Nick's comments
(member since Mar 14, 2008)
Nick's comments from the SciFi and Fantasy Book Club group.
(showing 1-20 of 57)
Inside the full mockup of the space shuttle, used for training, at Space Camp in Huntsville.
Kevinalbee wrote: "I have a huge library and have been forced to thin it more than once. My personal library is bigger than the local public library.I do not sell my books or lone them. If someone borrows a boo..."
ditto.
Came across this yesterday, and am posting at a couple of locations. SF writers Bradbury, Pohl, Niven, Turtledove, Gerrold and others will all be at this book event in LA on the 29th. That is quite cool.
http://www.blackace.net/show-30.htm
It does not fit neatly into a single genre category, and I bet the author prefers it that way. It would be similar to describing No Country for Old Men as a western, a 'drug' book, a thriller, or a hispanic studies book (horrible to think of it that way).
McCormick's books are about deep characterization, not genre classification.
Sandi wrote: "Nick wrote: "I'm impressed you have read all five!"This year, I'm going to try reading all the nominees before the winner is chosen. Unfortunately, that might mean buying a few hardbacks.
I won..."
Sandi, here's the URL for posting 2009 Hugo nominations.
http://www.anticipationsf.ca/pub/hugos/n...
-Nick
I have read or started reading 4 of the 5. Am surprised The Last Colony made the list: it is a solid novel but does not stand out. It could have been written 50 years ago. The other novels are worthy of nomination (Brasyl by reputation. It's the one I have neither started nor finished...I'm impressed you have read all five!
Patricio wrote: "Thank you Nick for remember me Barjavel, he was good.I would also like to add anoother book from Merle, also a post apocalipse novel, as " Les Hommes Protegé " , I have read it in spanish. The t..."
There's a great 'less known' novel by Frank Herbert (Dune author) about a man-made plague, starting in Ireland, that kills almost all the women in the UK and other parts of the world. Highly recommend it:
The White Plague
Great article! I really like the editor's removal of the arbitrary line usually placed between works branded as SF and fantasy vs Literature, e.g. Lord of the Flies listed....
Year Zero by Jeff Long has not been mentioned in this thread yet. It was not sold as SF, so missed the radar screen of a lot of readers in general.
Barjavel is translated. although it might be out-of-print....heck, neither the short-story collection I own of his, nor the author himself, is in Goodreads....what gives?Ok, old school: _Future Times Three_, by Rene Barjavel, is the copy I have at hand...
This month's Locus has a very extensive bio of Pohl that is quite exceptional reading. www.locusmag.com (although I believe you need a paid subscription for the bio).
great! I no longer subscribe to the new yorker, so happy to have the link.
The differences in the two versions can be summed up with five words: "author's hubris and publishing greed." Having read both versions, the 'unabridged' version, first published in the mid-1980s, before Heinlein died, was both his preferred version, with a hundred+ pages of additional content. It was also the publisher's opportunity to 'resell' the book for an extra nickel.IMO, the original editing makes a better novel, i.e. the central themes and character development are diluted from the 'unabridged' version. Again IMO this differs from another popular 'authors edition', The Stand, with King's original work, at over 1000 pages, deemed too massive for publication at the time...the 'unabridged' Stand is a better read.
Here's an esoteric answer: there's a short story in either the 1953 or 1955 'best science fiction short stories', edited by T. E. Dikty. The story hypothesized, before any space flight had occurred, the first space flight into the Van Allen belt would ignite a massive fire/explosion killing all life on earth. The returning spaceship, with one man on it, landed near an ocean, and the man waded into the ocean, died, and his remains provided the cells that eventually created new life on earth. These annuals by Dikty were possibly the first SF anthologies published in the US...I inherited copies that were lost by the postal service during a move several years ago...hence no citation.
There's an esoteric answer for you Ubik! I know there are lots of others, but am not recalling them at the moment.
_The MD_ by Thomas Disch...
Jack McDevitt writes SF similar in orientation to Asimov. Any Asimov SF fan would enjoy McDevitt.Also, for those who have not read the 500+ publications of Asimov, try his 'Opus' series. Every 100 books was an Opus of the previous 100, e.g. Opus 100.
also, does anyone remember whether someone made a cinematic version of Sandkings by Martin? It's an excellent short story by Martin. I seem to recall it being scripted to television...
equally cool, Ridley Scott (Bladerunner) has optioned Joe Haldeman's The Forever War, and has stated it will be his next 'big budget' SF movie.
Juggler of Worlds by Niven. It's a struggle to finish. Unwieldy and uneven dialog and plot line. I'd recommend it only to those well seasoned in Niven's 'known space' series.
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