― cuba libre (nathalie), Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― dave q, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
Destroy: Anything by the disciples of Larry Niven.
― Alex in SF, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
Search: A Canticle For Leibowitz - Walter Miller Jr.
Destroy: Frank Herbert
― Omar, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
Films to Destroy - anything without bladerunner type shit that has black macs, sunglasses, street samurai, big guns, the net and is described using the word 'dystopian'
actually no - fuck that - lets go widescreen, vast fleets, intrigue and romance, secrets of the ancients, a gathering darkness, a prophecy, laser gunfights with alien bipeds with gnarly faces with names like XXZZ'NNKxQ or The Warlord Black Tanga
British libraries are chock-full of yellow SF shortstory collections from early '70s that shit on all of today's film-wannabe novels.
― a-33, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut gets a big fat yay.
Behold the Man by Moorcock rocked my world when I was a nipper. THese days I dunno if I'd be so impressed. Check out the Oswald Bastable stories though for the origins of Steampunk.
All the short fiction by J G Ballard. All of it bar none.
War with the Newts by Karel Capek
Iain m banks' culture novels. Among the best space operas ever written, although the last, 'Look to Windward' was a little dissappointing.
Dick, obviously.
My personal fave - R A Lafferty - try Not To Mention Camels or The Reefs of Earth for an introduction to this bizarre and beautiful writer.
― misterjones, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Simeon, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
Oh yes indeedy. Pohl and Kornbluth rock. (or are they more fifties?)
― Sam, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
Destroy: most of Spider Robinson's books, late-period Asimov, PKD's super-overrated "The Man in the High Castle," all Heinlein.
An entertainingly bitchy insider's view: Thomas Disch's "The Dreams Our Stuff is Made Of."
― Douglas, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
Destroy Asimov (worst prose in SF, which is going some), Doc Smith (unless you are under 14).
― Martin Skidmore, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Lynskey, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
Not that I'm not still overrun. Eleven hours and counting!
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Pyth, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Josh, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― The Other Mr. Jones, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dan Perry, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Jordan, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
This does remind me that I didn't mention ENDER'S GAME, though...
Obviously they're not going to be Classics like EG, but I enjoyed them (at least until the fourth book got too bogged down in his universal love-mysticism crap, including the most recent two.
Destroy: the 40s. Peter F. Hamilton. lightsabers. aliens who look like humans in masks. The Handmaid's Tale.
― thom, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Sterling Clover, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― bnw, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
Search: John Brunner's "Stand On Zanzibar", "The Shockwave Rider", and "The Sheep Look Up". RA Lafferty, Lem's "The Futuralogical Congress", Gene Wolfe, Neal Stephenson, Avram Davidson, Theodore Sturgeon, PKD, Ballard, John Shirley, Heinlein's "Stranger In A Strange Land" (ONLY that Heinlein though), Ray Bradbury, Ian MacDonald (especially "Desolation Road"), LeGuin's "The Dispossessed", Joe Haldeman's "The Forever War", any George R.R. Martin short story collection (look for "Sandkings"), Tim Powers, K.W. Jeter, Kim Stanley Robinson's Orange County and Mars trilogies, and any of the Damon Knight-edited "Orbit" short story collections.
Destroy: Most everything else.
― Chris Barrus, Friday, 17 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― keith, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― mark s, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
Oooh oooh oooh, it's way too early to actually anticipate, but Ridley Scott and The Forever War.
― WmC, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 16:12 (fifteen years ago) link
Would have been interesting if he had gone straight to that after Alien and Blade Runner for sure. But I'm actually liking the idea of Scott doing this now more for whatever reason.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 16:15 (fifteen years ago) link
I thought this was the thread that Ned (or someone) recommended THE PHOENIX AND THE MIRROR, but I guess its not. Anyway, I picked it up based on the recommendation and I enjoyed it a lot. So, thanks!
― Trip Maker, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 16:46 (fifteen years ago) link
You're welcome! That might well have been me, given how much I love Davidson.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 16:47 (fifteen years ago) link
Okay I think after nearly 15 years of reading virtually nothing but sci-fi written prior to 1980 that I may have exhausted most of the good stuff. Has anything decent been done in the past 15 years? Anything to touch the best Ballard/Brunner/Disch/Silverberg/Tiptree/Wolfe? Any recommendations along those lines welcomed.
― We call them "meat hemorrhoids" (Alex in SF), Thursday, 19 November 2009 23:00 (fourteen years ago) link
School Me On Some Sci-Fi My Astral Brothers And Sisters!
― Attention please, a child has been lost in the tunnel of goats. (James Morrison), Thursday, 19 November 2009 23:10 (fourteen years ago) link
is the thread you're looking for for good recommendations
Light by John M. Harrison.
Also a slightly yawnsome re-recommendation of Bank's Culture books. They really do piss on most modern mainstream space opera though. Dan Simmons is interesting, but I suspect he might be a bit of a loon, and don't read his books if you're expecting explanations for stuff.
― Communi-Bear Silo State (chap), Thursday, 19 November 2009 23:39 (fourteen years ago) link
I quite like the Alistair Reynolds books.
Also Bester again even though it's at the top of the thread already.
― Jarlrmai, Thursday, 19 November 2009 23:44 (fourteen years ago) link
Reynolds is okay, some good ideas and nicely bleak.
I tried reading a Neal Asher, can't remember the name, but gave up halfway because there hadn't been any half-way original concepts up to that point.
― Communi-Bear Silo State (chap), Thursday, 19 November 2009 23:46 (fourteen years ago) link
second the Light recommendation (altho Harrison is hardly a new writer and the book cribs a lot from earlier sci-fi concepts. still a lot of fun tho)
― Jack Kirby's Orangutan Surfing Civilization (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 19 November 2009 23:47 (fourteen years ago) link
If you're looking for trashy fun there's always Peter F Hamilton, of course.
― Communi-Bear Silo State (chap), Thursday, 19 November 2009 23:47 (fourteen years ago) link
I haven't come across any decent new sci-fi writers in years, unless Victor Pelevin counts
Anyone read that newish Neal Stephenson?
― Communi-Bear Silo State (chap), Thursday, 19 November 2009 23:49 (fourteen years ago) link
I haven't come across any decent new sci-fi writers in years
Seems that fantasy's more in vogue for younger writers now.
― Communi-Bear Silo State (chap), Thursday, 19 November 2009 23:50 (fourteen years ago) link
Anathem by Neal Stephenson: Kinda Like 'The Name of the Rose' If It Were About Pythagoreans
― George Mucus (ledge), Thursday, 19 November 2009 23:54 (fourteen years ago) link
Ick can't stand the one Simmons book I read. Banks is okay, I can imagine reading more of him. Also have heard people tout Ian McDonald although the one book I read by him years ago (Terminal Cafe) was pretty meh. Can Stephenson actually write now? His early stuff is rough going IIRC.
I'll look out for Light though.
― We call them "meat hemorrhoids" (Alex in SF), Thursday, 19 November 2009 23:56 (fourteen years ago) link
Last 15 years of Hugo Award winners is not giving me much hope here.
― We call them "meat hemorrhoids" (Alex in SF), Thursday, 19 November 2009 23:59 (fourteen years ago) link
read "House of Suns" by Alastair Reynolds recently and thought it was very good, quite Banks-like.
― zappi, Friday, 20 November 2009 00:03 (fourteen years ago) link
my wife really loved it. she's been a Stephenson stan since Cryptonomicron. I didn't read it but her description made it sound like Ursula K. Leguin crossed with Canticle for Liebowitz
― Jack Kirby's Orangutan Surfing Civilization (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 20 November 2009 00:03 (fourteen years ago) link
blindsight by peter watts (originally recommended by james morrison, reading now, quite excellent)
― jØrdån (omar little), Friday, 20 November 2009 00:04 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh what's the Lake Folks about
― Quinoa Phoenix (latebloomer), Wednesday, 16 July 2014 19:12 (nine years ago) link
it's not a book you numskull, i'm talking about the sci-fi-loving naiads who live in our lake and who demand stories from their human visitors
― socki (s1ocki), Wednesday, 16 July 2014 19:15 (nine years ago) link
!!!!
― Quinoa Phoenix (latebloomer), Wednesday, 16 July 2014 19:40 (nine years ago) link
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/canadian_aliens1.jpg
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Wednesday, 16 July 2014 19:50 (nine years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p0chD8U8fA
― I Need Andmoreagain (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 17 July 2014 02:00 (nine years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYm1Yo5D-bA
― I Need Andmoreagain (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 17 July 2014 02:04 (nine years ago) link
dug those southern reach books!!!
― socki (s1ocki), Tuesday, 22 July 2014 02:53 (nine years ago) link
are dude's other books that good? was a little alarmed that he also wrote like the idiot's guide to steampunk or something
just started aj. not as immediately drawn in as i was with the SR books but so far so good.
― socki (s1ocki), Tuesday, 22 July 2014 02:54 (nine years ago) link
Time Out London sf film poll of pros/experts... Duncan Jones' Moon joins the Insanely Overrated club.
http://www.timeout.com/london/film/the-100-best-sci-fi-movies
― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 22 July 2014 15:21 (nine years ago) link
I've read 2/3 of the second Southern Reach book, very slowly. Hard to explain why, because it's in many ways similar, but I like it about 1/100 as much as Annihilation, which I really enjoyed. Am finishing it only because I am holding out hope for #3 to be good.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, 22 July 2014 15:23 (nine years ago) link
Duncan Jones' Moon joins the Insanely Overrated club
Moon is ok but it's pretty minor. feel like it must get this shine cuz there just aren't that many workmanlike, non-blockbuster-y sci-fi things getting made.
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 22 July 2014 15:36 (nine years ago) link
(list is utter garbage btw)
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 22 July 2014 16:54 (nine years ago) link
Couple of things on there that I've never heard of that sound interesting, which is kind of the point of lists like this for me.
― the joke should be over once the kid is eaten. (chap), Tuesday, 22 July 2014 16:59 (nine years ago) link
yeah there's some randomly intriguing entries
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 22 July 2014 17:00 (nine years ago) link
World on a Wire sounds cool for example, anyone seen it?
― the joke should be over once the kid is eaten. (chap), Tuesday, 22 July 2014 17:00 (nine years ago) link
Or 'Seconds'?
― the joke should be over once the kid is eaten. (chap), Tuesday, 22 July 2014 17:01 (nine years ago) link
Both amazing, must-see films (and I hate Fassbinder)
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 22 July 2014 17:05 (nine years ago) link
seconds is so great
― socki (s1ocki), Tuesday, 22 July 2014 17:28 (nine years ago) link
in addition to their being some external associations that add a certain resonance to it (Hudson's closeted gay life; film inducing a breakdown in Brian Wilson) it really is just incredibly striking visually and tonally; it is a genuinely disturbing film, probably Frankenheimer's best, and there are a lot of layers to it, about guilt, identity, our capacity for denial and self-delusion.
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 22 July 2014 17:37 (nine years ago) link
I love Fassbinder, WoW is good nuff
I wrote about Seconds
http://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/review/seconds
― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 22 July 2014 18:35 (nine years ago) link
i didnt liek the 2nd southern reach book nearly as mcuh as the first
― max, Tuesday, 22 July 2014 22:56 (nine years ago) link
xpost Excellent Morbius coverage of the excellent and scary-ass Seconds.
― dow, Tuesday, 22 July 2014 23:19 (nine years ago) link
i really got into the 2nd southern reach book's little details of a crumbling, half-mad bureaucracy, though it was slow at points
i'm not super into ancillary justice. it's now caught up with the "present" and i find it's plateaued a bit. but i'm still reading.
― socki (s1ocki), Wednesday, 23 July 2014 00:56 (nine years ago) link
Just watched Seconds and really enjoyed it (apart from the excruciatingly drawn out naked grape party). Particularly liked the Kafkaesque Company halls.
― the joke should be over once the kid is eaten. (chap), Wednesday, 23 July 2014 22:35 (nine years ago) link
haha yeah Morbz is otm about the pagan wine party fail
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 23 July 2014 22:37 (nine years ago) link
I also thought that the crumbling half-mad bureaucracy parts of Authority are really good. The family drama bits (and the associated reveals) though drag it down a bit. First book definitely stronger and I suspect that third will be weakest as I don't think there is a satisfying resolution here. Comparing it in my mind to the similarly structured Fifth Head of Cerberus and this pales.
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Sunday, 3 August 2014 14:52 (nine years ago) link
after loving the first two southern reach books i am finding the third one a real slog
― socki (s1ocki), Saturday, 27 September 2014 21:43 (nine years ago) link
A couple of people have said that... I'm still waiting for my copy.
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Sunday, 28 September 2014 13:51 (nine years ago) link
lots and lots of not-compelling backstory and he's doubled-down on the vagueness.
― socki (s1ocki), Sunday, 28 September 2014 14:45 (nine years ago) link
I quite liked it, but it didn't have the real kick I was hoping for. And the explanation for all the weirdness is given in such an offhand way.
― ornamental cabbage (James Morrison), Wednesday, 1 October 2014 06:11 (nine years ago) link
it felt like a prequel... huge letdown and not because it didn't explain enough imho... it just didn't seem have a good reason for existing
― socki (s1ocki), Wednesday, 1 October 2014 10:30 (nine years ago) link
Lately I've read Lathe of Heaven -- turned off by the broad characterizations, especially of Lelache -- and After Doomsday -- so expository, and the blatant sexism. What classics are there that have more elegant purpose and characters that aren't flat stereotypes?
― Bashir-Worf Hypothesis (Leee), Sunday, 23 April 2017 08:11 (six years ago) link
Riddley Walker by Russel HobanThe Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy CasaresEarth Abides by George Stewart
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Sunday, 23 April 2017 09:45 (six years ago) link
Lathe of Heaven is an odd one as it's basically a Philip K Dick pastiche. Not sure you could accuse The Left of Darkness of having broad stereotypes.
― ledge, Sunday, 23 April 2017 10:01 (six years ago) link
NYC MoMA retro "Future Imperfect: The Uncanny in Science Fiction" has some rarely screened stuff, like the Borges-written Invasión:
https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/3855?locale=en
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 5 July 2017 16:57 (six years ago) link
looks great, bunch of stuff I've never seen. (also some crap, of course, but what can ye do)
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 5 July 2017 17:23 (six years ago) link
Must say I'm curious about this double feature:
https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/3347?locale=en
― or at night (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 5 July 2017 18:20 (six years ago) link
me too
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 5 July 2017 18:27 (six years ago) link
Haven't clicked. Is On the Silver Globe in there?
― Guidonian Handsworth Revolution (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 5 July 2017 18:32 (six years ago) link
not much in English on Rat Savior, here's some
http://krelllabs.blogspot.com/2013/11/Izbavitelj-review.html
http://fredanderson.typepad.com/my-blog/2013/11/the-rat-savior-krsto-papic-1976.html
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 5 July 2017 18:33 (six years ago) link
mercifully no
xp
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 5 July 2017 18:34 (six years ago) link
yeah after googling rat saviour and the damned thing i am pretty sold on that double feature
is colossus: the forbin project rare on a big screen?
― or at night (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 5 July 2017 18:36 (six years ago) link
p sure it screens in NY now and then, but too cultish to be a perennial
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 5 July 2017 18:43 (six years ago) link
some of the shorts are revelatory; i had no idea there was a Soviet animated film of Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains." Which will be packed, cuz
The Quiet Earth. 1985. Directed by Geoff MurphyBudet laskovyi dozhd (There Will Come Soft Rains). 1984. Directed by Nozim To’laho’jayevMonday, August 14, 7:15 p.m.
Presented by astrophysicistNeil deGrasse Tyson
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 5 July 2017 18:48 (six years ago) link
That soviet bradbury is on youtube.
Not a substitute for the big screen, but for those not in ny.
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Thursday, 6 July 2017 03:35 (six years ago) link
Invasión is indeed uncanny (the synthetic bird noises!) but it's hardly sci-fi, more like an ultra-abstract political thriller.
― Wes Brodicus, Thursday, 6 July 2017 10:31 (six years ago) link
Things can be both
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Thursday, 6 July 2017 10:56 (six years ago) link
It's been a while since I saw that movie but there were no sci-fi elements whatsoever iirc.
Plenty of tango, though, on the soundtrack.
― Wes Brodicus, Thursday, 6 July 2017 19:28 (six years ago) link
I have just finally read Christopher Priest's Inverted World, discussed at some length earlier in this thread, and I really liked it but I have questions. SPOILERS TO FOLLOW: Can anyone who's read it weigh in on to what degree the physical effects of the "inverted world" described by Hellward (what a name) are "real" and to what degree they're the product of a consciousness warped by the effects of the weird energy field? Because there is some reference to the natives talking about "giants," which would suggest that the energy field has physical effects that are perceptible to people outside it as well as those inside it. But that doesn't quite seem to gibe with the ending, which more or less suggests that the effects are mostly on the perceptions of the people within the city, rather than on the physical world itself. Maybe it doesn't matter because Priest's main points are allegorical, but it did leave me wondering.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 15:17 (two years ago) link