Author Topic: Science Fiction / Fantasy (Read 364067 times)

PatH · « **Reply #400 on:** October 19, 2009, 04:02:03 PM »

Science Fiction / Fantasy

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Welcome to the whole universe! This is where we gather to share our experiences in science fiction and fantasy. We like everything, from Gregory Benford to Stephanie Meyer—hard science to magic and fantasy.

Come in, sit down with us, and tell us what you are reading or have read, what you like or dislike.

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Fantastic Fiction, bibliographies of 15,000 authors

Discussion Leader: PatH

Steph · « **Reply #401 on:** October 20, 2009, 08:34:52 AM »

Yes, Spider has always been a favorite and I dont even like puns.. but his are sooo clever.

winsummm · « **Reply #402 on:** October 20, 2009, 08:07:40 PM »

yep I like some fantasy and some sci fi when I'm not reading as I am now detective/spy stories as in Christopher Reich's six books on the subject.
just finished LA Requiem and find there is a sequel which is nice since I've become attached to the characters. Vanished, I think. terrible with names.

I read the southern sookie vampire series which surprised me since vampires are not m thing but charlain Harris is a good writer and has other books too.The onl trouble with series is that I spend too much at kindle reading them all.

claire

Steph · « **Reply #403 on:** October 21, 2009, 07:44:35 AM »

I love Charlaine Harris. She has at least four series going. All good, although I am not that fond of Aurora.. I loved the one that had only four books.. The protagonist had had some horrible things happen to her and had turned to being a maid to keep life and people away. A wonderful series.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #404 on:** October 21, 2009, 08:46:01 AM »

Steph: That is Lily Bard who lives in Shakespeare Arkansas.

Babi · « **Reply #405 on:** October 21, 2009, 10:17:21 AM »

The Lily Bard books are the only ones of Charlaine Harris that I've read. I enjoyed those, but I'm not really interested in the others. My daughter Val loves them, tho', and reads every one that comes along.

Steph · « **Reply #406 on:** October 22, 2009, 08:44:12 AM »

I do wish she had continued with Lily. I found her fascinating.. But I love Sookie and I like the one with the girl who hears the dead.. or finds the bodies.. etc. Charlaine is an interesting writer.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #407 on:** October 26, 2009, 04:20:51 PM »

As mentioned elsewhere here The Prisoner is being reinvented as a 6 part mini-series on AMC http://www.amctv.com/originals/the-prisoner/

marcie · « **Reply #408 on:** October 26, 2009, 08:30:16 PM »

thanks, Mrs. Sherlock. I probably should have posted the information here. Some of the people in the Mystery discussion are talking about The Prisoner series at http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=807.msg44318#msg44318

Steph · « **Reply #409 on:** October 27, 2009, 08:36:17 AM »

Just finished reading another of Patricia Briggs.. This one is another in the Alpha and Omega series. She is truly a good writer with an interesting slant on things. I like both her and of course Charlaine Harris. Used to read Laurell Hamilton as well, but she decided to use sex as her theme and I sort of gave her up.. Just too graphic for me.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #410 on:** October 27, 2009, 10:44:08 AM »

Steph: The Alpha and Omega series is well done. Briggs has a deft touch with her descriptions of how to live were wolf style, incorporating the stereotypes so logically they seem almost intuitive. Good characterization and she can really story!

Steph · « **Reply #411 on:** October 28, 2009, 07:44:35 AM »

I am reading a recommendation from someone here. It is about rejuvination .. A couple has it done because a very wealthy man needs her to help translate something from the stars. I gather that she will fail and the husband who was not the object will not.. Not sure How I am going to like this.

JoanK · « **Reply #412 on:** October 28, 2009, 02:57:56 PM »

Has anyone here noticed the discussion of "LOst in Austen" we've been having in the PBS discussion? It's a TV series about a woman who manages to transport herself into the pages of "Pride and Prejudice". She knows how the book is supposed to go, but somehow makes things go wrong, so that everythng happens differently. As I understand it, it's due to be broadcast on PBS, but can be seen on Youtube.

Steph · « **Reply #413 on:** October 29, 2009, 08:03:23 AM »

Some people love Alternate history and the Lost in Austen seems a bit like that.

Babi · « **Reply #414 on:** October 29, 2009, 08:58:29 AM »

I couldn't find any listing for "Lost in Austen" in my local pbs schedule,
so I ordered it from Netflix. More than one way to get where you want
to go.

marcie · « **Reply #415 on:** October 29, 2009, 11:07:58 AM »

I don't usually read the "alternate history" types of fiction but I am enjoying very much the episodes of "Lost in Austen."

I just found that there is a book with a similar title but it's not related to the film. It's called "Lost in Austen, Create Your Own Jane Austen Adventure." See http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594482586/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001PJRAUS&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=03GMC4X2RH5P7VYC8W3G

mrssherlock · « **Reply #416 on:** October 29, 2009, 12:57:18 PM »

Babi: Brilliant! Never thought of Netflix.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #417 on:** October 29, 2009, 01:32:15 PM »

Michael Chrichton's Timeline is a suspenseful tale of the academia/high tech business world interface with a unique twist. At a dig in the Dordogne region the crew is astounded when they break into an empty room and find one bifocal lens. Later, in a stack of parchment documents redcovered in conjunction with the lens, they discover a message written in English, in handwriting identical to their leader's, which says: "Help Me". Analysis of the ink, consistent with that on the other documents, dates it to 1369! This may remind us of other stories about high tech and historical investigation. Doomsday Book comes to mind. How very different the approach is. Chrichton has a reputation as an adventure writer and his books are full of action and its actors. Willis' feminine viewpoint creates a broader, character based vehicle to advance the story. Timeline would make a good movie. Doomsday is too rich, too complex to be reduced to the screen, it requires the infinite immensity of one's imagination to bring it to life.

marcie · « **Reply #418 on:** October 29, 2009, 09:13:39 PM »

Jackie, good call! Timeline was made into a movie. See info at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0300556/

I've put Doomsday Book on my to read list.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #419 on:** October 29, 2009, 10:41:06 PM »

Marcie: Thanks. It's now on my queue

Steph · « **Reply #420 on:** October 30, 2009, 07:46:34 AM »

Was never a Crichton fan.. Saw the first dinosaur movie they did, but that was it.

Babi · « **Reply #421 on:** October 30, 2009, 08:57:05 AM »

Oh, STEPH, you've got to give Crichton another chance! Forget the
movies, though I think "The Andromeda Strain" was great. Some of
the books are real grippers, and the scientific basis is always good.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #422 on:** October 30, 2009, 11:26:18 AM »

The Andromeda is a classic. No doubt. Timeline is a page-turner. Good characters and the plot is full of twists and turns.

Frybabe · « **Reply #423 on:** October 31, 2009, 01:08:09 AM »

Speaking of The Andromeda Strain, which version of the movie did you like best? I prefer the original with Arthur Hill.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #424 on:** October 31, 2009, 08:55:57 AM »

To me that is the one true version

Babi · « **Reply #425 on:** October 31, 2009, 09:06:17 AM »

I didn't even know there had been a remake of 'Andromeda Strain',
FRYBABE. It's the original that I saw and loved.

Steph · « **Reply #426 on:** October 31, 2009, 09:24:50 AM »

I think that Andromeda was his first book and I did read that one. It was later that I grew tired of the science involved.. His characters like John Grisham are so wooden.

JoanK · « **Reply #427 on:** October 31, 2009, 08:42:25 PM »

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Steph · « **Reply #428 on:** November 01, 2009, 09:44:45 AM »

marcie · « **Reply #429 on:** November 01, 2009, 04:02:42 PM »

I liked the first film version of the Andromeda Strain best but I enjoyed the miniseries made for TV in 2008 too. I read the following interesting tidbit in wikipedia:

"The "Odd-Man Hypothesis" is a fictional hypothesis articulated in the novel's story and named in the film. In the novel, the Odd-Man explanation is a page in a RAND Corporation report of the results of test series wherein different people (married, unmarried men and women) were to make command decisions in nuclear and biological wars and chemical crises. This is in the film:
' Results of special testing confirm the Odd-Man Hypothesis, that an unmarried male should carry out command decisions involving thermonuclear or chem-biol destruct contexts.'

The Odd-Man Hypothesis states that unmarried men are better able to execute the best, most dispassionate decisions in crises — in this case, to disarm the nuclear weapon intended to prevent the escape of organisms from the laboratory in the event the automatic destruct sequence is triggered."

I really like things like that in science fiction. Another example is Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics. And Star Trek's "prime directive."

Steph · « **Reply #430 on:** November 02, 2009, 08:01:44 AM »

Star Treks "Prime Directive" is something I always loved. I wish the US would adapt it.

Babi · « **Reply #431 on:** November 02, 2009, 08:40:22 AM »

That is exactly what I like about Michael Crichton, MARCIE. I also like,
besides learning something about modern science, to think that the science fiction of today will most likely be the true science of the future.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #432 on:** November 02, 2009, 12:16:33 PM »

I enjoyed Timeline though it had the usual testosterone slant.

Steph · « **Reply #433 on:** November 03, 2009, 08:08:55 AM »

Jackie, There are any number of science fictions authors who are women and do not slant toward male supremacy.. But mostly the women writers explore humanity and its infinite ways of living. That is why I always loved Anne McCaffrey, Marion Zimmer Bradley, etc. Their worlds are so very different.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #434 on:** November 03, 2009, 11:27:20 AM »

And Connie Willis who doesn't get the appreciation she merits. her messages are subtle, her scientists can be seduced by their forests never dreaming of the rich variety of the trees they can't "see". Bellwether concerns the origin and diffusion of fads, i.e., the bellwether sheep which leads the flock. It is hilarious in a wry, quiet way but such fun pricking balloons of social theory and hypotheses being altered to fit the data.

PatH · « **Reply #435 on:** November 03, 2009, 12:22:26 PM »

Bellwether is a real hoot. I inflicted it on my daughters, my sister, and her daughter, and they all loved it. I first learned of Connie Willis here, and have read many of her books.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #436 on:** November 03, 2009, 02:56:32 PM »

Did you and your female family members read her short story "To Say Nothing of the Queen"? Check it out.

Babi · « **Reply #437 on:** November 04, 2009, 08:27:08 AM »

I liked the points y'all were making about women writers, and
I think you're right. My favorite series have mostly been by women or by a husband/wife combo. Thanks for mentioning 'Bellwether'; I haven't read that one. Willis is a lot of fun.

Steph · « **Reply #438 on:** November 04, 2009, 08:42:12 AM »

I like Connie Willis. Will look for Bellweather..

PatH · « **Reply #439 on:** November 04, 2009, 09:00:25 AM »

Quote from: mrssherlock on November 03, 2009, 02:56:32 PM

Did you and your female family members read her short story "To Say Nothing of the Queen"? Check it out.

No, glad you reminded me of it; I looked for it when you mentioned it earlier, but didn't find it.

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Author Topic: Science Fiction / Fantasy (Read 364067 times)