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uberkeyzer posted:So, who's going to post the Ender's-Game-as-Hitler-apologia link? I haven't been able to look at the book the same way since I read that. I've never seen it, why don't you post it?
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| # ? Jan 22, 2011 07:35 |
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| # ? May 19, 2013 20:51 |
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This one? http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2005/5/28/22428/7034
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| # ? Jan 22, 2011 07:37 |
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uberkeyzer posted:So, who's going to post the Ender's-Game-as-Hitler-apologia link? I haven't been able to look at the book the same way since I read that. Card actually has my pity. I really get the sense out of some of his essays that he's a closeted homosexual and is putting on a good front for his church. His writing reads differently when you assume that. It lends more of a tragic nature to things. As awful as his (espoused) politics are, he can still write some drat fine characters when he puts his mind to it.
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| # ? Jan 22, 2011 16:34 |
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coyo7e posted:Heroes Die, by Mathew(sp?) Woodring Stover. Fun world, great protagonist, and the sci-fi bit of how actors control characters in a fantasy dimension of questionable status gives it all a lot more body than it would otherwise have. It has swords, magic, AND lasers! Matt Stover's stuff is some good sci-fi. I really like reading his stuff. And he should be having another one coming out soon. I wish more people knew about him.
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| # ? Jan 22, 2011 16:50 |
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Can any goons here suggest to me what the ASOIAF of sci-fi is?
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| # ? Jan 22, 2011 17:54 |
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Ragequit posted:Ender's Game (1985) came out when I was born...
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| # ? Jan 22, 2011 20:58 |
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Miss-Bomarc posted:No, it didn't. I have that issue 
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| # ? Jan 22, 2011 21:24 |
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Miss-Bomarc posted:No, it didn't. The short story "Ender's Game" (published 1977) isn't the same as the novel Ender's Game (published 1985).
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| # ? Jan 22, 2011 21:41 |
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Kneel Before Zog posted:Can any goons here suggest to me what the ASOIAF of sci-fi is? Dune, Complete with author dying before finishing the series action! not to mention lots of surprise sex.
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| # ? Jan 22, 2011 23:07 |
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I don't believe anyone was hankering for any more sequels after Frank died, I think I got to the one where the emperor is a worm and they kept making copies of Duncan Idaho when I decided, OK, I'm done with this series. And as for what came after, everything KJA touches turns to poo poo. I just look at the plot synopses and reviews when a new one comes out, laugh, and don't go any further.
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| # ? Jan 22, 2011 23:15 |
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Kneel Before Zog posted:Can any goons here suggest to me what the ASOIAF of sci-fi is?  John Varley's Gaea trilogy posted:Titanides come in two sexes, male and female. Both sexes have a rear vagina and uterus, and a large penis in the position where a horse's penis would be. Both sexes also possess humanoid breasts and can thus give birth to and suckle young.
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| # ? Jan 23, 2011 01:01 |
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Uuuuuuhhhh.
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| # ? Jan 23, 2011 01:05 |
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The Aristocrats!
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| # ? Jan 23, 2011 01:10 |
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Hedrigall posted:You can't post that description without posting the chart too !
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| # ? Jan 23, 2011 01:21 |
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There's a chart? 
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| # ? Jan 23, 2011 01:34 |
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Hedrigall posted:There's a chart? It's a 4x4 or 5x5 or similarly sized chart of all the ways centaur sex works, they printed it in the back of one of the books in the trilogy (second or third).
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| # ? Jan 23, 2011 01:40 |
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I started to read Titan and got to the part where the big alien ship thing grabs them in the big black tentacles and I just gave up. Is it worth reading?
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| # ? Jan 23, 2011 02:36 |
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Skutter posted:I started to read Titan and got to the part where the big alien ship thing grabs them in the big black tentacles and I just gave up. Is it worth reading? No, not really.
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| # ? Jan 23, 2011 02:37 |
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Did I mention that Galactoid females have six mammary glands and fourteen pleasure holes?
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| # ? Jan 23, 2011 02:45 |
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fritz posted:It's a 4x4 or 5x5 or similarly sized chart of all the ways centaur sex works, they printed it in the back of one of the books in the trilogy (second or third). 
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| # ? Jan 23, 2011 13:26 |
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Mister Kingdom posted:That's the one !
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| # ? Jan 23, 2011 13:34 |
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lilbean posted:This one? Close -- it's here, I believe.
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| # ? Jan 23, 2011 14:46 |
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The ending of Titan kind of just shat all over the book. I was pretty disappointed. But a very good book (definitely my favorite Sci-Fi) is Eon by Greg Bear. Bear has written a prequel (Legacy) and a sequel (Eternity). I have only read Eon so I can't say anything about the others but I imagine they're pretty sweet. If your into crazy sci-fi technologies and parallel universes, Eon is a very good read. Poopelyse fucked around with this message at Jan 23, 2011 around 15:36 |
| # ? Jan 23, 2011 15:11 |
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Hedrigall posted:The Aristocrats! 
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| # ? Jan 23, 2011 20:40 |
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SithDrummer posted:This continues to make me laugh aloud as more and more things from the Gaea series are posted. One of the later books, possibly the second one, has a subplot about a young man who read a comic book adaptation of the events in the first book and he is very angry for reasons I don't remember but it involves humorless capital-L Lesbians. fritz fucked around with this message at Jan 23, 2011 around 21:27 |
| # ? Jan 23, 2011 21:24 |
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SithDrummer posted:This continues to make me laugh aloud as more and more things from the Gaea series are posted. If you like weird-rear end stories, then check out the trilogy. Ever see the MST3K version of "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank"? It was "based" on Varley's short story. And by based, I mean someone read it while they were drunk and wrote a screenplay based on those drunken recollections.
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| # ? Jan 23, 2011 22:42 |
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Whoever suggested S.M. Stirling is crazy - I liked the concept of an island transported in time but it is awfully written. Seriously I made it up to quote:"You'd better put that-there down, white boy," she said, conscious in some remote corner of her mind that the Gullah accent she'd fought so long and hard to control was back in full force. "Y'might hurt yoselfs wit it." before I couldn't take it any more. Has anybody here read Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell? It's one of my favourites and travels from the 19th century to a post-apocalyptic future linked through technology and reincarnation - so it has elements of Science-Fiction and Fantasy. The first chapter is tough as it's written in 19th century English but I believe it's rewarding. The future chapters where clones worship at the idol of their corporate logo is particularly bitter-sweet.
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| # ? Jan 23, 2011 23:38 |
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Sri.Theo posted:
I'm reading it right now! It's great. I'm up to the Orison Of Somni~ bit now, it's awesome. Either this or the Luisa Rey part have been my favourite so far.
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| # ? Jan 23, 2011 23:45 |
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Mister Kingdom posted:Ever see the MST3K version of "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank"? It was "based" on Varley's short story. And by based, I mean someone read it while they were drunk and wrote a screenplay based on those drunken recollections. It is pretty much one of the best MST3k episodes in existence, and is the only way you'll ever see that "movie" since it was a made-for-PBS thing from the 80s and was never shown again after the premiere (I believe). But multiple penis and vagina alien sex sounds intriguing in a I've-read-most-of-the-Anita-Blake-series-so-why-not? kind of way.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2011 01:56 |
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Can somebody recommend some good scifi, whether a series, a novel or short stories, set in a utopian setting? And I don't mean "utopian but secretly a dystopia!" like Brave New World. I'm talking about things like the Citadel in Mass Effect, the Federation I think it's called in star trek? (I haven't seen the tv series, just the recent movie), basically peaceful and advanced settings. There can still be threats from within or without, but for the set up of the novel at least, I want to read about awesome technology and futuristic society/government - rather than post apocalypse, military control and oppressed masses. Aliens are a plus.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2011 04:32 |
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Asimov's Foundation series might be right up your alley (if perhaps a little dated) - not everything is cuddly but it's essentially an optimistic view of things. Even the later books that came out in the 80s long after the original run are OK.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2011 04:35 |
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The Culture novels by Iain M. Banks also fit the bill.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2011 04:53 |
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Hedrigall posted:Can somebody recommend some good scifi, whether a series, a novel or short stories, set in a utopian setting? And I don't mean "utopian but secretly a dystopia!" like Brave New World. I'm talking about things like the Citadel in Mass Effect, the Federation I think it's called in star trek? (I haven't seen the tv series, just the recent movie), basically peaceful and advanced settings. There can still be threats from within or without, but for the set up of the novel at least, I want to read about awesome technology and futuristic society/government - rather than post apocalypse, military control and oppressed masses. Aliens are a plus. A lot of Larry Niven's stuff. The Known Space series is generally set in a time and place where things are pretty peachy, interwar and post-scarcity. Good aliens. One of the later shorts pokes fun at how dull and hard to write in his main universe would be getting as all the logical implications of various super-strong materials and technologies introduced in previous stories worked themselves out. Niven's Draco Tavern series of shorts are alien stories set in a bar, which is a homey pleasant place, for the most part. His Gil the Arm stories are set just before society sorts everything out, and the main character is a UN cop charged with keeping destabalizing technologies from getting loose. So, proto-utopian. [edit] While more Space Opera than speculative fiction, I really enjoyed Bujold's Vorkosigan series book Cetaganda. It is set in the the capital city of an 8 system star empire's noble caste, and has some cute ideas on the sorts of luxury genetic-engineering Star Emperors might get up to. Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at Jan 24, 2011 around 09:12 |
| # ? Jan 24, 2011 06:03 |
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The Deadly Hume posted:Asimov's Foundation series might be right up your alley (if perhaps a little dated) - not everything is cuddly but it's essentially an optimistic view of things. Even the later books that came out in the 80s long after the original run are OK. Asimov in general, and Clarke, too.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2011 09:17 |
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Hedrigall posted:And I don't mean "utopian but secretly a dystopia!" like Brave New World. I'm going to nitpick here, because I've been seeing this A LOT lately, it's not just you. That is exactly what a dystopia is. 1984 is the prime example, but there are more. What most people think of when they think dystopia are thinking of stories with sort of fractured states or war-torn or post-apocalyptic systems for backdrops and aren't really political commentaries in the same vein. Maybe I'll just make a thread. e: also an alternate name is cacotopia, thanks wiki! That word rules.
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| # ? Jan 25, 2011 02:53 |
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I'm looking for a fantasy series with a really in-depth magic system and a "coming of age" story. Some examples off the top of my head are Wheel of Time, Elminster: Making of a Mage (I don't want Forgotten Realms/Dragonlance/etc, just an example), hell even the Riddle-master Trilogy was decent. WoT has some really good parts when Rand is learning from Asmodean (sp?) and the Riddle-master Trilogy has some cool parts, but Riddle-master moves so quickly there isn't that feeling of learning/studying magic. The first book in the Farseer Trilogy is a pretty good example of what I'm looking for, coming of age for Fitz, learning his craft, etc. I want something similar but with magic. I've read pretty much all of the mainstream fantasy books that are out there, Feist, Jordan, Sanderson, Butcher, Goodkind, so on and so forth.
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| # ? Jan 27, 2011 18:21 |
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Name of the Wind sounds pretty much spot-on for what you're looking for. The main character can be a goony Mary Sue Superman at times but the story is generally interesting and the magic system is well thought out and unique.
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| # ? Jan 27, 2011 18:25 |
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edit -  Lyon posted:I'm looking for a fantasy series with a really in-depth magic system and a "coming of age" story. Some examples off the top of my head are Wheel of Time, Elminster: Making of a Mage (I don't want Forgotten Realms/Dragonlance/etc, just an example), hell even the Riddle-master Trilogy was decent. While it's not without flaws, Patrick Rothfuss's Name of the Wind sounds a good bit like that - somewhat detailed magic system, coming of age story, even if it does feature an extremely goony protagonist.
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| # ? Jan 27, 2011 18:25 |
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Hah read it, I've read way too many fantasy books...
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| # ? Jan 27, 2011 18:36 |
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| # ? May 19, 2013 20:51 |
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Lyon posted:Hah read it, I've read way too many fantasy books...
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| # ? Jan 27, 2011 22:06 |
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