Author Topic: Science Fiction / Fantasy (Read 364587 times)

PatH · « **Reply #2640 on:** January 06, 2016, 12:30:05 PM »

Science Fiction / Fantasy

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Discussion Leader: PatH

PatH · « **Reply #2641 on:** January 06, 2016, 06:29:07 PM »

I've been forgetting to mention, I saw the new Star Wars movie with my SIL over the holidays. If you liked the original three, it's worth seeing--much closer to them than to the wimpy three prequels. I saw it in 3D--SIL is a movie techie, always wants the most elaborate version. The 3D didn't detract, like it sometimes does, but I don't think you would lose anything by skipping it.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2642 on:** January 07, 2016, 06:19:11 AM »

"...Frybabe needs to do her Latin homework"

Which I completely forgot about yesterday.

Steph · « **Reply #2643 on:** January 07, 2016, 08:54:32 AM »

Boy those teachers ruin your whole day sometimes..

Frybabe · « **Reply #2644 on:** January 07, 2016, 02:53:23 PM »

I now have a pristine copy of The Martian with the original cover (not Matt Damon's face) I bought at the Friends of the Library Bookstore. Happy! Happy!

Daniel H. Wilson's AMPed is just as good as his Robogenesis and Robopocalypse (think I spelled that right). It is not an AI thing as are the Robo books; it is a computer/brain interface thing. The interface began as a medical device. The protagonist if the story has functional epilepsy as a result of a bad accident. Without the devices he suffered almost constant seizures. The military secretly implanted the device in a dozen soldiers as a experiment. It eventually was offered to those (including children) with mental disabilities or low intelligence as a way to help them become more normal. The problems began when normals discovered their children had become disadvantaged by the super intelligent "AMP" children, and they themselves began losing jobs to the enhanced adults.

The story, like the Robo series, is chock full of moral and ethical dilemmas. The tensions between the "AMPs" and the normals escalates into demonstrations, terrorist attacks, legalized discrimination, human rights issues, and such. Some of the argument reminds me of the ongoing abortion issues. One side is against allowing implants (the purists) and the other side insisting that a person has the right to use technology to enhance their bodies should they want to.

Steph · « **Reply #2645 on:** January 10, 2016, 09:27:20 AM »

Now that is interesting.. Sort of an up to date.. Flowers for Algernon

Frybabe · « **Reply #2646 on:** January 11, 2016, 09:04:18 AM »

Facing, what I thought was tough competition, The Martian and Matt Damon won Golden Globes. Yaaaaaaaahhhh!

The really strange thing was they lumped in it with Comedy or Musical. Really, really strange. There is certainly humor in the movie, but it is definitely not a comedy. However, if they had put it in with Drama, I don't think it would have held up to Leonardo and the Revenant. In looking at an article voicing not a few other articles and blogs, this is not the first time movies have been slotted into the comedy category that may have had humor in them but certainly not true comedies.

Steph · « **Reply #2647 on:** January 12, 2016, 09:11:19 AM »

Most of the way through.. Witches Abroad.. an old Pratchett.. all about the witches and a wand.. Fairy Godmother style. sends up fairy tales and is making me laugh really hard.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2648 on:** January 12, 2016, 12:17:00 PM »

PatH, have you read Jack Campbell's Leviathan yet? I haven't, but I was just reading some of the customer reviews. One of them mentioned that it was the end of his Lost Fleet Series; his website says not, just a pause while he decides where to take it next. In the meantime, the next Lost Stars series book is coming out in May. He calls that one both an ending and a beginning. He also states that he is doing a trilogy called The First Stars that is prequel to The Lost Fleet seried.

Jack McDevitt just came out with a sequel for Ancient Shores which a lot of people liked. Thunderbird, on the other hand, is a great disappointment to many of the reviewers. BTW, Jack will be 81 in April.

Steph, if you get around to reading any of his Pillars of Reality series, I'd be interested to see how he does with fantasy. It is something I am not used to seeing him write; no space involved.

PatH · « **Reply #2649 on:** January 12, 2016, 06:38:57 PM »

I have read Leviathan. Indeed, it ends in a way that could be the end of the series, but there is also a logical way to continue in a new direction.

Steph · « **Reply #2650 on:** January 13, 2016, 09:13:10 AM »

I believe I read one of Pratchetts books that is not about Disc world.. Must check to see if I still have it. About time for me to reread Marion Zimmer Bradley. She died some time ago, but I loved Darkover. A very complex world indeed.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2651 on:** January 15, 2016, 09:53:52 AM »

I've finished with the current batch of Lieden Universe books I have, so now am starting Robert J. Sawyer's Red Planet Blues. In only a few pages, but it reminds me of Humphrey Bogart, Mickey Spilane, and the other old detective stories of that era. Set on Mars, there is a gold rush of sorts, but it is fossils they are after. He found his inspiration for the book while spending the summer in Dawson City in the Yukon Territory.

Sawyer incorporated into the story the short story "Identity Theft" which won him, he explains in his acknowledgement, "Spain's Premio UPC de Ciencia Ficcion, which, at 6,000 euros, is the world's largest cash prize for science-fiction writing." The short story was as of 2013 "the first (and so far only) original publication of the Science Fiction Book Club ever to be nominated for" the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award.

The book has a totally different feel to it from Sawyer's very Neal Stephensonish, WWW series. Although interesting I didin't finish the first of that series because I wasn't up to readin anothoer minutely detailed tome at the time. This one, I hope will pick up after a chapter or two, but so far, I don't care for the - is it noir detective? - feel of this one.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2652 on:** January 20, 2016, 04:13:24 PM »

I wonder if Hugh Howey got his idea for the Silo series from Phillip Dick. I just reread Dick' s ,"The Defenders". Everyone is underground because the Earth is supposedly ruined and highly toxic via an on going war.

PatH · « **Reply #2653 on:** January 20, 2016, 05:55:30 PM »

Sounds quite likely. Is The Defenders good? I like a fair fraction of Dick's works, though I've failed 4 or 5 times to get into The Man In the High Castle, which many think is his masterpiece.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2654 on:** January 20, 2016, 06:47:57 PM »

I've only read a couple of his short stories. I did like this one. He managed very nicely with the basic theme, whereas Howey, using a similar theme, expanded and embelished into a whole series.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2655 on:** January 27, 2016, 08:04:17 PM »

The two Liaden Universe books I ordered have arrived. The snow storm didn't seem to hold them up much. Both books hold three each of the series, so now I have the family beginnings with the Crystal and Dragon sections.

I just finished Fort Liberty, the first in a series by M. Orenda, who is another of the few women Sci-fi writers. The book starts out with a military action, but quickly turns into a security detail tasked with protecting a young girl. On the way to taking her to Mars, we run into a smuggler crew and attempts by persons unknown who want the youngster dead. I've taken a liking to the main character's, so I'll be getting my hands on the second book soon.

PatH · « **Reply #2656 on:** January 27, 2016, 08:59:11 PM »

Frybabe, fill me in on what you have and have read in the Liaden series. Crystal Soldier and Crystal Dragon are important preludes, and good stories in themselves, but Crystal Dragon has a lot of really dreadful stuff about the origin of the dramliz that you just have to slog through to get to the good stuff.

Here, the snow has prevented mail for six days, but no power outages around here so I'm fine.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2657 on:** January 28, 2016, 07:42:36 AM »

Started with Agent of Change, then read Confict of Honors, Carp Diem, Pland B,, and I Dare in that order. Crystal Variation includes Crystal Soldier, Crystal Dragon and Balance of Trade. Dragon Variation includes Local Custom, Scouts Progress and Conflict of Honors. (It turned out to be less expensive to buy the triad rather than the first two seperately). Each book includes some extra material (dictionary, currency and time explanations, intro, notes, and afterward thoughts from the authors.
It is going to be a real trip reading these, because the books are two inches thick and will be difficult to maneuver around the lap cats. They are paperbacks, so I am hoping the binding stays glued. It looks like one was never read and the other is only slightly worn, but the pages are yellowed.

I also have Fledgling which starts a new sequence. I won't be reading that for a while. I will need to get Trade Secret and Mouse and Dragon to bring me up to that point, chronologically speaking.

I am terribly surprised that the neither my library nor the Phila. Free Library have any (well, maybe one if I remember correctly) of the Liaden Books. Amazon does not include any of the Liaden Univers books in the Lending Library, just the freebies, Agent of Change and Fledgling.

Steph · « **Reply #2658 on:** January 28, 2016, 08:57:18 AM »

Whew... sounds as if you are going deep into space.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2659 on:** January 28, 2016, 09:07:54 AM »

I am preparing for my next life

Frybabe · « **Reply #2660 on:** January 30, 2016, 07:16:24 AM »

I am reading an interesting and occasionally uncomfortable (like the main character) SciFi book called Freehold by Michael Z. Williamson. Because it deals mostly with political and societal differences so far, I put my comments on it so far over on the Political Processes discussion in case it generates some political discussion.

Beautiful sky this morning with a half moon on a ground of turquoise with orange tinted clouds.

Steph · « **Reply #2661 on:** January 31, 2016, 09:39:34 AM »

I scored a whole bunch of Terry Pratchett older ones that I either had not read or had not read in years. These are my treasures for when life gets complicated. Either I am getting slower or life is getting way faster. hmm, have to work on that one.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2662 on:** February 02, 2016, 07:24:19 AM »

What an interesting tale Freehold turned out to be. It was all there, relevant to today; how we think of other people, cultures, lifestyles, and war. Although it is a part of a series, each book is self contained, following different people and different situations. I thought I found a hole or two in the story, but by the end have forgotten what they were. Some things I would have liked fleshed out a little more, but it probably would have bogged the overall story down (like the final battle almost did for me). I would not recommend this book for the younger set because of some of the sexual content.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2663 on:** February 02, 2016, 04:33:25 PM »

I just found out that the Prometheus Award is sponsored by the Libertarian Futurist Society. I didn't know there was a Libertarian Futurist Society. Anyway, that confirms my notions about the society discribed in Freehold (as well as the name). The book was nominated for the award back in 2005.

Here is their site with a video of Harlan Ellison. http://lfs.org/index.shtml There are several others after an old one that includes Isacc Azimov, Gene Wolfe (who?), Harlan Ellison. Studs Terkel is one of the hosts.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2664 on:** February 03, 2016, 08:32:39 AM »

Another discovery. I am seeing sightings of a new(?) sub-genre to Scifi -- Social Science Fiction. I guess they needed to distinguish it from the more actual science/techie type Scifi. I am thinking that Ursula La Guin, Margaret Atwood, and all or most of the post-apocalyptic and alternative type books would fit into that category.

Steph · « **Reply #2665 on:** February 03, 2016, 08:39:57 AM »

Hmm, that means I will like it, since Le Guin and Atwood are fa vorites of mine.

PatH · « **Reply #2666 on:** February 03, 2016, 08:56:25 AM »

That's a remarkable hodgepodge of writers liked by the Libertarian Futurist Society. I didn't know there was one either.

I haven't read any of Gene Wolfe's sci-fi. The first volume of his much-admired series has a title that put me off--The Shadow of the Torturer. But I've liked some of his short stories and fantasy. Soldier of the Mist is very ingenious indeed. It's supposedly Wolfe's translation of a scroll written in archaic Latin, in 479 BC. The writer is Latro, a mercenary soldier who has gotten a head wound in battle which causes him to forget everything when he goes to sleep at night. He's keeping the scroll as a diary to remind him who he is and what's been happening to him, as he wanders in Greece with the army. The wound has also enabled him to see gods and goddesses, ghosts, and other supernatural creatures.

Wolfe makes you work hard for his story. Everything is seen through the eyes of the clueless narrator. The gods aren't given names; you have to figure out who they are by their attributes. The places are called by Latro's names (Athens is "rope") though this is explained in a forward. But it's a good job.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2667 on:** February 03, 2016, 12:25:17 PM »

I think Elizabeth Moon's Remnant Population would fit into the Social SciFi category. It is about an older woman who stayed behind when the colony was closed down and off-lifted because they discovered sentient life on the planet. She figured she was too old for the trip and would die before reaching another suitable colony planet. She taught herself to run the generators and all the other things she needed/wanted to do. She then began to interact with and teach the curious, cautious native population against colony regulations.

I've seen classics like The Time Machine, Brave New World, Gulliver's Travels and 1984 listed among the books focusing on fictional societies. More writers who have written in the genre include: Doris Lessing, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury (Fahrenheit 451, a favorite of mine), William Gibson, Suzanne Collins, Veronica Roth and Frank Herbert. Goodreads has a list of 296 Social Science Fiction books.
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8653.Best_Social_Science_Fiction Interesting to note that the header says that Ursula La Guin coined the term Social Science Fiction, so the sub-genre must have been around awhile.

PatH · « **Reply #2668 on:** February 03, 2016, 01:08:03 PM »

The phenomenon has been around longer than the term.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2669 on:** February 03, 2016, 01:39:27 PM »

I guess the term just hit critical mass, so to speak, what with the popularity of dystopian and apocalyptic stories being so popular these days. La Guin never liked being lumped in with Science Fiction when most of her writing looks at various possible societal situations. While some of this work is "off world", I wouldn't call it Science Fiction. And I certainly never though of Animal Farm, 1984 or A Handmaids Tale as "Science" Fiction. Well, they do consider Economics, Psychology, Anthropology, Politics and the like Social Sciences in college.

PatH · « **Reply #2670 on:** February 03, 2016, 03:18:24 PM »

I kind of like the term "Speculative Fiction".

Frybabe · « **Reply #2671 on:** February 03, 2016, 04:55:06 PM »

Me too, Pat. Social Science Fiction sound too much like the degree I got in Psychology. As hard as they try, I thought a lot of the studies I read were marginal or poorly done. You can't put psycological manifestations into a test tube or on a scale and measure it, like hard science. It's a lot of hopeful conjecture and maybe some good guesses wrapped up in numbers. Some of it is good, but a lot of variables get missed. If everyone were exactly the same and went through the same experiences in the same order...well, you get the idea. The fight between genes and environment goes on in innumerable ways and degrees.

Steph · « **Reply #2672 on:** February 04, 2016, 08:50:40 AM »

Actually Animal Farm has been on my mind recently. A certain strange person who is running for dictator for life or something reminds me a lot of Animal Farm... All are equal, but some are more equal than others.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2673 on:** February 11, 2016, 03:37:38 PM »

One of my holds came in, so now I've switched to reading it, Greg Bear's War Dogs. I have a very strong suspicion that I have read it before. Some of it is familiar, some not. Oh well, reading it again. I like his books.

PatH · « **Reply #2674 on:** February 11, 2016, 06:40:15 PM »

I haven't read War Dogs, but Bear is generally reliable. Let us know what it's like.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2675 on:** February 12, 2016, 08:05:19 AM »

Yes, I did read it before, but I forget how it turned out. It is a story of soldiers (Skyrines) who are fighting on Mars against aliens (Antags, short for antagonists) who are trying to establish a presence on Mars. The soldiers are fighting for a small group of aliens, the Gurus, who are trading tech for help in fighting the Antags who have been pursuing them to their near destruction.

Since I don't remember much of the book except while I am reading it, I can't remember if there were any human colonies on Mars (don't think so). The soldiers are transported from Earth and dropped onto Mars, they fight for maybe three weeks, and survivors are picked up and taken back to Earth. After some R&R, they go back and do it again.

This is a good story that doesn't get bogged down with, perhaps interesting, but unnecessary detail. I just noticed that Bear has written a sequel called Killing Titan which was published last year. Need to get that.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2676 on:** February 12, 2016, 01:31:32 PM »

What luck! Killing Titan is in my library system. I just put in a hold for it.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2677 on:** February 19, 2016, 09:15:09 PM »

Killing Titan has gone from relatively strange on Mars to seriously weird on Titan. Two groups of aliens at war, one of them trading tech for humans doing the fighting. Some of the humans begin to wonder why they are really fighting, and what is it about some ancient artifacts on Mars that both alien groups appear to want them destroyed. The battle has shifted to Titan in this second of a trilogy. The third is due in the fall.

I like most of the characters. The narrator runs the gamut from being confident and happy to depression and the feeling he just might be nuts. He follows orders that don't always make sense, while other squads have orders that contradict his. He comes in contact with things he can't explain. He gains an ability that makes him a target for both those who want to use it and those who want to destroy him because of it. No, it is not one of those superhuman transformation things.

PatH · « **Reply #2678 on:** February 20, 2016, 09:11:58 AM »

I'm having a frustrating time with The Three Body Problem. I got in line for it from the library some time ago, but by the time it was my turn, I was about to travel, and ended up not having time to read it. Now I've got it again, and am facing a new problem. Books from my library often have a strong perfume smell. Since I'm allergic to scents, this makes them unreadable. Usually if I wait a few days, with the book standing up with fanned out pages, the smell fades enough. But this hasn't faded yet. It's a race against time, perfume vs. due date.

The smell has got to originate from something the library does; it's always the same. But a brainstorming session with two librarians didn't produce any answers. I gave them a good laugh, though, when I suggested maybe it was a product used t polish the shelves. Seems it's a sore point that maintenance NEVER cleans the shelves.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2679 on:** February 20, 2016, 12:13:21 PM »

The Three-Body Problem is on my library TBR list. Don't know when I will get to it though. Our library system has only two books listed, and one has gone missing already. BTW, did you know it is the first of a trilogy? I just found out.

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Author Topic: Science Fiction / Fantasy (Read 364587 times)