What We Are Reading - Fantasy/SF, Part 0000010

Part 1 of the thread was getting too long.

In the Funny Descriptions department, I found the following about Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games while looking through science fiction listings over on Amazon:

"Rather less 1984 and rather more Death Race 2000..." If you ever had the misfortune to see the 70s movie of the latter, starring David Carradine, you'll know what a gap that is! :-)

Anyway, has anyone read anything by Stephen Baxter? I've picked up and put down his stuff many, many times. However, there's almost nothing that's pure SF published anymore and my standards may be slipping. :-)

I've read many of his books. He's definitely worth trying. If you want "pure" sf, you're probably better off sticking to his Xeelee sequence: Raft, Timelike Infinity, Flux, Ring, Vacuum Diagrams (collection), Reality Dust (novella), Riding the Rock (novella and Starfall (novella). There's also his Manifold trilogy - Time, Space and Origin.

Thanks, Ian.

good on ya Tad :) merci

From the previous thread -- thanks for the information on Tarr. I will definitely be adding her to my TBR mountain.

Oh, and MusicMom -- the name is something that reminds me everyday that I need to be... well, you know. Hope it works for you too. :)

Can anyone rec something dark and cyberpunk-y? Nothing in the bookstores looks interesting...

Assuming you've read Gibson, maybe N. Wood Lee's Looking for the Mahdi? Or some Melissa Scott...something like Trouble and Her Friends? If you don't mind mystery-ish, there's Lethem's Gun, With Occasional Music.

Thanks, Tad! I have read 'Faraday's Orphans' by N. Wood Lee and 'Burning Bright' by Melissa Scott, but wasn't too inpressed by either, but I'll see if I can get my hands on your recs!

*plans trip to the Phantastik Library*

I've never liked anything else of Lee's but I did like that one. Scott's work I find OK, not great, but readable. There's not a lot of cyberpunk being written these days that seems that good...or maybe I just don't know the right authors. Do you have any you recommend?

Only 'old' stuff... as far as I can see the only people that still write it (in a way that's interesting to me) are the German 'Shadowrun' authors, and that still is not 'real' Cyberpunk as such.

I did like Charles Stross' Halting State, but it's not 'real' Cyberpunk, either.

I haven't tried that. I've been reading his Merchant Princes books. I find them fair so I generally wait for paperback to come around. I'll see if I can find a copy of Halting State somewhere.

I think you may only like it if you like rpg and larp in general...

Not larp, but I used to play rpgs and mmorpg a lot...too much...I eventually stopped cold turkey so that I could have the rest of my life. ;-)

I am familliar with the problem...

I am currently being blown away by The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

Yeah, that's a good one!

It's really nice to run across someone who really knows what to do with first person. :)

I really enjoyed that one. Unfortunately, the sequel is significantly delayed. I'm going to have to reread the first one when it comes out.

I've actually gotten so impatient in my old age that I frequently don't even start a series until all the books are out. The Percy and the Olympians is an exactly. (So much for maturity)

I quite enjoyed the Percy Jackson books -- I couldn't wait for the full series.

Though I admire people with that level of fortitude.

I also couldn't help myself with Suzanne Collins and her new YA scifi series either. Have you all already talked about The Hunger Games and Catching Fire? I recently finished the latter and it's just as much of a "no, no, don't stop there!" as the first one was. (Yeah, that does sound a little dirty, but you know what I mean.)

Temptation, thou art a cruel mistress.

I've got The Hunger Games but am holding off reading it since 98% of the reviews I've read contain the words "Argh I can't believe I have to wait for the third book", or variations thereupon.

LOL!

FlossieT, I agree. I actually bought book 1 and 2 for a fave neice and am restraining myself from even perusing them. I will wait for book 3 and then indulge.

Oooopsie. Forgot to say that I finished Westerfeld's Leviathan.

It's MG really. Wildly imaginative but without great depth. I reviewed it but need to add that it leaves the door open for a sequel.

It's not a novel, but I thought I should mention this:

The Folklore of Discworld: Legends, myths and customs from the Discworld by Terry Pratchet and Jacqueline Simpson

This is an exellent, exellent reference book for the 'things that everyone knows' that crop up on the Discworld (and have strange parallels in different parts of the trouseres of space-time continuum, like, say, on Earth). Mirthfully the authors trace escaped particles of narrativum across the universes and observe their astonishing effects.

I have been looking for a book like this for years, and much regret buying some that were not co-authored by the man himself. It is charming to note the difference in writing styles of the authors and I caught myself grinning occasionally, thinking 'this is pure Pratchett'.

In 16 chapters different species, regions or character groups of the Diskworld are examined and their folk-loric or legendary background traced back to it's roots and presented for easy reference. A lot of chapters are sub-divided; for example the Chapter 'Beasties' has the sub-chapters 'Dragons', 'Basilisk and Chimera', 'Sphinx', 'Phoenix', 'Salamander', 'Unicorn' and 'The Luggage'.
But it is easy to find specific persons or places or events using the magnificent Index, and the Bibliography is mouth-watering and very tempting.

I am very happy I found this.

I brought a copy of Max Frei's The Stranger home from the library because of a recommendation from somewhere. Has anyone read this or anything else by him?

>26 aquascum:: I didn't know that book existed -- SWEET. I know what to get my family for Christmas now. (Unless of course it's out of print, in which case that odd noise you hear is my cry of despair.)

The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers

This is true Fantasy for me... a completely developed world, peopled by other races, with it's own history and lore... not that there can't be found the one or other prallel to our sphere of literature, mind.

I loved that one!

It's my favourite in the Zamonia series! But I liked The Alchemaster's Apprentice, too.

The Name of the Wind is what I'm reading at the moment -- and I'm glad I finally got to it because it is excellent thus far. :)

I am currently reading Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Pretty good so far!

Good stuff. I just picked up a copy myself and it is up for a read very soon.

I have started the fourth book in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Talking to Dragons, by Patricia C. Wrede.