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

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

Spooky1947 wrote: "Bobby, man, i LOVE harlan's stuff...the man can write like a demon...and i just dont mean just his Fantasy and SF...he also reads his own stuff better than any other author ive ever heard read (che..."

Haha! There it is!

Spooky1947 wrote: "i have fond memories of the SF Book Club from my teen years...im talking around 13 or so...i was a member, my 3 year old brother was a member, my 2 year old sister was a member, i had a couple of ..."

We must be around the same age. I too, have fond memories of the SF Book Club. Got there through Marvel Comics, started reading Conan the Barbarian, then moved to the books edited by L. Sprage de Camp with the Frazetta covers. In the middle there was the flyer for the Science Fiction Book Club. I always remember the question "What if God was a computer?" That book club introduced me to Dune, Courtship Rite, Eye of Cat, Friday, Foundation and The Nomad of Time to name but a few. The only thing as exciting as getting the books in the mail was getting the catalogues!

Jim wrote: "Spooky1947 wrote: "harlan has sued or threaten to sue darn near everybody who's anybody....or at least threatened to beat the snot out of them..."

Yeah, I've heard that about him. I think Cameron..."

I'd be careful about calling Harlan Ellison a "leech". Not because anything bad would happen to you or anything but if you're on GoodReads you're probably >ahem< a reader, you're probably smart and if you're in this group, you probably dig speculative fiction. I don't know Harlan Ellison and from what I've heard, I would not like him as a person but he is a HELL of a writer. I don't know that he's seminal in the way that H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov are but he definitely staked out a territory that only he seemed to be able or willing to walk in for a while. Is he a weird, pugnacious, ego-maniacal, quirky guy? Again, I don't actually know but everything I've seen or read points to yes on that score. But he is also easily one of the best and most far out writers I've ever read. Now, his particular imaginative landscape is almost standard fare, and I'm sure that's what hacks him off sometimes but he was definitely something special.

All this to say, if you haven't read him, you should. You'd probably like him. A lot.

Andy wrote: "I've had a bit of a sci-fi film marathon over the past week. So in order of viewing:

Dark Star
Silent Running
Blade Runner
Source Code
Predators
Capricorn One
Star Trek IV: There Be Whales Here, ..."

Dark Star
Silent Running and
Capricorn One -- I've never seen them but I've been hearing about them for ages. Thanks for the heads up!

Randy wrote: "Reminds me of this joke:


A university creative writing class was asked to write a concise essay containing the following elements:

1. Religion
2. Royalty
3. Sex
4. Mystery

The professor announc..."

I might have to steal that.

THX-1138

The Thing(from Another World)1951

The Arrival(yes, I know, Charlie Sheen but it's really good! A throwback of sorts!)

Planet of the Apes (1968)

The Andromeda Strain

Westworld

The Brother from Another Planet

The Incredible Shrinking Man

The Road Warrior

Pitch Black

The City of Lost Children

Species (better than you think)

Altered States

Forbidden Planet

Escape from New York

Scanners

Well, I certainly trust the Nebula awards as an awards giving body. I guess I'd be loathe to say anything is the best anything ever buuut...I am definitely intrigued to read this story now. Who wrote it?

Spooky1947 wrote: "Starship Troopers was a good one, but I liked Stranger in a Strange Land better....but then I'm just a OLD hippy. :P"

Me too!

Spooky1947 wrote: "Nightfall...generally considered the best SF story ever written....buff said"

Woah! "Generally considered the best SF story ever written".

As much as that strikes me as a fairly ridiculously statement ("generally" like who?), I have to admit, I'm now intrigued to read the story. Who wrote it?

Michelle wrote: "Bobby wrote: "Michelle wrote: "Diana wrote: "My first was Andromeda Strain by Micheal Crichton. I read in the early 70's when I was still single and had been in my first apartment for only a couple..."


If you do, let me know what you thought...

Michelle wrote: "Diana wrote: "My first was Andromeda Strain by Micheal Crichton. I read in the early 70's when I was still single and had been in my first apartment for only a couple of weeks. Scared the daylights..."

I'd be totally curious to see you go back and read A Wrinkle in Time now. I still loved it, it was still scary but there was one particular aspect of it that I had totally not even noticed as a child that blew me away as an adult.

Salem wrote: "the first sci fi book ive read was one of the star wars books i forgot which one and the first fantacy book ive remembered reading is harry potter and the sorcerers stone"

It wasn't my first but I definitely read Star Wars the novel early on. Forgot all about that. As a kid, I dug it, too! Of course, we were in the Azores and spent a year waiting for this phenomenon that had taken over the world!

Nah. Part of the reason I come here is because I'm trying to wean myself off FaceBook. At least this is a website about something I love.

G33z3r wrote: "Bobby wrote: "Dune is part of a series but man, it definitely can stand alone. I have no problem with it being included."

There are plenty of excellent science fiction books that stand alone (and ..."

I hear you. I get that. But then, so is STAR WARS, Lord of Light or Stranger in a Strange Land (hokey religion, strange mental powers, etc.) you know what I'm saying? The reason we tend to talk about the two together (sci-fi and fantasy) so often is because the lines between them are often blurred. You look at say, The Martian Chronicles or even Asimov's Foundation and with a few changes, either might be seen as a "fantasy" book. Labels, you know.

Kevin wrote: "Jim wrote: "Lord of Light, This Immortal by Roger Zelazny & The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delany can go on both your SF & Fantasy list, although they fall more here.

Dune by Frank Herbert..."

Hmmm...Dune is part of a series but man, it definitely can stand alone. I have no problem with it being included.

Pickle wrote: "The Stars My Destination is a cracking book but i tend to love lots of the 50/60s sci-fi."

So do I!

Jonathan wrote: "How do you choose between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings? Lord of the Rings is in my view the superior work - it's bigger and better (more the story Tolkien wanted to write) but The Hobbit ha..."

Personally, I think The Hobbit is a much cleaner and clearer narrative with a more specific tone that never falters. The Lord of the Rings and I'm nitpicking here, gets unwieldy at times, overloaded in its history and minutiae. And for myself, a question I always have is, if Sauron and the orcs and the like, conquered the world, what would they do with it?

Stefan, (Or Anyone Playing),

Do you think without the three(four) very successful movies, Tolkien dominates as much as he has? The answer might very well be yes but I'm just wondering what other people think.

Eyjólfur Örn wrote: "the lion, the witch and the wardrobe when I was 7 which led me to Tolkiens Hobbit about a year later (took a while to get through the Chronicles of Narnia)"

Did you ever make it around to Lloyd Alexander's The High King or the rest of the Chronicles of Prydain?

Diana wrote: "My first was Andromeda Strain by Micheal Crichton. I read in the early 70's when I was still single and had been in my first apartment for only a couple of weeks. Scared the daylights out of me. Co..."

Never left the "cough"? Freudian slip?