What's the worst SF book you've read? (or tried to read)

[primummobile]

For me, it has to be Tribulations by Ken Shufeldt.

http://www.amazon.com/Tribulations-K...s+ken+shufeldt

The hero, Billy, is 'accidentally' injected with DNA from a mummy when he is an infant. This DNA somehow turns him into some kind of super-genius. When he is an adult, he manages to evacuate several thousand people from Earth before an asteroid strike destroys the planet. Once in space with a fleet of interstellar ships he built almost singlehandedly, he manages to convert his own ship into a FTL ship, although we are not told how he did it, other than that he had "giant coils" mounted to the front of the ship while it was being constructed because he had an "idea that they may be useful someday". This all happened in about the first ten pages or so.

I can deal with juvenile story-telling and no character development if the plot and science are good. But even these are absent. I'm not going to get into the plot, in case someone may want to read this book. But the science is horrible.

It is never explained why a genius who could build all these interstellar ships and put together a warp drive from fishing line, duct tape, and some copper coils had no ideas on how to deflect the asteroid from its course.

When they first leave the orbit of the destroyed Earth, they have some argument over which galaxy they should travel to in search of their new home. Why wouldn't something in the Milky Way do?

They finally decide to go to some unnamed dwarf galaxy, and Billy is all twisted up because that galaxy is four light years away.

Billy decides to invent his hyperdrive because his ships, which cruise at 1/3 light speed, would take centuries to reach the dwarf galaxy four light years away.

Again, all that science is in the first ten or twenty pages. There is much, much more where that came from.

The book was published by Tor, and I know they don't have a reputation for producing the highest quality stuff, but I really don't see how this stuff could get past any editor. This is elementary school science. I would have probably enjoyed this book when I was in second or third grade, but it's marketed to adults.

I just want my seven dollars back.


EDIT: By the way, I could only make it about a third of the way through the book. I just skimmed the rest. I bought this when my wife was in Germany and it was supposed to occupy a Saturday night for me. That might be part of the reason I feel cheated.

[Noclevername]

I've read tons of crummy SF, where either the story or the science or both were just horrible. Fortunately I've forgetten the names of most of those stories.

What really gets to me, though, is when someone writes a good or even great book, and then the sequels are lousy. Flight of the Dragonfly and Phule's Company and Ringworld started out strong, then the next books were so-so, then they took a sharp nosedive into utter toiletry. I know those authors can write well, so why did they stop?

[Doodler]

Sandworms of Dune. With the passing of Frank Herbert, I wasn't expecting anyone who picked up the series to finish it to possess his particular style of writing, but what we ended up with was a wholesale rejiggering of the entire story to fit the very marginally passable sequel novels' plot contrivances into the original story of the first six novels. My particular annoyance can be aimed directly at the blatant changes to Daniel and Marty, introduced in the last book written by Frank Herbert that were clearly intended to be free willed Face Dancers, only to have them revealed as the AIs from the prequels in Sandworms. I could go on, but the hammerfisted revisionism in those last two books have prevented me from even paging through the jackets of the more recently published interquels (books written between the original novels) that have since come out.

[John Mendenhall]

The original John Carter of Mars book, apparently written by Burroughs' son.

[Rhaedas]

Unfortunately (or maybe not) I can't remember the title, but there was one particular Star Trek novel, one of the TOS original series of paperbacks put out, that I once read where the author clearly had no clue of the characters nor was good at writing in general. Most of those novels are pretty good, a few are so-so, and there's a few authors that are incredible at adding depth to the characters and behind the scenes of what the TV show gave us. And for years they were also all very good about staying consistent with not only the show but each others' creations.

But this one book was simply bad. Also rather thin compared to most of the others. Not surprisingly.

[mike alexander]

In term of classics, the sequels to Rendezvous with Rama rate high on my hit parade. Although calling them sequels may stretch the definition.

[ToSeek]

In high school I decided to read every single book in my public library that was labelled as "science fiction." Some of these included self-published works. I have blotted out the names but still feel the pain. I recall that one of them ended with the line "HE WAS THE UNCONQUERABLE SURVIVOR!!!!!!" (Caps and punctuation as in the original.)

[SeanF]

Unfortunately (or maybe not) I can't remember the title, but there was one particular Star Trek novel, one of the TOS original series of paperbacks put out, that I once read where the author clearly had no clue of the characters nor was good at writing in general. Most of those novels are pretty good, a few are so-so, and there's a few authors that are incredible at adding depth to the characters and behind the scenes of what the TV show gave us. And for years they were also all very good about staying consistent with not only the show but each others' creations.

But this one book was simply bad. Also rather thin compared to most of the others. Not surprisingly.

I don't know if it's the same book you're thinking of, but "Cry of the Onlies" was that way for me.

With most of the "Trek" books, you can hear the actors delivering the lines in your head, but I just couldn't hear Nimoy as Spock saying, "Well, I for one think that..."

[Buttercup]

To be honest, a lot of sci-fi is crummy imo. Or it so ovelaps into "fantasy" it's pointless to call it sci-fi.

I love *true* sci-fi, but there's so little of it. :-\

[R.A.F.]

Robert Heinlein's Farnman's Freehold. Just didn't like it....

Then again, end of the world scenerios have never "grabbed" me.


oops...take that back...I really liked Lucifers Hammer.

[Paul Beardsley]

When I first worked for SFX magazine in the 1990s, they gave me a self-published book to review called Minds of the Empire by Warren James Palmer. Probably the most moronic book I've read, in terms of storytelling, spelling, punctuation and science. The author is the kind of person who thinks he's a celebrity because his name is on the cover of a book, who uses the dedication page to tell the publishers who rejected him to "get a life", and who clearly thinks a story can only be entertaining if it gets the science wrong.

I recall one scene where the hero is apprehended by one of the villain's bullyboys. The hero is unarmed, so all seems lost... then, suddenly, without any prior hint that he could do this, the hero points a finger at the bullyboy and sends 50,000 volts through [sic] him. The baddie convulses a bit and dies.

This is a long way from being the worst scene in the book.

There was a sequel which I wasn't given to review, but the other reviewer had a similar opinion.

[Swift]

Sandworms of Dune. With the passing of Frank Herbert, I wasn't expecting anyone who picked up the series to finish it to possess his particular style of writing, but what we ended up with was a wholesale rejiggering of the entire story to fit the very marginally passable sequel novels' plot contrivances into the original story of the first six novels.

While I liked the original, Dune, I think the series when downhill after that. Though I read it, the last book was so bad it made me angry (and I read it like 30 years ago). After that I never re-read any of them, read anything else by Herbert, nor read the book you mention.

[starcanuck64]

Like Noclevername I found the Ringworld sequels after Ringworld Engineers a big letdown.

I also found Heinlein's Number of the Beast indecipherable.

[Noclevername]

Like Noclevername I found the Ringworld sequels after Ringworld Engineers a big letdown.

I also found Heinlein's Number of the Beast indecipherable.

NOTB was basically wish-fulfilment for an old man past his prime.

Farnham's Freehold was was, I think, an attempt at irony about reverse racism; it failed. (I'm giving RAH the benefit of the doubt here, assuming that he wasn't trying on purpose to be racist. Certainly his black characters in other books were stereotypical, but he had black characters at a time when that was taboo. I think he was trying to overcome the ingrained racism he'd been taught in his youth but had no idea how.)

[Van Rijn]

Farnham's Freehold was was, I think, an attempt at irony about reverse racism; it failed. (I'm giving RAH the benefit of the doubt here, assuming that he wasn't trying on purpose to be racist.

Wow, not trying on purpose to be racist? This was a world where North America, Russia, China, and Europe at least were involved in an all out nuclear war. Also it was hinted there were biowar plagues. The people that came to run the world had been from areas relatively undamaged, and they happened to be dark skinned. They developed a myth that light skinned people were inferior. After all, look at what they did!

He was showing how pointless racism arguments are and that anyone can be the victim. But that was only one aspect of the story. The nuclear war was a huge part of it too.

Certainly his black characters in other books were stereotypical, but he had black characters at a time when that was taboo. I think he was trying to overcome the ingrained racism he'd been taught in his youth but had no idea how.)

Racism? What? Could you give some examples of these "stereotypical blacks"? I'm coming up blank. What I think about are the examples where there is one passing mention that someone might not be white, but otherwise you'd never know. These would be in stories about future societies, and where I would get the impression it wasn't discussed because it was utterly irrelevant to everyone in that society.

[Noclevername]

Wow, not trying on purpose to be racist? This was a world where North America, Russia, China, and Europe at least were involved in an all out nuclear war. Also it was hinted there were biowar plagues. The people that came to run the world had been from areas relatively undamaged, and they happened to be dark skinned. They developed a myth that light skinned people were inferior. After all, look at what they did!

He was showing how pointless racism arguments are and that anyone can be the victim. But that was only one aspect of the story. The nuclear war was a huge part of it too.

And he made the dark-skinned people cannibals, and had the only rational black character join them. Epic fail.

Could you give some examples of these "stereotypical blacks"? I'm coming up blank. What I think about are the examples where there is one passing mention that someone might not be white, but otherwise you'd never know. These would be in stories about future societies, and where I would get the impression it wasn't discussed because it was utterly irrelevant to everyone in that society.

In "Blowups Happen", there's a black character who hustles small change and talks like Amos & Andy. The main character interacts with him-- once. In I Will Fear No Evil the main character hires a black bodyguard who is nearly identical to the black character from 1940. In Time Enough For Love, the author-avatar speaks of different ethnic groups not making it off Earth, and he mentions that having a black ancestor is like being descended from Charlemagne-- I interpret that as meaning extremely rare. His descendants seem surprised to learn they have black ancestors.

As I said, he tried, and many times succeeded. Certainly in The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress he does an excellent job of portraying a mixed-race extended family, complete with them being treated poorly on Earth in the southern U.S.A. because of it. And a throwaway line in Number Of The Beast implies that Hilda was black. Those novels showed that he could do it right sometimes; but he had his poor examples too, an FF is right at the bottom of that list.

[jrkeller]

I also found Heinlein's Number of the Beast indecipherable.

I concur.

[Noclevername]

Destiny's Road: Larry Niven admits it's his worst book, because he started it without an ending in mind. It's basically the Yellow Brick Road with no wizard at the end.

[redshifter]

Destiny's Road: Larry Niven admits it's his worst book, because he started it without an ending in mind. It's basically the Yellow Brick Road with no wizard at the end.

I read that, even made it throught the whole book. I remember it being somewhat underwhelming. Isn't that the story where there was very little potassium available, so they were always having to add it to their food? If they ran low, it resulted in slowly losing their mental capacity and eventual death IIRC. It was a while ago, so maybe I'm mixing up underwhelming SF books.

[Noclevername]

I read that, even made it throught the whole book. I remember it being somewhat underwhelming. Isn't that the story where there was very little potassium available, so they were always having to add it to their food? If they ran low, it resulted in slowly losing their mental capacity and eventual death IIRC. It was a while ago, so maybe I'm mixing up underwhelming SF books.

No, that's the one.

[primummobile]

Robert Heinlein's Farnman's Freehold. Just didn't like it....

Then again, end of the world scenerios have never "grabbed" me.


oops...take that back...I really liked Lucifers Hammer.

Lucifer's Hammer was the first Niven/Pournelle book I ever read. I thought it started slow, but by the end I thoroughly enjoyed it. I've always been a little surprised at the mediocre reviews it seems to get.

[mike alexander]

Nowadays, any book I pick up that says on the cover it is the first volume of a groundbreaking new trilogy gets set down again.

[Noclevername]

Nowadays, any book I pick up that says on the cover it is the first volume of a groundbreaking new trilogy gets set down again.

At least they tell you on the cover. I really hate when you get to the last page of a novel, and it says "to be continued", with no forewarning.

[Paul Beardsley]

At least they tell you on the cover. I really hate when you get to the last page of a novel, and it says "to be continued", with no forewarning.

Or a book that you know or suspect is part of a long series but nothing lets you know where in the series it is, what the previous books are, or whether it can be read as if it were a standalone.

[Romanus]

The Krone Experiment: Typos, bad research, and an ending that was a complete cop-out.

Still, I'm not quite convinced this was worse than Haldeman's Forever Free, which is even more painful for being by one of my favorite authors (of one of my all-time favorites in any genre, The Forever War), a writer of consummate skill. It isn't badly written, per se, but the ending is so ridiculous that I can't help but think that if anyone other than Haldeman had submitted this, it would've been returned to them in a burning bag on their doorstep.

[primummobile]

The Krone Experiment: Typos, bad research, and an ending that was a complete cop-out.

Still, I'm not quite convinced this was worse than Haldeman's Forever Free, which is even more painful for being by one of my favorite authors (of one of my all-time favorites in any genre, The Forever War), a writer of consummate skill. It isn't badly written, per se, but the ending is so ridiculous that I can't help but think that if anyone other than Haldeman had submitted this, it would've been returned to them in a burning bag on their doorstep.

I like Haldeman's short stories quite a bit.

[primummobile]

Or a book that you know or suspect is part of a long series but nothing lets you know where in the series it is, what the previous books are, or whether it can be read as if it were a standalone.

I think a lot of those long series come about because of pressure from the publisher. I can probably count on one hand the number of series I have read and actually enjoyed the whole way through, and two of those were fantasy stories.

[Rhaedas]

When L. Ron Hubbard's Mission Earth series came out, I read all the way through the first book. That's as far as I got. Don't even remember much of it at all. I had high hopes, because I really enjoyed reading Battlefield Earth, but that must have been his high point.

[Nowhere Man]

I've probably mentioned these elsewhere, but...
The Last Astronaut by Pel Torro (R. Lionel Fanthorpe)
The Man with a Thousand Names by A. E. van Vogt

Also on the dishonor roll (role?) is whatever the first Thomas Covenant book was. Got maybe a chapter into it. There are a few others.

Fred

[swampyankee]

Worst one was some drivel by Ringo. Got it from Baen's free download site, and am sorry to all the electrons and photons (I have wireless) harmed in the download.