notion of determination.

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Saturday, May 29, 2004 3:37 PM

ANNIK

Quote:
Originally posted by thatweirdgirl:
Seems kinda obvious, but no one has mentioned the Dune books. I like the last three better than the first three. Especially God Emperor.

www.thatweirdgirl.com

I enjoy the entire series very much ... except all the new prequels by Brian Herbert (a decent writer but stylistically very different than his father) and Kevin J. Anderson (a not-particularly-good-writer) ... it seems to me that if you're going to add to an existing epic you should take time to a) write in the same style as the original books and b) ensure you keep continuity with the existing stories.

Cheers,
Annik
... my sister's a ship. We had a complicated childhood.

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Saturday, May 29, 2004 3:40 PM

ANNIK

Quote:
Originally posted by dbell46:
While someone did mention Starship Troopers, no one's mentioned Heinlein's future
history collection The Past Through Tomorrow or IMHO his greatest single work Time Enough for
Love.

Then there's the book that turned me into a confirmed sci-fi fan, Stranger in a Strange Land.

I ran across an essay a few weeks ago, written a couple of decades ago, about the Manson family murders and their connection to Stranger in a Strange Land. I've read Helter Skelter, but don't recall that connection being made. Has anyone else ran across references to Heinlein's influence on Charles Manson?

Cheers,
Annik
... my sister's a ship. We had a complicated childhood.

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Saturday, May 29, 2004 4:01 PM

GUNHAND

Static, man Forever War is on the short list of books that they can have when they pry it from my cold dead hands. I never get rid of books, which is why I have 3 storage units spread over 3 states...damn I need to get a big house one of these days with a huge library, but that's definately one of 'em.

Although the whole Scientology thing doesn't interest me in the least, L. Ron Hubbard wrote another series less well known than Battlefield Earth called Mission Earth. There are 10 of them and in high school I read the first one and found them worthy of getting all in hardback as they hit the bargain bin (gotta love Waldens hardback for $6 buck deals hehe) but they're cool. And in places hi-lerious. I especially loved the Coordinated Information Apparatus stuff they had on the alien planet, it had me laughing out loud because it was like I knew these people. Funny stuff even if some of the theories are...odd.

It isn't straight Sci-Fi but also anyone who hasn't read any H.P. Lovecraft should stop reading this right now and get thee hence to a bookstore. Trust me on this. Although I won't be held responsible for any messed up dreams ya get from them.

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Saturday, May 29, 2004 4:05 PM

GUNHAND

Quote:
Originally posted by annik:
Quote:
Originally posted by dbell46:
While someone did mention Starship Troopers, no one's mentioned Heinlein's future
history collection The Past Through Tomorrow or IMHO his greatest single work Time Enough for
Love.

Then there's the book that turned me into a confirmed sci-fi fan, Stranger in a Strange Land.

I ran across an essay a few weeks ago, written a couple of decades ago, about the Manson family murders and their connection to Stranger in a Strange Land. I've read Helter Skelter, but don't recall that connection being made. Has anyone else ran across references to Heinlein's influence on Charles Manson?

Cheers,
Annik
... my sister's a ship. We had a complicated childhood.

Check out the book The Family by...oh hell I can't remember his name but if you look on amazon it should come up fairly near the top of the search. It was written by a guy that was kinda-in-kinda-not in the Manson Family and has lots of interesting things in it about Charlie's influences and connections, I mean hell the guy partied with a Beach Boy! Crazy stuff.

Another book that might mention it is Ultimate Evil again by a guy who's name I don't remember. It's mostly about Son of Sam but has a lot of interesting theories about the SoS murders and their connection to the Manson Family. Plus the cult/porn lifestyle of none other than Mrs. Kotter from Welcome Back Kotter. Worth it for that alone if ya ask me.

I don't remember any specifics about Heinlein in them but if there are any connections those would be the books that would have them in. I haven't read them since college so I'm a little hazy on most of it. Well except the Mrs. Kotter porn and the Beach Boys. Hey some things just stick in one's head ya know...

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Sunday, May 30, 2004 11:45 AM

MISGUIDED BY VOICES

Quote:
Originally posted by Elfrenetico:
Toward the end of his life Isaac Asimov took 3 relatively distinct book series and short stories (Robot/Empire/Foundation) that he had written in previous decades and combined them seamlessly into one universe.

I never could deal with the merging of the universes myself, and found the shoe-horning in the Foundation series to be somewhat less than seamless. That said, Forward the Foundation is a fitting end to the series.

Harry Harrison was another favourite of mine, both Jim DiGriz and Bill the Galactic Hero (though the collaborations were very hit and miss).

"I threw up on your bed"

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Sunday, May 30, 2004 12:17 PM

RELFEXIVE

Okay, recent ones, but good.

Richard Morgan: Altered Carbon and Broken Angels. Definitely, absolutely worth a read. Or two. Or three.

Peter F Hamilton: the Night's Dawn trilogy. Top class space opera stuff.

Iain M Banks: any of the Culture books.

Y'all can go back to talking about old books now

Mal: "We're not gonna die. We can't die, Bendis. You know why? Because we are so... very... pretty. We are just too pretty for God to let us die."

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Tuesday, June 1, 2004 11:38 AM

MISGUIDED BY VOICES

Quote:
Originally posted by RelFexive:

Peter F Hamilton: the Night's Dawn trilogy. Top class space opera stuff.

Loved Nights Dawn - derivative of a lot that had gone before, but for sheer audacity was a great read - biggest test was that I did not re-read the earlier volumes as each part came out, and within 20 pages or so my brain had found where the previous plot had been squirreled away.

"I threw up on your bed"

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 9:55 AM

EGGBERT315

I really like a few of the SF and horror books written back in the 20's and 30's.

The Moon Maid and A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Pretty much everything H. P. Lovecraft ever wrote.

I also really liked Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and Marge Piercy's He, She, and It although I suppose they couldn't be counted as "classics" yet.

I need to start reading the rest of the John Carter of Mars series as well as start reading any Robert Heinlein. Speaking of Heinlein, I saw Starship Troopers w/o having read the book and I think I was better off for it. This way I had nothing to compare it to and judged it purely on its own merits. I thought it was a great anti-war / anti-jingoism film and a great satire of all those WW2 propoganda films. Now, don't get me wrong, I do intend to read Heinlein's works, but I think I was better off for having seen the movie without having read the book first; I saw it without any hangups.

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 10:13 AM

CHRISTHECYNIC

Ok so it's already been said, but I have to say it, it's a moral imperative.

Stranger in a Strange Land

I read it for a short story project in school. (Yes I'm the kind of person who reads a 220,000-word book for a short story project.)

I hesitate to use superlatives so I won't say it is the best book, but at the moment I can not think of a better one.

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 10:37 AM

KNIBBLET

Quote:
Originally posted by Gunhand:
Static, man Forever War ... pry it from my cold dead hands. ... L. Ron Hubbard wrote another series less well known than Battlefield Earth called Mission Earth. There are 10 of them ...

I love the Forever War. I still have my paperback copy from way back in high school when I first read it. Don't even think that I didn't contemplate answering "F*** you, Sir" in basic training a couple of times.

As for the Mission Earth series: I think Hubbard got so caught up in the idea of writing a decology, he forgot about writing the story. He rehashed 1/2 of the previous book with every new book. Skip the first 300 pages and get to the frigging new parts already.

Loved Battlefield Earth. If I were to ever lose my mind and enter into an active breeding stage, I might name my child (boy or girl) Johnny Goodboy.

Has anyone else heard of "Floating Worlds" by Cecilia Holland? I actually hunted it down in a second hand book store last year. Always loved that one.

Has anyone seen the "new" release by Heinlein? "For Us, The Living: A Comedy Of Customs" It is his first novel written in 1938. It was rejected by two publishers and forgotten. Recently released and wonderful. You can see so much of his future work in this little story. Go out and get it.

"Just keep walkin, preacher man."

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 10:48 AM

DUG

At least one person mentioned it, thank goodness:

Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester.

When I first read it I thought, wow, he beat Gibson to Cyberpunk by 4 decades. Then I found out that Gibson was trying to copy the style of one of the big late 60's authors (name escapes me). I then read an interiew from that author, who said he was trying to copy Bester.

So Gibson wasn't being derivative, he was being derivative of a derivative.

At least there was the huge reference to Bester in Bab-5. You know, the character named Alfred Bester.

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 11:29 AM

MISGUIDED BY VOICES

Quote:
Originally posted by Knibblet:
As for the Mission Earth series: I think Hubbard got so caught up in the idea of writing a decology, he forgot about writing the story. He rehashed 1/2 of the previous book with every new book. Skip the first 300 pages and get to the frigging new parts already.

Never really got Hubbard, and perhaps that's because of all the "baggage" that comes with the name. I love the story which either Asimov or Ellison tells (think its Ellison) of being in a cabin somewhere with Hubbard, who walks in with one of those big loo rolls of typing paper, shoves it into the typewriter and starts tapping away. When asked what he's doing, he replies he is writing a religion.

Probably apocryphal, but I kind of like it - will have to go back and read through my Ellison hardcovers and I, Asimov to find out which scamp is to blame. What a struggle...

"I threw up on your bed"

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 11:38 AM

CAPTAINHARBATKIN

Roadmarks, Zelazny
Jack of Shadows, Zelazny
Today We Choose Faces, Zelazny
Slan, van Vogt
Weaponshops of Isher, van Vogt
Worm Ouroboros / Fish Dinner in Memison/ Mistress of Mistresses, Eddison
City, Simak
Conjure Wife / Our Lady of Darkness, Leiber (novellas, in a nice Tor double)
Smith of Wootton Major / Farmer Giles of Ham, Tolkien (classic cover or Hildebrandt)

I know it's an article of faith that Heinlein could do no wrong, but Sixth Column (also titled Day After Tomorrow) was awful. No, really. Go read it. That stipulated, I would name Double Star, Glory Road, Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Door Into Summer. Haven't read the "new" work (and won't).

Those that are fans of Burroughs should look for the the Barsoom novels with the Frazetta covers - a nice touch.

Um, H.G. Wells had a little to do with classic SF...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
...they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their
clothing - and if we're very, very lucky, they'll do it in that order.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 11:45 AM

EVILMIKE

I saw that someone mentioned RvR by A. C. Clarke -- I'd like to add 'Childhood's End' by Clarke as well. Probably more suggestions to follow when I'm not sneaking a connection from work.

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 12:27 PM

WILLIAMX

Glad to see "The Forever War' getting mentioned. It's the book that got me into sci-fi when I was a kid . . . I think I read it when I was like 10 or something, checked it out from an Air Force library cuz I liked the titles.

I like Gibsons Sprawl series . . .

Pat Cadigan wrote a book called MindPlayers that is really superior.

Connie Willis - Lincoln's Dreams (Not strictly sci-fi . . . but really really good)

Kim Stanley Robinson - The Memory of Whiteness

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 12:28 PM

HIGHIRON02

One of my favorites is the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy triligy by Douglas Adams:

1. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
2. Restaurant at the End of the Universe.
3. Life the Universe and Everything.
4. So Long and Thanks for All the Fish.
5. Mostly Harmless.

We got you partially surrounded.

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 2:00 PM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

Quote:
Originally posted by dug:
At least one person mentioned it, thank goodness:

Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester.

When I first read it I thought, wow, he beat Gibson to Cyberpunk by 4 decades. Then I found out that Gibson was trying to copy the style of one of the big late 60's authors (name escapes me). I then read an interiew from that author, who said he was trying to copy Bester.

So Gibson wasn't being derivative, he was being derivative of a derivative.

At least there was the huge reference to Bester in Bab-5. You know, the character named Alfred Bester.

Not sure if anyone else did as well, but I listed The Stars My Destination on my post in this thread. As for who Gibson was trying to emulate, not sure but my guess would be Samuel R. Delany. His novel Dhalgren, while not technically SF, is one of the most complex and challenging books I've ever read.

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 2:14 PM

STARPILOTGRAINGER

Good thread. Actually, some years ago, I decided to go on a quest to purchase and read every nebula or hugo winning novel. After that I'll tackle short stories (though I already have a good deal of those). I'm at over 90% of Hugos and about 66% of Nebulas.

Among my all-time favorites of SF (not including the one I drew my name from):
Ender's Game
Dune
Hyperion series
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Forever War
A Fire Upon the Deep
A Deepness in the Sky
The Demolished Man

Granted, some of these are newer and so may not qualify as 'historical' SF, but I think they will one day, and the old stuff's good. Currently I'm reading Olaf Stapledon's Sirius (late 40s), and it's quite good.

Star Pilot Grainger
"Remember, the enemy's gate is down."
LJ: http://www.livejournal.com/users/newnumber6

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 2:53 PM

LAILING

I loved the Barsoom novels - have the whole series (Frazetta covers all).
Surprised no one's mentioned "Puppet Master" (can't remember who wrote it).
Or the Lensman series.
Or anything by Marion Zimmer Bradley, but mostly her really incredible Darkover novels.
Or how about...oh, hell, I can't remember what the series was called, but it was a wonderful, cheesy series very popular in the 60' and 70's (they even made a movie or two), I think it was originally German...? There were, like, hundreds in the series. Aliens come to Earth for help in saving their planet, they bring mercury to pay for the help but don't realize mercury's so common here - however the buttons on their uniforms are a common rock found on their planet - diamonds...and the earth guy falls for the space babe, who's father is the leader of their planet... Anyway, it was translated to English by the guy who wrote "The Boosted Man" series (or maybe they just came out about the same time)...

"They've gone to *plaid*!"

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 3:40 PM

CGREALMS

I found "Childhood's End" to be one of the most anti-climactic books of all time. What happens to humanity is perhaps the biggest cop-out in SF history. Likewise, the guiding race's ultimate role in events was VERY unsatisfying.

I thought the same basic idea was handled much better in "2001"

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 4:17 PM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

Quote:
Originally posted by StarPilotGrainger:
Currently I'm reading Olaf Stapledon's Sirius (late 40s), and it's quite good.

I hadn't mentioned it yet, because it definitely is not for everyone, but I consider Stapledon's Star Maker to be the best book I have ever read. I've also read Sirius, Odd John, Last and First Men, Last Men in London, Death Into Life, Nebula Maker (an early version of Star Maker), and the short stories "A Modern Magician" and "The Flames."

Many people recognize the pervasive influence of Wells and Verne on the beginnings of the genre, and Asimov and Heinlein's influence on practically all modern SF writers, and while there aren't many readers aware of Stapledon, I'll bet you many writers would acknowledge that his influence is equal to any of those others.

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 4:22 PM

STARPILOTGRAINGER

Quote:
Originally posted by ecgordon:

I hadn't mentioned it yet, because it definitely is not for everyone, but I consider Stapledon's Star Maker to be the best book I have ever read. I've also read Sirius, Odd John, Last and First Men, Last Men in London, Death Into Life, Nebula Maker (an early version of Star Maker), and the short stories "A Modern Magician" and "The Flames."

I've read Star Maker and thought it was okay. Wasn't for me as a whole, but there were a few very interesting ideas inside (it's been a while since I read it, but the race of 'boats' was a particularly striking image that's stuck with me).

I'm quite enjoying Sirius though, and Odd John's another one that's been on my 'look for' list for some time. Now that I lucked out and found Sirius, and discovered that it's much better than I expected, I'll have to redouble my efforts on Odd John.

Star Pilot Grainger
"Remember, the enemy's gate is down."
LJ: http://www.livejournal.com/users/newnumber6

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 7:39 PM

SOUPCATCHER

I've really enjoyed H. Beam Piper's "Little Fuzzy" books.

I must have read "Battlefield Earth" by L. Ron every year for a while there (but only one half at a time depending on my mood since I always felt it was really two books). Tried to get into the Mission Earth decalogue but never made it past the first book.

I'm a big fan of time travel stories. Some of my favorites are: Andre Norton's "Time Traders", Poul Anderson's "Time Patrol", and H. Beam Piper's "Paratime".

For sheer guilty pleasure (in terms of reading something really really crappy) I enjoy the "Agent of T.E.R.R.A." books by Larry Maddock.

The book that got me started in sci-fi, "Dayworld" by Philip Jose Farmer. (On a side note, I have to throw in "A Feast Unknown" by Philip Jose Farmer just because it has the most disturbing hand-to-hand combat scenes I've ever read. I worried about his sanity after reading that book, and worried about mine for reading the entire thing).

Editted to change "A Bitter Feast" to "A Feast Unknown". I got confused on the title and substituted in a book by one of my favorite mystery authors, S. J. Rozan.

I shaved off my beard for you, devil woman!

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 8:36 PM

SGTGUMP

Quote:
Originally posted by Gunhand:
Starship Troopers. Enough said.

Okay it's me so I can't just stop with enough said, basically it's my firm belief that this should be required reading for anyone who even thinks about going to a military recruiting station.

But no one ever listens to me, so it ain't.

Oddly enough, that sounds just like what my dad said to me when I was considering joining. It was a great book and I enjoyed my military service.

"You're not right, Early. Your not righteous. You've got issues." - River

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