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blondebecky
Joined: 22 Jul 2006
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 Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 2:41 am Post subject: |
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| rockstarsmooth wrote: |
ursula k. leguin is fantastic. she reminds me of heinlein in her writing about sexuality and societal constructs.
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Finally! I thought nobody was going to get around to mentioning her - personally I believe the Left Hand of Darkness and the Dispossessed were two of the best books of the 20th century. |
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ddeubel
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
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| Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 2:52 am Post subject: |
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I'm just glad nobody has yet mentioned Margaret Atwood!!!!
I would also give a mention to Huxley, if only for his brief foray into science fiction. One of the best minds of the 20th century.
Has anyone read Well's "Man at the end of his tether"? His last slim book/essay. Very pessimistic and defies his own optimistic fiction.
Here are two names I'd love to get others opinions of. Not definitively science fiction writers but they are two of the more popular writers that I can swallow. Philip Kerr and Colin Wilson.
Phil Kerr writes in a page turning but intellectual/informed style. Some of his titles have been in the quasi science fiction realm but he has also written extensively about the future. Colin Wilson also .............
DD |
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rickvaughn
Joined: 15 Jun 2007
Location: near Honorary Seoul Drive, Chicago
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| Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 9:41 am Post subject: |
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HG Wells - War Of The Worlds, Time Machine, Invisible Man
Ray Bradbury - Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451, Illustrated Man
Terry Pratchett - any of his Discworld novels; also Good Omens written with Neil Gaiman
Terrence Di cks - wrote many Doctor Who novelisations (Horror of Fang Rock, Talons of Weng-Chiang, The Sontaran Experiment), plus original stories.
Madeleine L'Engle's Wrinkle In Time series really freaked me out when I was a kid. |
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jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 3:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Who wrote Dr.Who? That guy deserves to be brought back to life just so he could be shot. |
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chris_J2
Joined: 17 Apr 2006
Location: From Brisbane, Au.
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| Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 8:34 pm Post subject: Sci Fi |
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| Quote: |
| That guy deserves to be brought back to life just so he could be shot. |
Or exterminated. We are the superior beings! |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 9:14 pm Post subject: |
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| butlerian wrote: |
Frank Herbert - Dune
Asimov - Foundation |
Seconded. Also second Mindmetoo's eval of the Dune prequels and sequels: disappointing, to say the least.
Let us not neglect Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy. |
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butlerian
Joined: 04 Sep 2006
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 10:10 pm Post subject: |
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| K-Pax was quite interesting too. |
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The Bobster
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 10:35 pm Post subject: Re: http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/posting.php?mode=editpos |
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| Son Deureo! wrote: |
| pastis wrote: |
| Philip K. Di-ck is another obvious one, but I've only read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (been reading to read more of his for awhile). |
I also love Dick. I'd recommend (in no particular order):
The Man in the High Castle (alternative history in which the Axis won WWII)
VALIS and Radio Free Albemuth (both semiautobiographical novels about schizophrenic delusion)
A Scanner Darkly (about the War on Drugs) |
This is a good list, especially the first one you mentioned. The others are fine, too, but don't miss out on UBIK.
If you like smart science fiction, look into Kim Stanley Robinson (who, by the way did a doctoral thesis on PKD). His most famous project is "The Mars Trilogy" - big fat books, fair warning, with so many characters you might need a scorecard - Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars. Story takes place over the course of several centuries, but longevity treatments allow major characters to remain in the story unless they get killed by violence or accident.
It's about terraforming, as the color theme might suggest, but also about the politics of whether it should happen, also about the creation of new political landscapes and ideologies - Red" and "Green" have political reverberations, of course - and the science is "hard science," i.e., nothng conveniently invented for the sake of plot, but rather things are actual and possible given the science we know right now.
I'd spoil it if I said much more, but it's a lot of reading, might take you several months at top speed. Big, fat books, like I said.
Last edited by The Bobster on Fri Oct 19, 2007 11:18 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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butlerian
Joined: 04 Sep 2006
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 10:37 pm Post subject: Re: http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/posting.php?mode=editpos |
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| The Bobster wrote: |
| Son Deureo! wrote: |
| pastis wrote: |
| Philip K. Di-ck is another obvious one, but I've only read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (been reading to read more of his for awhile). |
I also love Dick. I'd recommend (in no particular order):
The Man in the High Castle (alternative history in which the Axis won WWII)
VALIS and Radio Free Albemuth (both semiautobiographical novels about schizophrenic delusion)
A Scanner Darkly (about the War on Drugs) |
This is a good list, especially the first one you mentioned. The others are fine, too, but don't miss out on UBIK.
If you like smart science fiction, look into Kim Stanley Robinson (who, by the way did a doctoral thesis on PKD). His most famous project is "The Mars Trilogy" - big fat books, fair warning, with so many characters you might need a scorecard - Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars. Story takes place over the course of several centuries, but longevity treatments allow major characters to remain in the story unless they get killed by violence or accident.
It's about terraforming, as the color theme might suggest, but also about the politics of whether it should happen, also about the creation of new political landscapes and ideologies - Red" and "Green" have political reverberations, of course - and the science is "hard science," i.e., nothng conveniently invented for the sake of plot, but rather things are actual and possible given the science we know right now.
I'd spoil it if I said much more, but it's a lot of reading, might take you several months at top speed. Big, fat books, like I said, |
I also enjoyed the Mars trilogy. For those who'd prefer a lighter and more-readable Mars adventure, try Ben Bova's "Mars" and "Return to Mars". |
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butlerian
Joined: 04 Sep 2006
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 11:01 pm Post subject: |
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| ddeubel wrote: |
| I'm just glad nobody has yet mentioned Margaret Atwood!!!! |
Rockstarsmooth did, but that was in the "end of the world books" thread. |
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Woland
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 7:36 am Post subject: |
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| Vonnegut and Lem should both be up there; I agree with those nominations. I'd also add the Brothers Strugatsky, the finest Russian SF writers. Their Piknik na Obochine was the basis of Tarkovsky's film, Stalker. It resonates well with Lem's Solaris. |
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Czarjorge
Joined: 01 May 2007
Location: I now have the same moustache, and it is glorious.
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| Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 1:15 pm Post subject: |
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Oh!
I can't believe I forgot Robinson. The Mars Trilogy is amazing. Making a top ten list always fails.
What about Anne McCaffrey? Yeah, that's probably fantasy, but I always grouped it with sci fi because of the issue with the strands. They "built and designed" the dragons for a purpose, and that, my friends, is science. |
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The Bobster
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 3:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Czarjorge wrote: |
Oh!
I can't believe I forgot Robinson. The Mars Trilogy is amazing. |
I read somewhere he just recently completed a set of three connected novels on the subject of global warming ...
Wired Interview |
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rockstarsmooth
Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Location: anyang, baybee!
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| Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 4:50 pm Post subject: |
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| The Bobster wrote: |
| Czarjorge wrote: |
Oh!
I can't believe I forgot Robinson. The Mars Trilogy is amazing. |
I read somewhere he just recently completed a set of three connected novels on the subject of global warming ...
Wired Interview |
yeah i have the first one of the three. it's okay, but i definitely prefer the mars trilogy. this new book, 40 days of rain, i think, is less sciencey, and more novelly. i guess i'd need to read the next 2 to see how it goes. it's good, but not great. it feels like it was meant for a beach/long flight read, kinda fluffy.
rss 
 right now i'm listening to: ween - you were the fool |
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Manner of Speaking
Joined: 09 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 6:21 pm Post subject: |
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When I was a kid I came across a 1950s anthology of SF in my grandfather's house:
Alfred Bester - The Stars My Destination - amazing novel!
Poul Anderson - Brainwave
To Your Scattered Bodies Go - Forget who wrote it but it was a neat idea.
Anything by Brian Aldiss, British SF writer from the 60s.
Evgeny Zamyatin - We.
Surprised nobody mentioned Brave New World. |
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