Bobby’s Comments (group member since Mar 15, 2013)

Bobby’s comments from the Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy group.

Spooky1947 wrote: "Had to go a couple of towns over yesterday, so naturaly I hit the bookstores...for me that means the used book stores, as you all know by now I like the old stuff that's out-of-print...after I was ..."

I don't know, Spooks. This sounds like it's more about you than the new authors. Or the city where you live. We have great bookstores in Portland and I've found great speculative fiction authors recently, Paolo Bacigalupi, Nalo Hopkinson, China Miévilleand Jim Butcher to name a very few. Thank god the old guys are getting moved out of the way. They're old. They're not supposed to hold sway forever. My guess is they'd agree. Especially Heinlein.

Everything is change, bro.

Nalo Hopkinson and Daniel José Older come to mind.

Andrea wrote: "G33z3r wrote: "Evgeny wrote: "This is not about horror of scare alien leftovers, so keep reading and you night like it. MC becomes kinda likable by the end. ..."

Who the heck is MC?

Chapter 2: Re..."

Yeah, this is what I got out of the book as well.

Hillary wrote: "Well, I like an ending & I don't appreciate Henry James' contribution toward making the wildly ambiguous ending critically acceptable in English language lit. I esp. hate an ending where it seems c..."

I got the impression that it wasn't entirely up to Red, that that wish had something to do with whatever was emanating from the Golden Sphere. Kind of like how the black thing in the water made you happy before it killed you horribly in Stephen King's "The Lake".

Overall, I found this book thoroughly enjoyable and rather than "horror" per se I found it to be very akin to Philip K. Dick. The whole idea of the story felt new and interesting to me, and maybe even much more likely than the noble and majestic encounter with the aliens in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Roadside Picnic is the antithesis of Arthur C. Clarke's vision where the aliens take a parental interest in sculpting humankind's destiny towards godhood, these aliens simply don't give a $#!+ about us one way or another -- and the ensuing impact that has on us as a species.

People didn't find Red likable? Really? Why? I found him to be a streetwise survivor who continually and consistently sought to save the lives of even people he maybe should not have. He's not a bad guy, he's a hard guy who works in an exceedingly difficult environment. He's got a wife and a mutant daughter who he loves and fights for in spite of his nihilistic instincts. I felt he's pained by his dead father's current state. But sometimes these guys, they just don't know anything else. Someone above made a connection to the characters in The Wire and I think that's very apropro.

The effect that the Visit has on humanity, not only are we not alone but we're not important, and that this new knowledge is what morally bankrupts an already traditionally extremely egotistical and self-centered species I found to be handled with deft clarity and a unique vision. Plus this book is over forty years old. Sure, some of what's in it seems old hat now, but probably not in 1972. And the quality of the world, the richness of the characters, keeps the book relevant and exciting. To me.

Really, really good in my opinion.

Jim wrote: "Scott wrote: "This thread brings back so many memories..."

Very true. Ever since this thread started I've been trying to remember, but can't really. It's been too long ago & I've read so many of ..."

You guys are burying me in nostalgia!!! In a good way! The Forgotten Door, yo? I haven't thought about that book in years! Those Frazetta (and Boris Vallejo but especially Frazetta) covers led me to buy that entire collection! Had to be it, because the supplemental stories by Lin Carter and L. Sprague de Camp were not up to the quality of Howard.

G33z3r wrote: "David wrote: "Is that Pluto's actual color or did NASA fiddle with the picture a bit? That is a really odd color."

"The color is real! The reddish hue is due to tholins, organic (carbon-based) mo..."

Nice find!

I LOVE SPACE!!!

Kyra wrote: "The Prydain Chronicles when I was about 8 or so, and around the same time our dad read The Hobbit out loud to us (it was a routine at our house, Dad reading a novel out loud to us kids, a chapter a..."

The Prydain Chronicles. Goodness gracious. GREAT BOOKS. They're all fantastic but it's one of the few series that I felt really topped out with the final one, The High King. Though I will say, a few years later, after I'd grown a little older, Taran Wanderer had more meaning for me.

"many of the authors seem to have a kind of subscription for appearance in his annual anthology"

Andreas, what do you mean by this?

Though it does seem awfully quick to have reached Pluto already, no?

Damn straight! What I'm really hoping for is that we get a glimpse of Planet X that is supposed to sending everybody's orbit off-kilter!

David wrote: "Short stories? Sorry, guess I should have read a bit closer."

Other than that, you're absolutely right! :-D

David wrote: "No love for Frank Herbert? He only wrote one truly great book, but what a book it is. Literature would be greatly diminished without Dune."

Um, we're talking short stories here.

Scott wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm Scott, I joined Goodreads a few years ago but haven't spent much time here (been busy writing - I'm a fantasy author as well as a keen reader of fantasy).

Finally got round to joi..."

Hey Scott.

Here's a recommendation for a fantasy fan.
Perdido Street Station

Oh and my binge watch show is The Wire. :-)

Middle Passage, The Stars, Like Dust and Roadside Picnic. Also, for work, A Director Prepares: Seven Essays on Art and Theatre.

Spooky1947 wrote: "G33, that PKD would be more of an influence for overseas writers is not surprising....Stanaslaw Lem (sp) said PKD was the only SF writer that mattered (and then went on to say stuff in the same art..."

Spooky, do you have a link to what-sounds-like-a-very-interesting-article?

Angela wrote: "Spooky1947 wrote: "Angela, yes, I guess your are right...it WOULD be boreing if everyone wrote the same...but too many times I find a "fancy" style getting in the way of the story...at time like th..."

Yeah, not to stay on the Angie bandwagon but...

Story/narrative is paramount without a doubt. But Robert Aickman achieves an emotional resonance that is more precise, more accurate and more powerful because of the manner in which he tells his story. The same might be said of James Baldwin, Cormac McCarthy and yes, definitely Ray Bradbury. Without that sense of wonder, that lyrical poetry, Bradbury becomes something else entirely. The aesthetics of his prose add a whole other layer of meaning. The same could be said of say, Joe Hill (somebody I totally should throw in on my list). His collection of short pieces, 20th Century Ghosts exhibits an exceptional grace and style that you almost don't see anywhere else in speculative fiction. Compare his work to his dad's. They're both great but very different. And I love Stephen King, he's one of my all time favorites and lord knows, he's very clear, but his son's prose is more ambitious, more sophisticated and I would say, more emotionally accurate. When he writes about a museum curator who captures the last breaths of individuals, it's his style that sells it. Gorgeous. He veritably casts a spell in "My Father's Mask" with his absolutely liquid prose. If he were just to relate the events of the narrative in the order in which they happened, the story might remain, but the magic would be lost.

Angela wrote: "In no particular order:

Harlan Ellison definitely. I don't try to write like him, per se, but the way he writes so strongly like himself is inspiring. Don't copy anyone -- readers wi..."

Excellent list, Angie. Five writers on there, I've never heard of. Shame on me. Thanks.

Bobby wrote: "Let's see....

(It might change later)

Stephen King and Ray Bradbury as well, Stan Lee/Jack Kirby/Steve Ditko/Marvel Comics (counting them as one because I'm a lousy sinking cheater), Robert Aikma..."

And since Neil Clarke went top ten, I'm gonna go top ten. Short fiction, we're talking.

Shirley Jackson. This lady was a boss. She has totally like, trickled, drop by drop into my consciousness. I read "The Lottery" in school with everybody else ("Holy shit!"). Also in school, also by Shirley Jackson, I read a story called "Charles". Hilarious and fantastic. Years later, I read The Haunting of Hill House (thank you, Stephen King). Wonderful. Not short, though, but still. Then, years and years after that, I read "The Summer People" and that's when I finally, finally realized that I was fan of this lady.

Robert E. Howard. When he's not being rabidly racist, he's an amazing story teller.

H.P. Lovecraft. Ditto. I also loved the way his stories sometimes blended science fiction and horror.

HARLAN ELLISON. His rage, his ideas, his imagination, his intelligence, his fire.

Kim Antieau. One story, "Briar Rose" I read in a collection called Metahorror totally altered my idea of the personal and emotional depth a speculative short story could achieve.

Honorable mentions:

Adrienne Maree Brown. You guys probably don't know her but she's making her move. You'll hear of her soon. Likewise, Lilliam Rivera. Both these ladies are at Clarion as I write this. Both are amazing talents. Keep an eye out.

Let's see....

(It might change later)

Stephen King and Ray Bradbury as well, Stan Lee/Jack Kirby/Steve Ditko/Marvel Comics (counting them as one because I'm a lousy stinking cheater), Robert Aikman (because one can dream, can't one, that I might one day write prose like that?) aaand Clive Barker who took what everyone else was doing and turned it upside down.