Author Topic: Science Fiction / Fantasy (Read 384984 times)

PatH · « **Reply #2720 on:** May 14, 2016, 01:39:21 PM »

Science Fiction / Fantasy

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Discussion Leader: PatH

PatH · « **Reply #2721 on:** May 14, 2016, 01:39:57 PM »

The human computer was the central point of the fragment that was turned into the short story that I read.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2722 on:** May 14, 2016, 06:42:24 PM »

I assume that some of this book is based on the realities of life during the Cultural Revolution. So, much of what these scientists were doing had to be written up in such a way that no one could possibly find any hidden meaning. Think of all the many people who were "purged" during the Cultural Revolution for an "incorrect" use of wording, innocent though it may have been. Innocently help a friend with something and get blamed and punished for it while the originator goes free. How did the country ever survive such an atmosphere?

I can't say that I have warmed up to any of the characters or the book, but I am reading it to the end anyway. There are some interesting things to ponder in it. Right now I want to see what I can find about Jupiters radio waves and about the sun acting as a mirror for radio waves. I vaguely remember about them discovering the radio bursts.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2723 on:** May 15, 2016, 02:06:56 PM »

Done with the first book. Yes,I said first. It turns out that The Three-Body Problem is the first of a trilogy. I've been assured by a review or two that most of the contextual stuff was in the first book, including a primer on string theory. I have to wonder where Liu got his idea for the aliens; they remind me of a resurrection plant. I put the second book, The Dark Forrest, on hold. The third book is not due out until mid-September.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2724 on:** May 22, 2016, 06:37:34 AM »

I am reading a good SciFi written by Patty Jensen called Ambassador 1: Seeing Red. It is a first person narrative by a character (Cory Wilson) who has just been appointed a Delegate to an alien organization of worlds that controls a hypergate to intersellar travel. It is space opera, not technical, with a lovely light style of writing. Jensen, who was trained as an agricultural scientist, is Australian. I am surprised that, since this first book came out in 2013, it doesn't have more reviews. I hope to read more of her books. http://pattyjansen.com/

Frybabe · « **Reply #2725 on:** May 25, 2016, 06:16:21 AM »

Just picked up McCaffrey's first three Dragonriders of Pern series. Heaven knows why, like I don't have tons of other stuff (including several more Liaden Universe books I have been wanting to read).

My next Amazon Lending Library borrow is either going to be a continuation of the Frontlines series or another of E. M. Foner's Union Station series. I like the characters and interplay between them of the first Frontlines (Terms of Enlistment) but the 80ft. aliens don't cut it much with me. Foner's series is funny, as always.

PS: I feel like I am talking to myself here. Too bad we don't have more people interested in SciFi. And, I MISS STEPH.

PatH · « **Reply #2726 on:** May 25, 2016, 10:42:41 AM »

I miss Steph too. I hope she'll come back.

I'm not talking much, but I'm at least listening to you. My reading of late has mostly been filling in more of Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles series. For a long time most of the books were hard to get hold of, which was puzzling, since her new ones were selling well. Now they're being reissued. As Miles gets older, and finds a woman who will marry him, he doesn't do quite as many crazy things, but he's still pretty manic, and the stories are still good puzzles.

I went through a McCaffrey phase, then kind of stopped. It's been long enough now that I should probably check them out again.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2727 on:** May 25, 2016, 12:17:06 PM »

Okay. I just thought you were busy with the newest book discussion.

I mowed the rest of the lawn this morning and put in one air conditioner - one down, three to go. The newest one is still in its box in the living room. I have to push it up the stairs to get it into this room. The other two are on the back enclosed porch, so all I need to do is slide them into their respective rooms. It is a good thing the window sills are low in this house. These are lighter than the older ones, but my muscle strenght isn't up to par this Spring. Must be because there was hardly any snow to shovel this winter and I spent it mostly reading (heavy lifting, those ebooks!).

PatH · « **Reply #2728 on:** May 25, 2016, 02:31:17 PM »

We had a record 2 day, 3 foot snowfall in January, but I didn't get to shovel much. Every time I looked out I saw a different neighbor shoveling my walk. Total of 6 neighbors and one man I'd never seen before who turned out to be a visiting nephew.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2729 on:** May 25, 2016, 04:14:53 PM »

Lucky you, JoanK.

PatH · « **Reply #2730 on:** May 25, 2016, 06:25:32 PM »

No, I'm PatH. You're just confused because our voices sound alike.

I am lucky in my neighbors. They kind of keep an eye on me.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2731 on:** May 26, 2016, 05:33:51 AM »

Hah! I knew that.

Don't know why I wrote JoanK. Must have been thinking of her.

Not sure I care for the threat scenario (the Threads), but otherwise I am enjoying DragonRiders of Pern.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2732 on:** June 02, 2016, 01:57:37 PM »

I've decided not to read the other two Dragons of Pern books in the set I borrowed. It didn't quite keep my interest, and I didn't really care for any of the characters. Now I have started the second of the Frontlines series by Marko Kloos. I do like his characters.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2733 on:** June 07, 2016, 06:44:37 AM »

I watched The Martian again on Sunday, this time on HBO. Love the book, love the movie. This morning I checked Weir's online presence. I rarely take a look at Facebook and, even less, Twitter. On Twitter I found out that Weir was invited to testify before the House on May 18 about the future of space in regards to space habitats. Also, he had put up a photo in February showing a grocery bin of potatoes with a pix and the price of the movie DVD attached. He titled it "Cross-marketing at its finest". Kudos to the creative marketing of the store, where ever it is.

PatH · « **Reply #2734 on:** June 07, 2016, 11:30:25 AM »

Amusing. The merchant carefully doesn't mention how sick of potatoes Mark ended up.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2735 on:** June 13, 2016, 09:21:59 AM »

I am reading too many first books for series and am getting behind. Decisions, Decisions! When July 1 rolls around, I can continue with the Frontlines series I started, continue with the Beyond the Wall series by Lucas Bale, continue with the Union Station series, and book six of Richard Fox's Ember Wars series is just out a little over a week ago. I am going to double check, but I don't think any of these are on Overdrive or the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Report on Lucas Bale's Beyond the Wall series. This is a space opera which follows, so far, three different sets of characters: there is the freighter trader/pilot (and occasional smuggler) who gets suckered into helping a small group of believers and their preacher who are hunted, then there is the Core detective who is hunting down a killer and who begins to question his role in keeping citizens of the Core in line, and finally, there is the messenger/spy who begins to suspect his master is up to something nefarious he is not privy to but is being used to further the master's goals and therefore in danger of his life - he wants to know why. The Core is the central part of the empire and its citizens are tightly controlled and in danger of losing its grip. The outlaying areas are semi-controlled, but closely watched, and the Wall is not literally a wall, but a designated spot in space beyond which no one is to go, and if they do, they come back telling tales of madness, strange happenings, and such which scare the willies out of most anyone who has been there. The first book is about the space trader and the preacher, the second bounces back and forth between the detective and the spy. These three different groups will, according to the author, will coalesce at some point. Very well written and worth a read.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2736 on:** June 13, 2016, 10:59:14 AM »

Oh, no! This is terrible (in a good way). I haven't checked Evan Currie in a while. Book 6 of On Silver Wings is out, and the next Odyssey book will be let loose in mid-July. Currie ranks one of my very favorites, along with Hugh Howey, Jack Campbell, Jack McDevitt, Greg Bear, Asimov, Clarke, and Bradbury. Well, I probably missed a few, and if Lucas Bale continues to write good stories he may get added.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2737 on:** June 22, 2016, 12:22:35 PM »

PatH, heads up. Jack Campbell is ending his Lost Stars series with the 4th book just released in May. Pricey, I think, but when it comes to Campbell I try not to flinch. When I am done reading the Dark Space trilogy (I am on book 2 now), I'll get right on it.

BTW, Campbell's newest series, Pillars of Reality, is a steampunk fantasy.

The reviews on Amazon regarding Jack McDevitt's Thunderbird were not particularly promising. This is a follow-up to Ancient Shores which I really haven't had any inclination to read.

PatH · « **Reply #2738 on:** June 22, 2016, 10:47:32 PM »

Unlike some authors, Jack Campbell knows when to quit. Looks like he isn't going to go on with the lost fleet either, though he left a way open to follow Black Jack if he wanted to. I think he's right, though I'm sorry not to have any more.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2739 on:** June 23, 2016, 06:52:49 AM »

I think Jack McDevitt is concentrating on "clean up" efforts of his older books these days. Thunderbird is a "follow-up" on Ancient Shores, and his previous release, Hercules Text, was an up-dated, revised version of his 1996 book. At 81, he may feel it more prudent to "clean-up" and modernize some of his older works than to start a new series that he may not be able to finish. I would have liked another Alex Benedict, though. Coming Home, to my mind, didn't really end the series.

Well, I just checked Jack's Facebook page. It appears that he is working on another Pricilla Hutchins book. He seems to have settled on a title for it, Trail of Stars. This is a surprise to me since I thought he ended the series with Starhawk. It seemed a good ending anyway. Oh, and he made an interesting comment about titles. He says he usually finds it difficult to write a book until he has settled on a title. I wonder how many authors can't get a real start until they have a title. I am guessing that the "working title" of a book often morphes intio something else by the time a book is done and the publishers get their hands on it for final prep. At least the cover artist(s) will have an idea of what to create so that will speed up the process.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2740 on:** June 24, 2016, 08:30:04 AM »

Well, this puts a hold on reading Campbell next. Two of my SciFi holds just came in.

First the Ben Bova/Les Johnson book, Rescue Mode. I wanted to read this to see Bova's take on a stranded Mars mission as compared to Any Weir's, The Martian.

The other book is the second of the trilogy that started with The Three-Body Problem, called Dark Forest.

Another week and I can pick up another borrow from the Lending Library. The dilemma is still Evan Currie's next or the next Lucas Bale. First things first, the two I have in hand, plus the one I am almost done with.

I am also itching to get back to the Laiden Universe. Not likely to happen soon.

PatH · « **Reply #2741 on:** June 24, 2016, 02:27:44 PM »

I coincidentally picked up Rescue Mode from the new books shelf around the same time I read The Martian. It's an interesting comparison. Johnson is a NASA scientist, so he presumably does the internal politics accurately.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2742 on:** June 28, 2016, 06:18:54 AM »

I've given up on Dark Forest already. I must not be in the mood for such strangeness. The first chapter was bizarre, but not entirely uninteresting, the second chapter appears to have skipped to a warship.

Rescue Mode isn't fairing much better at the moment. So far, it appears that the book will be full of conflicts between the astronauts and political shenanigans. I was looking at the blurbs about some of Bova's other books; most of them appear to concentrate on the politics and conflicts involved in exploring and settling various planets/moons in the solar system.

I downloaded two books of short stories, one edited by Bova and the other a volume of his short stories. I expect to go back to the other two later, but for now I think I need something lighter (or in shorter bites). Bova must be something of an acquired taste. I am hoping the short stories will ease me into him.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2743 on:** July 02, 2016, 07:01:39 PM »

I am picking through several books of short stories. The first (in the Year's Best SF 15) is about a man in India who loved mathematics. Called "Infinities" by Vandana Singh, it has several good quotes, including this one from the Vedas: "From the Infinite, take the infinite, and lo! Infinity remains..."

There must be a story behind this one:

"When you left me, my brother, you took away the book
In which is writ the story of my life..."
Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Pakistani poet (1911-1984)204204

Right now I am in the middle of a Peter Watts short story called "The Island" from the same anthology. As usual, it is fascinating and a lot more comprehensible than his usual fare; but then, I think this was one of his earlier stories. At the time he was about to be barred from entering the US.

PatH · « **Reply #2744 on:** July 02, 2016, 09:26:30 PM »

I haven't read much of Ben Bova, in spite of his standing. Moonrise is full of the politics you complain about. You care about the colonization of the moon, and the main character, but the family politics of the corporation that is the main colonizer, the international squabbling about whether there should be a colony, the rival corporation struggles, left you with so much to keep track of that it was hard to persist to the end. I read some of a book of short stories, The Best of Ben Bova, and they were good, but after a few they all sounded alike, and I didn't read the rest before the book was due.

If The Year's Best SF 15 is the Gardner Dozois anthology, I think it has both the bit of Liu Cixin's Three Body Problem that impressed me, and also the story by Ken Liu that I liked.

PatH · « **Reply #2745 on:** July 02, 2016, 10:15:41 PM »

In the poetry discussion, Barb talked about H. P. Lovecraft. I haven't read The Call of the Cthulhu, but I did read The Mountains of Madness, and some of his short stories. He's influenced a lot of later fantasy/sf, so it's useful to know a bit about him, but although his stories are well written, his horror totally doesn't horrify me. Mostly he's dealing with creatures that came here from somewhere out of our solar system before mankind existed, but are now hiding in the remote corners of our world. There are many mythical and cult implications.

Charles Stross owes a lot to him. My SIL described Stross as "James Bond meets H. P. Lovecraft, but Bond works for the Post Office" (meaning is stuck in government beaurocracy). Stross's take is that computer programs can feed into demonology, and his protagonist has the job of putting out the resultant fires. The books are good reads, should be read in order.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2746 on:** July 03, 2016, 06:15:24 AM »

This "Year's Best" is edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. Most of the writers are unfamiliar but it does have a Bruce Sterling (Black Swan), and Stephen Baxter (Tempest43). I got it solely for the Peter Watts story.

The next short story anthology is Carbide Tipped Pens. This has 17 hard SF stories including one by Daniel H. Wilson (auhor or Robogenisis, Robopocalypse, Robot Uprisings. I do hope that this is not one I've already read in Robot Uprisings. The Bova short stories I will leave for last. Too bad his main character in Rescue Mode seemed so whiney and resentful right at the beginning. It turned me off.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2747 on:** July 05, 2016, 06:41:28 AM »

Hard to believe that someone has posted The Martian up on YouTube already.

The big news to watch now is Jupiter and Juno - www.space.com

Daniel H. Wilson's story in Carbide Tipped Pens is a little different than I am used to from him - no robots/AIs. However it is in keeping with his first person present narrative.

Speaking of AI robots, I watched Ex Machina last night. Very interesting.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2748 on:** July 06, 2016, 10:41:38 AM »

Kill Command is also on YouTube. It only just got released May 16 of this year. I vaguely remember seeing a trailer for it a while back. Interesting movie, not great, but interesting enough to watch. Soldiers on a "training" exercise up against military robots. The actors are unknown to me except for Venessa Kirby who played Estella in the 2011 TV production of Great Expectations. You can also see her in Genius, just out last month. She plays Zelda Fitzgerald. You can also see her in The Crown (on Netflix?); she plays Princess Margaret in that. Interested to note that Thure Lindhardt played Rufio in The Borgias TV production, and he was in Fast and Furious 6. I didn't see either one.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2749 on:** July 09, 2016, 12:54:57 PM »

Just to get out and move around a little I went to the local used book store and came back with five more SF books. Did not see any that were on my list, though. So, I now have two more of David Weber's Honor Harrington Series, two more of John Ringo's Posleen War series and Neal Stephenson's Anathem. All of them are in excellent condition. I would have expected to see some crease wear on the spines and more wear on the edges. The Stephenson looks new.

PatH · « **Reply #2750 on:** July 09, 2016, 03:06:14 PM »

Stephenson isn't an easy read. Maybe the previous owner gave up quickly. It's too hot here to go out unless you really have to.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2751 on:** July 10, 2016, 06:23:35 AM »

Yeah, and I have two others of his to read including Quicksilver.

Review of The Divine Madness of Philip K. Dick by Kyle Arnold: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/tip-sheet/article/70857-was-philip-k-dick-a-madman-or-a-mystic.html?utm_source=Publishers+Weekly&utm_campaign=0b9c7dc8ca-UA-15906914-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0bb2959cbb-0b9c7dc8ca-304806741

PatH · « **Reply #2752 on:** July 10, 2016, 11:24:16 AM »

Quicksilver is an amazing book, but it makes huge demands on the reader. It helps if you have a background knowledge of the early history and geography of Boston, the conflict between Newton and Leibniz, 16th and 17th century European religious and political conflicts, and a whole bunch of other stuff, as he refers to a lot of things obliquely, without much background explanation. I read maybe a quarter of it, then had to put it down for some reason, and by the time I could get back to it I knew I would have to start over again. Someday I will, though.

That Dick article is interesting. Much of his stuff reads as if he wrote it while stoned. I'm not too surprised he had that sort of visions.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2753 on:** July 10, 2016, 12:41:18 PM »

I finished mostly skimming through Carbide Tipped Pens. Although the topics were all rather interesting, for some reason I didn't care to read most of the stories. I did read Daniel H. Wilson's (really like this guy) "The Blue Afternoon that Lasted Forever", "A Slow Unfurling of Truth" by Aliette do Bodard, and "Lady with Fox" by Gregory Benford. Although I know of Benford, I think this is the first story of his I've read. I may just renew the book and read David DeGraff's "SIREN of Titan". "Habilis" by Howard V. Hendrix is another I really should read, too. It is about the handedness of the universe. I still have Martin Gardner's Ambidextrous Universe on my science shelf. I used to love his math puzzles.

Now I am reading Ben Bova's New Frontiers. Part way through "A Country for Old Men" I realized I had read it before somewhere.

I also am more than half way through Jack Campbell's Lost Stars: Shattered Spear. I hope the title is not an omen of bad endings for the main characters. One thing that bothers me a bit is that some of the writing doesn't seem up to his usual quality. From reading the previous books, I already noticed a difference in character and story line quality of those bits that are not battle scenes in this series. But seems even less so. For example, I had to read one rather long sentence several times to get it because the sentence structure was off, mixing ed endings and ing endings back and forth made for an awkward sentence. Not something I expected from Campbell. Also, the battle scenes seem truncated, less detailed than usual. Still a good story. It is, I think, supposed to be the last of the Lost Stars series.

I have Charles Oberndorf's Shattered Lives on order through the ILL at the library. The topic is a bit unusual. It involves a society which incarcerates everyone with an STD. More than a few of the commentors about the book were astounded that they became so engrossed with the story. His short story, Another Life, had me intrigued. It was about soldiers being brought back to life after they die in battle. They can come back as either a man or a woman. The deal is that after they die three times, they get to retire and get all kinds of benefits. This guy commited suicide (or so he was told). He is kicked out of the military and someone privately foots the bill to have him rejuvinated. He meets up with a transgender prostitute named Amanda Sam and so on. Not your usual fare for SciFi. Oberndorf has not written much; information about him is scarce. He apparently switched to writing non-fiction, but I don't see much there either. As far as I know hie is still teaching.

PatH · « **Reply #2754 on:** July 10, 2016, 09:26:43 PM »

I had the same reaction to Carbide Tipped Pens--good stuff, but i didn't want to read that much of it.

I've read some of Benford, some good, some less so. He's a physicist, so one can expect some hard science--fine by me. My favorite is Artifact, which combines classical archaeology and what the Minotaur really was with a nifty physics notion, international politics, and a vigorous action story. Next favorite is Timescape, in which a scientist in the 1960s comes to realize that the anomalies he's seeing in his signals are messages from the future traveling backwards via tachyons, warning him of the catastrophic environmental dangers of some of the things we were doing then. You cut back and forth between the two times.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2755 on:** July 11, 2016, 05:42:29 AM »

Thanks, Pat. I'll look for Artifact. Timescape will probably not hold my interest but it won't hurt to take a look. I am running acros so many good writers who only wrote/write short stories or have written only one or two before disappearing from the scene. A few, I believe, have had only one or two of their stories translated into English.

I keep forgetting to check Lightspeed http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/ for their latest. I am happy to see that their June issue includes a Vandana Singh story. I really liked her Infinities.

It turns out that I've aleady read at least four of the stories in Bova's New Frontiers. I don't remember reading this book before (and it is relatively new) so I must have run across the stories somewhere else.

PatH · « **Reply #2756 on:** July 27, 2016, 11:29:57 PM »

Not much new sci-fi going on in my life at the moment. I've read two more of Lois McMaster Bujold's series about Miles, favorites of Steph. I thought Miles was getting less far out hyper with age and increasing responsibilities, but not altogether.

I've read another of Charles Stross' Laundry files series. The battles they're fighting will logically end in a sort of Armageddon, as more demonic creatures leak through from other universes, aided by rogue computer summonings, and it keeps looking like it's got to happen in the next book, but Stross seems to be approaching it asymptotically.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2757 on:** July 28, 2016, 06:20:54 AM »

Same here, Pat. I've been reading some Roman History, finished an old Scottish adventure/romance by Fittis (forget his first two names) called The Mosstrooper which I liked, simple but good. I've started a Steven Arseneault book called HADRON: Dark Matter simply because it is on my ereader which is easier to hold when the cats decide my lap is fair game. I have also started John Ringo's When the Devil Dances , third of the Posleen series, but will not get back to it until I finish the Mary Beard book which is the first one due back at the library.

Arseneault's book, BTW, is about a group of people trying to survive after an ongoing EMP event turns the world into instant chaos. Not my cup of tea. I am not sure I will finish it, but so far I keep going because I like the characters. Arseneault is able to write such interesting characters into his books. So far I like them all.

Oh, yes. I also finished, a few days back, First Strike (The Kurgan War) (Volume 1). It is another space war novel where the enemy is a fanatically religious alien race. After a first war a hundred years back these aliens have converted humans left behind on the other side of the treaty lines and is using them to fight against the rest of humanity. Convert or die - a page out of today's conflicts set in space. Good book, likeable characters. This book focuses on the characters on "our" side. No individual characters from the other side are fleshed out. If the second in the series is in the lending library, I will probably, at some point, read it.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2758 on:** August 03, 2016, 07:36:29 AM »

I think I am in a reading slump. Haven't read much, after picking around at Mary Beard's book, I finally finished it. HADRON was okay, but I had trouble with believability in some of the actions. Having trouble getting interested in When the Devil Dances. It seems much longer than the first two and goes into even more decriptive detail. I think I will skip around in it a bit too, just to see which of my favorite characters make it through the book.

On top of that, I goofed for a second month in a row with my Kindle Lending Library choice. Last month I downloaded Lucas Bale's second of his Wall series only to discover that I already read it. I had a freebie download with both the first and second books on it. This month I accidently clicked on the second one again. So now I have to wait another month to read the last of the series and backs up several others (including Evan Currie's latest entry in the Odyssey series) I want to read that I can't get elsewhere.

ginny · « **Reply #2759 on:** August 04, 2016, 10:26:21 AM »

Pat and Frybabe had asked me to come over and talk about a new book of short stories I'm reading called Robot Uprisings edited by Daniel Wilson and John Joseph Adams. It was a paperback from 2014 on a remainder table at B&N and I'm not far in it but I read one or two a day.

Right now I'm in Lullaby by Anna North and it scared the heck out of me so I have had to put it down for the daytime and my husband's return from his trip.

It doesn't take too much to scare me but I love the entire concept of Robots and it was a natural.

The first story was a long one called Complex God by Woodward Avenue. It was interesting but I wouldn't have started the book with it. The second was Cycles by Charles Yu and I liked the concept. If I can get through North's Lullaby, the next one is Genevieve Valentine's Eighty Miles an Hour All the Way to Paradise.

I'm not far enough into it yet to have any definitive thoughts, but I AM enjoying it. I was a big fan of Capek's R.U.R., which was the origin of the word Robot, and I really am enjoying the premise so far in these books.

Anybody but me like WestWorld? The Yul Brynner Westworld with Michael Crichton as writer and producer? I understand that Anthony Hopkins and Ed Harris have a new one for 2016 a series out, and that's quite a cast. I may need to try to find it.

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Author Topic: Science Fiction / Fantasy (Read 384984 times)