However, if 'book' is not limited to novels, I might very well grab the RA Lafferty collection Nine Hundred Grandmothers. I would rather not do without 'Ginny Wrapped in the Sun', "Hog-Belly Honey" or "One at a Time".
Honored Member
However, if 'book' is not limited to novels, I might very well grab the RA Lafferty collection Nine Hundred Grandmothers. I would rather not do without 'Ginny Wrapped in the Sun', "Hog-Belly Honey" or "One at a Time".
Order of Kilopi
I never got round to reading Time Enough for Love, in spite of being somewhat curious about it. Which other stories do you mean? I've read Methuselah's Children...Originally Posted by Ara Pacis
Earlier, John Varley was mentioned. I recently read Wizard, but have not managed to read the other two books in the triology, Titan and Demon.
I never went beyond Soldier, Ask Not and The Spirit of Dorsai in Dickson's Childe Cycle. It's a shame he never finished it.
I read The Killing Machine and liked it a lot, but never read the rest of Jack Vance's Demon Princes series. (I love Vance's style, but I fear it might get repetitive.) I still haven't read Tales of the Dying Earth, either.
I read David Brin's Uplift series except for the last book.
I read The Martian Chronicles, but never read any other science fiction by Ray Bradbury.
I read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy but never read any of the sequels.
I thought John Sladek's Tik-Tok rocked, but never read Roderick or Roderick at Random.
Member
Helliconia Trilogy, Brian Aldiss (particularly Helliconia Spring).
Anything by J G Ballard
Can I count 1984?
Surprised no one's mentioned Day of the Triffids!
One of the first proper novels I read was a verion of the first Star Wars movie (yeah, I know it's a western!)>
Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguri - be warned, you'll not be the same again!
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Yes.
It's very good, but I wouldn't place it in the creme de la creme category.
I don't think it's good SF so much as good literature. This is due to the fact that the donations system doesn't really make sense, but the human story is very good. The film adaptation is remarkably good. I also enjoyed The Remains of the Day (book and film) and the collection Nocturnes. I might get some more of his work.
Order of Kilopi
Interesting, I always thought it was more of a mythological hero story.
Et tu BAUT? Quantum mutatus ab illo.
Order of Kilopi
I read Helliconia Spring but not the sequels. Brian Aldiss is hit and miss for me. He's written some stories I find brilliant, and then others that left me unsatisfied. Helliconia Spring is broad sweeping world-building, which can be good, but it's so atomised over different characters and generations that I felt it lacked coherence.
Here, here. Or Lovecraft, or Stapledon.
You have to be in the right state of mind to read 1984, as it's crushingly bleak. I may have read it a bit too early, myself, though I don't regret reading it. Animal Farm has essentially the same message, but is more subdued; even a child can enjoy it.
Established Member
Not exactly. Heinlein was almost certainly a nudist and had always maintained unconventional - even radical - notions on sex and sexual relations. His first novel For Us, The Living, a Comedy of Customs, which was finally published in 2003, includes a scene in which the protagonist and the female lead doff their clothes just because they can and to demonstrate how sex-based taboos might change in the future. The book was written in 1938 and RAH was 31 years old.
As society evolved and as RAH grew older, IMO he felt that he could more freely write about these taboos and customs; his later books take this freedom to new levels. IOW he knew exactly what he was doing - sex sells. The jury is still out as to whether his later books are an attempt at writing a new kind of sci-fi or if he was just getting sloppy. Probably a bit of both.
I agree that Methuselah's Children would be a good prequel to TEFL and the others that follow, if only to gain a context for Lazarus Long, Libby (Part 1), Justin Foote, etc.
Order of Kilopi
Right, nudism and free love are one thing, rampant incest is another.
I still haven't read Methuselah's Children. Aren't there other Lazarus Long stories too?
Et tu BAUT? Quantum mutatus ab illo.
Established Member
The Lazarus Long stories are:
Methuselah's Children
Time Enough for Love
The Number of the Beast
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
To Sail Beyond the Sunset
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I missed the whole Mobile Infantry idea in the movie, they could have made a very cool action/adventure film, it might have taken a few years for the technology to mature enough though.
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The script as originally written had the Mobile Infantry and a whole lot more nuke-play (I've read it), but yeah, special effects and budget considerations nixed that.
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That's pretty much what I thought.
The combat in the book is much more interesting and advanced than the movie, which is basically just a bunch of people running around as a mob. As someone who used to fantisize about how I'd turn the book into a movie it was a big letdown.
Order of Kilopi
It's been mentioned before, but the script for "Bug Hunt" was written before they realized the similarities between it and Starship Troopers, so they hastily got the movie rights to the book, and made some changes to the script and the rest is history.
Someday someone else will get the rights and make a proper movie out of that book. I kept saying that for Lord of the Rings after the cartoons by Rankin Bass et al. and look what happened... Yeah, I'm still waiting for someone to make a proper movie out of those books. ;-)
Et tu BAUT? Quantum mutatus ab illo.
Order of Kilopi
When I was a kid, I had a "book on record" based on the cartoons. Loved that "Beep Turn The Page!"
The artwork was excellent, but perhaps neither record or cartoon was the best choice for Lord of the Rings.
Solfe
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'That was tops! Who's not good at math? I was all, "Four!"' - Finn, Adventure Time.
Established Member
It's kind of a meme in itself I guess and the original idea becomes something else over time.
When I read LOTR now it's colored by the movies which I didn't like as much at first but now enjoy.
I wish they had waited longer and put more art into the creation of Starship Troopers what's been done already will influence everything to follow. I think someone like Ridley Scott would have been a better choice or even Cameron to direct and produce the movie.
Established Member
For me, that's a simple answer: Ringworld. It's the only scifi book I've ever read.
Established Member
Ringworld was, maybe, the second SF novel I ever read; or it was Rendezvous with Rama.
Why just the one?
Honored Member
I have always wished I could write something like Charles Finney's The Circus of Dr. Lao. One tenth as good would be adequate.
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