Introduce Yourself - Part I Showing 601-650 of 1,884

[Theo]

Thanks Anna and Conal. I'll hunt down the gamer's threads. Didn't know about the additional books, that's great.

[Jonathan]

Theo wrote: "Hi Everyone,

Name: Theo Karner

Favorite Books: Hard one, some that come immediately to mind are Gaunt's Ghosts, Gotrek and Felix, Old Man's War Series By John Scalzi, Oxford Time Travel series by..."

Welcome! Scalzi is such an entertaining author. Have you read Redshirts yet?

[Theo]

no, haven't read Redshirts yet. Last year or two I've been dipping into a varied list and not sticking much to one author.

[D.L.]

Hi all...
Name:Debbie
Favorite Books:I have to say mine :)
Favorite Genres: fantasy sci fi romance
Favorite TV shows:Stargate & Stargate Atlantis
Favorite Movies:Stargate or any space related blockbuster.
Favorite Food:Italian or Indian
Day Job:Author, marketing.
Hobbies:Dancing Latin and Ballroom
Other:Also enjoy coffee with like minded friends where we spend hours chatting about books and what we writing project we are working on.

[C. John]

Actually joined a couple of days ago but just getting around to this bit of housekeeping, sorry. Also since I have never been one to follow the rules exactly I may deviate from the list below

Name: John Kerry

Current age: 60

Favorite Books: Way too many to even attempt to list. However some of my fsvourite series include: Lensman, Skylark, Cthulhu Mythos, Conan, Fr. Blackie Ryan, Lord Peter Wimsey, Dr. Fu Manchu, Perry Rhodan, Barsoom, The Shadow, Doc Savage, Operator 5 and The Phantom Detective.

Favorite Genres: Sci-Fi, Mysteries, Fantasy, Lovecraftian horror, Sword & Sorcery, Science Fantasy

Favourite Non-Fiction Subjects: Baseball, Sci-Fi, Theology, Comics, Professional Wrestling

Favourite Authors: H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, E.E. Smith, Edmond Hamilton, Enid Blyton, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Hans Kung, Matthew Fox

Favorite TV shows: Midsomer Mysteries, Murdoch Mysteries, Star Trek, Babylon 5, Thomas the Tank Engine, Miss Fisher Mysteries (we got rid of the cable a few months ago to save money so I really don't watch much TV anymore).

Favorite Movies: Charlie Chan series, The Longest Day, Four Just Men, Star Trek: Wrath of Khan, The Magnificent Seven (I have a list of my ulitmate movie library on IMDb which might be better than any list I can put on here that won't take up too much space).

Favorite Food: Burgers, Pizza, Spaghetti, Coffee, Fried chicken among others.

Day Job: Semi-retired (looking for some part-time work)

Hobbies: Comics, Books, Music, Mahjongg (on the computer)

Other: I follow Baseball (favourite team: Toronto Blue Jays), Real Football/Soccer (favourite team: Toronto FC) and Australian Rules Football (favourite team: West Coast Eagles). I'm an Anglican (Liberal Catholic variety). I belong to the Baseball Book Club and the DC Comics Group on this site as well. Anything else you want to know just ask as I think I've taken up enough space already.

[Anna]

Debbie wrote: "Favorite TV shows:Stargate & Stargate Atlantis Favorite Movies:Stargate or any space related bl..."

Yay! Another SG-1 fan! I own all 10 episodes of SG-1, plus all five episodes of Atlantis, plus the pre and post movies. Never got into SGU all that much, though. Didn't hate it, just didn't love it the way I loved the others.

*****************

John wrote: "Actually joined a couple of days ago but just getting around to this bit of housekeeping, sorry. Also since I have never been one to follow the rules exactly I may deviate from the list below..."

Welcome John! Nothing wrong with lurking until you feel comfortable :-) If I wasn't a MOD, my tendency is to lurk a bit myself. Feel free to say 'hi' once in a while.

[Jonathan]

John wrote: "Actually joined a couple of days ago but just getting around to this bit of housekeeping, sorry. Also since I have never been one to follow the rules exactly I may deviate from the list below

Name..."

Welcome! Thomas the Tank Engine? That's a real thing?

[C. John]

It is a long running children's show out of the UK. Given that the engines seem to be alive, as are several other vehicles such as Bertie the Bus, and interact with the various people in the show I suppose it does have elements of either SF or Fantasy in it.

[Jonathan]

John wrote: "It is a long running children's show out of the UK. Given that the engines seem to be alive, as are several other vehicles such as Bertie the Bus, and interact with the various people in the show I..."

I just googled it. It's called Thomas & Friends in the US or Thomas the Train. I got thrown off by "Tank Engine". It made me think of Thomas the Abrams A1 Tank or something like that. Which would be a fantastic show.

[Brendan]

We called it Thomas the Tank Engine in Canada as well, I had a lot of the toys.

[C. John]

A tank engine is a type of steam engine as opposed to a tender engine.

[Megan]

Name: Megan

Favorite Books: Fahrenheit 451, stuff by John Green, Foundation, Dune, and others(my faves change pretty often)

Favorite Genres: Fantasy, Sci Fi, YA, Memoir/Biography

Favorite TV shows: Agents of Shield, Doctor Who, Firefly,

Favorite Movies: Current Marvel run, Penelope,

Favorite Food: Good cheese

Day Job: Marketing Assistant

Hobbies: Reading(duh), Learning to program, meditating, wrting

Other: I need to read more sci fi and get myself into a few book clubs. Been lurking Space opera for a bit now :)

[Anna]

Megan wrote: "Favorite TV shows: Agents of Shield, Doctor Who, Firefly, ..."

Welcome Megan! My teenager just discovered the joys of Dr. Who! It's funny to see her 'shipping' a show I got into years ago :-) So ... who's your favorite doctor? I'm a 2-10 + Rose shipper :-)

[Jonathan]

John wrote: "A tank engine is a type of steam engine as opposed to a tender engine."

Wow, now I'm lost. No idea what a tender engine is.

[C. John]

Just a engine that has a tender right behind it. The tender carries coal for the engine. A tank engine's coal is right in the cab.

[Peggy]

Name: Peggy Patrick
Favorite Space Opera Series: The Vorkosigan Saga, The Liaden Universe
Favorite Genres: Space Opera (Of Course), Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Popular Science, Mystery, Historical Fiction
Favorite TV Shows: Doctor Who (Both Classic and New), Star Trek, Stargate, iZombie
Favorite Movies: ET, Beauty and the Beast, Star Wars: A New Hope, Back to the Future III, Men In Black
Favorite Food: I like food in general, it's easier to say that I dislike pickled okra. ;)
Hobbies: Reading (Of Course), Painting, Colored Pencil, Hiking, Astronomy, Beadwork, Cooking, Food, Physics, Mathematics, Gardening

[Jonathan]

Peggy wrote: "Name: Peggy Patrick
Favorite Space Opera Series: The Vorkosigan Saga, The Liaden Universe
Favorite Genres: Space Opera (Of Course), Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Popular Science, M..."

Welcome Peggy! Which Star Trek or just all of them?

[Peggy]

I like Original and Next Generation, Deep Space Nine was okay, Voyager sort of lost me. :)

[C. John]

How about the animated series?

[Peggy]

I've only seen one or two of the episodes at a friends house, when I was quite young. I know I liked them then. I used that series as one of my verbal thesis points for "Why We Should Get Cable" ;) . Which I argued on the way home to my mother. I haven't watched any of the episodes as an adult, I've heard they're well written. :)

[C. John]

They were pretty well written. There was I believe some carry-over of writers from the original series but there were new writers as well. I know at least one episode was written by Larry Niven (and it as a slightly controversial one at that). I forget whether it was Teletoon or Space The Imagination Station which re-aired them when those stations first started up here in Canada but that was still quite a few years ago.

[Jonathan]

Peggy wrote: "I like Original and Next Generation, Deep Space Nine was okay, Voyager sort of lost me. :)"

Like the crew of the Voyager got lost!

*sad trombone*

I'm a huge fan of TNG.

[Anna]

Peggy wrote: "Favorite Space Opera Series: The Vorkosigan Saga, The Liaden Universe Favorite Genres: Space Opera (Of Course), Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Popular Science, M..."

Welcome Peggy! You'll find a lot of Vorkosigan Saga fans here!

I enjoyed all of the Star Trek series, but Voyager was my favorite (obviously :-)

[Peggy]

Thank you all for welcoming me, Jonathan, John, and Anna.

Anna, I liked a lot of things in Voyager. The Doctor was probably my favorite character. Learning more about the Borg was also really interesting. :)

[Freeman]

I also liked the doctor in Voyager. I really liked the episode where he went to the future and found out he was remembered as a hero. Welcome to the group.

[Martin]

Name: Martin Wilsey
Favorite Books: Classic Robert Heinline and Arthur Clark
Favorite Genres: Space Opera/Science Fiction/ Space
Favorite Space Opera: Vorkosigan Saga,
Favorite TV shows: Sense8, Firefly, Walking Dead
Favorite Movies: Blade Runner, Terminator, Aliens
Favorite Food: Steak, Bacon, Sushi
Day Job: Research Scientist
Hobbies: Camping, Shooting, Swimming, Sailing

[Peggy]

Welcome Martin. :)

The Vorkosigan Saga is my favorite space opera too. Do you have any particular favorites in the series? I'm partial to The Warrior's Apprentice, Brothers in Arms, Mirror Dance, Cetaganda, Memory, and A Civil Campaign.

[Martin]

Warriors Apprentice and a Civil Campaign are my favs. Cryroburn my least fav.

[Jonathan]

Martin wrote: "Name: Martin Wilsey
Favorite Books: Classic Robert Heinline and Arthur Clark
Favorite Genres: Space Opera/Science Fiction/ Space
Favorite Space Opera: Vorkosigan Saga,
Favorite TV shows: Sense8, F..."

Welcome Martin!

So, Aliens over Alien? Both are in my top 5 or so sci-fi films, so you definitely can't go wrong with either one.

[Martin]

I actually do like Aliens slightly better than Alien.

[Jonathan]

Is Aliens the one where Ripley wears the exoskeleton and says "Get away from her you bitch." ?

[Martin]

Jonathan wrote: "Is Aliens the one where Ripley wears the exoskeleton and says "Get away from her you bitch." ?"

Mmmmmmm... Yes.

[Jonathan]

You're definitely much more decisive than I am. I have to say they are two movies I enjoy equally, and Aliens is likely the ONLY sequel to match the greatness of the first in the series.

Fun fact:

The first time I saw Alien was in middle school around '91. I thought it was the GI Joe movie my friends and I always wanted to be made. That's why I watched it. Thank God for not having the internet back then, or I probably wouldn't have watched it. When the little graphic after the commercial finally told me what movie it was, I was already to invested to care it wasn't GI Joe.

[Anna]

Martin wrote: "Favorite Books: Classic Robert Heinline and Arthur Clark Favorite Genres: Space Opera/Science Fiction/ Space Favorite Space Opera: Vorkosigan Saga, Favorite TV shows: Sense8, Firefly..."

Another BROWNCOAT!!! Welcome Martin :-)

"I actually do like Aliens slightly better than Alien...."

That movie scared the everliving BEJEZUS out of me the first time I watched it!

[Phil]

Name: Phil Etherington
Favourite Books: in terms of space opera - Frank Herbert's Dune Saga, Dan Simmons’ Hyperion and Endymion Cantos, Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (despite hide politics), Diaspora by Greg Egan, and undoubtedly lots of others. I also really enjoy near future novels like Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story, Drew Magary's The Postmortal, and certainly William Gibson in terms of ideas more so than his plotting. Two of the best books I've ever read in terms of literary fiction would be White Noise by Don Delillo, and The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace. And Perdido Street Station by China Mieville is spectacular...
Favourite Genres: I'm pretty open minded about genre. I try not to discriminate because a good book can be about just about anything provided it has a good story, or good characters, or it’s well-written - these things don't always exist together either. A fairly simple plot can be handled beautifully with some good world-building/great pacing (Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One), or a great world might be well-explored with interesting characters but very little narrative impetus beyond exploration (Margaret Atwood’s Maddadam). My theory is that there are lots of great things in any given book and that those elements are usually across multiple genres. The idea that an author/book is just of one genre seems unnecessarily limiting. That's my two cents.
Favourite TV Shows: Justified, Sarah Connor Chronicles (RIP), Game of Thrones, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Star Wars Rebels, True Detective, Boardwalk Empire, Axe Cop, The Newsroom, Archer... no doubt there are lots of others.
Favourite Movies: The Fountain, Primer, Star Trek (the first of the new ones in particular), Star Wars (original trilogy), Total Recall, Guardians of the Galaxy, Point Break, The Matrix, Terminator one and two, the Nolan Batman films, Memento, The Princess Bride, Transformers The Movie (animated), Ex Machina, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Raid 1 and 2, there are lots of others...
Favourite Food: I'm a picky eater. I'm better than I used to be, but I still enjoy decidedly simple meals. I like teriyaki salmon on rice, gyoza, some mild to medium Indian dishes, a good hamburger, chips chips chips, edamame, slow-cooked lamb...
Day Job: Teacher of Philosophy and English, author.
Hobbies: reading, writing, video games, philosophy, playing guitar and bass, listening to music, Naruto, collecting books.
Other: I don't know. I like lots of stuff and I'm always looking for new books to read and new people to talk to about them.
Thanks for reading!
- Phil

[Anna]

Phil wrote: "Name: Phil Etherington
Favourite Books: in terms of space opera - Frank Herbert's Dune Saga, Dan Simmons’ Hyperion and Endymion Cantos, Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (despite hide politi..."

Welcome Phil! At last, somebody who prefers Speaker for the Dead over Ender's Game! You will find you're in good company here, so pop into any discussion which interests you and say hello!

[Greg]

Hello space opera fans! Always good to meet a community of like-minded peeps.

Name: Greg R. Fishbone

Favorite Books: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, Discword series, Foundation series, Martian Chronicles, Ender's Game & Speaker for the Dead--and wish I'd stopped there, although the review I did of Children of the Mind has far more likes than any other review I've ever written. Go figure. Also enjoyed The Search for Wondla by Tony DiTerlizzi and Larklight by Philip Reeve. And anything by Frederic Brown.

Favorite Genres: Space opera, science fiction, fantasy, humor, steampunk, magic realism

Favorite TV shows: Doctor Who, Torchwood, Babylon 5, The X-Files, Red Dwarf, Lexx, Futurama, Sarah Connor Chronicles, and later seasons of ST:DS9 over all other Trek.

Favorite Movies: Star Wars, LOTR, Better Off Dead (not technically Space Opera, although the little brother does build a working Space Shuttle out of household items)

Favorite Food: Sushi, pizza, sushi-pizza

Day Job: Author, web designer, attorney

Hobbies: Writing, web design, legal practice

Other: My most recently published space opera is a few years old now, and I haven't announced a sequel. Yet.

[Anna]

Greg wrote: "Hello space opera fans! Always good to meet a community of like-minded peeps..."

Welcome Greg! A fellow recovering attorney, eh? You've come to the right place to get your space opera fix.

[Greg]

Anna wrote: "Welcome Greg! A fellow recovering attorney, eh? You've come to the right place to get your space opera fix."

I only became an attorney to have a good day job to quit. :D

Glad to be here.

[Krzysztof]

Greg wrote: "Favorite TV shows: Doctor Who, Torchwood, Babylon 5, The X-Files, Red Dwarf, Lexx, Futurama, Sarah Connor Chronicles, and later seasons of ST:DS9 over all other Trek."
Hi Greg welcome another Babylon 5 fan DS9 my favorite from trek too and Lexx like to but not 4th season

[Leonie]

Hi Greg!

[Isak]

Hello I'm Isak

Books that have stayed with me: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,The Year of the Hare, The Call of the Wild, Sheepfarmer's Daughter, Transmetropolitan, Vol. 1: Back on the Street and The Discworld.

When I started reading for myself by choice it was mostly my sisters fantasy novels the exception being Hitchhiker, so science fiction was a somewhat later discovery.

I like to read: Fantasy, Graphic novels, Historical fiction, Science fiction and Thrillers.

TV shows that comes to mind: QI, Firefly, Sherlock.

Favorite Movies: Ghost in the Shell, Resan till Melonia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Dead Man, Crying Freeman

Favorite Food:Perch caught and straight on the fire.

[Jonathan]

Welcome Isak. I've never heard of QI, is that an older show?

[Isak]

Thanks Jonathan. One is not like the other, QI (Quite Interesting) it's a BBC comedy panel qiuz game with Stephen Fry.

[Betsy]

Welcome Isak. I also liked Sheepfarmer's Daughter, but I didn't really like the rest of the trilogy. I'd be interested to hear your opinion.

[Isak]

Thanks Betsy. I think that they have kind of melded together a bit in my mind so while the first is the best of them I really enjoyed the following 2 as well. At the time it was probably the darkest and most challenging books I had ever read. Did they get darker in the later books?

The only two books in the extended series that I think of if as average is Kings of the North from Paladin's Legacy series and Liar's Oath from The Legacy of Gird series.

Darn seems like I might have missed 2 books, I love Godreads series organisation.

[Betsy]

I only read the first trilogy and it was many years ago. I really like her SO books, though.

[Neil]

Hi, my name is Neil and I write science fiction and horror books.

At the moment I'm reading E E Doc Smith's book Lord Tedric

Favourite Authors (keeping more or less to space opera)
E.E. "Doc" Smith
Frank Herbert
Elizabeth Moon

There's lots of others that don't fit the space opera theme, so I won't list them, other than to list my four favourite authors of all time and in any genre (including one already mentioned above). They are:

H Rider Haggard
Arthur C. Clarke
Richard Laymon
Frank Herbert

Films
I like a lot of the old 50's science fiction and monster movies.
I also like Hong Kong Kung Fu movies (mostly the ones from the 70's and 80's) although the output of Shaw Brothers is usually worth watching, whatever the decade.
I like 80's horror movies in particular, but enjoy lots of horror movies. Particular liking for the Italian masters of the genre, Dario Argento, Luico Fulci etc. Must have the full uncut versions though - I'm an enemy of censorship in general.
Perhaps strangely I'm not a great fan of recent science fiction movies. The overuse of CGI and poor book conversions have tended to put me off a little.

TV
Current favourites have been things like Dr Who (although I prefer the original series, I do like the new one too), iZombie, No Offence, Dr G Medical Examiner, Homicide Hunter, Vera. Changes often and mostly watched on catchup TV.

Music
I can appreciate any music if it's performed well, but I do have my favourite genres of music... Classic Rock, Progressive Rock, Symphonic Metal, Progressive Metal. I guess the main theme of them all is rock music.

A few favourite artists (not all by any means):
Nightwish, Thin Lizzy, Spock's Beard, Transantlantic, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Tempest, Gentle Giant, Yes, PFM, Cat Stevens, Tesla, Dream Theater... and so on.

I also play music (guitar) in a band with my son, Jonathan. It's called The 1850 Project - and there is a CD out there and we're on iTunes :)

I don't go to conventions or get-togethers often (I suffer from depression and social anxiety which makes it difficult) although I have attended a couple of British Fantasy Society Awards and got to World Horror Convention when it came to the UK in Brighton. Mind you, I spent most of the time in my hotel room, too scared to go down to the bar or mingle. Oh well :)

That's me wrapped up I guess. Nice to meet you all.

[Betsy]

Welcome Neil. Ditto on Dr. G and Vera. Also I can relate to your problems with depression and anxiety. I stay at home most of the time, having to force myself to even go to the pharmacy. I don't know what I would do without books. I once went to a conference for an organization for which I was an officer; aside from the absolute minimum obligatory appearance at a meeting, I spent the whole time in my hotel room reading. Didn't even go to the beach which was 100 ft away.

[Anna]

Isak wrote: "Books that have stayed with me: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,The Year of the Hare, The Call of the Wild, [book:Sheepfarmer's Daughter|96..."

Welcome Isak! Hitchhikers Guide is a most humorous introduction to the sci-fi genre!

**********

Neil wrote: "Perhaps strangely I'm not a great fan of recent science fiction movies. The overuse of CGI and poor book conversions have tended to put me off a little...."

Welcome Neil! Yes ... I think we can all relate to some of the badly botched sci-fi adaptations, though sometimes they fall into the so-bad-it's-good category (Bruce Campbell, anybody, with his alien-invasion-by-termites movie???)