rolling fantasy, science fiction, speculative fiction &c. thread

Yeah, aside from a few quality collections like the Aldiss omnibus, the strike rate of yer basic anthology is very poor.

the novelty of the universe and orbit yearly collections was that nothing was a reprint. all original material.

i've read some really great best of the year collections though. there were some really great years! with other collections it does depend on the editor/compiler. aldiss was good at it.

i read a recent-ish - for me anyway. it probably came out in the 90's. - collection of space opera/adventure yarns that was REALLY good. completely entertaining. and a lot of the writers were new to me. i should try and find it. i can't remember the title. almost every story was a hoot. and the stories were newer too. not old old stuff.

The Gardner Dozois-edited yearly collections are usually pretty good: I find them to be at least half full of great stuff, and if you buy the el-cheapo UK editions that's pretty good value for money

I only have #3 of James Gunn's "Road to Science Fiction" anthology series, but it's so good I'd like to find the others.

Yeah that looks like a decent selection, albeit with a few old perennials on the anthology circuit. Will look out for Gardner Dozois, and for Scott's, if he remembers the name :)

Oh, "The New Space Opera" I got recently, that was Gardner Dozois, and yeah it was prety decent.

The Gardner Dozois-edited yearly collections are usually pretty good: I find them to be at least half full of great stuff, and if you buy the el-cheapo UK editions that's pretty good value for money

Yeah, I've asked for the latest Mammoth Book of Best New SF for the past few birthdays/Christmases and have been fairly pleased with them: always fairly solid at least, and usually a couple of stories that set me tracking down more by the authors.

(And usually at least one story so horrible and unnecessary that I swear off the author for life, but hey, that's a useful service too, and maybe you'll love the ones I hate.)

My only peeve is that I once came close to picking up one I already had in a charity shop because it had a different cover, but I can only find one cover for that volume on the internet, so unless it was a trade edition I'm beginning to think I imagined it.

No, I think you didn't imagine it: a number of them were repackaged with "classic" style artwork (ie bug-eyed monsters, retro rocketships, etc) and given slightly different titles (ie the Mammoth Book of Amazing SF, etc) and flogged off on the overseas remainder market--I've got a few of them, and they don't show up on Amazon, etc.

found it. and it is one of the dozois volumes. there are two volumes. the good old stuff and the good new stuff. i've only read the new one:

http://www.amazon.com/Good-New-Stuff-Adventure-Tradition/dp/0312198906/ref=pd_sim_b_1

did i already talk about how much i loved *four ways to forgiveness* by Le Guin on here? i might have. i still think about that book. i never wanted it to end. gotta read more of her hainish books.

reading steven erikson's fourth novel, 'house of chains'. this one i feel like i can't even risk reading in the same room as the gf to be honest

She struggled, then her head snapped back, eyes suddenly wild.

Karsa laughed, throwing her down on the bed.

Animal sounds came from her mouth, her long-fingered hands snatching up at him as he moved over her.

The female clawed at him, her back arching in desperate need.

She was unconscious before he was done, and when he drew away there was blood between them. She would live, he knew. Blood-oil was impatient with broken flesh.

Jesus Christ.

Referring to women as "females" like that is one of my biggest literary pet peeves.

I had considered spelling out what would count as "horrible and unnecessary" in my previous post about short story collections, but now I don't need to, because that is exactly the sort of thing I meant.

i was confused and thought you were talking about steve erickson the american writer but i googled and i'm okay now. the canadian guy's real name according to wiki is STEVE RUNE LUNDIN and i don't get why he didn't keep that for his books cuz it kinda has an epic flair. and its funny that stephen r. donaldson is such a big fan of the canadian guy cuz i was just looking at some of the old covenant paperbacks the other day and marveling that i actually read them when i was a kid. (i don't read too much fantasy stuff)

Jesus Christ.

Referring to women as "females" like that is one of my biggest literary pet peeves.

anyway, i'm reading this now. did you know that me and rich corben share a birthday?

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zNw9VE7Y3Hc/TBFIxXBT1MI/AAAAAAAADW4/X4PJp77QOIw/s1600/fredricBrown.jpg

Aw! Huggggggzzzzzzz xoxoxoxox

I'd like to point out, not as a defense but as a clarification, that the tone of the 3rd party narrator in Erikson's books shifts to match the point of view character, so it's not like the entire book is all "ungh ungh rape the females" 24/7, nor is that (IMO) necessarily intended to be a value-neutral presentation of what is happening in that scene. Karsa is kind of a heroic figure, but he's also a massively brutal caveman asshole.

i thought about trying to be fair about the context but then i didn't bother

really enjoying the brown book. do i need to read ben bova? got something called the exiles trilogy in paperback at the store. 3booksinone. maybe i'll just read it. how bad could it be?

so that brown story "arena". star trek ripped that off for that famous lizard-man episode, no?

okay yeah of course it was. just checked wiki.

Yep.

I don't have much time for "Arena". Ok it's not quite the kind of story that could be set in any time or place, nevertheless it's basically an unilluminating tale of mano-a-mano combat, with a non-thrilling attempt to up the stakes and the sci-fi element provided by some blue sand, the least inspired alien ever, and a highly evolved ultra-intelligent ineffable non-corporeal entity, who is a bit of a dick.

A propos of nothing but I am so over sex scenes involving A Magic Penis. Even in books and stories that otherwise give every indication of being written for women, the sex is always always just a lead-up to penetration leading to orgasm for both participants, always.

its funny that until i started reading sci-fi 3 or 4 years ago i never really read books with much sex in them at all. and sci-fi can certainly contain some weirdness about sex/the sexes. to put it mildly. nerds are kinda weird about sex in general. hey, speaking of rich corben, i've been a fan since i was a kid, but i can't even begin to explain his obsessions.

i don't read sword/sorcery/fantasy stuff and i'd imagine that's where a lot of the worst offenders are in the realm of magic wand lit.

Fredric Brown is pretty great. Have you read' What Mad Universe', about a guy trapped in a parallel universe which runs according to all the 'rules' of pulp SF? I have a feeling we might have talked about it elsewhere on ILB, but I'm too tired to find it

Yeah, we are always talking about WMU. What about his detective stuff? The Fabulous Clipjoint, The Screaming Mimi, etc.I keep meaning to read it but never have.

I've read a couple of Fredric Brown pulp crime novels, had no idea he wrote sf too! The Screaming Mimi is pretty great as I recall it, not quite in Charles Willeford territory but worth a read for sure.

there used to be a bar called screaming mimi's in new york. there may still be. it's where all the just-off-the-boat college grads would gather for frenzied flirting.

wait a minute i'm getting confused now. screaming mimi's is apparently a fashion boutique. what am i think of?? gah, old.

A propos of nothing but I am so over sex scenes involving A Magic Penis. Even in books and stories that otherwise give every indication of being written for women, the sex is always always just a lead-up to penetration leading to orgasm for both participants, always.

So OTM. Looking at you, Charlaine Harris...

yeah i really liked what mad universe. and we have talked about it on here. i would definitely like to read some of his crime novels. never see them.

The Fabulous Clipjoint is pretty cool.

Just finished two SF novels:

Dan Abnett - Embedded - British author more famous for comics and licensed 40k fiction. This came out recently. Part of my ongoing quest to find some military SF that is at all comparable to Forever War. This isn't it unfortunately. An action-packed plot about a war correspondent whose conciousness literally gets embedded remotely into the brain of a frontline soldier. If anything it is a little too frantic - characters are developed and then inexplicably jettisoned; the narrative relies on a hackneyed Cold War paradigm; and the big reveal at the end is a bit meh and probably entirely predictable if you were paying more attention than I was. Not awful, fine if you want an easy read, but far from great.

Chris Beckett - Holy Machine - another British author. This came out in 2003 and I have had it hanging around for a while. I hated it at first. It has all the hallmarks of a debut novelist fnding his feet - cliched and barely credible speculation, simplistic philosophical concepts, bland description and characterisation. And yet, despite all that, somehow by the end it had grown on me. The matter of fact tone of the narrative, whether intended or not, actually succeeds in conveying a horrific, dreamlike quality that works well with the subject matter. Fair to say overall this is fairly average, but I will probably check out more of his writing in the future.

Currently I'm alternating between the Complete Chronicles of Conan and Songs of the Dying Earth, a mammoth collection of stories set in Jack Vance's Dying Earth milieu. The former is fantastic pulp writing (but I'm sure you knew that), provided you can look past Robert E. Howard's dodgy views on race, women etc; the latter, I've been reading since about February on and off and it ranges from excellent to decent, but basically if you have any interest in the Dying Earth stories at all, then there will be something for you here.

Finished Redemption Ark. Found it a little bit... silly, or annoying, or something. Hope I haven't burned out on teh new space opera. Think my major bones of contention were a) messages from THE FUTURE; and ii) typical Reynolds characters - everyone's a hard-boiled arsehole, and all the intrigue and plotting and power struggles are just office politics writ large.

It was not all bad though, got enough of a kick out of it to want to see the series to the end.

Read the first 10 pages or so of Rendezvous With Rama today, but I just can't deal with Clarke's flaccid writing style any more. Pedantic, flat and frankly boring, which is a shame as he was my favourite writer when I was a kid.

yeah, ppl had bigged up rama on ilx before so i gave it a go a little while ago and it was SO BORING - page after page of tedious description, some of the most cardboard characters/dialogue you'll ever read, and just a huge sense of anticlimax throughout - scientists explore empty spaceship thing for 300 pages YAWN. i do remember enjoying childhood's end many years ago, but i'm in no hurry to revisit that now.

am abt 100 pages into frank herbert's dune, which i've never read before. funnily enough, my copy has a powerblurb from clarke on the back, comparing it to lord of the rings (which had always put me off, before.) anyway, dune is great fun so far, the writing is kind of an odd mixture of the terrible and the strange, the poetic and the clunkily expository - i don't think i'[d realised before just how pulply this book is, with its boohiss baddies who 'mince' across mock medieval interiors while plotting against archrivals. the combination of 'hard' science fiction and standard fantasy tropes seems quite clever and herbert is v good on texture and detail - he's an impressive world builder, if nothing else.

i liked rama. was very science-led though - cylindrical spaceship's gonna need some gravity which means spinning. which means any water in it will for a toroidal mass. but wait, it'll be in deep space so that'll be frozen... etc.

> empty spaceship

it wasn't empty

read Rama recently, agree about Clarke but I half enjoyed this one.
Also Earthlight, again liked this one too

picked up Peter Hamiltons Dreaming Void and Bank's Algebraist from car boot recently, a steal but am dubious about Void (too much mind sci fi for my liking). Will give it a go though, quite enjoyed Hamiltons commonwealth saga.

but just started reading Naked Sun. It's the only robot book from asimov I've yet to read.

do i need to read ben bova? got something called the exiles trilogy in paperback at the store. 3booksinone. maybe i'll just read it. how bad could it be?

possibly one of the first sci fi books i read when i was a kid. a cool art teacher (who was amazingly good at sci fi art) died near where we lived. a friend of the family and somehow we got hold of all his old books. This was the one I managed to pick up.

Although being as young as i was i could never pick up the book without giggling at the authors name everytime.

i may have mentioned before how much i despise hamilton...

I had a quick snoop at the British Library SF exhibition yesterday... it looks very inspirational. I think the exhibition guide would make a good overview of the form.

some friends of mine in town have started a sci-fi book club! i'm not much of a joiner, but i might join in for this. first book is a canticle for leibowitz - which i still have never read - with discussion and drinks at a local watering hole in july.

i definitely enjoy the drinks part. every book club should include drinks.

and i think i am gonna read that ben bova trilogy. looks entertaining.

'BEND' 'OVER'
HAHAHAHA

"I had a quick snoop at the British Library SF exhibition yesterday"

I thought this was fantastic. So many great covers.

some friends of mine in town have started a sci-fi book club!

Our SF book club (run by Dublin Public Libraries) is total awesomeness. Our current book is "I Am Legend", and we have been promised "The Man In The High Castle", "A Scanner Darkly", and "The Island of Doctor Moreau" to follow.

every book club should include drinks.

wise words.