Introduce Yourself! (Archived)

[Kal]

Hi there, I'm Kal Spriggs, I'm an avid reader of SF and Fantasy of all types. I grew up reading Heinlein, Asimov, Norton, Robert E. Howard, and Anne McCaffery. My tastes are pretty eclectic, but I love larger than life heroes and adventures where the stakes are the fates of entire worlds. My favorite fantasy series would probably be David Eddings Belgariad. My favorite SF series is a toss up between Ringo's Looking Glass series and Weber's Honor Harrington series.

I'm also an independent author of both fantasy and science fiction.

[Martyn]

Hi all!

I've always been fond of fantasy, I've read Douglas Adams's 'Hitchhikers Guide to Galaxy' which is loosely Science Fiction, but fantasy is my preferred genre. I liked the Hobbit, LOTR, I enjoyed Paulini's Inheritance Cycle and Pullman's Dark Trilogy, oh and I'll read any discworld novel by Terry Pratchett.

I'm also the author of a Swords & Sorcery epic fantasy series called 'The Deathsworn Arc' it's unusual in that it has a strong core theme of atheism and pragmatism. It's a fantasy adventure story, but it's also a thought experiment into how the world might react to the total disproving of gods existence.




Book 3 is nearly done! Just needs a few more weeks in the oven, an edit, a revision, a proofing and a nice cover - January? It was going to be called 'The Temple of the Mad God' but I think that'll be book 4 and 3 will be called. 'The Blood Queen'.

Martyn

[[deleted user]]

Kal wrote: "Hi there, I'm Kal Spriggs, I'm an avid reader of SF and Fantasy of all types. I grew up reading Heinlein, Asimov, Norton, Robert E. Howard, and Anne McCaffery. My tastes are pretty eclectic, ..."

Hi, Kal. Welcome to both Goodreads and our group. We have quite a few folks here who are big fans of the Classic authors you mentioned. I hope you'll join us for some entertaining discussions.

[[deleted user]]

Martyn wrote: "Hi all! I've always been fond of fantasy, I've read Douglas Adams's 'Hitchhikers Guide to Galaxy' which is loosely Science Fiction, but fantasy is my preferred genre. I liked the Hobbit, LOTR,..."

Hello, Martyn, and welcome to the group. I don't think you'll find anyone here will argue with your choice of epic fantasy novels. Good luck with your new book. When it hits the shelves & eStores, you might drop a note about it into our Promotions folder, too.

[[deleted user]]

Hi L.R.A.,Kal,and Martyn,welcome to the Sci-Fi and Heroic Fantasy group.

[Martyn]

G33z3r wrote: "Martyn wrote: "Hi all! I've always been fond of fantasy, I've read Douglas Adams's 'Hitchhikers Guide to Galaxy' which is loosely Science Fiction, but fantasy is my preferred genre. I liked the Hob..."

Thanks!

I'll check out the promotions folder. Books 1 and 2 are available from Createspace and for the Kindle. Book 3 will be January I think.

Martyn

[Misty]

Hello everybodeeeee. first time group joiner, first time post poster, loooong time fantasy/sci fi lover. Just now exploring site to see the fun & benefits of it. Love the read challenges already. From TX and cant wait to start participating in these discussions.

[[deleted user]]

Misty wrote: "Hello everybodeeeee. first time group joiner, first time post poster, loooong time fantasy/sci fi lover. Just now exploring site to see the fun & benefits of it. Love the read challenges already...."

Hello, Misteeeeee. Welcome to Goodreads in general and this group in particular. I hope you'll find both useful and entertaining. Make yourself at home and jump into any conversations you like, or start a new topic of your own.

(Our two Group reading challenges, like Goodread's primary challenge, run to the end of the calendar year, so I'm afraid we only have 6 weeks left. Feel free to join in if you expect to have time for a lot of reading over the upcoming holidays; you set your own goal, so no pressure. I'm still working on mine. — I expect we'll launch a couple of new ones for 2014 soon, but I figured I'd wait until December before worrying about those!)

[Misty]

Thank you, thank you. Yeah ill be waiting for new challenges. Just trying to fill in blanks on read, to read and currently reading right now. Ill be slow on conversations as ive never been so much as in a chat room before. sounds like fun though. Id love to talk about The Fianovar Tapestries (&others), as Ive tried to have others read just so I could discuss

[[deleted user]]

Hi Misty,welcome to the Sci-Fi and Heroic Fantasy group. I'm also from TX and I'm sure there are many others.

[Andreas]

Misty wrote: "Id love to talk about The Fianovar Tapestries (&others), as Ive tried to have others read just so I could discuss "

Welcome Misty to this great group!
I just wanted to point you to another group concerning your special interest: "Beyond Reality" just finishes Ysabel and we are arranging for a series read of the Fionavar tapestries trilogy starting in January. Maybe you want to jump in there, as well?

Now, the old guy will probably ban me from the group forever :D

[Vardan]

Hi, my name is Vardan and I am from a (galaxy) country far far away called Armenia. In my writing, I am busy exploring the darker corners of my imagination in order to craft the most intense stories of futures gone awry. It is not all darkness though as I believe a healthy dose of humor is a necessary prescription in any doomsday scenario. I am also a firm believer in the power of one individual in pushing, fighting, living and dying for a change that is always necessary, that is always achievable - anyone who says otherwise has something to lose through that positive change.

[[deleted user]]

Hi Vardan,welcome to the Sci-Fi and Heroic Fantasy group.

[James]

I am James John Loftus author of Celtic Blood

Inspired in part by The Fellowship of the Ring

A boy on a journey in a strange, wonderous, and dangerous land, with his only friend and his sword - all that stands between him and death.

[[deleted user]]

Hi James,welcome to the Sci-Fi and Heroic Fantasy group.

[James]

Charlton wrote: "Hi James,welcome to the Sci-Fi and Heroic Fantasy group."

Cheers, Charlton.

[Mark]

Hi, I'm Mark and I currently have my first novel in editing. I love both Sci-fi and Fantasy. My fantasy favorites are Terry Brooks "Sword of Shannara" series and C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. On the sci-fi side, I love Frank Herbert's "Dune" series and books by Robert Heinlein and any other books places on other worlds. I was drawn to this site because of the "classic" namesake. I like classic stories with good versus evil(always with a twist). I hope to be a thoughtful contributor to this group.

[[deleted user]]

Mark wrote: "Hi, I'm Mark and I currently have my first novel in editing. I love both Sci-fi and Fantasy. My fantasy favorites are Terry Brooks "Sword of Shannara" series and C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia...."

Hi, Mark, and welcome to the group. I hope you find us to be interesting conversationalists, SF/F-wise. I like your choice of authors.

And when your novel goes from editing to published, we have a Promotions folder where you can tell us all about it, if you like.

[[deleted user]]

Hi Mark,welcome to the Sci-Fi and Heroic Fantasy group.

[Murray]

Mele Kalikimaka!

I'm a third generation SF&F fan. My grandfather and father preceded me, so I learned to read on magazine editions where "Astounding" morphed into "Analog". I sat on my Dad's knee watching Gemini launches in the wee hours of the morning. I guess I'm the black sheep of the lineage by adding "&F" to the "SF", but I do like me some fantasy tales as well.

This group sounds like just my sort of peer group.

I'm currently a very excited greenhorn author, with a self-published novel new to the world.

http://www.murraylindsay.ca/author_si...

[[deleted user]]

Hi Murray,welcome to the Sci-Fi and Heroic Fantasy group.

[[deleted user]]

Murray wrote: "Mele Kalikimaka!..."

Aloha, Murray. And welcome to the group. (We don't have many members who speak... Canadian? Wait,... what?)

Please feel free to tell folks more about your book in our Promotions folder.

and have yourself a merry Christmas.

[[deleted user]]

Hi, I'm Amy and I'm new to Good Reads. I'm looking to make friends on here who also share a love for books, especially in the fantasy genre.

I also write and have just published my first novel. I have already had the pleasure of talking to some members that have offered thier opinions and advice regarding my book cover, they have all been extremely helpful and I look forward to meeting more.

[[deleted user]]

A.E. wrote: "Hi, I'm Amy and I'm new to Good Reads. I'm looking to make friends on here who also share a love for books, especially in the fantasy genre. ..."

Hi, Amy. Welcome to both Goodreads and the SF&HF group.

[[deleted user]]

Hi Amy,welcome to the Sci-Fi and Heroic Fantasy group.

[[deleted user]]

Thank you both for the warm welcome.

[David]

Hello, all:
As a new author, I love the name of this group because the fantasy I best love to read and write has a heroic element to it. It's great to find a community of readers who seem to be as passionate about and addicted to these books and authors as I am. I’ve been reading this stuff since I was (as my Georgia-born southern grandmother used to say) "knee-high to a grasshopper." The size of my collection from years of reading now qualifies me as a “hoarder,” but I wouldn’t trade the pleasure I’ve gotten for anything. I think I'm gonna feel right at home here.

Epic classic fantasy is my first love, though I also enjoy mystery, adventure, psychological thrillers and historical fiction; and I’m a sucker for a good romance. I started out with writers like Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Aldous Huxley, Poul Anderson and Ursula Le Guin. I eventually migrated over to fantasy, beginning with Tolkien and Andre Norton, then moving on to people like Frank Herbert, Terry Brooks, David Eddings, Raymond Feist, Robert Jordan, George Martin, Mercedes Lackey, Diana Gabaldon and Jacqueline Carey. I've enjoyed many books in the Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms series. R.A. Salvatore was a favorite author for quite some time, and Drizzt is possibly my favorite character in the genre, particularly as he appeared in the Icewind Dale and Dark Elf trilogies. Those books, and The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel, are a few of my most favorite series.

I suspect this group is going to be a lot of fun. I look forward to getting to know you and sharing in the discussions. Please feel free to say hello and send a friend request.

[Andrew]

Hi guys,

My name is Andy, and I'm hoping to find some excellent contemporary Space Opera stories here. Although I've been on Goddreads a while I've never come across this group, and I'm glad I've found it now. In recent yeers I've enjoyed reading Alastair Reynolds, Neal Asher, Peter Hamilton, as well as the slightly more weird output from the likes of China Mieville. In the past I've also enjoyed fantasy works, Stephen Donaldson's Covenant series was a favourite in my teenage years.

I guess I'm on a bit of a quest to find some really excellent stories that capture the spirit of classic scifi without being bound by 1950's sensibilities - so great stories and weave in some issues that reflect the human condition as well as current understanding of future technology and cultural norms. So for example Robbie the Robot saving the semi-clad damsel in distress is a wonderfully iconic image, but I wouldn't want to see it in contemporary space opera.

I know there is some really good stuff out there, and also there's some excellent work that I haven't liked because it's just not my taste - but rather than just moan about it to my friends, I've tried to write some for myself, I'll save that for the promotions folder, suffice it to say that I've realised that writing really good stuff is very, very, hard!

Anyway, glad to have found you guys.

Andy

[David]

Hello, Andy, from one new member to another. As my post above indicates, I started out in sci-fi and later moved over to fantasy on a more regular basis. I'll still watch pretty much any sci-fi movie that comes along (even the bad ones if they have good FX), but I don't read a great deal of it. Probably my last actual "sci-fi" read was the Old Man's War series by Scalzi. I do listen to old-time radio recordings of shows like X minus One. And, btw, I consider Forbidden Planet (with Robbie the Robot) to be one of the "classic" early sci-fi movies, for all its cheesy rocket travel effects. The image of that invisible (mind) monster getting outlined in the electrical perimeters still plays very well. And the semi-clad damsel wasn't bad either:) Anyway, welcome.

[Andrew]

Hi David

Thanks for getting back to me, and no disrespect meant to FB, definitely a clasic film of it's time never mind the specific genre. I guess I'm looking for the 21st Century equivalent, I'm sure it's out there!
Cheers
Andy

[[deleted user]]

David wrote: "Hello, all: As a new author, I love the name of this group because the fantasy I best love to read and write has a heroic element to it...."

Hello, David. Welcome to the group! I hope you'll find some interesting discussions here to join. I look forward to discussing sci-fi and fantasy with you in the coming year.

Since you mentioned liking Andre Norton, you may be interested in our upcoming group book discussion of her "Moonsinger" duology at the start of the new year. (We try to set up a couple of organized book discussions each month. I see you already found our Promotions folder.)

Welcome aboard.

[[deleted user]]

Andrew wrote: "Hi guys, My name is Andy, and I'm hoping to find some excellent contemporary Space Opera stories here.... So for example Robbie the Robot saving the semi-clad damsel in distress is a wonderfully iconic image,"

Hi, Andy, and welcome to the group. (And a happy Boxing Day!) I hope you'll join us for some intriguing conversations.

As to that iconic image of Robby the Robot, that movie poster has always bugged me. "Forbidden Planet" was the first sci-fi movie I recall seeing in an actual movie theater, and it remains one of my favorites to this day (Shakespeare ripped off its plot for "The Tempest" :) For the record, the only person Robbie carries in the movie is Doc (Richard Stevens, after he passes out taking the "Krell brain boost". - OMG, my voice transcription software knows the word "Krell"!) and Anne Francis manages to keep her feet on the ground (except when skinny-dipping.) (Not to pick a fight with David, but the special effects still seem fine to me, in a retro-future architecture sort of way. A lot of the FX work was done by the Disney animation studio.)

Anyway, welcome again, and I look forward to discussing SF&F with you.

[David]

Hey, Old Guy:
I didn't know Disney did the FX work. That may explain why the effects did look so good...the monster outlined in blue electricity, the metal doors turning red and melting as the monster burns its way into Doc's inner sanctum, the endless levels of the Krell repository of knowledge...and what a cast! I'll have to go back and look at the rocket effects. It's been a while since I've seen FB. Maybe I was mixing them up with Flash Gordon :) Anyway, thanks for the welcome.

[Sunny]

Hi All,
My name is Sunny S and I am an author. Well, still learning to be a writer... My debut YA sci-fi fantasy fiction has been published named - 'Nav and the Ninth Universe - The Clock Of Time'

This is, a little cliche but, you should try it as it is about the wonders of the world - something which you would have not thought about earlier but when you read it, you would definitely feel that this might be possible.
This is one book that is being compared to the Harry Potter series, which I am not quite comfortable with but I would really ;like to hear all your feedback about it.
You can read the first chapter on http://www.sunnyshandilya.com

Nav and the Ninth Universe - The Clock Of Time

[[deleted user]]

Hi David,welcome to the Sci-Fi and Heroic Fantasy group.

[[deleted user]]

Hi Andrew,welcome to the Sci-Fi and Heroic Fantasy group.

[[deleted user]]

Hi Sunny,welcome to the Sci-Fi and Heroic Fantasy group.

[Andrew]

Charlton wrote: "Hi Andrew,welcome to the Sci-Fi and Heroic Fantasy group."

Thanks for the welcome

[David]

Charlton, thanks for the welcome.

[[deleted user]]

Henry wrote: "Hi, there I'm henry and like everyone else here, I'm a massive fantasy fan. I just started writing stories and would like to learn and improve a lot and I guess being a part of this group will help..."

Hi, Henry, and welcome to both Goodreads and the group. We read a good deal of science fiction and fantasy here, and we'd love to discuss those works with you. We have a number of writers who are also group members, because writers are readers, too. For specific advice about writing, you might also want to seek out one of the Writers groups.

I look forward to discussing sci-fi and fantasy with you.

[[deleted user]]

Hi Henry,welcome to the Sci-Fi and Heroic Fantasy group.

[Kelly]

Hi I'm Kelly. Huge fantasy fan and I'm looking forward to finishing new books to read through this group :)

[Chris]

Hi everyone! I'm Chris. I was never a reader, or very much into books. Most of the ones I read we're more practical, self-help books but every once in a while I would randomly pick up a SF/F book and it would engross me constantly until I finished it, but then it would be months until the next one, mostly because I didn't know what to read.

That has all changed since I've joined this site and groups like this, and I've already added over 90 books to my To-Read list and I am giddy at the prospect of reading all of them. There are so many good books and series it is slightly overwhelming but I know just focusing on 1 book at a time is all I need to do.

Currently I seem to be gravitating towards Brandon Sanderson, having read the 3 Mistborn books (and loved them!), plus Alloy of Law, and now am in the middle of The Way of Kings and am in disbelief of how good it is, and why it has taken me so long to get into books of this genre. I'll read all of his books in the Cosmere and that is very exciting!

Very much looking forward to reading more and discussing books with all you!

[[deleted user]]

Kelly wrote: "Hi I'm Kelly. Huge fantasy fan and I'm looking forward to finishing new books to read through this group :)"

Hi, Kelly. Welcome to the group. I think we may be able to provide a few suggestions for books to read. You might start in our Recommendations folder, or just browse the Book Discussions folder to see what we've been talking about in detail. (Our current read is The Golem and the Jinni, an urban fantasy said at the start of the 20th century. Our next plan discussion is Norton's classic Moonsinger, a blend of science fiction and fantasy on another planet.

I look forward to discussing fantasy with you.

[[deleted user]]

Chris wrote: "Hi everyone! I'm Chris. I was never a reader, or very much into books. Most of the ones I read we're more practical, self-help books but every once in a while I would randomly pick up a SF/F book a..."

Hi, Chris, and welcome to both Goodreads in general and this group in particular. Sounds like your to-read list is getting is out of control as mine is. So many books, so little time.

In addition to general SF/F discussions, we pick one contemporary and one classic novel each month to discussed together. We've covered several of Sanderson's books in the past, including Mistborn (which I've been meaning to reread), Elantris, The Way of Kings, and his Hugo-award-winning novella, The Emperor's Soul.

(I think along with Heinlein, Le Guin and Asimov, he holds the record for the most-discussed author here. If you count his work on Jordan's Wheel of Time, he probably has the lead.)

We never consider a discussion closed, so feel free to jump in and extend the conversation of any of those, or any of our other past discussions. We'd love to have new voice in the mix.

[[deleted user]]

Hi Kelly,welcome to the Sci-Fi and Heroic Fantasy group.

[Chris]

G33z3r wrote: "Chris wrote: "Hi everyone! I'm Chris. I was never a reader, or very much into books. Most of the ones I read we're more practical, self-help books but every once in a while I would randomly pick up..."

Thanks for the warm welcome!

[Kiersty]

Hi, I'm new to the group. I'm a masters student at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and I love science fiction and fantasy. In fact, I plan to write my thesis on Spanish and Portuguese Science Fiction, possibly doing a comparative study with British and American SF. (My MA program is in Hispanic Literatures). I love to read and write. I recently published a short fantasy novel through Amazon and by the end of the year I hope to finish at least a draft of the sequel. Balancing writing with my studies is difficult, but if I don't make time to read for fun, I go crazy.
Some of my favorite Sci-fi and Fantasy authors are (in no particular order) Brandon Sanderson, Terry Pratchett, Connie Willis, Diana Wynne Jones, Lloyd Alexander, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Nancy Farmer, Brandon Mull, Timothy Zahn... and the list could go on.

[Arunabh]

Everyone , this is Arunabh. a huge fan of sci-fi and fictional worlds. Love everything from future survival, time travel to classic alien invasions. Not a diligent reader and trying to find company of fellow readers so i can start doing that

[[deleted user]]

Kiersty wrote: "Hi, I'm new to the group. I'm a masters student at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and I love science fiction and fantasy...."

Hi, Kiersty. Welcome to the group. I hope you'll be joining us for future conversations about SF & F (without shortchanging your thesis, of course!)

Connie Willis, Louis L'Amour, & Brandon Sanderson? Good choices.