I would have to say William Gibson. But I just read Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan and it was pretty stunning.

-- Ashley Fox (ash@t256.com), January 29, 2004

Answers

I tend to read scifi when it comes my way through used books, and these might not be the best examples but anyone ever read Midnight at the Well of Souls? Or Sword of Rhiannon? Naturally, Jules Verne.

overusedscifi cliches

-- Barb e (Suesuesbeo9@cs.com), February 10, 2004.

Orson Scott Card, i loved ender's game but im sure most of you have read that in high school already.

-- Grant Grismore (ldsguy20@hotmail.com), January 30, 2004.

I just recently read the entire OSC series. I Loved it. You're right, it was pretty sweet.

I still think of those characters all the time. Ender. What a cool name!

Get this, true story...

A friend of a frined is an actor out in Hollywierd, right. He's in a play and was reading Ender's Game between scenes, right.

A girl begins talking to him and asks what he's reading...

He shows her. Ender's Game.

She's all... "Oh, cool. That's a good one. Dad's pretty proud of it."

OSC's daughter.

They're buds now. But her dad still lives in BFE.

He has a book of short stories that is some of the coolest concepts.

One about road rage in the future, where all the cars have insane self defense systems, gatling guns, missles and energy shields and shit.

-- Ashley Fox (ash@t256.com), January 30, 2004.

I don't think I have a favorite writer, but in general I like William Gibson and Tricia Sullivan alot, Dreaming in Smoke is one of my favorite books of all time. Grant Naylor's pretty good too.

As for individual books I absoloutely fuckin LOVED Headcrash and Sewer, Gas and Electric (the latter having been mentioned on this forum at least twice at some point in the past) and most of the short stories in SCHISMATRIX PLUS.

And I gotta reccommend True Names and the Blabber (both by Vernor Vinge) for other favorite shorts. Shweet.

-- Ashly Kehl (stefburk@metrocast.net), January 30, 2004.

This is so Cool! I should have thought of this earlier.

I was having a hard time picking something new to go get and read. Who better to ask then the peeps who I know have taste? Aeon's Fans!

Oh, I read Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash a while ago too. Highly Recommended. It was great.

-- Ashley Fox (ash@t256.com), January 30, 2004.

Maybe try "Bill the Galactic Hero" by Harry Harrison.

-- Sam (janecherrington@paradise.net.nz), January 31, 2004.

Hey Sam, I will thanks.

How was everyone's holidays?

-- ashley fox (ash@t256.com), January 31, 2004.

What holidays?

-- Ashly Kehl (stefburk@metrocast.net), January 31, 2004.

My favorite SF writer is Philip K. Dick all the way. It's so fascinating the way he takes such traditional science fiction material, like robots or time travel, and articulates it in such a way as to explore such heavy ideas. Definitely a writer you should check out, especially if you like heavy ideas with your entertainment and judging by the fact that you like Aeon Flux, you do. Ender's Game was a child hood fave, and reading about it reminds me of pleasant middle school era memories.

-- The New Flesh (yearzerorec@yahoo.com), February 01, 2004.

Ashley Fox, your last name is my middle name! Are you like my long lost cousin, is your aunt my moms long lost sister!? Ok shudding up. I went ahead and bought Richard Morgan's book you mentiond off Amazon, the story sound's incredible so thanks for mentioning. Cant wait to read it! (:

-- Grant (Fox!) Grismore (ldsguy20@hotmail.com), February 02, 2004.

Of course, there is always "The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams.

-- Sam (janecherrington@paradise.net.nz), February 02, 2004.

My favorite author is probably Gene Wolfe, for the richly textured plot and prose, and the puzzles that can be solved only by repeated readings (not unlike AF).

An author that also reminds of AF, on some level, is Iain M. Banks, with his anarchistic, hypercompetent heros, whose allegiances are often unclear. A good example is _Against a Dark Background_ (featuring a female protagonist amid many interweaving plots, on a quest to find a mythical object of power). AaDB settings also remind of AF: a futuristic human world entirely disconnected historically from 21th century Earth - it happens in another solar system, with a very long human presence (1000's of years) and no mention of Earth or its cultures.

BTW, I always thought that Monica and Bregna are not on Earth but some low-g world - explaining the characters' physique and agility. Am I way off?

-- Alex Reicher (utgartxaloki@yaxoo.com [replace x's with h's]), February 02, 2004.

yeah, I've got like 4 PKD books sitting around that I haven't opened yet. I want to read them, but have some kind of mental block on his style.

I've also got to say, as a kid I think I read everything Asimov wrote and all of Ray Bradbury except the second half of some dwarf story that scared the shit out of me.

Thanks for all the good references here. This is enough to keep me busy for a while.

Hey Griz, you'll love Altered Carbon! It's so cool. People have chips in thier cerebelums where all their memory and thoughts are stored, and then can be downloaded into new bodies or sleeves, if you get fucked up in a firefight.

-- ashley fox (ash@t256.com), February 02, 2004.

If you like PKD, try picking up some Tim Powers. He was one of PKDs friends (and one of PKD's characters is based off him actually) and wrote some truly excellent scifi books, like Anubis Gates. Time travel, mindfucks, alternate histories- he's a fantastic writer.

David Brin has some excellent books too- like the uplift series. Fascinating stuff about evolution and a galactic culture that focuses on species rather than individuals.

I really despise OSC though. Just want to get that on the record.

-- skye (skyknyt@aol.com), February 03, 2004.

How 'bout we start a thread on books that suck?

I just love talking about stuff that sucks.

-- Ashly Kehl (stefburk@metrocast.net), February 03, 2004.

Ah, David Brin, there's a rocket scientist turned author that really SUX!!!

The Postman, (the book), was so bad I spraypainted all the pages back before it returned it to the library.

Figures someone like kevin costner would make a movie of that scat.

-- ashley fox (ash@t256.com), February 03, 2004.

hey skykynt,

I understand your loathing of OSC.

When we read it, (in like 6th grade), there were a bunch of kids who didn't get it and felt all embarassed and ignorant.

But don't feel bad. There's lots of people out there who didn't get it either...

So at least, you won't be lonely.

That's why they say it's lonely where?

On Top, BABY!

Like Zenyova in Goldeneye!

-- ashley fox (ash@t256.com), February 03, 2004.

Ashley, do I detect a hint of patronising tone there or is it just me?

-- Ashly Kehl (stefburk@metrocast.net), February 03, 2004.

Patronizing?

I'm blatantly hostile with a dash of humor.

-- ashley fox (ash@t256.com), February 03, 2004.

Oh I "got" Ender's game, but he didn't really do anything to expand on the series in later books, except admittedly try to cash in on Ender's fame by inserting him into later books. Then after those books sucked horribly, he went on to try and recreate the "Ender" magic with the Bean books, which were .... they felt like fanfiction in the Ender universe. "You know that funny minor character? Well... er... HE'S A GENIUS! And he REVOLUTIONIZED poor people in Prague! And he can HACK THE PLANET! And he FIGURED OUT LIGHTSPEED! And he's EVEN BETTER THAN ENDER!"

Okay, whatever.

Then the Seventh Son. "He's the YOUNGEST IN HIS FAMILY but totally NOT LIKE ENDER. And he's got MAGIC POWERS! And SATAN... errr... the UNMAKER is his FOE! And he can do ALL KINDS OF COOL STUFF! Did I mention he's YOUNG!? Buy this kids!"

Oh, and OSC likes "The Postman," though I must confess to never having read it, but if its an acid test for test I think OSC fails it. I enjoyed Brin's uplift series, though.

Wow, I managed to badmouth OSC without ever having once mentioned his fanatical views, homophobia, and general ornery nature. ... DAMN.

-- sskye (skyknyt@aol.com), February 04, 2004.

Y'know, I was gonna ask you two to STOP TAKING UP BOARD SPACE with your POINTLESS BITCHING but it's fun to watch so I won't.

keep up the good work.

-- . (stefburk@metrocast.net), February 04, 2004.

I won't get into a big debate over this, but, OSC only wrote Ender's Game as a back story to get to Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide. I did read Children of the Mind, but stopped there with the Ender series.

I'm not like an OSC freak, but some of his short stories are incredible.

When you get this detailed, it's really about whether or not you enjoy the style.

Some people like the simplicity of Hemingway, some people don't. Some people like the serial style of Cervantes, or the epic style of Hugo, or the rambling style of William Faulkner. Some people don't.

Granted, Card's work is a little off center. His 'Style' is okay, but his direction is usually strange. It's like, instead of following some fixed point, like sunrise or sunset, he follows the sun all day, ending right where he started.

Usually, if a ton of people like an author, I'll usually give 'em a fair shake.

Take for example Dan Brown; The DaVinci Code.

I haven't readDaVinci yet, but I did read his first book, Angels and Demons, staring the same protagonist.

His research was incredible, his writing style was not. So bad that I can't bear to pick up the DaVinci Code.

So, it's cool that you have a fully formed opinion.

And as for us not agreeing, that's fine.

I'd rather disagree with intelligent, well read critics, than be surrounded by mental midgets.

Although, I must ask, why would you read all his books, if you didn't like reading them?

-- ashley fox (ash@t256.com), February 04, 2004.

Every time I said "Fine, you're dead to me OSC... except for Ender's game and those anthologies" one of my friends would show up with his latest book. "You HAVE to read this, its incredible! It's just as good as Ender!"

So I'd borrow it, and be disappointed all over again.

I guess my problem is that after becoming a mainstream success with Ender, he's tried to mimic that same success in virtually everything he's written since. And it shows.

Granted, Niven seems to have done pretty much the same thing following Ringworld- a ton of Ringworld books that aren't very good or interesting, and repetitious books set in the same Universe that was once really cool. Granted, the newest anthology of Beowulf stories was a really nice collection to have, but some creativity and new writing on his part might be worthwhile.

I'm still not sure what my opinion of OSC was worth being "blatantly hostile" or considering "pointless bitching" for, though. This is the "Favorite Scifi Authors" thread, and we're talking about Scifi authors. I recommended some and made my counterpoint to the OSC recommendation.

skye

-- skye (skyknyt@aol.com), February 04, 2004.

You know that OSC is a mormon? You know im a mormon!? Sorry. Anyway, i'd like to appolagize for any contention OSC has brought to this thread. Im a big jerk for bringing it up so just go ahead and slap me on the hand! I actually forgot he made a sequal to Enders Game, ill have to take another trip to Barnes E'noble!

-- Grant Grismore (ldsguy20@hotmail.com), February 06, 2004.

damn. now everyone's all defensive

-- ashley fox (ash@t256.com), February 06, 2004.

H.P. Lovecraft is pretty sucky. This about sums it up:

http://rinkworks.com/bookaminute/b/lovecraft.shtml

-- LavenderGray a.k.a. Frostbite (mbkrooks@bellsouth.net), February 08, 2004.

I've never read Lovecraft personally but I just watched Bride of Reaminator last nite and it was the most chaoric gratuitous thing I'd seen, maybe ever (there was this one dude put together from aggregated body parts and I swear he had a tit sewn to his shoulder!). The worst dialog in the world too, I highly reccommend renting it and MSTing it with your little buddies.

-- Ashly Kehl (stefburk@metrocast.net), February 08, 2004.

I just finished "use of weapons" by Iain Banks. Excellent, excellent book. I highly recommend it.

The characterization throughout is just fantastic, and the story structure was odd, but perfect for the way it was written.

-- skye (skyknyt@aol.com), February 09, 2004.

I recently finished this classic SF novel, "The Stars My Destination". A short book, read in about three sittings. I can actually see people hating it, thematically it's all over the map, but if you like the kind of SF that throws one new concept at you on every other page it comes recommended.

Oh, and I picked it up because my *favorite* science fiction writer, Michael Moorcock, mentioned it. (Read his End Of Time series -- great books, every one of them)

-- Inu (paul@nadisrec.com), February 10, 2004.

I haven't read much Lovecraft, but I enjoy him for his icthyophobic Victorian drugginess. A contemporary of his, Clarke Ashton Smith, wrote better stories... google his name, there's a page with most of his fiction somewhere.

-- Inu (paul@nadisrec.com), February 10, 2004.

Ender's Game - the Movie

Didn't know this was happening

-- ashley fox (ash@t256.com), February 10, 2004.

John Vornholt. Star Trek: The Next Generation."The Genesis Wave" Book 1,2, and "Genesis Force". Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman (Khaless, The Darkstars), and a lot of others.^^ Ok, I'm a Sci-Fi fan, as you can tell.

-- Ansel G. Ford (Parallax281457689@Yahoo.com), March 07, 2004.